Member Info for Skindle

I am relieved to read your view on the take private issue Lspoon1, that has been worrying me for a while. Following the release of the final results and the increased volume activity, the net result is a reduction of 6.75 pence on the bid price which isn't bad given the severity of the declared loss. What will it take to break through the 200 pence barrier ?

Couldn't agree with your views on Education more. Mr Mahady and his team clearly do not have the necessary skills to turn the decline in revenue around. The pressure must be on Mr Maudsley to replace Mr Mahady or better still sell the business altogether. The man is supposed to be acting in the best interests of all shareholders. In my opinion retaining Education is not in our best interest. RM plc have just completed the purchase of Education and Care from the Connect Group for approximately £56.5m. Based upon Connects figures I came up with a value of £23.2m for Findel Education based upon the 2015/16 accounts. You imply that Sports Direct assuming Findel is almost an inevitable outcome. With Toscafund again adding another 061% as announced after hours this evening taking their position to 15.06%, could this be the prelude to the final act ? Or could this be a move by Toscafund, Schroders and Sports Direct to take the business private with The blessing of Mr Maudsley and the board ?

You infer that the majority of Express Gifts customers are low income and that most require credit assistance. With the improved recruitment and selection process the company have implied that the quality of their customer base is of an improved financial quality. Toscafund have again increased their holding, is this merely the acquisition of shares sold by disillusioned holders following the release of the results ? The AGM will now be held at the end of August 2017, one month later than last year. Why the delay ? Why continue to retain Education as a business, revenue has again declined this year and the margin is paper thin despite the warehouse consolidation. I cannot understand why the board continue to believe that they can turn this one around. Why also have the board not been able to agree terms with Sports Direct over a supply contract. Would this not be lucrative for both parties ? Is Mr Ashley keen to suppress the share price of Findel as he is so successfully doing with his own business.

Lspoon1 for your valued insight much of which I knew nothing about. Your explanation explains so much about the movement of the share price over the recent past. I have now read all of your previous posts on iii and so much of what you said at that time has turned out to be true, or as you predicted. Thank you for the time you have given to this, I very much appreciate your posts. The question now is whether I sell up and go short or just stay out altogether.

Thank you for the link Lspoon1 which I have now read. These people were as I understand it prior to the rights issue, in fact these guys were the reason for it. In order to sort out the mess Messrs Siddle Kowalski and Sugden were hired. These people oversaw the rights issue and then latterly the share consolidation. When Mr Maudsley took the post of CEO recently I was hoping we might be in a safe pair of hands but that article describes him as a thug and a henchman. I find that very worrying. We have nine shareholders who own over 90% of the shares. If any or all of these shareholders were to read your post surely they would be reaching for the sell all button. So why do you think these investors did not sell their holdings yesterday after the results were released ? Should I be reaching for the sell button ? Do you think that Siddle Sugden and Kowalski were misrepresenting our accounts for the last few years ? Do you think that all the bad news has now been declared ? Sorry to take up your time but I value your opinion. I have more questions but am conscious not to take up too much of your time. Thanks for your advice in anticipation.

Hello Lspoon1, very pleased you have joined the LSE discussion board. You wrote a brilliant post that opened my eyes to a whole new dimension of a plc. I have always been inclined to trust directors of boards in that they stood independent of the business and looked after shareholders interests. Do you really think that Messrs Hughes and Ashley, two of our largest shareholders could have had the wool pulled over their eyes by our previous incumbents over the last four or five years ? I have many more questions to put to you but I would be interested in your views on this. Thanks for joining and entering the discussion.

Hi Columbo, just noticed that our acting finance director Stuart Caldwell has just bought 5,108 shares (£10,000) this morning so I think I will remain invested a little longer. Normally when an FD invests, this can be a good sign. The price is moving up nicely today, hoping to be back at 200 pence by the end of the week.

Sorry to lose to Ejackson. Don't blame you, shocking set of results that left me speechless. I think it's time I drew stumps as well, just hoping to find a suitable exit point. Good luck with your future investments.

