Casdon Share Discussion Threads

[gamblinman] 31/10/2006 17:08

All products made in China just a few sweets added for Barrat Sweet shop.Only 15 employed inc directors now was 22 last year so not much fat to cut.The factory had offices with main road frontage which got let about 3 years ago.Then the main warehouse last Oct. now the recent offices set back from main road for a call centre.All that leaves is the goods in and old manufacturing area which is the area used now for offices and storage.With most work done in China the toys will leave there for each destination.So Casdon really design toys in the UK and have them built in China.There main objectives seem costs,licensing and sales.The thing I like about them they are fighters and have produced good products whilst cutting costs and Paul Cassidy the chairman is joined by his two sons who have all to play for.

[hugepants] 31/10/2006 16:04

GamblinMan, Do they have a working Blackpool factory at all now. Or are all the products now made in China?

[gamblinman] 31/10/2006 14:26

I have seen the property and it covers quite an area.The large warehouse was let from last October so that income probably kicked in with second half figures.The admin block which was going to be let to a call centre will have rental income in second half.The area they now use for offices and storage will be quite small so the overheads will be reduced dramatically.This cost reduction along with the rental income should have a twin impact on the next figures.Indeed the introduction of a dividend must have been done with some knowledge of future expectations.Lets hope things get better.

[hugepants] 31/10/2006 12:44

Amazon are stocking 6 of the PegSculture kits


John Lewis in Glasgow have the gorilla head. The elderly salesman said they were very popular. I couldnt work out whether he was ramping or not.

[topvest] 30/10/2006 21:02

The freehold property is worth a great deal more than the 1998 valuation I suspect. It will be interesting to understand the level of rental income from properties now. There are two businesses - Casdon and the property assets.

[gamblinman] 30/10/2006 20:29

Hi Hugepants your item refers to the Dyson range DC07 DCO8 ETC and Casdon being given a worldwide license from Dyson to sell them from 2006.The toy Henry vac is just out in the shops for this Christmas and looks cute with the face on.

[robsbell] 30/10/2006 08:40

A steady climb up to 60p would be great if your valuation is near the mark.

[topvest] 29/10/2006 21:41

Yes, it's not expensive. There is a discount for the fact that it is effectively family owned. Could be due a re-rating if dividend improves.

[hugepants] 29/10/2006 21:33

re the toy Henry Vac, from the interims:

...The toy Dyson vacuum cleaners will take centre stage in 2006 as Cassidy Brothers have been offered a world wide license for all Dyson toy vacuums. We have appointed a distributor for the Casdon toys for both the US and Canadian markets. This extra business will impact the Company's figures in the first half of the financial year 2006-07 but will make little change to the Company's income up to 30 April 2006...

In general is H2 better than H1 for this share? Eps for H2 was 2.5p versus 1.5p loss for H1.

To summarise:

Market cap = 1.65M
Cash = 1M
Net liquid assets = 1.4M
Freehold property = 1.8M (last valued in 1998)
NTAV = 3.2M

Not bad for a profitable business.

[gamblinman] 19/10/2006 10:20

The new Toy Henry vac worth a look at just out this year and could be popular Christmas toy for the kids.Noticed one on Ebay at £31 with bidding not over yet not bad when the toy retails at £19-99.

[hugepants] 09/10/2006 12:15

Up 2.5% so far. Probably a massive buy order going through. Watch out for a trade in excess of 1,000 shares showing up later.

[topvest] 05/10/2006 21:44

They are not quite in the same market; computer games might be the "in-thing" but it costs a lot to enter this market and its very competitive. PegSculpture looks interesting in my opinion and its protected from copying.

[gamblinman] 21/9/2006 16:09

Looks like 3000 buy, will the seller be back.Pretty tight at the moment a 10,000 buy would have a massive impact.Just phone your broker and ask for a price in 10000.Type in Casdon on Amazon for full list of toys or mailorder express type casdon and new Henry vac there.Noticed and recomended direct sales on Ebay via casdon x.This type of selling takes time but already over 500 customers have bought will be interesting in the run up to Christmas to see how sales go.Online sales are the real alternative to using the big boys but take time to grow.At least they are trying.

[hugepants] 21/9/2006 15:13

up 4.8% on a £1000 buy. Not bad.

[topvest] 06/9/2006 21:46

Yes, you are probably right as I understand that Marton is a local name. Bit odd to still have this on the letterhead though, particularly when it has been updated to include PegSculpure.

