Gusbourne Share Discussion Threads

[ben nevis] 27/2/2006 07:18

So... everyone is getting bored with mergers;

so from now on, its demergers to keep investors happy lol

[waldron] 27/2/2006 06:48

Gus to split businesses this year - report

LONDON (AFX) - Gus PLC is working to separate Argos Retail Group and its
Experian credit checking business in December, the Financial Times reported,
citing unnamed banking sources.
The paper said it is thought the company only recently decided on the
timetable. Chief executive John Peace announced last May they would be separated
at some point.
City analysts are likely to welcome the news the split is to come sooner
rather than later, the FT said.
Analysts have valued Experian at 6.4 bln stg and Argos, which includes the
Argos catalogue shopping business and DIY outfit Homebase chains, at 3.6 bln
stg.
How the split will be structured is not known, the FT reported.
[e-mail]
ab/joy

[spreadrisk] 21/2/2006 14:49

If you want to see your experian credit report for free, INSTANTLY, don't bother with the web site...


Because the word "INSTANTLY" means upto 48 hours!

Also this site does not accept the year 2006 in the order application.

When I queried this I was told to put in Dec 2005 (the latest month you can enter) by the Help Desk.

Think I'll just use the £2.00 postal service.

[spreadrisk] 21/2/2006 13:48

"Update: On August 16, 2005, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it had filed a complaint against Experian and reached a settlement. The settlement requires Experian to change representations on its web site, to disgorge almost $1 million in profit, and to give certain consumers who used the site a refund. If you were scammed by Experian, you may be entitled to a refund. See the Federal Trade Commission website for more information."

[tanny310] 06/2/2006 04:27

What's right with the market? Alot, if you can get the best breaking stock news available. This newsletter is just the ticket for getting up to date info on moving stocks. You will receive an email when something is on the move or about to move. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time

[grevis] 06/2/2006 01:16

05/02/06 15:46 GUS (GUS)

GUS' Experian unit lined up for 6 bln stg US private equity bid - report
AFX


LONDON (AFX) - US private equity firms Hellman & Friedman and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) are in the early stages of a 6 bln stg bid for Experian, the credit-checking arm of GUS PLC, the Sunday Times reported without citing sources.

The paper said the two groups have approached banks about advising on and financing a potential deal, and are also looking for other private equity firms to take part in what would be one of the UK's biggest ever leveraged buy-outs.

GUS, which demerged luxury fashion label Burberry in December, said last month that it was committed to separating its remaining businesses, Experian and retail unit ARG, 'at the right time.'

ARG comprises catalogue retailer Argos and DIY chain Homebase.

[onehanded] 30/1/2006 15:58

0926 GMT [Dow Jones] Numis Securities lifts GUS (GUS.LN) target price to 1234p from 1030p. Says Experian is one of the most attractive businesses that investors in the UK market could gain exposure to. "With all the attractions of Experian to drive the share price, investors in GUS effectively get an 'option' on any improvement in the retail market thrown in for free," brokerage says. "To us, this seems a much safer way of playing this angle than buying into a pure household retail business such as DSG (DSGI.LN) or Carpetright (CPR.LN)." Maintains GUS' buy rating. Trades +1.4% at 1037.5p. (DWE)

