Member Info for Kando

Wowser, he's cracked the code! Thanks for deciphering that Sherlock...

I would laugh heartily if after all this Graff was right about all these interested parties and it ended up in a 30 party bidding war. Like the boy who cried wolf but no-one realized he was living in a wolf pack. Maybe he's just that well connected. Dyslexia is no real barrier to socializing after-all.

Agree pokerchips.

And why would institutions pile cash in at 12-14p for shares worth a fraction of the shares they were happy selling at 18p? You're not thinking rationally. If there were anyone in the world who would underwrite such a Rights Issue, it would be issued at who knows, maybe 3p if you're lucky, to have a hope of generating $450m off an equity position where it's at.

But as you say, by far the best and most likely outcome is still the takeover, by Sidara or anyone who can improve upon the offer. On that I fully agree with you.

"Far more likely is a capital raise via a rights issue at a price lower than the current 18p, probably around 12-14p to ensure the capital raise via rights issue is taken up. I doubt that private shareholders will be invited to participate, it will more likley be available to institutional investors only in order to secure a fast and successful outcome, which it will be under attractive terms of 12-14p to the institutional investors. This capital raise will likely be oversubscribed and will immediately appease Wood's lenders, and Wood can go it alone from there."

Sorry James but this is just not right. You're not raising $450m in a Rights Issue when the market cap is $168m. Give us one example where this has been done. It's like a 280% rights issue. A rights issue is considered heavy above 20%....280% is cloud cuckoo land. No one would underwrite that, no one would underwrite a quarter of that. And to say it would be oversubscribed...

Honestly mate, I think you've misread this one.

"Would love to know what these terms are..."

Me too, but we can probably guess.

"implement an alternative refinancing option, should it be required."

That would optimistically be a Rights Issue, but far more likely a Debt for Equity swap.

I don't think there's nearly enough equity in the business at these levels for someone to underwrite a rights issue, so it would almost certainly be an arrangement with lenders to convert some or all of the debt to equity. Both, as has been pointed out before, are highly dilutive at the levels they'd likely be. Hence why the proposed offer is considered preferable by the board. Lenders would obviously much prefer to not become owners in a struggling business, they wouldn't be derisking their positions, but converting third party risk into active first party risk having to run and turn the business around itself to retrieve value. Instead they'd obviously much rather someone bigger take it over who can continue servicing the debt without difficulty. And before anyone says, "wood aren't struggling to service its debt" - any company who can't post positive cash flow will eventually struggle to service its debt. That's just maths. Wood haven't been cash flow positive in 5 years, and they're having to sell off productive assets to service the debt. Nothing about that is sustainable in perpetuity.

"If there was any other interested it would have shown its hands by now."

Why?

If I was interested, I'd wait until Sidara have cleaned up the situation with lenders and secured concessions from them on extensions. And I'd wait for Wood to show how desperate they were in accepting Sidara's offer. I'd wait until the bid was formalized, and then I'd outbid them and offer to match and replace Sidara's liquidity injection. Acting any sooner would be pointless and only bid up the price.

Agree Sham, there surely is value there, so this does look like it could be a bargain to Sidara. Yet it's been made very clear they have Wood over a barrel, where a takeover at 35p outweighs any of the other form of recapitalization. The board can't possibly be expected to recommend a huge dilution over a cash premium to the last traded price, which is what some here can't seem to fathom.

But it being a bargain still leaves me a little hopeful there might yet be other interested parties in Wood.

"And when the accounts drop and that “done deal” falls apart, I’ll be right here, laughing as usual. 🤣🤣🤣👊"

I'll leave this comment here so people can copy it back to you at every stage when the bid is formalized, recommended and voted through. No doubt you'll be characteristically humble about it and acknowledge how wrong you were...

Somehow you've read today's RNS and still failed to realize the bid is close. The board are still working towards securing it, and guess what...they already know the accounts. The accounts aren't a block box known only to God and the auditors. The company prepared the accounts before handing them over to the auditors. They know what they're selling. The company and institutions are going to vote through the takeover, whether you like it or not.

Good post lightnotheat. Agree.

You'll still be here raging against the machine long after this has been delisted and taken private. Of that there's no doubt.

"you’re defending a bid that doesn’t even exist".

Let's circle back round to this in a few weeks eh? Let's see that there's no proposed bid that's set to meet it's conditionality, like the company just RNSed.

Just how deep do you have your head buried up your derrière?

What a clown.

Your shorts are melting Icecool. You don't have control over this.

You didn't vote the Board out.

You haven't got Sidara walking away.

The FCA investigation you egomaniacally tried to claim credit for, hasn't discouraged a bid.

You didn't get all of the above to sink the debt renegotiations.

You're unlikely now to get the D4E/RI recapitalization (or worse, administration) scenario you wanted.

