Small Cap Value Report (11 Aug) - OMI, TTG, FAN
Good morning,
Thank to everyone who gave feedback yesterday about the formats of these reports. Paul and I each read all of the comments and we depend on feedback to help understand what works best for you, so your responses are invaluable.
For today, company news looks very quiet at first glance. This is one of those moments when micro news gets overshadowed by macro concerns - house prices, N Korea, etc.
I've been trimming my portfolio a little for reasons which have nothing to do with the attractiveness of the stocks I'm holding, so I'm in the unusual situation where I would prefer the stock market to be high rather than low (as a net seller rather than a net buyer, which I had always been up to this point).
My approach to selling has been the mirror image of my approach to buying: gradually, in small pieces, and with a tendency to cut the weeds while letting the flowers continue to bloom (using the parlance of Warren Buffett).
So I'm trying not to get too caught up in the FTSE and Forex movements from day to day. Besides, the market as a whole has been very kind to us over the past 18 months or so. It seems sort of ungrateful to complain about the 1-2% unfavourable movement here and there, when the 10-20% swings have been favourable!
Anyway, that's enough of a preamble.
Comments will be added here later this morning on:
- TT electronics (LON:TTG)
- Volution (LON:FAN)
- Orosur Mining Inc (LON:OMI)
Or if I've missed something else that you think is worth updating on, please let me know.
Thanks
Graham
Orosur Mining Inc (LON:OMI)
- Share price: 15.25p (-5%)
- No. of shares: 100.8 million
- Market cap: £15 million
Oversubscribed Conditional Subscription
This South American gold miner, dual-listed on AIM and on the TSX in Canada, is something I've kept an eye on ever since I invested in it back in 2013-2014.
Those shares have long since been sold but I like to keep an eye on Orosur's progress all the same.
Most of the readership here probably has scant interest in junior miners, since such stocks often tend to be highly speculative, difficult to analyse, and to eventually de-list or otherwise provide a negative 100% return for investors.
Orosur is the exception that proves the rule in this regard.
Back when I invested in it originally, the Price to Free Cash Flow ratio was somewhere around 3x. A new management team was on board and they had pledged to start making dividend distributions.
Orosur was special in that it was producing consistent results (c. 30,000 oz of gold per quarter from Uruguay with low operating costs), provided superb forecasts and disclosures, and consistently met or exceeded the guidance it gave to investors.
But the promised dividends never arrived, and when I realised they weren't coming, I got out.
This RNS confirms my suspicions that Orosur, despite its apparent qualities, is not so very different from the other capital-hungry junior miners on the market place.
16.7 million new shares are being issued at C$0.241 per share (14.7p).
Rationale is as follows:
The Company also announced in its operational update that it planned to commence a 15,000 - 30,000 metre drilling campaign in 2017 in Colombia, culminating in the preparation and publishing of a maiden N.I. 43-101 compliant resource report for the Anz gold project (Anz). The net proceeds of this Subscription of US$3.2 million are intended to be deployed for drilling and associated activities at Anz, and are budgeted to fund an initial 15,000 metres of diamond drilling.
Meanwhile, the free cash flow from the main gold asset at San Gregorio in Uruguay will be used to increase its mine and/or utilise its spare capacity.
And this is my problem with the miners: they never stop investing. The capex simply never ends. And eventually, if and when things don't go to plan, they need a further injection of funds.
There was a book I read at the time, How to Invest in Mining Stocks or some other similar title, by a very experienced mining analyst whose name escapes me.
Near the end of the book, he explained that it was important to time your exit from a mining stock correctly. The reason he explained was that sooner or later, they basically all go to zero. I couldn't believe what I was reading! And I never invested in mining stocks again.
So if you were wondering why we generally don't cover junior resource stocks here at the SCVR, hopefully that's a good explanation!
I haven't ruled out investing in resources forever - but it would need to be a really compelling and unusual proposition.
TT electronics (LON:TTG)
- Share price: 213.9p (-1%)
- No. of shares: 162.4 million
- Market cap: £347 million
I last covered this international, high-tech electronics business at the AGM statement in May.
Last month, it announced a reorganisation of its business units. This graphic illustrates how the group is currently organised, along with the revenues of each respective unit:
(IMS = Integrated Manufacturing Services, now renamed Global Manufacturing Solutions)
Organic revenue growth for the first few months of the fiscal year was only 1%, while total revenue growth was 10%.
