I know it's not the sexiest of sectors, but do any of the technical chartists here think this represents a testing of a significant resistance?
The MDAs seem to offer support. It looks to me like if it could break that line, then a potential line of resistance at about 336 there will be serious upside to follow.
Can this go places?

Red:25 DMA
Green:50 DMA

LISTEN: St. Ives (SIV) - Preliminary results for the 53 weeks ended 2 August 2013

Click here

Two substantial Director buys on Wednesday which I missed. Shows confidence. There's only one reason for buying shares. Looks as though I will have to hold on to mine for a while longer.

IMS today - ex dividend tomorrow 4.50p

Numis Buy 202.63 197.50 252.00 252.00 Retains

Half Yearly Report

Group Financial Highlights

· Underlying* Group revenue of £164.8m (2013: £161.7m)
· Marketing Services revenue up 50.0% to £46.7m (2013: £31.1m)
· Underlying* profit before tax up 13.1% to £12.9m (2013**: £11.4m)
· Profit before tax of £6.2m (2013**: £1.2m)
· Basic underlying* earnings per share up 13.0% to 8.10p (2013**: 7.17p)
· Interim dividend raised by 7.5% to 2.15p per share (2013: 2.0p per share)
· Strong balance sheet with net debt at 31 January 2014 of £12.4m (2 August 2013: £15.2m)
* Non-underlying items comprise: restructuring costs; provision releases; operating results of non-continuing sites; net profit on disposal of property, plant and equipment; profit on disposal of subsidiary; acquisition costs; consideration required to be treated as remuneration; amortisation of acquired intangibles; and other one-off items.
** IAS 19 (revised) 'Employee benefits' has been adopted for 2014 and the 2013 comparatives have been restated accordingly.
Operational Highlights

· Continued success in implementing the strategic repositioning of the Group
· Marketing Services segment generated 35% of underlying Group operating profit - on target to contribute over half of Group underlying operating profit by 2016
· Acquisition of Realise further strengthens the digital strand of our marketing services offering
· 2013 acquisitions of Amaze and Branded3 integrated well and on plan
· Print Services segment major restructuring now complete and overall level of profitability maintained
· Our market-leading Books business benefited from investment in new digital printing equipment

Commenting on the results, Patrick Martell, Chief Executive of St Ives, said:

"We are very pleased to report another strong set of results, with further progress in our strategy of building a broadly-based marketing services offering whilst moving away from the commoditised print markets. Having successfully completed the restructuring within our Print Services segment, we are continuing to build and strengthen our digital and data offering in Marketing Services, highlighted by the acquisition of Realise earlier this month.

With the UK economy showing further signs of recovery and consumer confidence improving, we remain confident that the Group is well positioned to make further progress in the full year."

We have a seller then. I hope that the RNS means that they have finished selling for now. If they are really intent in selling their stake, they still have over 8% of the company to play with. That could hold us back a while.

Looking at the chart, it seems reasonable for them to take a few off of the table.

I need to do the same myself, Skinny. But can't do anything until the new tax year. I have several candidates for a small haircut.

I'm out. Finally sold the balance of my holding today ex-div. It has been a very profitable hold and I am sorry to see them go, but I have other fish to fry. Good luck to all holders.

WARNING

SIV 124.50p -100.75p (-44.73%)

Revenue is up but profit is horribly down:

Despite a strong performance overall in the year to date, the combination of factors outlined above lead the Board to conclude that the Group's underlying profit before tax for the current financial year is likely to be materially below management's current expectations.

As it is normal brokers join to bring the share price lower .......

