am looking at this

RT bought to our attention this morning - included in his morning update -----

30c dividend 100% franked on 21 Aug.

Crane Group Ltd (ASX Code : CRG) - Rating : Buy 2/Current Price : $10.60/Price Target : $12.10
CRG reported a profit before unusual items of $47.1m, marginally below pcp but well ahead of company guidance and our forecasts. A final dividend of 30cps was declared, making 60cps, f/f, for the year. We would expect a similar result for fiscal 2007e. Tradelink and CDNZ were both ahead of our expectations. It is, in our view,

becoming clear that the triage performed by management in Tradelink over the past three years is having an impact. Iplex was flat and the metals business did rather well. Gearing is now down to 41% as net debt fell by $43m. This was partly due to asset sales and continued good working capital management. We would expect further modest improvements in the balance sheet this year despite a planned increase in capex. On balance in our view it is too early to state that CRG is an excellent company, or that the very near term outlook is exceptional. It is, however, clear to us that Iplex is a good business generating solid returns at a relatively weak

point in the cycle. It has a demonstrable capacity to increase capital employed without eroding returns. The other businesses are yet to prove that they are as good as Iplex, however improvements are being demonstrated. We believe that CRG could become a superior company over the next year or so. Given the yield we suspect that owning the stock offers little downside, and if the business continues to demonstrate improvements there could be considerable upside.



CRG Crane Group 21 Aug, 06 03 Oct, 06 30.00 100.00%