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Yes, I can see lots of reasons why family members sell, but with Harwood around it's a little...crazy
Yup, 'the family' don't even need to sell up, just sit back and see things sorted.
Is the dream
The 'family' keep selling, Harwood keep buying... there won't be enough votes left to keep Tyson in a job next year!
And now the lady herself reduces her holding....
Yes, I cannot see a quoted company of any size bothering
but, if Harwood has mates with (a) buy and build play(s) in the sector, then who knows?
It's either scale or niche quality. Only people very familiar with the industry will be able to verify the 2nd, or of course improving sales.
Titon needs scale
How will Harwood achieve that?
Either buy and build (but that requires confidence in the management team and access to capital) or be taken over
1st task is to stop 'the family' paying out another unwarranted divi while taking the company into debt!
Harwood are v good
Finally Harwood have managed to get a foot in the door...
Can't see a t/o tbh Jolly, even with Harwood stake. The 'family' still control too much and I see no signal that they wish to step back.
In fact if we look at the last few years, quite the opposite. They clearly think they have the knowledge to turn this business around but the trajectory of the company of late begs to differ. We'll see more with this next update.
Perhaps less if t/o
Place your bets on tenure length....
14 months.
Barely a better name in town...
Another 'family' member selling out! Is that mansplaining Ms Ritchie???
What a bad joke this company has become, hidden profit warnings and 'family' selling up!
Another 'family' member selling out! Is that mansplaining Ms Ritchie???
What a bad joke this company has become, hidden profit warnings and 'family' selling up!
Ms Ritchie, I would concur with your suggestion that shareholders should speak to your husband.
They should start by asking him why he introduced the Interim Results containing the most underhand method of giving a profit warning. Simple removal of the previous reference to it.
Low. About as low as it gets. FACT.
Dear Mr Argyle,
When a response descends into condescension,’mansplaining’ and references to Oscar Wilde it is time for me to politely withdraw. The company is my husband’s to comment on as Chair, the family is mine and I am certainly not going to discuss any personal family circumstances with you, so I will leave you to continue making things up if you wish to do so.
Again, I would advise all shareholders to contact my husband if they wish to ask any questions or discuss any company matters. His number is freely available on the website. I am not aware that you have ever done this prior to posting your opinions as ‘facts’ , Mr Argyle, so please do think about doing so, as that would be infinitely preferable to guesswork and speculation for us all. My thanks and best wishes go to all my fellow company shareholders. Claire Ritchie
Thanks for posting Claire, and I am in total agreement that facts are far better to have than news vacuums, which is exactly the point I’ve been raising.
There has been an utter void of news around this recent succession of negative news events and those vacuums are the responsibility of management, and as your post highlights so strongly, the 'family' which are intrinsically interwoven.
Like it or not, when a company goes 'public' for funds, there are obvious consequences of increased scrutiny from that wider set of investors. Questions that those investors are entitled to have answered fully and honestly.
The facts in the current circumstances do remain highly important: let’s look at them:
1) Fact. The company currently sits at 40% of the value it was 5 years ago. And yet it is now, at these apparently bargain share price levels, that sees members of ‘the family’ divesting their holdings with no other ‘connected’ parties putting their money where their mouth is and buying them. In fact, only in the last couple of days has some sort of organised trading come about to transition share ownerships to larger private investors.
2) Fact. Tyson Anderson as Deputy Chair no longer has any direct vested interest in the Company.
3) Fact. Your sister, Amanda Farrar, continues to divest her holdings in Titon and is likely causing a ‘stock overhang’ situation even at these ‘low’ share prices. We won’t know if and when she’s finished as she is no longer above the 3% notifiable threshold. The initial drip feed of shares was nothing less than shambolic for someone, as you highlight, that is so closely connected to the company.
4) Regarding: “this should refute any accusations of “the only remaining major female shareholder selling all her shares”. You seem to have entirely missed the point. The point was the departure of Alexandra French in such an acrimonious way, (the second such questionable departure of the CEO from Titon in only just over a YEAR!) was going to create a news vacuum and speculation. There have now been three CEO departures in succession at Titon, a number that even Lady Bracknell would struggle to find a negative comment of suitable gravitas for.
5) Fact. This period of shambolic relations between CEOs and the ‘family’ management is the responsibility of the ‘family’ management alone and should never have been allowed to happen in the first place. Good management is about smoothing the operations, not breaking them.
Thank you. Very happy to do so.
Thank-you for this Claire. Much appreciated.
I’m sure it would be most beneficial to both shareholders and the company if the facts about the company, the directors and the founding family were correct when posting online, rather than merely surmised. You will note my name, & therefore hopefully accept the below information as reliable:
For the record :
- Amanda Farrar is not the daughter of John Anderson. She is his niece, and the daughter of Peter Farrar, who served as CEO and Deputy Chair until his death in 1999. She is also my sister;
- Tyson (not Tyler) Anderson, my cousin has not “given away his entire shareholding” as you state. The shares have already been owned for some time by his (now ex-) wife, and have merely been shown in the accounts in the past under Tyson’s name as a Director having an interest in the shares, following corporate legislation rules. On the finalisation of their divorce, he then fails to have a ‘connected interest’, and therefore the announcement was made this morning to advise people of this.
- There remain several major female shareholders – myself, my aunt, my (female) cousin, my sister and my cousin’s wife, all of whom retain complete confidence in the company and its management, and whose shares have also historically been shown in the accounts in the Directors’ connected interests numbers where necessary. I believe this should refute any accusations of “the only remaining major female shareholder selling all her shares”, or such like.
- From time to time, shareholders may need to liquidate some investments, as I’m sure you yourself do. This is a private matter, entirely for them, and may just possibly be absolutely nothing to do with the confidence, or a lack thereof, in an investment, but merely personal circumstances.
Chairman Keith Ritchie (my husband) is always available for any shareholder who wishes to have a conversation on any company matter (numbers on the company website).
Well the daughter has just sold another 155k and with Tyler giving away his entire shareholding in his divorce settlement......
Going down 100k since September is levelling off the negative period so far from a surprise there.
The previous cash reduction to September 22 was already flagged in 2 previous RNS?
Overall it does look to be "trading in line with expectations" although they have dropped the mention of profit for H2.
The mention of the gloomy OBR outlook for housing is fair warning but they've been totally negative for the last few years and it's not come to pass.