Grampian Share Discussion Threads

[court_out] 28/6/2001 17:18

Added to my holding today after EWM news and await news from the AGM to see when GRMP will move to the transport sector.

[cwa1] 28/6/2001 17:13

Hi all
Nice to see the EWM deal firmed up.
I had thought that news that appears to be as good as this would have fired the share price up a little.
The chunky div. plus the cashback will be all very well and good but as noted above the share price will fall back accordingly.
The rump transport business seems to be priced in at around a PE of 10 or so to me which seems cheap,esp. when you consider the book value of the co. that is left as well.
I am swithering over more but having looked at today's trade it seems to me that they have been predominantly buys yet the price has dropped.I wonder why?Is there a large seller in the wings,market makers having a shake or something else?Any thoughts welcome.
Anybody got Level 2 to give us an idea of where market makers stand on bid/offer or what's lurking in the undergrowth?
Ta in advance for any comments.

CWA1

[skirbell] 28/6/2001 13:20

Peladon,

Thanks for your help. I'll have a think about whether I'll buy in or not.

Does anyone know how much EWM contributed to Grampian's figures?

[d80gs2] 28/6/2001 11:37

The sale has been in the offing since December 2000 (see news release).

I believe the price then was around 55-60p

d80gs2

[skirbell] 28/6/2001 11:31

Peladon,

I was working under the assumption that the price would rise by about the amount that would be returned to the share holders, ie 38p. I would have expected that to have happened today although I'm not sure how long the sale has been known about. I guess this could have already be in the price although I was assuming that the price rise over the last few months had been due to the company being undervalued. Am I wrong? I'll admit that I've only recently started looking at this company and my research isn't complete.

[peladon] 28/6/2001 10:31

Not sure how you figure that the share price will rise 38p. It won't. (And since it's a cert to go through the EGM, the rise would have happened already).

Will fall by approximately that amount later though:-)

[d80gs2] 28/6/2001 10:18

They're all on or around the offer price, which seems positive.

And, given a 5p spread would seem much more likely to be buys than sells.

IMHO,

d80gs2

[skirbell] 28/6/2001 10:06

Thanks everyone. If I do purchase, I settle with my broker (Barclays) on 10 working days so I'm not sure that I will qualify although I always thought that as long as you were on the registrars book on the divi date you got the payment.

Well I would guess that the share price would rise about 38p if the EGM agrees the hand back so they can crash 38p on the special divi date and I would still be quids in!

Can anyone with access to L2 give an indication as what the large trades that went through earlier were please?

[d80gs2] 28/6/2001 09:42

EGM details will be sent out in due course.

And it can't be retrospective. They'll set aside a special divi date when the shareprice will crash 38p. ;0)

d80gs2

[retchtub] 28/6/2001 09:40

skirbell
ex divi on 4th july record date 6th july should be o k as long as you pay for them by tues ...duoble check though
cheers

[skirbell] 28/6/2001 09:39

Assuming the EGM do approve, can they set the date as all holders on 27th July? Or can it not be retrospective? Also, when is the EGM, I can't seem to find details of that anywhere?

Apologies if I sound thick.

Stuart

[d80gs2] 28/6/2001 09:35

No date as yet,

EGM to approve before anything else.

Ex-divi is 4th July (I think) so you could get that too.

d80gs2

[skirbell] 28/6/2001 09:23

Has a holding date been announced to qualify for the extra 38p or could I buy some today or tomorrow and still qualify?

Stuart

[retchtub] 28/6/2001 08:01

told you all tralala fiddley de de
38P + divi
chow

[peter shone] 27/6/2001 20:41

Better to post the article?

Grampian to sell EWM

Grampian Holdings is believed to have secured the long-awaited disposal of its Edinburgh Woollen Mills subsidiary and is set to announce the £50m deal in time for the group’s annual meeting this Friday.

It is understood that a UK financial institution has completed due diligence on the 250-store chain, which Grampian placed on the market last autumn.

Grampian is expected to return most of the proceeds from the sale to shareholders but some money will be kept back to help fund the expansion of its core WH Malcolm transport business.

The deal will be seen as a coup for the directors of Grampian, led by chairman Sir Donald Mackay and finance director David McGibbon, who have resisted pressure from some shareholders to sell the company as a whole.

Alchemy Partners, the venture capitalist, is known to pitched an offer of about 95p a share for the entire group at the turn of the year but Grampian’s directors have insisted that they would generate better value for shareholders by selling EWM on its own.

Grampian’s share price closed on Friday at 80.5p but it could benefit from a re-rating once the EWM sale is confirmed.

The £50m sale price, equivalent to 50p a share, will also please institutional investors after speculation circulated in the spring that the group may struggle to raise more than £40m for the retail arm.

Grampian has conducted exclusive talks with the buyer, thought to be a private equity group, for a couple of months but its identity has been kept a closely-guarded secret.

EWM had also attracted interest from trade buyers and other venture capitalists, including 3i which pulled out of talks earlier this year.

Most of EWM’s senior managers are believed to be staying with the retail chain under the new ownership.

However, there are doubts over whether Colin Birrell, managing director of the chain, will remain in his present position.

Birrell is known to have attempted a management buyout bid for the business but did not make the final shortlist.

The attention will now focus on Grampian’s plans for the Malcolm transport business at a time when larger logistics companies are struggling with poor trading and negative sentiment on the stock market.

Trading at both EWM and Malcolm is understood to be strong following the group’s recent full-year results, which showed a 20% decline in profits to £14.6m.

Doug Morrison
Sunday, 24th June 2001
Scotland on Sunday

[retchtub] 27/6/2001 15:34

thats better 80-85 allround
chow guys,

[court_out] 26/6/2001 00:23

Try this link to the scotsman article: www.business.scotsman.com/news

[jeff h] 25/6/2001 12:23

thanks 8 ball.... from what I remember the idea
was to 'return most of the proceeds of the sale to
shareholders'

There's 109m shares issued..so if EWM is sold for
£50m that equates to approx 46p a share so 'most'
should be about the 30p plus mark.

We shall see... cheers 8 ball... retchtub

[retchtub] 24/6/2001 23:25

8 BALL

with interest rates being low companys are expected to carry some form of gearing ,also 50m hopefully will be on the conservative side,
still think 30p, lets see what the MM make of it in the morning,
i wont be selling on any gains will wait for the rerateing ,and then have two christmases at once,
good night ...sleep tight ...lol

[8 ball] 24/6/2001 22:52

RETCHTUB

Feels just like christmas,great dividend and ewm sale.
As you say who needs tech stocks anyway.
Still think the share from the sale may be nearer 20p, they could use the remainder to cut debt and invest.

[retchtub] 24/6/2001 22:42

article in SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY,says ewm WILL BE SOLD FOR 50M by the agm which is on friday, also states most of the proceeds will be returned to shareholders ,would expect 30p+ some would be saved for transport division developement,also current tradeing has been good,should be a rerateing of the transport co thats left,this hopefully is all good news ,and ex divi on the 4th july,
should get some good press in the next couple of weeks

be lucky guys.......

p.s u can keep all your high tec stocks,this is the place to be

we all wait in anticipation,,,,,,chow

[8 ball] 24/6/2001 22:28

Jeff article in the scotsman on sunday.
Hope your right about the 30p, gets better all the time.

Regards

8 ball

[jeff h] 24/6/2001 17:43

Where you getting this information from 8 ball ?
.... also why only 20p...thought the return of
cash in the form of a special div would be about
30p

[8 ball] 24/6/2001 14:50

EWM sale to be confirmed at agm on friday.
This could see a special dividend of 20p paid to share holders.