Member Info for The.Crowman

Thought I would cast a gander over the THT pages - was not sure they would even be there but here we are:

Director purchases and sells show they bought in pretty much the same profile as Sergio et al.

Still agree with your sentiment though - they need to put some skin in this and urgently.

4-Oct-14
Buy

Jonathan Hart
97.8
GBX
10,000
232155
13-Oct-14
Buy

Michael Killick
90.46
GBX
9,844
294404
22-Sep-14
Sell

Keith Edelman
106
GBX
66,547
0
15-May-14
Buy

Michael Killick
108.75
GBX
5,000
284560
13-May-14
Buy

Michael Killick
110
GBX
4,562
279560
30-Apr-14
Buy

Michael Killick
115.75
GBX
20,000
275000
30-Apr-14
Buy

Jonathan Hart
119.5
GBX
20,000
222155
06-Mar-14
Exercise of option

Barry Bloomer
128.5
GBX
166,666
0
06-Mar-14
Sell

Barry Bloomer
162.5
GBX
166,666
0
03-Mar-14
Buy

Paul N Wilkinson
155
GBX
50,000
1375503
11-Sep-13
Buy

Paul N Wilkinson
89
GBX
125,000
1325503
11-Sep-13
Buy

Jonathan Hart
90
GBX
52,155
202155
11-Sep-13
Buy

Martin George
87.5
GBX
20,000
20000
02-May-13
Buy

Paul N Wilkinson
78.5
GBX
200,000
1200503
25-Feb-13
Buy

Paul N Wilkinson
47
GBX
310,000
1000503
01-Nov-12
Buy

Jonathan Hart
30.5
GBX
54,569
150000
21-Sep-12
Buy

Michael Killick
31.5
GBX
3,562
255000
13-Sep-12
Buy

Paul N Wilkinson
29.75
GBX
665,503
690503
13-Sep-12
Buy

Barry Bloomer
28.62
GBX
14,486
35084
13-Sep-12
Buy

Keith Edelman
29.75
GBX
66,547
66547
21-Feb-12
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
24.86
GBX
400,000
1892301
16-Feb-12
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
19.68
GBX
402,301
1492301
16-Feb-12
Buy

Jonathan Hart
19.68
GBX
75,431
95431
16-Feb-12
Buy

Mark Robson
19.68
GBX
24,744
34744
16-Feb-12
Buy

Barry Bloomer
19.68
GBX
15,086
20598
15-Mar-11
Buy

Jonathan Hart
89.08
GBX
20,000
20000
26-Jun-10
Notification of Holding

Mark Robson
0

0
0
30-Nov-09
Buy Dividends

Mike Davies
119.11
GBX
200
0
30-Nov-09
Buy Dividends

Mike Davies
119.11
GBX
200
200400
07-Oct-09
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
124.4
GBX
40,000
1090000
10-Sep-09
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
110
GBX
50,000
1050000
10-Sep-09
Buy

Mike Davies
109
GBX
5,000
200000
10-Sep-09
Buy

Mike Davies
109
GBX
5,000
200000
16-Mar-09
Buy

Mike Davies
49.5
GBX
20,000
190000
11-Mar-09
Buy

Peter Wright
49
GBX
20,000
30000
25-Feb-09
Buy

Diana Houghton
55
GBX
60,000
100000
20-Feb-09
Buy

Diana Houghton
57
GBX
40,000
100000
20-Feb-09
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
56.5
GBX
80,649
1000000
19-Feb-09
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
56.5
GBX
52,851
1000000
18-Feb-09
Buy

John Von Spreckelsen
47.3
GBX
116,500
1000000
18-Feb-09
Buy

Mike Davies
51.9
GBX
20,000
190000
03-Nov-08
Buy

Peter Wright
103.8
GBX
5,000
30000
15-Oct-08
Bu

My recollection is different

I think they were bought for something like 10/12 times then earnings and net debt was circa a 75m due to factory and plant investment.

Either way the lack of spending by any BOD member is concerning - but not entirely unusual. I have seen many BOD await a price recovery and then add some more momentum by buying in at considerably higher numbers than what was the bottom.

Re press:

Personally I am expecting some thing from the ST. They have long form for sequencing a story and they know Monday is a big launch for Redesigning Deb's.

Conversely the BOD will already have a platform to take down any further nonsense - but then the ST hardly care either way.

It is time to see what DEB PR department really get paid for.

The no offer issue is quite simple really.

MA has a 30% stake at an average I suspect of 45p (lets leave aside any illegal undeclared hedging via Odey) and whilst SPD have written it down by £84m IIRC MA will want for his ego at least his average price before he would agree and in a takeover situation his 30% holding would count.

Currently no one wants to bid the £500m needed to take DEB.

Thats not to say MA would not be happy to take a debt free DEB off the administrator for lets say £250m roughly proportinate to HOF purchase - he having written off his entire pre admin stake. In my view this will not happen.

My most recent personal history was Thorntons which in 2012 sank to 10p - doomed was the cry (along with TCG at the same time) but less than three years later Ferero bought the company outright for £1.40. Same company - so why did they not go grabbing the lot in the late teens and early 20's? Same thing here.

Assuming DEB can trade through this period and Redesigning Debenhams shows positive results then a take out of 70p would not look expensive (profits returning to around 5-6% of TO).

Thats the key. Currently as Sergio knows making virtually nil off nearly £2.5bln sales is work for busy fools.

Short sellers do lag the market before indicating. So it could be them.

Me - It was a worked trade - and by definition a sell given the price action of the past week. But in truth I do not know.

Either way Monday will be an interesting day and hopefully a turning point.

Mulder

I disagree entirely except the Ashley and administration.

