Global Stock Writeups

Telekom Malaysia has been a long-term laggard, despite a strong portfolio of assets - the domination of fixed line and internet connection domestically, as well as good market shares in mobile in Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and several other smaller economies. Management have finally found a way to realise this value by breaking up the company into a solid, cash generating fixed line business which will take the debt, and a high-growth mobile business. This catalyst should drive a re-rating.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
6868398	Buy	MYR 10.328	07/11/2007

Tate & Lyle is currently seeing strong earnings growth from its patented Splenda Sucralose product; with demand currently far outstripping their capacity they are able to generate high prices and margins for this product. Many are wary that this growth is not sustainable; we would agree that over the medium term a competitive and effective substitute product will likely come to market, but it will likely take at least 3 years for this to occur and in the meantime the robustness of Tate & Lyle's patents has been proven by Wal-Mart's back-down after it attempted to sell Splenda as an own brand product. The market is well aware of the negative impact that the new EU sugar regime will have on Tate & Lyle's core business; yet again this is not a major threat to near term profits. Even assuming continued margin decline and zero sales growth in the core business, we believe that the current share price does not adequately reflect the strength of the Splenda Sucralose business and on a sum of the parts basis we see sufficient upside to warrant this a BUY.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
0875413	Sell	£ 4.824	05/02/2008
0875413	Buy	£ 5.701	15/06/2006
0875413	Buy	£ 5.597	25/04/2006
0875413	Buy	£ 4.897	09/11/2005
0875413	Buy	£ 4.65	19/10/2005
0875413	Buy	£ 4.628	26/09/2005

TF1. The French Government has announced refoms in the TV market, to bring the country into line with the rest of Europe. As one of the two private sector broadcasters (Vivendi's CANAL+ being the other), TF1 should benefit from: more advertising time being allowed, a reduction in the French content rules (much of which TF1 has to fund but is never aired as quality is often poor), and improved profitability of the free channels. Cost-cutting has also commenced by the new CEO; about time too. The balance sheet is fine, with a small possibility of corporate excitement.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
5997118	Buy	EUR 18.212	14/11/2007

Two problems - management sales of shares in large numbers, even just before securing the all-important Cessna contract, and a pending decision by the prosecutor's office on various events two years ago. Throw in a credit cycle squeeze, and city-type boys may buy fewer toys, hence we exited.

A stake was bought in Thielert AG, which is the world's sole accredited manufacturer of aircraft piston engines that can run on diesel or kerosene, or a mixture thereof. Conventional piston engines run on AVGAS, which is facing environmental headwinds as it is leaded fuel. AVGAS availability is limted in many developing parts of the world, and in the West opposition to it is growing. Cessna and other leading aircraft manufacturers have just signed agreements allowing Thielert engines to be installed on new aircrafty, rather than as retor-fit kits. Thielert also supplies parts to manufacturers of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the US Department of Defence. Concerns over the company's high levels of working capital (brought on by contracts with long lead-times growing faster than revenue received) created an ideal buying opportunity in a company that is likely to dominate a fast-growing global market.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
B0P7D39	Sell	EUR 19.155	09 August 2007
B0P7D39	Buy	EUR 22.404	29 March 2007

Tokyo Tatemono is a Tokyo-based real estate developer which has the strongest land bank in the sector - it already has acquired 90% of the land it needs for 2007 condominium sales. As vacancy rates continue to fall and rental income rises we expect conditions in the sector to remain favourable over the coming 2-3 years, even if we do conservatively assume a slow-down in rental growth rates. Tokyo Tatemono is well-placed to benefit from this, and assuming further yield compression we see 38% upside in the company's adjusted net asset value.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
6895426	Buy	JPY 1400.303	08/05/2006

Tokyu Store Chain has been a massive disappointment.  Much hope was pinned on the opening of more warehouses sorting out their distribution, reducing working capital and pushing up margins. This has not materialised. In this situation there is better value in other retailers.

Tokyu Store Chain is one of the few Japanese retail companies who are addressing their supply chain and working capital. The big kicker will come in the second half 06, as that is when their centralised distribution warehousing kicks-off. This is the key to them improving their working capital. We expect to see inventory and payable days reduced and wastage cut. They are also cutting staff count, which will contain wage costs despite store expansion and rising general wage pressures. Even so, they managed to post expanding operating margins in their recently announced first quarter results. We find it difficult to see the stock getting much cheaper at 0.17x p/sales for the year to March 2008.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
6896151	Sell	JPY 443.685	22/10/2007
6896151	Buy	JPY 682.338	10/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 686.781	09/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 701.314	08/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 706.932	07/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 695.955	06/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 699.976	02/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 699.476	01/11/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 702.00	31/10/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 704.778	30/10/2006
6896151	Buy	JPY 705.886	27/10/2006

TPSA. Poland's dominant fixed line telephone operator, part owned by the government and France Telecom. Also involved in mobile. The scope for rationalisation is clear and the company has embarked on the same. A considerable upturn in the free cash flow yield is the inevitable consequence, whilst the unstable shareholding structure may mean it becomes a corporate takeover play. Moreover, the company undoubtedly benefits from the rapid growth in the Polish economy and personal consumption expenditure.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
5552551	Buy	PLN 20.927	25/10/2006

Trusco Nakayama is the leading wholesaler of mechanical tools in Japan. Hence it is a prime beneficiary of the current domestic upturn in investment and construction. Results have confirmed this trend with margins gaining the added benefit of an increasing ratio of sales from their own-branded products.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
6620888	Sell	JPY 2328.966	13/06/2007
6620888	Buy	JPY 2717.633	16/02/2006
6620888	Buy	JPY 2562.986	14/11/2005

The dominant TV company in Hong Kong, TVB will benefit from any pick-up in advertising associated with higher consumption and arising from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The real catalyst for a re-rating, however, is its back catalogue. TVB has the world's largest archive of Cantonese programming and the world's second largest of Mandarin. After years of trying, it is finally starting to sell these programmes into the Chinese mainland and is also now engaging in joint ventures with Chinese studios to produce content directly for Chinese TV.

Sedol	Type	Price	Date
6881674	Buy	HKD 51.981	09 August 2007