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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Type | Share ISIN | Share Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uniq | LSE:UNIQ | London | Ordinary Share | GB00B63B4X28 | ORD 1P |
| Price Change | % Change | Share Price | Shares Traded | Last Trade
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| 0.00 | 0.00% | 95.50 | 0.00 | 01:00:00 |
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| Industry Sector | Turnover | Profit | EPS - Basic | PE Ratio | Market Cap |
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| Last Trade Time | Trade Type | Trade Size | Trade Price | Currency |
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| - | O | 0 | 95.50 | GBX |
Uniq Plc (UNIQ) Share Charts1 Year Uniq Plc Chart |
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1 Month Uniq Plc Chart |
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| Date | Time | Title | Posts |
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| 16/9/2011 | 21:58 | UNIQ Plc - The Recovery Continues | 10,791 |
| 24/3/2011 | 14:44 | Only worth 6.25p on fundamentals | 106 |
| 15/10/2010 | 13:31 | A thread that allows people to post all likely outcomes of investing in UNIQ | 464 |
| 13/10/2010 | 12:11 | short this dog to 2p | 8 |
| 30/6/2010 | 19:55 | Uniq Recovery 2009 | 187 |
| Trade Time | Trade Price | Trade Size | Trade Value | Trade Type |
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Posted at 03/5/2011 09:17 by propane Greencore eyes Uniq merger but 'decision weeks away'By Laura Noonan Monday May 02 2011 GREENCORE has asked advisers Barclays Capital to run the rule over Uniq but is "weeks away" from making a decision on a bid, sources said last night. Greencore, which recently failed to clinch a 2bn merger with Northern Foods, sees Uniq as its next consolidation target. UK-based Uniq has effectively put itself on the market after ceding a 90pc stake in its equity-to-pension holders to repair a massive pensions deficit. With a portfolio including prepared sandwiches, salads and deserts, its business is seen as complementary to Greencore's food-to-go proposition. Sources last night confirmed Barclays was looking over Uniq on behalf of Greencore, but stressed there was no imminent bid or deal. Greencore is mulling over a number of deals. "Uniq is just one thing that's being looked at," a source added. Greencore declined to comment on any possible deal with Uniq. While significantly smaller than Northern Foods, Uniq's annual revenues of £312m (352m) would be a significant addition to Greencore's sales of 856m. - Laura Noonan Irish Independent |
Posted at 27/4/2011 11:08 by propane Potential bidders for Uniq include failed Northern Foods suitor Greencore and private equityWednesday April 27,2011 By Daily Express Reporter SANDWICHES and chilled foods maker Uniq said shoppers buying more expensive desserts in the downturn helped it narrow annual losses and boost its potential sale price. The company, whose own pension fund recently took a 90 per cent stake in return for being released from its £400million pension deficit and appointed financiers to look at offloading the holding, posted a pre-tax loss of £11.2million for 2010 compared with a £18.5million loss last time. Revenues rose 7 per cent to £311.9million. Chief executive Geoff Eaton said premium dessert sales had offset cost hikes in cream. Sandwich sales were helped by a Marks & Spencer contract expansion to supply two-thirds of its range. "Despite concerns over consumer spending we haven't seen any let-up in the pace of growth," Eaton said. "But the new year will be tough with raw material costs still rising." Potential bidders for Uniq include failed Northern Foods suitor Greencore and private equity. "They will have to pay more now," said Eaton. "After years of challenge we have some real momentum." Its shares rose 3¼p to 76¾p. Read more: By SpikeyDT ==================== By Tanya Jefferies and Press Association 26 April 2011, 3:38pm Shares in food firm Uniq gained 5% as it slashed annual losses and hailed a solution to its pension black hole. The company, which supplies Marks & Spencer and Costa Coffee, reported a pre-tax loss of £11.2m last year against £18.5m in 2009. Revenue rose to £311.9 from £287.2m before. The firm's stock put on 3.4p to 78p in trading today. Uniq has recently tackled a £436m hole in its pension scheme - a legacy of its previous incarnation as dairy giant Unigate, which includes former milkmen among its 21,000 members It resolved the issue by transferring 90% of its shares to the guardians of its retirement scheme. The firm also moved on to the smaller Alternative Investment