Member Info for Hardboy

As there is not yet a board for Atome, this seems to be the right place to ask people's opinions on it. I have a great belief in the future of Green Hydrogen, and Atome's business case does look sound; but I'm not sure it's going to be great for investors in the IPO. £9m does not sound much to fund 2+ years of wages, construction and commissioning of their 2 sites, so I can see them coming back to shareholders again and again over the next 2 years (sounds like the way AIM listed oil exploration companies work.) The offer only seems to be available via PrimaryBid, which is always a negative in my book. Serious investors work via brokers, so serious companies should too. Also when I read through the offering I sent an email to the Atome "contact us" link on their website asking what their plans were for future funding. I haven't had a reply which does not bode well for their attitude to retail investors.

Very interested to hear other viewpoints.

Thank you, for the thoughtful replies.

There was an interview with the CEO of windward which is a recent IPO, making its market debut today. Does anyone know anything about them? Certainly they are operating in the same overall sphere as SRT but I couldn't work out if they were a threat or a a benefit to SRT.

Nothing from ii or Hargreaves L either - so don't worry. As the shares go live tomorrow, I expect we'll get a notification at 7:00 tomorrow.

"I wonder if folk are shy of BATS on ethical grounds?"

Almost certainly. But interestingly I read an article a few weeks back on Hargreaves Lansdowne I think, which list the 3 FTSE 100 companies with the best ESG ratings, and BAT were there.

Schroders seem to like M&G - every day we seem to get an RNS where they have increased their holding

"I wanted to add more through the placing but in my ISA so the dividends are tax free. "

Very sensible.

I hate these Primary Bid offers - can't use your ISA (even when your existing shares are there.) Instead of just putting in a number on a form on your broker's website on your PC with a big screen and large keyboard. You HAVE to use a mobile ap - type the numbers on a small screen & keypad when it's easier to make mistakes, transfer money from dealing account to bank account etc. The words always say they value the retail investors, but if they use PB they don't give a jot about their existing investors who hold in an ISA.

"At least you've got the option to buy sws. I've had nothing from HL yet,"

You can buy using the Primary Bid ap, and they will transfer the shares to your HL dealing account.

Yielding over 9% with a well covered dividend. That's not a bad return for a dog.

"we do not know how much of Luceco's product is sold into the China market."

From the interims released last month: % by sales: UK 82.5, Rest of Europe 9.3, Americas 3.8, Middle East & Africa 2.4, Asia Pacific (including China) 2. Or to put it another way - almost negligible.

I think the negativity now is more a concern that the supply chain of Luceco's products will be affected.

Out of interest, where do you think it should be?

Personally I've been enjoying the ride but concerned that it's over priced for some time. Last year's EPS was 114. Say that improves by 20% which is asking quite a lot that would be 137. At the current price of 3635, that's a PE of over 25, when FTSE100 average is around 15.

Is there any relevance to Ultra to the Santander link?

Weird. I think the take over of William Hill is brilliant and gives a great base for a profitable future; but there will shortly be an new share issue to help pay for it. When there is an imminent rights issue or placing or (Please not a Primary Bid issuance - I hate them) the share price normally goes down in anticipation of a lower offer price.

A take over bid seems unlikely - when there is such a large take over going on a predator would usually wait till things had settled down, or be after 1 of the 2 parts, in which case they'd have been competing to buy Wm. Hill, or been after 888 earlier.

No complaints though - just hard to know if the jump will continue or should one take profits now?

If not Thursday, it won't be long. Instead of having mini fund raisings every few months I'd be much happier with a big one to last a few years.

Just read the RNS - they are going to raise £500m from selling new shares, the rest they'll pay for with hefty loans (& existing cash). They'll hope to reduce the loans quite significantly quite quickly as operational synergies work through.

888 have traditionally always worked on net cash so this will be change of policy. I would hope they will bring the debt levels down quickly.

888 have never run physical betting shops. Will they keep them? Or will this be part of the business to sell off? I favour the latter.

I would expect retail shareholders to be included in the capital raising - could be a revolution if not. I just hope they don't use the awful Primary Bid to do it.

Net Assets at last year end were £6.6b equivalent to about 260 NAV

It's all very well saying Do your own research, but when companies give you less than 3.5 hours (assuming you happen to see the RNS as soon as it comes out; and assuming the offer is not over subscribed and closes early) after IFAs & brokers have stopped work for the day; it's not that easy. And what about people whose existing holding is in an ISA? No sane person wants 2 separate holdings of the same company. Whilst I understand why these Primary Bid offers are attractive to companies, I dislike them. I do not see the reason for such a short open window. Existing shareholders should be informed in some way to ensure they know about the offer, and there should be a way to take things into your ISA.

I read a Morningstar or it may have been HL article recently looking at ESG ratings. It detailed the 3 FTSE100 companies with the best ESG ratings, and BAT were in it.

Can't remember the detail, presumably they score well on employment of women in high positions, they support local communities in frontier countries, they grow a crop which takes CO2 out of the atmosphere. I think there is a great scope for some good PR there

Good points, all. I am actually disappointed as it looks as if they still won't be making a profit this year. Although, I suppose with their mou8ntain of cash they don't need to. I hope they are investing that cash wisely - even if they get a 1% return on it, it would be approaching 10% of their annual turnover.

I think the main reason the sp is not up at the £35 level, which is where the offer has been made and the BoD have accepted, is that being in the defence sector the UK Gov't may scupper the bid,

I can't se it as most of their work is in the US any way

But it's not just a question of bid being accepted by BoD & shareholders,

I guess today's weakness is a reflection of the potential Gov't involvement,