Greene King trading update

[OLTB]

Heaven's sake, I'm so fickle. I have decided, and my chosen top up this month is British Land. For what it's worth, I decided to stick to my tried and trusted long held shares, rather than trying to be to big for my HYP boots, and going for Galliford and such-like. Enough dithering, there's darts on.

Ian.

I'm a little glad that my dividends haven't built up enough yet to warrant a further top-up as I'm not too sure what I'd do! Using my basic top-up method of adding the value of my HYP to cash in the pot, dividing this total by the number of HYP sectors (18) in my HYP and then choosing the highest yielders from those shares that are below this figure, my choices would be either Greene King or Glaxo. We know about Greene King of course as this is the subject of this thread and Glaxo - well, it's debt is fairly high and I'm a little spooked when it comes to debt after the Carillion episode. Perhaps a little build up of cash is in order rather than my insatiable desire to be 100% invested at all times. I do find it difficult to sit on my hands though...

Cheers, OLTB.

[Bouleversee]

Well, in keeping with my fickleness, I have elected to back away from a Greene King purchase in favour of bringing Galliford Try on board instead.

Regards,

Ian.

Heaven's sake, I'm so fickle. I have decided, and my chosen top up this month is British Land. For what it's worth, I decided to stick to my tried and trusted long held shares, rather than trying to be to big for my HYP boots, and going for Galliford and such-like. Enough dithering, there's darts on.

Ian.

Why? I am intrigued, having just had a quick look at their fundamentals (see below fom Daily Telegraph) , to know what the rationale behind this "decision" was.

Latest Share Price (p)
595.50
Net Gearing (%)
28.79
Market Capitalisation (m)
6,161.80
Gross Gearing (%)
29.64
Share in issue (m)
1,021.86
Debt Ratio
24.28
P/E Ratio
32.07
Debt-to-Equity Ratio
0.76
Total dividends per share (p)
29.20
Assets / Equity Ratio
1.42
Dividend Yield (%)
4.84
Cash / Equity Ratio
1.20
Dividend cover (x)
0.64
Price to book value
0.65
NAV per share (p)
915.00
ROCE (%)
1.56
Earning per share (p)
18.80
EPS Growth (%)
-85.67
52 week high / low
695.50 / 562.25
DPS Growth (%)
2.96

British Land is also in my portfolio (with a disappointing performance to date) and I have spare cash in my ISA to invest but it doesn't look like an obvious buy to me, though like you I'm reluctant to add any more holdings and would prefer to top up an existing one if convinced it made sense. What am I missing? I believe they are another company which is doing buy-backs. Is that likely to have any bearing on the above figures? The crude figures suggest the div. might be cut but if they are using capital released from sales to redeem shares, the dividend pool will be shared among fewer shares in issue but doesn't it also mean that there is less in the kitty to produce revenue the following year? I presume you will have thought all this through, Ian, and can enlighten Grandma who has found rather a lot of her eggs have gone bad recently before she has got around to sucking them.

[monabri]

Digital look quotes an 8.3% yield.... Ahh, reminds me of Carillion but with a lower Divi cover which DL reports as reducing further next year. What's not to like?

"Galliford Try specialises in construction and housebuilding. It provides construction services across the UK to a wide range of public and private sector clients and has regional housebuilding businesses that specialise in individually designed developments across the South of England and the Eastern Counties."

In think the words "Danger Will Robinson" come to mind.

[idpickering]

Why? I am intrigued, having just had a quick look at their fundamentals (see below fom Daily Telegraph) , to know what the rationale behind this "decision" was.

Good morning Bouleversee, thanks for your in depth post. My reasoning was based on the fact that I don't want any more newbies on board, was going around in circles (again ), so I decided to keep it simple. I agree that British Land hasn't blown the lights out in sp terms, but as this is an income strategy, that's what I'm going for. BLND are offering a good yield, from a solid performer, and are ex divi on 05/10/17. Nothing more fancy than that. I'm looking at GlaxoSmithKline for next months dollop as they're at a 52 week low currently. I'm just going back to basics and keeping it simple.

Regards,

Ian.

[idpickering]

In think the words "Danger Will Robinson" come to mind.

I agree. PFG, CLLN, done it already thanks.

Ian.

[Arborbridge]

I've just returned from a week away walking in the Pyrenees and...*

Yes, Arborbridge

did

top up Greene King, on the 11th. Being an automatic trade, unfortunately it triggered first thing that day, which meant I did not get the juiciest price - one of those cases where the "cheap dealing day" idea is a disadvantage.