[gamblinman] 06/9/2006 09:22

At a guess the old tool co that made the toys in the area they now occupy.All the tooling got shipped to China hence so much spare space.The goods in area would be for raw materials and construction of toys and that is the bit they now work from.So massive downsize with effects still coming through.I just hope they can cope if orders pick up but fob goes straight from China to destination.The uk sourced items will come to Marton Blackpool.

[topvest] 05/9/2006 22:04

Received a letter today with a revised AGM date of 29th September. Delay was "due to problems encountered in the printing of our Annual Report". Nice new letterhead with the Casdon and Pegsculpture brands. Interesting the letterhead stated "Cassidy Brothers plc ....Subsidiary - Marton Tool Company". Who are Marton Tool Company - not disclosed in the accounts so presumably very recent? No company with this name exists in the UK. Is this overseas?

[gamblinman] 04/9/2006 13:24

Agreed Hugepants they have done all possible to turn things without hitting balance sheet.I think Paul Cassidy along with his 2 sons intend to make things happen and are in a much stronger position to do that now with minimal overheads(some of which have still to come through,staff level,new rental income)and FOB sales likely to rise with worldwide Dyson sales.

[hugepants] 04/9/2006 12:31

I think the point about the property is that it provides security in case the business becomes unviable and they decide to wind it up. It means shareholders can expect a decent return in the worst case scenario.

They did give a small clue that trading is improving.

A full UK patent has been granted to the Arts and Crafts PegSculpture process, and further products will be added for the 2007 season. Most of the PegSculpture sales for 2005-06 emanated from outside the U.K. but I am pleased to report that since the year end orders from our U.K. customers have shown a marked increase, encouraged by Argos selecting two products for their Autumn / Winter 2006 catalogue.

[gamblinman] 03/9/2006 10:16

Hard to be sure what the rental income is but the part they are now(Cornford Rd) in looks to be the goods inward area from map.The first part they let out was about 3 years ago a brick built building with parking on the main road at the front it was offices and bit of industrial.Probably the best for rent.Then last October the main warehouse this was big and had a large carparking area at the front.With road onto the main road this was goods out ie in at Cornford out at this end.The main office and toy museum was down Cornford road then first left Built in 1969 with car parking to front.This office space going under lease at the moment.Without guessing at the rental income we know that the first builing was let and large warehouse let last October with offices going through at the moment.So rent for large warehouse only started November.
I have no figures for rent but maybe in future the company should show it in the accounts.

[topvest] 03/9/2006 08:41

Not sure that I would go that far:

2005 other operating income £61k (difficult to know if this includes non-property income - it might!)

Large warehouse - 2005/06 - say £25k

Large warehouse - 2006/07 - another 6m - £25k

Offices 6,000 sqft at £5/sq ft = £30k (£5/sq ft is a bit on the low side though for offices)

Annualised operating income c£140k

Interest on casg balances are separately shown in the accounts - only 3% and amounts to £10-20k. Given seasonal fluctuations you can't assume the company has £1m cash throughout the year as they clearly have an overdraft position at certain times of the year.

Do you know what is included in the £61k for 2004/05 - have they leased other buildings at the site in previous years?

[gamblinman] 02/9/2006 22:34

Had a look if your right the increase between last year and this 61-87k represents the 6 months of rent for large warehouse so yearly 120k plus say 30k offices and interest on 1 mill cash makes 200k.

[topvest] 02/9/2006 19:37

Looking again, I am wrong - rental income looks like it is included in "other operating income" on the face of the p&l which was £87k last year. With the recent office building and the assumption that other things are not included here (which they might be!) we are looking at more than £100k of rental income a year. That could give a "rented property" value of £2m or so! This is really two businesses now - property and toys!

[gamblinman] 02/9/2006 19:15

With regard to the property:
The main warehouse was vacated and leased for 7 years last October.The offices which like the warehouse have adequate parking are also being leased about now to a local call centre.The old offices and units on the main road got leased about 3 years ago.This if my mem serves right leaves the old warehouse down Cornford road which is to be used as warehouse come offices for a handful of staff.I was a bit surprised at the drastic steps taken but everything done to ensure the survival and future growth was down to the family.The property I would say is worth more than the value on the books.If online sales take off and fob sales increase with the worldwide Dyson license a rebound to profit would be expected.