It doesn't seem to be the "done thing" to discuss larger companies on these BB's but the news today that UBM is returning 300m to shareholders following its sale of NOP certainly warrants a mention. Are there any other holders out there?

don't expect me to do the research, but i think this company could be worth attention as the world economies start to recover - even UK in due course!

.

UBM PLC (ubm)

Brokers like their BUYS on this stock
and with a forward P/E of just 10.2 to
2012 year end, it looks like a re- rating
could be on the cards.

Results I think tomorrow.

FORECASTS 2011 2012
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Panmure Gordon
24-02-12 BUY 169.00 53.80 28.00 184.00 57.90 30.00
Peel Hunt
23-02-12 BUY 163.03 55.42 27.71 182.42 61.54 30.77
Numis Securities Ltd
21-02-12 ADD 170.00 54.40 26.30 175.00 55.70 27.60
Broker Name Withheld 3
17-02-12 BUY 169.60 54.40 26.00 172.20 55.00 27.00
Singer Capital Markets Ltd
17-02-12 BUY 185.00 60.30 30.00 203.00 66.30 31.40
Investec Securities
07-12-11 BUY 172.27 55.09 27.44 180.88 57.83 28.80
The Royal Bank of Scotland NV
28-11-11 BUY 145.82 52.05 26.20 151.56 54.12 28.03
Arbuthnot Securities
03-11-11 BUY
Altium Securities
18-10-11 BUY 171.10 55.80 26.50 188.10 61.20 29.00
Execution Noble
22-09-11 SELL 54.60 27.20 54.80 28.50

2011 2012
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Consensus 167.00 55.64 27.35 178.29 58.93 29.02

1 Month Change -0.34 -0.24 0.02 -1.33 -0.45 -0.03
3 Month Change 2.97 0.51 0.45 1.31 0.28 0.38


GROWTH
2010 (A) 2011 (E) 2012 (E)

Norm. EPS -7.46% 35.36% 5.92%
DPS 0.00% 13.02% 6.10%

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2010 (A) 2011 (E) 2012 (E)

EBITDA £178.80m £214.82m £225.62m
EBIT £134.60m £181.93m £187.36m
Dividend Yield 4.00% 4.52% 4.80%
Dividend Cover 1.70x 2.03x 2.03x
PER 14.71x 10.86x 10.26x
PEG -1.97f 0.31f 1.73f
Net Asset Value PS -337.14p 201.03p 246.47p

Recently tipped in the IC.

The Investors Chronicle
Tips of the Week:
12 Feb 2012
Tip Bits: Keep buying Avocet Mining, Dairy Crest, UBM and Vodafone

http://bit.ly/sPjaXE

From IG INDEX used as a proxy for shorting,
none in this case. Updaters every 15 mins.

Client Sentiment

LONG 100% of IG clients with open positions in this market expect the price to rise

0% of IG clients with open positions in this market expect the price to fall

Strong Broker Support....

What The Brokers Say

Strong Buy 10
Buy 4
Neutral 5
Sell 0
Strong Sell 0

Total 19

Digital look.

Superb results..smashed concensus broker
forecasts.................

David Levin, UBM's Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"2011 has been a strong year for UBM, with EPS up over 13% to a record 56.8p.
An outstanding performance from our Q4 biennial events capped off a year of
consistent delivery in which all our businesses met or exceeded their targets
for the year. On the back of these results, the Board has declared a final
dividend of 20p, up 1p over 2010, resulting in a record dividend for the year.

Improved margins aswel.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=20120228070000P6C43

Record results in strong biennial year

Results for the year ended 31 December 2011


- Revenues up 9.3% to £972.3m - underlying revenue(a) growth of 7.9%

- Adjusted operating profit(b) up 17.5% at £201.9m

- Margin(c) up to 20.8% from 19.3%

- Fully diluted adjusted EPS(d) up to a record of 56.8p, 6.6p (13.1%) up on
2010

- Full year dividend up to a record of 26.3p, (2010: 25.0p)

- Cash generation from operating activities up 31.7% to £203.7m (100.7% cash
conversion(e))

- Events profits up 44.6% to £135.2m, 62.5% of total excluding corporate costs

- Emerging Markets(f) revenues up 24.4% to £207.1m

- Emerging Markets operating profit up 33.4% to £65.6m representing 30.4% of
total

- £71.2m invested in eight acquisitions

- Debt profile improved with maturities extended, net debt of 2.4x EBITDA

UBM plc
Acquisitions

28 February 2012

UBM plc acquires four tradeshows

Adds three events in Emerging Markets, one serving the Aviation industry

UBM plc today announces that it has acquired outright, or majority equity
stakes in, the following four tradeshows for a total cash consideration of £
19.4m and deferred consideration of up to £4.4m. In 2011 these tradeshows
generated aggregate revenues of approximately £8.5m:

* Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF)

* China International Exhibition & Symposium on Dental Equipment, Technology
& Products (DenTech China)

* Renewable Energy India Expo

* Airport Cities Exhibition & Conference (ACE)

MIFF - UBM plc has acquired outright the MIFF exhibition (www.miff.com.my) on
behalf of UBM Asia from its private owners. Founded in 1995, MIFF is an
export-oriented furniture tradeshow which is held annually in Kuala Lumpur. The
exhibition focuses on office furniture, home furniture and wood furniture,
alongside fittings to furnishing materials. The acquisition of MIFF enhances
UBM's strong position in the furniture exhibition market, complementing
Furniture China in Shanghai, the Index fairs in India and Interiors in the UK.
Over 400 exhibitors attended the 2011 MIFF event, occupying over 30,000 net
square metres and attracting over 20,000 visitors, more than 40% of whom were
from overseas. MIFF's founder will remain with the business following its
acquisition, together with a further 16 employees. In 2011 the event generated
revenues of approximately RM 20m (£4.1m). The business's gross assets as at 30
November 2011 were £5.4m.

