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Some Stocks I Have Bought

Discuss Stock buying Shares, tips and ideas for stock market dealing
WickedLester
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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327643

Postby WickedLester » July 21st, 2020, 9:50 am

There's been an AGM trading update out of Bloomsbury Publishing today and it looks like good news. The price has risen around 10%.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/bloomsbur ... 00055448T/

Print revenues were 9% above last year's sales, and digital revenues grew by 63% year-on-year. Digital revenues include academic digital products as well as e-books and audio books. E-book revenues were 53% higher than last year and Bloomsbury Digital Resources saw year-on-year growth of 60%.

Consumer division revenues were 28% ahead of last year, with strong print and e-book sales. Adult revenues grew by 29% and Children's revenues by 27%. Bestsellers included the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Sarah J. Maas' Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge, which has been the number one paperback Sunday Times bestseller for five weeks, White Rage by Carol Anderson, which reached number eight on the New York Times bestseller list, and Humankind by Rutger Bregman, which reached number two on the Sunday Times bestseller list.

Non-Consumer division revenue was 3% above last year, with Academic and Professional growth of 4%, with strong Academic digital growth in Bloomsbury Digital Resources and e-books, offset by significantly lower print sales. Special Interest revenue was in line with last year.

UK revenues were 16% higher than last year and US revenues grew by 38%. Sales in Australia were 1% below last year, and in India, the severe impact of government lockdowns resulted in revenues 70% below last year.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#327734

Postby simoan » July 21st, 2020, 4:30 pm

WickedLester wrote:There's been an AGM trading update out of Bloomsbury Publishing today and it looks like good news. The price has risen around 10%.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/bloomsbur ... 00055448T/

Yes, good news, but it does beg the question why they needed to do the equity fundraising? It seemed strange to me at the time and this just makes it look even more peculiar. It looks like the management just panicked, maybe there was some kind of adverse movement in working capital at the time and they lost their bottle!

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#328973

Postby WickedLester » July 27th, 2020, 2:16 pm

There's been a trading update from Headlam today and it's not all bad news. The price has responded positively although I am still around 10% down on my purchase at the moment.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/headlam-g ... 00090883U/

Total revenue for the Period of £242.1 million was 30.6% below the comparative period in 2019 (H1 2019: £348.7 million), being 34.4% and 9.6% below in the UK and Continental Europe respectively. However, the UK revenue profile recovered strongly during June 2020 following the reopening of all of the Company ' s principal distribution centres by late May 2020 and the reopening of retail businesses in mid-June 2020.

And

Following on from the significantly weakened revenue profiles of April and May, and strong revenue recovery in June, trading to-date in July has seen a continuation in revenue growth back towards 2019 revenue levels. Currently, July 2020 UK revenue is running ahead of July 2019' s UK revenue.

So a small loss before the goodwill write off and hopefully as long as there is no further lockdowns an improved second half. They have plenty of liquidity to see them through these difficult times and overall a very strong balance sheet.

I'm happy to hold.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#329000

Postby simoan » July 27th, 2020, 3:45 pm

WickedLester wrote:There's been a trading update from Headlam today and it's not all bad news. The price has responded positively although I am still around 10% down on my purchase at the moment.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/headlam-g ... 00090883U/

Total revenue for the Period of £242.1 million was 30.6% below the comparative period in 2019 (H1 2019: £348.7 million), being 34.4% and 9.6% below in the UK and Continental Europe respectively. However, the UK revenue profile recovered strongly during June 2020 following the reopening of all of the Company ' s principal distribution centres by late May 2020 and the reopening of retail businesses in mid-June 2020.

And

Following on from the significantly weakened revenue profiles of April and May, and strong revenue recovery in June, trading to-date in July has seen a continuation in revenue growth back towards 2019 revenue levels. Currently, July 2020 UK revenue is running ahead of July 2019' s UK revenue.

So a small loss before the goodwill write off and hopefully as long as there is no further lockdowns an improved second half. They have plenty of liquidity to see them through these difficult times and overall a very strong balance sheet.

I'm happy to hold.