But the order book was said to be strong and the company was bullish about its market positioning.
Today's half-year report confirms that the momentum is real:
Checking a little further down the statement, I see that organic revenue growth (the most valuable kind of growth) has improved to 5%. Not bad. This was driven by:
positive market dynamics and share gains in the Sensors and Specialised Components division and strong market demand in Power Electronics including some one off last time buy activity as we move production from Fullerton in the US to our Bedlington facility in the UK
Hopefully the one-off effect mentioned above is not too large!
As discussed in May, the cash conversion at TT Electronics is real, and allows them to pay a nice dividend stream.
They even got a positive working capital movement during this period, so that cash conversion came out at 128%!
The business is changing and management say they are going to become a "higher margin, higher quality business" following a forthcoming disposal:
We will continue to focus on our chosen markets in areas where increasing electrification is fuelling demand for our high reliability engineered electronics. With the requirement for more data, connected devices and improved precision coupled with the demand for reduced size and weight alongside increased packaging density and power efficiency, we feel confident in the long term growth drivers for our offerings.
Personally, I love the fact that ROIC is one of their KPIs and even though their 10% rate is still quite far from stunning, I'd be heavily biased to invest in a team such as this which is focused on improving it.
The outlook statement is mild, merely stating that management has "confidence of making further progress" this year.
My opinion
The company is carrying about £55 million of debt, so for a company of this size that certainly needs to be factored into the valuation. Edit: thanks to readers who pointed out that this would be transformed to £55 million of net cash, taking into account the proposed sale of an unwanted unit.
The Stockopedia computers still like it a lot and the StockRank is still good at 86.
While the ROIC and other quality metrics are fairly average, and while the rolling PE multiple is again quite average at 15.4x, this is still a stock I could justify holding within a balanced portfolio.
It's well-balanced internationally, is well-diversified among products and services in niche sectors, and has a management team which seems to be focused on doing the right things. So it gets the thumbs up from me.
Volution (LON:FAN)
- Share price: 188p (-1%)
- No. of shares: 199 million
- Market cap: £374 million
Volution is an international group of ventilation-related brands which doesn't appear to enjoy much love from the private investor community. It has zero all-time comments on some of them most-frequented bulletin boards.
Checking my files, I actually looked at it a year ago and concluded that it was a boring (in the good sense) stock, and that it might enjoy technical price support around the 150p IPO price at which its former PE backers offloaded.
Extract fans, hand dryers, etc. are unlikely to spark the imagination of investors, but if you just want to make money then these sorts of boring stocks can be fantastic.
Today's update informs us that results for FY 2017 (ending July) should be in line with expectations.
Revenue in the 12 month period was £185 million, a 20% increase (15% on a constant currency basis) compared with the prior year. This comprised 7.6% organic growth (2.4% on a constant currency basis), with 13% the result of new acquisitions.
2.4% for me is the most real, the true "underlying" growth number.
Still, you probably wouldn't expect much on that front from the mature markets served by Volution.
The outlook is fine:
Integration of the two acquisitions in the year is progressing well, increasing our exposure to the new construction markets in both the Nordics and in the UK. Whilst uncertainty continues in the UK economy as a consequence of plans to leave the EU, our increasing market and geographical diversity gives us confidence for the year ahead."
My opinion:
It hasn't shown me any red flags yet, worth a look.
I'm afraid that's all for today, as the half-year report from Rotala (LON:ROL) doesn't seem too earth-shattering.
Thanks for reading!
Graham
Disclaimer
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70 comments
One of the best short and direct explanation as to why to avoid mining stocks and certainly the smaller end of the market. I would probably add smaller oil stocks in their as well!
Ed, would it be possible to just generate an early placeholder blog every day, so we users can get chatting even before Paul & Graham start adding to it? I learn a lot from the discussion here.Ta.
Message for Mr Crusty (29 March 2017 comment) and others who have a IHT AIM portfolio.
I have just commenced building such a portfolio and have have just started accessing this website. Any advice on building a IHT AIM portfolio would be much appreciated.
Mrken.
I briefly subscribed to IC for about 18 months just over 10 years ago. I found my results were better without it.
If there are some articles in the print magazine that are relevant, I may buy still it on an ad hoc basis, maybe 5~10 times a year.
I use Stockopedia on an iPad a lot. There are one or two glitches but nothing major and no need for a substantial redesign that I can see. Hopefully, if the format changes there will still be a facility to use the old format if you want in the same way as you can use the old charts if you want. (The new charts are one of the things that are simply too fiddly for the iPad).
