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Has the Chairman Lord Allen of Kensington passed away?

Yiab,

There is logic in Frasers electing any one of the two options - Newco or Remainco or indeed keeping a foot in both camps.

Ingenuity with its global Fulfilment, Distribution and the Studios would appeal for his global business empire. Particularly given he is trying to get planning permission for his own massive Warehousing and Campus facility on a 25 acre site near Ansty in Warwickshire, with it has to be pointed out, local opposition.

My Protein would also slide in nicely into his Sports Direct stores and Gyms empire for the powders, snacks and drinks etc and also the MP branded clothing side, and also with Beauty it could fit in nicely with their Frasers and Flannels stores, the latter of which in their own right are quickly evolving into mini Department stores with their own Beauty sections.

My own gut feel is that 1% is extremely low for them and they will add substantially more. (Probably were adding yesterday) Just compare with their other stakebuilds. (Boss, AO World, Currys, Asos, Boo, NBrown? etc) Ia lso think they will announce further THG / Frasers Group contract extensions.

Right I'm off to achieve something today.

My last comments for the day.

Spend some time over the weekend researching who Frasers Group / Sports Direct have partnered with recently and how many times they have then upped the stake they bought. They will imvho up their stake again here.

Pokerchips if you read the Financial Times then the Retail Offer was capped at €8M. That's 8 Million Euros.

Then read the Placing RNS yesterday.

"In addition, retail investors have subscribed in the Retail Offer via PrimaryBid for 11,048,864 Retail Offer Shares at the Placing Price raising gross proceeds of approximately £5.4 million."

That aspect of the placing wasn't oversubscribed.

( If you go down the Primary Bid route then there is always a capped ceiling on the value of shares being offered in a Public Offering. I suspect €8M Euro was the cap)

Frasers weren't in the initial £33M of pre-pledged placing interest but came in as investors post bookbuild opening. My guess though given how they have stakebuilt previously shortly therafter in virtually all companies they have partnered with is that they knew the placing was coming so waited.

"Following the launch of THG's public bookbuild, Frasers confirmed their intention to make a strategic investment of £10 million in THG, underscoring their commitment to the multi-year strategic partnership. This £10 million investment from Frasers is in addition to approximately £75 million of net proceeds raised to provide IngenuityCo with sufficient medium-term funding (in tandem with appropriate standalone debt issuance plans).

I also don't think that they had more than the £75M already pledged and I suggest you read how MM's Linkedin post starts off.

"“What if we don’t raise the money now?” said Steve Whitehead yesterday at 7.30am.

We'd announced to a group of c30 investors our plans to raise monies to fund the demerger of THG Ingenuity from THG PLC (which in plain English means taking Ingenuity back to being a private company).

You get little insight into how deals like these come together. They're lively affairs, involving an incredible amount of effort, stress and strain over months. It then comes down to a 24-hour period where investors decide to back a plan…or not."

-Fwiw it was always going to succeed for it is has come off virtually year lows in the share price.

-If the aim was to freeze out PI's then it hasn't worked for they can buy in cheaper than the placing price. Add 14% and you get any dilution back - albeit MM stated yesterday that if you go 100% Remainco then effectively no dilution.

-Anyways - the placing was successful and the THG has got its money, Ingenuity is going and rapidly. Hoorah and the share price is at a year low.

We can spend all day talking "I thinks" or we can get on and do something constructive. I know my choice.

LD1973, I think the question I was posing was might they, QIA, be inclined to put it to better use elsewhere.

Interestingly QIA just banked £306 Million by selling some of their Sainsburys stake.

Have a good weekend.

Yiab I see in the interim whilst I was scribing my thought you have also picked up on the same point of not having massive support.

Incidentally and just out of interest - single most strategic update in THG's listed history - last nights RNS's and leading into todays Conference call. Was the Chairman present on the Conference call?

OhhAhh - if you look at his Linkedin post MM spoke to c30 of the largest investors in THG brought together to advise them in advance of the plans to take THG private and to gain their support to raise the £75M needed - and from that he only raised £33M of the £75M intended raise. £10M of which was his own. Spin that how you wish in Linkedin posts but that's not quite resounding support. No QIA mentioned I see.

Interesting to see if Kelso got an allocation of placing shares - not that it really matters given the opportunity to buy lower today - but that's given his comments that friendly shareholders got preference. The interest is spurred by the knowledge that they do have a lot of knowhow of these situations and also PE connections. PE could fund without bank finance for instance. Others, even wider as you might also think they could extract better value for all. Follow shares long enough and you get to know not to rule out competing interests.

Interesting also is the speed with which things are moving and the aim being to get this all done and dusted in the 8 or so weeks. I was a tad surprised that none of the analysts asked if there had been any expressions of interest in either Ingenuity, Remainco or THG whole, since the demerger announcement? It's an obvious one.