Excellent post by the above mentioned investor over on the iii.co.uk site. Clearly someone who knows a bit about the deception that boards of directors use. It's a shame this poster doesn't vent his/her spleen on this site. This poster clearly alludes to the fact that our previous incumbents have been up to no good with their presentation of our accounts. A serious accusation indeed. I find it hard to believe that the likes of Mr Hughes at Toscafund and Mr Ashley at Sports Direct (two of our major shareholders) could be misled as this poster suggests. The points that this poster makes however are extremely plausible. Only time will tell. The good news is that the underlying business is strong. My hope is that our new board have finally consigned the legacy of Sugden and Kowalski to the history books. In my opinion these two people are largely responsible for the bad news today. Our major shareholders have remained invested today which is good news, let's hope we have finally turned the corner. Lspoon1, you are welcome anytime on this discussion board to participate in debate.

Exceptional items look to be around £23m, pre tax profit might struggle to cover this so it looks like another year of negative P/E ratio and EPS. Different year, same old story, no dividend ! SELL EDUCATION to fund your blunders, it's the only hope for beleaguered investors.

Revenue £64.8m, operating profit £7.8m. Sold for £56.5m. Findel Education revenue £94.4m, operating profit £3.2m. Possible acquisition price of FE £23.2m ??

A possible buyer for FE might be RM plc. This business is focussed solely on education including supplies IT and teacher training. Revenue of £167m for the most recent year but more importantly acquisitive. RM are about to complete the purchase of the Education and Care business from Connect Group for £56.5m. Come on Mr Maudsley, do the right thing, SELL Education !

I have just read this recently published item on Findel by Motley Fool and surprise surprise the article suggests ditching Education might be a prudent move. Can our board of directors still continue to avoid talking about the elephant in the room ? Click on the link below. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/2-growth-opportunities-could-million-145941192.html?.tsrc=applewf

Morning Ejackson, thought we had lost you altogether. N Brown was a wise investment. Not sure about 1GW's move to Berkeley though, particularly given recent events. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for next Tuesday but fear that the Sugden Kowalski reign will adversely affect our final results. Education must be sold as a priority and I am hoping that our major shareholders have forced Mr Maudsley into taking the correct action. We will know next week as to how shareholder friendly our new man is. Can this be the only company on the stock market not to have increased in value in what is turning out to be a real bull market ? I am selling up next Tuesday if the value does not advance significantly.

27th June is release date Columbo, two weeks later than last year and nearly three months from the year end, why does it take so long ? It is critical that we report a pre tax post exceptional items profit this time around, to endure another year of a negative P/E ratio could be very damaging. I live in hope that all the bad news is now out and we can look forward to some uplift. I will remind all shareholders that the only beneficiaries from this company since the rights issue are the board of directors, shareholders have had nothing. I think it is high time for the board to give something back to their long suffering holders. I repeat again, SELL Education, this single action will solve all of the problems that we currently face.

I don't think Sports Direct have any intention of buying Findel, nor are they prepared to offer any assistance after they were shunned by the company last year. The investment that Sports Direct have made in buying shares in Findel is small by their standards. It would appear that they are happy to sit on their investment and wait while the company sorts itself out. I repeat again Mr Maudsley and anyone else who will listen, the key to moving this company forward and freeing up funds to reduce debt and provide cash to cover the costs of flawed financial product payments is to SELL EDUCATION !!!

At this moment we don't know whether Toscafund have been buying just to support the share price in taking the shares disillusioned shareholders have sold, or whether there is something going on in the background that is going to affect the share price positively.

Good to see you back Columbo. Was Mr Maudsley in charge of Express Gifts when you worked there ? If so, what was he like ? Is he the right man to take us forward ?

Encouraging to note that Toscafund are continuing to grow their holding in the company, now 13.01%. Hopefully a vote of confidence in our new board.

I have a theory that Mr Ashley wanted to take control of Findel in order to place Kitbag into administration and then acquire its intellectual rights from the administrator in line with his usual modus operandi. The Sports Direct online platform is absolutely excellent so I cannot see any reason why he would want to acquire Express Gifts as his own operation is just as profitable. As for Education, well that would have been sold to the highest bidder early on. I don't think Mr Ashley has anything to do with the current stagnant share price. You are overlooking the supreme ability of our own board to shoot itself in the foot. That said, we do now have an accomplished retail chief executive officer and a new acting chief finance director. The glaringly obvious action that our new board need to take as a matter of priority is the disposal of Findel Education which in my opinion could achieve north of £20m. That would leave us with a significant core debt reduction and a highly profitable online retail operation. Let's hope our new man at the top shares my vision.