I use stockopedia on a lot of android devices (tablets and phones) and there are only a couple of issues there too... zooming in (via pinching) works very erratically (best to get to a part of the screen that has no content) and strangely the new charting doesn't work.
Regarding the new IC on line format I agree with the comments made by many here. It seems to have been designed by people who know little of investing and now resembles the format of a comic rather than a serious aid to investors, and from the comments here and elsewhere, the help desk seems to have been woefully inadequate.
A note to Ed here. A lifetime in business has taught me that every time you change your front end, whatever that may be, you prompt your customers to look elsewhere, so be kind to your busy and time-poor users who probably will not enjoy spending their time learning to navigate a new format unless the payback is considerable. Having said that, thanks to Paul, Graham and all at Stocko, you save me a great deal of time and the site's worth every penny.
Regards R
"So if you were wondering why we generally don't cover junior resource stocks here at the SCVR, hopefully that's a good explanation!"
Yes and its the biggest weakness here imo. Many if not most of the biggest risers over this area in the last 18 months have been resource based and your joint expertise in looking at balance sheets and so on could have identified a lot of star performers and the duds. Yes highly spec and yes they are volatile but the World needs more and more and this is where big money will be made in the future; supplying the electric cars, driverless trains and the robotic world of the future. Just my view.
Sorry Peter, but I could not disagree more.
It may well be true that there have been many big gains in resource stocks and many more to come, but this is simply not the focus here and I think it is wrong to suggest that you can apply the same analysis approach to these as to the companies focused on here.
To cover these kind of investments here would only lessen the focus and overall quality. I'm totally supportive to the idea that Paul and Graham should keep their focus where they think they can add value. There's no reason a junior resource blog cannot be setup by those that think they have the expertise.
I totally disagree. Why should they cover sectors they don't invest in or have little knowledge of for a few members who may want to invest in them, that probably gives you the answer if it's so easy why don't they invest in them. There are probably quite a few of these companies, which come and go. Also do you know how many companies Paul covers? Anyway it's not just about balance sheets in these companies, I think it's more akin to gambling which ones will strike oil or gold etc. I did invest in one Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) for a while, seems good company but just too unpredictable for me. If you want more information on them the bulletin boards are full of it. What have resources got to do with electric cars, driverless trains and the robotic world of the future? Ab Dynamics (LON:ABDP) is covered here. Let's hope Paul and Graham stick to what they know best.
Let's hope Paul and Graham stick to what they know best.
Certainly Paul and Graham should stick to what they do well. That doesn't mean that it would not add value to these discussion boards to add some analysis of resources stocks.
Hi peter,
I don't mind discussing a resource stock if it is producing (not just exploring) and if it will pay dividends and produce a positive return for long-term holders of the stock, not just a return for people who manage to sell it at a higher price than they bought it at.
It is my view that such stocks are rare but I'm open to tips about which ones they might be.
Thanks v much,
Graham
Agreed Herbie that stocks such as Metal Tiger (LON:MTR) are more like lottery tickets than conservative investments.
As such I guess you need to hold at least five of such stocks in a portfolio - fully aware that four will end up worthless.
I think barnetpeter's point about "electric cars, driverless trains and the robotic world" is relevant though. For example, if all new car/LCV sales will go electric over the next 30 years, that's 90 million more batteries required each year i.e. a lot of cobalt & lithium. In addition, recharging infrastructure investment will demand a lot of copper. Certain resource companies will hence be in a sweet spot.
I think you are asking for too much. Paul is struggling covering the companies he reviews already and Graham has already given a reason for not covering junior resource stock.
I do see some connection with certain resources for electric cars, oil demand will no doubt diminish.
I didnt ask for anything Herbie!
I simply agreed with barnetpeter's point that there will be a significant rise in demand for certain natural resources in the next 30 years as a consequence of electrification of the vehicle fleet.
I dropped IC couple of months back and don't miss it a bit.
Like others, I have migrated (matured ?) from IC to Stocko and I would thoroughly recommend Stocko to anyone who cares to listen. I don't regret the move one bit. Maybe Ed and the team might consider placing an Ad in IC with a discount voucher, to tempt the undoubtedly large number of disaffected IC subscribers !
TT Electronics will have net cash after the disposal of the TS&C division Graham. This deal has transformed the business and make it an attractive investment proposal in my opinion.
