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News & Tips: Trifast, HSS, Petrofac & more

Equities have rebounded hard
April 20, 2015

Equities have bounced back positively from Friday’s sell off on news of further Chinese stimulus. Click here to find out what The Trader Nicole Elliott thinks of the latest market moves.

IC TIP UPDATES:

Simon Thompson recommendation Trifast (TRI) reports that it continued to trade well through its final quarter of the year to the end of March which means that full year results will be at least ‘at the upper end of market expectations’. We keep our buy rating.

Horizon Discovery (HZD), which specialises in the supply of research tools to the genomics industry, has signed a supply and commercialisation deal with Thermo Fisher Scientific which will market Horizon’s X-Man cell line range. We maintain our buy recommendation.

Sell recommendation Aveva (AVV) says that trading is in line with expectations for the year to March 2015 and that this ‘positively reflects the resilience of the underlying business model’.

KEY STORIES:

Recently floated tool hire business HSS (HSS) has posted strong maiden full year results as a public company. Revenues grew by more than a quarter to £284.6m, of which organic growth accounted for nearly 19 per cent. With margins also edging up, adjusted profits came in 26.7 per cent higher at £71.1m. The company opened up 23 new local stores during the year and has opened a further 13 since the start of 2015, leaving it on track to hit its plan of 50 new openings for the full year.

Oil services and engineering specialist Petrofac (PFC) has been hit by further delays on the Lagan-Tormore gas plant project in Shetland which means the company will likely book another £130m of losses before the contract is complete later this year. At the end of 2014, Petrofac took a £230m hit on the project but at that point management said it expected to recognise no further profits or losses on the project.

London Metric Property (LMP) has announced the sale of the Travis Perkins distribution facility at Brackmills in Berkshire for £14.4m to CBRE Global Investors just 18 months after it was acquired for £9m.

OTHER COMPANY NEWS:

Engine technology specialist Torotrak (TRK) announces that Ford Motor Company has joined its government sponsored project to evaluate the potential of Torotrak’s V-Charge technology in allowing engines to be downsized.

Logistics and e-fulfilment specialist Clipper (CLG) has won a logistics contract with Pep & Co, the soon-to-be-launched high street family fashion and homewares brand which aims to have 50 shops in the UK by the end of August.