Member Info for Dartron

I do not invest here. I hold Henderson High income and it has done well for me. What I would say about this trust is that it is really just the index. And that it has just about performed the same, perhaps slightly worse than the MSCI index (which has not been a good place to be for the last 5 years). If you go on to their website, and look at the full portfolio, you will see that it contains 109 different companies, all in similar weightings. The largest holdings are around 2% each. This fund is close to an ETF in my opinion, and is more suited to someone who wants to take very minimal risk, but in return is willing to accept meagre gains. It has a 3.1% yield which as grown, and is not trading at much of a discount again probably because it is so vanilla.

Small caps are likely to do well over the next few months (hopefully years), so this could be a nice place to have some money now, however personally I think there are so many of these trusts, and many with better yields, why not go for DIVI for example which looks very similar.

As a small caps trader, I wouldn't consider many of the companies in this fund to be small caps. Many are in the 300M range, so again HHI is probably a better choice as you are getting a 6%+ yield there and some FTSE out performance. If you want to dial up the risk, and go a bit more of a concentrated / high conviction trust. Some of those have made fantastic gains last year.

Yeah the HSL seems pretty mediocre, but it probably has its place in a risk averse portfolio with a long term outlook.

Yes received on the 30th with IG.

I think its an important point actually. Having been invested here a few years back and the buy back couldn't break £1. MBH is not a stock I associate with new highs.

Not bad, 7% at todays price, I halved my Premier Miton to come in here. I prefer stocks with shorts to close, plus the buy back, I think its decent.

Run, I didnt think it would drop below 430. With 6 shorts, some of them must be buyers now. But it did drop, and so I added a few.

A sudden departure, worded carefully to not underline how sudden this was. Did she jump (are things about to get much worse?) or was she pushed by the majority shareholder, who may well be the problem here. I didnt rate Lucy, although we never got to see her in interviews or presentations. I shall be watching very carefully at how they manage the replacement here, this is not going to be a time for another middle manager. It needs someone who can be handed full control and who will back themselves with £ skin in the game - not performance options. Why should we risk our capital if the board wont.

Overall, I interpret the news as bad, and a symptom of something much worse to follow. I reduced my holding today.

The leverage increased because they bought 2 companies.

Our 52% revenue growth was driven by organic growth (14%) and M&A (39%), being the full year impact of ACE plus one-month trading from our most recent acquisitions, Seatronics and J2 Subsea..

-- These acquisitions have not really hit the books yet.

-- If you were going to moan about something, I would pick the admin costs...

£32.8m increase, £21.7m relates to administrative costs acquired through the acquisitions of ACE Winches, Seatronics and J2 Subsea

-- If AT can get this down, we will see much better margins.

Cash spent on acquisitions of £67.1m included the payment for Seatronics and J2 Subsea with the balance relating to a final payment for ACE Winches following agreement of completion accounts. Both payments were funded in full through our RCF facility which we increased to £170m

Net debt increased from £61.7m to £128.4m as a result of the Seatronics and J2 Subsea acquisition being funded through the RCF. This represents leverage of 1.85x at year end (2023: 1.3x). On a proforma basis, taking into account the full year impact of Seatronics and J2 Subsea, leverage was 1.6x.

In my opinion, this is the stage at which to get aboard, these guys are focussed on increasing EPS through acquisitions and optimisation. Look at the growth forecast (consensus of 8 analysts) https://www.ashtead-technology.com/investors/analyst-consensus/

Short sellers fall in various categories, and here I think this is a momentum trade based on net outflows & profit taking and expectations of a lack lustre year due to ingestion of acquisitions. This type of trading "works until it doesnt". I am really hoping we can break 4.30 and that I can have some in the 4.20's. Ideally I hope they go really silly and get it close to £4.00. I will be liquidating other positions as this goes lower. That said, I dont think they will be able to break 4.30 with so many shorts. Most of these guys are going to be buyers now.

One final piece from Simon Thompson (Jan 25 / SP was ~ £6):- In addition, consensus net debt of £116mn at the 2025 financial year-end equates to 1.9 times operating profit and 1.35 times cash profit estimates, so leverage ratios look sensible. On this basis, the group’s enterprise valuation is 7.2 times 2025 consensus cash profit of £86mn, a multiple that fails to capture the quality of earnings, structural shifts in the group’s markets and potential for further mergers and acquisition activity.

Mcap 100m, cash 30m, EV=70m. HY Aprofit 5.4m, double that 11M. Ev/AdProf = 6.3 times

3p dividend = £4.6M (well over their stated aim of paying 50% of Adj profit).

- EV less than 1% of AUM.

Yield 10%

Contrast that to IPX

macap 234m, cash 60m, EV= 174m. HY Adprofit 20.5, double that 41m. EV/AdjP = 4.24

4p dividend = £5.1m (a much better ratio of H1 profit) but they are doing a 10m buy back so £15.1, still a little better, and also a better use of the cash.

- Ev under 1% AUM.

Yield ? (FY dividend will be reduced)

Didnt make this post to promote one or the other, didnt know the numbers until I had finished the post. Id say they are about the same, I like the BB at IPX plus the short position, but then PMI is more likely a TO target IMO, but whether a price could be agreed? 6x is already about right. IPX is a bit more specialist.

