Member Info for Culpepper

Do you see todays gold price, or next weeks, next months, as somehow critical to Ggp?

Thankyou for your response. On funding, I was suggesting quietly that it is sometimes wise to work with the facts, rather than letting the imagination run too far away with itself. One has to accept that all parties, legally and financially advised, to such transactions are business people.

Management admits that overall market volumes have declined due to macroeconomic issues, but it also maintains that the group’s core market share has risen. Rising inflation contributed to a 70-basis point reduction in the gross margin, along with a higher proportion of lower-margin TradePro sales. One assumes that the steady growth of digitally enabled sales could help to support margins over the long run.
The fact that its “customers are becoming more discerning on price and are shopping around more” is hardly surprising, but the real test will come once the northern winter descends, placing even greater strain on household budgets. A lowly forward rating of 5 times adjusted consensus earnings and a double-digit forward dividend yield suggests that the market does not share management’s faith in Wickes’ end markets, but the sell-off since the start of the year appears extreme given that Wickes continues to build market share, even if that amounts to a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. Buy.  
Last IC view: Buy, 200p, 09 Jun 2022

Wickes builds market share as uncertainties mount
Consumer sentiment may be cooling but the group has hung on to some of its lockdown gains (for now, at least)
September 16, 2022
By Mark Robinson

* A steep rise in the interim pay-out
* Gross margin contracts on inflation and sales mix
The overriding consideration for investors in Wickes (WIX) is the extent to which runaway inflation will impact demand for its home maintenance, repair, and improvement products. Some of this will boil down to necessity. The need to fix a leaking downpipe is not the same as a desire to repaint an architrave; only the latter falls under the general heading of “discretionary spending”. But with inflation at elevated levels, will the likes of Wickes witness a marked fall-away in demand from homeowners, thereby erasing some of the unexpected benefits that accrued from the lockdown periods?
The group’s latest half-year figures suggest that sales may be holding up better than expected, although its business trends are certainly open to interpretation. Wickes floats the possibility that the shift towards hybrid working patterns is “increasing the dwell time at home, fuelling further desire for homeowners and tenants to invest in their properties”.
It’s a nice theory, though difficult to support from an empirical angle. Indeed, the group’s latest Mood of the Nation survey points to a “moderate slowing of demand for home improvement from its post-Covid levels”, even though trade demand remains robust. We’re not sure if the term “moderate” is particularly apt. Like-for-like (LfL) sales - those from established outlets – increased by 0.8 per cent through the period; a pleasing enough result given tough comparators. But it’s worth remembering that LfL sales for the year ending 1 January 2022 were up by 13.0 per cent on 2020 and 18.6 per cent on 2019. Realistically, shareholders should take heart even if Wickes holds on to a relatively modest slice of its sales boost it received during lockdowns, extraordinary circumstances by any measure.

The major sum. Facility A: A$200m seven-year amortising Term Debt Facility

Amortisation of Facility A will only commence 12 months post project completion, but no later than 21 December 2025, including a bullet repayment of A$40m due at the maturity of Facility A

Cut and paste.
An amortized loan is a type of loan that requires the borrower to make scheduled, periodic payments that are applied to both the principal and interest. An amortized loan payment first pays off the interest expense for the period; any remaining amount is put towards reducing the principal amount.

I have seen no details, but take the view that as would be normal, called sums will be advanced by the lenders from the debt facility as required in accordance with the proposed agreements.
There is also a revolving credit facility, I suggest giving latitude for less formal matters.

Don’t know who Waylon is. Computer said it.

I have not seen details of conditions attached by the lenders, or details of draw-downs.

But Waylon has generalised.
Luca Giacovazzi, CEO of Wyloo Metals, commented: “Havieron is one of the most exciting discoveries in Western Australia’s emerging Paterson Range that continues to grow in scale and quality as the understanding of this tier-one system evolves.

We are proud to be supporting Greatland to develop WA’s next copper-gold mine into a low cost, modern mining operation with very high environmental and social standards.

“We are equally as excited to be supporting the Company’s ongoing exploration of its expansive tenement package, which we think has great potential for further discovery.”

For the record

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/WIX/wickes-group-plc-director-pdmr-shareholding-ssfz5hj2xyu6b6y.html

In the absence of anything else, maybe Director buy, done for today - good well established company, resilient and arguably trading at lows and consistently undervalued ( my view and analysts ) And a tidy dividend payer in difficult times. Not so bad, is it?

