Brokers' view: Seymour Pierce

Following a trip to China, analyst Sue Munden is impressed by Asian Citrus. The shares have performed poorly of late but, as Munden enthuses, ‘Guangxi is lush, green and tropical: it rained this morning, it’s 30ºC and humid,’ adding that ‘the orange trees all look healthy and flourishing and are not suffering from drought.’

Describing its plantations as ‘impressive’, she notes that the recently announced 16 per cent rise in year-on-year harvest that Asian reported is ‘in line with expectations.’ Rating the shares in the company (for which Seymour acts as a broker) as a buy, she remarks that ‘operations are continuing well and the growth proposition remains intact’.

Bridle holds faith in coal miner

The duo of Asa Bridle and Matthew McDonald commented on the recent results of coal miner ATH Resources, also a client of Seymour. Having reported an adjusted operating profit of £1.7 million, they describe this result as ‘unrepeatable’ in the second half of the year as ‘high fuel costs look set to further erode the mining margin’.

The team notes that, due to lower production levels and the high cost of fuel oil, they have had to substantially reduce pre-tax profit forecasts for 2011 from £2.5 million to £500,000 and EPS from 5.8p to 1.3p. Furthermore, they remove the forecast of a dividend. Despite this, they rate shares in the company as a buy.