Armour Group Share Discussion Threads

[chrisdgb] 14/3/2014 09:52

Would be nice to see the stock placed with another institution.....then we can move higher from this base..

[envirovision] 12/3/2014 22:55

Unusual price action I was expecting to add to my growing holding at a lower level not a higher level &-£-&‰^*{|. ....!

[nickg2] 11/3/2014 10:49

Very positive imo:-

"...as the company has announced that it is offloading the Automotive division for what is a significant £10.9m.

This will result in a profit from the sale of £3m, but more importantly, will leave the company completely debt free, with a net cash position at £3m..."

Broker FinnCap has a target price for this year of 8p and rates the stock a Buy.

[nickg2] 11/3/2014 08:52

Certainly poses a good argument for investing, seems largely off peoples radars..

[hastings] 10/3/2014 16:30

Mat be of interest to others taking a look.

[envirovision] 10/3/2014 14:13

MBO I see unlikely. Although for someone in Morton's position a quick buyout and re float in a few years time after the recovery would be easy money for him I rather suspect he is to old for that kind of stuff these days. It looks like he will be happier to let others maximise value in a more focused market. FYI this is a market I have some experience in myself.

[callumross] 10/3/2014 13:37

Shares should be up much more but there is a seller - National grid pension scheme who still hold 2.4m shares. Hence the house broker FinnCap on the offer at 5.5p all day despite all the buys off them. Once this reluctant holder clears,then the shares should climb strongly. That's over half million cleared this morning alone.

[chrisdgb] 10/3/2014 12:48

I would suggest an MBO supported by Bob Morton at 10p...............

[loverat] 10/3/2014 10:22

Well, the recovery continues - albeit still at relatively low levels. I note the positivity here which is unusual. However I reckon there is good reason to be happy with this disposal. Much better for the business going forward and puts the company on a stable financial footing. Also I always remember the mixed trading statements - i,e Auto Division weak and Home Division strong etc which was frustrating. Now perhaps there will be an improved focus on the things this company does better and less on areas vulnerable to external factors.

Looking at the buys and the significance of the statement I fancy this climbing a fair bit more over the next few weeks. Perhaps 8p for starters.

[callumross] 10/3/2014 10:09

Just taking the debt out of the business will instantly turn Armour Home profitable to the tune of around £400k per annum!

[chrisdgb] 10/3/2014 09:31

Agree with so much positive consumer data around at the moment, well done management..!!

[envirovision] 10/3/2014 09:21

This is now a very interesting play, clearly undervalued. If Armour Home can get itself on track for being a 1m pbt proposition then we are looking at a far value in the market of at least 15p per share. I rather suspect there is a good 150 to 200% upside here in the next 12 months minimum. It has been reported the economy will be back to 2008 levels in eight months time. If Amour Home were able to get back to 2007/8 health then this will multi bag from here IMO.

[callumross] 10/3/2014 08:49

Fair play to the management who I have been critical of in the past. Good deal for AMR. Sop what we are left with is a company with Armour Home with turnover of £15m and at breake even currently together with Armour Asia turning over £1.5m and small lossmaking. Cash of £3m versus market cap of just over £5m so Armour Home and Armour Asia are valued at only £2m. Seems way too cheap for busiensses being turned around. Armour Home is easily capable of making £1m PBT alone. Surprised the shares haven't moved more to be honest.

[chrisdgb] 10/3/2014 08:28

I agree, I am not sure what I am missing..!!

[graham1ty] 10/3/2014 08:26

Agree. Looks amazing. Halved the business but transformednthe balance sheet. Why not 8p now ?

[chrisdgb] 10/3/2014 08:08

Wow, looks an amazing disposal.................

[liberatingsteptoe] 20/12/2013 08:40

479k interest on £7.6m debt = 6.3%. The rest I would suspect is fees. Got to keep the bankers oiled........
£2.5m cut in overheads instead of the anticipated £1m with more to come off.....
To my mind they seem to be sorting themselves out and going in the right direction.
LS

[graham1ty] 17/12/2013 11:35

Just a couple of comments on the results:
1) however much you cut costs, can you still make money when group turnover has not stabilised and is shrinking ? £2.4m reduction on turnover.......when will this ever reverse ?
2) no exceptionals or extraordinaries: horay, a company that does not try to massage figures !!
3) BUT on ther face of the P&L a charge of £600,000 against changes to the value of inventory and work in progress: this is another stock write off
4) they say that operations generated £1.4m, but net debt remained the same. Why ? Acquisitions soaked up £859,000, they repaid debt of £234,000 and interest expense was £479,000.
5) INTEREST EXPENSE OF £595,000..........what does this include !!! Must be re-arrangement fees. Otherwise, on net debt of about £8m through the period, they are paying £595,000 or an 8% interest rate ! How ? Why not split it out , how much is interest and how much other charges ? It is all very well cutting annual overheads by £2.5m, but if they are paying up to £0.6m in finance charges..........they are running to stand still.............or have the banks got them over a barrel ?
6) they report increases in overseas revenue, Asia in particular. This disguises a 16% fall in revenue in the UK.......oh dear.

