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We were offered a 41% bonus on shares FACT. I was not "taking a chance" . I am let down by First moving the goal posts.
What research was necessary ..... I am not wanting the world then crying.. I am wanting what First promised,.. so are many others if you read the threads here .
pers; i've no sympathy whatsoever.
"...To be fair I didnt and dont know what the close out date for holding shares was or is but I took the chance anyway"
Do you feel let down that you took a chance you don't feel has worked out, or let down that you was seduced by a 'free' 41p without researching it, it's implications?
Fine take a chance; congrats if it works out.....can't expect sympathy if you don't think it has. i mean if you've been buying in the last few weeks, thats a 15% profit, annualised = 60%. Thats not greed, thats wanting the world and crying when you don't get it.
I agree and I openly admit I have over the last few months I have been buying First shares with a view to a 41p extra return. That sounds greedy but I guess I am not alone. To be fair I didnt and dont know what the close out date for holding shares was or is but I took the chance anyway. I feel let down now and we must remember this carrot of 41% was dangled to approve the recent sell offs they did in the USA.. Thanks First !!
I also am totally confused.... by some of the replies as much as by the announcement. I still want my 41 p per share (or maybe more!) and keep my shares. So has the promised 41 p just vanished!!?? Sounds a bit fraudulent to me!
I do think a 41p special dividend would have been the simple way to do this, at which point, people/the market can decide whether it rises/falls prior to, and subsequent to payment, and buy /sell in the market.
I think this has been done in this convoluted confusing way because of political considerations. During covid, much of Firsts staff have effectively been paid by the government. To then pay out 41p, having been bankrolled would have stood out and be an easy target for political opponents and unions ("Shareholders profiteering from government subsidy" etc).
This way profiteering headlines are avoided, which is paramount to FGP as effectively they are an arm of Govt now, without using the word nationalisation, and as a group, the modern management contracts of Govt provides certainty, and whilst this limits upside (where has that been in the last 5 years?), it totally removes downside/risk. In affect this will turn FGP into an infrastructure play, long term visibility, fixed costs, with a low but predictable margin on large turnover.
Personally, i think, over a 2 year frame, this will throw off money, because of its quasi govt arm/infrastructure nature and because it has been so battered for so long. The trajectory, environmentally, governmentally means its being paid to do a job, no downside but KPI achievement upside. The removal of the (previously ringfenced) train franchise bonds, will release considerable sums (compared to current market value), that in my opinion could equal 'this' £500 million. If, IF, they slimline their bloated duplicating management teams/functions/offices, they could release considerable costs to translate to profit - and the 'Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail' may be the catalyst that creates it (requiring cooperation rather than separation of franchises). [albeit i dont think the mgmt have the skillset to do themselves whilst enjoying the gravy train].
105p is the tender offer, they will see how many investors sell up, then next step will be a £50 Million Share Buy Back at what the market rate the SP is, and then finally if there is still surplus cash left then a special dividend.
Glad to see I am not the only person who is struggling to understand this.
From my stand point I have an average share price of 103p and the 105 offer on my tiny holding is hardly anything. any LTH for this share would likely be under the water too, seems a silly way to repay the PI
Perhaps the tender offer price of £1.05 was attractive when it was fixed at a time when the closing price was 93.4p. The difference now is much less and one would forgo the possibility of dividends and further additional distributions alluded to in the RNS. Perhaps the SP will soon go above £1.05....what then?
At the moment I personally can't see any real benefit of selling, but I suppose the SP could be less once the dust has settled.
So where's the 41p per share or whatever it was?
Let's not kid ourselves on here ,the 50 million special dividend between all the share holders is worth pennies to everyone. This deal totally sucks from the start to the finish. For a £1.05 share price. It's basically another slap in your face. Now which brings me to my next point. Several months ago I posted exactly what a joke this company was and was totally laughed at( post can be found if you scroll back) this is a message to all that laughed. Who's laughing now? Still think the company is great.
I know I just do not know what to do myself
Pers, I am with you. Why don't they just issue a dividend and then we all know where we are. I can not see the small increase in the share price representing the percentage of the company they sold and the amount of money they want to return to share holders. Agreed why would I buy and sell for a few pence.
I have 7000 shares and do not understand what is going to happen ? Am I asked to sell at 105p which is just a few pence above the current sp. Why would I do that. Having done that I have no shares left if they divi up the £50 million to share owners. I must be really thick so please help ... thanks
Yep Chevy 12 its a total no brainer sell then buy back at market price on open market.
You are not buying back they are different shares you can replace any you sell at any time but market value still volatile.
IN MY OPINION
I buy and sell on " freetrade"
The RNS says they will be cancelled, and refers to an uplift on EPS based on current trading which they state is unchanged (with no material change in passenger numbers) purely because of the reduced number of shares in issue.
bakerrabble, you might be right many companies put their shares in treasuary first and then cancel them later but you could be correct and they might get canelled straight away.
Not 100% sure I got it all in my head - but quick back of fag pack calcs - If £250m returned in tender, incl. Coast, £50m in buy back you would have reduced the total shares by over 20% with associated SP benefit (fingers crossed), and still £200m left to give as a dividend = approx 20p / share. Gut reaction for now is to hold as expect longer term benefits. wait and see over next month
The way I read it is that the purchased shares (they hope around 476 million) are then cancelled...not kept in treasury.
Reading all your messages, no-one mentions that 38.9% of shares are being tendered for and Coast Capital with 12.2% holding are fully engaging. Maybe, if enough don't engage, one could sell 45 - 50% (pure guess) but surprised if much more. Thus, all depends on one's view of sp after the Tender Offer. Decision maybe to sell 100% now at circa 101p + or sell maybe max 45-50% at 105p and then pray for a good sp later for the balance. But DYOR and Good Luck !!
To me this just sounds like a very poor use of words in the RNS,
I think what they are trying to say is like many other companies have said and done.
They buy their shares back from the market up to a price of £1.05 and then they put them into their treasuary.
So that in turn reduces the total number of shares on the market and as such should push up the sp of the shares that are left. So long term if you hold shares you should benefit but if you sell them in the market for £1.05 you don't have any left. Sell so and keep some. Unless I have read that all wrong.
(Sharecast News) - Transport company Firstgroup has proposed a tender offer to return as much as £500.0m to shareholders.
Firstgroup said on Wednesday that it was looking to return the money to investors by way of a tender offer at 105.0p per share, a 9.2% premium to its closing price on 26 October.
The FTSE 250-listed firm noted that if the full £500.0m is not returned through the tender offer, it intends to undertake a second phase to return any remaining surplus cash via a share buyback of up to approximately £50.0m, with any "meaningful surplus" above this likely to be returned by way of a special dividend.
Thanks for that
Not quite as simple an outcome as originally anticipated. 9.2% on what has been a steadily rising SP isn't too much to get excited about and we are close enough to make decisions on that now without waiting for the delays in funds arriving if you sell. Been in here since 38p so I am likely to sell half my holding and just let the rest ride as there will be benefits but not yet clear their extent. Will buy my shares back if it drops significantly and I think there will be sub 105 entry points to come after the offer date. If I wasn't up so much, I would be participating fully in the offer.
Read my cake example a few weeks back.
That sounds a good offer. Where did you see that?