Market, triggering a sale process which has led to a number of bid approaches. Uniq's annual results benefited from an expanded contract with M&S to produce nearly two-thirds of its sandwiches, including the Simply Fuller Longer and the relaunched Gastropub sandwich-in-a-bag ranges. The company produced more than 100m sandwiches last year, and its food-to-go division saw profits jump 51% to £11m. The operation makes sandwiches at Northampton and dressed salads from a site at Spalding. The desserts division reduced losses by 7% to £2.7m but the maker of Cadbury chocolate desserts said it had lost £10m of business in 2011 due to cheaper competition. Uniq has unveiled a new strategy for its desserts business, which will see it boost production of yoghurts, own-label premium desserts for supermarket customers and Cadbury puddings. It will also look to cut costs at its loss-making own-label everyday desserts division. Earlier this year Uniq announced it would stop making cottage cheese at its plant in Evercreech in Somerset as it struggles to compete with competition from dairy giant Arla. It said many of the employees at the plant would be transferred to making premium puddings, which saw a 21% rise in sales in the year. Chairman John Warren praised the management for transforming the business during a period of uncertainty. Looking ahead, he commented: 'The new year has thrown up further challenges, with further raw material price inflation, increasingly intense competition and loss of business in desserts being notified before the implementation of the pension solution. 'We fully expect to maintain the improved performance of the company despite the challenging environment.' He added that the board had decided it was 'not appropriate' to pay a dividend for 2010, but following the pension restructuring it did intend to |
Posted at 02/4/2011 09:05 by propane Uniq pension fund puts company up for saleBy Louise Lucas, Consumer industries Editor Published: April 1 2011 17:11 | Last updated: April 1 2011 17:11 Uniq's pension fund has put the company up for sale, after acquiring control of the maker of Marks and Spencer sandwiches. Uniq, once the UK's biggest milk and cheese producer, has an enterprise value, including equity and net debt, of about £89m. A tenth of the shares are listed, and have a market value of about £7.5m. The shortfall in the pension fund, which is now separate from the company, was £436m at April 2009. In February, Uniq acknowledged that the company's size was insufficient to satisfy its pension deficit, and agreed to cede 90 per cent of its shares to the pension scheme. Geoff Eaton, Uniq's chief executive, said he was optimistic about the prospects for a successful sale of the company. "In our sector there's consolidation happening, such as the Northern Foods takeover [the UK convenience food group owned by Ranjit Singh Boparan]. "So probably there will be a number of trade buyers interested in buying the 90 per cent stake held by the pension scheme." Under UK rules, a buyer acquiring 90 per cent would then be able to squeeze out the minorities to gain full control. Other than selling to a trade buyer, the company is exploring selling to private equity or listing the shares. Bankers suggest that potential trade buyers might include Greencore, the foods group whose planned merger with Northern Foods was stymied by Mr Boparan. Other possibilities are Bakkavor of Iceland, Fleury Michon of France and Kerry Group of Ireland. The company, which generates annual sales of about £300m and is forecast to have generated £4m of earnings before interest and tax last year, also benefits from a pile of deferred tax assets. These can be cashed in against future profits and could prove valuable to a financial sponsor or other buyer looking to use Uniq as a vehicle to roll up other assets. Uniq will not have to pay tax until pre-tax earnings exceed £400m, Mr Eaton said. Uniq's troubles stem back to 2000 when it sold its dairy business to Dairy Crest but retained the pension deficit. "Nowadays, and under current regulations, it is more difficult to sell a business without dealing with the pension deficit at the time," said Mr Eaton. "So the regulatory environment has changed." Even so, other companies caught up in a similar predicament having shrunk their business through wholesale disposals have been closely watching unfolding events at Uniq. Pensioners still have only limited cause for cheer: even if the company is sold for a good price it is still likely to pull in less than a quarter of the deficit. The scheme has 20,500 members, half of whom are currently pensioners. Among those yet to reach retirement age are scores of former milkmen who delivered bottles to British doorsteps. A fourth-quarter trading update at the beginning of the year said sales for last year rose 6.8 per cent to £312m. The growth has been driven by the Food to Go division, which supplies sandwiches and salads to retailers. The biggest customer is Marks and Spencer, which accounts for 50 per cent of revenues. . |