Everything you didn't get would have destroyed shareholder value. If you're not short then you're "an absolute idiot". Which one are you claiming to be?

Everyone here should be relieved at how wrong you were, pretending to be long, expecting no less than £2 a share (hah!) but agitating for scenarios that could only lead to shareholder wipeout.

As it is, from here we're likely to have a floor with a Sidara bid, from which we might realize greater value from a rival bidder.

None of this would have been possible if you'd got what you wanted. With no Board and no Sidara and no arrangement with lenders, you wouldn't have what you're claiming you've "won" today. You didn't win this, you agitated for months against this. Turkey ramping for Christmas.

What a clown.

"You’re not watching me squirm, you’re watching me win. 💯"

Lol.

I know Surin, watching IceCool squirm is quite lovely, given how vocal and obnoxious he's been. He's been wrong every step of the way, and we've heard him gloat about everyone losing their money when the FCA announced their investigation. Now it looks increasingly likely the bid will come through, the board and secured an extension to the debt, and his position is toast... or perhaps melted would be more appropriate.

What a clown.

Crikey Davius, you're proving brave as well. If you haven't noticed already, they don't take kindly to facts and research around here. An unfortunate percentage of posters here don't think there have been any covenant breaches at all, nor cash flow problems, nor are there wary lenders to convince.

It is to them a Board-led comspiracy to sell off a great British company to some unsavoury foreigners. If you don't agree you're branded a shorter or paid shill for Sidara, or worse... a troublesome "realist".

That would be the dream.

That Icecool and his ever so angry turkey acolytes are wrong and the Board remain in place, they carry on shoring up the finances, debt modifcations and extensions are secured, that Sidara follows through with a 35p bid, an as yet unseen suitor outbids them at 45-50p and Sidara come back over the top at 60p to see them off. For me that's still the only really credible premium outcome here. Everything else carries the high risk of dilution. $135m+$30m has plugged just (most of) this year's negative cash flow, it hasn't fixed the balance sheet, or removed the need for some further form of recapitalization to satisfy lenders. Sidara are still the only party offering that.

"oh god the odious kando is piling back in"

that's cute metatron, i taught you a new word. last i spoke of you after your ****** antisemetic flat-earther antivax anti-bbc tirade i called you odious. it would seem it stuck with you. odious is as odious does.

Rock is right, "an absolute idiot" is perhaps too kind an epithet for Icecool, and much, much too kind for you Metatron.

You can liken Icecool to the angriest of turkeys trying to drum up support for a bumper Christmas Dinner.

Gobble gobble gobble....etc etc etc.

"Kando can you please explain what does this means, which is in the RNS.

Proceeds will be used by Wood to reduce net debt"

Yes mate.

It means that, at the last publically stated position, net debt excluding leases was about 690m. They then announced in February that this year was forecast to be 150-200m cash flow negative. That means their cash position will be 150-200m less, or their debt position 150-200m more, or some permutation between.

So by year end 2025 the net debt position (without leases) would be 690+(150 to 200m). So 840-890m.

They had pledged to keep the net debt position at 2024 levels, hence why they simultaneously announced in February that they were targeting further asset disposals of 150-200m this year to cover the negative FCF.

When they say the asset sale reduces the net debt position, it means it's 135m towards reducing what otherwise would have been 840-890m back down towards last year's 690m net debt position. To be really rudimentary, net debt meaning they have more total debt than cash and cash equivalents to pay for it, so if all the debts were called in, they would be 690m short.

Hope that clears it up. The asset sales generate cash, which are plugging the cash outflow this year. So that total debt isn't increasing as much/at all. It's not that debt is being paid down.

You're boring Ice. No one but you cares about your "persona on this bb". The rest of us live in the real world and just want the best outcome for our investments. You want to live out your fantasy crusades where you sack the whole BoD at the AGM (oh wait that didn't happen), then an EGM (oh wait, that hasn't happened either), then presumably you contemplate a hired hit man.

IceCool's Wood Group redemption arc:

Step 1 - Sack the whole board.

Step 2 - Get the FCA investigating the company (happened anyway)

Step 3 - Tell Sidara to GTFO.

Step 4 - Steps 1-3 will sink the debt renegotiations (because how can a company renegotiate debt without a board, and without any of the required recapitalization to secure the extensions and modifications).

Step 5 - Profit???

Unfortunately you're too friggin daft to realize we're all on the same team. We all want the same thing. If you fantasy came true, we'd all be very happy, but your roleplay isn't reality, and it would do the very opposite, and destroy this share. A company with these finances and no BoD, no plan, no liquidity, no suitor, and no hope is dead in the water. You simply lack the experience or understanding to get that.

Everyone else is "short" or "negative" because they recognize the real risk of D4E/RI/adminstration when a company runs out of money and can't generate positive cash flow for half a decade and the debts start to become due. That's just the real world. It's a quantifiable risk.