Updates

Ask Central - Thrashing pizza express

June 2002

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.

Ask Central, the pizza and pasta operator, produced blistering results against a backdrop of tough trading for most restaurant operators, even outgunning the likes of Pizza Express. For the year to 31 December 2001, pretaxprofit rose 30% to Â£13.6m, while diluted earnings increased 28% to11.2p. In spite of a rise in labour costs (caused by lastOctober's minimum wage), an increase in infrastructure set-up costs atZizzi (Ask's second brand) and the Â£150,000 cost of convertingtwo less successful Ask's into the Zizzi format, operating marginsstill held steady at 17.3%. This reflects the continuingbenefits of a youngish estate beginning to mature. Lastyear, Ask op ...

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Tribal Group - Opens up new leg in healthcare outsourcing

Game - Broker sets 200p share price target

Ask Central - TDR Capital bids 220p (March 2004)

Ask Central - Receives offer from City Centre (February 2004)

Ask Central - In takeover talks (December 2003)

Ask Central - Beats expectations again (October 2003)

Ask Central - Strong buoyant candidate (June 2003)

Ask Central - Undeserved discount to Pizza Express (April 2003)

ASK Central (March 2003)

Ask Central (October 2002)

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.

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