Yes, a reasonably positive update. However, whilst it is good to see a full breakdown of monthly revenue, the update makes no mention whatsoever of profitability. Given a lack of commentary on profits, cashflow etc. I assume the company has been loss making and so it's important that the banks are onside with regard to the December covenant test, otherwise they'll be coming to shareholders cap in hand...

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#329007

Postby WickedLester » July 27th, 2020, 4:06 pm

Hi Simoan

I think you're missing this paragraph:

As a consequence, the Company expects to recognise a non-cash impairment in the carrying value of its investment in Domus which will result in a full write-down of the remaining £20.9 million residual goodwill. This will contribute to the Company reporting a statutory loss before tax for the Period of approximately £25 million against an underlying loss before tax for the Period of approximately £2 million.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#329009

Postby simoan » July 27th, 2020, 4:18 pm

WickedLester wrote:Hi Simoan

I think you're missing this paragraph:

As a consequence, the Company expects to recognise a non-cash impairment in the carrying value of its investment in Domus which will result in a full write-down of the remaining £20.9 million residual goodwill. This will contribute to the Company reporting a statutory loss before tax for the Period of approximately £25 million against an underlying loss before tax for the Period of approximately £2 million.

Yes, I saw this when I read the update originally just after 7am. Maybe I should have re-read it before posting :)

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#329839

Postby simoan » July 30th, 2020, 9:47 pm

Some good news from Severfield (SFR) today - they are paying the final dividend after all:

https://www.investegate.co.uk/severfiel ... 00115158U/

As a result of the Group's strong balance sheet and cash position, the board is recommending a final dividend for the year ended 31 March 2020 of 1.8p per share, making a total for the year of 2.9p per share (2019: 2.8p per share). If the dividend is approved at the AGM on 3 September 2020, it will be paid on 11 September 2020 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 14 August 2020.

The Group's strong financial position also means that, whilst we furloughed some of our workforce in the first quarter of the 2021 financial year, almost all of whom have since returned to work, we will not be claiming for support under any employee-related government support packages including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.


Amazing how companies with strong balance sheets can continue paying dividends even in tough times. There has to be a lesson there!
All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#330349

Postby WickedLester » August 2nd, 2020, 2:30 pm

Yes that was good news from SFR. I now have half a dozen or so companies which are still paying a dividend.

There was also trading statements out of WGB and FLO recently. Neither of them are great but on the other hand they aren't unmitigated disasters.

WGB

https://www.investegate.co.uk/walker-gr ... 00063898U/

" We also reported that Brand product sales in the first five months of the current financial year were down 35% compared with the same time last year, and that in the four weeks prior to the results announcement sales were down some 31%. This recovery has continued such that Brand product sales in the first 25 weeks of the current financial year were down 32% and in the four weeks to 24 July 2020 were down 15% on the prior year.

"The Company's focus on liquidity continues and on 27 July 2020 the Company had cash headroom of £17.8 million against its banking facilities, compared with headroom of £16.0 million on 26 June 2020 as reported in our accounts for the year ended 31 January 2020.

FLO

https://www.investegate.co.uk/flowtech- ... 00032253U/

Revenue for the six-month period to June 2020 was down £13.0m, or 22% on a like for like trading day basis. Q2 was the most materially affected by COVID-19, down 33% against prior year. April's revenue was the most impacted, down 41% on a like-for-like basis, as a large proportion of our customers were closed. However, we are pleased to report their gradual return resulted in an improving trend, with the like-for-like revenue down 34% and 25% in May and June, respectively.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#330424

Postby Bouleversee » August 2nd, 2020, 8:45 pm

simoan wrote:
WickedLester wrote:There's been an AGM trading update out of Bloomsbury Publishing today and it looks like good news. The price has risen around 10%.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/bloomsbur ... 00055448T/

Yes, good news, but it does beg the question why they needed to do the equity fundraising? It seemed strange to me at the time and this just makes it look even more peculiar. It looks like the management just panicked, maybe there was some kind of adverse movement in working capital at the time and they lost their bottle!

