Abbeycrest Share Discussion Threads

[cockneyrebel] 16/9/2009 10:22

Bit of buying here it seems - holding well at that 8p level too.

CR

[lomax99] 14/9/2009 10:55

The price is taking a bit of a battering, looking to top-up if it drifts much lower.

[wilddonkey] 01/9/2009 09:28

Am also suprised there's no open placing or otherwise reward for long suffering shareholders (like me). I've had two other companies I have shares in have placings recently (AEX, MCR) both of which gave in some way the possibility for existing shareholders to get something (unfortunately merely warrants in MCRs case, but something nonetheless).

Hopefully, the greed of those receiving the placing shares will cause them to sell in order to quickly realise a profit. This would drive the price down allowing us to pick up (if we had wanted to take part in a placing anyway) shares at a much lower level.

[cockneyrebel] 28/8/2009 11:07

No placees are going to take stock in a placing at at 8p imo, got to get real with the market.

ACR have a choice - a rights, an open offer or a placing. They have no hope of getting a rights away at this level as the shares have had no support. An open offer is unlikely too for th same reasons - I think both would have hadto have been far more dilutive.

My bet is they have gon to an investment bank and got it underwritten and placed at 5p because the placee's know they will get out easy from that level that means they need heavy buying at a lot higher level and they aren't going to want to hang about imo - investment banks can find funding deals everywhere at the moment so this must look good to them a 5p imo to take part in a small illiquid co like ACR.

My bet is the placee's get out at the interim results when they surprise to the upside. If they don't surprise to the upside there's no demand for them to get out is there? And I just can't see anyone taking stock in the placing if they can't see a swift out with very little risk and that means something has to create demand at some point soon imo.


As for not paying 9.7p when the 'big boys' are getting them at 5p - well if you're a big boy and you want to risk £2m quid then ask them and I'll bet you can get them at 5p with no trouble at all. It's the same throughout life - buy - buy bulk and you get a discount - especially in this market.

£2m is nearly the mkt cap.

CR

[8trade] 28/8/2009 09:46

I agree that funding is good long term !

A couple of buys on plus at 9.7p, personally i would never pay that
price when the "big boys" get their stock for 5p, it's just not right,
i think 50/50 split is fair so 7.5p offer would tempt me, but if none
of that placing stock hits the market then i doubt you will ever see
that price.

[lomax99] 28/8/2009 09:10

Good news on the placing, shame the price was not a bit higher.

Restructuring has obviously continued apace with headcount now down to 717 as at 30/6/09 (down over the last 16 months by 325, 31% - a drop of a further 174, 17% in the 1st 4 trading months of the new year). This further reduction of 174 could well take a further £2.75 - £3M out of their fixed costs on a annualised basis.

Commiting to that 15 year property lease in 2006 has been costly - at least they will be able to extricate themselves from it, albeit at a cost of £350k pa for the next 3 years and a one-off fee now of £100k - settled in shares.

Good to see the Director's investing £100k, even if it is at a reduced price.

[daz] 28/8/2009 07:07

Agree with some of that 8trade. They haven't gone for an open offer to existing shareholders, where they probably could have raised money at a higher price. No doubt the company will say that the costs of the open offer were prohibitive and they had no certainty they could raise the money that they wanted but other companies have done placings with open offer claw backs for existing shareholders.

Still they have raised the money are in a much stronger position as a result.

[8trade] 28/8/2009 06:52

I'm not following you around CR and you remain filtered but i have
Acr on my monitor and did upto recently hold a tiny amount.

Placing is too low a price, they have been 11p bid for a while now
so 5p is just taking the michael, that is just lining the pockets
of certain individuals and showing no regards for existing shareholders,
i'm sure eerybody else would have liked to buy at 5p too !

Placings have been good news for small cap mineral stocks lately but
this imo is way too low for a stock in this sector. !

[cockneyrebel] 28/8/2009 06:48

£2m being raised - they aint going bust then - and should reduce their financing costs with that. Not many co's managing a placing in this market.

CR

[cockneyrebel] 27/8/2009 16:26

Agree - they have been concentrating on higher margin stuff and everything feels right imo.


Of course the H1 period ends Aug 31 so perhaps they want to get that all booked and accounted so they have something to go to shareholders with as evidence?

CR

[daz] 27/8/2009 16:09

Yes, was thinking that the fund raising would be announced today after saying it was well advanced in July and that the loan to the junior lender had to be repaid by Aug 31st. I guess that still leaves tomorrow though.

The main unknown is how much money they will raise. The outstanding loan is 1.75m and they've also said they want more to expand the business. If you assume an extra £1m, giving a toal of 2.75m, which equates to about a 1.25:1 issue at 8p.

If they can get back to 3% net margins (on turnover of just over £50m, they could be producing earnings of around 2.5p with the dilution above.

The company has been loss-making for several years, so it's really a management turnaround situation. I'd like to think that as the results before were so bad, it wouldn't be too hard to improve on and that they can do even better than 3% margins.

I hope that there is an open offer element to the placing to allow existing holders to participate, I'll be diluted somewhat if not.
A key thing for me is how much management invest in the fund raising. If they put their own money up, it will be a sign they really believe in what they're doing.

[knowing] 27/8/2009 15:10

No quote returned online.

