The Lemon Fool

monabri wrote:I don't have all the divi info before year 2000 for Caledonia but based on a share price of £3.48 one can do some quick sums......

FYI, the AIC site is a great reference for IT dividend historical information. E.g https://www.theaic.co.uk/companydata/0P00008ZMA/overview/dividends

Cheers,

Juan

Final results https://www.caledonia.com/rns/view/id/1720

Annual dividend up 3% Final 44.5p payable 6-August.

Very satisfactory.

Best wishes,

Steve

Thanks. Anyone looking solely at their portfolio would wonder what it is all about but it works and of course they have a lot of Revenue Reserves so the dividend should not be in doubt. Anyway the Cayzer family would not allow that so in all it is a good investment particularly for these times.

Good to see them establishing a fund to help out employees on furlough.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:Thanks. Anyone looking solely at their portfolio would wonder what it is all about but it works and of course they have a lot of Revenue Reserves so the dividend should not be in doubt. Anyway the Cayzer family would not allow that so in all it is a good investment particularly for these times.

Good to see them establishing a fund to help out employees on furlough.

Dod

Notable that this fund is also being financed by the directors personally and by the Cayzer Trust Company (Caledonia's largest shareholder)

https://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/cal ... id=1430858

Half year report. Interim dividend +2.4% payable 7-Jan-2021. All seems very satisfactory.

Best wishes,

Steve

Thanks Steveam. These results show the value of a long term, well diversified approach. No drama, just get on with it.

Dod

Also good that this trust is permanently on a huge discount due to the Cayzer family holding. We get more assets working for us and generating dividends and the possible bonus at some point of the discount unwinding.

scrumpyjack wrote:Also good that this trust is permanently on a huge discount due to the Cayzer family holding. We get more assets working for us and generating dividends and the possible bonus at some point of the discount unwinding.

You mean that the Cayzers might some day do what the Freshwater family did with Daejan and take it private? I hope not.

Dod

I doubt they would do that, but it is possible some of the family might want to, or have to, realise their investment at some point and the size of the family holding reduce to a level which results in the discount unwinding. Anything could happen.

scrumpyjack wrote:I doubt they would do that, but it is possible some of the family might want to, or have to, realise their investment at some point and the size of the family holding reduce to a level which results in the discount unwinding. Anything could happen.

You may remember some years ago that the late Sir James Cayzer did a bit of stirring up along these lines and those in charge at the management office sharpened up their act no end. He used to live in rural Scotland not that far from me, and caused a bit of a stir from time to time when he would get his chauffer to take him in the Rolls for a spot of shopping at the local Tesco.

Dod

Remember meeting him at a BoB cocktail do at RAF Leuchars. Immaculately turned out, proper old school!

Pleased with the results....

The discount on CLDN does not concern me, it is quite clear why it exists unlike some trusts. I am happy to be a long term holder and consider it relatively low risk.

Caledonia have tendered their auditor requirements and will be switching to BDO from KPMG. I see this as routine but positive (the directors doing their job and not being in cahoots with long term auditors).

https://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/cal ... id=1431849

Best wishes,

Steve

Caledonia dispose of Buzz Bingo for nominal amount. They’ve caught a cold on this one - it happens

https://otp.investis.com/Utilities/PDFD ... id=1461644

Best wishes,

Steve

Seems strange to be disposing of Buzz now timing wise? One would hope that the bingo halls would soon be reopening.

The bigger issue is the just under 50% of assets denominated in US dollars and the relative strength of Sterling.

monabri wrote:Seems strange to be disposing of Buzz now timing wise? One would hope that the bingo halls would soon be reopening.

The bigger issue is the just under 50% of assets denominated in US dollars and the relative strength of Sterling.

I guess the write off is not that material in the context of £1.9bn trust, probably take the view recovery of Buzz will be long haul. Not concerned over the US dollar exposure in short term.

Still a fan of this trust and long term holder, have topped up at low points in last 12 months, prefer PE exposure in this set up rather than a pure PE trust where management charges are less transparent.

monabri wrote:Seems strange to be disposing of Buzz now timing wise? One would hope that the bingo halls would soon be reopening.

The bigger issue is the just under 50% of assets denominated in US dollars and the relative strength of Sterling.

Yes but that is probably why they can dispose of Buzz now. I always thought it was a very strange thing to buy in the first place.

A stronger sterling is I suppose a nice problem to have, not particularly for Caledonia but for the economy as a whole.

Dod

Presumably they sold Buzz (for a nominal amount) because they did not want to sink more money into it. The statement referred to there being a capital raising. It had been through one CVA after which they had put in an extra £22m, all lost. Can't blame them for not wanting to throw more good money after bad and not wanting to retain a miniscule holding (if they didn't support the fund raising) and wasting further management time on it.

The notice also tells us that they have sold it for a nominal sum but at the end of February they had already written its value down to zero. As at 31 March 2020, Buzz Bingo was valued at £41 million representing 2.3% of their assets and they sounded quite relaxed about it then. However as scrumpyjack has said they clearly got fed up pumping money into it. That accounts no doubt for the share price being at just over £26, although I see it had a good uplift today to finish just short of £27.

Can't win them all.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:Can't win them all

I wonder, though, if this 'late' news might have prompted Moneyweek to drop CLDN from their model portfolio (https://moneyweek.com/investments/funds ... investment)