Investment Thoughts

See the "Introduction" page for a description of what this site is about. Recent updates are shown below.

04/02/10 Alumasc (ALU) - Resilient interim results followed by modest director buying.

02/02/10 Maxima Holdings (MXM) - Belatedly updated following encouraging interim results announced today.

31/01/10 Comparative price charts for several GARP shares covered on this site. See the menu for access.

29/01/10 T Clarke (CTO) - Resilient trading statement. FY results will be slightly ahead of expectations.

28/01/10 Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) - New entry. Vetinary products and services. A classic GARP share.

24/01/10 Microfocus (MCRO) - New entry. Software and computer services. Enterprise application management solutions.

21/01/10 NCC Group (NCC) - Software & computer services. Resumption of coverage after interim results. Continued solid growth.

19/01/10 SDL International - New entry. Software for creation and service of multilingual web sites.

18/01/10 Norman Hay (HNN) - £6.6m contract with Rolls Royce.

18/01/10 Pressure Technologies (PRES) - Belated update of 2009 results to 3rd Oct 2009.

12/01/10 Havelock Europa (HVE) - profit warning due to effects of bad weather and other issues. Price down 30% by 9.30am.

11/01/10 Price and forecast updates - SFR, STAF.

11/01/10 Maxima Holdings (MXM) - Resumption of coverage. Interims due on 2nd February.

10/01/10 Price and forecast updates for JHD, IMG, DSG, ALU, BMS and GBG.

09/01/10 Havelock Europa (HVE) - New entry. Design, manufacture & installation of education and retail interiors.

08/01/10 HMV - tables updated since cash offer for MAMA. Prospective yield now 8.0%.

05/01/10 Interserve (IRV) - New entry. Construction services company.

02/01/10 Communisis (CMS) - updated comment on recent director buying and current price/sales ratio.

01/01/10 Imagination Technologies (IMG) - Belated update on interims announced on 09/12/09.

21/12/09 Goodwin (GDWN) - Resilient interim results. Highest margin in any half for 5 years at least.

20/12/09 Banks - a comparison of current price to book and price to tangible book values.

17/12/09 HMV Group (HMV) - New entry. Recent interim results. Current yield 7.7%.

16/12/09 Group NBT (NBT) - New entry. Domain name management and associated services.

11/12/09 Hallin Marine (HMS) - Recommended takeover for cash. 80% premium.

11/12/09 SQS Software (SQS) - New entry. Software testing and management services.

10/12/09 MBL Group (MBL) - Excellent interim results

07/12/09 James Halstead (JHD) - Resumed coverage after an excellent TMF post by WCB100.

26/11/09 MS International (MSI) - Interim results OK in circumstances but Forging have deteriorated further. Share price up 4%.

26/11/09 Renew Holdings (RNWH) - Encouraging prelims. Dividend maintained. 8% yield.

25/11/09 GB Group - Interims. Very poor results but director buying next day.

25/11/09 Torotrak (TRK) - Interim results

21/11/09 PZ Cussons (PZC) - New entry. Cleaning fluids, detergents, toiletries. Good brands. Strong emerging market exposure.

20/11/09 Staffline (STAF) - Positive trading statement. Shares up 17.5% in early trading.

13/11/09 Communisis (CMS) - Link to a superb forward looking analysis by JTCod on ADVFN

12/11/09 Aveva (AVV) - Interim report. Cautious comment but results look strong compared to forecasts for current year.

10/11/09 Kewill (KWL) - Interim report

10/11/09 Printing.com (PDC) - Interim report and £7.5m placing

09/11/09 Noble Investments (NBL) - Preliminary results

09/11/09 Umeco (UMC) - Interim results

03/11/09 MBL Group (MUBL) - New entry. Distributor of boxed music and other entertainment products.

28/10/09 Tikit (TIK) - New entry. Software company for law and accountancy firms.

27/10/09 Braemar Shipping (BMS) - Interim results satisfactory. Price up over 4% mid-morning.

25/10/09 Work Group (WORK) - New entry. One for the patient? Note the spread!

19/10/09 Senior (SNR) - Positive interim managment statement.

19/10/09 Prezzo (PRZ) - New entry. Italian restaurant chain. Prudently managed. Expansion potential.

19/10/09 Vislink (VLK) - New entry. Design, manufacture & installation of video and data equipment, primarily for TV reporting in difficult enviroments.

16/10/09 OMG (OMG) - New entry. Bluish sky tech company. Looks promising.

13/10/09 Staffline (STAF) - New entry. Unusual recruitment service. 6% well covered yield and low p/e.

11/10/09 Kewill (KWL) - New entry. Logistics software. Well established tech growth stock.

