Kingfisher needs some spark from its electricals

Anite needs to fix acquisitions; Call 'time' on Eldridge Pope

It was very much a tale of two halves at Kingfisher yesterday. The retail group's third-quarter figures showed the DIY division powering away like a jack hammer. But the electrical arm had short-circuited, with profits down at Darty in France and losses increasing in the troubled German operation. Only Comet looked sparky, with profits up thanks to higher margins and the group's attempts to encourage customers to trade up to higher priced items.

Even so the overall impression was positive, with the 16 per cent increase in profits to £180m coming in at the top end of expectations. The shares duly ticked up 5 per cent to 217p.

The main issue is the planned separation of the electricals division, which now looks more complex than hoped. The preferred option of a float on the Paris market looks dead in the water due to falling profits and the state of world stock markets. That leaves a demerger or a sale, which could be messy if the division has to be carved up.

The plan remains to separate the division by May and shareholders may want to wait and see how this process goes before buying in.

This said Kingfisher looks in better shape than for some time. The remaining business will be a pure DIY play with strong market positions, especially with B&Q in the UK. This is a growth sector – as GUS's recent acquisition of Homebase underlines – and DIY also commands a higher stock market rating than electricals. Trading in DIY is good, with like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to 2 November up 5.2 per cent. The integration of Castorama, the French DIY business, is progressing well with £22m of cost savings to come from better buying next year. Stil to come are store makeovers and the integration of the head office.

On SG Securities full-year profit forecasts of around £690m, the shares trade on a forward p/e of 12. That offers good longer term value. But investors may want to wait until spring before committing.

Anite needs to fix acquisitions

The IT consultancy and services group Anite has had a torrid time of late, having to renegotiate a string of acquisitions where earn-out clauses left the company exposed to a raft of extra costs.

As a result, it is still looking for a few finance director. While Anite has renegotiated the bulk of its purchases, it has still to sort out the remaining 22 per cent of its earn-out liabilities.

At least results for the six months to 31 October were in line with expectations. Pre-exceptional pre-tax profits plunged to £8.9m from £14.3m after accounting for a greater R&D spend and restructuring costs.

Accounting for exceptional items including a £13.5m goodwill amortisation charge and a £39m goodwill impairment charge, the group made a pre-tax loss of £43.4m.

But given the tough economic conditions, the company made good progress across the board with the exception of its consultancy operation where profits more than halved to £3.2m.

The situation does appear to be improving and the shares jumped 16 per cent to 25.5p on yesterday's news. But they are unlikely to make more material progress until the remaining acquisitions have been renegotiated and a new finance director appointed.

Assuming full-year profits of £21m the shares trade on a paltry forward p/e of 5. That might look cheap but the continuing uncertainties show you why. Avoid.

Call 'time' on Eldridge Pope

The glory days at Eldridge Pope looked a distant memory yesterday. The disposal of the remaining interests in its Thomas Hardy brewing and packaging business closed the chapter on an illustrious heritage that has been whittled away to leave the Dorset-based company focused solely on pubs.

A disappointing 12 months capped by a worse start to the new financial year left the group looking increasingly vulnerable to a bid. To date, the Pope family, which controls just under a third of the shares in the company, has been reluctant to sell but with trading expected to get tougher before it improves, even they could change their minds.

Profits before exceptional gains from pub sales in the year to September were 6 per cent lower at £6.4m on turnover up 4.5 per cent to £69.6m. With only 119 managed pubs and 55 tenancies, the group lacks critical mass. Although like-for-like sales were down only 1.1 per cent during the year, they fell 4 per cent in the second half. The group's Toad bar chain, which contributes one quarter of group turnover, has been hit by cut-throat competition on the high street, where most of its sites are expensive leaseholds.

With bid speculation already priced into the shares (down 8 per cent at 143.5p), this is one toad that looks unlikely to get the kiss of life from a passing princess anytime soon. Sell.