Should see a short on CPR for tomorrows results then

[ariane] 12/1/2006 07:35

GUS' retail businesses top Q3 hopes, Experian still strong

LONDON (AFX) - GUS PLC has reported better-than-expected third quarter
underlying sales performances at its retail businesses, Argos and Homebase, and
another robust performance from Experian, its credit information division.
For the 14 weeks to Jan 7 2006, Argos, the high street catalogue retailer
which sells everything from electrical appliances to garden furniture, made flat
sales on a like-for-like basis, which strips out the impact of new space,
compared to analyst expectations of a 3 pct fall and a 2 pct decline in the
second quarter. Total sales increased 9 pct.
Homebase, GUS' home improvement business, saw its like-for-likes fall 3 pct
compared to analyst expectations that the third quarter would match the second
quarter's 6 pct decline given increased promotional activity in the DIY market
as a whole. Total sales increased 1 pct.
GUS said both Argos and Homebase outperformed their markets.
Looking forward, Argos and Homebase are planning on the assumption that
like-for-like sales will remain in decline for the non-food, non-clothing market
as a whole for much of 2006, with increased promotional activity continuing in
the DIY market in particular.
GUS noted that UK retailers are also facing inflationary pressures on costs,
as previously flagged.
For the three months to Dec 31 2005, Experian saw a 20 pct increase in sales
at constant exchange rates -- 7 pct organic and 13 pct from acquisitions.
On Dec 13 GUS demerged its remaining 65 pct stake in luxury brand Burberry
Group PLC. Yesterday Burberry reported a 1 pct rise in underlying third quarter
sales.
Last month the group also reiterated its commitment to separate ARG and
Experian "at the right time."
GUS shares closed Wednesday at 1004-1/2 pence.
[e-mail]
jdd/joy

[waldron] 12/1/2006 07:28

Trading Statement

RNS Number:8147W
GUS PLC
12 January 2006

12 January 2006

GUS plc
Third Quarter Trading Update

GUS plc, the retail and business services group, today issues its regular update
on trading.

John Peace, Group Chief Executive of GUS, said:

"The performance of both ARG and Experian in the third quarter reflects the
benefits of our continued investment in initiatives to drive sustainable growth.
Both Argos and Homebase outperformed their markets in the period, while
Experian's broad range of products and services in many countries around the
world continued to underpin its strong performance."


Argos Retail Group (ARG)

% change in sales year-on-year for 14 weeks to 7 January 2006
%
Argos - total 9
- like-for-like 0


Homebase - total 1
- like-for-like (3)

The non-food, non-clothing market remained weak during the period, although
there was a boost to spending in the run-up to Christmas. Against this
background, initiatives at Argos, including Argos Extra, and at Homebase,
including mezzanines and Furniture Extra, have enabled both businesses again to
outperform their markets.


Looking forward, ARG continues to plan on the assumption that like-for-like
sales will remain in decline for the non-food, non-clothing market as a whole
for much of 2006, with increased promotional activity continuing in the DIY
market in particular. UK retailers are also facing inflationary pressures on
costs, as previously outlined.


Argos

In the 14 weeks to 7 January 2006, total sales at Argos increased by 9%. New
stores contributed all of this growth, aided by the 33 acquired Index stores.
Argos had 650 stores at the period end, up from 583 a year ago.

Like-for-like sales at Argos were in line with last year, supported by the
national roll-out of Argos Extra. The contribution to sales of toys and
jewellery in the third quarter is about double that in the rest of the year;
jewellery remained a difficult market. There was, however, a good performance
from consumer electronics, with strong market demand in gift areas such as MP3
players and video games systems, as well as flat screen TVs and satellite
navigation. Furniture and white goods also achieved good growth. Gross margin
was in line with last year as supply chain gains countered an adverse product
mix.

Customers continued to increase their use of Argos' multi-channel capabilities.
Argos Direct, the delivery to home operation, grew sales by 14% in the period,
representing 19% of sales. Within this, sales ordered on the Internet increased
by 37% in the period, contributing 6% of sales. A further 13% of sales were
reserved by phone or Internet for later collection in store (Check and Reserve),
up 38% year-on-year.

The Spring/Summer 2006 catalogue, which will be launched on 21 January,
continues to give customers better value and increased range. It will be the
first Spring/Summer catalogue to offer customers in all stores the entire Extra
range of 17,200 lines (up from 13,300 in the main catalogue a year ago).

Homebase

Sales at Homebase grew by 1% in the 14 weeks to 7 January 2006. New stores
contributed 4% to sales growth. Homebase traded from 297 stores at the period
end (of which 141 had mezzanines) compared to 287 a year ago (104 with
mezzanines). Despite an increase in promotional activity compared to last year,
like-for-like sales declined by 3% in the period. Gross margin was slightly down
year-on-year.

