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My purchase of Walkers Quavers have half price tickets on the back of packet for all Merlin Theme Parks, so expect lots of queues this summer.
I was looking to buy this great company for ages and recently grab a few. Any investors here care to share their predictions? I have a short term 380 target.
Interesting find HOW DO WE GET THE ANSWER!!
Not gonna take much notice of today's price as all my stocks are in the RED. Maybe ppl are drawing funds for the Summer hols or all these Bank holidays, long as they then spend in our theme parks thats fine.
Just gets better......Only a few K down now !
All smiles :)))
..... and todays comment from IC is : Theme parks operator Merlin Entertainments (MERL) is enjoying buoyant trading, with like for like revenues in the first 18 weeks of the year up by 12 per cent although this is against relatively weak comparatives. We maintain our buy recommendation. GL
New openings are also powering growth - six new midway sites were opened in 2013 and a further six are expected in 2014. And plans to work in partnership with developers should create higher returns from these capital-intensive projects. Meanwhile, a recently announced new partnership with animated film studio Dreamworks to create Shrek's Far Far Away Adventure - a theme park based on the popular green-ogre franchise - highlights Merlin's ability to attract strong new brands to aid its growth. All of these factors should feed into increased returns and bottom-line growth. Capital expenditure is a key growth driver for 2014 and a current return on capital employed (ROCE) of 10.2 per cent helps justify the group's 'spend money to make money' strategy. And chief executive Nick Varney thinks the group can do much better, though, and is targeting an ROCE of 20 per cent in the near term. Meanwhile, broker Investec forecasts a 15 per cent EPS compound annual growth rate between 2013 and 2017, "with longer-term earnings expected to maintain this level of annual growth". That said, the strength of sterling may prove a headwind this year. The £1bn debt pile is on the high side as it represents 2.6 times last year's underlying cash profits. However, the company has been alleviating borrowing pressures. During the year, negotiations resulted in an extended loan-maturity date of July 2019 and the current debt-to-cash-profit multiple is substantially down from 3.7 times in 2012. Ivestec expects this to fall to 1.4 times by the end of 2017. It's also worth noting that money is mostly owed to existing institutional shareholders Blackstone, CVC and Kirkbi after they clubbed together to form a lending syndicate. MERLIN ENTERTAINMENTS (MERL) ORD PRICE: 374p MARKET VALUE: £3.8bn TOUCH: 373-374p 12-MONTHHIGH: 381p LOW: 315p FWD DIVIDEND YIELD: 1.1% FWD PE RATIO: 19 NET ASSET VALUE: 93p** NET DEBT: 107% Year to 28 Dec Turnover (£bn) Pre-tax profit (£m) Earnings per share (p) Dividend per share (p) 2011 ┼ 0.9 109 n/a nil 2012 1.1 140 8.0 nil 2013 1.2 186 15.1 nil 2014* 1.2 244 17.6 7.0 2015* 1.3 278 19.8 7.9 % change +8 +14 +13 +13 Normal market size: 8,200 Matched bargain trading Beta: na ┼Pre-IPO figures *Numis estimates **Includes intangible assets of £961m, or 95p a share IC VIEW: True, on first sight, Merlin's shares do not look screamingly cheap based on a consensus-forecast 2014 price-to-earnings multiple of 22 times. But the valuation doesn't look bad when compared with blue-chip peers such as Whitbread on 27 times, Carnival on 24 and InterContinental Hotels on 21. What's more, the diversity of Merlin's end-markets and the plethora of growth opportunities means the multiple can be regarded as a price worth paying. Sentiment towards the shares should also be bolstered by expectations that a dividend will start to be paid this year and the prospect of elevation into the
Just for you this old article. Merlin is magic Merlin is magic SHARE TIPS AND UPDATES Merlin Entertainments Group Ltd GROWTH MEDIUM RISK Bull points •Strong global brand portfolio •Double-digit growth •Planned dividend for this year •Potential FTSE 100 promotion Bear points •High debt •Foreign currency headwinds Sometimes it is worth paying up for quality, and we feel that is the case with London newcomer Merlin Entertainments (MERL). Recently reported results for 2013 underpin the case for investing in the leisure parks operator and support brokers' expectations of 15 per cent annual EPS growth for the foreseeable future. With a plethora of growth opportunities providing the potential for future upgrades, we think the shares can keep up the strong momentum established since November's 315p IPO. Merlin operates 99 attraction across 22 countries and such diversity means it offers excellent exposure to the long-term trend towards growing global leisure spend. Indeed, as the West recovers and consumers in emerging markets grow richer, global leisure spending is expected to increase by 5 per cent a year between 2011 and 2016. Merlin is in a particularly good position to exploit this due to its enviable brand portfolio, which includes well-known attractions such as Legoland, Madame Tussauds and SEA LIFE. Management is pursuing several strategies to exploit this growth potential. The opportunity is not lost on the group's well respected management team which is targeting several growth strategies. One area of potential involves getting more money from visitors at existing sites by expanding the amount of accommodation on offer and thereby encouraging more revenue-boosting multi-day visits. For 2014, the company has already laid out plans for a second hotel at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort and Legoland Deutschland will add 68 bedrooms. The long-term target is to add 200 rooms a year to the portfolio. There is also plenty of potential for geographic expansion, with the group aiming to have revenue evenly split between Europe, North America and Asia. The large markets of North America and Asia Pacific account for 21 per cent and 14 per cent of revenue, compared with 39 per cent for the UK and 26 per cent from Europe. Acquisition are being used to help drive this. In 2011 and 2012, Merlin opened the doors to the Asia Pacific regions by snapping up Sydney Attractions Group and Living and Leisure Australia. As far as acquisition funding is concerned, chief financial officer Andrew Carr believes the company has enough headroom to look for deals valued between £100m and £200m.
massive 0.5 mill buy someone went down the sofa. lol gla
Merlin have been very busy with all the new openings and looks like a strong season ahead. As said previously the weather in Europe and UK set to make a big difference in revenue watch this SP now start to perform well. Well done Merlin.
Just reported that temperatures are set to rise over the next few days that should fill our theme parks nicely right over the next bank holiday.
Will hopefully be on the way up again soon with the summer hols starting in a few months. It could be worse, like watching my paper losses for QPP! Oy vey!
Well the previous RNS was positive, therefore see no reason to suspect that the IMS due on the 15th May will be anything less than. I'm considerably underwater here so we live in hope.....Oh come on !
All we can do is hope and pray that the company shows its full glory in the next RNS. I am constantly giving ppl tips on fair deals that the Merlin is announcing it cannot carry on at this level for much longer, as you say OH COME ON!!!
Been really poor SP performance here since it reached the 390 high, it just continually falls, surely has to reverse soon ! I would have thought this would be a safe defensive stock.
Chance tto get free tickets in the Sun newpaper on a token system
Ads in DM online and presumably in the regular paper offering cut price deals to Sea World over weekend plus one of the cereals has deals looks like thepromotions are starting
With the lovely weather over the weekend the takings at Merlin must be good. Another bank holiday also at end of month so let the sun shine for all.
£1/4 million last buy yesterday overall auto bids seem to be acquiring
http://www.gurufocus.com/news/256325/will-2014-be-dreamworks-glory-year- http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/legoland-florida-goes-solar-for-the-day Obviously the company is ramping up publicity for the season- they've got to prove up a consistent revenue stream following the olympic dampner so 2014 is going to be important
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-27126907 so long as they've paid