Conclusion. I wrote a long a piece earlier this year saying AMR was not yet out of the woods. Unless debt starts to creep down and revenue stabilise, I really think the jury is out. I have been suprised by the run up from 3p to 6p and would be suprised if it is sustained

[envirovision] 06/12/2013 12:14

so any feedback on that marben?

[marben100] 20/9/2013 17:00

Armour Group will be presenting at ShareSoc's second technology company seminar on 2nd October. The event takes place in the City of London, with registration beginning at 5:30pm and presentations starting at 5:55pm.

If you would like to attend, free-of-charge, please pre-register here: hxxp://www.sharesoc.org/techseminar.html Refreshments are provided.

ShareSoc is a not-for-profit organisation that supports individual shareholders and campaigns for shareholder rights. For more about us, see this: hxxp://www.sharesoc.org/about.html

Other companies presenting at the event are: Ideagen (AIM:IDEA) and Regenersis (AIM:RGS).

Cheers,

Mark

[liberatingsteptoe] 23/7/2013 12:01

Is there anyone........?
Still on the gradual up.
Ls

[liberatingsteptoe] 03/6/2013 14:54

Someone seems to think that Armour is a good idea.......
Anyone know anything about Mr Atherton?
Ls

[graham1ty] 24/5/2013 09:56

I wrote a long description of the AGM. I had bought before then, but subsequently sold as I am still not convinced. I have only just got round to reading in great detail the interim statement.

1) How much more cost can they cut out ? They state £1.3m of overhead in 1H and there "may be some further reductions". £7m of overhead ( flab ?, overcapacity) has been cut in two years. Did they not forsee further declines in their markets ? Were they just very late to act ? They state that Armour Home is close to its "optimal cost base for its size". I read that as "cannot cut any more"

2) Most markets of theirs are pretty dire. UK sales down 19%; Armour Home down 15%; Alphason down 52%; home automation "overall sales falling"; Armour Automotive retail sales down 3%; AA non-retail down 7%; iO sales "slower than anticipated"

3) It is bloomin difficult to keep margins improving, as to their credit they have done, when sales keep falling. I am not sure there is much more they can cut. Apart from export markets there is likely to be no increase in revenue until either home or retail markets pick up....and when will that be ? Finnap have static revenue 2013 on 2012. How will that be achieved when revenue fell 11% in 1H ? Revenues for the last three half years have gone £23m; £18m; £16m. Revenue in 2H last year was £16.4m ( ie 9% lower than 1H). So, to get to an unchanged revenue for the year 2H this year has to be £18.4m, an increase on last year's 2H of 12%.......is that really going to happen when revenue has fallen over every period for ages ?

4) with further falls in sales can they continue to deliver margin increases ? Or even flat profits ?

5) Net debt. All debt is listed as a current liability. That shows the immediacy of their debt position. How was debt cut ? Primarily by cutting inventories and therefore working capital. Simple working capital ( inventory plus debtors, minus creditors) has fallen from £10.4m last year, to £8.4m at year end, to £7.9m now. Some of that is just reflecting the reduced turnover, but they have cut net debt primarily by cutting inventories by £2.4m. Well done them, that is oney just tied up otherwise....but how much more can they do that ? Debt has been cut not particularly out of profits....but from managing working capital. Nothing wrong with that, except it is not "operating cash flow" as such.

6) Net debt remains at £7.1m. That is still very high and there is not the slightest prospect of divi payments until that is substantially lower. Yes, for the moment spare cash will be ploughed into product development and investment in the business as they said at the AGM. However, the net debt remains the elephant in the room.... Finncap have no decrease in net debt for the next two years

7) It could take the slightest hiccup to stop this turn around in its tracks.

I think that the AGM was positive and AMR have done remarkably well in cutting costs ( late) and improving margins in a shrinking market. We need to see the first signs of actual recovery ( ie revenue increasing, leading to highly geared profits on a reduced cost base) before I would chase this any higher. Finncap increase their taget price to 5.5p, (but then they had to when the price had already hit 4.6p at the interims)

[rally] 17/5/2013 00:17

Think we are all in shock!

[liberatingsteptoe] 16/5/2013 08:38

Onwards, upwards but seems to be an empty room here!
Ls