Also topped up British Land and BT.

As regards the chatter about GNK, I have to say it has been highly geared since forever - it seems to go with the territory. One reason may be that in the past decade or two there have been many failing pubs and pubcos, and Greene King have taken advantage of this fact by buying them out, thus putting up borrowings. It is indeed true that pubcos have been under pressure for a very long time - whatever was said on R4 while I was on holiday does not sound new. I'm not inclined to worry too much about Greene King which has been as a very well run company for decades. The same is true of JD Wetherspoons, in which my wife has a holding outside her HYP. JDW, is not a hyp-type company, of course.

Arb.

*PS despite some very energetic walking, I see I've managed to put on weight! So today,it's back on the 5:2 diet to pull my BMI back in line.

[77ss]

Digital look quotes an 8.3% yield.... Ahh, reminds me of Carillion but with a lower Divi cover which DL reports as reducing further next year. What's not to like?

"Galliford Try specialises in construction and housebuilding. It provides construction services across the UK to a wide range of public and private sector clients and has regional housebuilding businesses that specialise in individually designed developments across the South of England and the Eastern Counties."

In think the words "Danger Will Robinson" come to mind.

I don't know how DL arrives at the figure of 8.3% - I make the FY 2017 figure to be 7% - interim paid + final, declared but not yet paid.

[Davidsb]

Hi 77ss -

I don't know how DL arrives at the figure of 8.3% - I make the FY 2017 figure to be 7% - interim paid + final, declared but not yet paid.

Well, DL has a dividend of 96p (32p plus 64p) and my records show a share price as at 30/06/17 of 1161.0'p, which gives a yield of 8.27%.

Hope this helps.....

[Hypster]

Well, in keeping with my fickleness, I have elected to back away from a Greene King purchase in favour of bringing Galliford Try on board instead.

Regards,

Ian.

Heaven's sake, I'm so fickle. I have decided, and my chosen top up this month is British Land. For what it's worth, I decided to stick to my tried and trusted long held shares, rather than trying to be to big for my HYP boots, and going for Galliford and such-like. Enough dithering, there's darts on.

Ian.

I find an irresistible urge to look at my portfolio frequently and see where the next inflow of money should be directed so I empathise with this. Even on my investment day I quickly update the spreadsheet and look at the new rankings to see what will be next! I'm now trying to resist the urge and do this just once, around two weeks before the next investment day with the view that (1) I'll spend less time on the project, and (2) to minimise the number of times my selections change ahead of investment day.

[Wizard]

Hi 77ss -

I don't know how DL arrives at the figure of 8.3% - I make the FY 2017 figure to be 7% - interim paid + final, declared but not yet paid.

Well, DL has a dividend of 96p (32p plus 64p) and my records show a share price as at 30/06/17 of 1161.0'p, which gives a yield of 8.27%.

Hope this helps.....

My bold.

Why is the June figure for share price relevant, it is not what you can buy or sell the shares for today? Surely the current 1356p / 1359p is the one to use to calculate the yield? Am I missing something?

Terry.

[Gengulphus]

Hi 77ss -

I don't know how DL arrives at the figure of 8.3% - I make the FY 2017 figure to be 7% - interim paid + final, declared but not yet paid.

Well, DL has a dividend of 96p (32p plus 64p) and my records show a share price as at 30/06/17 of 1161.0'p, which gives a yield of 8.27%.

Hope this helps.....

Well, it helps those who have time machines capable of going back a few months, who can go back and buy Galliford Try shares (*) at 1161.0p. It doesn't help the rest of us, as we can only buy them at the current price of around 1364p! ;-)

Basically, if you use DigitalLook as an information source for historical yields, use the "Latest" figure on the "Div Yield" table row just below the "Key Financials" heading, not the figures in the "Yield" column of the table under the "Key Fundamentals" heading. The former is at least supposedly based on the current price, the latter is always based on a past price. See http://www.digitallook.com/equity/Galliford_Try to see what I'm talking about - the former currently shows 7.0%, the most recent entry in the latter 8.3%.

The same discrepancy shouldn't exist for forecast yields, as share prices from future dates aren't available yet. Nevertheless, that same link currently shows 6.8% as the "Forecast" figure on the "Div Yield" row and 7.0% in the 2018-06-30 "Yield" column entry of the table under the "Forecast" heading... Such discrepancies are much less common than for historical yields, but still quite a bit more common than I would like. So I've personally given up either trusting DigitalLook yield figures or trying to understand them - it's far easier IMHO to pick up the relevant dividend figures and the share price and do the divisions myself!

