Bateman Litwin Share Discussion Threads

[mdchand] 15/10/2008 11:31

fiat - re RNS released on the 22nd September. It talks about cost overruns and impairment charges. Until the market gets clarity or resolution on these factors it will assume the worst and price the share accordingly. slowtrain makes a good case for investing in these, but until we know the size of the impairment, the cash mountain they're currently sitting on could be a lot smaller in days to come....hence the share price Those in the know will have a good idea about the impairment charge and no doubt will have positioned themselves accordingly. recent share price movement suggests that the impairment is perhaps not as bad as suspected, but for you and me, its a gamble in the dark, albiet one where you can atleast make a reasoned assessment of the risks involved.

[fiat lux] 15/10/2008 11:18

something not right here, something concealed deep inside the balance sheet ie a cost unpaid?

[t1lal] 10/10/2008 16:27

Not much action here.

slowtrain

I agree with your assessment. It seems that the company has cash that significantly exceeds the current share price.

Have been watching this share for sometime now having so far resisted the temptation to buy. However the fundamentals appear to state the obvious here that this share is oversold. It just rests on what the final outcome will be in terms of the review into operations. Having said that I still believe the firm will make a profit this year, barring any serious economic disaster!

Getting seriously tempted to buy a few and tuck them away.

[resourcer] 25/9/2008 18:25

From Monday's trading update -

"Bateman Litwin's major shareholder has expressed its continued support for the Company and the new management team."



Why make that sort of statement? Is there some particular major shareholder support (e.g. financial) that may be needed?

Talk of adjustments suggests that this may be another case of 'massaging the numbers'. Until the situation is clearer there is likely to be wariness of where it could end.

An extreme recent example is Vanco, which ended up going bust.

[slowtrain11] 25/9/2008 11:28

I've watched this stock for a while...and whilst its easy to be negative about a stock like this, esp if you are long of it consider this which I did for my own research.
Slowtrain

Assesment based on 112m shares * 30p ---- mkt cap = £34m

Cash on BS 215m $
Loans o/s 52m $

Net cash = 163m $ = £87m @ 1.87 conversion rate.

Last 3 years operational profit (excluding interest on cash) = £6.7m, £8.2m plus £9.9m announced for half year this year.

Estimating that this will be scaled back due to material losses found during audit to £4.8m, plus £1.6m interest income. This gives $12m profit or 5.8 EPS this year.
Guidance previously given is that Net Profit would be 20m $ so I'm allowing for 8m$ worth of audit write offs, which maybe worst case scenario.

Expecting cash position to be little changed at finals which leaves a company with cash of £87m, trading at mkt cap of £34m, plus you get EPS of 4.3p operational profits and 1.5p finance income
in a year when they have substantial write offs. Growth industry too for obvious reasons in which they have a substantial foothold

[jcscumbria] 23/9/2008 13:07

Wise decision to stay out Resourcer. The only thing the management seem to be able to get right at the moment is when to offload their own shares. They really do need to get a grip as it seems to be one gaffe after another.

[resourcer] 22/9/2008 15:57

Funnily enough I had a look at these just yesterday, after a 'Buy' recommendation in "Shares" magazine (11th. September issue).

I was put off by the big director sale announced earlier this month -

a sale which is now looking very well-timed ...

As well as by some prescient posting on this thread that suggested the worst wasn't over.

[simon gordon] 22/9/2008 13:06

Hi Steg,

It's amazing that the share price has not cratered.

------

Just looked at the quote and it has!!

[stegrego] 22/9/2008 12:36

Suprise suprise - its a complete fek up here.

Complete basket cases, both this and Bateman plc.

'In the course of the audit work for the 2007/08 financial year, the Board of Bateman Litwin has discovered certain new information which could lead to potential cost over runs and possible goodwill impairment charges. The size of
these adjustments is expected to be material.

Detailed analysis is underway to quantify the impact. Bateman Litwin will make a further announcement as soon as practicable. Bateman Litwin's major shareholder has expressed its continued support for the Company and the new
management team.'

[mirshahik] 13/9/2008 12:05

Couldn't agree more Simon. They should cut their losses sooner rather than later.

[simon gordon] 13/9/2008 11:56

Bloomberg - 13/9/08:

Ford Heights Ethanol LLC applied in June 2006 to build a distillery in the Illinois town that bears its name, promising economic revival to replace abandoned houses and closed stores. Two years later, no work has begun.

For Ford Heights and other agricultural towns, the ``green- collar'' job revolution envisioned by federal biofuel mandates is a dream deferred. Knee-high grass and old tires cover the site as record prices for corn, the main ingredient in ethanol, discourage investment in new plants.