DIFM customers, kitchens and bathrooms, were/are taking a bit longer to commit, however

At the half year and forward,

* Recovery in DIFM delivered sales, up 29.7% LFL, with strongly improved profitability as we work through the order book which at £136m remains significantly ahead of the prior year

Across kitchens and bathrooms our installer network continues to grow and now stands at 2,800 teams of independent contractors (FY 2021: 2,600), enabling Wickes to continue to offer the best available lead times in the market whilst retaining a flexible approach to capacity.

We continue to see encouraging attachment rates of tiling, flooring and joinery sales to kitchen and bathroom projects, and trials for new service propositions are confirming the opportunity to extend our DIFM offering to increase overall project spend within the home.

As expected, given improvements in product availability and labour scheduling, we have been working through our elevated order book, although at the half year end it remained considerably ahead of the prior year. Our current expectation is that there will continue to be an elevated level of order book carry over into FY2023, although this will be dependent on order trends in the second half.

General comment.

We remained committed to managing supply chain inflation responsibly by passing through cash cost increases while maintaining our leading price position.

navigate, given the cash generative nature of our business and the strength of our balance sheet, and on the basis that adjusted profit before tax falls within the current guidance range, we intend to maintain the full year dividend per share at last year’s level.

In the current year the payout ratio will thus rise above 40%, but over time we would look to return to this level.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/WIX/wickes-group-plc-interim-results-2022/15630167

As expected. A few extracts to set what appears to be the current optimistic mood under the circumstances :-

As guided in our 26 July trading update, we have seen a recent softening of the DIY market from the very high levels of demand experienced during the pandemic. While the macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, we are confident that we have the right model to continue outperforming the market. We reaffirm our guidance for full year adjusted PBT in the range of £72 - 82m.

……we continue to outperform the wider home improvement market and our confidence in our long term strategy is unchanged, reflected in our continued investment to drive further growth.

“Looking ahead, we remain confident that our uniquely balanced business model, coupled with our market-leading value, leaves us well-positioned within a large and growing home improvement market.”

“Looking forward, our most recent Mood of the Nation survey indicates a moderate slowing of demand for home improvement from its post-Covid levels, order books for the trade remain very strong, with around 25% of those surveyed having order books for 12 months or more.”

“As communicated in our most recent trading update, following the Jubilee weekend in June, we experienced signs of the DIY market softening from the very high levels of demand experienced during the pandemic. The outlook remains uncertain, although we continue to outperform the market and expect activity to remain ahead of pre Covid levels.”

During the first half of the year we successfully launched our Wickes eBay store with 4,000 lines, extending our customer reach. We are currently looking at ways to expand our relationship with marketplace platforms including eBay to further grow our range accessibility with a wider audience of home improvers.  

Our property team is reviewing and stress testing a number of white space opportunities and we remain confident on the opportunity to expand our proven model into 20 new locations over the next five years. We expect to open a new store in Bolton in the second half. 

Dividend
The Board has declared an interim dividend of 3.6p, which will be paid on 4 November 2022 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 30 September 2022.

The shares will be quoted ex-dividend on 29 September 2022. Shareholders in the UK may elect to reinvest their dividend in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP). The last date for receipt of DRIP elections and revocations will be 14 October 2022.

We recognise the importance of cash returns to our shareholders, and, at our FY 2021 results, we announced an enhanced payout ratio of 40% of adjusted profit after tax, with approximately one third to typically be paid as an interim dividend. While there are well-documented headwinds for the sector to navigate, given the cash generative nature of our business and the stren

I mean, could buying and selling, as is happening, have anything to do with it?

Would you care to elaborate on the nature of the ‘massive games? You must have something in mind I suppose.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/greatland-gold-plc/rns/appointment-of-joint-brokers/202007300849396021U/
Any value is more likely to be found in their function.

Market makers will continue to do what they have always done, to their own best advantage in running a business. The price is pitched where there is demand to buy and sell. It is at the end of the day about matching buyers and sellers, and taking multiple fees.
I don’t know why a mystery is sometimes made of it.

Fundamental. Buying takes it up. And the opposite. And market makers don’t care. They still take their margin.

Absolutely.

There’s an article here on shorting. Just in passing. GameStop it’s not. In the scheme of things a pretty measly 0.5% or so. But the writer gives opinion as to how even published figures can lead to misconceptions.
Wouldn’t continuously fret about it.

https://www.livemint.com/market/stock-market-news/how-were-more-than-100-of-gamestop-s-shares-shorted-11613664813914.html