Member Info for Canary3

In my time being holder i have not seen, to my recollection , the 4 million plus posted at the bell particularly the 3 million at around the closing price.

I have absolutely no idea what conclusion one could draw from those trades...

I hope that it is good for us though...

GL to all

I have no idea , i just buy at these levels because i hope that we will see the price well above it in the not too distant future so it’s a hit and hope I’m afraid.

GL as usual

I bought bunch on the 11th of Sept for 56.8 and i bought today at 56.4.

In the days between the 11th of the today we saw quite large trading days.

Today we saw much bigger trading day, i suspect that somebody or some institution was buying prior to results hoping for a windfall and selling afterwards.

If the update had been very good they would have sold anyway IMO juts bit more slowly and making some money on the way.

If it falls further i will likely buy again, today was a disappointing but hey ho another 6 months for me and then see where we are.

Gl all.

This is the one that i referenced, ( i think), Thnaks for the others Crafty

https://www.autostoresystem.com/cases/thg-achieves-industry-leading-customer-service-and-lower-costs-with-high-throughput-autostore

I think that the Autostore meeting is quite interesting, not long ago THG were trying to show themselves as partners to Autostore and were getting rebuffed, now 18 moths or so later, they are a global partner and are hosting Austostores Analyst meeting at THG premises.

I think that Austostore must value THG very highly to hold the meeting and show the system in action at THG headquarters, THG are piloting a new approach to the Austostore product if i remember reducing the upfront cost to around 40% of the existing cost.

I am hoping that they can show the analysts invited by Austostore a customer that THG is fulfilling using the system.

I also think / hope that Analysts that are sceptical or hostile to THG ( there are many) might see the briefings that are produced by Austostore to Analysts that follow and value the company, and by looking at those briefings see that THG have massively turned round since the flotation.

After all we should remember that THG have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in developing these customer facing systems and they are ignored or are not known by the majority of the city.

Fingers crossed for good meetings and GL to all holders as usual.

PS JG has done ( what i think ) is a decent overview video of the systems and how the THG customers benefit from them , worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

I was wondering about this and why Autostore are holding their analyst meeting at THG HQ.

It looks to me that they are showing/ demonstrating a newish system called P100 that presumably operates from THG in the UK, the system at a first look is a less capital intensive system than the main Autostore system but it can be upscaled into that system if the company is successful.

Briefly the P100 system looks to cost around , 120k to install and then around 3k a month if you have 2 robots. That is in US dollars.

There are 4 or 5 client references on the website and I attach a link to the system overview.

THG and Autostore signed up an agreement in Feb last year and presumably they now a have a complete system to share at the meeting.

As we know THG became a Global partner with auto store one of 8 ( I think ) , Autostore also have about 12 other regional partners, this seems to be the next logical step in that relationship.

It would be very good if they have a partnership or three to talk about as well as the system functionality, and that could be best buy in the States, but nothing said about THG involvement.

Interesting for sure , the Best Buy speaker with J Gallimore is Mark Irvin, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Best Buy they closed in the UK a couple of years ago but still operate in the States , so its interesting that he is talking. Quote below from the blurb to analysts.

'In addition, there will be an opportunity to hear from guest speakers John Gallemore, Chief Operating Officer at THG and Mark Irvin, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Best Buy who will share their perspectives on our solution and its importance to their respective businesses.’

I think this could be interesting...

Gl to all.

https://www.autostoresystem.com/investors/capital-markets-day-2024 This is the event look at the trailer video for interest.

https://pio.com This is the system that is being sold.

Indeed it is 1.5 billion...not 150 million

Https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/THG/share-purchase-32poeu9mnm2bi9n.html

This was the RNS when Sofia sold up to MM and Qatar, you can see that MM has both a listed and unlisted holding, the listed holding is the one that is normally quoted.

But if any corporate event happens the unlisted one comes into play ( that includes if he takes his holding to a level where he needs to bid for the company.), and that takes him to Circa 30%.

The company has 150 million shares in issue, not 135 million. brokers notes seem to ignore that fact in the main.

Indeed he bought a million pounds worth of shares a couple of years ago and gave them to some mates of his, and it was made very clear in the RNS that he was never holder of said shares.

MM with the support of a couple of the big holders and the staff fund has over 50% of the shareholders on side.

So any noise from posters that he can be ‘replaced’ is just noise...

MM owns just under 30% of the shares not 15% as stated in the article , there are 1.5 billion shares in issue , that seems to be causing some misunderstandings. It is mostly reported as in this article that he owns only circa 15%.

The staff account (to my memory) is just under 6% so together that is around 35%.

The main holders were all reported last time around, there was a very small number of holders that would be classed as conventional funds.

There are a few large funds that have held for a long time including Sofina and Qatar as well as some funds that had to sell for various reasons when the SP fell to the 30’s.

Those funds that sold held around 15 % but it could be more or less, one sold to to MM and one of the other big holders. I can't recall exactly who but i m sure others will remember.

’Normal Funds’ cannot hold THG because of its make up, that changes from September when the rules that changesare fully implemented and of course is subject to THG agreeing to the rules and joining the index.

