Hartstone Share Discussion Threads

[nod] 01/3/2004 00:27

And don't forget to cast your vote for EA :)

[nod] 01/3/2004 00:20

You probably found the "Who we are" page... impressive customer list... "Bennett's major customers range from value-oriented retailers such as Payless ShoeSource and Wal*Mart to higher-end department stores such as Nordstrom and Macy's."

[nod] 01/3/2004 00:14

Gravy - on the Bennett deal, I did quite a bit of research at the time and thought the deal was good enough to buy some ords and prefs. Bennett's looked like a very well run operation.
Here's a little snippet on Bennett (I'll post some more as I find it again):

Heritage Partners Invests in Bennett Footwear Group
BOSTON, May 30, 2003 – Heritage Partners, Inc. announced today its investment in Bennett Footwear Group LLC ("Bennett"), utilizing its Private IPO® equity structure created for family owned businesses.

Headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, Bennett is a leading marketer, designer, and distributor of branded and private label women's and children's footwear. The Company's flagship brand, Franco Sarto®, has established itself as one of the core offerings in virtually every retailer of better women's footwear in the country. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Partnering with Heritage in this Private IPO® transaction are the Bennett management team, led by CEO Bruce Ginsberg and COO Gregg Ribatt, and Pentland USA, whose parent company, Pentland PLC, is a UK-based specialist in footwear and apparel brand management and sourcing. Pentland PLC, which controls such brands as Speedo® and Izod LaCoste®, has significant apparel and footwear sourcing capabilities.

Over the past 10 years, Ginsberg and Ribatt have successfully grown Bennett's branded and private label businesses, while aggressively cutting costs and consolidating operations. Ginsberg said, "Heritage Partners has an excellent reputation as an equity partner for family-owned and closely-held businesses. We look forward to working with Heritage to take advantage of both licensing and acquisition opportunities."

[day_dreamer] 29/2/2004 17:35

Very hard to find some decent info on Bennett Footwear.
I'll assume that they are not a quoted company either, using
various search engines throws up the same non important info
about themselves, would be nice to know how well their business
if performing with them selling hst's products.
A sales upturn combined with cost cutting and then the guarenteed
monthly payment up to the end of 2006 could see easily see Hst survive.

Thoughts ?

Gravy

[day_dreamer] 28/2/2004 18:37

Nod/ct or any other hst shareholder.

Read this Bennett agreement again, what gets me is the minimum sales has been
set at 50 mil for a full year, with $242k a month up to December guarenteed
as we know + cost cutting and still plenty of turnover to work with then maybe
this is why the shares are recovering sharply, they might have turned it round
quick enough to make a new deal for the preference shares ??

LONDON (AFX) - Hartstone Group PLC said its principal subsidiary, Aigner
Group Inc (EA), has entered into an agreement with Bennett Footwear Group LLC to
license its branded wholesale footwear business to BFG.
Under the deal, BFG will sell all EA-branded wholesale footwear up to Dec
31, 2010, renewable under certain conditions for a further seven years.
BFG will pay 5 pct royalty to EA for all EA-branded shoes sold by them.
In the first full year the minimum sales have been set at 50 mln usd and the
minimum royalty will be 2.5 mln usd, increasing by 5 pct per year during the
period of the license.
BFG has contracted to use the EA warehousing and distribution facilities up
to Dec 31, 2004 for 242,000 stg per month and thereafter 192,000 stg per month
up to Dec 31, 2006.
Hartstone said these payments will partly offset the loss of contribution by
the EA Footwear division to EA overheads.
The division sustained a loss of 4.3 mln usd in the year 2002/03, after a
contribution of 5.5 mln to EA overheads.
Hartstone said the deal will allow EA to enter into a new banking agreement
in the US and will avoid the risk of further losses in EA's footwear business.

[speed camera] 28/2/2004 07:56

Yes another new high for Hartstone, picked out on
a month ago at just over a penny.
Also making new highs yesterday from this
site on a dull day were - MSB International,
Wireless, and CYC. Take a look.

[day_dreamer] 27/2/2004 17:44

Still have Dcs on my monitor tony and it will be interesting
to see what progress they have made with their debt situation.

First buy over 2p in Hst for many a long time there, delayed 162k !!

I still can only see it as a stock shortage unless the mm's know
something we dont but lets not knock it :-))

Gravy

[tony14] 27/2/2004 17:20

Gravy, what is surprising is that the mm's moved their quotes up yesterday which was T2 closing for the recent T10's. I decided to take delivery after the mm buys! Seriously though, very light volumes today weighted to the sell side and yet mm's happy to walk this one up.

