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Ashcroft now has 57.51% of IPEL.
Another share buy back - this time about £320k. The plot thickens. http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/Article.aspx?id=201110101413518957P
See news today about further acquisitions across at RST.
Yes, rather unusual for an Ashcroft company to give a dividend. They often consist of extra shares in something or other, so we'll have to wait and see.
CSG had debts in the region of £60m and these look to have been wiped out in the space of 2-3 years - an impressive performance. I met some of the management team at the AGM a couple of years ago and they looked relaxed enough, though doubtless intent on turning the company around. CSG was moving sideways for many years and in fact Lord A had a go at a takeover in around July 1999, but the price wasn't right. I remember reading of a journalist having lunch with a CSG manager before the merger with two lobsters being ordered and put on expenses. I expect such extravagance has now been knocked on the head.
p.s. As you doubtless know, Lord A's 57% holding is in a trust for his family, but I think this move was just to get round the tax laws. As a guess, some if not all of his family are down as offshore residents.
Yes, streamlining is the name of the game and restructuring is Lord A's specialist area. Carlisle Group was ticking along quite nicely as a company that made a tidy profit before the merger with CSG, but somehow having a company that makes a tidy profit is too "boring" for Lord A and he needs the challenge of a restructuring to get his teeth into - hence the Carlisle/CSG merger. Once the restructuring is complete, it will be sell-off time. I don't think Lord A needs to hold onto the company in particular, as a kind of nest egg for his heirs, as he'll be leaving them a few hundred million anyway. I think CSG was probably a pile of junk before Lord A came along, correct me if I'm wrong.
I subscribe to the "Sell on" theory rather than "pass on to heirs theory". If you study the course of Lord A's career, the business plan throughout has been to buy an ailing company on the cheap (e.g. for £1 including liabilities), turn it round, sell it off, take the cash and move onto the next one. You can read up on the history of his career in Chapter 2 of his book "Dirty Politics, Dirty Times" available in pdf at www.lordashcroft.com. It's true that one of his three offspring, Andrew Ashcroft, works for him as an non-executive director at BCB Holdings. However, Lord A has pledged to give most (80% ?) of his money to charity when he dies, which would point towards a total sell-off by the end. I think IPEL will be sold off in the next year or two, and BCB will be his final "hurrah". Also, often the shares of Lord A's companies are undervalued at time of sell-off so a "rocket" effect is created when the share price suddenly shoots up, which I think Lord A gets a kick out of. See the case of OneSource in 2007: http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/10/08/7903/michael-ashcroft-master-magician/ Presumably you have seen a lot of changes at IPEL over the last 3 years which prompted you to buy the shares in anticipation of.
Point taken, re differences in outlook. Interesting that you work at HO - I wonder if you have any views about the future of the company. My opinion is that Ashcroft will sell off when things are ship-shape, as this is the way he does things...
It's just a theory - I know Ashcroft and his like have an aptitude for merging companies together. After all, IPEL already consists of a number of different divisions, so RST could be one more division. The scope of both IPEL and RST is broadly-speaking support services.
Any thoughts from the loyal?
The share buy back has also cost the company £600k. Shows that the company has got cash to burn !
p.s. The 425K buy referred to by poppdog below must refer to the purchase by the company of 135,000 shares on the open market. I wonder if this is a step in the direction of my theory that IPEL and RST will merge. The buyback increases the holding of Ashcroft in IPEL from 57.2% to 57.3% which is in the direction of 57.7% Ashcroft holds in RST. If he can get the holdings exactly the same as each other, maybe it will make a merger more convenient. Just a theory, of course!
Notice how the company has bought back 194,500 shares in two transactions in September: http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/201109281617421293P.html http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/201109131145441429O.html I wonder what's going on. On the face of it, it must be good for us shareholders as our shares form a larger proportion of the total shares issued.
Yes, you can't talk about future share prices yet because the future hasn't happened yet!
I'm still of the opinion that "the end" will be when Ashcroft sells the company and takes the cash - in the meantime, we just need to hunker down and wait.
Oh, I'm here too - will be till the end !
http://www.bcbholdings.com/assets/pdf/press-releases/2009/18082011_bcb_1q_pr_2011.pdf
http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/articles/201107140700113649K.html Clearing the debt to Geraldton (aka Ashcroft). Geraldton subscribes to an amount of shares such that it still retains 57% holding in the company.
End of Year, company reports a loss. Still it's very cheap at this price: http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/BCB-Holdings-Ltd-Final-afxcnf-1057567446.html?x=0