Basically it means that if and when THG becomes part of the indices and ’normal funds’ can start to acquire holdings we should see some action, over the following months.

IF only 5% needs to be bought that is 75 million shares, we do quite a lot less than that a day!! If 10% is need to be bought then of course that would be much better at around 150 million shares.

Currently I think about 66% of shares are held by MM and supporters, and if we say that falls to 50% as the price rises and people sell, that still leaves about 750 million shares in free float.

IF ’normal funds’ have to hold say 100 million shares then the next 3 or 6 months will become interesting.

I am holding till until 6 months pass and then review.

On another note I am intrigued by the meeting being held by Autostore at THG headquarters, they seem to be very pleased with THG , indeed to be holding an analyst meeting on results day at one of your world wide partners says a lot about the relationship.

I of course am a very positive holder despite the SP being in the doldrums..

Gl to all.

VC- Posted about the meeting being held at THG campus, and with the link provided by Multiplier7 giving details.

Firstly i would like to thank the two posters for this insight and i am adding a few thoughts of my own.

I remember when THG was a customer of Autostore and wanted to get closer and Autostore wasn’t that forthcoming, that changed after the full partnership went live and THG became one of the 8 Global Partners of this very decent business, alongside some very big names including, Softbank. There are details of the partnership on the Autostore website in anyone is interested.

The event at THG is for the press and Institutional partners is being hosted by THG at the THG site in Manchester and run by Autostore personnel.

I think this is a fairly big deal, Autostore is to my view a well respected company providing a great solution and THG appear to operate one of the biggest installations worldwide, again IMO this is a bit of a scoop for THG.

The date is also interesting, September the 18th, the formal reshuffle of the Ftse 250 normally happens around Mid - September, so it looks like a concerted effort to bring some analyst awareness to the capability that THG possesses.

Regarding a THG investment, patience is the name of the game right now as investment companies that want to build a position in THG will be looking on with interest, we know that the automatic (potential) holders will start to build positions come September and some others will be watching.

THG is a hold until at least Christmas although i have been adding when it fell to 58 the other week and i did buy some more this morning.

GL to all

Canary -tweet tweet.

Hey Crafty ...you are doing sterling work here, i liked your last big post a lot and of course it is very true, we will see what occurs over the next 6 months, personally i am very confident for the long term future of the company, the next 6 months should sort out the issues around listing and holdings.

I think waiting by the day ( although i look i every day LOL ), doesn’t do much good, as I am sure that small holdings are being converted into long term holdings , from the impatient to the patient.

IMO the consultation was about a year longer than anticipated and there could be a lot of faffing whist longer term holdings are acquired by those that want them, so 6 months and it’s worth making some decisions.

I say good luck to the patient and I feel sorry for the posters who want something tomorrow as i think they will need to wait, or perhaps they should sell now and buy back later...as IF!!

Ta Ta for now Canary...

I don't often reply to pots of this nature, but i think this is a complete disaster, you would think that with the resources available and the brainpower at THG and work in an arena where trading has gone from pretty much Zero to well over 100 million in 5 years, they really should have their eye on this.

OH...

Interesting trading in the last two days massive uncrossing trades equal to daily volume give or take, someone is accumulating i would have thought. Long way to go to get 4 or 5 of percent of course.

GL to all

I keep seeing MM’s holding in the company being incorrectly stated.

He holds around 30% that holding plus the staff holding and if two big holders remain supportive that takes MM to over 50% so unless he wants to do something different we will see him at the helm for the foreseeable.

Which personally i think is very good indeed.

We will see whats what in the coming weeks and months, THG will become a constituent of the Ftse 250 if all goes to plan and then one the coming months we should see some consistent buying as funds increase their holding.

Anyway it seems there are many disgruntled holders so perhaps they will have a chance to sell before Xmas...

GL to all as ever

Most holders are holding, all the noise is about trying to squeeze a few sales out of us IMO, i bought some more last week at price that i think we will not see again, we might but i doubt it very much.

There is going to be steady buying over the next 3 to 6 months as trackers need to buy and no doubt there are fund managers starting to think about it as they will be holding Ftse 250 positions.

Holder will be holding or adding IMO

But let the posters that think this is a terrible company Sell to us buyers at under 68p...

Some holders of a couple of hundred thousand shares might be looking at a very nice outcome..

Gl to all of course

I think that TGL has done marvellous job, i would have thought that a couple of years ago most senior people in UK business with footsie 100 standing, would have run a mile when approached to become chair of THG.

When he arrived there was absolutely no proper governance within the company, there was a plethora of unfocused sidelines that were being supported and led to huge distraction to the company and there were significant accounting issues to be sorted.

We now have a proper functioning board, TGL led and got heavily involved in the potential take-over from the venture capitalists, he consulted all significant holders and had in depth discussions with them on future direction, this led to a rebuff to said VC’s when they wanted control over beauty and nutrition.

The company with its new structure ( after significant redundancies and a resulting focus on the key elements of the business), has now resolved its accounting procedures within the three standalone arms and each is ready to be partnered or otherwise dependant upon the boards wishes.

