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http://news.sky.com/story/1488070/booker-agrees-to-buy-londis-and-budgens-for-40m
I've held this share for 2 years and a big fan of Charles Wilson. Decent business people with a decent product = winners. Glad for everyone who holds these and would think they have been dragged down a bit by the supermarkets. Onwards and upwards
It's been good news for BOK some time now, and the wholesale divisions look v good. The retail side will always have decent sales, but margins are always under pressure with Aldi et al setting the pace. It's near all time high of 1.73, and this will be a tough nut to crack, will need significant volumes to crack it. The PE at mid 20's is not stretched, and if 1.73 broken, £2 is decent target. Would like to see a more aggressive divi policy. GL all
after todays rns , nice sized buy gone through may see more of a move up as more read this rns
Cash and carry operator Bestway Group saw its full-year profits increase 44.7% thanks to growth in all its divisions. Profit before tax rose to £267.1m from £184.6m the year before, while revenue grew 1.2% to £2.55bn. Turnover in its wholesale retail business was £2.38bn, while online sales increased by 47.1% to £176.3m during the period. However, its revenues in the cement manufacturing subsidiary fell 1.9% to £177.8m due to the rupee devaluation. Export decreases dropped 15.2%, particularly to Afghanistan. Bestway acquired Co-operative Pharmacy last July for £620m, changing the name of the business to "Well" and launching a five-year investment programme worth £200m. Chief executive Zameer Chaudhry said: "Despite a challenging business environment both in the UK and globally during the year under review, all the group businesses continued to enhance their respective market share. "In the last twelve months we have continued to demonstrate the strength of our business model and to create value for all our stakeholders." Chaudhry added: "We see challenges ahead of us both in UK and in Pakistan as the respective economies go through an economic stabilisation phase."
Booker to step up discount shop rollout: Booker, the U.K.’s biggest wholesaler, plans to accelerate the rollout of its discount convenience stores, to at least 50 scheduled to open in 2015.
Any truth in the rumour that Mr Rose is off to pastures new?
It is widely known that the Metro sale was amicably accepted by BOK one as they operate closely with BOK. Metro needed the capital. At some stage they will be back in no doubt. Also it seems the Institutions and analysts disagree would disagree with your conclusions Ups1de!!:- "Booker is hosting an institutional investor and analyst event in Enfield today. A presentation will be given by Booker senior management based on the interim results presentation given on 16 October 2014 and attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Business Centre." (From Stockmarket Wire on 24/10/14).
They are to be congratulated on the turnaround but it's hardly much more than a safe,modestly growing annuity( sales growth:2-3%) and 3pts of profit( under pressure ever more from retailing rat race). Hardly racy for shareholders Yes they have a modest cash pile but are returning nearly half of it next July.Its like a safe annuity but factoring in 1.75b share base its hard to get an intrinsic value per share above £1-1.20..or am I missing something ? Yes they talk in results presentation of ' capacity' to handle up to £6B sales ( vs £4.5b) but plan appears to be pedestrian growth given market forces.I suppose that's why Metro bailed.
And where are we now? I use Booker, and as I said before it's a lot better than it was, but I've sold. I think it will continue drifting down. There's just no sexiness about the company.
Cash and carry group sales up: The cash and carry division of Booker has grown like-for-like sales by 1.8%, with non-tobacco sales up 3.1% in the 12 weeks to September 12
Trading Statement did the trick :)
Looks like this has been caught up within the supermarket price competition. Trading statements out this month should confirm that all is ok so a hold for me...
Last wholesaler I spoke to said when one won't pay the price others will......like you need NG's transmission lines you need the wholesalers....expect 10-15 pence lift by end Oct. And more to come for Xmas......BOK in good locations, transport connections good, technology works (unlike for some) roll on Xmas.....
I mean who is Alison Smith? Just testing..
A bit too subjective and thin on substance this piece.
Benighted Booker: Metro is carrying its cash out of Booker, and the wholesaler’s share price is taking the news badly, writes Alison Smith. So, unsurprisingly, Metro sold after the lock-up period ended in July, raising £196 million in the process. More surprisingly, Booker shares shed more than 6% of their value on Wednesday. This drop owes something to the accentuated movements typical of a relatively thinly traded stock. The end of any hope – faint though it surely should have been – that the stake might be a springboard to buy the whole group can’t have helped either. Metro’s move may also have crystallised further uncertainty about Booker’s prospects, despite Charles Wilson’s impressive work in broadening its range in non-food wholesale and in discount convenience stores. For Booker operates in the shadow of the supermarkets. If they embark on a full-scale price war the impact on the wholesaler is unclear, but unlikely to be positive.
Convenient.
Or, as was pointed out in IC, Booker has just been dragged down in the general malaise affecting retailers. Could just be this.
Everything was looking promising, the delivery side of the business has grew massively over the past 2-3 years taking business from Brakes and 3663; the acquisition of Makro went relatively smoothly, their massive wage bill was drastically cut and now Makro is actually making a profit for the first time in years. It's hard to comprehend on ground level that all these promising results are being met with a declining SP.
Interesting what you say.I bought a large amount back in early April,at £1.58,and i thought boy this is a steal.And ever since then they have drifted down.I just could'nt understand why.As i have said before i work for a frozen food company,and everywhere i go,customers are moving over to Booker,saying prices are good along with quality products.Patience is the only answer i can think of........
I work for Booker and this slump in SP is subject to a lot of speculation/theories. Firstly, I don't pretend to know anything about the Stock Exchange, trading, selling etc, but one theory that has been circulating since the massive slump from 178p earlier this year is the maturing of colleagues 'Share/Save' plans. Colleagues bought the shares at 54p (20% saving off market value) back in October 2011 - it was massively oversubscribed (colleagues saving £50 a week were cut back to £30, people saving £10 down to £6.25) highlighting the popularity of the scheme. This scheme ends on Sept this year and colleagues are able to sell their shares. Speculation is rife that if every colleague partaking in the scheme seen they were more than tripling their money (with the high SP earlier this year) they would sell, thus having damaging effects. A retiring employee, a Regional Director, has said that Charles himself is purposely driving down the price so there isn't mass selling of the colleague shares by encouraging an investment company(?) that the price has reached its predicted high. A counterargument has been issued through regional meetings suggesting the share price is being driven down to allow the next proposed Share/Save scheme (to start Oct 2014) to be offered at a cheaper price - 1.04p (20% of market value). The latter, I personally believe is the PR cover-up to keep the staff onside, and that it is quite coincidental that the SP has slumped dramatically as we come to the maturity of the 2011 Share/Save scheme where employees were set to make thousands. At the moment, no-one knows who or what to believe, but that's an insight into the theories at business center level.
Glad to get dividend but it hardly compensates for the dive in share price. Does anyone have an idea how long it will take to climb back up?
Can someone enlighten me as to what is happening to Bookers SP? Also a massive sell after hours today of over 600,000 shares :(
Hi I'm thinking of buying into BOK being further spurred on by broker reports in weekend papers recently. I'm dmor already but tjhese boards are good for testing sentiment. I see it as long term hold. Any seriuos comments appreciated positive or negative. Thanks