Posted at 28/3/2011 01:35 by neverabanker 60-75p would value the company between 70-88m. If current profitabilty is about 5m then would suggest a PE of 14-17 might justify this. The full year results 2010, and the Q1 for 2011 should be out within 2 weeks or so(in 2010 they were issued on 15/4) and this will no doubt give a better idea of likely profit and have an impact on the share price.The circular for shareholders (page 59) on the reorganisation gave a net asset value (post restructure) for the company irrespective of anything else of 103M on 30/6/2010 which might mean just on that basis alone 85-90p per share was justified on April 1st (this does not take into account the -favourable- trading conditions in the 2nd half of 2010). With such a huge portion of the shares however it is what Newco does that really matters and if you read the circular there are some interesting paragraphs which do not seem to have been brought up here or even in the press in any way. These might exercise some people's thoughts. I have cut and pasted them below. The sections from the circular are quite long but basically Newco is simply a short term vehicle to achieve realisation of the value of the shares (and effectively the company- or at least 90+% of it -without putting the company itself out of business) for the trustees/PPF. Newco will become immediately insolvent, be put into administration and the administrator will decide how best to realise the assets for the major creditor which will be the Pension protection fund (PPF). It seems that this will be undertaken in a short/medium term time frame. The obvious answer ( see risk factor 3 below) will be to effectively engineer a takeover by selling them to a single purchaser who could then exercise the right to compulsorily acquire the rest of the shares. Another option is that they might start to put them on to the market where they may be picked up by institutional buyers who still own the majority of the 9.2% (and who would undoubtedly prefer that the company was not all in the hands of a controlling interest) - equally the remaining II's might just want to get rid of what they have left as soon as trading opens which would hit the share price in the short term - my guess though is they will keep them in case there is a takeover in the offing. So there is still much to be played out here. My final though is that given that even the IAS valuation of the pension deficit in the circular was 132m -and this would probably not be any where near enough to satisfy the PPF given buy out value of deficit was 400m+. But even if it was, then if the trustees/PPF are looking to get 130m+ or more from a takeover then the administrator may have expect that a realistic offer for the shares might be upwards of 120p or more. So... On balance, other than in the very short term, I don't see the price going down much as it is not in the interest of the administrator to dump the shares on the market and overall it seems reasonable to expect the price to drift up especially if the results are good for Q1 or the newco administrator actively seeks a buyer for the company - also - the directors of uniq have also been incentivised generously to immediately maximise the value of the company. I Would be interested in thoughts of others on this. This is from section 4 of the chairman's letter in the circular As part of the Restructuring, Newco will be placed into administration. The administrator that is appointed will seek to effect a transaction pursuant to which Newco will realise all or part of its shareholding in theCompany for cash to satisfy Newco's debts, in particular its Section 75 debt owed to the Trustee. In the event that Newco's entire shareholding in the Company is sold to a single purchaser (such a sale being governed by the provisions of the City Code), the third party purchaser could utilise its rights under the Companies Act to compulsorily acquire the remaining 9.8 per cent. of the Uniq Shares held by Shareholders other than Newco. this from Section 3 RISKS from the restructuring also in the circular Risks related to Newco being a significant shareholder following the Restructuring Following the Restructuring, Newco will own a 90.2 per cent. shareholding in the Company. This significant concentration of share ownership may affect the market value of