Member Info for EasiWynns

Does anyone have any technical understanding of what this ("inside information") means in practice?
Also, it seems to have started from 01 Jan this year, so why would it just be announced now?
Any thoughts gratefully received!

It's probably just a public statement (admission) by the directors of what's been concerning them from the very start of the war: that it's unwinnable for the Russian Federation and that when the end of the war finally happens (who knows when?) the expectation of the full removal of the sanctions (by some, but not by them) that has badly affected the business is highly unlikely.

In an article partly concerning Aviva:
"In the event, it was around £50million. This is an improvement over the £90million hit at Direct Line, which tanked the shares. The suspicion is that after several profit warnings Direct Line did some kitchen sinking." [DailyMail, today]

A "friendly" country, as (currently) declared by Russia, but ...

"As of January 27, citizens from the group -- Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Armenia -- will be unable to stay in Kazakhstan for more than 90 days within 180 days, according to the government's resolution adopted on January 16." [RFERL.org]

"A Kazakh political party kicked out one of its parliament deputies on Thursday [last week] after he supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine in an interview ... The Kazakh government, despite its traditionally close ties with Moscow, has not supported the invasion or recognised the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia, and has called for peace." [USNews.com]

Instead of moving to a another exchange, especially one such as that mentioned, why don't they 'do nothing' - i.e. leave the business ticking along until the war ends? Russia will obviously be defeated, and as we've seen they do seem able to survive satisfactorily even during the war.

I'd be surprised if the LSE would allow a secondary listing in the current climate. Plus the brokers/platforms may not want to support stocks from there either.

Won't the CEO be severely constrained by what he discuss here on LSE if it's in any way market sensitive information that has yet to be published to the market?

DaddyAIM - Wonder if you have the numbers used to calculate a 16x EPS for FY23?

I would have thought that another issue with paying a dividend is that RA would be due it as well.

As long as EVR can survive longer term, I'm not too worried about what happens in the short/medium term, especially if it's accruing funds that can (eventually) be paid out, and that ignores the substantial share price gains that would likely occur as well. Survival is the name of the game, as far as I'm concerned.

Perhaps the price fall reflects the fact that there were literally no financial details disclosed relating to H&W, whether contract value, split by year, gross or net margins, or anything related specifically to H&W.

That's all to be disclosed when H&W signs a contract with the Spanish company's UK subsidiary, Navantia UK, in a couple of weeks.

And let's all sincerely hope they've been able to negotiate excellent margins over the full duration of the contract that can support the rapidly growing workforce.

Badly worded by me perhaps:
They spent £101.0m purchasing 33.838,553 shares in 2021(~ 298p)
Purchasing the same number of shares today (at ~175p) would cost ~£59.2m
Spending £101.0m at 175p would buy back approx. 57.7m, about 70% more shares than they bought.
Other purchases (I think) were £50m in 2022 at about 260p, and £30m in 2020 at about 275p.
So a total cost paid of £181m, which would cost around £110m at today's prices.
That's all I was getting at.

I do think that raising funds would call into question the credibility of the (current) management to effectively allocate the company's resources, both in terms of the prior dividend levels, and also in respect of the share buybacks (the ones that took place and that weren't cancelled). Some of these seemed to be at nearly 300p per share.

It might also be preferable in future to allow market partipants to determine when to buy and sell the shares, rather than the company's management, who have so far reduced shareholder value by their re-purchase actions. (If the share price was consistently above the purchase prices, I'd obviously being saying the opposite.)

If, as the CEO recently and repeatedly claims, the current share value "does not reflect the intrinsic value of the company", I would expect to see very significant director share purchases at some point - so the actions matched the rhetoric.

If RA was aware, he was in any case probably too busy sorting out his own financial affairs to let us, his fellow investors, know of the impending catastrophe.

I do feel a bit sorry for him, because although he has a lot of wealth - perhaps nearly as much as his children (joke) - he's under pressure from all sides, but he should of course be far more scared of crossing Putin than anything else. Lying low and keeping schtum is probably his best strategy for survival, thereby hopefully avoiding any unnecessary window or mysterious toxin related incidents. Hiding in Israel or Portugal may also be helpful, or on one his (or children's) many yachts.

"Roman Abramovich's assets including luxury properties, superyachts, helicopters and private jets, were transferred to his children weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine, The Guardian reported.

Ten offshore trusts that hold assets belonging to the sanctioned Russian oligarch were amended in February 2022, according to leaked files revealed by the newspaper.

Assets worth more than $4 billion were transferred to his seven children only three weeks before the start of the war, the report said. The long-time associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin was sanctioned by the UK and European Union in March.

His children's beneficial interest in the trust's assets – including the Eclipse superyacht worth $700 million and shares in Russian companies – rose from 51% to 100%, per the report.

In addition to his six yachts worth more than $1 billion, it was revealed that Abramovich owns at least 10 more yachts and vessels via offshore companies, Forbes reported, citing files it obtained alongside the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

The shuffling of assets were detailed in hacked files from Cypriot company MeritServus, which managed the former Chelsea FC owner's finances for two decades, per the reports." [businessinsider.com]

One question: Did he know in advance that the illegal invasion of Ukraine was going ahead?

"As for RA he tried to commence peace talks under the advice of President Putin"

I think you've succinctly summarised why EVR is in the position it's in.

'Interview - Direct Line boss Penny James: I can weather the storm'

'Last month .. she radiated an easy charm and was confident about improving performance ... It is the fourth time Direct Line has issued guidance about its profitability for 2022 ..."

'James is finding time to talk after an emergency board meeting on Tuesday night led to the decision to abandon the dividend ..'

'The share price "doesn't reflect the progress we've made in positioning the company for the future, but the financial markets will look for us to deliver and demonstrate that through our results. I believe that will happen."' [TheTimes.co.uk]

With a market cap of ~ £385m @ 175p and a FY23 pre-tax (lower estimate) of £50m, this gives a P/E of ~ 7.7.
(P/E of ~ 6.5 at £60m pre-tax.) This seems cheap-ish to me, and may at least provide some support at this level.

It seems as though share buybacks of hundreds of millions of pounds worth of shares were at prices materially higher than the current, thereby reducing shareholder value. Was this an attempt to repurchase shares at below "intrinsic value" (good), or an attempt to support the share price (not necessarily good, and probably very bad considering the declining price)?

Out of interest, which are - in your opinion - the "... few countries left kicking back against g l oblist takeover"?

MCATEE - Hearing that your posts are being deleted, along with other muppets (or pro-Russian Federation puppets, if you prefer), such as devil666, brings me great joy. The only sadness is that your account has not also been permanently deleted. But 2023 is looking more positive.