The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
Hi Alnwick,
Hola from SCL.
That was RNS 15/1/24-no change since then I think?
GL
I think there's a good opportunity here to accumulate. At the moment the heavy civils boys are doing fine, and their prices are starting to move back to where they should be eg COST and Kier. But at the moment the resi new build market is dead with schemes being stopped even after they have started. When interest rates start reducing and that changes then the additional turnover should ice this cake nicely. IMHO.
Rupans, yeah I get the logic for sure. Let's hope we get some news soon. I have a couple of things that need a big top up sooner rather than later.
Rupans, yes. Agreed. If it was gone then a profit is a profit...but then there's depreciation, or is the view now that bearing in mind demand for ships its appreciation?
Well it surely can't just be the Czech deal that popped up on the news feed here? There's no RNS and nothing on Playtech Investor relations about that...we'll be the last to know. Again.
Hiya,
I am no accountant either. I agree with what you said, except the goodwill is a company issue. It may be sitting against insurance but all part of the piece. So an exceptional profit could be very enticing for them to reduce the goodwill on the balance sheet. Apart from that, yes agreed all good if it happens....
Dunno but im back in....
Castle,
You do realise that ii being on the leading shareholders list is just a reflection of the sum total of Pi's that hold their stock there right? Its not them investing...
Rupans, I'm not sure if a leaseback automatically will make an exceptional profit, as there will be also new costs associated with rental no? It would be a great move for sure but whatever positives there are there, we still have the 344m goodwill question mark to deal with. Could be loss making on paper for some time albeit not in cash terms...It would shift the sentiment and perceived risk hugely though.
I wonder what Vikings massive "one-off " costs were that created the huge loss? Maybe they also wrote down some goodwill? LOL.
I'm still on hard copy! But with thanks to someuwin across the road.
The City has noticed, to an extent: Kier and Costain’s shares are 20 per cent higher than at the start of the year; Balfour Beatty and Galliford Try are up about 7 per cent. But they’re still a long way from their past peaks. Costain, for example, is now trading at 75p, less than half its pre-pandemic share price of 194p, while back in May 2019, its shares changed hands for £3. Since then, the firm, founded in Liverpool in 1865 has been punished for booking expensive charges for badly priced energy and road contracts, and diluted by a £100 million rights issue at the start of the pandemic, required to secure the balance sheet.
But Costain is a vastly improved outfit from the housebuilder it was long ago. It has been transformed into an infrastructure contractor with tentacles in many a sector. It works with most of the major water suppliers on pollution-kerbing upgrades, with National Highways, Transport for London and National Rail, on the government’s contracts to decommission first-generation nuclear sites, and in defence. Costain looks poised to benefit from the UK’s likely Labour-led investment in more infrastructure projects. As Joe Brent, head of research at Liberum, explained: “We are optimistic about the outlook for infrastructure and believe Costain is the purest trade on this theme.”
Last month, the firm posted a 10.5 per cent rise in adjusted operating profit to £40 million for 2023. This year, more than 80 per cent of its revenues have already been booked. Chief executive Alex Vaughan pointed out that the value of this is about three times last year’s earnings. This confidence helped Costain bring back its annual dividend. Its cashflow is smoother due to recent cost-cutting tinkering: for example, its pension fund contributions were dramatically slashed following a review last year. Net cash stands stronger at £164 million, from £124 million a year ago. The relatively small gap between those cash reserves and Costain’s £217 million market capitalisation hammers home its good value.
Of course, the firm remains vulnerable to the ebbs and flows of contract-awarding mandarins, as has been seen with HS2. But analysts predict its pre-tax profit will exceed £52 million next year, and Costain’s shares are trading on just five times earnings for this year. It has a packed order book of blue-chip customers and has rebuilt its reputation: Buy Costain."
I hope it does better than some of her recent offerings!
And to be fair anyone wanting to cut their losses at 220 could have then exited at anywhere between 300 and 440 over a good few weeks no? We're here, or back here, because it will happen again at some point by some means ...
He had an indicative offer of about 220, but that wasn't a firm offer. It was an invite to open the books. It wouldn't have ended up as 220 if the prospective buyer had anything about him IMHO.
I think worth looking at the history here....
After it went public 2014 the goodwill was sat on the sheet at a whopping 1.6bn. The piggy had truly been fattened for market huh? It then dropped to 1.47 the following year and then stabilised around there until 2019. It dropped then to 1.17resulting in an overall loss, and has continued dropping ever since (save 2022) with the same result. The goodwill allocated to cruise was zeroed in COVID 2021, so what's left (344m) is now only insurance. Insurance's numbers have obviously dropped but not by that %age. Presumably on that basis, they will shed some more this year.
9x sounds a bit toppy...but that would value cruise at over 4x todays MCap.
I saw it to seel Billzo, I was waiting also. Had some at 103 in the end....
Aspers.
Maybe tell us your thoughts on the remaining value of goodwill on the balance sheet against insurance. Bearing in mind insurances current position. DO you think its justified and do you see it being reduced further again next time around...
Or just carry on the cheap insults if you prefer obvs....
Gotta love a Switch Billzo!?:)
He missed off the bit that should say "..and therefore the board and I will be foregoing our bonuses for this and next year".
Ha Ha Playtowin- Gotta love a bit of sarcasm on a holiday weekend!