Member Info for MrBB

Good to see JG buying 100k shares-small sign of confidence

Clearly better that the post tax loss is restricted to 300K but not great news that JG has had to lend £200k over 3 years-suggestion being that our cashflow may be poorer than expected & that the divi is now more likely to be under threat. Why borrow 200k from Exec Chairman over 3 years & then pay an interim divi of circa £110k ?

Depending on how rosy your specs are we may also hope for a smaller write off from the bad debt-although that is unlikely. If the divi is held & the Interim paid our yield currently exceeds 7% & JG wont want to be in an Exec role for too long & may be considering an exit,particularly now that the Ferster Family have exited. I would hope that the positives emanating from a trading update wil lout weigh the negatives rising from the bad debt-but,as ever,we will have to wait & see .

Pitifully low volume ,as ever,but perhaps yesterdays purchases will prove to have been by a Director-which would certainly give us some comfort that our underlying businesses are doing well,despite the untimely bad debt.

Appointed today & with view to top his apparent wealth,referred to by RD,I presume he will buy a decent number of shares in the market

A brief review of the accounts of VDC suggests that they haven't been financially stable for some years,despite substantial turnover. I am sure CRU have been trying to reduce the Sales Ledger for some time & JGs view is it could have been much worse,no doubt a year or so back. Either way a big & disappointing hit which perhaps the Fersters have seen coming for some time. My view is that this will be 100% write off,but if we continue generating profits of about £100 k pm elsewhere within the Group we will survive,but the recently announced Interim Dividend could be shelved

Spoke too soon !

HNY to you too CS ! It will be interesting to see how CRU fairs this year with view to continued growth @ Interpack,our new subsidiary,our new factory manager,the expected reduction in the cast of our raw materials & transportation costs,the elimination of all costs associated with the Ferster Family,the potential arising from the appointment of a new CEO,the hoped for continuation of the stabilisation of our media business. I am hoping for further progress on all fronts,facilitating an increase in our SP & then more bolt on acquisitions which can be part funded by more realistically priced paper &/or sensibly priced debt

The penultimate paragraph is also written in poor English,suggesting that it was written hastily and not proof read or checked by another Board member.

Not just the costs of our plastic raw material which will reduce but also the energy costs of running our production lines & fuel costs of transportation of our products. So we should benefit in different ways from reduced costs

Today announced they expect further reductions in costs of raw materials(presumably due to lower oil prices) which should also positively affect our margins.

Announced a decent trading update today,which could be a good sign for the potential for our contract to grow(assuming my hunch that they are the new big customer is correct). Small selling (maybe family & friends of Fersters ) is causing weakness in our SP currently & it will be interesting to see whether that encourages any Director buying.It may encourage more buying from me if it becomes possible under 12p.

Not as strong as I had hope for & disappointing that the "Ocado" deal had been delayed-however decent overall result with interim divi of 0.20p.resulting in an expectation of at least 0.70p for the year(maybe more) which is a very decent yield of approaching 5%(based on our current SP)

I hope the results include more detail of the rational for the departure of the founding family & thatthe view is that they have gone as far as they are able & now consider management of Haydock should be in the hands of a"professional" manager who is totally aware of current best practice. I doubt that JG will want to run the company on an executive basis for too long & we need a new & dynamic CEO who can take the company forward,or we will be sold,probably cheaply to enable an orderly exit by the main shareholders. Hopefully more will be revealed on Monday. There is also the possibility of some sort of MBO,but that would not help we PI s.

Interactive Technology looks like a successful private company,with a very healthy bank balance & decent Net Assets,so perhaps The Fersters were spending more time on that venture than on CRU affairs & they were squeezed outTheir departure must have been sudden & unexpected as it would have been infinitely more practical for them to have gone on Results day & for the new CEO of the troubled division to be announced at the same time..Unless Paul Freud has the ability ,drive & desire to take CRU forward I would have thought that JG will be trying to find a buyer.

Apologies-only just read RNS! Curious that the founding Directors ,speaking for more than 10% of the issued shares (& presumably more with interests of family & friends) should either be pushed out due to their inability to solve the problem,or lost the support of the "dressing room",ie senior colleagues,while still delivering profits in line with expectations,ie a significant improvement on the previous year. Perhaps they realised their limitations & that professional managers may do a better job of enhancing the value of their holdings in CRU. Wouldn't have thought that JG would have wanted an executive role & is either a control freak or has no choice(ie to safeguard his 5 mill+ shares). Interesting stuff & possibly making us vulnerable to a bid

Far too soon for takeover-can't see why JS would want to run CRU having just disposed of STT & probably still working his earn out. More likely to be Paul Freud,if CEO material & fancies a move from London to Warrington!

Due any day now & I expect them to be strong based on previous statements & hopefully the outlook statement will be very positive too. There may even be a small Interim dividend

£50 would be better

I presume that the largest shareholder wants their return sooner rather than later. Must be attractive to any number of larger competitors wanting a fairly broad bridgehead on which to build and expand.