Thank you, I updated the article to reflect this. It's annoying because I had noticed the part of the statement where they were discussing the movement into net cash the first time I read it, but still managed to get the article comment wrong! Cheers anyway.
Graham
The comments about IC's website change are interesting and completely agree that it is now hard to get at enough hard facts.
It represents a millennial enthusiasm for white space, "clean layout" and bias away from data towards narrative. I would suspect that few, if any, of the site's designers are private investors.
This damage can seen in many other places where adults who require, and can handle, a fairly dense fact and hard news page are losing them to to a younger generation who does not use the site anyway. Bloomberg fell foul of thus a while back as did CNN and the Financial Times ( IC's parent) site has suffered too.
So to Ed Croft and all at Stockopedia please do not screw with the site. The key is that in any change are you dropping the number of touch points (and enormous drop down menus do not count). Having a lot of readily visible data on the landing page is good. If anyone pitches to you to make a change in the site ask how much they invest and often they trade in shares. If they do not then please throw them out.
Aislabie - thanks for your comments.
Just so you are aware.... there's a big redesign around the corner at Stockopedia. It's going to be painful for subscribers I'm sure. Changing a design means changing one's habits and that's a nuisance to a lot of people.
We're improving the service for various reasons but mostly to improve the ease of use, mobile/tablet friendliness and the extensibility of the site (e.g. to support real time data and other addons).
I'm planning on doing a lot of webinars and beta-testing before the relaunch, so everyone hopefully can have their say and we'll try to ensure the transition is smooth.
I'm not promising when, nor committing to a date as I make that mistake too often. All I'll say is that it's coming and it will be a big event. I hope it won't be a painful event.
I can say that it's wonderful, a big leap forwards, and will allow us to start delivering all those feature requests everyone has been requesting for such a long time. do keep voting. http://ideas.stockopedia.com
Hi Ed
I hope this is not too smarmy for a late posting on a Friday night.
I'm confident we are in safe hands with you and the Stocko team ..... no pressure ... :)
Regards
Howard
Ed, I very much feared this might be in the works while I hoped it was not.
A) do you get a lot of complaints from users or just your design team (who have no shares)?
B) where ,( apart from aforesaid designers), do you get the feeling that people want the desktop and tablet to look different? Phones with a small screen might be an argument but as long as IOS and Android for tablets and phones are on one system the only question is do you change to just benefit small screen phones?
C) the response that it is just the "nuisance of changing ones habits and really this is going to be good in the end" is always what's offered. This is condescending partly because it rules out the possibility that it actually is worse. I hear the distant echo of the late great Patrick Hutber's oft-quoted observation that " improvement equals deterioration", which produces the wry smile as we recognize it is so often true.
D) if the people who support this site do not support the change who are you trying to appeal to.?
Maybe I should be optimistic enough to assume you will find something better but year after year sites allow design led ideas to overrule information led layouts.
Don't let them do it
Hi Ed,
I look forward to the improvements and especially being able to use the site effectively on phones/tablets. I'm confident that you'll manage the changes with little or no downsides (like you have with the charting facilities). However, I'd be wholly in favour of retaining all ranking metrics as they are at the moment, and adding new ones if you feel any tweaks are necessary. That way we have consistency backwards and forwards. Effectively you have done this before by demoting the importance of the Growth Rank - but keeping it on the site. Also I notice that the new risk ratings were added as new features instead of changing existing functions or metrics. I think this is an excellent approach and is the way to go to upset the fewest number of users possible. I think very few will complain about getting additional functionality or info for free - but you never know!
Hi Ed
Maybe there is some mileage in allowing users to see a preview site, so we can provide feedback, hopefully in time to influence the final stages of the new site development?
Hi Ed
I only subscribed this year and use Stockopedia on an iPad Pro, PC desktop and an iPhone 6 (i.e. not the biggest smart phone screen available)
I find that a site 'optimised' for a smart phone or tablet can often result in reduced functions and poorer navigation. I hope that does not happen here.
Personally, I prefer organisations offering the same site design, irrespective of how I view it.
Good luck with the developments and thanks for letting us know.
Jon
Looks like I'm going to be the first comment on Volution (LON:FAN). Even the Stockopedia community is "Meh" about this company!
I'm by no means an expert, first time I've heard of this company. Looks to be cyclical though - they mainly sell to developers, for their ventilation systems to be installed in new buildings? They do some retail brands too, but I need to go and dig out how big of the revenue pie comes from that.
