Airbath Share Discussion Threads

[g.j.a] 16/10/2003 20:28

I agree sharw - glad I took 4.3 on mine - as previously discussed (at a loss of about £1k) - still keeping watch tho and may dip back in after next set of results..........

[sharw] 16/10/2003 18:57

Glad I'm still watching this from the sidelines. The price was stable at around 4p bid 4.75 offer for a couple of weeks despite sellers outnumbering buyers but now the MMs have obviously had enough and it is going down. When I got out the bid was 4 but most people (myself included) were getting inside the spread at 4.25. However, today's 2 sellers have had to take the 3p bid price. For a while it came down to 3/3.25 so I presume the third deal at 3.2 was a buy. Must be a very brave person. As long as the company is in breach of banking covenants and the bankers are calling the tune, I'm staying out.

[g.j.a] 07/10/2003 13:47

Hi there sharw - glad I got mine sold last month - see the price slipping down - now at 3.5. Hoping that EPO will do it for me!

Farsight - hope you got a nice big one - hate the modern ones which almost "grip" you........ and I am not a tubby!!!!

[farsight] 07/10/2003 13:39

For what it's worth: We had a new bathroom recently and I spoke with some length with the guy in the showroom. He said it was too hard to keep a "jacuzzi" clean and functional unless you had a water softener or lived in a soft water area, and they weren't selling many these days. We live in a hard water area though we do have a water softener, but we still went for a plain bath. Not that I had much to do with the decision.

[sharw] 07/10/2003 13:21

Received a weighty document this morning from the insolvency practitioners who are winding up Aquarius. The creditors would get 49p in the pound under this scheme so the ordinary shares are now worthless.

The interesting thing from this document is that they tried to sell the Airbath preference shares in 2002 when they were still paying the dividend but got no expression of interest. The only offer for the preference shares alone in the recent sell off was £50,000.

Remember that is for a face value of £2.6m which must be paid, plus all arrears of dividends, before the ordinary shareholders are entitled to anything. As more people realise this and are getting out while they can the MMs are starting to lower prices.

g.j.a.- thank goodness we got out, albeit for a nasty loss. Hope you have better luck with MCF and EPO.

[g.j.a] 01/10/2003 13:00

Indeed........ gonna go and make my own cup of coffee and cry over drop in Madisons (MCF) and hope that Earthport (EPO) make up my losses for me. Dont think I will be back into ATU for a while (if at all!!)......... see what the interims come out like later in year.

[sharw] 01/10/2003 11:04

Yes, I noticed that - The purchase was immediately after the announcement - perhaps whoever it was changed his or her mind after reading the detail of the results or finding that the market had singularly failed to react to them! Other than that, a sell of 10K shares, a sell of 6k shares, and some brave soul buying 42,284 at 4.66 - hardly a hive of activity for a results day. This morning the MMs put the offer down to 4.5 before open and no trades showing yet so I think we can all go back to sleep for a while here.

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 14:51

It looks as though that buy this morning didnt stay in long - 27069 @4.75 and then later in day 27069 @ 4.00 - £203 + trade costs!!!! (Assuming them to be one and the same!)

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 11:57

Good post sharw .

[sharw] 30/9/2003 11:45

Jeff_V - there is only one yardstick in my book on which it is undervalued and that is mcap compared with turnover (the 'price to sales' ratio). IMHO that is outweighed by the factors I listed above.

g.j.a. - yes, I'm like you - sold out for a very nasty loss of 50% and got out at 4.25p. I, too, will continue to follow this but, as stated above, I 'm not yet ready to buy again.

[sharw] 30/9/2003 11:34

Well, by an ironic twist, the company has been saved, IMHO, by the dreadful state of its balance sheet. The company is in breach of banking covenants and has held talks with its bankers. (That partly explains the delay in results). I think that if there had been more meat on the balance sheet, then the banks would have called in the receivers and taken their pickings. As it is, there would be so little for them if that happened that they may as well let the company struggle on.

So what does this report tell us? Nothing up to March 31st that we didn't know from the April trading statement. Precious little since then except the breach of banking covenants and that trading in the second half, which ends today, is poor and "the interim results will therefore be well below those
achieved last year".


I can see no reason at present for buying back in on the following grounds:

The company only continues at the mercy of its bankers who could pull the plug if sales deteriorated - see 'Going Concern' statement.

Negative assets.

EPS for the year was 0.85 which gives an attractive p/e ratio, but the first half was 0.99 so there was a loss of 0.14 in the second half. If we are generous and write back the exceptionals then eps was 1.16 with H2 earnings 0.17.
However, until we see just how bad the first half figure for this year is, that is academic. The only thing that is certain is that when those figures are published the running earnings will decrease dramatically.

I last bought shares for the yield. The dividends on the preference shares continue to accumulate and until these have all been paid off there is no hope of a dividend on the ordinary shares. Since the report says that the preference dividend will not be paid in the foreseeable future there is no hope for the ordinaries.

I see the MMs have put it up from 4/4.5 to 4/4.75 but there have been no trades announced (maybe some delayed).

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 10:30

Well - like you, sharw, (i think) - i abandoned ship last week with this one but am still following with interest - took quite a loss in doing so.

[jeff_v] 30/9/2003 10:29

regardless of the fact that profits are down and likely to slip further in H1, this has to be a bloody big tad undervalued.

[sharw] 30/9/2003 10:23

That is nonsense - companies do not send price-sensitive information to the printers - they announce it first and then send it to the printers.

