Would anyone know why there has been such a large number of shares sold and no buying? Is there something we are not aware of?

i had an email from clive franks costain announcement to preliminary results wed 15th march.

ok, good day today, the way it bounced off 46 was very bullish imo.

showed a bit of strength considering more sells than buys. still need to get buyers back but await results.

a bit of strength slowly coming in can we break 50p -results not far off!.

Its going to try 50p again!!!!

am convinced swift rise to 60 if we break 50

hope so!- are we the only holders of costain on this thread ellio?. results could lead the way if positive.

now can we hold 50p second time around?- nice build up to hopefully positive results would be good!.i

Well we got a break, not quite there yet really but looking much better.

I think we are currently the only followers, which isn't surprising considering the excellent opportunities elsewhere, however, I don't like to have all my eggs in one basket and am probably a bit heavy on mining and oil stocks at the moment so Cost is a bit of welcome distraction! still I believe if they restore divi, cost is an excellent long term hold. Also mowlem has been taken out, so could cost!

Would love to think that it could be taken over, but surely there are still the Malaysian shareholders who came to the "rescue" back in the dark days.
Not quite sure what proportion of the equity that they hold, but at one time it was substantial.

Still 50p is great, but the value is very much more, just look at the forward order book and hopefully really good results to come. A dividend, well I hope so, but I think you may have to wait a while yet.

My 2 cents worth.

regards

Peter

Thanks Peter,

My guess is that if an offer was made the Malaysians might well take it!

50 on the offer, we are consolidating above 48 good!

COST results tomorrow, up in anticipation or because they'll be good?

both hopefully !- expected to be inline though.

I would say so, think the divi is the deal breaker, if they still don't announce one, may fade for a while, if they do will push on quickly imo.

If they announce a divi then 60p + is on the cards, but no Divi & back to 45p.

Well that's a disappointment, jam tomorrow - again

eh- looks good to me!?

It may be jam tomorrow, but they have actually got the jam to give, they can repay the pension blackhole over time(which company hasn't got a black hole, Costain's aint the biggest ever).

eps of 6.7p is the bottom line, divi will be restored and everything looks pretty rosie, if it didn't they would be down, I'd be happy with flat-1p rise today with a steady climb to 60p, thats the minmum they should be with these results, divi was the cherry on a very iced cake!!

agree ellio- flat or just up is good. you can deliver impressive results and still be down. but usually the case the share has had a good run to results where cost has been pretty flat. growth is encouraging!.

54p resistance, if we walk that 60p here we come, need to check their peer group but 12x is about average, 70p is fair price for cost, 80p still good value and 100p is generous on forward eps of 8p, the facts are there!