All the best, Si


This is the first I had heard about the placing or the bonus issue (in lieu of dividend) and I haven't yet worked out how many bonus shares I shall be due to receive, as will all those who participated in the placing and presumably the 254,805 free shares CEO Nigel Newton has just received, lucky man. I see that the s.p. has dropped back to 205p now, presumably because of the dilutive effect of all these additional shares and the fact that any shares bought now are ex-bonus.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#330427

Postby Bouleversee » August 2nd, 2020, 8:54 pm

simoan wrote:
WickedLester wrote:There's been a trading update from Headlam today and it's not all bad news. The price has responded positively although I am still around 10% down on my purchase at the moment.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/headlam-g ... 00090883U/

Total revenue for the Period of £242.1 million was 30.6% below the comparative period in 2019 (H1 2019: £348.7 million), being 34.4% and 9.6% below in the UK and Continental Europe respectively. However, the UK revenue profile recovered strongly during June 2020 following the reopening of all of the Company ' s principal distribution centres by late May 2020 and the reopening of retail businesses in mid-June 2020.

And

Following on from the significantly weakened revenue profiles of April and May, and strong revenue recovery in June, trading to-date in July has seen a continuation in revenue growth back towards 2019 revenue levels. Currently, July 2020 UK revenue is running ahead of July 2019' s UK revenue.

So a small loss before the goodwill write off and hopefully as long as there is no further lockdowns an improved second half. They have plenty of liquidity to see them through these difficult times and overall a very strong balance sheet.

I'm happy to hold.

Yes, a reasonably positive update. However, whilst it is good to see a full breakdown of monthly revenue, the update makes no mention whatsoever of profitability. Given a lack of commentary on profits, cashflow etc. I assume the company has been loss making and so it's important that the banks are onside with regard to the December covenant test, otherwise they'll be coming to shareholders cap in hand...

All the best, Si


Another of my long-term losers. The market doesn't seem overly impressed.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#331017

Postby WickedLester » August 5th, 2020, 9:59 am

LMS Capital published their interims yesterday and that is another one with a strong cash balance that has decided to pay a small dividend.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/lms-capit ... 59160711V/

As expected NAV has fallen somewhat but as at 30th June they were holding net cash of 35.9p a share and are paying a dividend of 0.3p a share. The dividend policy suggests a payout for the full year of 0.9p share or so which equates to a yield of about 3% at the current price.

As simoan said it shows the advantage of investing in well capitalised companies that can still pay a dividend when times are tough.

The new management's strategy remains unproven though but with significant skin in the game they won't want to make a pig's ear out of things.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#331019

Postby WickedLester » August 5th, 2020, 10:03 am

Another of my long-term losers. The market doesn't seem overly impressed.


Personally i'd be inclined to hang on as I think they have excellent recovery potential coupled with a very strong balance sheet although I would say that as I have been a buyer at around 300p. The market actually responded to the trading statement by marking the shares up around 10% so there was a positive reaction.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#331340

Postby WickedLester » August 6th, 2020, 11:04 am

There's been a trading statement from STM this morning and i'm not sure whether it's ok or a veiled profit warning.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/stm-group ... 00032842V/

As noted in our AGM statement there has been limited impact on the Group's ability to service existing customers and onboard new business. Our new business pipeline remains healthy and has continued to grow month on month, albeit conversion timelines on flexible annuity and bulk transfers of work-place pensions remain slower than previously anticipated.

This is primarily attributable to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic , be it the complications of introducing our flexible annuity product to IFAs and the IFAs own logistics with client interaction, or, on workplace pensions, the delay by employers and Employee Benefit Consultants to look to change provider whilst trying to manage the issues arising due to COVID-19. The anticipated acceleration in conversions for the workplace pensions and the London & Colonial flexible annuity pipelines will be required in the second half of the year to hit our new business revenue targets for the year.


All in all it doesn't look too bad and I am hopeful they will maintain the dividend when they report.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#333445

Postby WickedLester » August 15th, 2020, 3:50 pm

There's been some more news from some of the companies I have bought.