10/10/09 Matchtech (MTEC) - Preliminary results. New entry. High income stock.

07/10/09 Proactis (PHD) - Preliminary results. Very satisfactory.

03/10/09 GB Group (GBG) - New entry. Software for identity verification and associated services.

29/09/09 Communisis (CMS) - New entry. Printing services. High prospective yield but risky.

28/09/09 Dillistone (DSG) - New entry. Resilient software company for executive recruitment. 8.1% prospective yield. Interims last week.

25/09/09 Norman Hay (HNN) - Interim results.

21/09/09 Alumasc (ALU) - New entry. Preliminary results. 8.5% prospective yield but barely covered.

19/09/09 HMV Group (HMV) - New entry. 7% yield and seems to be progressing in spite of sector and wider economic headwinds.

17/09/09 Printing.com (PDC) - New entry. 9.6% dividend forecast is barely covered but indications are that it will be maintained.

15/09/09 Hallin Marine Subsea (HMS) - Interim results.

14/09/09 Kentz (KENZ) - Interim results to 30th June.

13/09/09 Anglo Gold (AGLD) - Results for year to 30/06/09.

11/09/09 MS International (MSI) - updated after receipt of annual report. In H2, Forgings and Petrol Forecourts contributed virtually zero profit.

08/09/09 Stadium (SDM) - Interim results.

08/09/09 Mount Engineering (MOU) - New entry. Yorkshire Industrial engineer.

07/09/09 Renew Holdings (RNWH) - New entry. Construction group with a yield of 8%.

05/09/09 Soco (SIA) - Interim results to 30 June 2009. Cash flow belatedly updated. Cash burn has almost been stemmed.

05/09/09 Braemar Shipping Services (BMS) - New entry. Shipping broker with ancilliary services. Healthy looking charts.

03/09/09 Hellenic Carriers (HLC) - New entry. Bulk shipping carrier. Forecasts are mostly from SteMiS. Those from Hemscott and Digital Look are either out of date or suspect.

28/08/09 Hallin Marine Subsea (HMS) - New entry. O&G services sector.

27/08/09 Kentz (KENZ) - New entry. Engineering and construction group. Services O&G sector. Strong presence in Middle East and Africa.

27/08/09 Clarkson (CKN) - Encouraging interim results to 30th June.

26/08/09 Lamprell (LAM) - Interim results to 30/06/09.

23/08/09 Severfield-Rowen (SFR) - Half year results to 30th June2009.

21/08/09 Goodwin - (GDWN) - Full year results to 30th April 09.

21/08/09 Clarke (CTO) - Interim results. (updated again on 25/08/09) after share price increases)

19/08/09 Autonomy (AU.) - New entry. FTSE100 growth tech stock. Reporting is rather hyped with excessive detail. Profit 'adjustments' are generous but valuations not as astronomic as in the past. Q3 expected to be relatively weak as usual.

15/08/09 ATH Resources (ATH) - New entry. 10% prospective yield but with more than average risk.

12/08/09 Balfour Beatty (BBY) - Interim results. Resilient.

11/08/09 Hansard Global (HSD) - New entry. Isle of Man life insurance company. High yielder.

10/08/09 Morgan Sindall (MGNS) - Interim results. Confident of meeting full-year expectations. 7% dividend yield currently.

07/08/09 Stanley Gibbons (SGI) - Interim results. Strong philatelic results; other sections poor. Looks just about on track to meet current forecasts.

06/08/09 Umeco (UMC) - New entry. Dividend yield of over 8%, covered 2.2 times by forecast earnings.

04/08/09 Weir (WEIR) - Interim results. Strong results. Full year guidance raised.

03/08/09 Senior (SNR) - Interim results. Very strong in the circumstances with an encouraging outlook.

31/07/09 Keller (KLR) - Interim results. Dividend increased by 5%. Full year expectations retained.

30/06/09 Charter (CHTR) - interim results. Well received by market.

29/07/09 Bodycote (BOY) - Interims inline with recent trading statement. Dividend unchanged. Share price up 5.4% on the day.

09/07/09 MS International (MSI) - Belated update of prelims issued on 17/06/09

25/06/09 D S Smith (SMDS) - Preliminary results

24/06/09 Imagination Technologies (IMG) - Excellent full year results. Share price up 34% on the day.

24/06/09 AT Communications (ATCG) - Shares suspended. Looks like the end of the road.

08/06/09 Pressure Technologies (PRES) - Interim results. Roughly inline but £4m hoped for order for 2010 in SE Asia has been lost. See the PRES page for a report on presentation to private investors by John Hayward CEO on Monday 15th June in Beckenham.