Slight increase from Citidel up to 0.91, recently Qube and Citidel have both increased. Could it pull back to £3.00, I still have not added here.

Wind down is already agreed, though further details are not confirmed at present. It could be a slow process, though im happy to ride this out in my pension.

3 listed companies:

Vishal mega mart (india) - 7.6% NAV

https://www.google.com/finance/quote/VMM:NSE?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjcmti6ksaNAxV8VUEAHQB2CMoQ3ecFegQIOxAb

https://www.partnersgroup.com/en/news-and-views/press-releases/investment-news/detail?news_id=cf040b67-18dc-43b8-8030-2bef1e1bd3f9

Galderma - 2.6%

https://www.google.com/finance/quote/GALD:SWX?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiN2ZL2ksaNAxWCY0EAHXllOa8Q3ecFegQISRAb

https://investors.galderma.com/

https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/skin-care-company-galdermas-shares-soar-stock-market-debut-2024-03-22/

Kindercare - 2%

https://www.google.com/finance/quote/KLC:NYSE?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiwwuL2k8aNAxUNVkEAHQ6IH20Q3ecFegQIOxAb

https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/partners-group-backed-kindercare-raises-576-mln-us-ipo-2024-10-09/

"Partners Group, which will own a controlling stake of 71% in the company, acquired KinderCare in 2015."

---

They sold some Vishal in the IPO, but looks like they did not sell any Kindercare (still own 70%), Partners Group has also received distributions from the sale of a portion of its stake in Galderma. Kindercare has damaged the listed equity valuations, but the company is performing well. Some loss of nav due to FX as well.

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PEY holds 99% direct investments.

A very good article for bulls and bears, which speculates on going private.

On the other hand, it is at times like this – the business apparently lacking growth appeal – when offers tend to be made, on the grounds that the listing costs no longer make sense. Shareholders feel any useful premium is welcome so they can invest elsewhere.

Looks like the share price might be on the move

As of 31 March 2025, NAV per share stands at 21.86p, an increase of 9.6%

'struggling'. if the company employs around 16000 people, and they decided to make 400 jobs redundant, it sounds to me a very minor adjustment.

"...to align teams around consistent roles and simpler management structures, said spire. in addition, it plans to rebalance its workforce with a different mix of permanent and bank staff to improve flexibility."

it reads very much like it is in the interests of investors to trim a few non productive rolls, and perhaps use agency more when needed. spire got marked down on results due to its low margin. here they are improving that, and you are struggling to comprehend it. i don't think we can say spire is a growth stock, but we can expect growth in eps and margins based on these types of activities. frankly, this is the stuff they should be doing.

deutsche bank think so..

risk to the upside for ambitious spire, says deutsche bank

spire healthcare (spi) is on an ambitious path to quadruple earnings though that comes off a low base, says deutsche bank.

analyst kane ****zkin retained his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 300p on the private hospital group after a roundtable with management that set out plans to grow ebitda to £40m over the medium term.

the group is also focused not only on patient treatment but on ‘prevention and early diagnosis’ and ‘primary care’, with ****zkin leaving the meeting ‘with a greater sense for what spire would like to achieve in a very fragmented market, believed to be of similar size to the uk hospital care market of £6bn’.

he said there was ‘upside risk to our estimates, should [spire] deliver’.

‘the pathway to quadrupling its ebitda might sound ambitious, but comes off a low base, has strong organic and inorganic drivers and room for gradual margin expansion,’ he said.

‘while lower margin versus hospitals, primary care is capital light and should provide downstream referrals and synergies with the hospitals, thereby ensuring more efficient utilisation of its estate and capacity and ultimately, we think should be net positive for return on capital employed over time.’

Hi Stas, I have purchases here from 2023, some in the 50's, though from memory I had purchases in the high 70's before the drop. Must have traded it to get my average down. Just shows you, last time they did a buy back the price was 80p, its now 1/4 of that. In terms of % loss, JSE is my biggest loser. I have already sunk way too much in here, so wont be buying anymore, though agree sub 20p is a decent entry. However, Jeffries brokers valued it at 20p recently. I dont know how Roxi can still feel upbeat, if he really did buy every time he claimed to have, he would be sitting on a huge a loss as well.

Even if we have hit the bottom, why should we expect a V shaped recovery. I think the outlook for oil is far weaker than Roxi posts, I would not be adding to junior oilers this year personally. '26 could be quite poor if JSE have to start making hedges in the $50's ?

Just under 200,000 shares. Might help drive the price up, if shorts needed that stock...

Good point, Advanced medical Systems should do the same. I guess they will in good time.

Published: 09:58 28 Mar 2025 GMT

Rosser also confirmed NESF’s dividend target of 8.43p for the financial year ending March 2026, equating to a 12% yield and backed by a 1.1–1.3x earnings cover.

It sounds sensible to me. It is 2.5% of the workforce, clinical and non clinical. They need to improve margins, so this should help.

https://www.laingbuissonnews.com/healthcare-markets-content/inbusiness-healthcare-markets-content/spire-to-cut-400-hospital-jobs-in-major-operational-overhaul/