Companies: TAN   

It is always hard to say goodbye to old friends, but it may be time to let your Tanfield shares go. This may sound like heresy, for the electric vehicle maker has been the darling of the market in the past nine months. The latest statement also makes it clear that the powered access business, UpRight, is also powering ahead. Purchased last year, UpRight’s average weekly order intake has grown from £150,000 on acquisition to £1.2 million now and the outstanding order book is £35 million. That compares with a total turnover for the whole Tanfield group of £41 million in calendar 2006.

However, while Tanfield stands on the verge of a massive expansion in the sales of electric trucks, it needs to lift profits at least fivefold to justify the current heady rating. Tipped here two years at 19.75p, the shares now trade at 109.50p. The latest figures show earnings of just 1p per share. With plans to create a production hub in the US to satisfy local demand for the group’s electric vehicles, the risks inherent in the business will begin to multiply. This newsletter got you into Tanfield early and it may be that it’s getting you out early. But a near-400 per cent profit over exactly two years looks worth banking.

Tanfield Group	AIM	£22.22m	6.00p	-0.73p
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Other company articles:
Tanfield			01/07/2008
Tanfield powers forward			22/04/2008
New era at St Helen’s			10/08/2007
Tanfield: bank that 400 per cent profit			30/03/2007
Tanfield: another week, another announcement			26/01/2007