Chewing the fat, today Mr Moulding got the first "public" dissent / questioning on the analysts call on the home truth that the Rebrand is now turning into a lame duck excuse and that peoples eyes are now turning onto the personnel making the decisions at THG Nutrition, with the suggestion that change might be in order. The two obvious candidates in the spotlight would be either the CEO Neil Mistry or indeed Moulding himself whom it was who sanctioned the the rebrand. Lets not forget that £50M of shareholder money was spent to absorb rising whey prices and to retain customers, only for the rebrand to imho then lose them. Last rebrand was in 2019. Was it really necessary and what with Nutrition at record revenues at the time!! That £50M btw could have gone a long way in todays Placing.

Personally with the share price already depressed pre-placing on a Sum of Parts basis, then add in todays discount, and Ashley now having bought in (and probably buying more as that's his proven forte), then I'm not really bothered about pennies here and pennies there or any dialogues or debates on this being right wrongs. That's because there's obvious value at these levels. Plus I can always buy more.

Intention is to focus on others until payday here, with the odd pop in now and then.

GL with your investments.

It was there all nicely priced at 13p yesterday for those with funds.

6p under the price it went into suspension at.

Billy bargain.

Record workstreams under negotiation. Fastest growth rate the CEO has ever known in his career to date and £230Million cash on the balance sheet at year end.

Probably somebody making their luck given no adverse news.

Instead of pointing to the increase in staff wages as a reason for the recent 40% dip it might have been better received had they said they were conducting a review of staffing and looking at work rosters to maximise efficiencies. Maybe not so relevant this quarter but definitely so when it gets into the quieter months.

Has our billionaire not increased his stake or bid for the company yet?

Just got to buy the dips and wait for the spikes.

When SMS starts delivering the slightest uptick in demand then SFOR should fly.

Lowering interest rates should you would suspect help.

Got exactly what I wanted with the demerger to unlock value and overall very happy with what I've read, seen and heard and with Frasers onboarding also. Am of a mind to probably elect to take more THG Remainco shares at the expense of Ingenuity but that's for a more considered decision nearer the time. Two profitable businesses now having slipped their anchor and without the massive dead weight of Ingenuity Caped spends. That's even though I think Ingenuity has been well underpriced.

Got a nice top up which is now invested for a Sum of Parts return and @ cheaper than the placing price and have plenty in reserve should any further opportunity present itself.

GL all, whatever you decide.

Glad you posted that point Pearls for I picked up on the same and it's an important point.

"Share count in Remainco: no dilution impact from this deal. Those that elect to take shares in Ingenuity take the dilution. There should be less shares in THG REmainco after the deal is concluded."

Comes about because they will be cancelling shares.

The potential to change Management Personnel question was specifically directed at THG Nutrition where the City seem to be getting fed up with the Rebrand being used again and again as the excuse for the decline in numbers. Retail Pi's the same. Absolutely correct to challenge it.

Really glad that the question did get asked for it redirects the underperformance at either the CEO for day to day performance of Nutrition or on Mouldings shoulders for doing the Rebrand (as he said) and / or for picking the present CEO. Personally I think the rebrand was a mistake and at a time when there were many suitors attracted in to the Nutrition business. That said, it appears to be on the mend.

Imvho MM needs to delve much deeper into what he is being told on these hourly calls and be less accepting that it is somehow all down to an increase in whey prices and the Yen. Put out some mystery shoppers to feedback on product placements within retailers and he may get some of his answers. I told a story previously about MP apparently being in all Decathlon stores. There just so happened to be none at all in the one I randomly chose to visit.

Lucy Gorman btw actually ran Nutrition to sterling record numbers and has to be credited with turning declining Beauty Revenue numbers around. So she's been successful in both jobs.

If anything the question will prompt a review and lets be absolutely honest about this in that the primary reason both THG Ingenuity and THG beauty have actually turned around was because they ended up changing the personnel at the top.

I think mist are waiting to see what happens with the Conference Call before buying

MM's every words normally get targeted if previous ones have been anything to go by.

It was always going to be the case that after a partnership Frasers Group took a stake as that is what they have done time and time again. They can and will keep increasing their stake this keeping Moulding and Co on their toes.

The money for this demerger though should have come from existing cash which was more than enough at the interims to cover the £75M.

So where will the oversubscribed placing monies be directed - into THG Ingenuity for less debt or u=into Remainco.

Pre-emption rights being met first - means any new in the City didn't get first dibs on the placing shares so if they want them then it's into the market they go. (Was Ashley therefore sat on pre-existing THG shares to get his demand met)

9.30a.m. for the conference call.

Amers I'm not so sure they needed the placing given the Cash and equivalents (£457Million) that were on the balance sheet at the Interims announced just last months so that's a downside but for me the demerger is happening and it should rerate over time. The lease liabilities and huge Capex outgoings have also gone from the remaining THG Beauty and THG Nutrition (The Remainco)

Is anybody thinking that it will be £75M from existing cash + the £75M Placing monies which equals the £150M Capex required to bring THG Ingenuity to cash flow positive.

The remainder of the Cash after taking into account of the RCF - sitting with Remainco. - so £212.7 mIllion or thereabouts.

VH - they are looking at a matched bargain trading platform to enable you to sell or buy THG Ingenuity shares. Several other companies that have gone private have done likewise.