the Uniq Shares because investors may believe that there are disadvantages in owning shares in companies with a controlling shareholder. As a result of its 90.2 per cent. shareholding in the Company following the Restructuring, Newco and Newco's major creditor, the Trustee (or the PPF exercising the Trustee's creditor rights during the PPF assessment period), will have the ability to determine the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval. However, certain undertakings have been provided in the IRA in relation to the exercise of shareholder rights to ensure that these shareholder rights are exercised in furtherance of the Restructuring. The IRA also provides that Newco and the Trustee shall accept that the day to day management of the Group shall be the sole responsibility of the Board, and neither the Company nor the Trustee shall instruct Newco to enter into transactions with a member of the Group except on an arm's length and on a normal commercial basis in the context of the Restructuring. As the parties' intention under the IRA is for Newco to effect a transaction pursuant to which Newco will realise all or part of its shareholding in the Company, it is likely that Newco's entire shareholding in the Company will either be sold to a single third party purchaser or will be placed in the market in the short to medium term. The Company cannot predict the timing, the volume or the manner of the sale of Newco's shareholding at the present time. A sale in the market of a substantial number of the Uniq Shares, or the perception that such a sale could occur, could adversely affect the market value of the Uniq Shares. In the event that Newco's entire shareholding in the Company is sold to a single purchaser (such a sale being governed by the provisions of the City Code), there is a risk that the third party purchaser would utilise its rights under the Companies Act to compulsorily acquire the remaining 9.8 per cent. of the Uniq Shares held by Shareholders other than Newco at the price agreed between Newco and the third party purchaser. In order to achieve the maximum value of the Uniq Shares for all Shareholders in such a sale, the Remuneration Committee recommended to the Board that a short term value maximisation plan be established for the Group's senior executives that is linked to the achievement of pre-defined equity value realisation targets. |
Posted at 21/3/2011 12:52 by propane 21 March 2011Uniq plc Proposed Restructuring Scheme of Arrangement becomes effective Uniq plc (the "Company"), the chilled convenience food group, announces that the scheme of arrangement necessary to implement the proposed restructuring of the Company (the "Restructuring") has received Court sanction and has become effective in accordance with its terms. Completion of the Restructuring remains subject to the satisfaction or, if permitted, waiver of the remaining conditions to the Restructuring set out in the circular sent to Shareholders on 9 February 2011 (the "Circular"). It is expected that these remaining conditions to the Restructuring will be satisfied by 31 March 2011. It is expected that the trading of Uniq Shares on the Main Market and the listing of Uniq Shares on the Official List will each be cancelled at 8.00 a.m. (London time) on 1 April 2011. Admission of Uniq Shares to trading on AIM is expected to occur at 8.00 a.m. (London time) on 1 April 2011. At admission to AIM, there will be 117,187,949 1p ordinary shares in issue with the ISIN GB00B63B4X28. The ticker for Uniq shares will continue to be UNIQ. Except as otherwise defined herein, capitalised terms used herein have the same meanings as set out in the Circular. |
Posted at 17/3/2011 09:28 by propane Pension deficit swap should fuel Uniq revivalBy David Blackwell Published: March 9 2011 21:56 | Last updated: March 9 2011 21:56 Uniq, the chilled foods specialist that was once the UK's largest milk and cheese distributor, will next month start living up to its misspelt name. It will become the first company to have carried out what is in effect a pension deficit-for-equity swap. Other companies will be watching carefully to see how events unfold. Next week the courts should sanction the scheme, which was announced a month ago. Uniq, formerly known as Unigate, will cede 90 per cent of its shares to its pension scheme. The company, which has a market capitalisation of about £9m ($14.58m), will be relieved of the burden of the pension scheme deficit of more than £400m. It could not have completed the plan and remained on the main market, where the rules require a free float of at least 25 per cent. So it will be moving to Aim on April 1. The immediate effect will be a 