Prem. Bar & Res Share Discussion Threads

[growthhunter] 18/8/2008 13:27

....looks like they are recruiting

Group Financial Controller: Job Details
My client is a high profile, profitable and rapidly growing AIM listed PLC in the hospitality industry and has now grown to 31 sites and a turnover of c£60 million.
Initially the role of Group Financial Controller will involve;
Staff management of 7 staff (4 pl, 2 cc, 1 FM)
Management accounting and reporting
Cash flow forecasting
Profit and loss forecasting
Statutory accounts and year end processes, dealing with auditors
Improving processes and controls
Troubleshooting and reconciliations
Liaising with the Banks for the annual refinancing is more likely to be part of the role immediately if 4-5 years PQE rather than 2-3 years

Development of the role
Currently the FD is being trained by the MD to deal with the City, Analyst and PLC work in more detail thus, he needs additional support so a GFC and a Commercial Manager are to be recruited.
It is envisaged this role will in time have the Commercial Manager and her team of 6 reporting to you rather than FD and you will then have the whole finance team to manage thus, gaining substantial commercial input
The MD will then focus on strategic and commercial aspects, FD City relations and you the financial and commercial control of the business



Top trained trained ACA
2-5 years PQE which must be within industry and must be PLC
Highest calibre, upper quartile in reference to ambition, interpersonal characteristics and diligence
You will be a robust and highly dynamic individual with both an eye for details and a progressive commercial outlook to enable a substantial contribution to the senior management team. The drive, tenacity, capability and the interpersonal skills (confident, naturally hospitable and highly credible) to develop the role.
A forthright and proactive style is needed in the technical and staff management aspects
A polished style of communication and presentation as well as being a natural and personable communicator is essential in this high profile, people focused and image conscious sector.
A sense of humour and ability to liaise at all levels is essential


Package – above market to reflect an above market calibre candidate
Up to £70,000 plus
Generous and flexible benefits package which may include car/car allowance, parking, free meals, bonus, pension, healthcare



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[lbo] 23/7/2008 14:07

Reubens buy Dawnay Day's airport stake



The billionaire Reuben brothers have taken advantage of the ongoing crisis at property and financial services group Dawnay Day to buy full ownership of Oxford airport.

[lbo] 20/7/2008 14:09

Laxey  exploits Dawnay Day Sirius sell-off

[lbo] 20/7/2008 14:06

Dawnay, Day faces asset sell-off at fraction of value


The vultures are circling Dawnay, Day International, the financial services group, as it faces selling off assets at a fraction of their value after calling in administrators. Several of its subsidiaries moved to distance themselves yesterday from the parent company's funding woes.

One broking rival said: "Companies are interested in its holdings, and we certainly had a look at their client list when we heard. It looks like Dawnay will have to sell very quickly to meet margin calls." The source added: "The underlying assets are fine, but if it is forced to sell in these markets, they will probably only realise a fraction of the value."

[lbo] 20/7/2008 13:31

I also note that PBR is in a closed period so some people who wish to buy the shares are precluded from doing so! So indeed a strange time for the CFD to be forced to sell unless of course if you are CFD provider who does not care as the losses will have to be covered by Dawney Day.


"Premium is in a closed period which precludes its management from increasing their holdings to try to steady the share price"

I also note the comments by the company at the interims

Share Buy Back:

Shareholders passed a resolution on 28 November 2007 to authorise us to make
market purchases of our own shares within certain specified pricing constraints, up to 15 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital, such authority to expire at the next AGM. However, our two largest shareholders, the Reuben Brothers and Dawnay, Day are interested in 32.5 per cent. and 29.4 per cent. respectively of the issued share capital, and consequently any increase in the shareholding of the Reuben Brothers and their concert party and any increase over 30 per cent. in the shareholding of Dawnay, Day and their concert party , following the purchase of shares would normally result in the obligation for them to each make a general offer to all shareholders pursuant to Rule 9 of the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers. The Takeover Panel will normally waive such an obligation provided that the Company's shareholders (other than the Reuben Brothers and Dawnay, Day and their respective concert parties) approve on a poll such waivers at a general meeting of shareholders. We intend to take the necessary steps to obtain such approval from shareholders, which will require us to obtain firstly waivers from the Takeover Panel and thereafter post a circular to shareholders to convene a general meeting to approve the Takeover Panel's waivers

[lbo] 20/7/2008 12:42

I wonder if the DD administrators had aything to with the CFD sale other then causing it to happen. It was the CFD provider who failed to get the money on a margin call from the administrator and were then entitled to sell the shares to whoever they wanted at any price.