In what remained a very difficult DIY market, total sales of core DIY and
decorating products were lower than last year. Homebase's performance in the
quarter was, however, helped by good growth in big ticket items driven by
initiatives such as new mezzanines and the national roll-out of the Furniture
Extra catalogue in Autumn 2005.


Experian

% change in sales year-on-year for the three months to 31 December 2005
Continuing At actual exchange At constant
activities only rates % exchange rates %

Experian North America 40 31
Experian International 8 8
Global Experian 25 20

Experian again performed strongly, with a 20% increase in sales in the third
quarter (7% organic; 13% from acquisitions). Experian continues to win business
in many countries, driven by the strength of its product range, its business mix
and broad global reach. As expected, growth at Experian North America slowed
from the exceptional levels achieved in the last twelve months.


Experian North America

In dollars, sales at Experian North America increased by 31% in total, of which
23% came from corporate acquisitions. Although the business traded against much
stronger comparatives, organic growth in the quarter was 8%, supported by
contract wins in many areas.

In dollars, Credit Information and Solutions together delivered double-digit
growth excluding acquisitions. This was driven by continued strength in
prescreen, scoring and analytics. The FACT Act cost recovery charge contributed
3% of the growth in Credit and has fully annualised from 1 January 2006.
Marketing Information and Solutions together showed solid growth, with e-mail
marketing and syndicated market research performing particularly well.

Experian Interactive accounted for 35% of North America sales in the third
quarter. This reflected a first time contribution from acquisitions
(LowerMyBills.com, ClassesUSA and PriceGrabber.com), which are trading ahead of
plan, and a continued strong performance from Consumer Direct. MetaReward was
down year-on-year as expected as it anniversaried some large, one-off campaigns
last year.

Experian International
At constant exchange rates, sales at Experian International increased by 8% in
the third quarter. Organic growth was 6% and acquisitions contributed 2% (as QAS
has now been part of Experian for more than a year).

Experian International showed solid growth in Credit, Marketing and Outsourcing.
There was good growth at Experian UK despite subdued consumer lending. This
reflected strength in both credit and marketing solutions, continued new
contract wins in the telecoms and public sectors and direct-to-consumer.
Experian-Scorex delivered double-digit growth with strong performances in
Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific. The French Outsourcing business has recently
won major contracts in cheque processing and the government sector.

Experian International continues to make complementary acquisitions, including
FootFall, the market leader in measuring pedestrian shopper flows. This
transaction reinforces Experian's position as a leading provider of data,
analytics and consultancy services for retailers and property owners.

Disposals

The demerger of GUS' remaining stake in Burberry to its shareholders was
completed on 13 December 2005. Benchmark profit before tax1 for GUS for the year
to 31 March 2006 will include a contribution from Burberry up to the date of
disposal.

On 28 October 2005, GUS announced an agreement to dispose of Wehkamp for about
Euro390m to Industri Kapital, a private equity firm. Subsequently, the Dutch
government announced a reduction in the maximum interest rate chargeable by
commercial lenders to consumers from 21% to 16%. As this reduction will have a
substantial effect on the future profitability of Wehkamp, the external funding
made available to the purchaser was cut. In the circumstances, GUS has agreed to
a reduction in consideration to approximately Euro320m to reflect lower expected
earnings. Completion of the transaction is expected later this month. The net
book value of assets at the date of completion is expected to be approximately
Euro335m. GUS now expects to realise a loss, after costs, of about Euro25m on the
transaction which will be booked in the second half of the current financial
year.

Future announcements
GUS will announce its Preliminary Results for the 12 months to 31 March 2006 on
24 May 2006. The Second Half Trading Update will be on 12 April 2006.

Enquiries

GUS
David Tyler Group Finance Director 020 7495 0070
Fay Dodds Director of Investor Relations

Finsbury
Rupert Younger 020 7251 3801
Rollo Head

GUS announcements are available on its website, www.gusplc.com. There will be a
conference call to discuss this update at 3pm today, with a recording available
later on the GUS website.

Certain statements made in this Trading Update are forward-looking statements.
Such statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ
materially from any expected future events or results referred to in these
forward-looking statements.