10.37am - Numis Slashes St Ives Forecasts After Profit Warning

Some large sells this afternoon 250K, 200K and 250K has got the share moving south and moving under the 120p low of the day
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Read Arden Partners's note on ST IVES, out this morning, by visiting https://www.research-tree.com/company/GB0007689002

"The sensitivity to global marketing budgets combined with the negative headwinds in Marketing Activation and contracting returns within Books have resulted in a 20% cut in our FY17 earnings forecast. We anticipate the group will look to maintain DPS at 7.9p which still affords a reasonable cover above 2x. Whilst the yield may, therefore provide some support, the shock value of a revision to the Strategic Marketing business has undermined confidence in the investment case. Consequently we anticipate the shares will remain subdued short term and feel the price reaction this morning is justified. ..."

KEEP an EYE @ 120.75p

After yesterday's large drop looks ready for the bounce. Order book getting strong on the bid side. Latest broker update reduces EPS forecast for 2015/16 from 21.0p to 16.8p but that is a PE of 6, the shares are worth short term 150 to 170p.

Paying premium for large size 15K offer was 127.50p

10:41:10
128.0497p
15,375

Lunch time pause after the profit taking or retracement provoke as usual by MMs interfering on the order book.

Intraday retracement at the moment 38.2% spread 125 v 126p
That is a normal intraday Fibonacci retracement after a large rise

Order book is slowly getting strong again on the bid side, so soon will move up again

Yesterday's Talk after the warning FT Alphaville Peel Hunt can walk us through it. The company led with a cautious statement at the interims. The
disruption to marketing booking patterns referred to then has
accelerated in the final part of the year. This has impacted both
the legacy business (not unexpected) but also the Strategic
Marketing operations (which the market will be disappointed to
see). This combined with a process of destocking in books results
in reductions in expectation across all three division. Forecasts
will reduce by 20% for this year and next. The speed at which
fortunes have reversed will disappoint the market, with an
assumption that more pressure will come. We place our target
price and recommendation under review.

Books: The books division is seeing the headwinds of warehousing
reorganisation and a broader destocking. Moreover, the complexity of the PRH
work is greater than expected, and some export work is being lost. Whilst it is
logical to think these issues are one-off in nature and should work through, a level
of uncertainty will remain. There is considerable margin pressure as a result.
Marketing activation: The market will have expected ongoing pressure from the
UK grocery market. Forecasts here had been trimmed in recent months. There
have, however, been significant contract cancellations that have exacerbated the
trend. It is hard to see this issue as a one-off in the same way as the book
destocking.
Strategic marketing: Here the market will be more discomforted. The
previously very strong trends that had more than offset the issues in legacy
businesses have given way to some material contract cancellation. Whilst each
cancellation may have a specific cause, the coincidence of timing is disquieting.
The positive messages from November (clear evidence of collaboration and
benefit, so common ownership) will be tested in these more difficult
circumstance.
Impact on forecasts: The greatest pressure will be seen in Books (profit down a
third), with strategic marketing down just over 10%. Revenue for the full year
will be c£362m vs £372.4m current forecast. EBIT, however, will fall by £7m to
£33m, giving PBT of c£30m (from £37.2m). EPS of 16.8p vs 21.1p. In FY2017,
PBT will be nearer £32m from £41m, giving EPS of c17.3p.
Recommendation: We reduced our recommendation from Buy to Add when the
first cautious statement was issued in the interims. The subsequent fund raising at
215p, which was well supported, will not be forgotten. The broad-based nature
of the warning – with work lost across all divisions – will unsettle the market
more than a single one-off problem. As such, marginal buyers will now take some
time to be convinced this cycle has ended rather than just begun. The reasons we
liked the story before today remain intact, but we anticipate that the execution
will now take longer to validate. TP and recommendation under review.

Numis new forecasts.

