Primary Recommendation

Ask Central - Strong buoyant candidate

June 2003

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.

At a time when venture capitalists are running their slide rules acrossalmost every consumer franchise that seemingly offers a quick payback, the recent take over of Pizza Express has triggered the start of a re-rating in the shares of its rival, Ask Central. Ask has all theattributes that make it an attractive target, with its ungeared balancesheet and strong and stable cashflows, well supported by its reputationfor delivering good food at value-for-money prices. Given its aggressive expansion plan and the fact that it still has plenty of roomto grow, with only 145 restaurants in the UK, compared to over 320 at Pizza Express, the recent outperformance of the shares looks set to continue. Broker, Arbuthnot, is forecasting ...

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Sectors on the move - June

Unite Group - Fast growing student landlord

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 - Undeserved discount to Pizza Express (April 2003)

ASK Central (March 2003)

Ask Central (October 2002)

Ask Central - Thrashing pizza express (June 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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