Seymour Pierce

A pair of retailers received renewed backing from the research team at Seymour Pierce following Easter trading statements that confirmed their resurrection. Confectionery seller Thorntons reported an 11.6 per cent increase in sales last year as its progression continued. Despite the shares’ good run, earnings estimates of 9.1p and renewed ‘sales traction’ mean the broker is still positive and reckons the shares will ‘outperform’.

At its annual meeting, Channel Islands-based retailer Flying Brands flagged up solid performance during March and April with its gardening website doing particularly well. The board expressed confidence concerning the rest of the year, prompting Seymour Pierce to state that this ‘could for once lead to profit estimates being raised rather than lowered’. The greetings card arm is a worry but ‘doesn’t seem to be doing any damage to the group’. Again, there is  an outperform stance on the shares.

Analyst Amit Thakar was ‘very’ disappointed by a recent update from AIM-quoted Millbrook Scientific Instruments, particularly as he is a shareholder. ‘Yet again the company has failed to deliver,’ he bemoans, observing that founder Peter Stefanini has stepped down (see page 30). Seymour Pierce has downgraded Millbrook’s full-year sales forecast to £1.9 million, from which it thinks the group will lose £555,000, and doesn’t expect Millbrook to make any money in 2008 either. Rather surprisingly, the recommendation is hold.

Tightly held Cosentino Signature Wines, the vintner that had distribution and debt problems late last year, ‘is back in business’ with a new board of directors and a focus back on the core business. ‘The future is assured,’ advises the broker, which urges clients to sit tight, adding that ‘we believe in six to nine months’ time the business will have regained the momentum of its old self’.