From the same tipster who gave YOO and BOND from the last two Fridays and a whole host of other Friday afternoon winners. get in now quick to avoid the herd but DYOR.




GF.

Come right back to 2p up from being 8p down. Get in now before the city crowd arrive back at 2.30pm from extended lunch breakes.

Shares tightly held and will only take a few more buys to push this one a lot higher.

gf.

Gooch & Housego makes its plan for an exciting future


Gooch & Housego
Business Summary
Manufacturer of Acousto-Optic, Electro-Optic and light instrumentation devices and crystals.

Market: AIM
Website: www.goochandhousego.com



Gooch & Housego is a serious technology company. It specialises in acousto-optics, birefringent optics and that kind of stuff. The common theme is components to manipulate light. It has a new chief executive, Gareth Jones, who used to be the managing director, left G & H to become a venture capitalist, and has now returned, with a freer hand, to take the company forward again. He has an excellent business with an international presence as the base for his ambitions. I suspect he is going to be very successful.


Much of G & H's technology is complicated. The company went to great pains to explain it to me in terms that a non-expert might be able to understand. However after an hour of trying to get my deplorably unscientific brain around such concepts as acousto-optic Q-switches and growing crystals for ICF research, they effectively said – forget all that, these Q-switches are boringly mature products, what we are really planning is to develop a whole load of even more complex new higher-valued-added products based on our amazing technology and take the world by storm with them.


Two-fold case for investing in the shares.

The case for investing in Gooch & Housego is therefore twofold. First, the shares look solid value based on their existing product line up. The historic PE is 18.9 falling to 14.5 on the forecast for the year ending this September. The company is a world leader in its field with commanding market shares for its niche products. Second is the prospect of a more exciting future based on new products. This is an extension of what was achieved in the past when the group added more complex higher-margin products like the Q-switches to its original core expertise in producing very high grade glass- and crystal-based optical products for its commercial customers. Gareth Jones played a major role in this earlier transition through having overall responsibility for research and development.

One reason for believing the company is going to deliver on what is as yet mainly a statement of intent is the changes that have taken place in the group structure. Gareth Jones was appointed chief executive on 11 December 2002. At the same time professor Chris Pannell, an expert in optics, opto-electronics and fibre optics, was appointed group chief scientist with a brief to develop new products and technologies. Further signalling the sense of a major changing of the guard founder, Archie Gooch, moved to a non-executive role as chairman after more than 50 years in the business.


Steady recovery from tough 2002
Even without the prospect of exciting new products, the outlook for the group is improving. Last year (to 30 September 2002) was a tough year. The group issued a profit warning in March 2002 when it became clear that the downturn in sales of Q switches and the recessionary trend affecting the US economy would adversely affect results. Recovery was already coming through in the second half helped by lower costs and recovering demand. As a result, the group slightly increased the 2002 dividend even though full-year profits were down 50 per cent on 2001. The latest interim figures show continuing recovery with an 18 per cent increase in pretax profits and sales up 4 per cent.

Indicative of future prospects is the chairman’s comment that although the market could best be described as flat, there are signs that confidence is returning and indications of an upward trend in demand for the group’s products. Parts of the group are already operating close to capacity, so a new factory is to be built to rehouse the UK operations from the existing attractive but Dickensian premises. The latter are likely to be sold for residential use to pay for the new factory.

The group’s principal product, the Q-switch, combines electronic and crystal technology in a way reminiscent of NXT’s surface sound technology. An electrical charge vibrates the crystal which makes a sound. This is used to divert a laser beam passing through the switch. The laser can be switched by the sound at incredible frequency; it can also be stored to multiply the force of the beam manyfold. There are many applications of the technology in fields as varied as research, telecommunications and defence. The group’s markets break down as 50 per cent commercial, 28 per cent research, 16 per cent defence and 6 per cent medical. Out of total sales of 7.3m, 4.5m were in the US and over 1m in the rest of the world outside the UK and Europe.


$15m contract for US nuclear fusion facility
Another important business is growing very large crystals for use in nuclear fusion. Over the next few years the group expects to sell $15m worth of such giant crystals on excellent margins for a huge new nuclear fusion facility in the US. The facility is the size of several aircraft hangers, is costing several billions of dollars to equip and has the capability to test nuclear weapons.

However the company freely admits that its current range of activities, not least because of its dominant share in its niche markets, mean there is limited scope for growth. The plan is to break out of the box by developing new technologies and intellectual property to drive the creation of new higher-value-added products. Buying the shares now is a gamble on their ability to do this. The attraction for buyers is that there is very little in the price for this potential yet, for such a relatively tiny business, the group has great technological expertise and a big presence across a range of disciplines in global markets. It reminds me a little of Renishaw, a highly successful group which has successfully developed a range of products based on its core technology and has grown its market capitalisation from 40m in 1983 to 415m currently.

The Share Weekly Quality Ratings
Relative Strength 10-year Trend Latest Trading Profit Forecast Ratios External factors TSW Rating
6 top of the scale.ENDS

gf.

The Historical chart for GHH.





And now the 6 month recovery chart.






gf.

Well it had a very good day friday, coming from minus 8p to finish up 1p ahead, when the MMs widened the spread it just want practical to buy or sell.

Should see further strength in this one as the week goes on. We may get some early profit taking monday morning.

gf.

And another rise today. Dont forget picked out as share of the week as per above.

gf.

Ah whispers coming from the City that the group are in talks re - to a contract with a large US company. Watch this space.

gf.

Excelent looking TA from Investtech on this company.

http://www.investtech.com/main/market.php?CompanyID=44102307

gf

As per above.



gf.

Moving up again and looking very strong.

gf

edited by moneyam

Jimmy Bond? Goldfinger? Nah! Surely no connection....

Jimmy Bond; if you want to advertise another site feel free to contact our advertising dept.

sales@moneyam.com

Sold as MMs markaed stock up so high and moved the spread because of the tip wasnt worth pursuing.

GF.

Hold recommendation from Growth Company Investorhttp://www.growthcompany.co.uk/recommendations/1051337/gooch-and-housego.thtml

today: "..our financial year has started positively with trading ahead of management expectations in the first four months.."

hmm slightly one sided this thread. anyone still interested in GHH? was listening to what I thought to be a rather interesting interim results Interim Results