Member Info for Lochnagary

Https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/78e50c86-91c9-4ab1-9a6e-37dcfd85cda6?shareToken=92dab479c2aaefc42c68d8bc26a57704

Todays Times says that Sidara sold their $1.4B stake in Worley in April, to fund their takeover of Wood. They say that Sidara have been looking at Wood for some time. This suggests they are serious players.

Sidara must have expected Wood to rebuff an offer of 205p, and since there were no surprises in this mornings update, I think they will return with a second offer. I thinks it’s unlikely that they will go to 240p, or over, unless a second bidder emerges.

I also think the institutions will be tiring of the time it is taken Wood to get the business firing on all cylinders, and may be more willing to accept a lower offer than Apollo proposed last year. I would love to be proved wrong, but I don’t think the current management team can cut the mustard on turning the business round.

Just looked at Sidara’s Board off Directors. To my surprise, it appears that Neil Bruce is a NED with Sidara. Neil was a director of AMEC in Aberdeen. AMEC was bought by WOOD in 2017. Note that Neil had left AMEC by that time. However, Neil will know WOOD well, and will be able to guide the Sirdar board on their potential takeover of WOOD. Interesting times…

I presume that both bidders were aware of Spirent’s Q1 numbers (probably under an NDA) before announcing their bids, so hopefully the numbers won’t give KeySight cause to revise down, or even withdraw their bid. The SP fell more than expected this afternoon, so I think the Market thinks this is a risk. Wouldn’t be surprised to see it drop a bit more, unless there is a reassuring statement from KeySight.

Https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2024/04/05/spirent-buyer-keysight-tries-to-dominate-5g-market/

Https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ab80da56-1e6c-45fa-b09d-b60511342133?shareToken=be2e13fdf15e34cc6fb52ce2be443759

Https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2024/03/28/enquest-pays-down-debt-and-announces-15mn-buyback/

From Saturdays Daily Mail - by Alex Brummer. The article is largely about the takeover of Direct Line, but there is the following comment at the end on Spirent.

“There is also reason to be disgruntled about the way in which the board of telecoms concern Spirent headed by Sir Bill Thomas, a Labour Party small business adviser, so quickly agreed to a bid from a US competitor Viavi.”

Valuable British R&D and tech should not be sacrificed so easily.

Company chairmen too easily ignore the national interest

We are always being told that the US markets value tech companies highly. If that is true, the bidder should offer a full price, (which is probably generous by UK standards), rather than a price which is seen as taking advantage of Spirent’s temporary difficulties. There is no incentive for the IIs to back this, as Spirent will recover in time, and achieve a much higher price, under their own steam. If their tech helps AI rollout, the bidder should have deep pockets.

I sold some of my holding yesterday, to take some money off the table, just in case they did an Apollo (like Wood), but I am holding the rest and hoping to see £2.

It may be that the market is becoming aware that some Institutional investors will not support a takeover at the current price. That may for the bidder to increase their offer a bit, although without a counter bidder, this unlikely to be a big increase …say 10 to 20p. Interesting times…

I agree Mary. The BOD bought shares at higher prices last year, so they won’t be averse to a higher offer. We are ‘in play’ now…

Https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/news/2024/02/13/how-kier-and-costain-are-thriving-as-rivals-fail/

Https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/12ab9765-7f32-4143-a28c-709e197733e2?shareToken=7834611b9403ef6c97548d76d5c420ae

VT- I couldn’t have explained it as well as you have in charting terms, but I concur with your sentiment. The SP seems keen to rise for no obvious reason, when many other stocks are in the doldrums. It’s almost a year since Apollo approached us, but it finally feels like we are starting to rise to that SP territory, and hopefully, beyond 240p.

Courtesy of the xxxxxy on the Shell forum on ADVFN

xxxxxy21 Jan '24 - 21:19 - 4437 of 4437

0 0 0

Labour’s plan to ban new oil and gas drilling is “economically senseless” and threatens to bring forward rig shutdowns by a decade, a major North Sea operator has warned.

Amjad Bseisu, chief executive of Enquest, said blocking new drilling licences would put jobs and investment at risk, while bringing forward shutdown costs for the taxpayer.

The company operates oil and gas platforms as well as the Sullom Voe terminal, where huge quantities of oil from the West of Shetland basin are processed.

.... Daily Telegraph

HBRs trading update says they will have used all of their historical tax losses by end H1 24. Does this not suggest they may want to takeover ENQ to get access to our historical tax losses. I get the impression that Linda grudges paying any unnecessary tax to the government.

Although we are all surprised by this mornings reduction in production guidance for 2024, this information would not be a surprise to BASF, as it would be disclosed under a non disclose agreement (NDA) during the take-over discussions. So, it should already be factored into the deal that BASF have agreed.

If one thinks about this logically, this review should not be considered a major risk to the completion of the deal. Harbour and Wintershall were both advised my major international legal firms on the deal (who would be familiar with the German regulatory process and sensitivities) and it is inconceivable that both companies did not expect the German government to review the deal as described.

Both companies would also have assessed the risk of the German government either blocking the deal, or asking for the deal to be changed in some way. Both companies must have independently concluded that it is unlikely the German government would block the deal, or ask for any significant changes. The UK enjoys good relations with Germany (a NATO ally) and the UK is a major market for many German companies (BMW, VW, Siemens etc) so it’s hard to see that they would have any concerns which would threaten the successful completion of the deal. I think this is a non-issue.

Https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a619f70c-a2f6-4993-a725-61e55aeec58a?shareToken=30260e5d77e8a3d904814471afbc3a67

From the ST

Apologies Stevo….you name isn’t Stereo