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http://www.sharecast.com/cgi-bin/sharecast/story.cgi?story_id=20498635
In 2009, these shares rose from 25p to over 175p in about six months. The company was in much less impressive shape at that time than it is now. Debt is much lower and being reduced rapidly. and we have new management with share based incentives as opposed to mega salaries. No one expects a stellar rating, but the shares are still dirt cheap if they can start to turn the company round.
A 3p dividend with the SP at 40p would represent a yield of 7.5% - and they say that's what they expect as a minimum!
Unless i've misunderstood anything, you will be left with 100 shares and the remaining 98 will be sold in the market and you will receive a payment for the full amount - no charges deducted. For those with larger holdings it is probably neither here nor there, but for you, your holding will effectively be halved, albeit with full compensation. The only thing you can do if you wish to maintain your existing holding is buy back in the market, which will obviously involve charges, but maybe you will be able to take advantage of a dip and effectively get your original position back without any loss - maybe even inprove it slightly. On the other hand, you might be happy to get half your investment out in this way. They are obviously trying to get rid of a large number of very small holdings, but your case is just about the most extreme example possible of why the statement '(from the final results) The shareholdings of those shareholders holding 100 or more ordinary shares will not be materially affected' is not necessarily accurate.
I should point out that I bailed a few weeks ago, but I would suggest that 1p a share was neither here nor there to those shareholders who were pretty confident of getting 135p for their shares not much more than a year ago, until that idiot Cuthbert sent two - possibly three - bidders packing and then had the nerve to say that in the end, shareholders would be grateful to them for taking this action. Well, this is the end and is there any reason for shareholders to be grateful? I think not, and I can only express the hope that Cuthbert, Lerenius & co held on to their shares and are now in the same boat as the rest of the shareholders. They are lucky not to be behind bars.
I'm wondering if one of the larger groups might see the weakness in the SP as a chance to launch a bid. Yesterday's warning was more about timing than any fundamental problem, and there is clearly scope for significant improvement when the economy finally picks up - which it will eventually, even if we don't know exactly when! Bigger players already trade on much higher ratings than the likes of ITQ so an acquisition like this could easily be earnings enhancing. Maybe the uncertainly over the claim against CCL might be a negative factor, but otherwise I'd say it is vulnerable at present levels.
It's been a long time coming, but good to see at last.
They've now gone xd without the share price seeming to be being affected, which is good. I wonder what these might be worth to one of the bigger players - a lot more than the current share price I'd think.
I confess I have difficulty undertsanding the technicalities, but the RNS refers to the recent creation and subsequent cancellation of B and C shares which were never traded and whose only purpose was to facilitate a restructuring so as to make it possible to pay dividends. It's really a non-event for ordinary shareholders but will hopefully lead to the payment of our first dividend, and with interims due very soon and with the company having had plenty of money to spend on buybacks in recent months, we may not have long to wait.
hopefully with the interims due later this month or August. Could well be the catalyst for a re-rating.
Yes, they continue to be traded which will be for several weeks until the deal completes. You can sell in the market now (and pay the usual fees) or you can wait for the deal to complete and you will get the full price without deductions. At the moment, the shares are trading above the price offered, which suggests some think there might be a higher bid coming from another party - so if you think this is likely it would be silly to sell yet. On the other hand, if no further bid materialises the price will drop back.
It has just been announced that Sly Bailey will step down as CEO at the end of the year.
Too late to sell as far as I'm concerned as I am so depressed by the performance of this share that I would find it very difficult to bring myself to buy back in at any lower level, and indeed there's always the chance of some corporate development such as a private equity buyout, or even an offer from a billionaire who fancies himself as a newspaper baron. Any such news might come out of the blue at any time. I simply don't understand the valuation here. I don't expect the shares to be sky high but they surely deserve to be rated better than this.
Another sizeable holding here and it is very depressing seeing what is happening. The SP has in the past picked up very rapidly on good news - in 2009 it went from around 25p to over 170p in just a few months, and whilst it might be too much to expect anything like that now, the slightest sign of an upturn in revenue - which will surely come with an improvement in the economy, even accepting that newspapers are in a long term decline - could have quite an impact on the share price. The other factor is that this looks dirt cheap as a takeover prospect, even a private equity buyout, and the lower the price drifts the more likely that someone might be tempted by the value here.
Three directors buying today including Sly herself.
A tie up with Mecom was one possibility - TNI were reported about a year ago as having explored the possibility. They now have a new CEO. However surely at these levels there is also scope for a private equity or management buyout.
If Sly were to be removed or step down, I wonder whether that might make a takeover more likely. Right now, that seems to be the only thing that might move this share up to a p/e of perhaps 3 or 4 which hardly seems too demanding.
I suspect that the fact the Finance Director has been in his job for a while, and has already flagged up the issue which probably brought the matter to a head and led to the resignation of the Chairman and CEO means that he has been through the books very carefully. Apologies for my earlier error in inadvertently turning millions into billions - I accept that if the debt was £87 billion the company would be beyond help!
£87 billion debt is very roughly equal to 80p per share which looks daunting at the present price and indeed would be a worry for any small company including the two bidders from earlier this year. However the good news is that there are several large international firms for whom servicing or paying off this debt would not be an issue, and even better, there has been much M & A activity in the sector already with these large players snapping up the smaller firms. Stripped of its debt, MCHL is an attractive operation. Six months ago it would probably have taken 180p to buy MCHL. Now, 80p for the debt and - shall we say 50p for the shares = bargain! It would look a very good deal indeed when margins start to recover in a couple of years. I can't believe none of these companies is looking at MCHL right now, and ideally we need more than one to express an interest to ensure we get the best possible price, though of-course it will be much less than we could have got six months ago if that idiot Cuthbert hadn't blocked two perfectly decent offers.
It sounds as if there has been some laxity in the past but that the new Finance Director is not allowing this to continue, so I would be surprised if there is a loss of control in that area. It really is a sorry mess, but the company is still profitable and operates in a sector where there has been much M & A activity in the past couple of years. with several large international players keen to snap up their smaller rivals. That is likely to be the way out for holders, though at a price way below that which was on offer just a few months ago.