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Hercules Property - Bid approach

October 2004

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.

  • Epic Code:
  • HPS
  • Price:
  • 310p
Results for the year ended 30 June were overshadowed by Hercules' revelation that it is in talks regarding a potential offer. This resulted in the shares being marked up to 302.5p, extending the gain to 59.8% from our main tip in October '03. Profit before tax and goodwill was slightly ahead of expectation, up 13% to £9.6m, on sales up 4% to £43.3m, and reflected strong growth in Hercules' insurance and surveying operations.  Adjusted earnings were 35.7p, up 10%. Cashflow plus the proceeds of a small placing earlier this year meant debt declined by £7.9m to £22.7m.  We're guessing the would-be-bidder is Erinaceous, which has been highly acquisitive recently. But given th ...

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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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