The actual DD holding in PBR shares will be a different matter as it will be controlled by the administrators who will be seeking interested parties and the best price. If the Reubens were to buy it then it would trigger a bid so perhaps another reason why they could not move on the sudden sale of the CFD shares if they were even offered them.

Looks like the stakes in Dawney Day Travevia and Dawney Day Capathian were snapped up by some big investors like the Rothchilds and then the share prices rallied as many realised the buyers were getting once off bargains from forced sellers.

I also wonder if the Reubens were happy to support a rights issue at £1.69 then you have to wonder would they be prepared to bid now with the price down to 35p by a sudden forced CFD sale?

Mkt Cap is now £13.75m. Enterprise Value £50m
Worst case Net Asset Value has to be at least £30m (75p per share)

Going on the interims results (allowing for any fall in LFL being offset by the busy Christmas trade in 2nd half): Full year should be

Turnover £70m
EBITDA £8m

So the trading business has a value alone of £40m (5 x EBITDA) and thats putting no value on the net assets of £30m

[fillipe] 20/7/2008 12:03

I've only just started looking at PBR, although I was a follower, but not a buyer, of the old Ultimate.

Am I correct in thinking that the only attraction of PBR, at the present time , is as an asset play. I see that Net Tangible Asset Value at 30th July 2007 was 114p/share, but net borrowings were £38m - about the same as the turnover!
The trading performance looks very poor and with the possiblity of going worse, from the sound of the last update. I see the only broker forecast available is for 2.35p of eps for 7/2008, which hardly supports the 30p share price. Eps of 3.86p is forecast for 7/2009 but in the present economic climate this must be a bit of a guestimate.

I quite fancy a risky punt but recently my bottom fishing has only dragged me down. Any thoughts anyone?

f

[jeffian] 19/7/2008 21:56

If DD's advisers had any gumption, you'd think that the first people they'd contact if wanting to dump a load would be Reubens? OK, it may trigger a bid but it would have sewn up a deal (50%+) and protected the share price Unless the Reubens are waiting for the crumbs to drop into their lap........!

Regards, Ian

[lbo] 19/7/2008 20:45

Looks like the CFD was forced to sell on a margin call. Will the Reubens bid for the stock and the whole company now that the share price was depressed by the forced CFD sale? Its a very illiquid stock so you would have to ask questions if a bid came now after the the way the closing of the CFD forced the price down.



Premium Bars and Restaurants, the Aim-listed bar group that is backed by the Reuben brothers, tumbled 29 to 34½p as the troubled Dawnay Day group offloaded some of its CFD position at a big discount. Dawnay Day still holds 25.6pc of the company



Premium Bars and Restaurants saw its shares slump 45pc after ailing investment firm Dawnay Day was forced to offload more than a 5pc stake in the high street group.

Financial backers to Dawnay are understood to have forced through the sale of 2m Premium shares yesterday after the investment firm failed to meet a margin call on contracts-for-differences (CFDs) connected to the owner of the Prohibition and Living Room bar chains.

Dawnay controlled a 29.4pc stake in Premium in a combination of shares and CFDs. The shares were sold at about 30p, sending Premium's share plunging 29 to 34½p.

The Reuben Brothers own a 32.5pc stake in Premium and yesterday's share price fall will have reduced the value of the property magnates' holding by more than £3.5m.

[jeff h] 19/7/2008 11:38

The way I see it if DD are bust or not they will be looking to raise cash from sale of assets, so in either case they will look to be selling to the highest bidder.

[jdhurry] 19/7/2008 08:24

If Dawnay Day are bust won't they have to dispose of the rest?

[matt123d] 19/7/2008 01:24

There is still a large seller in the market and Dawnay Day still hold over 10 million shares even after todays 1.5 million sale at 30p.

Could be going the same way as FDG, price action is very similar.

Really can't see any upside in this.

[jeffian] 18/7/2008 19:39

Arthur,

I don't disagree that this moment of 'capitulation' may be the one to get back in but I'd do it on fundamentals (revenue/earnings/div) and not focus solely on the supposed asset-backing. Check out my post 13 above; do we actually know what the structure of the estate looks like (freehold/leasehold)? I'm checking it out myself but remember Regent Inns etc......!

