Smc Share Discussion Threads

[wolterix] 26/3/2008 10:18

theBand

also, they have an 'architectural star' in terms of one of the companies under their umbrella, William Alsop, although there have been rumours late last year that he was going to jump ship and form a new company with an ex Richard Rogers director, Marco Goldschmied

it's a wierd company for the markets in that it is a 'design' company

they announced 3 profit warnings last year and the dreaded 'internal management review', but their order books have apparently been 'full'

hopefully corporate governance last year has righted them, but the market is very wary of this company, with last year's 'blood on the boardroom floor' - Stewart McColl, mentioned above

[lfdkmp] 26/3/2008 09:27

theband - 26 Mar'08 - 08:54 - 8034 of 8036


"Just noticed the plus 40% today. Has anyone got time to tell me briefly what happened in Jan '07 when these were about 180p ?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Very briefly:

Company grew, mainly by acquisition, under charismatic CEO Stuart McColl (hence SMC).
However, poor alignmment of acquired operations, some overpaid for, over-aggressive income recognition, all combined to result in sudden reversal of previously stated income/profits. Loss of confidence compounded by the several attempts needed by new management to get restatement steady (McColl "let go").

Always either a basket case or a good long term recovery prospect.

I sold out a while back. Quite tempted again.

[jailbird] 26/3/2008 09:07

is there 250M shares in issue approximately.

mkt cap is about 5 times that

[leon11] 26/3/2008 09:05

This looks amazingly cheap!

Whats the catch??

PS I'm assuming the market cap in the header is near enough correct!

[theband] 26/3/2008 08:54

Just noticed the plus 40% today. Has anyone got time to tell me briefly what happened in Jan '07 when these were about 180p ?

[njp] 26/3/2008 07:57

Certainly looking a bit brighter, theo. Obviously there'll be caution due to the history and will want to see the full results and what those exceptionals are but, taking £4m ebitda as the half-yearly run rate would indicate £5m-£5.5m pre tax - thus say £3.7m post tax earnings, around 1.85p eps. Does put SMC on a very low multiple right now, but that's understandable in view of the history and current market sentiment. Might see some blue today but will it be sustainable?

[theophilus] 26/3/2008 07:45

26 March 2008

SMC Group Plc

Trading Update and Notice of Results

Following the successful restructuring, refinancing and strengthening of the
management team which has taken place since June 2007, SMC Group Plc is pleased
to announce the following trading update ahead of its preliminary results due
for publication on 3rd April 2008:

*H2 07 revenues are expected to be approximately £23.0m vs H1 07 revenues
of £21.1m - an increase of circa 9% from the first half, giving full year 07
revenues of circa £44.1m; and
*H2 07 EBITDA* is expected to range between £3.7m and £4.0m vs H1 07
EBITDA* of £1.2m - an increase of at least 300% from the first half, giving
expected full year 07 EBITDA* of between £4.9m and £5.2m.

* EBITDA stated before exceptional items
Whilst recognising the one off charges associated with the restructuring,
refinancing and write downs incurred in the year, the Board believes that the
steps taken during 2007 have been effective, resulting in cost savings and
increased revenues as demonstrated by the expected increases in H2 07 revenues
and EBITDA (before exceptional items) over those reported in the first half.

From this new base, trading in 2008 continues to be robust and the Board
believes further opportunities for efficiencies and growth via integration of
the businesses can be realised.

Executive Chairman, Sir Rodney Walker said," I am pleased with the progress the
business has made since last summer. With the debts of the business, including
contingent consideration, significantly reduced as a result of the open offer
and with stronger management in place, led by new MD Chris Littlemore, in place, we can now continue to build on the opportunities open to us as one of the UK's leading architectural services businesses."

- ends -

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Beginning to look promising again?

Cheers

TH.

[thebteam] 15/2/2008 16:44

interesting article

[dave7] 07/2/2008 12:29

Hehe,spoke too soon,just dropped a ha'penny!

[dave7] 07/2/2008 11:44

Bit more volume than recently,and mild upward movement-something afoot?

[njp] 26/1/2008 08:58

So it does. An 'inside' job and the 'Charterisation' of SMC. They said at the time of acquisition that Charter was very highly considered, so the appointments may work well. Little impact for the market, though that doesn't matter as the market's looking for real proof of the pudding rather than just good smells from the oven.

I hope it works for them.

[lfdkmp] 25/1/2008 15:28

NJP

Looks like Sir R has heeded your advice, timely too! :-)

[njp] 25/1/2008 09:43

LFD

No, Rodney's not the man. Hasn't got the time either. Fine as Chairman, but SMC do need the right CEO. And, as you say, there's a huge morale building task ahead too.

[lfdkmp] 25/1/2008 09:18

NJP

I always felt that the successful agglomeration of the various companies under the SMC banner would be dependent (amongst other things) on retaining and motivating key personnel and retaining and building the customer base.

With the spectacular mishandling of issues at the "centre", I feel that this has been (fatally?) undermined. Are the key players out in the field likely to stick around?

Having met Sir Rodney at the '06 AGM, my view was "solid, if not inspiring".IMO he is not the man.

I elected to withdraw orderly over the following few months. I now watch, but am not tempted back in either.

[njp] 25/1/2008 09:03

LFDKMP

Paradoxically, a low take up must have been expected, so Ironshield must have been happy enough with the price, knowing they'd be left with an awful lot of them. Not saying that's convinced me back in, but it is a point to consider.

I've always thought the business is potentially fine, or at least the various bits are. They do need someone to pull it all together, though. The Aukett CEO has a proven record, but that deal's off of course.

[lfdkmp] 25/1/2008 08:55

sp has benefited from quite a few of their "accounting things" in recent months.

[wtacraig3] 24/1/2008 20:23

Yes spotted that too - very strange. No share price movement which is even stranger. Just an accounting thing?

[dave7] 24/1/2008 18:08

Oi! Yahoo finance says 41,730,264 SMC shares changed hands today.What's this about?

[drewz] 15/1/2008 14:49

Excluding directors, only a 3.3% take up of the offer.

Says it all really.

[lfdkmp] 15/1/2008 14:16

So what are Ironshield gonna do with 73% of this beauty?

[marvelman] 15/1/2008 08:48

Yes Silverfern, I can well understand why no one wants to buy shares at 8p issue price...hardly a bargain. As an AUK investor myself I understand your point re better run companies...the FD and CEO were my problem with this company...unfortunately I believe the FD is still in situ.Thanks for your thoughts.

[silverfern] 15/1/2008 08:43

you can find well run fully funded small cap shares all over the stock exchange doing better than this poorly run company. For comparison AUK have their results out today. I have had cold calls from some commission-led company trying to get me to buy into this current round of fund raising and of course they don't knbow the first thing about SMC. Desperate - must have been Board members ringing me then.

[marvelman] 15/1/2008 08:31

Anyone have any thoughts now on this company. I realise of course the bitterness still prevelent and of course the distrust engendered by the management but this is now a fully funded company (I believe) with a market cap of only £19 million.Not in myself but would be interested in reopening the debate to see if anyone believes there could be some future for the share price now.

[phil2003] 07/1/2008 14:22

"SMC plan to raise £1.5M funding at 8p per share / offer closes 9th Jan"....





















...ARE THEY 'AVIN A LAFF ??

[cool_hand] 06/1/2008 20:37

Pile of Poo.