DenTech China - UBM plc has signed an agreement to acquire a 70% equity stake
in Shanghai UBM ShowStar Exhibition Co. Ltd., a newly formed joint venture
which owns DenTech China, China's leading dental industry exhibition, from its
private owners. The fifteenth edition of Dentech (www.dentech.com.cn) was held
in October 2011 in Shanghai. The event attracted over 500 exhibitors, who
occupied approximately 12,000 net square metres. The event drew 65,000
visitors, primarily dental professionals, approximately 10% of whom came from
overseas. A symposium was held alongside the exhibition, attracting over 2,600
delegates. Based in Shanghai, the business employs five staff. In 2011 the
business generated revenues of approximately £2.3m. The business's gross assets
as at 31 August 2011 were £2.3m. The transaction is subject to regulatory
approval and is expected to close within the next month.

Renewable Energy India - UBM plc has signed an agreement to acquire the
Renewable Energy India exhibition (www.renewableenergyindiaexpo.com) - India's
leading event in this sector - from the Exhibitions India Group on behalf of
UBM Asia. Launched in 2006, Renewable Energy India is an annual exhibition
which focuses on non-depleting and environmentally-friendly renewable energy
sources such as solar (65% of exhibitors), wind (30% of exhibitors), biomass,
hydro, co-generation and geothermal. The 2011 show was held in August in New
Delhi, attracting 527 exhibitors from 33 countries and occupying over 10,000
net square metres, with over 14,000 trade visitors and conference delegates.
UBM stages similar events in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur: Renewable Energy Asia is
held in co-operation with the Ministry of Energy of Thailand, attracting
visitors from across the ASEAN region; the Green Energy exhibition in Kuala
Lumpur is hosted by Tenaga Nasional, the largest power company in South East
Asia. Renewable Energy India's founder will remain with the business as a
consultant for a period of three years, together with four employees based in
New Delhi. In 2011 Renewable Energy India generated revenues of approximately £
1.4m. As at 12 December 2011 the business's gross assets of the acquired
business were £0.1m.

Airport Cities Expo - UBM plc has acquired Insight Media Limited, which owns
the Airport Cities World Exhibition & Conference ( http://
www.globalairportcities.com/events/airport-cities-2012-april-25-27/
about-airport-cities-2012), from its private owners on behalf of UBM Aviation.
UBM acquired 25% of Insight Media Limited in August 2010 as part of its
acquisition of the Route Development Group. This transaction brings the
remaining 75% of the company's equity into UBM ownership. ACE is a peripatetic
annual event which focuses on airport commercial activities and land use, the
development of Airport Cities and the associated urban planning issues. The
2011 event was held in Memphis, TN and attracted over 600 delegates, 50
exhibitors and 32 sponsors. The 2012 event will take place in Denver on 25-27
April. The event's Managing Director and team of four staff will join UBM
Aviation as employees. In 2011 the event generated revenues of approximately £
0.7m. As at 31 August 2011 the gross assets of the acquired business were £
0.1m.

These acquisitions are expected to exceed UBM's cost of capital criterion in
the first full year of ownership.

David Levin, Chief Executive Officer of UBM plc said:

"These acquisitions build on our well-established strategy of acquiring strong
events that serve structurally growing markets and communities, and
particularly events which operate in growth economies. We see attractive growth
prospects for each of these events and look forward to those prospects being
enhanced as they join the UBM family of events."

- Ends -

Contacts

Media

Peter Bancroft Director of Communications

UPDATE 1-UBM beats expectations, says 2012 started well
28 Feb 2012 - 07:31

(Adds details)

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Britain's UBM beat market expectations with a 13 percent rise in full-year earnings per share after an "outstanding" performance from its events division in the final quarter, and said it had made a good start to 2012.

The events organiser and publisher posted adjusted pretax profit of 177.4 million pounds ($281 million) on revenue of 972.3 million pounds for 2011, resulting in diluted adjusted earnings per share of 56.8 pence.

UBM, which has been reducing the size of its print portfolio to focus on key brands, said on Tuesday that 2012 had started well.

"We anticipate continued underlying growth and a positive performance across the business whilst recognising the continuing uncertainties of the global economy," the company said.

It said it expected underlying growth of between 4 percent and 5 percent in 2012, and its adjusted operating profit margin to exceed the 19.3 percent reported in 2010. The profit margin in 2011 was 20.8 percent.

UBM raised its full-year dividend to a record of 26.3 pence from 25.0 pence in 2010.

Analysts were expecting the group to report pretax profit of 161.6 million pounds on revenue of 968 million pounds, resulting in earnings per share of 54 pence, according to a Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S poll of 22 brokers.

($1 = 0.6313 British pounds)


(Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Rhys Jones)

BRIEF-UBM buys tradeshows in emerging markets and aviation
28 Feb 2012 - 07:12

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - UBM PLC :

* Acquires four tradeshows

* Adds three events in emerging markets, one serving the aviation industry

((London Equities Newsroom; +44 20 7542 7717))

((For more news, please click here [UBM.L]))

BRIEF-UBM full-year earnings up, says 2012 started well
28 Feb 2012 - 07:13

LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - UBM PLC :

* FY revenues up 9.3% to £972.3M

* Fully diluted adjusted EPS(d) up to a record of 56.8P, 6.6P (13.1%) up on

2010

* Full year dividend up to a record of 26.3P, (2010: 25.0P)

* 2012 trading has started well

* Anticipate continued underlying growth and positive performance whilst

recognising uncertainties of economy

((London Equities Newsroom; +44 20 7542 7717))