The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
I was looking back at previous years and its reassuring to see how Howdens Joinery have invested in their stores and supply chain facilities, opening new warehouses and factories and the recent depot upgrades. Great story
Just to look at a few of what is a significantly positive update.....
The company has growth the cash bank balance to £430m - how many other companies are in this position after the Covid crisis, and after having paid back the money that was loaned out by the government for support
> Margins remain north of 60%
>Dividends back on £100m allocated for shareholders
>European sales showing double digit growth
>Further investment in vertical integration
> Business has a further £23m of stock
> £70m of capx invested during 2020
I could go on and on....
This business is in great shape
Not suggesting this is going to happen but I am interested in what a potential buy-out would look like - what is the protocol for this and how would a company such as BAT go about doing it, and how do they value the company and secure shares when they are mainly in public hands.
I agree, the turnover certainly has the potential to place them there and importantly the building blocks of controls and measures are being put in place to allow Zoetic to pass the scrutiny that is required for entry.
May have been some sat on the side line wondering if the merger with Chrysaor would not achieve approval. Now its been cleared and has backing from the OGA its surely forward and upwards.
40p sounds a realistic target taking into account the rising value of oil, adding more here as looks undervalued.
Someone has confidence in this share - a £4m buy yesterday.
UK market is strong, people are not taking holidays so money being invested in home improvements, builders not taking holidays so lots of time to fit kitchens. Compound this with how Howdens is stocked whilst others cut back during covid this is a recipe for success.
Looking forward to seeing the Dividends start again as clearly cash generation is not an issue.
Stating all other projects are dead is completely misleading. Can you provide the facts to this please. The company made it clear that us would progress lower risk strategies such as WD and later the Canabis development. For example Helios is still a potential development. The company has never stated this has been formally closed.
Today has seen a wave of positive updates. Good trading results for start of 2019, more share buy back done, depot openings in progress (in new format), more depots planned during the year plus the Ireland openings, all agenda items passed at the AGM. Lots of positivity.
Agree with those points plus it’s always been the strategy to develop the lower risk opportunities to support the development of the likes of Helios. Having the water opportunity takes Helios nearer but won’t drain off resources in preparing the site. Sounds like a good plan to me.
Great to see more key metrics improved. Noticeable points for me are the ongoing buy back of shares, how the pension deficit has dropped significantly and the ongoing investment in depot growth. Year in year turnover has increased by some £100m since 2015 whilst margins have been retained. The new depot reformat presentation looks great, and should help continue the growth, plus the development of the trading platform is really interesting. Good to see all these points come together, clearly the new CEO has been busy preparing the business for growth. Good times ahead IMO.
Jbstch. Thanks for that well worded view, it summaries my thoughts about this company. Hnr strategy is to build low risk investments to enable development of higher risk opportunities like Helios without getting burdened with major debt. From what I see they are doing exactly what they say.
They are very good in light of where we are with looming Brexit and retailers generally having a hard time. Turnover up past 1.5bn, profit up again, strong spend on capital investment in infrastructure and depot openings. Year on year this business has plowed hundreds of millions back into making its future secure at some point we can expect the platform to be stable and the profits to crank up even further as the need for spend on supply reduces. Closing the mainland Euro depots offset by expansion in Paris which looks interesting but for the upcoming entry into Ireland will be major opportunity.