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Just got the details from my broker on how to accept the 75p share offer. Still not convinced it's a serious offer but perhaps just a value opportunity figure to satisfy the mandatory bid obligations. I would rather stay on board as PHTM do have a history of resilience to come out of difficult trading conditions.
Yawohl
I think you mean "consistently below 75p cash offer".
tells you that Mr Market does not think this will fly, and nor should it in order to line the family pockets at shareholders expense
NEDs have voted not to accept which means most institutions will follow suit. It could be tight but I suspect come first offer closing period Le Frog will not have got control, and the bid will either lapse or he will be forced to up the ante. Certainly the PE group that bought in will feel aggrieved that he is attempting to shaft them unless there is some pecualiarly Gallic backroom deal that wont come out till further down the track
Woeful behaviour from the ****y Frenchman. I note with sanguine amusement the investment case on the website which makes a tailor-made case for why shareholders would be bonkers to accept this junk from this character, including
Strong balance sheet
The strength of our cash flow from our operations allows us to self-finance capital expenditure programmes and technological innovation while also returning cash to shareholders by way of dividends as appropriate
The offer is open until March 8th, but how does one even accept the offer, if inclined to do so? I've not heard anything from my broker (HL) who hold my shares as nominee. Cheers NR.
Been involved in enough bids over the years to know that this is not going to happen at this price. As the NEDs (that in itself makes me smile) pointed out the actual offer price was at a discount. In normal situations where you are trying to get hold of a company, you have to pay a premium for control to your other shareholders.
The NEEDs have no choice IMHO but to recommend against accepting the offer otherwise they would be failing in their fiduciary duties. So what happens next? Notwithstanding the withering criticism that should be levelled at Serge and the Dan David Foundation, our Frenchman is going to have to come up with something north of £1 to have any chance as the business is now beyond the trough point in trading terms. In effect the Frenchman wants to take the shareholders out at the lowest point in the cycle, and keep the spoils for himself.
At the moment we are trading slightly above the offer price. So we are still waiting for the formal offer document and to hear from the Independent Committee's full response to the Mandatory Offer.
Are they likely to say it's an opportunistic attempt to buy the company on the cheap and advise shareholders reject the offer? With the latest trading update I would have thought there is further good reason to reject the offer.
Or is it just the formality going through the official protocol of a 'mandatory' offer without expectation that shareholders will accept it anyway, hence pricing it low.
They wouldn’t Highstakes, these must surely be worth more but with Sergio and co owning most of the shares our votes may be of no consequence.
Why would anyone accept such a derisory offer, especially in the face of such a positive trading update?
It just wouldn't make any sense!
Thanks Velo, I’ll take a look later when I have time but off the cuff the buyout was announced 21st Jan so 21 days after this would be this Friday.
There's a good chance the offer will be rejected.
Oops and the link is:
https://www.burges-salmon.com/news-and-insight/publications/guide-to-public-takeovers-in-the-uk#offer-structures
Beza - Here's the regulatory timetable for take-over bids. Click the link and scroll down to No:2 TIMETABLES - and then click the PDF link.
(Within that PDF download, scroll down to pages 11/12) .
As far as I can tell the initial "First Closing date" is 21 days after the bid is announced. Objections etc., extend that as per the timetable.
Ahh this was the bit:
" Photo-Me tells shareholders to take no action while an independent committee considers the offer."
Have a regulatory timetable of events of the time-line involved. Will post it later today if I can dig it out.
As I have posted before this has been carefully managed by the octogenarian to screw over his shareholders, and anyone with a long memory, will recall he has clashed with investors before.
A few weeks ago I wrote this about his modus operandi:
"Put out gloomy announcements, cut forecasts & shelve dividend. Then as things pick up don't frighten the horse by being too bullish which would really drive the sp, but release carefully calibrated RNSs always with the "we remain cautious about the future "line whilst gently raising forecasts (note: this must be below what he actually expects he can achieve)"
Frankly this is an outrageous state of affairs. One wonders what prompted the so-called charitable foundation Dan Dare or whatever it is called to pledge its stock at the time it did. Governance issues galore!
The professional institutions will be furious with the behaviour of the Board. In any other company with the restructuring behind it yielding significant savings, growing cashflow, clear evidence of recovery all around etc....they would be reinstating the dividend and raising forecasts. Remember this company in normal times throws off huge wodges of cash
THE NEDs need to cry foul on this - cannot have a situation where shareholders are this disadvantaged. The Frenchman has no intention of restoring the dividend because he wants it all for himself.
It’s not a done deal, which gives us some hope but I’m guessing that this situation will stop the price from rising above 75p regardless of what the company announces/ market does. For how long do we expect this situation to continue? I’m not sure of the time scales here…
Yes, I did read a snippet somewhere, that a few of the BOD (or was it key fund investors?) - and only a few, had advised investors to stand by and not rush to sell as they were going to try for a better offer improvement.
I've been with Photo-Me for a few years now experiencing the ups and downs and I am certainly voting against the 75p offer. Things are beginning to look rosy again and I agree with Velo's views below. This is just feels like we are being robbed.
It's not a done deal by any means.
My thoughts exactly. How are we in a situation where we have an event which puts a ceiling on good news! Plus, I bet they could have reintroduced a divi which would further inflate the price (under usual circumstances) Very frustrating. Does anyone think that this still may keep trading or is the 75p offer a ‘done deal’?
In any other circumstances, the single sentence copy/pasted below from today's trading update RNS, would be a cause for celebration and a re-rating of the stock - and SP-wise the righting of the wrongs in a lowly SP.
Instead it feels like a taunt as in - but you won't be around to enjoy the fruits of that recovery, as I'm bagging it all for myself:
---------
" The Board therefore now considers it likely that the Group's performance for the year ending 31 October 2022 will exceed its previous expectations, assuming COVID-19 related restrictions are not reimposed."
---------
He ain't getting my share for a miserly 75 p.
The other element to the Serge smash n grab involves French PE group Monterfiore that took a 7pc stake in autumn 2020, at which point one has to ask the question:
1. Why would they build an 8.5% stake only to allow SC to take it private at a risible price?....and the answer has to be either
(a) they intend to hold out for substantially more, hopefully backed by the other big institutions OR
(b) they are allies of SC, and the next link in SC ensuring top dollar for the family, as in Tibergest Singapore take it private (and SC intends not to change things a jot to the operations) and after a suitable period (i.e. once the dust has settled and SC thinks the coast is clear) he offloads the whole thing to Private Equity who pay a decent premium .....