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The main difference between Thomas Cook and Premier Foods is that TC got Harriet Green, all-star; whereas, we got gavin darby, con-artist. Green lead her company up with her talent and foresight and darby took pf down with his lack of skills and his lack of integrity. To take a leaf out of TC's recovery would mean pushing darby out the back door and hiring a capable leader.
Just catching up on this a bit.....has Hamill shown up for work yet? I hope he's a fast learner regarding the food industry, lol. In the meantime, along with a P45, he could give Darby some Samsonite luggage and a one-way ticket out of the UK on Easyjet, two businesses Hamill is more familiar with...
Good. Here's hoping something significant happens to take the sp up before April (my timing, lol).
It must be just about time for Gores to sell Hovis on...it seems they tend to sell off acquisitions in 3 - 4 years: maybe a bit longer with a JV. I don't believe we ever heard why Darby wrote off the £8 million investment in Hovis, but I doubt that Gores' selling off of Hovis would see much gain for PF's 49%, especially starting from an £8 million deficit...of course, Darby will not want us to remember that when the time comes. I do expect some PF brands to be sold off, but I will be surprised if anyone will want the whole portfolio...feels to me like that ship already came and was torpedoed.
It makes me think Darby is hoping to shout 'our market share is up!' in his large-mouthed frog voice, while you'll have to strain to hear 'profits are down' in his small-mouthed frog voice, once again, lol
Thanks, bisto. That's interesting, as last year, when they announced they were writing off their �8m investment in Hovis, they indicated they would keep their 49% share, and keep the joint venture going (according to an article in British Baker)...must be a result from Oasis and/or the review by third parties. Gores only paid �30m for their 51% (half of it held back pending performance - did that ever come through?)...interesting article in Food Manufacture at the time (Jan 2014); some disagreement between analysts on whether that was a positive for PF at the time. Maybe more than just Hovis would be included in the selling off of the remaining 51%. I wonder if �25m per year on the debt pile is enough...I wasn't even thinking of dividends from PF, to be honest, lol. Fingers crossed on that one.
The takeover, or other event, must be getting closer by the day. I didn't hear the conference call - was there any mention of the outcome of the major review into selling the company, etc., that was announced some months ago? My understanding (which may not be correct) is that the �184m debt load that will hit in 2020 suggests that something has to give by early 2019...I am no debt expert, but even if there is an option to push the RCF back by one year, which I believe is often possible, it wouldn't make much of a difference. If there is anyone on here who KNOWS what options PFD has around managing/paying off the debt (RCF, and Fixed Notes) coming due in the next few years, I would appreciate reading your comments. Presumably, PFD could get new credit, but rates are moving up, so that wouldn't help much. I doubt a second Rights Issue would be successful with GD in charge, as he and the BOD have been labelled publicly as having no credibility and lacking the skillset to deliver for shareholders; and, the share price remains well below the previous discounted issue. It seems it is time to start talking this company up to get somebody interested - maybe that has started with the last update, which sounded like good news, but there was little tangible impact. It seems to be a case of it being better to find a suitor sooner than later, before the debt mountain gets too close and this becomes more of a distressed sale. Debt management experts, if there are any on here, over to you...I'd appreciate gaining a better understanding of the debt pile, and how it might be managed. Who knows, maybe the BOD are on here and will gain from it too, lol.
Come on, 2Re, I suggest you read your own posts. You have been banging on about 57p for ages....it was actually good to see that you stopped banging on about how this share was going to hit �1.20 right after Christmas a couple of years ago....seems bisto asked you for some facts, rather than continuing with dreamy predictions, memories of when this share was higher, and restarting the clock with every update. It's great to hear differing opinions on here, without your 'we must' do this or 'we must' do that, or 'clearly this', etc....every one of your predictions has been wrong....perhaps you shouldn't be throwing stones and resorting to name-calling.
Well, doesn't that say it all? It is a long way to 50p, (the old 5p) which was the significantly discounted share price of the Rights Issue. From there, it's another multiple 'long way' back to the share price that was discounted for the Rights Issue...or to the McC offer. I'm not sure that Darby could drive the share price much lower than he has already, so hopefully, we are at the bottom, although we have been stuck here for most of his tenure.
The pessimism is no doubt due to the fact that in every single reporting of results that Darby has been involved with since he was given the role of CEO by Beever (without anyone else being interviewed or considered), he has never failed to disappoint.
