Augean Share Discussion Threads

[lbo] 07/10/2014 07:24

Hazardous and specialist waste services continue to be an interesting subsector where there is clear appetite to play. There is both continued consolidation and expansion by existing players in the sector , as well as continuing appetite from new entrants including the more traditional waste companies, like Sita who formed the Clinical waste JV last year, and investors from overseas who are exploring opportunities in the UK market.
This will continue for some time as margins remain attractive and there are sustainable revenue streams. This was a key factor in Augean divesting itself of its mainstream waste business to focus on its core market. There will come a time when economic forces mean the market starts to level but that doesn’t appear to be any time soon.

[lbo] 04/10/2014 10:49

Fellow Cambridge graduate Stewart Davies has spent just over a year at the helm of waste management group Augean and was also tasked with a turnround – turning losses into profits. Investors were not short on optimism last year. The shares were already ahead by a third from 30p when he joined and continued to gain, crossing 50p for a brief period in the wake of his appointment. He declined to buy in as he took his seat; shares eventually closed the year at 48p and have struggled to hold on to the 2013 gains. Mr Davies now seems to be banking on a breakout, having bought a stake on Tuesday, with shares at 49p

[p1nkfish] 03/10/2014 17:36

CEO purchase has gone uncommented upon.

[lbo] 23/9/2014 22:58

The waste management business has confirmed that trading has been in line with overall expectations, with a slow start in the group’s North Sea business being compensated for by an uplift in radioactive waste volumes. We continue to rate the shares a BUY with a share price target of 56p

[cerrito] 23/9/2014 22:28

As you say Woodcutter decent results and I have got the impression over the last year that the business has a more solid footing than it had 3/4 years ago and new ceo seems to be doing a good job.
For me the share price will continue its stately move up but not banking on it getting to the upper 50's-more a question of hovering around 50 for some time.
Noted that had zero cash but do have financing flexibility and wold have got the £0.4m VAT rebate in July..plus who knows payments from the court case.

[lbo] 23/9/2014 16:47

Augean first half profits soar

[lbo] 23/9/2014 16:41

Augean plc (LON:AUG) had its corporate rating reaffirmed by analysts at N+1 Singer



"encouraging progress is now being made on converting contractual opportunities for later in the second half of the year."



As East Kent growth is delivered, this would support our base case valuation of
57.5p/share, while a sustained outperformance in E&C and RWS could push this
on towards our 77.7p fair value

[woodcutter] 23/9/2014 10:47

decent results but i don't see them propelling the share price forward for now.

david77 sad story sorry to see the business fail but as always with relatively small claims the answer is to negotiate outside the legal fraternity, unfotunately emotions get the better of us and at some point the legals do too!

Woody

[lbo] 15/9/2014 17:41

Waste And Recycling Deal Activity Hits Three-Year High In First Half Of 2014

[david77] 15/9/2014 17:07

I don't know anything about your case here, but Company dirs do do strange things.

I was a shareholder in a company where the dirs were using the company's assets for their own ends. Shareholders called an EGM, dirs were voted out and new dirs, inc me, were elected. We sued for £50k, which was modest compared with what they had taken.

We had £100k in the bank and told our solicitor to stay within that. The defendants employed better lawyers than we did - and won. Our lawyers had spent our £100k. Fortunately, it was a limited liability company, so our company went bust with no assets.

I guess that former dirs had run up a similar bill with their lawyers and they had to pay their own legal fees. It would have been cheaper to give the company something so that our shareholders, inc me, recovered something from our investment. :-(

[woodcutter] 15/9/2014 14:42

Agreed mort but as always it's the lawyers who come out trumps.

They could probably have come to an agreement and saved themselves management time and hassle, which incidentally is a business distraction, and most likely arrived at a similar commercial solution, less the legal costs.

The ratio of legal fees to agreed settlement charges was my bonkers exclamation. Where would we be without our legal chums.

aimho

woody

[morton2011] 15/9/2014 11:18

On the legal costs point: Interim results 2013 noted legal costs of £ 27,000 for this

no specific mention in 2013 Final Results but Oil & Gas Exceptional (assuming its part of that business) had climbing exceptional which had risen by another £ 100,000.

amazing how legals costs can then climb by another £ 500,000 in 6 months.

it might not be so bonkers for the defendant. They have to pay 840+640+ their legal costs which are likely to be a lot lower but lets say 520. So it costs them £ 2 million. The original claim was £ 2.8 million so its cheaper for them.

2014 interims due end of month should clarify the costs. It will all make for a good RNS for the markets when the interims come out.

Best news is to see some cash coming back into the business unless defendants turn round and say they have spent all the money as Woody noted..

[woodcutter] 15/9/2014 10:25

if it breaks out it's in open water, agree it could run then.

Interesting litigation resolution today, the main thrust:

Augean had lodged a claim of up to £2.5million against the previous owners ("the Defendants"), based on alleged breach of warranties contained in the sale and purchase agreement for the HiTech transaction. The Defendants lodged a counterclaim relating to non-payment of a potential earn-out payment of up to £0.7million following the transfer of the business.

The trial commenced on 29 April 2014 and completed on 19 May 2014. The judgment was handed down by the High Court of Justice in London on 12 September 2014.

The main findings of the judgment are as follows:

The claim of Augean against the Defendants was upheld at an amount of in the region of £840,000

The counterclaim of the Defendants against Augean was not upheld

The Defendants were ordered to pay a proportion of legal costs of Augean, that proportion currently estimated at an amount in the region of £600,000, subject to assessment if not agreed.

Only one winner there then. I sometimes wonder at the level of logical thinking behind some of these litigation cases. You make a counter claim of £700K and end up losing, paying your own costs and a further £600K. Meanwhile the claim for £2.8m is rounded down to £840K. I'd be interested to know what negotiation, if any, took place in regard to the likely extent of the legal fees. Bonkers!!

At least AUG won and got something out of it, if it ever gates paid.

Woody

[p1nkfish] 11/9/2014 12:12

This wants to break 50p but can't quite get there.
If it does on some volume I think it will run convincingly for a while.

[woodcutter] 05/9/2014 13:10

had a few today, just an initial dip in the water. Looks undervalued to me set against the massive nuclear decommissioning progranm for magnox.

AUG won't race away but i figure waste disposal contraints will become more stringent and more expensive over the coming years. There's always going to be the nimby crew so i figure safety standards and legislation will get tougher and the share price will steadily climb.

aimho

woody

[lbo] 28/8/2014 16:18

Takeover rumours?

[essential] 23/8/2014 21:09

Positive write up in Moneyweek on Friday...

[lbo] 22/8/2014 11:27

Looks to be heading over 50p

[bigman] 02/8/2014 09:53

bought into this and looking for steady growth both in the business and in my capital inestmnt

[lbo] 28/7/2014 14:10

Yorkshire's regional outlook bright after GDP announcement



Dr Stewart Davies, CEO of Wetherby-based Augean plc, a national waste management company specialising in hazardous materials: "Having recently announced a positive trading update which showed a 6% increase in Group revenues, Augean is in a stronger position now than at any point during the past five years.

"We are continuing to recruit across all our businesses to support our significant pipeline in our key markets notably within nuclear decommissioning, North Sea oil and gas and ash from Energy from Waste incinerators."