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I would suggest to you DC2007 that one of the reasons this bb is still so busy is that nobody is sure what MA's next move is likely to be. Sergio spent more on shares than you have quoted but sports direct spent more than anybody else.
As I understand it, spd's lawyers are accusing the administrators of having had a conflict of interest and they have refuted the allegations though some previous case law has been quoted to them. Also as I understand it, spd have called for a full investigation of what happened here to be conducted by the fca and the feeling is that some obscure American hedge funds stole this company and the administrators are not genuinely conducting a sale. Odey although profiting from a short went long to the tune of 5%. but I guess you mean the boat can only be properly rocked by launching a legal action. From what I know of other matters, spd are not shy about taking legal action so the jitters for some of the bodies involved in this "national scandal" are not over yet.
I doubt MA will properly rock the boat since he'll still be looking to buy bits of this. The full letter from the administrators was published to DEB IR site a little while ago. In it, the authors invite former shareholders to contact them if they are aware of there having been any wrongdoing by directors. They mean criminal or civil wrongs. The directors will probably have been careful enough to have done neither.
There were so many bear signals. The new CFO didn't buy even when the shares were a 'bargain'. Who better to know know a £50k or £100k tranche was likely to go up in smoke? I hope Sergio's last purchase was at least done in good faith. He's hardly lost though - £2-3m in salary less £200k in shares bought is okay for 30 months' work.
Losing is bad but getting fleeced is worse. The final insult for former holders would be for Debehnams to be floated again in the next year or two. It can't be ruled out.
They should have got rid if Sergio over a year ago.It was a bad appointment as he did not understand bricks and mortar stores.There were many things in the last eighteen months that would have been cheap to do and would have enhanced the business which he failed to do.
Shame the bard when he was voted off still kept him on
Pearls, Debenhams did survive (it was the shareholders that did not) and perhaps once 30-40 stores are closed and a CVA happens the company may end up leaner and profitable. I do think the restructuring happened sooner than expected to get "rid" of the MA factor. Remember some people did make money here over the last few months trading on the spikes while others - like you - held on. It will be interesting to see if MA takes any legal action against the company/directors - or is all mouth and no trousers. Good luck elsewhere.
If if if.
If my aunt had wheels, she'd be a bicycle.
The fact is none of those events were bull signals and we told you as much at the time. That isn't hindsight, its foresight. Some apparently are still too dim to get this.
Without doubt MA let us all down. But then again you can hardly blame anyone for thinking Sergio buying was a bull signal, followed by reasonably bullish statements until earlier this year. The company was hardly advising everyone it was in this state in January. And February's Li +Fung deal also looked good. MA's open and frequent comments about wanting to get rid of the Board and takeover the company followed by his indicative offer again looked like further bull signals, and were backed by institutions not generally selling, and in some cases increasing their stakes.
Hindsight is a marvellous thing, but at the time, there was enough going on for a lot of investors to think DEB would survive. After all, why should the BOD have acted like this? SG has lost his job now, and no doubt further Directors are also about to be fired. At least if MA had taken over, we all would have known where we stood, and a man who believes in the high street would have been in charge.
"Wasn't MA going to save a substantial number of jobs if he'd been given chance?"
Your hero had his chance. And he blew it.
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/20-debenhams-stores-face-axe-155100694.html
Employees sold up the river! This was all about the lenders getting their money back.
It was not in the interests of shareholders or employees to go into pre-pack. Wasn't MA going to save a substantial number of jobs if he'd been given chance?
Understand your view but do you really want 30000 employees to lose their jobs just to teach a few directors a lesson? They will be fine whatever happens. Look at the payoff for Sergio
“Good to see the Debenhams shops still open,I don't care the money I lost, thankfully I wasn't stupid enough to have all my money on Debenhams.”
This is the most frustrating part. Seeing the shops still open while they belong to some thieves who stole them from shareholders. I hope they won’t be able to save the company and in the end it will go bankrupt. I’d love to see the creditors lose their money. They were happy to steal ours.
Never take investment advice from a bulletin board - some suggest that dead cats do not only bounce but soar to heaven.
Anyone who does deserves the fate that awaits them - like playing roulette; the gamble may or may not pay off.
So Sergio's gone, and the administrators plan to close around 30 branches. As I recall, MA was intending to keep the entire operation open.
Seems to me the administrators may be looking for too fast a return here. As DEB commented last year - most of their branches made a profit, albeit was probably not large per store. So they are generally individually profitable, the problem is overheads probably imposed by Head Office.
If only MA had been allowed to takeover this company!!!
like Odey?
Thats nice - dickhead.
Went to a DEBs store in the weekend - lots of people walking around and the tills were ringing. Great to see DEBs thriving.
Action from Ashley would speak a lot louder than words and, as with the bid that never materialised, time is of the essence.
I can't see Debenhams ever refloating as the name is mud now. I don't live in mainland Britain but Isle of Man. Our High Street consists of a few shops such as M& S, sports direct, flannels, next and W H smith. On the mainland last week, an elderly woman carrying a Debenhams bag came rapping on my car window saying something about my car width taking up two parking bays when she saw I needed door clearance for somebody in a wheel chair. If old bats like that were their customer base then even Magic Mike would have had his work cut out.
Sent out data room info to 70 possible buyers. Clause before bid not to contact any landlords for 18 months!! Mike Ashley moaning to city watchdog again...
Really not surprised about his pay off that was always going to happen and what he was waiting for .
However I wonder what the total payout is as presumably he would have got huge pension contributions as well its really sad because quite frankly he was never up to the job but this could have been luck on his part meaning right time right place for his time at amazon as that business model was world-wide strategy and vision from others just been a very very lucky guy
Actually the 10th January AGM results RNS states that he was not re-elected to the Board. However the BoD decided to keep him on as CEO. So not sure were you got the 55% from? The previous AGM??
You know full well that the main investment managers holding shares in any company tend to make up the majority and will vote or abstain. Perhaps small shareholders should be required to vote. I am sure more PIs would have voted if it was clear he would get a £700k payoff. BTW I thought he was forced off the board? Therefore his terms of staying on as CEO should have been adjusted. It's almost as if this was planned.
Its all very well bemoaning this, but at the AGM, which was only a couple of months ago, he was voted back on. He got 55% out of those who voted.
33% of those entitled to vote didn't even bother, its a huge chunk. If they had bothered, it would have tipped the scales.
I bet that 33% were PI's. They really should consider taking a more active role, rather than just speculating and then moaning when it doesn't go their way.
I tried to warn people not to buy when everybody were hoping for a 5p offer from MA. As KNIGELK has pointed out, it is disgusting and people on top never lose. Better luck in the future
Agree with others - totally disgusting that the ex CEO is having a £700,000 (!!) pay off - which of course cannot be voted on by shareholders now.. why is it time and time again Directors get rewarded for failure? Can these people ever lose? Were's the risk for being in the top job(s) when the worse that can happen is that you get a years pay as compensation.. I bet the thousands of Debenhams employees soon to lose their jobs will not get a nice payoff - probably just the £525 per week per year employed redundancy pay - frankly, it stinks!
.. value of Debs the day it was pre packed. Was it more or less than minus the haircut that MAs offer was requiring of the bondholders?