Amey Share Discussion Threads

[ildamiano] 15/11/2002 10:44

And she's headed upward again today! Now in slight profit! Won't contemplate selling until 38p, though.

Looks like the stakebuidling still continues, and coupled with the fact that the large sells seem to have dried up, upward price momentum is increasing.

[iulia] 15/11/2002 06:09

ildamiano, alisonm

I agree with you, there are some big trades in the background, we should see some significant news coming out soon. Just hope the news is good.

halfpenny

I am against cruel sports, but could someone just shoot halfpenny to put him out of his (and our) misery?

[ildamiano] 14/11/2002 16:41

My thoughts exactly, Alison. Does anyone have access to the list of significant shareholders? We know about Meditor (15%), Legal & General (4%), Barclays (5%) and Sterling (6%). There'll be no shares left in circulation, if this keeps up! Still waiting to see why the price went up 2.5% today. There was about 1,000 quid's worth of buys at the official offer price - all others were either sells or discounted buys.

[alisonm] 14/11/2002 16:36

Here it is.

Loads of people stake building - something big must be happening which has yet to be announced


AMEY SEDOL: 0256610

As at 08 November 2002 Barclays PLC through the registered holders listed
below, had a notifiable interest in 14824847 ORD GBP0.01 representing 5.87%
of the issued share capital of 252674450 units.

Registered Holder Account Designation Holding

Total 14,824,847

[ildamiano] 14/11/2002 09:54

Looks like a stakebuilder or two is back in the market this morning, as the price is up on minimal volume. Thinking about Sterling's comments, it seems very likely that they will buy more, as they say that they want to be an influential shareholder, and it will take more than a 5% holding to become that.

[halfpenny] 14/11/2002 00:53

looking more like a 16p price when US opens...


risky...looking for 16p soon

[alisonm] 13/11/2002 16:37

The thing is most of this stuff can be found on other websites unfortunately, just not on Amey's it would be helpful for them to say something in a timely fashion

[ildamiano] 13/11/2002 16:26

Amey's PR is obviously useless - when did we hear that Cleveland news on this bulletin board - was it yesterday or the day before? Well done, whoever posted it. The press will no doubt do their best to make a meal of the news.

Alison - many thanks for posting that Sterling chappie's comments. The "we may be buyers or sellers" comment was interesting if not a little odd, but he was never going to reveal his hand, was he?

4% down on a day when the FTSE is down 2.5% isn't too bad, given the heavy sell volume.

[alisonm] 13/11/2002 13:32

seen this today

"Monaco, Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Sterling Investment Group Ltd. fund manager Patrick O'Sullivan comments on his recent investment in Amey Plc, a U.K.-based engineering company that canceled its interim dividend this month because of a shortfall of funds.

O'Sullivan spoke from Sterling's offices in Monaco. Other holdings in Sterling's portfolio include a 9.4 percent stake in Charter Plc. The U.K. maker of welding equipment in September posted a first-half profit after closing plants and cutting costs.

London-based hedge fund Meditor Capital Management, which recently acquired a 15 percent stake in Amey, told the company it should consider finding buyers for businesses.

Amey is part of a group of companies selected by the U.K. government to modernize London's 139-year-old subway. Delays signing the contract has starved the company of revenue and reimbursed bidding costs.

On the fund's strategy regarding Amey:

``We see the investment as an ordinary portfolio investment. We may buy more shares, we may also be sellers. It depends on the share price.''

``Our strategy is an internal matter. People have described us as an activist shareholder. With certain past investments we've worked alongside management and or other institutional shareholders. It's not necessarily an aggressive stance toward management. It really depends on the situation and the circumstance.''

[fast piayer] 13/11/2002 12:05

Crusty i rate you and j8,
completly clued up...the pair of you,
keep posting
regards
fast piayer

[a1canary] 13/11/2002 11:49

...better still in the sector, Aggreko.

[a1canary] 13/11/2002 11:43

Charts indicate v close to bottom. When the accounting hole is or isn't uncovered and the momentum chart picks up, get in. Until then, Waterman is a better recovery bet in my book.

[ildamiano] 13/11/2002 09:31

Yes - Tito the corporate raider has upped his stake by a further percent to 5.85%. On past history, he is no fool, so as long as he doesn't reduce his stake, I'm happy.

Thanks to the posters advocating selling, as it's good to have balanced and decent debate. I personally think that whatever black hole is to be uncovered has already been reflected in the recent 90% drop in its share price. Remember, the black hole has not yet been revealed, but the shares have plummeted never-the-less in anticipation of it happening.

Not a pretty start today, however - I'm wondering why it has been marked down 5% on low volume. There must be some delayed trades to come through.

[alisonm] 13/11/2002 09:04

Looks like theres be some stake building again - sterling and hsbc nominees are certainly buying some shares - increased their shareholding yesterday.

[recruiter] 13/11/2002 00:55

my view is that something behind the scenes is happening, it has to be.
With all the recent very bad press this really should have tanked.

