Thistle Hotels Share Discussion Threads

[burrmj] 19/11/2001 17:53

i bought before sept 11 as well, i decided to sell today, lost 20% but too many negative things can happen to thistle, read the piece about increased insurance premiums for london hotels, not good as thistle own their property in london.
also i feel todays rise is hopefull prior to accounts which will show problems although this company is a sound investment for recovery i think it will take three years or there abouts.
if the shares drop to sub 90p aftyer the bad trading figs for this year and early next i will be the first to jump in.
on the bright side i made a packet buying and selling eno last week offset my thistle loss and left a little profit, lifes not too bad.

[bigbertie] 15/11/2001 21:05

The recent surge in the price is great, but I personally doubt if it will go much further in the near future. Thistle is about the only hotel chain which (to my knowledge) has not made a trading statement since Sept 11, yet it has more hotels in London than anyone (24 out of 60 I think). So there must be an unhappy statement to come. Occupancy rates were already falling in 2Q.

As to takeovers, Brierley Investments will call the tune since they have 46% of the shares. They were reputedly looking for a price of 200p but I suspect they will not get anywhere near that now as there is plenty of capacity and other chains hardly have bouyant share prices or want to build up debt.

Hopefully I am being too pesimistic - I bought just before Sept 11!

[burrmj] 15/11/2001 19:20

i agree the £1 was possibly a barrier, hope for 120 before xmas.

[kdc] 15/11/2001 16:18

They have been ticking up - slowly but surely - now they are over the £ expect some more to come


K

[burrmj] 15/11/2001 16:13

after seeing hilton fall thistle held on well, hope for good things.

[ainsoph] 12/11/2001 14:20

outperforming sector by a factor of 4 to 1 over the last month - sector covers Leisure as well as hotels

ainsoph

[oldtown] 12/11/2001 13:52

I think that now the £1.00 mark has been breached then a move to £1.20 to test the next step could well be on the cards.

[burrmj] 09/11/2001 10:39

good start

[kdc] 08/11/2001 20:18

Heavy turnover today - 1.5 million shares and up 7% ...... they will recover and who knows - the bid will probably come when we lreast expect it


K

[burrmj] 08/11/2001 17:32

what a great day for thistle, hope it continues.

[timeliner] 07/11/2001 13:10

I went long (CFD) last week.

[oldtown] 07/11/2001 11:06

I think that the 1.00 mark may be taken soon,The marketmakers are marking this stock up everday by a penny and no sellers seem to be in the wings so short term imho it looks good.
I am in at 96p for a small punt.
Oldtown

[internet bubble] 02/11/2001 09:41

There has been only a limited impact on our business in Regional UK, which has
traded at close to 2000 levels in the five weeks to 21 October. Trade in
Continental Europe has held up well.


This is from MLC trading statement today

[burrmj] 29/10/2001 16:11

most of the shares in this group are held by one shareholder, and they will only sell when the price is right.
i bought last year at 140 when rumours of a sale by nomura were rife, sold out at 170 and rebought at the beginning of the summer at 125, i could not believe the shares could drop that much. how little i knew, sept 11 and look at them now.
still i feel they are sound enough for the long term so i will hang on now.
if i count the profit i have banked in this share 95 will see me break even and the dividends are ok.

[kdc] 29/10/2001 13:10

I think a bid could easily come along at current price levels - easier to buy top London hotels rather than build new.

The whole sector has ben hit by recent events but tourists will still want to come to London.

Thistle management are reacting to the situation and promoting themselves to a new audience.




K

[burrmj] 29/10/2001 13:03

this share will run with a price range of 80 to 95 over the next few months unless a bid appears which i doubt even at this price.

[finmac] 29/10/2001 09:23

I agree, when the Directors buy shares it usually goes up. I have bought first thing this morning and it is up 3 points so far to-day.
Regards
Finmac

[lexis] 28/10/2001 22:59

More Director shareholding as noted in the press this weekend.
Anyone any thoughts on short term target for this one.
Seems to be a decent punt at this price, bottomed out??
You advice and comments please for an investor normally running with tech stocks

[burrmj] 23/10/2001 14:36

they have been for sale for 2 years according to their largest shareholder.

[oldtown] 18/10/2001 19:33

This share has touched new lows in the last days and offers a safe dividend of around 6%.The downside is obvious in this share since Sept 11 but three directors have bought shares in the last week.
The p/e ratio is around 6.5 and even if profits come in under by 10-15% then that would still give a under average rating.The assets are worth 30%+ more than the shareprice and it enjoys takeover rumours every other week.
I do not hold shares in this company but I think it may be a shortterm long.
Anyone got any views on tho
Oldtown

[kdc] 18/10/2001 17:57

I have been tracking their progress and note the 50K buy - interestingly the whole board only holds around 100K.

Hotels are not flavour of the month but now is a good time to buy for the longer term. Shareholder discounts are worth while and they have put themselves up for sale.

K

[burrmj] 18/10/2001 17:38

follow the directors lead and jump in at 86p.

[kdc] 05/9/2001 16:03

Thistle confirmed the sale today - Interims were good under the circumstances according to WestLB Panmure.

My biggest winner of the day - up around 5% with nearly a million shares traded.

K

LONDON (AFX) - Thistle Hotels PLC's chief executive, Ian Burke, said the group's performance in the regions had been much more resistant to the downturn in the world economy and the foot and mouth crisis than London hotels, as the group posted first half figures near the bottom of the consensus range.

"The regions have been less impacted by these two factors and so have seen RevPar growth throughout the first half," he told AFXNews in an interview.

However, he conceded there had been some downturn in the regions in the second quarter, although this had been less severe than was the case in London.

Earlier, the group posted a pretax, pre asset sales profit for the six months to
June 30 of 29.4 mln stg against 28.2 mln.

EPS for the period slipped to 4.6 pence against 5 pence while the interim dividend will remain flat at 1.7 pence.

The slow trading seen in the first half is continuing in the second quarter, Burke said.

But, while the first six weeks of the second half have started slowly, no indications
are yet available on the critical period of September to November, when business
travel is at its peak, said Burke.

The second half will be made even more difficult by the strong performance last
year.

"Last year, we had a very strong period, with the American Bar Association meeting
which had a terrific impact on demand in London and Farnborough."

However, Burke did point out that the group is still performing better than it did
in this period two years ago.

Burke said business travellers account for 60 pct of the group's total customer
base, slightly less in London and slightly more in the regions.

This could put pressure on the group as the group's peers have been suggesting that
investment bankers, in particular, are travelling less as the economic slowdown
bites.

Elsewhere, Burke said the group's strong financial position allows it to consider
both making acquisitions and also disposals of hotels which are not generating
the right return.

Analysts have been suggesting there is some speculative appeal in Thistle if it
would consider selling its London assets, but Burke was tight-lipped on what portfolio
changes the group might make.

"There are still cities in the UK where we think there are good prospects, where
we don't have a presence," as all that Burke said on the matter.

On a more positive note, Burke pointed out that despite the difficult trading environment,
the group had achieved a growth in its key RevPAR data, lifting the
figure 5 pct to to 52.73 pct.

Burke said the group is, in the short term, focusing on improving its performance
and on generating cashflow.