I've been having similar experience with Aquarius (same people, same phone number). I tried to find the result of Friday's meeting. I was first told "they are all in a meeting". Then I was told "he's on the phone". My number was taken so that I could be called back. Nobody did.

Arrrrggghhh! Results just out - will come back later after I have looked at them.

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 10:17

lol - with ink still "wet"

No big suprises - in line with April warnings of 30% shortfall. Suprised to see it marked up tho!

Wasnt totally clear of the Banking problems were - subsequent to year end - "in breach of banking covenants".... need to re read

[colinc57] 30/9/2003 10:09

Looks like they got there just in time.

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 09:36

Cheers, sharw - thought I had got it right. Someone is gonna need to pull their finger out! When I phoned 2 weeks ago was told they would be out by end of month.... and I got an email (a week after my query) informing me that figures were "at the printers"

[sharw] 30/9/2003 09:33

Correct - the notice will be issued by AIM, not the company - here's what it looks like for a company called i-spire that failed to publish accounts to 31/12/01 by the end of June 02:

AIM
NOTICE

01/07/2002 7:00am

TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF TRADING ON AIM

I-SPIRE PLC

Trading on AIM for the under-mentioned securities has been temporarily suspended
from 01/07/2002 7:00am pursuant to AIM Rule 17 pending publication of report &
accounts.


Ordinary Shares of 10p each (0-229-805)(GB0002298056)
fully paid

[g.j.a] 30/9/2003 08:38

Would someone confirm .......... if figures for end of year (31 March) arent published today - wont they face suspension? Is it automatic?

[g.j.a] 26/9/2003 00:29

Even with today`s overall drop in market......... my board is red!.... this one is holding on at 4........ hmmmmmmmm results will be out by Tuesday.

[g.j.a] 20/9/2003 16:20

Even though I now have no stock I will be watching developments over the next 10 days with close interest and looking forward to seeing the year end figures!

I feel even more "right" about my decision to bale out earlier in the week

Thanks for that posting sharw

[sharw] 20/9/2003 14:51

g.j.a. - yes, and ever more so.

Received a letter from Aquarius this morning saying the rebel shareholder's letter was "misleading and inaccurate in a number of key areas" without specifying which. It then states that the resolution at Friday's E.G.M. will be an ordinary one requiring 50% of the votes. The original notice says that GWB holds 61.3% of the shares and intends to vote for the transaction. The rebel shareholder must have grounds for thinking it should be a special resolution requiring 75% or he would not have spent so much money organising resistance.

Let's remind ourselves of the basics:

The proposed transaction is that a company called Welwyn Lighting plus the Airbath preference shares are together sold for a total of £750,000.

The preference shares have a nominal value of £2.6m. They are redeemable (date unknown) and cumulative (i.e the unpaid dividends are still due - they can't be cancelled).

When Airbath was demerged it took on debt in the form of a £2m term loan repayable in instalments every 6 months until July 06, a £2.5m revolving credit facility repayable in July 07 and 08, and a 750K overdraft facility. That is a total of £5¼m . Net debt was around 4m a year ago and if Brampton has been losing money, combined with reorganisation and redundancy costs, the headroom could be getting tight.

If some sort of refinancing is required the bank will come first, the preference shareholder second, and the ordinary shareholders a very poor third. That is why I have jumped ship.

[g.j.a] 20/9/2003 11:06

Interesting ......@ sharw.........

Airbath was one of my first investments when I started getting into stock market........ and I bought in with confidence...having researched, i felt, thoroughly........ Like you I find it odd that there has been so little movement in the share price despite a lot of unloading. As I said - i phoned on Monday and was simply told figures would be published by end of month and when pressed saying I was aware that they had to be published by end of month and that I was seeking info re date..... no further info given!

I pulled out of this reluctantly, but didnt feel i could afford to lose more than I have already - I had topped up when price dropped really low earlier in year - so had managed to reduce my average - but still sold at a substantial loss.

I also have invested in Collins and Hayes (CIY) which used to be part of Aquarius group - and it is really odd watching there too at moment - loads of buys over last weeks and no effect on price - look at Friday 19 September as a perfect illustration of this........... looks as though someone is offloading a large shareholding there..... but no announcements re holdings...

Mysteriouser and mysteriouser................. hmmmmm

[sharw] 19/9/2003 18:03

g.j.a. - welcome to the cold feet and lost a lot club.

Something very strange going on here - bid is 4p which it has been for weeks apart from a brief 3.75 on no trades late last Friday. From what I can fathom there have been 359,884 shares sold in the last two weeks and just 53,500 bought and yet the price is still stable.

To complicate matters a circular has been issued by a shareholder seeking to block, inter alia, the sale of the Airbath preference shares at the Aquarius E.G.M. next Friday. I am getting suspicious that the Airbath results are being held back until after that meeting to keep Aquarius shareholders in the dark until they have voted. That would still give 2 days in which to announce the results before suspension. How can you judge what a fair price for them is if you haven't got any results since 30th September last year? If (big if) the price is fair, then there is negligible value left for ordinary shareholders.

[g.j.a] 19/9/2003 00:45

I, too have ducked out of this one over last two days. I telephoned on MOnday and asked when year end figures were to be published and was told - by end of the month - but they wouldnt or couldnt specify date. Added to warnings given back in April - I have got cold feet and got out at 4.25 ....... and lost substantially on this one!
:o((