600 Share Discussion Threads

[wan] 23/11/2011 07:28

Shrewd raider Perloff refuses to rest despite 50 years of dealingBy Geoff Foster

Last updated at 11:46 PM on 22nd November 2011

600 Group, a perennial takeover target, touched 20.75p before closing unchanged at 20p. Perloff recently increased his stake to 6.4 per cent, believing the stock is heavily oversold. Its Polish business is said to be trading above expectations.

[wan] 22/11/2011 09:37

Someone else see's value and opportunity! That's quite a large buy announced today and suggests that our interpretation that this is still a strong re-rating candidate has good foundation.

[wan] 20/11/2011 12:44

A bit of news flow and a new website from Electrox a 600 Group subsidiary –

15th November 2011

Electrox Opens US Applications and Demonstration Center

Electrox has opened a new applications and demonstration center and made a senior appointment in the US reinforcing its commitment to its customer base and strengthening its market position in the country.

The company, which is a leading manufacturer of laser marking equipment, has opened its new applications and demonstration center in Burlington, Massachusetts and has appointed Owen Jones as regional manager for the north eastern region.

Owen added: "It's an exciting time to be joining Electrox; it has an extremely strong product portfolio that brings real benefits to customers in terms of marking quality, speed, efficiency and cost savings and the opening of a new applications and demonstration center really reinforces its commitment to the US market.

[wan] 07/11/2011 08:20

Limit up...I agree and management appear to be quite sure they are indeed one-off events. I think the supply disruption associated to the transfer to Poland just exacerbated the situation as opposed to being a key contributor, but it's also obviously a one-off that will result in significant improvements for the second half. It is further reassuring that the order book is so strong and indeed that the underlying operating profits will still actually be ahead of last year.

As I said previously, disappointing but not a disaster. And if the turnaround effect is as strong as the management believe, the shares are currently very cheap. I still believe we are looking at a significant re-rating candidate here and there might well be some bottom fishing effects, but the best will come only when the market believes that management has delivered. The interesting thing is that management were on course to deliver, and there is nothing in the trading update to suggest a material change in this, in fact it confirmed that they are still on course to deliver.

[limit up] 06/11/2011 16:31

wan.
they look to be one offs,although i am suprised on the integration problems,hopfully looking fwd the co is turning around for the better..

[wan] 06/11/2011 07:59

Friday's trading update was very disappointing, but arguably not a complete disaster. Obviously we will get more detail and a better feel from the interims in a few weeks time, but the second half looks as if it is now going to be particularly strong compared to the first half. And judging by the commentary it's not even a certainty that expectations will be missed, or at least not by that much. The second half is crucial as to how this company should be viewed/interpreted, given that that is when the benefits of the implemented strategies really start to come through (in fact it's arguable that some of those actions have already paid off!).

[sscrabble] 04/11/2011 15:31

Short term problems but looks good long term - drop seems to be an over-reaction to me ?

[balcony] 28/10/2011 09:49

A bit of buying on plus this morning

[wan] 28/10/2011 07:55

I agree that the market appears unwilling ahead of the interims in November, but it could mean thay any re-rating is all the more dramatic, especially as the downside from here appears 'very' limited.

[envirovision] 27/10/2011 12:50

Glad to see a couple of whom I for one consider respected posters also here. I have added a few more today whilst they are still at silly levels. I guess we may need to wait till Half Yearly to learn how any Euro related market panic may have effected the later half of this year.

[wan] 21/10/2011 10:55

I have continued to add some more of these (at a notable discount to NAV.)

In the previous half year report (for the 26 weeks to 2 October 2010) the order book was up 33%. And I note the recent comment at the bottom of the FD appointment announcement on 3rd October 2011 -

"I'm also pleased to report that the Group's order book remains strong with order intake higher than this time last year and that we are continuing to make good progress in Poland where we expect to see cost benefits and increased margins come through in the second half. "

I also note that the following recent article was not posted on here, there are a number of interesting comments, such as divesting one of the businesses and the sale of their large site in union street, Heckmondwike in West Yorkshire (I have looked at this site and it's as big as the Morrisons supermarket next door (inc the car park) -



House broker is forecasting eps of 3.1p for 2012, so the current PE rating of 7 seems way too mean. If we apply a rather sedate pe of 10 to the forecast it would imply a share price north of 30p. If the company successfully executes its growth plan, then arguably a higher rating could be applied. But lets see what the results deliver next month and what the outlook statement has to reveal.

[wan] 14/10/2011 10:38

Difficult to see why these should be south of 30p (some would perhaps argue 40p), added a few while I continue to research the company and its markets etc.

