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CEOs have to give notice, the same as any employee, and cannot just resign immediately. He was fired.

Am I right in thinking that this contract alone will increase revenues by around 25%? Any ideas whether they have capacity for that kind of increase or whether they will need to expand? 25% is a huge amount to grow in one go.

Over 25m shares traded today out of 149m total (of which the two founders own 64m). I fear this is going to be taken private for pennies.

Those two directors cannot buy more without making an offer for the whole company, at a price no lower than the highest price they paid in the last 12 months, which is 17.14p, and would cost £14.5m. They received ~£57m from the IPO.

From the trading update:

"Adjusted EBITDA will be approximately £6.0m"

Unadjusted profit will be lower, quite possibly negative.

There is no "unused dividend money". The company has net debt. They would have to borrow at 5% to buy back share shares in a loss making company.

Moniman: "Kelso only paid 31p for Works shares"

The interim results say 33.4p and they have purchased more since then, so 31p per share is impossible.

Read the RNS, jedclampit:

"As of 9.00am on Monday 2 October 2023, votes over a total of 23,366,016 (c.68.97% of total votes cast) Ordinary Shares had been cast by proxy against Resolution 2, the proposed Final Dividend of 1.6 pence per share"

Https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/KLSO/new-investment-theworkscouk-plc-0l51tx2gt1mj8ac.html

"Kelso, the main market listed investment company, is pleased to announce that it has made its second investment, having purchased 2.0 million ordinary shares in TheWorks (LSE: WRKS) at an average price of 31.3p, representing 3.2% of the issued share capital of TheWorks."

"Kelso believes that the business proposition of TheWorks is strong with its focus on affordability and that the valuation is highly attractive at an EV/EBITDA1 of c.1.2x. Kelso is supportive of the current board and has voted for all of the resolutions proposed at the forthcoming general meeting on 4 October 2023, save for the resolution proposing a final dividend of 1.6p per share equating to £1.0 million. Kelso believes that at such valuation levels TheWorks' cash is better served by buying its shares back for cancellation rather than paying dividends."

Interesting profanity filter on my previous post. The missing letters are "kcoc" backwards.

https://****neyrebel.substack.com/p/the-weekend-rebel-review-15-16th

"wrks say they are in-line with previous update so roughly £10m net cash, £10m net ebitda, £20m mkt and will meet forecasts, looks cheap, and that stronger £ and lower shipping must help going fwd as it should help many consumer stock imo"

Next and Shoezone both reporting strong sales in recent months, as well as increased margins due to decreasing costs. A small increase in profit could add a lot here.

Https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66043903.amp

Https://citywire.com/wealth-manager/news/expert-view-theworks-halma-croda-victrex-robert-walters/a2419644

"

Discount retailer TheWorks (WRKS) is trading more positively than the market expected and profits are looking up for 2024, says Downing’s Judith MacKenzie.

MacKenzie holds the seller of books, stationery, games, arts and craft in her £36m Downing Strategic Micro-Cap (DSM) investment trust and in a recent update reported a rise in the share price after ‘a full-year trading update that was more positive than the market expected’.

‘While online sales declined, the physical stores reported impressive like-for-like growth of 7.5%, with total sales improving to over £300m,’ MacKenzie said.

‘Adjusted Ebitda was expected to be in line at £9m. The outlook, while cautious of consumer headwinds, reaffirmed FY24 profit expectations.’

"

Https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058876500615294977

"The team you see here, is the team that have led Merryhill to another successful year again. Making it No1 for sales in the company and positive LFL for the 3rd year in a row!"

"Prima partners with The Works to launch craft kit range"

Prima is a magazine. The launch was a few weeks ago and the products are already in stores.

https://magnetic.media/news-views/news/prima-partners-with-the-works-to-launch-craft-kit-range

https://www.retail-week.com/customer/ranking-the-50-most-loved-retailers-in-the-uk-for-2023/7043292.article

The Works is at position #41, up from #48 last year.

https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23391074.works-officially-opens-new-store-ringwood-town-centre/

https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/21537046/parents-the-works-wooden-toys-prices-3/amp/ "Parents scramble to get their hands on The Works’ wooden toy collection, with prices from just £3"

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/whats-on/compared-paperchase-prices-works-others-8148346 "We compared Paperchase prices to The Works and others to see how good closing down sale really is"

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23322943.amp/ "Opening of The Works at old Post Office in Ringwood delayed"

https://www.theworks.co.uk/page/world-book-day.html

"We're passionate about giving every child the opportunity to read and that's why we are proud to be taking part in World Book Day for the first time ever!

Bring your voucher into stores between 16th February - 26th March and exchange for a free book from a variety of titles from our World Book Day range or get £1 off any books priced £2.99 or over"

(The voucher is funded by the 'World Book Day' charity.)