Strategic Marketing. Although organic growth has been +15% ytd, the group has experienced greater caution in marketing budgets and has suffered the cancellation and deferral of a number of significant projects. We lower our EBITA forecasts by £3.6m to £20.2m in FY16 and £3.3m to £24.0m in 2017. We view the project deferrals to be a short term issue and expect the division to rebuild over the next 12-18m.
Marketing Activation. Trading conditions in the grocery retail sector have ‘worsened’ leading to revenue and margin pressure. We lower our EBITA forecasts by £2.0m to £8.0m for FY16 and £3.5m to £6.7m for 2017.
Books. Despite securing the PRH contract, St Ives has been impacted by destocking across the market following a reduction in warehouse capacity. We lower our EBITA forecasts by £2.2m to £5.0m for FY16 and by £3.4m to £4.5m in 2017.
Forecasts. We lower our PBT/EPS forecasts by -19% to £30.4m/17.5p (was £38.3m/21.6p) and by -22% to £32.4m/17.8p (£42.5m/23.0p) for 2017. We expect a maintained dividend of 7.80p. We forecast net debt/EBITDA of 2.0x for 2016 and 1.7x for 2017, compared with covenants of 2.50x and 2.25x.
--------------

Why St Ives plc crashed 40% today

Shares in struggling media and print group St Ives (LSE: SIV) slumped by as much as 40% in early trade this morning after the company issued a dire profit warning. Specifically, the company announced today that due to deteriorating market conditions, management expects reported profit for the current financial year will be “materially below” current market expectations. What’s more, management believes that the current trading conditions will also impact the group’s next financial year, indicating that St Ives’ troubles are quite serious.

A severe deterioration in trading

According to today’s press release from the company, trading in the eight months to the beginning of April had been “broadly in line” with expectations with revenue up by 5%. However, trading has deteriorated significantly over the past few weeks and now St Ives’ outlook for the final quarter to end-July and following financial year has worsened. All three of the group’s main trading divisions have suffered during the first four months of 2016. Trading across the Strategic Marketing segment has been hammered by ”global economic uncertainty“, which is “resulting in greater caution in the allocation of marketing budgets“. Uncertainty has only “increased of late, resulting in significant projects being deferred or cancelled.“

Meanwhile, revenue at the group’s Marketing Activation arm is running approximately 11% below the prior year, “due in large part to the ongoing pressures within the UK grocery retail sector“. The Marketing Activation arm is also suffering from margin pressures. And lastly, sales at St Ives’ books business are running slightly behind (-1%) the prior year’s numbers as industry de-stocking has offset a new contract with Penguin Random House.

Gloomy outlook

Today’s profit warning couldn’t have come at a worse time for shareholders as, after nearly a decade of restructuring, the company’s underlying unadjusted profits were expected to stabilise this year. Indeed, City forecasts were up until this morning, predicting that St Ives would report a pre-tax profit of £37.4m for the year ending 31 July. Last year the company reported a pre-tax profit of £8.7m and over the five years between 2011 and 2015 the group only reported unadjusted cumulative pre-tax profits of £49.4m. This explains why the shares have fallen so heavily this morning. Many investors were pinning their hopes on a long-awaited recovery this year. Unfortunately, it now looks as if investors will have to wait another two years for the company’s recovery to gain traction.

Weak balance sheet

Whether or not the group can get back on the path of growth remains to be seen. Almost all of the three main divisions are facing structural headwinds, which is why the company has been trying to rebuild, and diversify its business since the financial crisis. But more importantly, St Ives’ weak balance sheet is going to be a problem for the company and its investors if trading continues to worsen. At the end of January 2016, St Ives had only £14m of cash supporting £96m of long-term debt related to the business and £21m in retirement obligations. Further, intangible assets on the balance sheet amounted to £200m and if you strip these assets out shareholder equity comes in at around -£70m. Put simply, the balance sheet isn’t robust enough to be able to survive a prolonged deterioration in trading without an additional cash infusion.
http://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2016/04/25/why-st-ives-plc-crashed-40-today/

27 Sep Numis Buy 129.25 180.00 180.00 Reiterates

Once more into the breach...

Has double now from the lows last July after the profit warning

Back into these the day before annual numbers. Good / lucky timing or what?

Latest Brokers.

06 Oct Peel Hunt Buy 146.63 175.00 175.00 Reiterates

04 Oct Numis Buy 146.63 180.00 190.00 Retains