[alisonm] 13/11/2002 00:22

Also they both have happened at the same time in both instances.

[crusty lilly] 12/11/2002 23:54

You have to look closely at some of the nuts and bolts of this company. Several years ago they started bidding for contracts in the infra-structure area, streetlighting,trunk roads etc. Evey time a Contract was up for renewal Amey were on the scene, even in areas they had no logistic support (premises, staff etc).
Those that had held those contracts and other rival bidders could not believe the low prices submitted by Amey. Many well below cost. there was something wrong. people in the business and competitors thought that there was some big plan that conected these multi contract bids. Well there was no plan just a rollercoaster of pumping up and growing the contracts. Well those tactics get found out in the end, they can't go on forever. Its ok to asume that there may be some value to be had in a break up of the company, but there may well be a huge black hole to be exposed. some not so clever accumulators of shares may have done their sums without regard to the nasties to come.
Leave well alone until there is some transparancy

[hectorp] 12/11/2002 20:48

PFI EXPOSE tonight -
schools PFI scandals exposed on Radio 4 File on 4...
- PFI scools , 'is a catalogue of shoddy workmanship and bad designs' and worse...
- I'd be shot of this one fast!

[petersmith6] 12/11/2002 19:47

this stock wont do any real movement till the issue of the PPP and the underground is sighned sealed and is under way.i belive the is going tobe an amouncement on or arrount the 1 st December.a little man at LUL told me.but wait and see

[tday] 12/11/2002 13:14

ildamiano,

Those are connected trades.

Someone B & B ing them, or whatever.

[ildamiano] 12/11/2002 10:31

Most curious - despite the offer price hiking to 32p from the start of today's trading, less than 1% of the trades thusfar have gone through at this price. It seems pretty obvious that Mr. Swiss Bloke is continuing to stake-build.

Note all the large trades that have gone through at a tiny fraction above and below the mid-price. For instance today - a 100k trade at 30.95p immediately followed by a 100k trade for 31.05p.

[whitby_kipper] 12/11/2002 10:27

The following news article has just been added to web site
www.redcar-cleveland.gov.uk.

-----
Amey lose preferred bidder status for council's strategic partnership
Published: 12th Nov 2002

REDCAR & Cleveland Council have today announced that Amey plc is no longer the Preferred Bidder for a £220million Strategic Partnership.

This has happened because, as negotiations have proceeded, significant features of the original bid have proved to be unachievable. Having re-evaluated the offer as it now stands, the Council has decided to invite further submissions from Amey and from the reserve bidder CSL, now named Liberata.

A final decision to choose the Council's prospective Strategic Partner will be made by Members on December 12.

Council Leader David Walsh said: "Finding a Strategic Partner is important for our future investment plans and for ensuring alternative jobs for staff displaced through efficiency gains.

"We must ensure that any contract we enter into is consistent with the Council's obligation to secure Best Value and the step we have taken in drawing the reserve bidder back into the process is an essential part of achieving that.

"This step is not in any way related to the well-reported issues surrounding Amey's share price. Whilst a financial check will be part of our process, whoever is selected, the key issue for the Council at present is the actual content of the bid."

Chief Executive Colin Moore said: "It is unusual in public service to go through complex negotiations like this, but this is a very big contract and we have to take the time to get it right.

"We will ensure that the final deal, whoever is selected, will be in the best interests of citizens and staff."
-----

[ildamiano] 12/11/2002 00:37

Refreshingly, the share price is showing strength in the last hour,and is now just 0.8% down on the day on thinner-volume-than-that-of-late. Looks like the press are taking different sides, with the Indo on Sunday highlighting its asset sales, The Times reporting fevered bid speculation,the Financial Times suggesting financial irregularities and The Observer suggesting that the Tubelines consortium will break up. On the latter item, I think that Ken Livingstone is merely playing his hand of poker when he says he "is minded" to launch an appeal against EU approval for the project. "Minded" suggests "don't really want to appeal, but want to get more money for the transport system, so am hoping that my threat causes a reaction in Whitehall".

Hopefully the company will issue a statement soon, in which they properly address these issues.

[alisonm] 11/11/2002 21:38

Please find below two entries which are on www.thetube.com - then go into press released. The first is dated 7th November and the second 8th November.

1) "LT Chairman Sir Malcolm Bates has published a letter correcting the inaccurate and misleading statements in a letter sent to him by Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley which was also reported by the press. "

also

2) Completion of PPP transactions

Here they make no mention to ppp not going ahead and the letter was only dated 8th November. Some of the letter states:-

"We anticipate reaching final commercial agreement on all three PPP transactions within the next few days. Differences in the bidders' funding arrangements mean that it will then be possible to complete the JNP transaction before the BCV and SSL transactions. This is because Metronet must complete the process of raising its bond finance before close, whereas Tube Lines' finance comes from bank debt, which will be available more quickly."