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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Stock Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey Protect. | ABB | London | Ordinary Share |
| Price Change | Price Change % | Share Price | Last Trade
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00% | 114.50 | 01:00:00 |
| Open Price | Low Price | High Price | Close Price | Previous Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 114.50 | 114.50 |
| Top Posts |
|---|
Posted at 10/10/2013 13:53 by cnx from the daily mail................"The share price fall said it all, the company is being sold on the cheap. Abbey Protection, the AIM-listed supplier of legal and professional fees and insurance to SMEs, lost 4.75p or 4 per cent to 115p following news of a recommended £116.5million or 115p-a-share cash offer from Markel. The US insurer said that it had obtained irrevocable acceptances from directors and management in favour of the offer, totalling 57 per cent of the share capital, while Canadian investor and 10 per cent shareholder Mawer had also signed a letter of intent to accept the bid. Share price fall: AIM-listed Abbey Protection is being sold on the cheap Share price fall: AIM-listed Abbey Protection is being sold on the cheap Sid Lall, lead fund manager at Hargreave Hale which owns 6 per cent of Abbey Protection, is livid. 'It is highly unusual to have management agreeing to a bid that is at a discount to the prevailing share price. It is selling a profitable company short and in doing so is showing a total disregard to other shareholders whose aim as always is to maximise shareholder value,' he insisted. Abbey chairman Tony Shearer said: 'The board believes the acquisition by Markel gives Abbey an exciting opportunity to build a platform for further growth through Markel's scale and financial strength.' Maybe, but not at 115p. The deal is still subject to shareholder approval and Hargreave Hale will be canvassing support to try to get Markel to bid the right price. That would be at least 15 per cent higher than the current offer but Markel has stated 115p is its full and final offer............... |
Posted at 10/10/2013 08:06 by masurenguy WokingBlade - 240 "I can't see any justification for management accepting an offer at this level. I think they are neglecting their fiduciary duty. Perhaps Mas will sell his car to us for 5% less than its cost to him. the body of evidence for takeovers at a market premium vs discount suggests something awry here"An utterly ridiculous allegation and a totally absurd analogy - the price at which anyone buys or sells any share fluctuates on a daily basis and there are no absolute values that can be attributed to any stock other than NAV. What exactly do you think is "awry here"? If you think that there is anything non-kosher about this deal then why don't you approach the FSA, Takeover Commission or the institutional shareholders and report your concerns instead of just resorting to pure innuendo. Management, who own 57%, are perfectly entitled to recommend this offer and if enough shareholders to make up the necessary balance of 18% also approve then it is a done deal. There are absolutely no ramifications whatsoever in relation to their "fiduciary duty" where accepting this deal is concerned. You, myself or anyone else may disagree with the 115p acquisition shareprice but it is apparent that more than 75% of the shareholders have, or will, vote to accept it. It is called democracy and sometimes the majority view is at odds with minority opinion. Abbey diretors to pick up £65m after insurer is sold to Markel of US Directors and executives at Abbey Protection will share £65m between them after accepting a takeover offer from its US rival Markel. Colin Davidson, the chief executive of the specialist insurer, will collect £18m, as will managing director Chris Ward. Liz Grace, who runs the company's tax division, will pick up £12m. The £116.5m deal has already been backed by investors holding 67 per cent of the group's shares. Tony Shearer, the chairman of the AIM-listed group, said: "As Abbey Protection looks to the next stage of its growth strategy, the board believes that now is the right time for a change of ownership. Markel Corporation is a highly regarded insurer with an international reputation and has a strong track record in providing specialist insurance products to SMEs." Abbey Protection posted pre-tax profits of £5.2m in the six months ending 30 June on revenues of £20.7m. The company, founded in 1992, employs 275. It is understood its management team will stay on for an unspecified period before handing over to a new team. William Stovin, the president of Markel International, said: "From our first meeting, it was clear that there was a strong cultural fit between our organisations, and we are looking forward to working with the Abbey Protection management. "It's our expectation that Abbey Protection will continue to operate under its own successful brand, while our capital and risk appetite will enable it to retain more underwriting risk and to explore growth initiatives currently beyond its reach." British insure BRITISH insura Abbey's board unanimously recommended the deal for approval at 115p a share, despite the shares having traded above this level for most of the last three months. Invest Abbey, headquartered on Minories in the City's insurance district, will now become part of the US insurance group. It is expected to continue to operate under its own name for the forseeable future. "From our first meeting it was clear that there was a strong cultural fit between our organisations," said Markel president and chief operating officer William Stovin, who indicated key Abbey staff would remain with the company. |
Posted at 09/10/2013 10:22 by masurenguy DD - this bears absolutely no comparison whatsoever with the situation at Lees Food. That was a lo-ball management buyout via a third party entity that they owned. The directors paid roughly a net price of £4m, at a PER of around 6, which in my view grossly undervalued the business that was valued at about the same as it was at their IPO 5 years earlier. That was a deal for their own benefit as the new private owners. The Abbey deal is totally different. The directors are selling to an unconnected third party and totally exiting as owners/investors. The price paid of £116.5m is more than double the valuation of £55m at the the IPO some 6 years ago. The dissatisfaction in relation to the acquisition price relates to a range of 5% - 10% - if it had been 120p/125p there would have been no complaints and even recent investors - probably less than 1% of the shareholders - would not have made a small loss. Get real ! 1. It is a slightly disappointing exit price but nobody has been "shafted" at this price ! 2. Institutional shareholders - who own circa one-third of the shares, seem prepared to accept the deal. 3. There is no discounted value equation relating to some dubious MBO deal. The exit price is marginally disappointing but to suggest that the management have behaved badly, or even in some way immorally, is totally absurd. There are quite a few examples of shareholders being ripped off by management elsewhere but this is very clearly not one of them ! To even suggest that it is will only serve to undermine credibility in addressing other situations where this is definitely the case. |