(*) Which is the company being discussed rather than Greene King in this aside from the main thread - and by the way, I at least would appreciate it if when a thread is about one company and such asides develop involving another company, people could make sure they name the other company (or give its EPIC) explicitly in their posts. Chasing quotes back to discover what company someone is discussing is a distinctly tedious pastime!

Gengulphus

[Arborbridge]

One factor we should all be aware of when looking at DL is that their yields are not frequently updated. They seem often not to use the current share price, so just watch out for that if it's a serious "look" at a share - always check it yourself.

Arb.

[idpickering]

Well, in keeping with my fickleness, I have elected to back away from a Greene King purchase in favour of bringing Galliford Try on board instead.

Regards,

Ian.

Heaven's sake, I'm so fickle. I have decided, and my chosen top up this month is British Land. For what it's worth, I decided to stick to my tried and trusted long held shares, rather than trying to be to big for my HYP boots, and going for Galliford and such-like. Enough dithering, there's darts on.

Ian.

I find an irresistible urge to look at my portfolio frequently and see where the next inflow of money should be directed so I empathise with this. Even on my investment day I quickly update the spreadsheet and look at the new rankings to see what will be next! I'm now trying to resist the urge and do this just once, around two weeks before the next investment day with the view that (1) I'll spend less time on the project, and (2) to minimise the number of times my selections change ahead of investment day.

Firstly, I'm sorry that this thread has veered off topic somewhat, but you all may recall that I was considering topping up Greene King in the first instant, further up this thread. Back to your quote above Hypster though, I have previous for dithering/fickleness on these boards and our former gaff, hence the term 'pickering' as an adjective. Seriously though, for me, as I near the end of any major dollops of new cash to invest, due to me ceasing work and our impending move to Orkney, so only accrued dividends held in cash on a monthly basis will be available from October onwards for the foreseeable future, I want to get any investments right (IMHO ). I do check my HYP performance every work day, ie Mon - Fri, to see how my HYP performed against the FTSE.

Regards,

Ian.

[Wizard]

My GNK yield jumped by about half a percentage point late last week. The reason being my first use of a shareholder voucher at a local pub in their Metropolitan chain for a birthday dinner for my wife. Very nice food, friendly staff and a nice atmosphere. Hopefully there will be lots of customers thjnking the same and swelling profits

Terry.

[OLTB]

I blinked and topped-up GNK this afternoon...the share price was so low and I couldn't help myself.

Keep drinking beer everyone - my HYP depends on it.

Cheers, OLTB

[OLTB]

I am contemplating my next purchase from accumulated dividends and it seems that in spite of my previous top-up mentioned above, GNK is once again in pole position! Now, I am thinking once Carillioned twice shy, and may ignore this and go for the second or third in the queue (Vodafone / Glaxo respectively). Waiting until GNK's trading update at the end of November seems prudent. Vodafone and Glaxo have their issues (Vodafone's P/E seems to make it expensive at nearly 30 and Glaxo has a fairly static dividend policy that will either not grow in the short term or even fall if Emma Walmsley isn't happy where the cover figure is - not very HYP). They are, however, larger cap than GNK which gives me a little more comfort! Not very SI is it

Cheers, OLTB.

[Wizard]

I am contemplating my next purchase from accumulated dividends and it seems that in spite of my previous top-up mentioned above, GNK is once again in pole position! Now, I am thinking once Carillioned twice shy, and may ignore this and go for the second or third in the queue (Vodafone / Glaxo respectively). Waiting until GNK's trading update at the end of November seems prudent. Vodafone and Glaxo have their issues (Vodafone's P/E seems to make it expensive at nearly 30 and Glaxo has a fairly static dividend policy that will either not grow in the short term or even fall if Emma Walmsley isn't happy where the cover figure is - not very HYP). They are, however, larger cap than GNK which gives me a little more comfort! Not very SI is it

Cheers, OLTB.

Frying pan and another, albeit larger, frying pan comes to mind

Terry.

[Gengulphus]

Frying pan and another, albeit larger, frying pan comes to mind

And I've got 39 frying pans on the go... ;-)

Gengulphus

[OLTB]

And I've got 39 frying pans on the go... ;-)

Gengulphus

Hmm, I wonder if Le Creuset qualifies as HYP...?

Cheers, OLTB.

[PinkDalek]

And I've got 39 frying pans on the go... ;-)

Gengulphus

Hmm, I wonder if Le Creuset qualifies as HYP...?

Cheers, OLTB.

Noting the subliminal smiley, maybe for Paul Van Zuydam.