The $20.8 billion industry may have itself to blame. Breakneck construction led to 168 ethanol plants, already producing more than U.S. mandates require for the fuel additive this year. The distilleries buy so much corn -- as much as a third of the U.S. crop this year -- that they have contributed to price increases, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says.

``I kept saying they're going to kill the golden goose,'' says Jim Jordan, president of Jim Jordan & Associates LP, a Houston fuel-consulting company. ``We have in fact overbuilt. This thing is pretty devastating.''



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Maybe BATE should sell/close Delta-T and focus on their core business and hunker down.

[stegrego] 09/9/2008 10:10

That hedge at 1.38 that was going to make them all the money this year is now periously close to starting to lose money for them at 1.40...

[fillipe] 05/8/2008 14:50

Getting closer to your c60p....But maybe also getting interesting?

[simon gordon] 29/7/2008 10:48

Credit Suisse revised forecasts:

2008-2010E EPS estimates are 18.4¢, 21.3¢ and 25.9¢.

Net Debt - $77m.

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With Delta-T still a major headache and a strategy review by the new CEO I reckon fair value is c.60p.

[simon gordon] 29/7/2008 08:56

Bateman Turkey plc.

[stegrego] 29/7/2008 08:18

I think avoiding anything with the word Bateman in the company seems prudent at the mo...

[simon gordon] 29/7/2008 08:07

The turkey strikes again....

[stegrego] 07/7/2008 19:59

The world is finally coming around to the fact that biofuels are a blooming waste of time - pity BNLN have the 2nd biggest builder of the plants in the world...... Great company this minus the Delta bit.



LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The British government said on Monday it would
slow the expansion of biofuels following a report, which found they could
increase greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to food price rises.
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said a review had not recommended a temporary
halt to the use of biofuels, which are sourced from organic materials such as
palm oil and sugar beet.
She said that while biofuels had the potential to cut carbon emissions there
were "increasing questions" about them and she agreed with the report's
recommendations to "amend not abandon" the government's policy.
The review examined the indirect effects of biofuel production such as land
use change and the effect on food prices.
It called for biofuels to be introduced more slowly than first planned until
controls are in place to prevent higher food prices and land being cleared of
forest or agriculture in order to grow fuels.
The study into the indirect effects of biofuels warned current policies may
cause greenhouse gas emissions rather than savings and also found biodiversity
could be reduced.
The report was less drastic than a World Bank study last week which blamed
biofuels for a 75 percent rise in food prices.
It warned that current biofuels policy could push up grain prices in the
European Union by 15 percent, sugar by 7 percent and oil seed by 50 percent,
while millions more people elsewhere in the world could be pushed into poverty.
The review estimates that an extra 10.7 million people in India could be
plunged into poverty, while hundreds of thousands of people in countries such as
Kenya, Malawi and Bangladesh could be affected by food price rises caused by
biofuels.
Professor Ed Gallagher, the chairman of the Renewable Fuels Agency, who
carried out the review, said the figures did not take into account the impact of
climate change on poor people if biofuels were not introduced.
The Gallagher report recommends biofuel production should target idle and
marginal land, and the use of so-called second generation biofuels, which use
waste parts of plants for energy to avoid land use change and reduce competition
with food production.
Marginal and idle land could include set-aside land in Britain and eastern
Europe where farmland has fallen into disuse, the report's co-author Greg Archer
said.
Oxfam welcomed the caution expressed in the report, but said it should have
gone further and recommended a complete moratorium on mandatory targets because
biofuels were not a "magic bullet" for climate change.
The charity's Stephen Doughty said: "Given the clear link between biofuels
and rising food prices, and evidence of higher emissions from biofuels
production than previously thought, the report should have gone further and
called for the complete repeal of existing targets.
"It is obvious that biofuels are not a magic bullet for climate change, and
may actually make things worse. In light of this, neither the UK nor the EU
should have compulsory targets."

[stegrego] 14/6/2008 23:20

Need to watch the dollar/euro rate here because as the dollar strengthens, so BNLNs hedge thats making them money starts to not too.....

[boofa] 14/6/2008 22:00

off we go again! :o}

[boofa] 09/6/2008 17:07

13p drop on 17,000. :o{

[mirshahik] 04/6/2008 12:49

Will be even better at 2.50+

[boofa] 03/6/2008 21:14

good innit! :o}

[mirshahik] 02/6/2008 14:14

16p rise on 29,000 volume?!