Member Info for bakerrabble

The way I read it is that the purchased shares (they hope around 476 million) are then cancelled...not kept in treasury.

Due on Tuesday 26th October 2021

Yes, definitely a scam. I have since googled the number and it's on a "dangerous" list. Furthermore any incoming calls from the USA will start ...011 44. The first 3 numbers being an international call if phoning from the States and 44 being the UK.

It would seem that Share Registers are a matter of public record although I don't know if the amount of shares held is available or telephone numbers etc.

Just had a chap (he says from the USA) telling me that his client is in the process of making a hostile bid for Whitbread and they would be offering £42 up to £48 for my shares if I wanted to sell. Supposedly they have 42% already. I guess this is a scam but has anybody else had similar?. The tel no started 001....is this a USA number?

Or even £40

No dividend has been declared so what makes you think one is being paid next week?.

I should also factor into your calculations any affect the proposed sale (if allowed) of the businesses in Thailand and Malaysia might have on the share price. If, as rumoured, the bulk of the sale proceeds are to be returned to the shareholders by way of a special dividend, (51p per share?) then one would expect the SP to fall by a similar amount.

I think it's fairly usual for one to be compensated if you don't take up your Rights. I've just got my 302 page tome from Stobart and this is not a Rights Issue, more of a "Capital Raise". See para 11 at the top of page 64...."You will also not receive any money when the New Shares you could have taken up are sold, as might happen under a rights issue".
Also on page 14 it basically says that if the Capital Raise fails then it is expected that the company will go into administration. The SP at the moment is little more than the Offer Price of 40p so I think I will be passing on this one and just hope that the company stays in business.

The Record Date for entitlements under the Rights Issue was close of business on 19th May 2020 so if you bought on the 25th May 2020 you cannot be entitled.

If you do nothing your rights will be sold and any premium obtained above £15 less expenses will be paid to you, providing the total amount is £5 or more

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to my query and I agree with much of what you say. However in my mind receiving a special dividend does not involve ceding ownership of one's shareholding at around the market price. Had the offer been say £75 per share then there would have been something in it for us. Clearly the hospitality sector has been hit very hard in this pandemic and with hindsight the buying back of shares at around £50 a pop was probably not the brightest move. However we are where we are and I was wondering if my assumption of a share fall of around £8 is in the right ballpark?, which would take us down to around £17 per share, only a couple of quid above the £15 Rights Issue.

I got mine yesterday together with the 185 page prospectus so plenty of bedtime reading.
Does anyone think they are worth buying?

Perhaps there were originally 140 million shares in issue so buying back 40 million at £50 would give the £2 billion

Correct me if I am wrong but didn't Whitbread spend in the region of £2 billion (of the £3.9 billion it got for selling Costa to Coca Cola) in buybacks at around £50 per share so reducing the number of shares from what I think was around 180 million to the present 120 million?. Now they want to issue another 67 million shares at £15 each taking us back to roughly where we were, save for the fact that the odd billion or two has disappeared into the ether. With hindsight it would have been better to have kept Costa or at least returned some of the proceeds to us shareholders by way of a special dividend.
Does anyone have an idea of how far the SP will drop when these 67 million shares (a 50% increase) hit the market?...I assume by around one third (say £8) but maths was never my strong point.

Any views on whether the final will be paid since it's getting a little late in the day to announce the ex dividend date.

The share goes ex dividend on 21/5/20 so if you buy before that date which is next Thursday you should be eligible for the 6.5pence per share final dividend but no doubt the SP will fall by roughly the same amount on that day. The special dividend date and amount awaits to be declared.

From memory I believe that the Thai and Malaysian shops are being sold for £8 billion....£5 billion of which is being returned to us shareholders which would work out at around 51 pence per share. Sounds too good to be true in these uncertain times but you never know.

If you already own the shares outside of an ISA you have to sell them first and immediately buy back so there will be stamp duty etc.

I had a credit on my Barclaycard account for some time and eventually they wrote to me enclosing a cheque saying it was against the rules for them to hold money in the account

Is this set in stone or could it be reduced or withdrawn altogether?