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That's interesting. I saw Toscafund as behind the move to facilitate SPD's entry in the first place. Surprised they've sold down to such an extent before the SPD saga reaches a conclusion (unless they think it has). Below the notifiable threshold means below either 3% or 5% I think, depending on the structure of the shareholder - e.g. for OEIC's it is 5%.
rns skindle explains were a few of the shares have come from,what does below a notable level mean in percentage terms though i wonder.
Without wishing to tempt fate it looks like the selling might be coming to an end. If it is Sports Direct reducing its position as we suspect, what exempts them or whoever it maybe from reporting a change in their holding to the market ?
FWIW, I think we are witnessing behind the scenes shenanigans.
A large shareholder, who I suspect is SPD as they would like the cash to implement their as yet unidentifiable strategy, asked around and our new shareholders said ‘Yup, would like to help but at c.£1.80, give us a bell back if your interested’
MM’s get consensus and walk the price down to place the orders. We get caught up in the whole process and are left scratching our heads as to how this can happen after such a strong recent TU.
Once this reshuffle has been played out, my gut feel is we will bounce back up to a realistic valuation either before or around the next TU.
One final thought, if it is SPD, then with the reduction of their stake, they will I assume, forfeit access to Board meetings?
To be honest with you all,i wouldnt be to disapointed if spd did sling there hook,but the good thing is,the shares they have sold look to have been snapped up pretty sharply,our business can manage quite ok without them,the customer redress must be nearly finished now,and our debt is coming down nicely,hopefully some good results expected in the new year.imho.
If I had to guess I'd say SPD were exiting - and probably just about out - but it is getting silly. If you add the recent declared positions to those in the annual report you get to a lot more than 100% of the voting rights.
I wonder if the company is tracking this? If not, maybe it is about time they served notices on major shareholders asking them to confirm their current positions.
Between them Bank of America, City Investment Company Limited, Ennismore Fund Management Limited and Credit Suisse have acquired 27.466% of the total number of shares in Findel. Schroders have recently increased their investment so it is unlikely to be them, Toscafund normally release an RNS when their position changes so by process of elimination the seller can only be Sports Direct although our learned friend DRFK (doesn’t really f......g know) says it is not Sports Direct. To add weight to this claim, Sports Direct have not declared any reductions to their holding.
Despite this heavy buying, the price is still falling. Well, if it is Sports Direct at least they have only 2.434% left to sell !
Yes skindle credit suisse,ennismore and now b of a have aquired nearly 20% of the company,interesting to say the least.
Another new investor Columbo, but I ask again, where are all of these shares coming from ?
Who next warren buffett.ha ha.
This has been the pattern in recent weeks. We start the day today with a trade of 10,690 shares at a shade over 187 pence even though the bid price was 184.5 pence. We assume this to be a buy. The bid price as a response to this has been lowered to 182.5. There is no chance of the share price rising when all the market makers do is mark the price down as soon as someone buys the shares. I am completely baffled by this strategy.
Gees skindle someone else has jumped onboard,someone must be selling,im intrigued to say the least.
A new investor was announced today. Where are all of these shares coming from ?
Credit Suisse didn’t reveal their hand until the 15th November. So there is a possibility that Sports Direct could have sold some of its overweight position.
Mr Ashley is obviously an extremely sharp entrepreneur but allowing him to engage with the media live is not a sensible move. The man clearly displays a consistent disconnect between mouth and brain that results in dire consequences for both his own business and those in the same sector. He cannot be trusted when he is permitted to speak from the heart.
We await further notification as to who has increased and who has decreased.
In yesterday's results, SPD listed their strategic investments as of 28th October:
29.7% Debenhams
29.9% Findel
26.2% French Connection
25.4% Game Digital
18.9% Goals Soccer Centres
8.3% Iconix Brand Group
If you look at the current market caps, it appears Findel is by far their biggest strategic interest in terms of value of the equity they hold. So if they have decided against a full takeover, and if they think that they have got what they need in terms of getting their product into Findel as a sales channel, then reduction in their stake would be an obvious way to raise cash if they needed to, or simply to rebalance their portfolio of strategic interests.
Incidentally, SPD had to issue a clarification statement yesterday around MA's response to a question on current trading in their sports retail business. MA had used the phrase "unbelievably bad" to describe November's trading.
share price down 14% today,could they be going the same way JJB sports did,i think they are,crash bang wallop,they seem to be dragging us down with them,and we are on the verge of losing half the value of our company in 6 months or so.something is definately going on in the background,and as usual us small shareholders seem to be the last to find out.
On a different note though express gifts seems to have had a record breaking run up to xmas as stated in the last statement,hold on tight,could be a rocky road ahead.
Approximately ten per cent changed hands again today. Given the current problems at Sports Direct, could it be that our biggest investor is divesting from Findel ?
Morgan Stanley got involved in a similar way as above where they quickly built a holding up to 10% made up of shares and swaps and disappeared again as quickly as they arrived but this was at the same time as Sports Direct were making their move. Are Credit Suisse acting in the same capacity as Morgan Stanley were.
If you look at the FT tearsheet for Findel, they have Credit Suisse (Market Maker) holding 1.5% as of 5th December, so they seem to have decided that the shares in the most recent holdings notice are held in a Market Maker capacity. That raises the question of the additional 10% voting rights held through derivatives (cash-settled swaps).
The FT also show some sub-3% shareholders as of September (Norges Bank, Hargreave Hale and M&G).
We seem to be over 100% of the voting rights "spoken for" by adding up holdings notices (even without the smaller holders identified in the FT list), so there must be some double-counting in my list. Logic might suggest that Sports Direct and/or Toscafund would be the most obvious candidates to be the other side of the Credit Suisse swaps, but to what end? And taking a 10% short-term (February expiration) position seems a lot of risk for a market-maker, so presumably it is hedged away somewhere, or there's something else going on. Clear as mud.
https://markets.ft.com/data/equities/tearsheet/profile?s=FDL:LSE
Is it possible that Credit Suisse are acting on behalf of Sports Direct as market maker to assist in SD’s attempt to acquire the business at a reduced price ?
IMO, The SP is showing an irrational disconnection to the value and true worth of the company.
I wish I had funds available to take advantage of the situation but other investments in my portfolio are behaving similarly as the wider market continues to be nervous of the geo-political scene. Whilst this continues, I have elected to step back and wait for some semblance of order to return at which point we can reflect on this moment as having been a golden opportunity for those with funds available, and I might remind everyone that our own Board have meaningfully done so, to have bought so cheaply as indeed Credit Suisse appear to recognise too.
Now up to 11.493%. The share price is still showing no signs of turning positive though. I remember the share price sliding uncontrollably when Sports Direct were building their position. The question is which of our large shareholders has been reducing to facilitate the Credit Suisse purchase.
yes skindle,im not even sure that the sells that showed yesterday are indeed sells,we wont know until we receive any holdings rns's,having had another read today through the half yearly report,the only negative thing for me is the 80 million core net debt,and thats beginning to come down nicely,everything else looks rosy.surely the sp cant go any lower,TOUCHWOOD.
Still a large overhang Columbo, maybe another nine million shares to tilt the balance ?
And we are still in the dark,looks like a bit of chopping and changing going on in the background.