Regards

Gravy, off topic any news re DCS? Still holding 25k@13.75 but have noted the mass exodus of the T traders and the resultant drop in price. Just hope the forthcoming results dont disappoint. A lot of "major" contract news on their website but nothing reported to the markets thus far. ;-))

[day_dreamer] 27/2/2004 16:50

Did a nice turn with Itk, in at 12.25p out at 14.79p in 2 days
but apart from that it's been a very boring week.

The penny share i really like is Sgy but until the placing news
becomes more clearer i dont know which way to approach it now.

What i am saying is...if the exisiting shareholders are going to
be able to get a chance to subscribe for new shares then there is
no reason to buy more ordinary shares because the placing shares
will be cheaper.

However there is rumours that Huntleigh might fully subscribe for
the shares which would be great news and the shares would rise sharply.

However again, if they decide to offer new shares to all the shareholders
then 7.1p is a good value price to buy in for the first time as i'm sure
you'll be able to subscribe for new shares at the discount price whatever
that be so you could find yourself owning shares at a nice low entry price.

I would be buying more but i'm keeping that money in case of the above and
a chance to get my average down from 8.25p in what i see is a good growth play.

Keep an eye on it.

Gravy

[clocktower] 27/2/2004 16:39

Nice one d_d... Would get interesting with an update.

Anything else you have spotted?

[day_dreamer] 27/2/2004 15:17

Nothing wrong with that tony, over £600 profit and rising for
a small investment is worth shouting about.

Scap has joined the bidders as well i have just noticed.

Now officially a breakout on advfn.

Do you think there will be any kind of update from the company
as the shares have risen very strongly of late and usually after
a pump and dump (by others) they fall back and stay there but hst just keeps
on climbing of late ???

Gravy

[tony14] 27/2/2004 15:05

Looking very perky over the last few days. Still holding a small 100k from 1.25p, but note that someone who shall remain nameless bought some yesterday for the "medium" term and then promptly sold out a couple hours later. ;-))

Regards

[day_dreamer] 27/2/2004 14:48

And it still goes higher !

Ubs and Evo are controlling the shots here, they are on both
bid and offer at present and that's because they operate .25p
spreads with the rest much higher.

Gravy

[clocktower] 27/2/2004 13:20

Is the ground solid now d_d ? Have not been through the thread so not really in touch just sitting on the balance for a while but may cut out but will let the BB know before I do, if I do.

[day_dreamer] 27/2/2004 10:46

They look to be short of stock nod, that 24k buy (£480) moved
3 mm's up !!! :-))

And the similar sized sells have had no effect in dropping them
so yes there must not be too much stock around.

L2 is quite good but the spread is 12.2% so no wonder it's quiet,
wouldnt take a lot of buys to get it going but it would have to
move quite a bit for a trader to get into profit buying at 2.05p !

Gravy

[maut too] 27/2/2004 08:33

this is only a tiny cap. - yesterdays vol was three times the average

moving up again today - 3/6 mm's are blue

[nod] 27/2/2004 06:17

Gravy - very interesting. A sign that there are orders to fill?
I think we are on the way to 3.5p. By April would be my guess
but it may be faster - hold tight :)

[day_dreamer] 26/2/2004 20:59

Hi Nod :

Just wondering why the very aggressive move by UBS today, they were
comfortably clear of the rest on the 1.55p bid when they suddenly
started buying stock and then of course it took off, Evo were buying
on the last surge so i can only conclude there is a stock shortage so
pushing the price up only seems to encourage more buying so who knows
where it can go short term if there's not much stock going around.
Well it is now a 1 bagger, only 9 to go...lol...still a lot to prove
from the company before tha dream is reality but still nice to see it
continue to rise :-))

Gravy

[nod] 26/2/2004 18:58

With such a low market cap, modest turnover valued at £30k can send this up 20%. As we saw last week with a little more interest the rise can be 50%.
Good for trading; good for holding "long-term" i.e. more than a day ;)

[nod] 26/2/2004 18:54

1.5 mill trades is not heavy volume - it's only £30k.

[oldolie] 26/2/2004 16:24

Four posts in a row, all spot on , well done mautie

[maut too] 26/2/2004 16:23

20% up intraday on heavy vol

[day_dreamer] 26/2/2004 15:59

And then the price goes higher :-))

Breaks your heart for the poor little mite !

Gravy

[day_dreamer] 26/2/2004 15:51

Well that was a long medium term optimist23 :-))

Less than 4 hours and you start selling !!!

You are way out of order in your posts !!!

Gravy

[day_dreamer] 26/2/2004 12:16

"will hold for the medium term"

rotflmao

You lasted less than a day last time before you sold Optimist23 !

Why dont you just say you are trading them and then everybody knows
where you stand ?

UBS investment bank whoever they are...are very keen to get stock or
move this price higher !

Gravy