10-fold rise in the share price. There will be no increase in the value of existing investors' holdings, as they will own only 10 per cent of the company. But the market capitalisation will rise to £90m, almost big enough to put the company in the FTSE Aim 50 index. The company will no longer be, as one observer memorably described it, "a pension scheme with a yoghurt business". A fourth-quarter trading update at the beginning of the year said sales for last year rose 6.8 per cent to £312m, a remarkable achievement considering the uncertainty that has surrounded the business. The growth has been driven by the Food to Go division, which supplies sandwiches and salads to retailers. The biggest customer is Marks and Spencer, which accounts for 50 per cent of revenues. But life in the desserts division has been more difficult. The business is undergoing a review following the loss, announced in January, of £10m of annualised sales. It has also been hit by the cost of cream doubling and the consequent need to increase prices. The company had £10m in cash at the end of December. After paying £14m to the pension scheme as part of the deal and other costs the net debt will be about £14m. It will have banking facilities of £25m, which would not have been available in the absence of the deal. There will be shareholders and pensioners who feel they have been hard done by. But it must be better for everyone that the company will have survived instead of being wound up. The shareholders and pension scheme will have a stake in a profitable going concern. The management should emerge reinvigorated and incentivised. And Aim may find itself with a new role as a safety net for other companies wrestling with large pension deficits. Spotting hidden value on Aim The number of companies on Aim is continuing to fall. At the end of last month there were 1,177 companies quoted, compared with 1,194 at the end of last year. However, the rate of decline is slowing, and companies are being taken over rather than deciding to abandon their quotes. Last month Clyde Process Solutions, maker of pneumatic conveying and air filtration equipment, was bought by a German company for £35m in cash; Focus Solutions, the financial services software company, was acquired by Standard Life for £42m in cash; and Velosi, provider of quality control services to the oil and gas sector, was sold to Carlyle, the private equity group, for £88m. Such deals pale into insignificance when compared with Western Coal, which has been taken over by New York Stock Exchange-listed Walter Energy. Western's market capitalisation of more than £2bn made it the biggest company on Aim. Astonishing to think that when the company was formed through the merger of Aim-quoted Cambrian Mining and Toronto-listed Western Canadian Coal less than two years ago, it had a combined market capitalisation of just £150m. It is not just predators that are spotting hidden value. Green Dragon Gas, the specialist in Chinese coal-bed methane gas, this week demerged its Greka Drilling business. Shareholders received three Greka shares for every Green Dragon share. Green Dragon has grown to a market capitalisation of £1.3bn since floating in 2006, making it the eighth-largest company on Aim. But the company felt the value of Greka was not reflected in its share price. It looks as though it was right. When Greka joined the market on Tuesday, its shares closed at 32p, then rose on Wednesday to 38p. The company, which can now work for third parties as well as Green Dragon, has a market capitalisation of more than £151m. Meanwhile, shares in Green Dragon, which will be seeking a Hong Kong quote later this year, have remained steady. . |
Posted at 16/2/2011 16:17 by davius > saud2237 - 16 Feb'11 - 15:31 - 10483 of 10492 > Can I add my 2 cents -- what we should all be asking is > "With 100 million shares how much is the company worth after shareholders > approve the proposal" > Why are we talking about dilution when it won't happen till 17th of March. There will be 1.17bn shares in issue following the restructuring, to consider the value of the company whilst ignoring that is pointless. The shares have risen from 4.5p because the burden of the pension fund is about to be lifted, it makes no sense to ignore the dillution simply because it's a month away. You seem to be implying that once the deal is approved, but prior to the allocation of new shares, the company will be worth more than subsequently? Far more sensible to examine what the share price is likely to be following the restructuring, to decide whether it's currently worth investing. I would say at 12p the shares are grossly overvalued, since the company is all but bust. However, it looks to be all but a forgone conclusion that the deal will be approved, hence why we've more than doubled. On the basis of 1.17bn shares, 20p (a target mentioned by some) equates to a market cap of £223.4m (I previously guestimated £250m) and at the current share price around £140m. On the basis of an estimated £5m profit the current share price looks overvalued, on a £300m turnover it probably isn't, depending on what the management can achieve. I'll be holding on to my shares to see this played out. |
