Bloomsbury Publishing Share Discussion Threads

[stevesham] 29/7/2021 11:42

You had to own it yesterday to get the divi

[cwa1] 29/7/2021 11:15

Hi PeteS5

If we see a lot of buying this pm to be registered for the good divi we will then know.

Not really sure what you mean by this, can you expand on it a bit please?

Cheers

[petes5] 29/7/2021 10:44

XD or not that drop is silly. Could this be a bit of messing around to take out stops. If we see a lot of buying this pm to be registered for the good divi we will then know.

[investor0109] 29/7/2021 10:42

The XD sell-off a curious thing. With respect for those who sold today, I must say I'd not even contemplate such a decision. share price growth over the coming year will earn far more than today's dividend scoop. I'll take both, thanks.

[cwa1] 29/7/2021 08:11

XD today, payday 27/8

[tole] 26/7/2021 20:46

https://masterinvestor.co.uk/equities/small-cap-round-up-featuring-dwf-premier-foods-foxtons-and-more/There are several market whispers suggesting it could well become a 'takeover target' for some international groups.Interesting snippet at the end of their summary...

[kennewil] 21/7/2021 09:16

Very positive trading update.

[cwa1] 16/7/2021 17:33

Decent volume today

[games] 08/7/2021 09:34

Nonetheless, they have no right to make a medical treatment that is still in trial part of their employment contract.

If I was an employee who choose not to have it, I would wait till they dismissed me, then take legal advice and demand to see their peer reviewed advice.

[riverman77] 18/6/2021 20:12

Pretty much everything is down today, I don't think that news has anything to do with the drop.

[verulamium] 18/6/2021 17:18

Late share price fall thanks to the news that Bloomsbury are going to insist on staff being vaccinated before returning to the office. Which is all well and good, but undoubtably falls foul of employment law. In fact, it might be seen as the route to a good redundancy payout if any of their staff are wanting to leave.

They say they've taken medical and scientific advice, but surely they should have taken legal advice too?

[18bt] 14/6/2021 07:47

Satchow - that's currently correct, but my understanding is that the trade credit insurance for Waterstones runs out on 30/6 as it is currently UK Govt guaranteed and the TC insurers will not provide it after that date. That statement will still likely be true as regards the rest of the book.

[salchow] 09/6/2021 18:18

Bearing in mind that accounts have just been published with the following comment it is hard to see that there is any immediate problem with regard to Waterstones.

"Trade receivables principally comprise amounts receivable from the sale of books due from distributors. The majority of trade debtors are secured by credit insurance and in certain territories by third party distributors".

[grahamburn] 09/6/2021 15:25

Waterstones have been reincarnated a number of times over the years so one more shouldn't be too difficult to arrange!

Similarly debtors within BMY balance sheet do not seem unduly adrift and like Tom89 says BMY has a good cash position.

[riverman77] 08/6/2021 17:17

Don't know the details of the Waterstone situation, but I'd imagine the company will ultimately continue to trade - there's surely still a place for physical bookshops on high street. My guess is there could be some sort of restructuring that wipes out current equity holders, but as long as the shop stays open the impact should hopefully be manageable for BMY.

[tom89] 08/6/2021 17:01

18BT Thank you. BMY do have £41M cash which is some comfort.

[18bt] 08/6/2021 16:05

Well, there's a possibility that Waterstones could go bust, leaving BMY with uncollected debts my guess is around £5-10m and uncertainty over the 2nd largest UK customer. More likely I think is that Waterstones will continue to push publishers for increased discounts to try and make their UK store base profitable. A further alternative is that Waterstones could close stores which are unprofitable post COVID and lead to reduced sales. Waterstone is a product leader and a bigger determinant of who reads what in the UK than Amazon.

[tom89] 08/6/2021 16:01

I am no chartist but the chart now shows a rare Tri star doji. That is three days of doji at the top of a trend. However there does not appear to be bad data so we (I) gamble on tomorrow not being too much of a fall in share price

[tom89] 08/6/2021 15:57

18BT Please excuse my ignorance but how is this going to affect BMY?