It wouldn't surprise me if it was a hand-shake bonus/deal from the company to the (outgoing) chairman and (hopefully outgoing) ceo...probably find the company paid the two of them to pay for 'their' purchases and all associated costs, and that gd was trying to dodge scrutiny through his standard m.o. of muddying the waters, by putting them in her name.
....and who paid for her shares?
The Titanic is at the bottom of the sea....
Announced a year ago that Beever was leaving...then he promptly disappeared, so it has been a waiting game. Keith Hamill is a disappointment though, as I was hoping for someone who knew something about driving a food company forward....sounds like more of the same. His response to this question is a bit worrying, too, with PF's track record: Keith Hamill is a Non Executive Director at easyJet and Samsonite, and the former Chairman of Tullett Prebon, Travelodge and Go, and Pro Chancellor at the University of Nottingham. What would you do to improve corporate governance? He should get along just fine with GD, haha... We already have an elaborate system of corporate governance compared with international practice and there is little evidence that it improves returns compared with other systems. So I would favour less emphasis on ‘governance’ and more properly considered legislation. The danger is that so-called corporate governance becomes government’s way of passing the buck. Remuneration illustrates the point. We all see the growing gap between executive and worker pay, but we also know that in a globally competitive market, tampering with pay risks a brain drain and fewer businesses being based in the UK. So what do the politicians do? They make it a corporate governance issue, handing the non-executives and shareholders the choices that the government is not prepared to make and letting business take the flak.'
That first article was Mar 2016, when PF were kicking off a growth strategy....followed a year later, by PF tossing growth out the window...I wonder how Jette is spending her time if her remit is gone, or if she took a pay cut. .... By Ashley Armstrong, Retail Editor 16 May 2017 • 12:49pm Premier Foods has abandoned its year-old sales growth strategy after saying that the food industry had "undergone recent and rapid change" due to steep increases in the cost of ingredients. ....... Sounds like Nissin is doing okay, I wonder if their sp is rising? lol Odd that Nissin's business is the top priority for PF, or maybe it's just GD's top priority. Also, glad for the 'phenomenal success' of Super Noodles in a pot - when we will see any impact of any profit? What does 'phenomenal success' mean? A dividend must be imminent, following such 'phenomenal success', haha
Nissin will probably make GD Chairman & CEO of Premier Foods tomorrow! lol
It was all about GD protecting his own butt and income - he has been on the gravy train with Beever and investors who went along his bs, update after update. He was not called to account on company performance after his promises, and each time he failed, he just made new promises and was able to use the same excuses time and again at updates, with nobody looking for proof of his meeting any earlier promises. Nobody called him on being incompetent except for Standard Life, and then more recently Paulson, then Oasis and now via the latest investor letter, so others are finally waking up to his antics The lack of investor criticism would suggest that key individuals involved at some of the big investors might be getting personal favours that have taken priority over their business interests and their ethics. There is certainly lots of smoke... This 'GD might pull a rabbit out of a hat' and 'GD has a plan' la-la-land stuff some bring up each time....three years on, some are still waiting for this secret plan of GD that he has never revealed to anyone...lol. It's quite simple really: the plan is, 'wait for something to happen that is positive, from some external force, and then take credit for it'.....so far, the positive external force has not happened (except for McC!).....deer in the headlights CEO from day one, but a sly and devious one, a chancer who has no credibility. It's ironic that the only thing GD could do to gain a positive appraisal is to accept he is a failure and sell off the company he could not manage. Will no one rid us of this hopeless CEO? Hope for a better result tomorrow, but prepare for the same old dismal outcome one more time... Call me when we are back at £1.20, lol....
It suggests GD is staying, lol.
No earthquake because everybody (except a few on here) already had the same information. Perhaps it is the start of a groundswell that will see GD removed at the AGM, if not before. Agree on your compensation comment...he has already paid himself off several times.
That letter is spot-on and overdue. A copy should go to the FCA and the SFO...it would be interesting to hear their take on GD as he is the individual who has personally profited by keeping the company under his control via misleading investors/shareholders and doing his own deal with Nissin. It's too bad the FCA works in the shadows - it would be helpful to know if they are still investigating GD and I would be curious to know if the FCA attends the AGM.