Updates

WSP

April 2007

Investing in shares may lose you all or some of your money. Past performance is no indication of future performance. Some of the shares recommended here may be small company shares, which can be relatively illiquid and hard to trade and this makes such shares more risky than other investments.

Given that engineering consultancy firm WSP’s final results showed earnings beating forecasts by 11% and hitting 2007 numbers a year early, it was hardly surprising to see the shares surging to a new high of 680p. Even now they remain 174p higher than our main recommendation price last December. In the year ended 31 December, earnings rose 42% to 31p while pretax profit climbed 33% to £26.4m. Turnover rose 20% to £449m. In spite of £13m spent on acquisitions, net debt only increased £3m to £34.9m, while debt facilities of £100m allow plenty of firepower for more deals. Of particular encouragement was the 21% growth in the order book to £700m. All three divisions performed we ...

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Southern Cross - Blackstone exit triggers re-rating

Hill & Smith - Increases Zincinvent stake

WSP - Adverse outlook; time to sell (August 2008)

WSP - On the cusp of new upward leg (May 2008)

WSP - Prospective PE just 10.4 (February 2008)

WSP (January 2008)

WSP (November 2007)

WSP - Environmental consultancy side going great guns (October 2007)

WSP (August 2007)

WSP - Market conditions remain strong (June 2007)

WSP - Order book strengthening (February 2007)

WSP - New joint venture in India (January 2007)

WSP - Acquisitive engineering consultancy with strong growth record (December 2006)

With small companies there is an above average degree of risk compared to buying blue chips. Please be aware that we have not assessed the suitability of any of these investments for you. The newsletter simply states a personal view and diarises the editor’s investment decisions. Please speak to your stockbroker or other qualified individual to ascertain whether any of these companies mentioned would form useful additions to your own portfolios. Past performance is no indication of future success.

All material on this website is protected by copyright. You may use Information retrieved from the www.scsw.co.uk website for your own personal non-commercial use which means that you may not sell or copy this information to any third party without prior written consent. ISSN 1358-183X

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