Regards, Ian

[arthur_lame_stocks] 18/7/2008 17:45

I'm wondering if this is now worth a punt? The market cap's down to about £14m. Net tangible assets about £45m. £45m in debt too but presumably freeholds offer good security.

Could this now be an attractive contrarian punt or will it go broke?

[jeff h] 18/7/2008 16:23

Just had 10k as a punt.

20 out of 50 freeholds and The Living Room is a strong brand even in these depressed times.

Wonder who bought the Dawnay stake?

[lbo] 18/7/2008 15:15

Two million Premium shares sold for 30p

[tonka10] 19/6/2008 21:47

Oh dear Oh dear Oh dear,

It has been coming for some time now, poor management, chewing up the cash on the acquisition trail of what are in the main leased businesses. Watch this drop quicker than a lead balloon when the final results are released. Slightly under expectation. ERM????????????

[jeffian] 18/6/2008 19:29

Well what is the value of the estate now? The attraction of 'old' ULG used to be that it owned all/most of its units freehold so whatever a pig's breakfast they made of operating them, at least they had the underlying value of the asset. Is that still the case? In the Bel & Dragon acquisition, they highlighted the fact that 3 out of the 4 units were freehold. When they bought Living Room, they just said they had acquired 13 units. I suspect they are all/mainly leasehold (also indicated by the nearly £4m pa amortisation charge as the value of leasehold interests has to be written off over the term of the lease).

Whatever the esteemed publication 'NE Business' thinks, 'like-for-like' means just that and trade is down in both restaurants and nightclubs, even though less in the former. The smoking ban, cited as a reason for every ill in the pub trade, should be a plus for the restaurants which should be smoke-free anyway. If they think the "move to top quality restaurants has paid off", that can only be in the sense that things would be even worse if they hadn't!

Regards, Ian

[u813061] 18/6/2008 13:25

I don't understand why they are hanging on to their loss making units. They need to focus more resource on getting rid of these. Also why a company headquarter in Newcastle bought a chain with outlets in Reading, Windsor, Cookham, Godalming is certainly potential for management to have their eye drift off the ball.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 18/6/2008 13:19

Not cheap yeat as far as I can see, but maybe i'm missing something. Is there much potential uplift in the property portfolio. I can't believe the Dawnay Day mob would have their tentacles in this if there wasn't some angle to it.

[lbo] 18/6/2008 10:20

Anyone know the value of its property estate now? £60m+? The current Mkt Cap. of £40m on forecast sales of £70m also looks interesting at the right price

Premium insists move to top quality restaurants has paid off

[jeffian] 18/6/2008 10:04

From today's Independent investment column:

"Premium Bars and Restaurants

Our view: Sell

Share price: 104.5p (-23p)

For some time now, those in a number of sectors, and particularly the restaurant industry, have argued that some consumer markets are less affected by the credit crunch. If that is true, and a decline in restaurants signals the onset of a real economic downturn, then we are all in trouble if yesterday's statement from Premium Bars and Restaurants (PBR) is anything to go by.

The top end bar, pub, restaurant and hotel group, which includes the Living Room chain, warned that the market continues to be "very challenging". Annual like-for-like sales are down 5 per cent.

The company said it expects full-year numbers, to be published in September, to come in under previous expectations, and the executive chairman, Mark Jones, adds that the firm has switched from trying to maximise revenues, to cost control. The group is also trying to increase its food sales, with Mr Jones saying that things could soon be getting quite serious for bars just offering drinks.

Investors reacted as though the group had contracted plague, with the stock falling 18 per cent.

Sadly for buyers, this is not a golden buying opportunity. The shares have crashed through the previous year low, and with a constant flow of bad economic news the price will continue to fall.

Experts at KBC point out that new Living Room openings in Milton Keynes and Bristol will help profitability, and that the share price should hold up to some extent because the group owns the freehold on much of its estate. Indeed, far better to be with PBR than a group without the safety net of a property base.

However, frankly, this is papering over the cracks. The watchers predict that earnings per share will fall to 3.9p next year, from 5.7p. Investors should heed this as a warning: a punt now will lead to losses. Sell."

[jeffian] 17/6/2008 09:46

Oh, dear.




(o/t incidentally, Ju, if you are still about, ref post 2 above, BRU also reported today. Results were rather good!)

Regards, Ian