Member Info for Culpepper

This story continues. I think they'll have another go at it when their Heat and Buildings Strategy paper is released. The alternative seems unacceptable.

"Government slated for ‘unacceptable’ delivery of Green Homes Grant scheme
By Joey Gardiner8 September 2021

Retrofit

Auditornews says abandoned £1.5bn domestic retrofit discount scheme will help less than a tenth of the homes originally targeted

Government auditors have slammed the ‘unacceptable’ delivery of the £1.5bn Green Homes Grant scheme which was supposed to help fund 600,000 green domestic retrofits but was ultimately closed this spring after paying out just £36m in vouchers.

A National Audit Office report released today concluded the scheme was delivered to an over-ambitious timetable and “not executed to an acceptable standard”, with NAO head Gareth Davies describing it as “rushed”.

A snapshot from bricks. Wickes market of Repair, maintenance and improvement (including bathrooms and kitchens) continues to boom.

"Brickmaker says lockdown DIY boom showing no signs of slowing down
By Dave Rogers8 September 2021

DIY
‘Chase for space’ fuelling demand as Michelmersh joins growing list of firms warning on shortages of lorry drivers

The so-called ‘chase for space’ among householders forced to work from home because of the pandemic shows no sign of slowing down, the boss of listed brickmaker Michelmersh has said.

Frank Hanna added around half of the firm’s product was being shipped to cater for the booming RMI market with the remainder split between housebuilders and new build schemes."

No point in going back too far, but in the past year on published Ennismore short notifications.
10th July 2020 0.72% short. Price 32.10
23rd Nov 2020. 0.80% short Price 33.92
9th Feb 2021 0.92% short Price 33.24
6th Sept 2021. 1%. short Price. 52.96

I cannot say what is behind it, make of it what you will, but so far nothing in it for them. On the face of it, it would need to go back to 30p or so before a basic short could make them anything.

I am talking the 'normal' tender offer. ie a prorata distribution of the 80m dollars - I think at NAV or thereabouts. They specifically mention NAV in the tender RNS. Taking your figures, an option to sell two thirds of a holding. Anything other seems an unnecessary complication.

Of course it could work. 80m dollars worth of shares at implied NAV. The remainder you hold for further return, or in what happens next.

We must wait to find out. But why at the lower price of 6.6p? What is wrong with a return at or about the implied NAV per share on however many shares are permitted to be tendered?

In passing, for the industry generally.
Softened from prior highs, but
“Looking ahead, construction companies remained highly upbeat about their growth prospects over the coming 12 months. Positive sentiment was underpinned by hopes of an expected rise in new contract awards across all subsectors of construction.”

https://www.markiteconomics.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/53d8bb43bc3e45cf9be7330c306168fe

Softened from prior highs, and
“Looking ahead, construction companies remained highly upbeat about their growth prospects over the coming 12 months. Positive sentiment was underpinned by hopes of an expected rise in new contract awards across all subsectors of construction.”

https://www.markiteconomics.com/Public/Home/PressRelease/53d8bb43bc3e45cf9be7330c306168fe

Our first half guidance of around £45m adjusted PBT** remains unchanged, and while we remain watchful of ongoing Covid impact and the wider economic environment, the outlook for the full year remains in line with our expectations. Overall we are well-placed to continue to successfully deliver against our strategy. Wickes Group plc interim results will be released on 16 September.

14 July 2021



SIG plc: Continued Strong Trading Momentum and Return to Profitability



SIG plc ("SIG" or "the Group") today issues a trading update for the six months to 30 June 2021 ("H1" or "the period"), in advance of the release of its H1 results on 21 September 2021.

On that, and following the failure of the Green Homes Grant ( insulation ) scheme, the industry is waiting on the release of the govt’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, aimed at incentivising homeowners and social housing associations to transition to emission free homes.
Perhaps it will be out before Cop26 in November.

Lobbying continuing to gather pace.
https://www.building.co.uk/news/prime-minister-told-to-publicly-fund-national-retrofit-scheme/5113466.article

There is nothing hidden here - buyers and sellers can see the score. What we are told is this,
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/SHI/trading-update-xfpb7m6t0yv780u.html
No more or less. And Sig’s market is in perfectly reasonable shape.
It aspires to turn around from loss to profit, and is in that process. Nothing new about that either.

Construction materials manufacturer and supplier CRH reported positively today.

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/CRH/2021-interim-results-4bq8edxk9jdu806.html

“Based on current trading conditions and the positive momentum that we see across our markets, we expect second-half group EBITDA to be ahead of a record prior year."

reporting positively today, with particular mention of their DIY business.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/GFTU/half-year-results-2021-3liojr4l6hp2sqa.html

reporting positively today. Another read-across.

Definitely? I don’t know. But with UK stocks said to be undervalued, always a possibility generally.
CD and R, getting mentioned of late, bought plumbing and heating Wolseley. On the builders merchants side, they also have a getting on 30% in Sig ( Shi)
You just never know.

21st.July.
“Whilst DIFM (Do-it-for-me) sales in the first half were impacted by the enforced closure of our in-store kitchen and bathroom showrooms through to the 12th April, our virtual sales journey continued to resonate well with customers. Since reopening, ordered sales* have grown by over 30% on a two year basis, which will support positive delivered sales growth in the second half of the year.”

Just a UK issue I surmise - didn’t a lot go back to the EU and that’s where the various industries want govt to get them from.

Doing their best to work around the issues.
https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2021/08/25/lorry-driver-shortage-forces-merchants-to-collect-from-suppliers/