Updates

Southern Cross - Portfolio constituent hits six-month high

June 2009

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.

Southern Cross's interim results contained the important news that a key banking covenant (EBITDA of Â£70m for the full year) has been scrapped and the shares celebrated with a new 12 month high of 134p. Results themselves were in line with revenues up 6.9% to Â£461m, EBITDA down 7.5% to Â£28.5m and underlying pretax profit reducing 16% to Â£14.1m. This reflects lower average occupancy of 88.9%, down from 90.4%, due to higher than normal mortality rates over the Christmas period. Average weekly fees rose 4.3% to Â£536, while crucially the group has negotiated local authority fee increases of 2.7% from April this year. Just as important is that the National Minimum Wage (a key part of its cost inflation) will only rise 1.2% t ...

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Peter Hambro Mining

Informa - Rights issue resolves funding concerns

Southern Cross - Fee rises support margins (October 2009)

Southern Cross - With debt concerns almost eliminated the shares look cheap on PE of 4.3 (April 2009)

Southern Cross - Dramatic recovery in finances means care homes operator looks over-sold (March 2009)

Southern Cross (October 2008)

Southern Cross - Shock profit warning (August 2008)

Southern Cross - 5.8% increase in fees (July 2008)

Southern Cross (April 2008)

Southern Cross - Underlying occupancy over 92% (November 2007)

Southern Cross - Divests freehold for Â£30m (October 2007)

Southern Cross (July 2007)

Southern Cross (June 2007)

Southern Cross (May 2007)

Southern Cross - Blackstone exit triggers re-rating (April 2007)

Southern Cross (February 2007)

Southern Cross - Largest provider of care homes exhibits strong demand profile (November 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.

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