Operating margin looks good, high even, for a building trade manufacturer / supplier.
Clearly commercial developments in the UK are coming to a grinding halt soon, but if Volution (LON:FAN) also have a big European sales base, that could provide some buffer and some nice growth in the next year or so.
I would agree with Graham about investing in miners. I recently read a very interesting article by a gold mining specialist (an enthusiast on gold mining) who lamented the fact that, because gold is seen as a "safe haven" in the event of turbulence, there are huge sums available for investing in this sector and as a result, far more money periodically pours into gold miners than can possibly be justified by the economic case. To elaborate on your comment about the capex never ending, I would also point out that there is often a huge gap from when the capex occurs to when the financial benefits of that capex become available. I think this partly explains why, even in successful miners, the ROCE is so poor. Gold and silver royalty companies are more interesting but I find them difficult to evaluate because their accounts can be so complicated.
Shares in Dixons Carphone sank after Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the stock from 'outperform' to 'underperform' on concerns about changes in the mobile phone market, including fewer customers upgrading to new phones and the unbundling of handset and network contracts.
Hi Graham
In terms of TTG's cash position, I think you need to try and take account of the disposal announced on 19-Jul-17 which will, provided it completes, transform the cash situation and facilitate future changes in the nature of the business. I did look at the results this morning but was not quite sure whether on this basis the shares represent a bargain.
HTH. Regards, Martin
I like TT electronics (LON:TTG) as a company. Many years ago I was a happy customer. But perhaps this and other electronics businesses might make a better bet when things are a bit more stable in North Korea?
Thanks to Graham for this brilliant explanation of why it makes sense to avoid the small cap resource sector -- however much surplus cash a company generates, management will always find a way to spend it! And eventually their luck runs out...
After dabbling in this sector years ago, I now rarely venture into resource stocks apart from larger, diversified groups. That said, over the last year I have made exceptions for my SIF Portfolio stock Central Asia Metals (LON:CAML) and a personal holding in Highland Gold Mining (LON:HGM).
Both companies have a proven track record of profits and generous dividends. This may be because both have majority shareholders with an interest in earning a return on their investments. But to be honest, the jury is still out on whether these stocks will be wise investments for me.
Regards, Roland
Disclosure: I own shares in Central Asia Metals (LON:CAML) and Highland Gold Mining (LON:HGM).
Cheers Roland, I don't know about CAML but since you're aligned with Roman Abramovich on HGM... will be interesting to see how that pans out long term!
Graham
Hi Graham,
Agree with your ramble the other day about keep life simple minimal outgoings avoid debt equals freedom and opportunity to try new things as you don;t need to earn masses to start with out of them.
Out of interest over the last five years what would you say your approximate annualised returns are seem to remember you saying you run a relatively concentrated portfolio,
Thanks
Hi clare,
Strangely enough, I've proven better at managing other people's money than my own - the diversified institutional portfolio which I managed achieved 9.5% annualised over its period under management 2013-2015, strongly beating the FTSE.
My personal portfolio by contrast has only owned a few stocks at a time. It has produced a positive return though it hasn't quite managed to keep up with the FTSE over the last couple of years. It has taught me more than managing the diversified portfolio did, however.
Graham
I hold CAML too, trading seems strong and they have a good yield. I also have a tiny holding in PAF... but probably the less said about that the better :-/
Curious situation at Interquest (LON:ITQ) reported today. The attempt to take it private at what seems a low valuation has left the company majority owned by but without the 75% needed to cancel its listing.
"The independent director of the Company (being David Higgins) (the "Independent Director") notes the announcement by Chisbridge Limited ("Chisbridge") earlier today that the Offer is now closed.
As at 1.00pm on 8 August 2017 (the "Closing Date") Chisbridge received acceptances of its Offer in respect of 22,544,070 InterQuest Shares, representing 58.32 per cent. of the existing issued share capital of InterQuest.
These acceptances include those received in respect of 16,444,266 InterQuest Shares held by Gary Ashworth and Clare Ashworth together with certain InterQuest Shareholders who had given an irrevocable undertaking and letters of intent in support of the Offer. Therefore, the level of take-up of Chisbridge's Offer from other InterQuest Shareholders was 6,009,804, representing only 15.78% of the existing issued share capital of the Company.
