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Penny Share Review 446

Monday 23 June 2008

Lombard Risk Management (LRM) appeared in the Saturday Telegraph, which reiterated last week’s news that losses for the year are expected to be substantially below those of the full-year 2007, and an increase to revenues of 25% to £8.7m. There was no movement in the price during early trading today, which stayed 5.625p. The Sunday Telegraph suggested that progress for Mano River Resources (MANA) in the has been hampered by conflict in Sierra Leone and Liberia, but that a level of stability is returning to West Africa, and the Company is ramping up operations. The paper noted diamond recovery from Sierra Leone and that Severstal has been brought in to build on iron ore assets, concluding that it is undoubtedly a risky play, but the potential upside suggests the Company could be worth a punt. The shares were 0.25p ahead at 12.00p following this ‘buy’ advice.

Ben Bland’s section of today’s Daily Telegraph included Meridian Petroleum (MRP), which was recently fined and censured by the London Stock Exchange for breaches of the AIM rules. The paper drew attention to the Company’s large retail shareholder base and noted that many of the problematic releases to the market related to its Calvin field. It went on that the LSE said the Company should have kept the market updated without delay to changes in the operational timetable, given the importance of the project. New CEO Stephen Guttridge, appointed in April 2007, insists the Company has turned a corner since then and the piece suggested there is no reason to doubt him, though concluded that investors that had their ‘fingers burnt’ in this situation may think twice about investing in risky AIM stocks again. The shares remained 10.75p on Monday morning.

The weekend’s Financial Times featured Neutrahealth (NUT) under the headline “…deal may be good medicine”, referring to last week’s Perrigo acquisition. The article reported that the Company now claims to be the biggest vitamins and supplements company after Seven Seas and Holland and Barrett, and the acquisition adds £14.9m to annual revenues. Pointing out that the shares have halved since last year, the piece highlighted the new CEO Ray Myers has options exercisable once the price is at 20p for 10 consecutive days, though the stock was unchanged following this press attention, remaining 7.625p this morning.

Downturn in the share price of Reflec (REF) was noted by Saturday’s Independent, after last week’s Final Results reported a swing into pre-tax losses, though there was no further movement in the price during earlier trading today, which stayed at 15.50p.

Following Final Results from Sound Oil (SOU) last week, Saturday’s Daily Telegraph highlighted narrower losses than a year earlier and drew attention to the Company’s expectation that the change of operatorship on the production sharing contract in Indonesia should accelerate exploration at the site. The share price was unchanged at 3.125p earlier today.

Tanfield (TAN) appeared in The Sunday Telegraph, suggesting the Company is looking to repair relations with the City after criticism for lack of communication, by appointing a tier 1 broker and bringing on a ‘heavyweight Non Executive’. Reportedly, this has been prompted by shareholders unhappiness with the price and the article noted the ‘two way pull’ of supportive investors against hedge funds that are shorting the stock. The shares were 2.00p worse off this morning at 69.00p.

The Independent today included an article on VYKE Communications (VYKE), which provided an overviewed of the business and reported that broker Charles Stanley says the price will reach 200p. Results are due tomorrow and the piece concluded, “tomorrow’s numbers should look good, helping Vyke to cement its already strong institutional following”. The shares were 71.00p during Monday morning’s trading, showing no change.

Prices above were taken at around 10:50am on Monday, 23 June 2008.

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.

ADDleisure (ADE): PruHealth Extends Contract with Fitbug.

Central China Goldfields (GGG): Employee Recognition.

Empyrean Energy (EME): Sugarloaf Block B Update.

Galleon Holdings (GON): Show Syndicated in Shanghai.

IDOX (IDOX): Interim Results.

Irvine Energy (IVE): Operations Update in Kansas.

Lonrho (LONR): Director Appointment.

Pentagon Protection (PPR): Interim Results and Issue of Equity.

Plant Impact (PIM): Final Results.

Surgical Innovations (SUN): Director Shareholding.

ValiRx (VAL): Notice of Results.

Virotec International (VTI): AIM Suspension.

Look out for this week

Monday, 23 June – Results from IDOX (IDOX), Pentagon Protection (PPR) and Plant Impact (PIM). Rightmove House Price Index (June).

Tuesday, 24 June – Results from VYKE Communications (VYKE). BBA Mortgage Lending Data.

Wednesday, 25 June – Surgical Innovations (SUN) AGM. UK CBI Distributive Trades Survey (June).

Thursday, 26 June – Business Direct Group (BDG) and Empyrean Energy (EME) AGM. Hardide (HDD) EGM. UK Business Investment (Q1).

Friday, 27 June – Essentially Group (ESN) AGM. UK Final GDP (Q1).

The next Penny Share Review will be posted on Monday, 30 June 2008.

Compiled by Chris Richards.

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