Uk Stock Writeups

We have bought back into Agnico-Eagle. Since we sold out over a year ago, the company has acquired two new mines and the prospects look good for both. The company plans no more equity issuance and its gold is completely unhedged, making it a great play on rising prices. With the dollar set to weaken further, and increased uncertainty on the global financial outlook, the prognosis for the yellow metal is good.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
2009834	Buy	US$ 41.561	06/08/2007

Aggreko. A global provider of critical power generators, the company has grown quickly on the back of emerging market infrastructure projects, where its generators can be installed for months, or even years, whilst permanent power installations are built. Economies of scale also make its local businesses competitive in a fragmented market serving smaller, non-residential construction customers.  Having acquired General Electric's energy rental business in 2006, it has been particularly well-placed to provide back-up power in the aftermath of hurricanes Ike and Gustav. Recent equity market falls brought the stock price into buy territory.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
147899	Buy	£ 6.121	19/09/2008

As a leading UK pawnbroker, Albemarle & Bond will benefit from our expectation of a downturn in UK asset prices. If, as we expect, the UK economy takes a turn for the worst then banks will tighten up their lending procedures, forcing a certain portion of their retail clients to look elsewhere for funding. They lend almost exclusively against the security of gold jewellery and diamonds. Importantly they have their own retail outlets - they are the 24th largest UK jewellers - which creates a liquid market in these assets.

Astrazeneca. Pharmaceutical companies have been under the cosh for over five years, even as most asset prices and equity indices roared. The reasons are well known: tougher government pricing policies globally, greater hurdles to have new drugs approved, patent expiry, then loss of market share to generic producers, and the ever-rising costs of research to produce more and more specific drugs, i.e. the glory days of 'global blockbusters' are very hard to replicate. As a consequence, the de-rating of large pharmaceutical companies has been intense, in the case of Astra to a single-digit forward multiple and a near-5% and well-covered dividend yield. Such numbers assume Armageddon and that no new drugs are licensed or successful. Market valuations imply that all R&D actually destroys value. This reaction to past over-exuberance is wrong: the whole sector is cheap. Moreover, a global trend of splitting research, manufacture and sales will slowly unlock value.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
0989529	Buy	£ 21.683	22/01/2008