InterQuest will continue to operate its business as usual and remains a public company subject to the AIM Rules for Companies."
Hi bestace - Re. Strix (LON:KETL) my analysis is similar to yours. The pro forma balance sheet shows long term debt of £60m and current cash balances zero.
Profit before tax growth and net profit growth from 31/12/15 to 31/1216 are near zero.
I lost my appetite for this share at this point.
As an aside does anyone use the Investors Chronicle site? I have tended to use it for some news updates, but the site has recently had a cosmetic facelift and in my mind this is at the expense of actually providing any actual news any more - I try and sign in, but it doesn't register my login, and the daily news feed seems to be almost dry.
it's not that way a site, but you can search it for specific company comment. And they do a useful daily email with lots of comment. The daily Citywire email is also worthwhile. JP
Hi Andrea
I have been an IC subscriber for several years, both mag and digital. All proceeded normally until their new IT system took hold. For several weeks now it has been asking me to login to read (never before) and has been rejecting my password. Customer services after several days of inactivity apologised and the third person (after I ranted) appeared to fix and the login has worked. Today the digital edition did not appear and the login screen AGAIN took to to Google play to pay for it
Have emailed customer serv AGAIN but I guess I will have to wait..BTW agree about the format, seems to have gone backwards
Thanks again for your post - gave me good excuse for a public rant
Should I stop my subscription and join stocko ???? Answers on a postcard please
Steve.
Thanks Steve for confirming it's not just me.
Inv Ch obviously haven't heard the phrase "if it ain't broken don't fix it"... cos now IMHO it's rubbish and virtually pointless to use... and their recommendations I've always taken with a pinch of salt anyway.
I have both IC and Stockopedia. I used to feel that the breadth of IC (primarily the print copy) had almost become part of my personality but in recent years it feels very random compared with the tightness of the Stocko data and ranks.
Hi Steve,
I dropped my IC subscription a while back and haven't missed it. In any case you should join Stocko.
I dropped IC as well a year and a half ago. Not missed it. Stockopedia is the essential subscription, because data matters more opinions. And anyway, take the Saturday FT. Main IC recommendations are in the Money section anyway, and then you get to read a proper newspaper too!
Yes andrea341 I have been a subscriber to the IC for quite few years. I also find that the functionality of the site has decreased following the facelift and I find it more difficult to search for articles about a given company. The much smaller box for adding comments about an article is more difficult to use than the previous version and is further evidence that the web site upgrade has not been done properly. I also find that the quality of the magazine and web site as a whole has not kept up with improvements in other sources of financial information. My specialist area is biotech/pharma and I can judge the IC's coverage here is very poor and I wonder about other areas. I think the journalists lack sector based expertise. As you may gather, I will be cancelling my subscription to the IC.
Hi all disgruntle IC readers (above)
I mailed john.hughman@ft.com today because of my frustration.
'Hi John
I have been an avid reader of your daily News & Tips section for several years.
I found your daily email with a direct link to the pages on your website extremely useful.
But, with your new email I can no longer click News & Tips and link direct to the site.
Is there any chance a link can be set up?
Further, I find it particularly difficult to even locate the Daily News & Tips on the site. It does not seem to be situated intuitively.'
You might want to add to his in box as well and with a little spike of protests he might get things to improve.
Regards
Howard
I am also an IC subscriber and have sent two complaint e-mails recently, neither of which have been responded to. My main issue is how the digital issue of the magazine is now distributed. I tend to read the magazine on my iPhone or iPad, usually when on the train, and much prefer the magazine format to the unstructured online content. I used to happily save off the magazine in PDF format, however the new magazine browser no longer lets you do this.This replacement magazine browser is terrible and nothing like the magazine, and the online content is a mess. It's a shame they don't appear to be listening to their subscribers.
Yes Howard, I will email John Hughman to raise my issues about the IC with him as I hope it may encourage him to rectify the problems for those subscribers who remain.
Hi peterthegreat
I just tweeted IC to see if this route might prompt a response as well.
Regards
Howard
Howard,
I emailed John Hughman this afternoon about these issues and have already had a reply which I think is impressive. He recognises the problems they've been having and goes on to say:
"I share your frustrations as unfortunately there's not much we in editorial can do directly to resolve the problem, other than pass comments on to our technical, customer service and commercial teams. I'll make sure your message gets to the right people."
Let's hope they too are monitoring social media and this discussion.
Thanks, AG
Hi AG
Thanks for the info.
