Good morning, it's Paul & Roland here with the SCVR for Tuesday. Sorry for the late start, Paul overslept & sleep-snoozed his alarm.
Timing - we have to be finished before noon today, as I have my niece & nephew to entertain for lunch at "Crabs" - Bournemouth's finest fish restaurant, a bit later. Today's report is now finished.
Agenda -
Paul's Section:
Sosandar (LON:SOS) (I hold) - fundraising - inevitable, but executed very well indeed - nil discount, and only 13.6% dilution. £5.24m raised pre-fees (£4.93m post net). Share option scheme being rejigged - suck it up, because the 2 founders are the business. My view - on the cusp of solvency, and they've done well to defer fundraising for a year, now raising from a position of strength. Well executed - this is how it's done - hats off to the ladies at Sosandar, and the team at N+1. I hear there was strong demand - as evidenced by speed, and no discount.
As we've seen with Staffline (LON:STAF) and several others, there are some nasty fundraisings coming through, where the institutions & high net worth flippers are demanding deep discounts. So brace yourselves, I've been tipped off that some horror stories are in the pipeline, but can't say any more than that at the moment. Be very careful - the days of easy fundraisings are over, I've been told. If anything looks financially distressed, and in need of a placing, it's pot luck whether private shareholders get diluted heavily or not.
What a terrible system - we need to campaign for reform in the UK to mimic the Australian system, whereby shares are suspended briefly, and fundraisings are done quickly, and openly - prioritising existing shareholders.
The UK system is inferior, and arguably corrupt - a false market exists whilst placings are being undertaken behind closed doors, yet hundreds of people must know that a discounted placing is being arranged. This has to stop.
Ted Baker (LON:TED) - bank facilities renewed.
Portmeirion (LON:PMP) (I hold) - a positive-sounding update. Looks a good recovery share, and still reasonably priced on broker forecasts.
Mothercare (LON:MTC) (I hold) - a reassuring update, but the pension scheme overpayments scheduled look to swallow up pretty much all of the future profits, on current guidance. Impossible to…