29/05/09 VP (VP.) - Prelim results.

26/05/09 Aveva (AVV) - Prelim earnings slightly below consensus but revenue ahead. Positive press comment. Price up 27% during 4 days following.

26/05/09 Interims for Holidaybreak (HBR) in line with management expectations.

13/05/09 AT Communications (ATCG) - further update plus Cenkos research note.

12/05/09 Dana (DNX) - Belated update of preliminary results announced on 30/03/09. Also details of Bow Valley acquisition, completed 30/04/09.

10/05/09 Lamprell (LAM) - Summary page and forecasts updated

09/05/09 Severfield-Rowen (SFR) - update with post-results forecasts.

09/05/09 AT Communications (ATCG) - update includes latest Cenkos forecasts for continuing businesses.

08/05/09 T Clarke (CTO) - agm statement, "positive start to the year".

30/04/09 Noble Investments (NBL) - strong interim results to 28/02/09.

29/04/09 Stanley Gibbons (SGI) - positive trading statement at AGM for Q1.

29/04/09 Fenner (FENR) - Interim results. Dividend maintained.

22/04/09 Senior (SNR) - Encouraging AGM statement. Q1 inline with expectations.

15/04/09 AT Communications (ATCG) - Preliminary results.

10/04/09 Norman Hay (HNN) - Preliminary results for year to 31/12/08.

07/04/09 Proactis (PHD) - Interim report. Solid results. Cost cut by 24%.

30/03/09 Lamprell (LAM) - Prelims. Divi cut. Order book reasonable but dwindling.

26/03/09 D S Smith (SMDS) - charts updated (no recent reports),

25/03/09 Severfield Rowen - Record results for 2008. Dividend maintained. Debt cut from £48m to £16m. Cautious but reasonable outlook.

20/03/09 Stanley Gibbons (SGI) - Unexciting results. Inventories up by £4.6m. Net cash down from £3m to £0.5m. Nevertheless, up 7.3% on the day.

19/03/09 T Clarke (CTO) - Very strong prelims, especially cash flow. Late cycle operator in construction sector but well positioned to weather the storm.

16/03/09 Clarkson (CKN) - Prelims. Very strong results and increased dividend but cautious about the immediate future.

16/03/09 TT Electronics (TTG) - Prelims - not very encouraging.

14/03/09 BG Group (BG.) - Just noticed that I overlooked their full year results announce on 5th February. Now updated.

13/03/09 Four of my holdings report next week; CKN and TTG on Monday, CTO on Thursday and SGI on Friday.

10/03/09 Weir (WEIR) - Record prelim results and strong order book. Cautious outlook.

10/03/09 SOCO (SIA) - Prelim results. Charts are limited to cash flow and funding at present. Awaiting meaningful forecasts for revenue and profit.

04/03/09 Stadium (SDM) - Prelims to 31/12/08. Dividend cut.

03/03/09 Senior (SNR) announced prelims yesterday. I like the look of them in spite of high gearing, pension deficit and exposure to auto industry! Full year charts have been uploaded. Fairly extensive comment is on the Summary sheet of performance charts.

03/03/09 Keller (KLR) also announced prelims yesterday. Excellent results. Company cautious about outlook (as usual).

27/02/09 Charter International (CHTR) - Preliminary results out today. They are thoroughly satisfactory in the circumstances, although the pension deficit has significantly increased. Share price is up 12.5% on a market down day.

26/02/09 Bodycote (BOY) - Preliminary results. Well received.

24/02/09 Morgan Sindall (MGNS) - Prelim results met expectations. Strong forward order book. Yield of well over 8% looks safe.

12/02/09 Holders Technology (HDT) - Prelim results released yesterday. Hard times predicted.

11/02/09 Clarkson (CKN) - now researched and uploaded. Exceptionally high cash conversion. High yield. Net cash.

10/02/09 Umeco (UMC) - Continuing the high yield theme. The outcome of this analysis and that of Melrose below demonstrates the importance of looking beyond dividend yield and cover. One swallows cash (UMC). The other has very high debt to ebitda and low interest cover.

08/02/09 Melrose (MRO). A difficult one to unravel from accounts due to corporate activity. Another high yielder of around 10%.

07/02/09 VP (VP.) New entrant (on watch).

06/02/09 Fenner (FENR) is another high yielding new entry. Significant debt but is well within financial covenants.

04/02/09 LAM now researched and uploaded.

01/02/09 Preliminary pages for Clarkson (CKN) and Lamprell (LAM). High yielding companies with no debt and well covered high yields.

21/01/09 Chemring (CHG) - Prelim results inline with expectations.

18/01/09 Morgan Sindall (MGNS). New entrant.