Brulines Share Discussion Threads

[jeffian] 14/4/2012 18:50

Hadn't spotted this before



Brulines now renamed Vianet (VNET). Have started a new thread using the new name/ticker here -

[jeffian] 09/3/2012 10:04

Ref #47 and #48, I must be going completely ga-ga in my old age as I had forgotten that BRU hold a stake of around 12%(?) in UNG acquired in 2009. I think #47 is confusing the tail with the dog!

[jeffian] 07/3/2012 12:15

"simonh88 - 3 Mar'12 - 03:09 - 47 of 55
....In short, I don't give it much chance, it needs to find something else. It's not for me sadly."

Not one of your better calls, simon!

8-)

[this_is_me] 06/3/2012 16:49

Happy days! Although Me bought at at he end of last year before the bottom Me is sitting on a nice profit. Still undervalued.

[jeffian] 06/3/2012 15:51

Whoops! Thar she blows!

It seems unlikely that Lee's activity alone (he says he bought 11 times between 80p-96 since 2006) is behind this. Interesting activity on rather a grim day in the market. There was a Trading Update on 4 March last year; maybe one due imminently?

[cestnous] 06/3/2012 08:20

Probably because of all the shares he had been buying. His site visit would also alerted a lot of others to the possibility of an article in FT.

[jeffian] 05/3/2012 18:56

I think a bit too much is being made of the Lee article, even if it was behind today's rise. The share price has been recovering quite strongly for over a month.

[mctmct] 05/3/2012 17:47

Interesting that Treatt, which Lee said is his largest holding, fell today.

If his portfolio exceeds £1m, He presumably holds rather a lot. He's too savvy to have too many individual stock to be able to keep up to date with news.

[zoolook] 05/3/2012 12:46

Some past commentary on how his tips affect the share price of small caps

[strollingmolby] 05/3/2012 11:07

Spike-up caused by John Lee's mention in Weekend FT?

[jeffian] 03/3/2012 15:19

simonh88,
I'm a shareholder in Brulines and I have to admit I'm yet to be convinced by the diversification into Petrol Forecourt Services (PFS), but I don't understand why you think Htec have such dominance that you "don't give it much chance". Universe had total (declining) revenues of £11.29m last year, of which PFS provided £7.726m. Brulines had total revenues of £25m in the period of which PFS (which was set up in the period by the acquisition and integration of 3 companies) provided £6.12m. It also seems that they share some of the same customer pool as Brulines Fuel Solutions claim a customer list including Shell, Total, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons.



It hardly looks like BRU are the minnow attacking a market dominated by UNG; it looks more like two small AIM companies operating in the same market, of which UNG is the considerably smaller of the two overall.

Maybe there's a case for acquisition/merger?!

[simonh88] 03/3/2012 03:09

I'm not convinced about this company. Moving into petrol forecourt monitoring services! - they're up against a company called Htec owned by the Universe group which counts Esso, BP, Texaco, Asda, Morrisons amongst its customers in this very area.

In short, I don't give it much chance, it needs to find something else. It's not for me sadly.

[bonio10000] 21/12/2011 00:13

I remember Vianet though from years back.

They seemed to be on the cusp of some major vending deals, Selecta etc, and now they are back to this?

Just seems it has gone nowhere.

[jeffian] 20/12/2011 23:04

It may be peanuts in itself but I think the point that they are trying to make is that they are developing another potential revenue-stream. Brulines' 'core' business - monitoring beer flows in tenanted pubs - is under attack and they are desperately looking for other sources of income. Firstly, they have moved into petrol forecourt monitoring services and I suppose they are saying 'Look, here's something else that could be big'. If you're dealing with card-payment services, I suppose Visa is no bad partner!

[bonio10000] 20/12/2011 22:37

Am I right that they put an RNS out about installing a few machines in Visa's offices....

Jeez.

[ar4plcscom] 09/12/2011 13:16

Just came across Brulines interims and while profits have fallen dividend has been retained giving a fair yield. Going to do more research before deciding whether to take the plunge and buy some shares.

[jeffian] 07/6/2011 10:29

Anybody else in this? Results today OK given the mayhem in their core market (pubco's) and they seem to be making a reasonable fist of diversifying their business into other areas, particularly petrol station systems. With a yield over 6%, little debt on the balance sheet and a moderate PER, I'm holding on. I doubt it'll set the world alight but with the beer market stabilising and hopefully growth and synergy savings coming through from the acquired businesses, future results seem more likely to go up than down.

[jeffian] 11/4/2011 11:16

druinsky,

See my post 36 above. Derrick Collin's unfortunate past was 'spent' and deemed irrelevant by the time of his involvement with CBS, from which he was able to make two little fortunes - firstly by reversing his Brulines business into it in 1999 at 65p/share giving him cash and a controlling interest in CBS, then by forcing it into Voluntary Liquidation in 2002 (against the advice of the independent Directors, who were unceremoniously removed) and buying it back at 20p/share. The reason given for the VL at the time was that uncertainty about orders meant they may have insufficient working capital, but this was disputed by the independent Directors, and shareholders also indicated that they would put up additional capital if required to tide over a temporary situation. To no avail. Brulines re-floated in 2006 at around 145p/share at which point DC 'left the building' (pockets stuffed with cash, no doubt) so the answer to your question is, yes, this now has new management and, no, he is no longer involved.

Apparently, he has formed a competitor to Brulines called Cellarstream. I did mail BRU to ask how this could be and surely he would have been made to sign a non-compete contract on leaving. That was nearly a year ago; I'm still waiting for the answer!

[druinsky] 10/4/2011 13:46

I rememver that CBS, a company that used to be Brulines, had been run by a convicted blackmailer with a prison sentence. Is it now new managemt?

[jeffian] 08/12/2010 13:48

No comment about yesterday's Interims? I thought they were surprisingly solid given the profit warning on 26/10. Not too bad to maintain profits despite turmoil in their core customer base (pubco's) and bedding in new acquisitions. I'm not sure whether the stable share price reflects satisfaction or just lack of interest!

[jeffian] 28/6/2010 16:51

What on earth is Derrick Collin up to? There's a story running in the Publican which says he has acquired a business which competes directly with Brulines.

Those of us with longer memories hoped that, with the flotation of Brulines, we had seen the last of this unsavoury character. Due to the passage of time, his brush with the law is now 'spent' but his actions when Brulines was part of Comprehensive Business Services still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth (not to say hole in the wallet). Having placed a significant number of shares with various institutions and shareholders but kept a >50% controlling interest, he quickly put it into Liquidation and repurchased the shares for pennies on the grounds that 'delayed orders had brought into question whether the company had sufficient working capital'. This was disputed by the Independent Directors but the majority shareholding won the day and we were stuffed. Strangely, when Brulines refloated from the ashes, the Prospectus showed that there had been no such shortfall and, in fact, crowed about an unbroken growth record. So that was two little fortunes made for Mr. C from the same company but he was wisely erased from the records when the latest company floated. Now he pops up again with Cellarstream. Didn't they have him under a non-compete agreement?

[jeffian] 07/12/2009 13:41

Indeed. Perhaps the Universe deal is moving forward?

[beaufort1] 07/12/2009 12:58

But it seems to have worked this time...