Member Info for tophat

We know that the company will post a large loss for the year as this is inevitable after the first half writedowns. The main issues will be how much the property values have continued to decline and also how successful they have been at resolving the debt issues. If these are good then we may even see 11p. Looking forward I'm not sure what effect this will have on the way government departments handle their property requirements. http://www.guardianpublic.co.uk/hmrc-property-steps-outsourcing

I only know Wichford from what they publish on their web site and the odd news item so please don't rely on anything I say but do your own research. The SP has generally been tracking the FTSE for some time. In percentage terms the daily increases tend to be higher and the daily falls tend to be lower but the general trend is the same. I think that the recent SP fall is just part of the overall market sentiment which has left both the dow and ftse lower. The recent rights issue was in part held to deal with a few company specific issues. They were at risk of a breach of a couple of LTV covenants (technically no breach took place even though the values had dropped below the LTV ratio). If they can extend the unexpired terms on the leases used as security for two of the firms debts they can delay repayment from October 2010 to October 2012. If these can be extended then the interest rate will be much lower than having to refinance. Also they have £65m of debt which is due for repayment in January 2010 but they are negotiating with the lender. The finance costs are by far the largest expense so these are important. The full year accounts are due in Mid December. Hopefully at least some of these will have been sorted out by then and the SP will take off. Medium to long term I think the prospects are very good.

Proposes full year div 0.616 rather than 0.919

Sorry I accidentally clicked on to post part way through my reply! I meant to say that UK tax is liable on the full amount of ant dividend payments if you are a UK tax payer. In the prospectus for the open offfer the company said that their target dividend for the year would be 8% of the post Rights Issue projected SP of 7.7p This would make the full year dividend od 0.919p per post rights issue share. The interim dividend was paid on 28th September at the rate of 0.375p per post RI share (3p per pre RI share) so we should be looking for a final div early next year od about 0.241p per share. I think that the initial div forcast was conservative in that they would have announced something that was definitely achievable rather than make hopeful predictions. The added capital from the RI, in time, sholuld generate additional revenue so I hope that in time the returns will increase from the projected figures

Holding in an ISA is the right thing to do as the dividnds don't copme with a tax credit, so UK

I think its just following the FTSE fall - If you're holding for the long term as I am then I doubt there is too much to worry about.

Other people also have confidence as they've aquired almost 22% of the company. Entities directly associated with Corovest Fund Managers (UK) Limited have aquired 21.98% http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-news/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10208695 Perhaps theres a takeover on the cards!

Not a bad day at all considering the new shares were available to drade in CREST so there was bound to be some profit taking. Also as far as I can see there are still three significant open shorts on WICH which wouldn't have helped. Seeker - I hope your breakeven point comes sooner rather than later! GL.

It is often better to sell pre RI and buy back post EX date because the post SP often doesn't meet the breakeven point. TIE (well worth taking notice of) on the LLOY board pointed this out during their Open Offer and I was quickly able to confirm fhis myself. In many cases the decision is not easy and if you look back at my previous posts you'll see that I thought long and hard before deciding to take up the WICH RI.

Closing SP is 11.5, opening SP was 9.3 giving a 23% rise and an equivalent pre RI SP of 50p - very nice! I'm pleased I stuck to my plan to take up the full RI. In late June I said that WICH might emulate SGRO with the post RI SP much higher than breakeven and this seems to be the case. So even the people who bought at 40p are up - well done! There could be a drop on the 25th September when the new shares hit the market when there is almost certainly going to be profit taking. Although if it follows SGRO again then this shouldn't be very great. Good luck to all.

