Booker Group Share Discussion Threads

[woodpeckers] 10/11/2012 19:19

Held up well at 0.2% up and the FTSE down 0.5%, pleased with that. Investors obviously have faith that this will get sorted. For me, this is the beauty of this company as most would tank on this sort of news. Well respected management is sooooo important.

[pattayaboy] 09/11/2012 10:08

Could see daily drop until situation more clear. As long as big holders don't sell they should be OK.

[woodpeckers] 08/11/2012 21:01

Don't forget this BOD have a history of enjoying rising to a challenge! They haven't done too badly so far!

[casino444] 08/11/2012 19:52

says it all really the news today causing problems already for booker before anything has started with makro

[woodpeckers] 08/11/2012 18:01

Mmmn, not too good. Have to say I'm surprised that CW didn't anticipate this. On the up side, the share price certainly held well above a pound which, bearing in mind it's relatively recent passing of this psychologically important milestone, seems very bullish. There was a nice chunky 332k buy after hours at well over the UT trade price which suggests someone has confidence that this will get sorted out. The good thing is, there aren't too many PIs in this share so the share price doesn't tend to over react.

The real downside is that the CC have up to 32 weeks to publish their report during which time BOK can't do anything with Macro which is obviously going to prove a considerable further cash drain which will obviously be reflected in future trading results.

I think the company intended to sell off/ quit leases on quite a lot of Macro's warehouses to streamline and possibly thought that this would satisfy the OFT but it obviously wasn't enough.

Chartwise we are still within the up channel so I don't think we have any worries there at this stage.

To summarize, I'm surprised they have got themselves into this mess but I'd also be surprised if the BOD can't sort this out. Don't really see the share price tanking too much further but in this climate you never can tell. I won't be selling unless we go below about 97p which I doubt will happen. I'll be keeping a close eye on it and may top up though!

[pattayaboy] 08/11/2012 17:40

Not much the OFT can do, even if they feel Booker should shed some outlets there are only two competitors. OFT just making noise.

[blondviking] 08/11/2012 16:24

"The OFT today referred the completed acquisition by Booker Group plc (Booker) of Makro Holding Limited (Makro) to the Competition Commission for further investigation due to concerns that it could reduce competition between cash and carry outlets"

A bit of a knock today. Anybody any thoughts as to the possible outcome?

[pattayaboy] 24/10/2012 09:39

I would consider buying back in at around 80p BOK is a good Company but ATM i consider the current price is its worth.

[woodpeckers] 23/10/2012 07:30

If there are any chartists out there, you may want to take a look at Fingers' thread (FXD) as he has kindly done a BOK chart update at my request.

He suggests that the share price has in effect been consolidating for the last 4 months which, with the heavy volume on results day, managed to help the share price sail through what would normally be a difficult psychological barrier, the £1.

He sees no reason why the overall uptrend shouldn't continue (from a charting perspective) with a target price of 170p.

:-)

[casino444] 20/10/2012 05:35

dont do it booker why makro its on its last legs , lets hope once they know what there doing with that can of worms they can try and sort it out quickly as possible and get it back on track and if not ??

[pattayaboy] 19/10/2012 07:37

Thank's Woody. Good luck to you.

[woodpeckers] 18/10/2012 14:01

Well done and good luck, Pat.

[pattayaboy] 18/10/2012 12:58

Goodbye and thank you Booker, I am happy bought at 33p Sold at 100p

[woodpeckers] 18/10/2012 12:52

You may have left too early Pat, Panmure have put out a new target price of 180P!

[woodpeckers] 18/10/2012 12:28

There's that £1!!! :-)

[pattayaboy] 18/10/2012 11:41

Bail out @ £1 for me

[skinny] 18/10/2012 07:53

Financial Highlights (Makro not consolidated)

• Total sales £1.9 bn, +3.3%

• Like-for-like sales were +3.1%:

- non-tobacco +3.8%
- tobacco +1.8%

• Like-for-like sales to caterers were +4.7% and to retailers +2.2%

• Operating profit (pre £3m exceptional charge related to Makro acquisition costs) +12.4% to £51.6m (2011: £45.9m)

• Profit before tax (post exceptional charge) +13.3% to £51.0m (2011: £45.0m)

• Profit after tax (post exceptional charge) +13.0% to £40.8m (2011: £36.1m)

• Basic earnings per share (post exceptional charge) +6.4% to 2.50p (2011: 2.35p)

• Net cash £69.8m (2011: £58.7m), after spending £15.8m on the cash element of the Makro consideration

• Interim dividend per share up 15.2% to 0.38 pence (2011: 0.33 pence)

• Subject to obtaining competition clearance, we expect Makro to reduce Group operating profit in 2012/13 by £nil to £10m, and increase operating profit in 2013/14 by circa £10m

Operating Highlights

• Customer satisfaction has improved which has driven like-for-like sales

• Conversion of another 3 branches into the 'Extra' format, taking the total number of 'Extra' branches to 145

• Internet sales +10.7% to £332m (2011: £300m)

• Booker Direct, Ritter Courivaud and Classic are performing well

• Chef Direct is becoming the new force in foodservice

• Following competition clearance, Booker and Makro will seek to become the UK's leading wholesaler to caterers, retailers and small companies

• Our 3 branches in India are on track and we expect to open 2 more branches in
the second half

Outlook

Group turnover in the second half to date (excluding Makro) is ahead of the same period last year. Working capital levels and costs are in line with plan. Overall, Booker Group plc continues to trade in line with management expectations.

[woodpeckers] 17/10/2012 15:03

Market doesn't seem to be too confident about tomorrows results. Hope CW can pull something out of the bag to shock them, I think we might need more than the usual "in line with management expectations" to get this motoring.

[woodpeckers] 15/10/2012 12:25

Interesting find, grantly. Sad for those being made redundant, but all has to be good for Booker.

It certainly shows that the board are looking for further investments/growth which is good. Would love to know what else they have their eye on. I suggested to CR a while back that Real Good Food (RGD) might be of interest but he didn't think it would be a good buy. Do you have any thoughts on any other companies that would be a good fit?

[grantley] 15/10/2012 10:07

See link below - covers belief that Booker were looking to buy them pre-admin but pulled out at the 11th hour and that they are pitching to Waverley customers:

[woodpeckers] 15/10/2012 09:58

You may be right, grantly. I've noticed that the emails I get from them regularly have good drinks deals so I think they are certainly promoting that side of the business strongly at the moment.

[grantley] 15/10/2012 09:29

Booker may benefit from the demise of Waverley TBS recently - one of the largest wholesalers/suppliers of alcoholic and soft drinks. They will be pitching to any customers who were using Waverley.

[woodpeckers] 12/10/2012 20:36

LOL, don't know about positives! Never heard CW say anything other than "inline with management expectations"!!! I'll be happy with that though!

Hope you're well. I was in France the week before last and sampled a new restaurant whose walls were adorned with the art of a local artist very much the style (tho' nothing like as good, of course!) as the painting I bought from you. Home from home. :-)