Posted at 09/10/2013 09:48 by davidosh Maz....I do not hold here. I think it only fair that shareholders are aware of other situations from the past that have not been seen as a satisfactory outcome for the independent investors.I also note that Shore Capital were recently appointed so maybe that is the point where awareness was key. Large dominant director holdings and Shore as the advisors damaged my investment at Lees Foods IMHO and there are many others that can be found by doing a search. |
Posted at 09/10/2013 09:15 by masurenguy DD - I already stated that only those who bought in for the very first time over the past month will make a small loss and that would probably be less than 5% for some after the dividend is taken into account.Greenroom - the offer of a "small premium" is down to Markel, not Abbey, and at 123p the gesture would have cost them another £8m or 7%. This is the real world and an acquiror is not going to be concerned about whether investors who bought at a slightly higher price over the past month might make a very small loss. ABB could not have done anything over the past month to surpress the price without compromising the confidentiality of the proposed deal. If they had announced that they had received an undisclosed approach then the share price could quite easily have shot up to 130p/140p in anticipation resulting in a bigger loss for bandwagon traders. I'm also disappointed with the price, which I would have liked to have seen at least 10% higher, but I don't blame management for taking the deal on the table and cashing in their chips. What would you have done in their position ? |
Posted at 09/10/2013 08:59 by masurenguy Shareholders have not been "shafted" here ! I doubt that Mawer take that view having only invested in January this year ! It is a rather disappointing price at a 4% discount to last nights close but probably 99% of shareholders will come out well ahead, apart from a very small loss by a few new investors who bought in for the very first time over the past month. |
Posted at 04/9/2013 14:06 by caradog I think the results were a little disappointing. The outlook has deteriorated from "cautiously optimistic" in the prior statement to "cautious" in this one, and some profit shortfall was "unexpected" which always increases investor nervousness. Nevertheless, investors aren't spoilt for choice when it comes to AIM companies that offer good cash flow and dividends. May not be a sizzling growth company, but should still be around and paying dividends for years to come, and no inheritance tax to pay, which is worth 40% to someone like me who is investing on behalf of an elderly relative. |
Posted at 06/6/2013 12:49 by masurenguy The 5p special dividend went XD on Wednesday last week but the shareprice only slipped by 2p and that is a strong sign of investor confidence. The actual payment date is two weeks tomorrow (June 21). |
Posted at 14/1/2013 10:08 by masurenguy There it is. ABB now have a brand new shareholder who has acquired the largest external institutional stake of 10.0% in the company. The bulk of their stake was obtained from the previous largest institutional shareholder, ABB broker Numis, who sold 8.5m shares to Mawer @103p last Thursday. Mawer also topped up their 8.5m stake from Numis with a further 1.49m shares from other sources. Numis held these shares in ABB prior to their 2007 IPO and will have more than doubled their original investment on this sale. Numis retain a 4.36% stake in ABB still making them the second largest institutional investor in the company. Mawer are an award winning 5 star rated Canadian global small cap fund so their £10.3m investment @103p is a real vote of confidence on their view of ABB's future prospects. There is some further information on this major new shareholder below. Mawer Global Small Cap Fund Mawer Wins at 2012 Morningstar Canadian Investment Award CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Nov 29, 2012) - Mawer Investment Management''s David Ragan won the prestigious Morningstar Foreign Equity Fund Manager of the Year award at the 18th annual Canadian Investment Awards. In addition, Mawer was named as the winner of several other individual awards in the following categories: Canadian Equity Fund Canadian Small/Mid Cap Equity Fund International Equity Fund Global Small/Mid Cap Equity Fund The 2012 Morningstar Canadian Investment Awards were held in Toronto on November 28th to recognize leadership in the Canadian investment industry. These awards are notable for a number of reasons. This is the fourth time Mawer has won a Manager of the Year award. Mawer has won Canadian Investment Awards in Canadian mid-large cap equities, Canadian small cap equities, International equities, US equities, Global small cap equities and Global balanced categories, demonstrating the Firm''s expertise in managing multiple asset classes using the same in-house disciplined investment approach. This is the 12th award for the Mawer International Equity Fund (formerly the Mawer World Investment Fund) in its category in the past 11 years, winning in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 (two), 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 (two), and 2012 (two). In addition to its family of mutual funds, Mawer also manages many identical or similar mandates for Institutional investors, such as pension funds and not-for-profit & foundation organizations, for Private Clients, and for sub-advised investment funds and separately managed account programs offered by broker-dealers across Canada. |
Posted at 13/11/2012 09:55 by masurenguy Looks like the 6% retrace from the end of October record high, that would appear to have been prompted by the top slicing recommendation revealed in #150 above, is now over. The daily average trading volume, which shot up to 110,000 per day during November 1 - 3, has subsequently settled back into a more mundane average volume of 10,000 per day since then. New investors can still capture an excellent pospective 5% yield at 97p on offer today, whilst many longer term shareholders can expect their yield to be 40% higher at around 7%. The year end trading update is usually released in January and hopefully we might get some positive news on resolving the technical issues which have delayed the issue of their ABS licence at that time. |
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