Companies: HBR   

Camping and mobile home holidays venture Holidaybreak sparked up 13.5p this week ahead of Monday's eagerly awaited annual numbers to September. In the year to September 2001, it made a 'clean' £23.8m pre-tax on sales of £192.5m. When the group unveils its '2002' figures, house broker Teather & Greenwood expects an encouraging £27m profit on a higher turnover of £218.8m. Analyst Nigel Popham says 'Holidaybreak looks set for strong earnings growth in 2003 from each of its three businesses through organic growth and acquisitions, including but not limited to the recent Eurosites deal'. At the end of September, the group bought rival Eurosites from ailing MyTravel (MT.) for £29.9m cash. The camping business was its only competitor in the UK, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Ireland, and the deal will also allow it to control industry capacity and pricing. One slight worry for shareholders, however, was a statement back in October from the Office of Fair Trading that said it was checking the deal out to see whether it warranted investigation under the Fair Trading Act 1973. At 572.5p, the shares are trading on 13.6 times earnings, falling to an undemanding 11.2 for 2003. Profit taking is a possibility, but the shares might move higher on Monday. Buy.