Regards
Howard
I.C. revamped their web site recently ,which received a lot of brickbats as more difficult to log in and to find info. Having asked for comments they closed down the page in one day, possibly to revamp a bit more.
I'm wondering why Graham is selling down - has he just been feeling that the market's toppy or has he identified more exciting opportunities, or none of the above? I find G & P's macro musings insightful and useful too. I'm in Kodal Minerals (LON:KOD) and every time a good RNS comes out like today's, it goes down. Anyone else have any lithium investments - I hope you're all far too sensible!
Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) looking tasty as a defensive utility play with a 6%+ dividend.
But is it really a safe utility play? I get that it has dominant market share on the Isle of Man for telecommunication services, but surely the regulatory environment there allows other telcos to set up shop too?
The Irish Sea is a decent moat :)
It has a monopoly on fixed line services that no other telco is likely to be interested in trying to overturn, the market just isn't big enough. The IoM is a pretty wealthy place, they have zero corporation tax and they're slowly growing their off-island business.
I don't think they'll ever shoot out any lights but Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) looks like about as safe a telco play as you'll ever find.
timarr
Sur have a significant presence here -part of Cable and Wireless, and there are a number of independent web service providers.
Also Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) Telecom have just come into line with UK and others on removal of roaming charges. They have been dragged screaming to this position, and it will have sme impact on the financials going forward. How much I dont know. Others here will be able to make a better guess. Sure have responded with improved ie lower charges but I dont think they have removed them altogether
Apparently Dixons Carphone (LON:DC.) shares have had some kind of downgrade which is why they are down sharply. Does anyone have any details and/or would Graham or Paul like to comment?
Perhaps it is also feared that DC. have done poorly after the recent poor retail sales figures...? They are looking pretty cheap on P/E less than 10 and a current yield of 4.5%
Downgrade by Exane BNP
Fairly logical risk of supply chain disruption to Dixon's given that they import a lot of product from South Korea / Samsung
If he has been charged with production he has probably been growing it.
On the day Graham advocates cutting the weed, turns out this guy is trying to grow some
Local knowledge. Interesting week for Gary Lamb CEO of MT. Tuesday his fortune is expanded even further when as Non Exec Chairman he brings Strix (LON:KETL) to the market at a 30%+ premium - was CFO at Strix for many years. Then on Thurs,as CEO of MT, he has to susspend his own CFO on drug allegations. Pity the guy because he has a very good CV. Pity if he throws it all away for a hash habit. He certainly wont be doing it for the money, will he? Courts in the Isle of Man are tougher on cannabis than in the UK, though there are some proposals from one or two MPs here (called Members of the House of Keys, MHKs) to modify the laws.
My 'pity' related to the suspended CFO of Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) Telecom rather than Mr Lamb.
Speaking of Strix (LON:KETL) - has anyone opened a position in this?
I had a look at the prospectus but it didn't look particularly appealing to me - the private equity backers are exiting completely, effectively taking the entire proceeds of the IPO as well as £60m out of a new £70m debt facility.
That leaves the company with pro forma net liabilities of £47m as at 31 December 2016 i.e. it's technically insolvent. Strip out the intangibles and that increases to £54m net liabilities. Trading in 2017 should have improved on that position but as far as I can see the company has not actually provided any numbers, just this qualitative statement:
It would have been nice to know what those "Directors' expectations" are and whether or not they are actually technically insolvent!
Looks like someone has been posting him cannabis from Amsterdam although he's been charged with production as opposed to possession/importation/supply: Manx Radio link
There was an unusual announcement from Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) at 2pm yesterday.
Statement regarding the Group CFO
Manx Telecom Plc (AIM: MANX), the leading communication solutions provider on the Isle of Man, announces that it has been informed that Danny Bakhshi, CFO of the Group, is the subject of criminal proceedings unrelated to his duties as Group CFO of Manx Telecom.
In accordance with Company procedure, the Board has suspended Mr Bakhshi on a precautionary basis pending investigations being carried out. The Board will keep his suspension under review and will aim to make the period of suspension no longer than is reasonably necessary.
CEO Gary Lamb, formerly CFO, will serve as Group CFO on an interim basis. Further updates will be made in due course.
Brought cannabis back from Amsterdam apparently ...
timarr
I would prefer the Manx Telecom (LON:MANX) shares to be high, rather than the CFO.
I just knew there was a joke in there somewhere :)
timarr