1 Benchmark PBT is defined as profit before amortisation of acquisition
intangibles, exceptional items (i.e. gains or losses on disposal or closure of
businesses and goodwill impairment charges), financing fair value remeasurements
and taxation. It includes the Group's share of associates' pre-tax profit and
the profits or losses of discontinued operations up to the date of disposal or
closure.



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
TSTILFSTLIILLIR

[onehanded] 11/1/2006 15:01

Still hanging on to BRBY shares, well the figures were poor today and expect £4 in the coming weeks.

[no advice intended] 09/1/2006 08:52

GUS now at support imo and with the report out saying 2006 is going to see a high street revival I have closed my short.

Will look to go long if necessary

[onehanded] 03/1/2006 12:50

BRBY now at top of trading range. Great chance to cash in, I am short of BRBY, so biased view but I have traded BRBY for years as this is the best it gets.

'share certificates for Burberry Ordinary Shares and any fractional
entitlement cheques are due to be posted to certificated shareholders by 4
January 2006'

It's a race to sell them before they go pear shape IMHO.

[onehanded] 02/1/2006 17:23

Time to get rid of brby shares, sales 3% down from last year and reports Jan 11th. Cash in now.

[no advice intended] 29/12/2005 10:09

what will argos fall sort by?

[no advice intended] 21/12/2005 15:33

Good volume today and I think GUS will end up down or open up down tomorrow. The downgrade had to come and its time to lock in profits imo

[maywillow] 21/12/2005 12:43

GUS downgraded to "hold"

Wednesday, December 21, 2005 5:37:39 AM ET
Seymour Pierce

LONDON, December 21 (newratings.com) - Analysts at Seymour Pierce downgrade GUS Plc (ticker: GUS-GBX) from "outperform" to "hold."

In a research note published this morning, the analysts mention that there is limited upside potential to the company's share price in the near term. According to the analysts, Argos Retail's performance in the Christmas season is unlikely to have been impressive.

[no advice intended] 21/12/2005 12:26

Looks like we will test a lower low today. The share price failed to break above the opening as it resisted the selling but there are too many sells now.

[no advice intended] 21/12/2005 09:00

Rick I am watching the bid offer and it is tell tale that after a few small buys with tight spread the spread widens and along comes a bigger sell. Itys been a bumper run up and I think a time to book them profits dont you?

[spacemoggy] 21/12/2005 08:51

NAI i quite agree,i keep wondering whats keeping the thing up,defies gravity,but its heading for a fall,think its time for a short...Rick

[no advice intended] 21/12/2005 08:26

GUS well into overbought territory now. What is keeping this up?
I am expecting punters to start taking profits before the Jan trading update so expecting a sell off any time now.

[no advice intended] 19/12/2005 13:37

I would not buy GUS now, look at this chart.

Looks set for a fall imo.

[linhur] 18/12/2005 14:43

Anyone got the details for working out the new cgt cost values following the demerger?

Edit: Hot off the press for anyone interested - received from the GUS demerger hotline.Percentage of original cost

GUS 86.897%
Burberry 13.103%


Linhur

[grupo guitarlumber] 15/12/2005 16:55

UK Retail Seen Hitting Christmas Forecasts

Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:54:16 AM ET
Dow Jones Newswires



1037 GMT [Dow Jones] Deutsche expects most UK retailers to realize expectations for Christmas, leading to share price increases, says Deutsche. Marks & Spencer (MKS.LN) and Kingfisher (KGF.LN) look fully valued, says the bank, while the share prices of Signet (SIG.LN), Next (NXT.LN), Dixons (DXNS.LN) and HMV (HMV.LN) do not reflect their good organic growth prospects, bank says. Best performers over the next year will be stocks that make profit outside the UK such as GUS (GUS.LN) and Signet, adds the bank. (MIC)

[shortfinger] 14/12/2005 13:41

Surely far to risky to short when they could announce details of the demerger of Experian at any time. Far safer bets in the market.

[ben nevis] 14/12/2005 12:13

Seems the bulls are now getting jittery ?

Should be a good short one day soon ?