Posted at 16/2/2011 13:35 by mechanical trader Reminder.....Henderson is backing Uniq pension deal By Jeff Prestridge 13 February 2011, 12:20pm Fund manager Henderson is backing Uniq's ground-breaking proposal to tackle its crippling £436m pension fund deficit by handing over more than 90% of shares in the chilled food firm to the scheme's trustees. Henderson, one of several City institutions to hold stakes in Uniq, said the restructuring represented the 'only show in town'. 'Either it gets approved or Uniq goes bust,' a spokesman said. The investment group holds Uniq shares through Henderson UK Equity Income fund and the Lowland and Law Debenture trusts. In a deal with the Pensions Regulator and Pension Protection Fund, after 18 months of haggling, Uniq is ceding 90.2%t of its shares to the pension fund. With a £14m cash injection into the fund, this would close the gap between the scheme's £600m of assets and £1 billion in liabilities, Uniq said. It will also preserve 90% of the benefits built up by members - those already in payment would be paid in full. The scheme has 20,000 members. But crucially, the complex arrangement must be approved by Uniq's 11,000 shareholders in a vote that takes place in 12 days. Charles Hall, head of research at stockbroker Peel Hunt, said the proposal represented the 'only' solution. Hall said the company should see its share price re-rated so the value of investors' holdings would be maintained. Shares worth 5.6p now could be worth 50p if the deal is approved. Read more: |
Posted at 16/2/2011 09:09 by mechanical trader FT articleUniq cedes shares to pension scheme By Norma Cohen Published: February 10 2011 00:03 | Last updated: February 10 2011 00:03 Uniq, the chilled foods specialist that was once the UK's largest milk and cheese distributor, said that it had finally reached an agreement to cede 90 per cent of its own shares to its pension scheme in order to escape a retirement burden that is many times the size of the company's own market capitalisation. The agreement, announced late on Wednesday, follows protracted negotiations over nearly 18 months between the company, its shareholders, lenders, the UK Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund. EDITOR'S CHOICE Uniq loses business to Danish rival - Jan-13.Uniq plans to lift pension burden - Oct-20.Lombard: Uniq's pension problem - Apr-15..Uniq said that it had received agreement from the regulator and the PPF and must still seek approval from shareholders, who would retain 9.8 per cent of the company. Uniq will make an additional payment of £14m to the scheme. After the deal is complete, Uniq shares will trade on the Aim junior market. For their part, scheme members are likely to lose about 30 per cent of their pensions because most will no longer be eligible for annual increases in line with inflation. The PPF said that it would raise no objections to the deal as long as it was completed before March 31 2011, when new increases would be due. Geoff Eaton, Uniq's chief executive, said that he was hopeful that by the time the pension scheme completes a two-year assessment period after the deal, it would have been able to sell its shares in Uniq at a price high enough to avoid falling back into the PPF and would instead offer benefits slightly better than those guaranteed by the scheme. In April 2009, the shortfall in the scheme's pension fund stood at £436m. As of Wednesday, its market capitalisation stood at roughly £6m. The pension scheme has about 21,000 members, many of them former milkmen who delivered dairy goods to the nation's doorsteps. The company has become emblematic of employers who shrank their businesses through wholesale disposals but retained the liabilities of the pension scheme at a time when many believed the asset pool could go on producing outsize investment returns indefinitely. Amid low inflation and new accounting rules requiring more clarity on liabilities, such companies were saddled with significant burdens, not benefits. As a result, the Uniq terms are likely to be studied closely by pension advisers seeking to help their own clients minimise the burden of legacy pension promises. . |