First a half year trading update from WGB and it's not pretty reading but liquidity is fine.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/walker-gr ... 00077131V/

The Company's liquidity remains robust and at the half year end the Company's cash headroom against its banking facilities had further increased to £19.5 million, compared with headroom of £16.0 million on 26 June 2020 as reported in the Company's accounts for the year ended 31 January 2020.

Second an acquisition by LMS of an oil & gas company in Romania

https://www.investegate.co.uk/lms-capit ... 00048430V/

LMS Capital will invest a total of US$9.05 million in loan and equity capital to acquire a 32% holding in Dacian, with the remaining share capital being held by Dacian's founder group (50%) and other co-investors including the LMS Directors (18%).

I've no idea whether or not it will prove to be a good investment but they still have substantial cash reserves so there is something of a margin of safety with the shares.

Finally an acquisition by STM

https://www.investegate.co.uk/stm-group ... 35390886W/

On the face of it it looks like a good deal if it performs as forecast.

The Acquisition, which is not subject to regulatory approval, will be for a maximum consideration of £2.9 million on a debt free/cash free basis, comprised of £1.4 million initial consideration and a further £1.5 million of contingent deferred consideration based on revenue hurdles that apply to existing business and opportunities in the pipeline. Up to £1 million contingent consideration is payable at the first anniversary and a maximum of £0.5 million at the second anniversary of the date of acquisition.

Each business has normalised annual recurring revenue of approximately £1 million and comes with a competent and qualified staff resource. The SSAS business will allow for efficiency gains when it is integrated into our existing UK operations, and the UK and international group pension plan business will strengthen our position in that sector, fully supporting and endorsing our international pension offerings from Malta and Gibraltar. Given the initial acquisition costs and phased integration plan, the Acquisition is anticipated to breakeven in the first twelve months, however is expected to make a profit contribution of approximately £0.6 million annually thereafter. Aggregated accounts for the year to 30 June 2020 show revenue of £1.9 million, profit before tax of £0.1m and net assets at that date of £0.2m, for the combined businesses.

They've also raised some debt to fund further acquisitions but remain in a significant net cash position.

The consideration will be funded out of existing cash resources and a new credit facility. The Company has received Credit Committee Approval from Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited for a new £5.5m credit facility to be used purely for acquisitions, details of which will be provided following completion of documentation.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#333576

Postby simoan » August 16th, 2020, 12:13 pm

WickedLester wrote:There's been some more news from some of the companies I have bought.

First a half year trading update from WGB and it's not pretty reading but liquidity is fine.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/walker-gr ... 00077131V/

The Company's liquidity remains robust and at the half year end the Company's cash headroom against its banking facilities had further increased to £19.5 million, compared with headroom of £16.0 million on 26 June 2020 as reported in the Company's accounts for the year ended 31 January 2020.

I used to hold WGB when the share price was much higher but sold in October 2017. As it turns out this was just lucky timing because there was no way I could have foreseen what has happened since then that has led to the price being less than a quarter of my sale price. I have had it on my watchlist ever since, as I do with all my ex-holdings because it's much easier to buy back into a company you understand well rather than research something from scratch.

I agree that this update really doesn't say much and certainly nothing that would make me start buying back in yet, so I will wait until the results in October to see how trading has gone in between times. However, from a longer term value perspective it is an interesting proposition and it would surprise me if it was not on the radar of a larger company looking for an acquisition because it has great brands and IP, so the intangibles really do have value in this case, and with a PBV = 0.54 it is not without attraction.

All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#334072

Postby WickedLester » August 18th, 2020, 10:52 am

Robinson (RBN) have reported their interims today and on first reading they are not too bad.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/robinson- ... 00033775W/

Operating profit before amortisation of intangible assets has doubled to £1.6m versus the same period last year and profit before tax increased to £1.1m (2019: £0.3m).

They've announced an 8.5p dividend for this year if everything goes according to plan although I expect this to drop back to 5.5p next year.

A sale of the surplus properties appears to be at least 18 months away but if they do manage to maximise the value I would hope they would be left debt free and with some spare cash left over to invest in the business.

