Andrews Sykes Share Discussion Threads

[investali] 22/3/2013 07:54

Terrible indeed, i just hate this snow and driving so no work today. Keith tell me you are joking we cannot have this weather for another week! please.

[ignoble] 22/3/2013 07:48

Tks Keith ...terrible flooding in Cornwall also

[keithfox] 22/3/2013 07:45

Charts looking just as cold if not colder, for at least another week (if not longer). Cant remember a colder March.

[ignoble] 19/3/2013 19:46

Maybe Global Warming is for real ...

[keithfox] 19/3/2013 18:26

Yes, I know what you mean. Loads of lambs being born around here, the last lot came out to be greated by a windchill of -10C! Amazingly, they survived. Everything is well behind at the moment and the farmers are suffering yet again as nothing is growing.

[ignoble] 19/3/2013 17:07

If it wasn't for the advantages to Sykes , I could be very hacked off with the ongoing cold ...had enough of it

[keithfox] 19/3/2013 17:02

Latest charts showing cold weather lasting at least until the end of next week. Very cold easterly wind developing and more snow. Not very nice for us but pretty good for asy.

[ignoble] 18/3/2013 17:42

Hopefully we will be able to put these in an ISA after the budget whilst retaining the Inheritance Tax advantage of AIM stocks.
Hold them for 2 years and they fall outside of IHT Liability.
That is my understanding but please DYOR etc.

That is not the reason that I own them as I never invest for tax reasons only invest in a share on merit as I understand it !

[ignoble] 18/3/2013 17:35

Only another 20p or so and Sykes has a market cap of £100 million ...

[ignoble] 18/3/2013 15:49

Hopefully you will get a call !

[keithfox] 18/3/2013 15:20

If they employed me as a forecaster they's do much better!

[ignoble] 16/3/2013 14:01

Tks Jeff ...

[jeff h] 16/3/2013 12:36

Article on Sykes:-

Andrews Sykes plans best delivery routes for rental equipment

Even meteorological scientists find it hard to predict the weather. For a business as seasonal as Andrews Sykes, a UK provider of portable heating and air conditioning units, the weather forecast provides little in the way of forward clarity.

"We keep one eye on the forecasts, so when the country was facing floods [in late 2012], we were as ready as we could be to get our pumps to customers," says Roger Pearson, business systems manager at Andrews Sykes. "But the forecasts are too changeable to plan too far into the future." Where Andrews Sykes can apply a degree of data analysis is in planning its inventory.

The company operates a rental business, so it needs to decide which equipment to lease to which customers tomorrow based on where it is today. "Making sure we send the nearest available item helps us cut down on our fuel bills," explains Pearson.

This means working out the optimum delivery route for thousands of items at locations up and down the UK every day – and quickly.

Andrews Sykes has built its advanced analytics capabilities on IBM's Cognos business intelligence platform. The system pulls in inventory data from the company's applications, and combines it with postcode data and geo-location information from Google Maps.

"What this gives us is the ability to see where all of our assets are, where our clients are, where the equipment has to get to, and the best route there," explains Sykes. "Also, we can look at historical demand, to see how future demand may pan out."

A quirk of history means that Andrews Sykes has been able to get the system running in real time – i.e. data is available for analysis as soon as it is entered into the business applications.

Before implementing the Cognos systems, the company had used an ERP system from a supplier that had gone out of business. It was able to secure the source code of that ERP software under escrow, and could employ the developers that had worked on its implementation.

That allowed it to build a real-time link between the ERP system and Cognos, instead of relying on overnight batch processing. "Usually, we would not have been able to do the real-time analysis that would give us insight into our asset locations," admits Pearson.

The ability to interrogate up-to-date information about its assets is helping to drive up utilisation rates of equipment, ensuring that every asset delivers as much value as possible to the business.

[investali] 15/3/2013 13:50

Thank you Keith so i can look forward to another great british summer.
I find it difficult to believe three months have passed but as you say i have no regrets with my investment here.

Ali.

[keithfox] 14/3/2013 19:50

Yup, a typical British summer is likely i.e. hot or cool, dry or wet....or a bit of all six. Yes, your advice about getting in quick doesn't seem too good 3 months later. Mind you, I don't think you'll have anything to regret.

[investali] 14/3/2013 16:02

Hi guys , looks like we may start to motor. This supposed good news is taking it's time, maybe a false rumour we will see.

Keith are we to get anything resembling a summer this year?

Ali.

[keithfox] 13/3/2013 13:55

The Netherlands and Belgium are expanding, and yes it's been as cold, if not colder, there. Yes, next week is looking very cold as per my post a week ot 2 ago! Not that I'm blowing my own trumpet, I'm just a brilliant weather forecaster. I've picked up another 3500 in the last few weeks as this extended cold weather is excellent news for asy. As I've said before March and April are pretty slow months weatherwise, not hot or cold but this extension of winter hasn't happened in the last 20 yrs or so. The prelims for 2012 should be ok but the statement on current trading will be of much more interest.

[ignoble] 13/3/2013 11:50

Tks Keith ...looks like next week will also be colder than the norm plus I assume that Europe is rather like us weatherwise ...ASY are in Belgium and France to some degree or so I understand reading their website.

[keithfox] 12/3/2013 10:17

They added about £4m to £5m to net assets between June 2011 and June 2012 so at that rate the net assets should be up to nearly £15m at end 2012 and around £17m by end June this year. This cold snap has certainly got off to a good start!

[ignoble] 09/3/2013 17:02

Thank you for your thoughts , as always
Have to think that their cash balances are ever increasing !
We'll see ...roll on May

[keithfox] 09/3/2013 10:07

I've picked up a few more recently too. The next few weeks should do wonders for asy. Heating was basically over this time last year and pumps were in the doldrums. Pumps should still be doing well even though rainfall is tailing off a bit but it looks like a really exceptional cold spell (for March) is likely to last for quite a few weeks. At a guess I would think it could add somewhere in the ragion of 100k to 200k per week to pretax profits, maybe more. Last years first half included work for the Olympics but this year should be better due to the prolonged cold weather we've had. And that doesnt include any hot weather we may have in May and June (we didnt have anything significant last year. All in all, the first half has got to be at least as good as last year, but probably better.

[ignoble] 07/3/2013 16:13

Did buy some more today , Keith ...couldn't help myself , lol !
(not the whole 5000 that traded)
No advice intended , as always

[ignoble] 07/3/2013 15:33

Aggreko pleased the market ....

[ignoble] 07/3/2013 15:27

Tks Keith ...I should remember as my birthday is in the first days of May ...

[keithfox] 06/3/2013 21:23

Normally first Wednesday of May.