[cockneyrebel] 27/8/2009 14:54

Fundraisings seem positive for most stocks lately imo.I'd like more if they are on offer.

CR

[knowing] 27/8/2009 14:52

The last two fund raisers I have been involved in FDL and STY both gave me significant gains. I wonder if there will be an opportunity for the PI to participate. If so it may be worth picking up a few. There was just a buyer in the stock for 30K and had to pay .5 premium so maybe people thinking the same way.

[lomax99] 27/8/2009 14:47

Nothing new in the AGM statement:


RNS Number : 1270Y Abbeycrest PLC 27 August 2009



27 August 2009


Abbeycrest plc

("Abbeycrest" or "the Group")

Result of Annual General Meeting

Abbeycrest plc (LSE: ACR), a leading international jewellery designer and manufacturer, announces that at the Group's Annual General Meeting held today in Leeds, all resolutions put to Shareholders by the Board were duly passed.

Details of the resolutions are set out in the Notice of Annual General Meeting on page 64 of the Annual Report and Financial Statements 2009 ("Annual Report") released on 1 July 2009 and submitted to the UK Listing Authority for inspection at its document viewing facility, a copy of which can also be found on the Group's website www.abbeycrest.co.uk. Details of the proxies submitted in respect of the resolutions can also be found on the website.

At the Annual General Meeting the Board confirmed that the Group is in the final stages of an equity fundraising and expects to make an announcement in due course.


Ends -

[cockneyrebel] 27/8/2009 14:47

So that's July's statement then - ok, thought you'd found an AGM statement from today that I wasn't getting :-)

CR

[knowing] 27/8/2009 14:34

Notice the premiums being paid for the buys!

[cockneyrebel] 27/8/2009 13:49

Good statement -punters will wake up to these soon imo.

Results in October will fire them up imo.

CR

[knowing] 27/8/2009 13:28

Abbeycrest Interim Management Statement





TIDMACR

RNS Number : 9165V
Abbeycrest PLC
20 July 2009





+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Press release | 20 July 2009 |
+-----------------------------------+--------------------------------------+


Abbeycrest plc
("Abbeycrest" or "the Group")


Interim Management Statement


Abbeycrest plc (LSE: ACR), a leading international jewellery designer and
manufacturer, today provides an update on business performance since the
announcement of its Final Results for the year to 28 February 2009 on 26 June
2009.


The Board is pleased to report that in the current financial year, the Group is
performing in line with management expectations under the Group's well advanced
turnaround plan, in terms of both sales and operating profitability.


The Essentials division, Abbeycrest's established business supplying unbranded
jewellery to mainstream global markets, is performing ahead of last year;
delivering much improved operating results on a significantly reduced turnover.
The managed withdrawal from certain, lower margin UK business streams and focus
on fewer product lines, as previously reported, is working to good effect. Order
intake across the breadth of customers and markets is positive and building as
we look forward to the second half of the calendar year, traditionally our
busier season.


The Brands division is making good progress with its new higher margin brands,
Gorgeous Gold , Fluid , and Osare . With Gorgeous Gold now in-store and online
at Ernest Jones, the Group's recently recruited national and regional sales
managers, who bring with them strong brand experience, are also working with a
number of other leading retailers. In this regard, the Board is pleased to
announce that Nordiska, the jewellery wholesaling operation of the Guld Invest
Norden Group, is to distribute Osare and Fluid across Sweden.


As previously reported, following the successful implementation of the first
phase of the Group's restructuring programme, Abbeycrest has substantially
reduced its net debt position compared with the same period last year. The Group
has also successfully re-negotiated new working capital facilities with its
senior lender in the UK, until March 2011 and recently secured additional
working capital facilities in Thailand. There remains a further GBP1.75 million
loan in the UK, with a junior lender, under which GBP0.75 million is required to
be paid before 31 August 2009 in order to avoid penal interest rates, with the
remaining GBP1.0 million due to be paid on 28 February 2010. As previously
indicated, the Group has been exploring a number of funding options and is
currently well advanced with a planned equity fundraising to obtain sufficient
finance to meet these repayments and to support investment in the new brands
business.


The Board is confident about the prospects for Abbeycrest and believes that,
having successfully completed the important first phase of the restructuring
programme, the Group should now seek to strengthen its balance sheet to ensure
that the Group will be well placed to take advantage of its established position
in the UK jewellery market, its increasing presence overseas and the anticipated
growth from its higher margin branded collections.
- Ends -
For further information

[cockneyrebel] 26/8/2009 15:13

100K buy @ 9.75p before tomorrow's AGM :-)

CR

[cockneyrebel] 25/8/2009 13:27

Best buy I made was when someone dumped 120K APG @ 6p shortly before the results - trading statement took them to 20p in a blink.

Hoping ACR do the same for me soon.

CR

[8trade] 24/8/2009 16:18

100k sold at 9p when the bid is 11p !

Greedy mm's !

[james111] 12/8/2009 07:49

Just bought 50k, its showing on plusmarket as a sell. was quoted 10.5 - 11.5p
put a f or k in at 11p but got them at 10.75p, so must be a lot about.

[munin] 03/8/2009 18:24

Camelia FitzSomething ....... no.

[camelia fitzcleator] 02/8/2009 16:47

Has anyone seen my friend Abbey Titmus posting messages on here?