[electronica] 12/10/2011 16:26

enviro

I'm here - as usual!

Looking for the new guys to get Poland working & getting the overseas marketing subs pulling their weight with the expanded product range.

Target 35-40p within 18 months as this company gets re-rated.

[envirovision] 12/10/2011 16:02

Well I've dipped my toe in here. Anyone else out there here at all ?

[limit up] 12/8/2011 15:24

rogerail.
my timing was not good,i did not realise the timetable..tks

[rogerrail] 12/8/2011 08:42

deadline for selling shares out of ISA's is this Sunday, logically therefore we should see a rebound in share price beginning next week to more realistic level.

[limit up] 29/7/2011 10:19

the laser side uk(electrox) and the south african co are worth more than the current mkt cap of the co!!! this one of the reasons that i purchasd the stock as well as for growth from the other parts of the co..also mr dupee and mr hambro (hadeo partners) are long term inv ,which is very positive going fwd..
regds

[rogerrail] 29/7/2011 10:10

aquisitions in aerospace? I wonder if they are looking to buy an aly tube bending machine manufacturer?, just happens to be one in Yorkshire called Unison, they are privately owned and are a 600group customer

[cockneyrebel] 28/7/2011 17:26

ta Simon.

CR

[simon gordon] 28/7/2011 17:25

GCI - 28/7/11:

600 Group returns to black

Reduce text size Decrease text size Increase text size Increase text size Print article Print Share this article Share Email article to a friend Email Though engineering minnow 600 Group (SIXH) was founded in 1932, the last eighteen months have witnessed the most dramatic reshaping in its history.

Chief executive David Norman joined the group just under three years ago, and at the time he inherited an unwieldy group with 30 operating units - a huge number for a small listed engineer. This has since been whittled down to 12, and at the same time a massive £16 million of cost has been taken out. The recent move to AIM from the full list was also undertaken to save money. In an interview with Growth Company Investor Norman said 'we had to attack the cost base quickly, particularly in the UK and US'.

With machine tools its largest division this had largely been shifted to China, unfortunately the typically low cost country struggled with production and quality problems. This led 600 Group to look closer to home and last year it acquired a 100,000 square feet, former state owned facility in Poland, which should provide plenty of spare capacity. The business has enjoyed an improving order intake and has benefited from a recovery in the US, further market growth is expected in 2012.

In precision engineering components 600 Group has enjoyed good demand for spares, driven by the introduction of web-based ordering. Demand for bearings has also picked up after a savage downturn in demand. The laser marking arm provides an alternative to inkjet marking, it is trading well and has a number of new products in the pipeline. In South Africa its mechanical and waste handling arm was buoyed by a major contract with Eskom. Though possibly deemed as non-core, its net assets are in the region of £4 million so any sale would need to be of this order.

Sales in the year to 2 April increased 10 per cent to £50.6 million as the group reported a pre-tax profit of £3.3 million (2010: £8.7 million loss). Though a £2.57 million pension credit helped it also enjoyed much lower restructuring charges.

House broker finnCap expects 2012 adjusted pre-tax profits of £2 million and EPS of 3.1p. Since last November the shares have doubled to 29.5p, but this is still a massive discount to peers in its sector. With potential acquisitions on the agenda (possibly in the aerospace sector for example) the shares appear overlooked.

[go with the flow] 27/7/2011 13:59

The current price level reflects future expectations which to me seems more encouraging than that.

On a technical note - the 'head & shoulders' that was developing on the chart may be extinguished with a gradual price increase within the rising channel.

Solid business to be in if the global market picks up.
Let's hope the Yanks sort themselves out.

Flow

[cockneyrebel] 27/7/2011 12:33

Pretty decent result today I thoiught, tho I had been hoping for more. I thought the flow from Poland might have been showing up more but perhaps I was over optimistic.

I think some of the muted reaction is down to ISA sellers still selling - they don't have to be out of SIXH till Aug 14th.

Will keep holding mine for now - the AGM probably the next newsflow point in Sep.

CR

[rogerrail] 27/7/2011 09:16

Including exceptionals, ie pension credit and restructuring costs, reported headline profit is £3.3M. Encouragingly much of the significant cost benefits from the Polish aquisition are still to flow through, although the majority of these are not expected until the second half of 2011.

[jbarker5555] 27/7/2011 08:06

Greenroom78, what do you make of the 2.5M pension credit? I can`t see that coming again in the current year, so taking that out and the restructuring costs leaves -£307K. Am I being too pessimistic here? At least operating expenses are being brought under control without sacrificing revenue growth. All IMO :)