Diary

IND - IndigoVision - Finals
IND make CCTV cameras that work over IP (i.e. over a local network). It issued a trading statement today, sending the share price down 19.4%. So, not good. I think it makes an interesting case study, which I want to talk about; probably tomorrow, though.


JD. - JD Sports Fashion - Interims
Intermins out for 26 w/e/ 30/7/2011
Revenues up 14.6%
Gross profit 48.0% against 48.2% comparatives
Operating profits before exceptionals down 12.7% - this was expected
Interim divvie up 7.9%
Acquisitions in Ireland (Champion Sports) and Spain (Sprinter) have continued the international expansion of the Sports Retail concepts.
Gross (i.e. inc VAT) LFL increased by 0.8%, but not a net basis fell by 0.9%.

ADVN sums it up quite well: 

Sports fashion retailer JD was in demand on the FTSE 250 after saying that while like-for-like sales fell by 1.6% in the first half, the group has returned to sales growth in the second half.

In fact, overall, I am impressed by newspapers in their ability to sum things up so succinctly. I tend to waffle too much.

I like this little snippet from the RNS (Regulatory News Service): "The acquisition of 8 Cecil Gee stores, from Msss Bross Group ... We believe that by applying out established merchandising and buying skills and disciplines it will have the opportunity to become a profitable standalone entity." That's an interesting observation: looking through Sharelock Holmes for MOSB (Moss Bros), I see that their operating profits are negative in 6 out of 10 years. So I think what we're saying is that MOSB management are useless, and that they could make a profit if it were only for the fact that someone knew what they were actually doing. I hope that the managment of MOSB aren't being overcompensated for their "achievements".

Share price is up 1.1% against FTAS (FTSE All-Share) down 0.5% at time of writing. It reports on current trading and outlook:

Trading since the period end has continued to improve ... The result for the full year remains very dependent on the sales and margin performance in December and January

PIC - Pace - News item
Pace Americas: "Home Media Center[sic]" (HR34 server hub) will launch in October, enabling DirecTV's multi-room DVR service. There is strong and growing demand for interconnected capabilities in the home. With HR34, all connected devices with the home network have access to stored recordings in the DirecTV Home Media Center. It works over coaxial cable or ethernet. It can deliver up to 5 HD streams around the home. It has 1TB (terabyte - that's 1024GB) storage. Link