[18bt] 07/6/2021 08:59

Update: Waterstones Booksellers Ltd have filed their accounts, but they are not yet available to see at Companies House. However, the accounts of the company above which has the loans in does not seem to be filed yet. For anyone interested:


Edit: Accounts now available on above link. My concerns were fairly justified. There is a very long "Going Concern" justification in the directors' report. The key para is:
"Based on the base forecasts, cash resources will be sufficient to meet liabilities as they fall due, although the forecast suggests that the Group may breach the covenant associated with the debt in July 2021 and October 2021. Having received confirmation from Elliott Funds that they are waiving the covenant breach for April 21 and, if required will waive a covenant breach in July 2021 and/or October 2021, the Directors consider that the Group and Company to be a going concern and have prepapred financial statements on that basis."

As a slight footnote, the accounts look as though EBITDA/Operating profit has held up at Waterstones, despite the pandemic, but that's only because they adopted IFRS 16 on leases during the year. That seems to have benefitted the results by £43m meaning it would have made a loss if that had not been adopted. And remember these accounts are only to March 2020 before the main pandemic effect.

The auditors have then inserted an "Emphasis of Matter" paragraph in their audit report saying that "There is a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt upon the Company's ability to continue as a going concern due to the possibility of a reduction in sales below forecast levelas which could lead to a covenant breach of absence of liquidity."

So the reason that the accounts are late is that there must have been extensive discussions with Elliott and the banks for Bidco above to agree covenant waivers. Given that was all entirely foreseeable Elliott ust at least have entertained the idea of letting Waterstones go bust. Accounts of Book Retail Bidco, the UK holding company with all the 3rd party bank debt have not yet been filed and are crucial to seeing the overall financial position. The intercompany balances are quite material.

[18bt] 04/6/2021 09:17

I've sold quite a lot of my shareholding this morning having looked a bit further into Waterstones in the last few weeks and now prompted by this article: The key fact which is missing from this article is that Waterstones have failed to file their 2020 accounts at companies house (due on 30 April). When you look at various companies in the ownership chain, you find that the owners, Elliot Advisers (and do we trust them given their reputation?)refinanced Waterstones in 2019 and took out a huge dividend financed by bank debt. My conclusion is that Waterstones must now be in breach of the covenants attached to the debt and therefore cannot sign off the going concern statement in its accounts. I understand that the insurance market has now withdrawn trade credit insurance against Waterstones' debt.

I had a go at working out BMP's exposure based on say a 20% market share of UK non-digital book revenues and assuming that Waterstones goes bust. It feels to me as though it could leave a hole of c£10m in bad debt on a worst case. BMP of course has the cash, but that risk is enough for me to take money off the table. I have asked Penny S-B to comment and will post if I receive a reply.

I may be wrong, but I think Waterstones financial position might get more scrutiny after this article. I hope I'm wrong in my conclusions as it would tarnish an excellent growth story.

[cwa1] 04/6/2021 07:41

Investor Results Presentation



Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LSE: BMY), the leading independent publisher, is pleased to announce that Nigel Newton, Chief Executive and Penny Scott-Bayfield, Group Finance Director will provide a live presentation relating to Preliminary Results for the year ended 28 February 2021 via the Investor Meet Company platform on 14 June 2021 at 10:00am BST. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via your Investor Meet Company dashboard up until 9am the day before the meeting or at any time during the live presentation.



Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add to meet Bloomsbury Publishing PLC via:

[cwa1] 03/6/2021 09:15

Thanks for those links, they are useful. Hope you don't mind if I repost them as "clickables"?





and

[kennewil] 03/6/2021 08:25

Another take on results.https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jun/02/bloomsbury-profits-jump-as-joy-of-reading-rediscovered-in-lockdown-harry-potter