I am already more than 50% up on the ones I bought recently but have no intention of selling for the time being as I feel that in the current climate stocks that have benefitted from the pandemic and are still able to pay a dividend will be at a premium. I'll probably hang on at least until the surplus properties are sold and see what the price is at then.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#334576

Postby simoan » August 20th, 2020, 9:37 am

Nice positive AGM trading update from Vertu this morning. This is in-line with what a neighbour told me since the dealership he works at re-opened:
"July trading continued the trends seen in June and was significantly stronger than both what we envisaged and the Group's original business plan for the month. A robust recovery in customer demand for our vehicles and servicing has continued, aided by our investments in omnichannel retailing. A very successful 0% finance used vehicle sale event was executed in a majority of the Group's English dealerships and this, together with strong used car margins, aided the delivery of a record month for used car profits. The Group's high margin aftersales operations also performed well, delivering year on year growth in revenue, gross profit and margin.

full update: https://www.investegate.co.uk/vertu-mot ... 00056319W/

This is good news as a shareholder but not as someone in the market for a nearly new car!
All the best, Si

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#334691

Postby WickedLester » August 20th, 2020, 3:38 pm

Nice positive AGM trading update from Vertu this morning. This is in-line with what a neighbour told me since the dealership he works at re-opened:


There was also a poitive trading update from Lookers this morning.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/lookers-p ... 01036839W/

These trends strengthened in July as the Group's dealerships in Scotland reopened. During July, on a like-for-like basis, the Group invoiced and delivered over 14,000 new retail and used units exceeding last year by 17.0%. Like-for-like service revenues also showed growth versus last year. As a consequence of these factors, combined with ongoing focus on cost and working capital control, underlying profit before tax was materially ahead of last year during July.

I'm hoping there is a read accross to Caffyns where I hold some shares and the price may start to rise from what is a very low level given the size of the asset backing.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#335786

Postby WickedLester » August 25th, 2020, 12:47 pm

I have been trading a little lately and have introduced a couple more value plays into the portfolio.

First I sold half of my WYN and half the WGB I bought recently to lower my average price and raise some cash. Then I invested some into:

MS International (MSI)

The spread on these is quite wide and I had to pay over 122p for them, but at that price the market cap is around £22m. In the last published accounts they showed a loss of £2.5m after tax but this included April and the height of the lockdown. Prior to this they had a decent 5 year record of profitability. But the attraction for me is in the balance sheet. They have net current assets of around £15m including around £16m in cash and a further £17m in freehold property and they still pay a small dividend. On the downside apart from the recent losses, the management effectively have control and as a result pay themselves handsomely, All in all though I believe these have the potential to double if there is a recovery in their fortunes.

Then I bought.

Hargreaves Services (HSP)

At the current price the market cap is around £69m against a NAV of £130m including current assets less all liabilities of around £60m. They used to be a coal miner but have effectively stopped now and are now a bit of a mixed bag but remain profitable. The real attraction here to me is in the assets which includes a very substantial property portfolio some of which has significant development value. Chris Mills has a near 30% stake and may choose to bid for the rest at some point. They still pay a dividend and this should increase substantially in future periods.

I also bought a few Anglo Pacific which has not performed well this year but is moving away from coal into more "modern" metals and also still pays a dividend.

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Re: Some Stocks I Have Bought

#335800

Postby simoan » August 25th, 2020, 1:36 pm

WickedLester wrote:
MS International (MSI)

The spread on these is quite wide and I had to pay over 122p for them, but at that price the market cap is around £22m. In the last published accounts they showed a loss of £2.5m after tax but this included April and the height of the lockdown. Prior to this they had a decent 5 year record of profitability. But the attraction for me is in the balance sheet. They have net current assets of around £15m including around £16m in cash and a further £17m in freehold property and they still pay a small dividend. On the downside apart from the recent losses, the management effectively have control and as a result pay themselves handsomely, All in all though I believe these have the potential to double if there is a recovery in their fortunes.

Wow! This is so illiquid I can see your trades because there's only one or two a day. I'm guessing you paid 122.6p :) The spread is about 17% which I would call extremely wide! I take my hat off, this is proper value investing, not for widows and orphans.

All the best, Si


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