There have been significant write offs bringing a better sense of the companies worth and each business arm is clearly defined and to my eyes are going gangbusters.

We are now 5 and a bit weeks away from the new rules being implemented and THG has the opportunity to become part of the FTSE 250, they have borne no extra cost to be part of the 250 apart of course of the cost of the new accountancy regime led very ably by D Saunders , who IMO has done a fantastic job and of course has recently bought a significant holding in the company.

Now TGL could stand down at the board meeting but IMO that will be between MM and TGL and that is how it should be, a small holder with 0.5 per cent of the company has a view and of course that is their prerogative as it is mine to support MM and TGL.

I thought i would post that, IMO THG were lucky to get TGL he has done a great job and the future is for him and MM and all shareholders can have their views heard as that is being done.

Anyway GL to all, again IMO there are going to be some buyers over the next 1 to 6 months as investment companies take shares to meet their mandates and they will have very few willing sellers to aim at.

So i am expecting rather than hoping for decent returns over the coming months.

All Imo of course.

For me it’s the Pizza and other products that seem to be going vey well out of Iceland that are the big win, if Walmart was to take them then the world changes.

Getting geared up for a launch in the states will take time effort and cash..who knows.

On Myprotien they currently have 51 products with Boots UK on their website same as a couple of weeks ago when i last looked, so these launches and roll-outs take time as THG need to be certain that they can meet demand which could be large, thats why they have low key roll-outs IMO.

But exciting times for sure.

Gl to us all

I take a different view from Blinky, thats not to say i am correct but from my point of view i have only seen a few products on sale through boots up till now, and if you look at the products through the boots site the ones they have sold for a long while have reviews and the other don’t.

So i see this as a big expansion of products sold through boots.

I think that this shows scale ,ignoring branches abroad Boots have over 2000 branches in the UK and of course a web site, so THG must have convinced Boots that they have the scale and the capability to fulfil order particularly if there is a spike , Boots are a big company.

If THG can't meet demand ( which of course has to be realised ), then this deal will fail and any chance of any other deals of size happening will be pushed away by a number of years. So i expect that THG is ready and prepared for any upsurge in orders.

I will just emphasise that IMO Boots are mainstream they have been part of the high street for yeasr and they have a huge American parent, I think this is a big deal.

But as always I could be well away from reality and my hopes exceed that reality.

Gl to all regardless.

Boots...got 51 my Protein items for sale now.

Last night there was less around 20 odd, looks like its a big deal...

Some reviews that i have ben reading, including the one from the Ftse, the consultation has gone on for a few years and will almost certainly go live as i posted..interesting times.

https://www.sullcrom.com/SullivanCromwell/_Assets/PDFs/Memos/Major-Changes-UK-Listing-Regime.pdf

https://www.dentons.com/en/insights/articles/2024/march/28/proposed-changes-to-the-uk-listing-regime-ftse-indexation

https://www.lseg.com/content/dam/ftse-russell/en_us/documents/policy-documents/ftse-faq-document-uk-listing-regime-and-ftse-uk-index-series.pdf

I have just been reviewing the changes to the rules and they are extremely significant, so much so that the rule book is being rewritten for the existing segments of the stock exchange and there will now be only one set of rules for all companies, the process started in 2021 and is due to be implemented from July 1st this year.

So a 3 year process. that seems to my recollection to be a year late in implementation, however the change are widespread and it’s no real surprise that there has been a delay to the perhaps optimistic timeline.

THG of course falls into the companies effected and the work undertaken by the company to separate the divisions and to have clear financial accounts for each opens up many possibilities.

THG currently has market cap of 1 billion give or take, the top company in FTSE 250 has a MCap of approximately 4.5 billion with the bottom company having about 200 million. ( will be out a bit since i looked some time ago), so we sit somewhere in between.

Currently we have no index type funds holding the shares of THG and when i asked on here the number that will have to hold THG a couple of weeks ago i got answers of approximately 5 to 15% of the share capital will be purchased.

This is IMO very significant as if we have 65% of holders holding firm ( which i have no information to doubt), there is about 500 million shares up for grabs, of course some held by readers on here.

So if 10% of shares need to be held by various index type trackers and so on , that means they will need to hold around 150 million, and if only 500 million is up for grabs then we might see some fun.

The changes will come into effect on the 1st of July with a 2 week setting in period and then business as usual.

IMO its going to be a very interesting time, in the run up to the 1st of July will funds buy THG or will their mandates restrict buying and conversely how long will they have to get to their ‘requirement’ 3 or 6 months? i have no idea but it does suggest that there will be steady buying coming soon.

It will also be interesting to see if MM and the board go ahead and stay listed on the FTSE and get much wider share ownership that is currently in place.

MM and the board have been waiting for this change in the rules , they saved a lot of money waiting for them rather than joining the premium listing as it currently stands, i think we have lots to look forward to as the changes occur and there will be considerable opportunities for the board to consider.

I could be wrong of course but it’s fun to think about it.

Interesting times ahead and i for one won't be selling

GL to all