In the begining 2014 IIRC MA bored in his SPD office placed a 8% bet on DEB share price and for his troubles (a put option) he sold the lot within a short time frame and trousered a nice profit. Kerching - bit of gambling and it came off.

He repeats the trade this time at a much higher stake level and declares his love for DEB's and wants SPD in all DEB stores (this was small scaled trialled but mostly canned) 2015 IIRC. This trade goes under water and he adds to it most recently in March 2018 when he goes to just below 30%.

What has changed is HOF where he also had a losing stake. He has seen just how cheaply you can acquire a distressed retailer - he had been prepared to pay £400m for all of HOF plus debts as recently as 2014 - a retailer that has lost money and skirted the gurgler for as long as I can recall. Debs is three times bigger and IMO a far better retailer for todays market.

He is like a Komodo dragon waiting patiently for his prey - but I do not think he will get DEB's despite his hoping. As a minority shareholder he cannot block the sale of MdN - assuming there is one nor can he do really much at all. I am not aware he has even a director on the board.

My annoyance here is that in better circumstances DEB's should have been out bidding for HOF not MA. The terms of his purchase were amazingly benign and would have been a great opportunity to reshape the department store landscape to effectively leave just DEB and John Lewis.

I beleive everything being done at DEB's is to trade the company through the current difficulties and to let the numbers do the talking.

Ultimately its all they can do - MA will learn that running HOF is different to selling trainers at SPD and I beleive his mind set will not allow HOF managers to do what is needed. In the meantime Cheshire and Co are perfectly aware of the dragon lying in the share holder register I have no doubt.

I think they will pay a final dividend of 1p.

It will cost £13m and will sit within their previous guidance around cover. In the grand scheme of things neither here nor there.

In making Odey pay for his short at this level quite painful. I guess they will be advised on this but from a money view point they can easily maintain some kind of FD - even a token one.

Not quite correct - they bought early this year - Cheshire and Sergio 175k shares IIRC.

Hype - what hype?

As for your revelation around goodwill - it was there in the accounts plain as day and always has been. Even the smallest amount of research would have enlightened you. Its been talked to death here also in the past.

Its high and needs correcting but frankly thats a secondary issue to supply chain issues, retained profit, xmas, sale of MdN and countless others.

On the plus side if they can manage the cost side and weather the storm then being highly leveraged profits could rebound rapidly - 18m time frame IMV.

In the mean time they need a big single investor to come on board to bolster confidence in the strategy - assuming there is any?

Just to add..

I cannot see them saying anything that contradicts the last RNS - which did include some grounds for optimism around trading. I do not see the market anticipating within the price anything - what I see is panicked sellers. Stops will have been triggered and the nervous are heading out the door.

It is however not fair - so unless Sergio has taken the shorters coin and is quietly in the process of handing the DEB corpse to them I believe we shall come good in the end. That end has not been made easier by MA buying HoF in the short term. In the medium term he is clueless at running mid market let alone upper mid. Anyone in doubt pay a visit to his venture Flannels.

Hmm - I think the BOD have taken the view the sp will sort itself and against the back ground noise they are on a loser.

Cheshire did come out on R4 to spin the story around CVA / Sunday Times nonsense. I hope the advice they have been given is just keep your heads down and get on with the job. Which on the ground is exactly what they are doing.

That said a director buy of a million shares would show some confidence.

I agree though 8.5p looks possible Friday - equally I think a bounce to 13p looks equally possible Monday. I hope you are wrong on the MM insider option. It cannot be ruled out as the shorters have been calling this right since last October. And me very wrong.

Lets hope you are right and FWIW I believe you are.

Roll on Monday - Friday might be the last time folk get to buy in single figures and also a chance maybe to buy below today?

I will take another 10,000 at sub 8.75 if we get there.

I will end up having nearly as many as Cheshire at that point and more than three times multi million £ package Bucher.

Bounce will come IMO on Monday.

When I say bounce I mean possibly 13p.

25p will need Xmas to have gone OK.

Its going to be a long haul without something big happening. Big might be a another big holder entering the frame - for those with good memories / old enough when Baugur bought 20% of Arcadia Plc in late 2000. At the time Stuart Rose had just arrived and the sp was around 60p.

Three years later and it was £4 plus.

Key is Monday next week.

I am told all the stops are being pulled out. So expect DEB's PR machine to be burning the mid night oil to put the best spin on this opening and the strategy todate.

Under any other environment though the CEO would be fired having overseen the sp collapse from near 60p to sub 10p. Bucher needs to show some serious positives and get Xmas right or Cheshire and the BOD will need to oust him.

Not remotely similar - but yes stupid peeps say stupid things.

Hard to say where we might go short term here - down is now a miserable 9.9p max! Up short term will take some better news.

Odey will struggle to close his short here IMV unless his mate MA lets him have some of his - but that would make little sense I would have thought. His position at single pennies is key.

Double figures will feel like progress.

On Monday DEB's will showcase their new Watford store. An Investor presentation along with strategy update I believe will be on the agenda.

The SP will reflect what is heard then. Myself I have just bought another 10,000 for around a fifth of what the first 10k cost.

Indeed a mad price.

As others have said the sp is of no real concern to DEB whilst it does not need to raise capital. Additionally a minority shareholder (MA) cannot dictate the terms of any possible sale of Magasin Du Nord.

So lots has been written that is frankly nonsense.

My concern as a significant holder is the lack of buying by any BOD inc Bucher and Cheshire. They last bought trifling sums after the Xmas profits warning circa 30p.

Nothing since and before folk leap in with closed periods and options etc I simply struggle to believe they could not have shown some confidence in the company.

So unless they have been advised to keep their powder dry and spring the mother of all bear traps on Odey et al I am concerned that they no longer act for the interests of the shareholders - sure DEB's will survive but will it include us?

As an aside this IMO is now priced at CVA level or indeed below.