Posted at 11/2/2011 13:15 by peawacks From Cliff D'Arcy on Motley FoolPublished in Company Comment on 11 February 2011 1 comments Here's how a £6m firm tackled its £473m pension deficit. How can a company valued at £6 million sort out a £473 million pension deficit? By giving more than 90% of its shares to its pension scheme and then moving to AIM, of course! How Uniq was crushed At least, this is what's on the cards at convenience-foods maker Uniq (LSE: UNIQ), which I last wrote about in July 2010. Uniq's crisis has its roots in the Nineties, when dairy group Unigate sold its dairy and cheese divisions to Dairy Crest (LSE: DCG), reinventing itself as Uniq in 2000. In May 2001, Uniq demerged its logistics business Wincanton (LSE: WIN) to focus on its pan-European food operations. The bad news for its shareholders is that Uniq remained on the hook for roughly half of the combined pension liabilities of its former businesses. Hence the massive mismatch between Uniq's market capitalisation and the shortfall in its occupational pension scheme (£473 million as at 31 July 2010). Back in its heyday during the Nineties market boom, Uniq/Unigate was riding high, with its share price peaking at 468p in April 1999. In the intervening years, the chilled-food manufacturer's shares have been utterly crushed. As I write, they trade at 5.2p, down 99% from their all-time high. This 12-year nose-dive has transformed Uniq from a £500 million mid-cap into a micro-cap tiddler today. Throwing shares at a black hole Let's take a look at Uniq's proposed deficit-for-equity restructuring in more detail. For more than 18 months, Uniq and its shareholders have been negotiating with its lenders, the Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). The firm's aim was simple: to save itself by agreeing a process to rid the firm of its toxic pension burden. Yesterday, Uniq revealed that its latest proposals have won approval from the Pensions Regulator. These involve: * surrendering 90.2% of its equity to its pension scheme, leaving shareholders with under a tenth (9.8%) of the post-restructure business; * injecting £14 million of cash into the pension scheme; * a new bank facility of £25 million (from which the £14 million top-up will come); and * moving the company's listing from the main market to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), as the proportion of shares in public hands will be below the 25% free-float requirement for LSE-listed companies. Everyone's a loser As part of the deal, most of Uniq's 21,000 pensioners -- largely former milkmen -- will no longer receive inflation-linked increases in their pension payments. Uniq's shareholders face their own headache, as its proposed move to junior market AIM will mean that Uniq shares can no longer be held inside tax-free ISAs. Thus, Uniq shares inside ISAs will have to be sold and, possibly, repurchased outside of these tax shelters. Of course, this deal is subject to approval from Uniq's long-suffering shareholders, as well as the High Court. In addition, the Pension Protection Fund will waive the deal through if it is completed by 31 March. Hardly a Uniq lesson The glaring lesson from the devastation of Uniq is simple: directors and investors alike must take full account of all company liabilities when making judgement calls on future performance. More often than not, company failures (when investors suffer a 100% loss) happen because of problems with liabilities and/or cash flow, rather than strategic decisions. Thus, when analysing a company's suitability for your portfolio, take its pension legacies and liabilities into account as much as its bank loans and other debt. Otherwise, the company's risk/reward ratio will be falsely lowered, putting you and your money at greater risk of loss. Similarly, watch out for major changes to company pension schemes, as these have great potential to benefit or harm shareholders. As Uniq shows, what may appear to be a humble salad-and-sandwich supplier can turn out to be a pension pit with an operating company tagged on. From Cliff D'arcy on Motley Fool Next steps for Uniq Assuming all goes well, Uniq will continue to stock the chiller cabinets and sandwich shelves of Marks & Spencer (LSE: MKS) and the like. However, there are four hurdles to be cleared for its reorganisation to be successful: 1. Shareholder and Court meetings: 25 February 2. Shares suspended from trading: 17 March 3. Capital reorganisation takes effect: 18 March 4. Listing on AIM: 1 April Lastly, good luck to Uniq's hard-pressed shareholders and pensioners. Let's hope their next ten years prove easier than the past decade! |
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