The general meeting appoved all resolutions so the RI can go ahead as expected. http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/prices-and-news/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10170267

An IMS was released today - details at http://miranda.hemscott.com/servlet/HsPublic?context=ir.access&ir_option=RNS_NEWS&item=208621593995337&ir_client_id=4703

In Wichfords timetable the XD date was given as 12th August so anyone holding at close of play on 11th will be entitled to the div. The price should have opened lower on the XD date to compensate a buyer for the lack of the div. The 14th August is the Record date which is purely for administration purposes and does not affect entitlement in any way. In this case the Ex date is prior to the Record date so someone who bought between the two will not be entitled to the div but will appear on the register to receive it! However the brokers will sort this out and ensure that the correct person receives the div.

The XD date was 12th August so you've missed that. The shares go Ex Rights at 8am on 1st September so you would have to hold them at close of play on 28th August to be entitled to the rights issue. The record date for the RI is 26th August so if you buy between then and the 28th you would have to claim your entitlement from the previous shareholder. This is a common occurrence and your broker should automatically send you the appropriate form. Remeber both Div and RI are conditonal upon shareholder and other approvals but these will probably be formalities

There is nothing wrong with taking a loss to switch investments as long as it is done in a rational manner and you don’t let the fact that your current holding is down influence your decision. A useful technique to help with this is to imagine you have the proceeds of sale from your existing company and are thinking of investing for the first time in either it or a specific alternative company. You can then compare estimated risks, income, capital growth etc to decide whichever best meets your investment objectives. You can then use whichever is “best” as the benchmark for further comparisons. If at the end of the day your current holding seems best then you should stick with it otherwise you should switch to your best alternative. Anyway good luck with whatever decision you make.

While it is possible to sell the properties to redeem the outstanding debt on them this would not be the usual course of action. Prior to the maturity of a debt a company usually shops around the money markets to obtain alternative funding to cover the repayments which are coming up. The lender, amounts, term, interest etc may be different from the debt which they are replacing but this is just a normal part of company financing. One of the key factors affecting the cost of the new loans is the companys gearing ie the ratio of debt to equity. The higher the gearing the more risky the company appears and so the higher the interest charged by lenders. One of the purposes of the RI is to reduce Wichfords gearing and hence reduce the cost of its future finance. Having said that they may not use all of the proceeds of sale and RI to purchase new properties with longer unexpired leases, but keep some back to lower the amount of refinance needed. Again this would reduce the gearing and hopefully costs.

If anyone is looking for quick profits rather than long term investment then there is another factor which you should consider. During the Lloyds open offer there were numerous complaints on that board from CREST holders who had taken up the offer but whose additional shares were not credited to their account for several days after the first day of trading. If you are day trading that could make a big difference to your profits.

It is not uncommon for the SP to rise on the announcement of a RI as many people see this as an opportunity to buy “cheap shares” without realizing that the “cheaper” they are then the lower the post RI SP is likely to be. The post issue SP is the crucial factor as this is usually lower or higher than the breakeven point. If lower then it would be better to sell now and buy back at the cheaper price, if higher then it would be better to take up the issue. As I see it the company already has a solid trading position and the RI will strengthen the balance sheet and help secure future funding. So even if the SP does drop below the breakeven point I believe that it will be significantly higher by the end of the year. I too have an average which would result in a loss if sold at the current SP but would require significantly more than my current investment to take up my full entitlement. It would also give WICH undue prominence in my portfolio. As long term investor most of my funds are already taken up and I won’t sell other securities for the RI as this would give WICH an even greater share of my portfolio. I can raise the cash to take up the full offer but it will mean cutting back on other expenditure. I’ve carefully considered both the “sell and buy back” and the “hold and take up” strategies and have decided to do the latter, so will be taking up my full entitlement. Best wishes and good luck to al

The company needs the acceptance and payment in full by 11am on 22nd September. if you hold your shares in CREST then your broker will need these some days before then and will issue a notice informing you of the details. Different brokers have different lead times so if in doubt then check with your broker. Also remember that you will almost certainly need cleared funds in your account, so if you are selling other shares to take up the offer then you shouldn't leave it until the last minute.

Last year an interim management statement was released on 4th August so there will probably be one about the same time this year. It would make sense for it to include details of the proposed div and any RI