Member Info for schwee

Are still a drag on MKS as they are still fixed in long termish.

Now that the proposal to buy back £16m of shares has been thrown out by shareholders, the BoD should pay it out as a divi. Approx 3p per share according to my calcs.

Another acquisition, and an other refusal to disclose the price paid. The BoD seem to think they own Lookers, and not the shareholders.

Profit in line with market expectations, or not as the case maybe, plus net cash/debt outlook. In short bog standard stuff in trading updates.

Today's RNS was not as advertised a Trading Update, but an AUM update which is something completely different.
What is being hidden?

Working capital out of control, acquisitions out of control, debt out of control, and yet share buyback continues. Conclusion overtrading and an accident waiting to happen.

Hopefully there were the necessary warranties in the sale agreement. Bit surprised there is no RNS.

Too much debt and no divi.

There is a lack of confidence which the market demonstrates. Cash is valued at 45p per share, its operations at nil.

Borrowing £90m at 13% for at least 5 years if not more is more akin to equity than debt. And as the debt cannot be bought by retail investors, they should avoid buying the real equity IMHO.

If this is so, somebody would have already pounced. Not to mention the secured creditors extending their loans into the future.

And Sir Nigel is also an experienced qualified professional flogging what turned out to be a flawed product. Perhaps its risks were misrepresented by LGEN and other vendor insurance companies, but who knows? I f this was the US, the SEC would have got tiothe bottom of this by now and published their outcome and fined the wrongdoers pour encourager les autres.
But our FCA is so slow and incompetent and afraid of facing down the big beasts in the financial services industry. As an aside it is only now 12 months after the LME went into meltdown that it has decided to look into the affair. They really are a disgrace. It is frightening that the former CEO is now the Governor of the BOE.

Rishi would be mad to sign Sir Nigel up. LGEN was deeply involved in the LDI catastrophe, for which as CEO Sir Nigel is culpable.

The one weakness they have is an aggressive depreciation policy. It does not affect cash of course, but at some stage there will be a one off write off. Of course this is not unique to Somero, and at least their balance sheet is not stuffed full of overvalued goodwill and intangibles.

Who's expectations?

But what is the consideration? We shareholders do own Lookers. Why the secrecy?

Investor community only approves of acquisitions when they are the seller. ATG has it all to prove.

Typical financial services company: flat revenues, costs up. Will not keep staff costs down, because they are all part of the bloodsucking City gravy train.

I have never seen such a longwinded RNS, more so with the moniker of keep it simple splattered across the pages. Adjusted this, exceptional items that. But the statutory cash flow cannot hide that working capital has increased yet again: £300m cumulative over 2 years.

It is amazing. Just demonstrates that the City is rotten to its core.