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Penny Share Review 149

Monday 09 September 2002

The Weekend's Comments

Saturday's Guardian noted that Bula Resources (BUS.L) Chairman Albert Reynolds was likely to be ousted at today's AGM. Shareholders apparently have no faith in his ability to move the Company forward by clinching a deal in Libya it has been chasing for two years and save the Company being permanently delisted in October. Today's Independent adds that there is also likely to be questions about a £1m refundable deposit, which was paid to secure a production contract in Bahrain but has not been returned even though no output agreement has resulted. The shares are suspended pending clarification.

The Sunday Express' 'One to watch' column features Fulcrum Pharma (FUL). It notes, "(Fulcrum) has strong management and is said to be turning leads into business. Shares trading on a lowly six times this year's earnings appear stimulating at 9.75p." The shares were trading up 1.75p to 11.375p from Friday's close.

Mears Group (MER) features in Saturday's Daily Express, in its 'Broker Buys' section. Eden Group, a new company born out of Kyte Securities, rates the shares as 'undervalued' as there remains plenty of growth potential. At 11.35, the shares were up 0.5p to 78p from Friday's close.

A great deal of late has been made of the trend of director buying and how this signifies value in the stock market. Last week Offshore Telecom's (OST.L) directors went on a spate of share buying. On Thursday it was announced that non-executive director Keith Mills bought 2.25m shares while Pat Roberts, another non-executive director increased his stake to 5.08% by purchasing 250,000 shares. Saturday's Guardian picked up on the latter of these transactions. The shares at 11.36 were unchanged from Friday's close.

The Sunday Express reports on new information about Sportsworld Media(SWD) that reveals that the chief executive of the Company's Australian division, Michael Gower was concerned about the trading situation last October and the Group needed to "take a reality check." An Email sent by Gower at the time is quoted in the newspaper and he is reported to have said, "We burnt over three-quarters of a million pounds in quarter one. Our forecasting (as demonstrated by these results) sucks!" The email showed that in the first quarter of 2001 four of the Group's five subsidiaries were losing money. He also questioned the rationale of keeping the TV production business as it cost more money to make programmes than they were eventually sold for and wondered when the pay back would be. The newspaper adds that the FSA is still investigating the way in which the Company told the market of its deteriorating financial performance in February. The Company is in receivership.

Today's Announcements

The following companies, in which City Equities customers may have an interest, released announcements to the market this morning. These can be found by entering the relevant company name or ticker code in the search box on this site.

Cambridge Mineral Resources (CMR) - Directorate Change.
Incepta (ITA.L) - Directorate Change.
Symphony Plastic Technologies (SYM) - Notice of Results.
TransEDA (TRA.L) - Final Results.
Zipcom (ZIP) - Re Contract.

Look Out For This Week

9 Sept - TransEDA (Final results), UK Retail Sales (Aug), Trade Data (Jul)
10 Sept - Advanced Medical Solutions (Interims), Maverick Entertainment Group (Interims)
11 Sept - US Retail Sales (Aug), Michigan consumer sentiment (Sept)
12 Sept - Ennstone (Interims)
13 Sept - No data scheduled.

Compiled by Andrew McLintock