Blencowe Resources: Aspiring to become one of the largest graphite producers in the world. Watch the video here.
London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Stunning set of results from Paddy Power which makes the board at LAD look like over paid clueless clowns. This BoD is a complete shambles.
Paddy power posted a stunning set of results today coupled with a double whammy of a merger with Betfair.Certainly puts the Lad/Corals one into perspective.How do you compete with that ?
A Hollis; Different times Ladbrokes are now run by techies not entrepreneurs. Not only did Ladbrokes have a hotels division they had an active property arm today including a USA office developing real estate in New York. In betting Ladbrokes led the field they are now hunting up at the back if the field looking very one paced Merger with Corals is the fusion of mediocrity whether that causes a spark is anyone,s guess
Said it in 2012 this was doomed. It's future is worse than Any.. Doesn't make any difference who is in charge. Get all the dragons and sugar and it's still gonna fall.
Keith. I think it has everything to do with favourites winning for a company like Ladbroke that is all about betting shops. If you watched Cheltenham and Royal Ascot, on which a huge amount of their profits hang, they were both a disaster. Which is why the Coral merger is so important if it improves Ladbrokes presence in on line betting,
I mean who saw this coming?? Nothing to do with favourites winning. 365 still raking it in.
PS. We have been in Ladbrokes since day one when they first floated under the great Cyril Stein at 10/- ( we had to pay 12/6d having not got any in the allocation. In the first few years they went up by 16 times, helping a great deal towards us buying our first house. Since then they have moved in and back out of hotels through Hilton. Although we all got a big special dividend from the sale I wish they still had the hotel arm - it gave protection from any downturn in betting.
The 44 per cent drop in profits was well signalled as was the drop in the dividend to 1p from over 4p last time. The same thing will happen to the finals unless the profits improve. The company needs a few long shots coming in but the favourites keep dominating. Everything is on hold while the regulators look at the merger with Coral. If they get a green light the future could be transformed. Particularly on cost savings by rationalising the two businesses.
Interims out. Any one wish to give there 2 pennies worth?
Ain't going to look pretty. Symptom of renewal though and hopefully the market will take that view.
...this Tuesday, the 11th.
Too right, this is getting badly shorted. Time to forget about this one for a stretch I reckon...
Yes very inforamtive Almost sounds as if the takeover is a case of damned if they do damned if they dont
This is great material - thanks very much for posting.
The writer of this blog knows his stuff on this subject. http://www.mercuriusresearch.co.uk/ladbrokes-the-merger-with-coral-and-strategy-update/
Being hammered down, over 10% in less than a week. The city crew want their 911 turbos at the end of the year.
Well if you expect a 3%+ yield it will have to be. So deal announced and the market doesn't like it much. They have slashed my divi too, boo hoo ! Well the new man had to do something different. Lots of debt, placing already done and some savings to be made. If the plan comes off, hence the market reaction, it should generate lots of cash, reduce that debt burden and then my divi can start to rise again. I suspect that is too long to wait for most people. Sell on the rumor. Maybe I should have listened.
Not sure where you are getting your info from caristom but I can assure you unless you are privy to the actual figures you would be amazed how much FOBTs earn the bookies, and I can assure you that it's not just the park lane stores that earn in excess of £500 k on the machines, it is common in a lot of London shops. The average store in scotland will rake in around £80 - £130000 net depending on the town, that's from a throughput on the machines of around £1.5 million gross. And by the way I was right about the merger before it was announced officially so my source was spot on.
And for the record, Park lane lbos may take 500k profits on machines but shops within London would expect to take between 100k and 250k profit. Still a massive loss though
Not certain whether the merger will come off, but if it does Paddy Power will be pleased as they'll look to snap up as many of the vacated units as possible. Bookmakers face a very uncertain future, Fobts are something of a 'dead man walking' restrictions will be imposed eventually, although with the present government here for the next 5 years, they may serve a long period on 'death row'. The biggest unseen problem could be the internet, the big players all see that as the way forward, but there are two major problems facing them 1. Punters struggle to get bets on if they win on any particular sport, and 2. Banks are likely to take a dim view of gambling transactions eventually and that will affect a persons credit rating.
I disagree OTC business would increase enough to make a shred of difference and trust me if FOBT's were to be restricted(and I don't think they will) it would be a doomsday scenario for bookies and would not be replaceable with casino type games on big screens. You are not grasping the psychological attraction of FOBTs to gamblers. As a common analogy in the bookie business goes (highlighted in a programme on the TV only last night) you get punters and you get gamblers, punters are more likely to bet over the counter with a bit of thought going into it, gamblers just want a quick fix and instant gratification. ie machine players. FOBTs in London shops make over £500 k net profit. How can you replace those kind of profits?
Yes 50% of overnight business might be lost overnight if FOBT's went. However they won't go and even if they did it would change the focus. Shops would have casino type games on big screens. Over the counter business would also increase as shops would take larger bets in shop knowing that it would be tougher for people to move from shop to shop.
Just for further info, I wouldn't touch a bookies stock with a ten foot barge pole, too much uncertainty over FOBT restrictions, about 50% of high St bookies would be loss makers overnight if they ever removed the right to have the 4 FOBT's in each shop. They are unlikely to do so due to the revenue they generate in tax but even a restriction on stake or a further increase on betting tax on these machines would be damaging. The growth in high st bookmaking is over.
Sorry, I cant, I'm not trying to ramp this share as I don't own any, but I have connections in the bookmaking industry and that is my information. They will apparently try and get round an offcom ruling to offload about a 1000 units by running them under separate banners ( ie ladbrokes and corals). Not sure about the legality of that though,I wouldn't have thought that was possible. An instruction has been issued to put a hold on any further property acquisions.