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Just read about the Scheme Of Arrangement, which explains it all for me. I was told about this Share when it was 60p, but being the fool that I am I didn't buy in. Ouch!!
I know this Share has been suspended but, please excuse my ignorance, what is happening. Is the Share coming back?
Anybody know when we are likely to receive the monies ?
Yes - Alchemy's shares . They had accumulated a surprisingly small amount .The uplift probably just about covering their expenses .Possibly put too much reliance on Long and his recommendations
I guess its just Brandes to go to get them home and hosed
Connells
WHY?
Someone has picked up £4m worth of shares this morning
Interesting. Guess the gamble isn't that difficult to play when your using Skipton members money!
Major,
Yes,I guess that was it and only chose to abandon that strategy of waiting to see how pandemic pans out (still panning !) when Alchemy popped up to spoil the party
They never even entered the game with a stake
However in July with the arrival of Robin Paterson in July and Hoskings in August it had been clear that the share price had been well oversold
It was now a bargain basement buy . Clear and present danger of some heavy artillery arriving to claim the prize
A once in a lifetime opportunity for a diceroll which they could have well afforded to do with a limited downside withe stellar brands in the portfolio
Let's face it most of the damage done at CWD has been self-inflicted by the BODS All CWD needed was a steady hand of the rudder
I should also imagine Connells continuing interest was also difficult to keep confidential too for such a long period of time too.
Furthermore despite sales were flying stamp duty savings coffers filling up they would also have established that the the BODS had to do something to relieve the pressure from the banks
The lockdown had yielded the benefit of substantial saving some staff wages ,the time to pounce
The BODS staggering from one crisis to the next likely to jump into bed with the first girl that offered
if it wasn't Alchemy it was going to be Paterson or A.N.Other
Their hesitancy has cost them well north of £40m which was more than the total value of it late Spring
i imagine they were waiting to see ow the Pandemic was panning out.
I imagine a pipeline of 55% up-must be the only firm in country currently not trying to get the pipeline through any time fast.
Elephant in the room-if Connells have money to spend on this Aq why dont they follow Savills/Belvoir etc in paying back the Gov support monies. This will come back and bite the Skipton in my opinion from moral perspective.
With a potential longer hangover now of Covid and new strains -and pressure on both groups to shut branches for safety(both dinosaurs in remote working)- its bum twitching time IMO for Skipton. Plus when the group acquired RSA (a real basket case)the Connells management team, was far stronger and lets be honest younger !I can see no one on the board good enough to parachute into CWD-most remainers being ex RSA/Sequence. Profits have been falling year on year recently and Connells brand is a shadow of its former self
The CWD/Connells document certainly threw up a few interesting facts in the timeline.
Having signed off a confidentiality agreement on March 3rd it's clear Connells were already on the scene during or shortly after the proposed merger with LSL. So Connells would have been all over CWD like a rash conducting due diligence since probably February 2020 .
More than sufficent time to look under the bonnet and to acquaint themselves with the facts by the summer .
On the 3rd March the share price was around 259p . A further clean sheet agreement was entered into on March 12 th when the SP had slid to 146p when the pandemic started raising its head .
Then the pandemic lockdown struck so clearly that would have be a spanner in the works and halted proceedings and by the end of March the share price dive bombed to just 40p
However, it soon became apparent it was clearly an overreaction . Connells not only at their branches as well as CWD were experiencing deals were still crossing the line during May and April and also enquiries coming in thick and fast from prospective buyers .
In addition both companies benefiting on savings on staff wages from furloughing
A spring in everyone's step in June easing from lockdown as and then the stamp duty extension in July Increased activity in all sectors which hasn't stopped since as evidenced by the increases sales of 55% in Q4, year on year CWD privvy to all this .
Clearly apparent to Robin Paterson in July too having acquired a substantial holding
The share price was still below 100p mid July and 111p in m mid August significantly below that in March when Connells struck the agreement
If Connells had come in with an offer of 260-275p at that time then shareholders would have bitten their arm off
Now having to pay over £40m more
What on earth were they waiting for ?
Umbrella being offered by Connells when the sun starts shining !
What a strange set of events . Firstly Why didnt Connells strike in July when they had already conductd due diligence from March and were aware things had picked right back up . They certainly would have won the day at 250-275p then
Also why on earth did the BODS recommend a lowball offer from Alchemy knowing Connells were interested at 250p+in March and still on the scene
form the update today-.................a strong final quarter saw the year-end sales pipeline at £61.8 million, up
55 per cent. year-on-year!!
Connells, Countrywide and their respective legal advisers entered into a clean team agreement dated 12 March 2020 (the “Clean Team Agreement”), having signed a confidentiality agreement on the 3rd March
Unlucky ,the SP was around 250p at the time pre-pandemic .Just a month later they could have started picking up shares at 40p
10 months of due diligence has effectively cost Connells a packet
As Skipton are a mutual and ethically driven is there pressure for them to repay back the Gov support money as has Belvoir I note today. Can it be right that they are paying millions out for CWD whilst trousering all the support monies. And if they do will they actually acquire CWD or is this the actual reason why they are in a position to do so
The CFO confirmed that a short trading update will appear with the notice to shareholders for the Connells vote
is there a stop date on the trading statement-looks late to me. Nothing in for this week.
The BODS want to get this home and hosed so you can rest assured they wont be bigging it up
The professionals will no doubt be cranking up the bills for all the abortive fees on the wild goose chases before they leave the stage
It wouldn't surprise me if these were in excess of £20m
100% the bottom line results will look very good. Massive cost savings due to Gov support and a swelling pipeline due to a mini boom. Just be interesting to see how they present the bottom line results.
"LSL reports very strong trading in December with full year 2020 Group Underlying Operating Profit expected to be significantly ahead of 2019"
Although no doubt a difficult few months ahead
No doubt same rules apply at CWD except for the fact they have burned cash in all the corporate action.Classic BODS just as the green shoots appear they are heading for the hills
Correction
Should of stated share incentive scheme wasn't performing....
Agree Bittertaste,
I am one of the 1,000s of ex employees who like you worked bloody hard for CWD and we were proud to work for them, the last share incentive should of been stopped many months before it did it was obvious the scheme was working but as usual the BODs didn't care about loyal hard working staff.
Excuse typos
Inventory has shrunk to below 15,000 although still banging them out
Yes I understand that the arrival of Platt with her retail strategy would have heralded an exodus of those who disagreed
However since Pltt's departure then the BODS have carried on making costly errors yet still no cries of dissatisafaction Particularly LSH whose reputation is based on executing property deals with clients and ensuring that completions take place
How embarrassing can it be for the professional fees earners that they couldnt even sell themselves properly foolishly announcing a deal had been done when it hasn't
What about all those time served directors at Hamptons and John D wood who respect their bbarnds -surely some of them have some balls
I am also surprised that those who have left to have expressed their dissatisfaction more vocally These non -exec Directors have it too easy and a lack of accountability
Itwasannounced totheworld thatlSH hadbeen sodwit