Camellia Share Discussion Threads

[coolen] 12/11/2022 20:21

Piedro, you're doing far better than Camellia itself in terms of keeping present and potential investors informed.

[piedro] 12/11/2022 09:59

Russman,

I've put you on filter
Looks like I'll being talking to myself from now on
:-)

[russman] 12/11/2022 05:55

alligator pears to you too.

[piedro] 10/11/2022 22:42

COMMODITIES
Avocado exports to China earn Kenya Sh7bn in three months
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10 2022

[russman] 07/10/2022 17:04

Try rubber, it may bounce back.

[piedro] 07/10/2022 11:50

Any comments ...

Noémie Cantrelle from CIRAD on the global avocado market:
"The annual production rate is increasing faster than the demand"
The worldwide popularity of avocados, which has continued for years, seems to be gradually stagnating, according to Noémie Cantrelle of French research company CIRAD. ....

[cjohn] 29/9/2022 09:43

Hi, tiredoldbroker,

Yes, I agree that the company is unlikely to change course and off-load its majority agricultural interests.

That's what makes investment sense, so they won't do it, that's for sure.

Sadly, however, any cash from selling the insurance business is likely to be blown on buying a barely viable agri-business. If they declared that capital would be returned to shareholders, that really would act as a catalyst.

I don't agree with the idea that a shareholder unhappy with the way things are being run should sell out. Owners - the shareholders - should damn well be critical if a company is being run badly. Only docile owners allowed?

[russman] 27/9/2022 06:31

The share price is at a steep discount to NTAV.
Is NTAV over-stated or the share price undervalued.

[piedro] 22/9/2022 08:49

Kakuzi to send second Avocado shipment to China this week
SAMSON NDERISEPTEMBER 20, 2022

[russman] 08/9/2022 06:49

Maybe the Chairman should be educated with regard to S172 per his annual report to all shareholders & not use CAM as his personal toy bank.

[34adsaddsa] 04/9/2022 08:52

It should be liquidated but it won't be. The apple acquisition seems like a disaster. How much could they actually get for the tea plantations? They aren't making any money. I check in here every few months because it's an interesting outfit and statistically cheap but there's no reason to believe performance will improve and no catalyst to access the claimed NAV.

Perhaps things will change once the old chap who (indirectly) owns this thing pops his clogs.

[russman] 04/9/2022 07:28

CAM is a ragbag of sub-scale investments. Needs to become a more focused asset-manager accountable to all its stakeholders. Decide what the long term investment criteria is? Then score card all the current investments & sell the low scores.

[tiredoldbroker] 02/9/2022 13:30

CJohn, as a long-term investor in MP Evans, I'd suggest that agriculture can have very rewarding returns on capital for investors. CAM is a different beast, as its fortunes are tied to tea, but the basic notion that it all depends on opportunity and patience still hold good. The fact is, this is and will carry on being an agricultural business. If you feel that's not for you, at any point, then fine... but they're not going to become an insurance operation and sell off the plantations. My point is quite simply that with a very substantial, but little talked about asset (the stake in BF&M) likely to be realised within a reasonable time, this is the opportunity. It's a trading situation for investors, not a suggestion that you make this a cornerstone of your retirement planning.

[russman] 01/9/2022 17:19

where are these elusive long-term investment gains?

[piedro] 01/9/2022 14:57

Interesting comments, CJohn and tiredoldbroker.

I too am waiting for a topup opportunity but as yet am not convinced that the agricultural business can become viable.

Notably, 80% of the revenues are from tea.

[cjohn] 01/9/2022 11:15

Hi tireoldbroker,

in fact, you are seriously understating the position regarding asset value.. The shares are trading at a PTBV of 0.4.

Your second paragraph illustrates the unwiseness of flogging off the jewel in the crown, BF & M, and trying to build a business around agriculture, with its pitiful returns on capital.

[tiredoldbroker] 01/9/2022 10:37

This is a great long-term buying opportunity, at £55. The key phrase from the announcement is "We eagerly await the result of BF&M's strategic options review". With a BF&M share price of BMD$24, CAM's 37.4% stake is worth some £70.2m, and this is now for sale. There's also £10m+ to come in gradually from sales of the Collections and redundant UK properties. Net cash £37m, investments £35m. That's more than the mkt cap of CAM. The Trading businesses are effectively in for less than nothing, and at the point where the BF&M stake is realised, the size of the cash inflow will attract attention.

The nature of agricultural businesses is that weather, variable harvests, negotiations with 3rd-world governments and pricing fluctuations combine to mean that you won't get the steady progress you might get from a widget maker. A year ago, I doubt that many people would have accurately forecast even 2022's UK weather, never mind the worldwide surge in oil prices and inflation generally. So it's about opportunity and patience.

[cjohn] 01/9/2022 08:55

As for the results, these were as bad as expected.

Surely, the correct course of action is not to double down on agriculture?

Food processing and insurance seem more promising.

The bad results at BFM may well reverse next half or year, given much of the loss was down to mark to market valuations of investments. This is potentially the most promising of CAM's subsidiaries.

Meanwhile, Bardsley is a classic example of an acquisition that hasn't created shareholder value. What a surprise to be told the benefits of acquistion are taking longer than expected to materiallise.

A much better course of action would have been to return the acquisition cash to shareholders. There's no evidence that the directors know how to buy or run companies with a decent ROI. So the idea they are hoping to do MORE acquisitions is very disappointing.

[cjohn] 01/9/2022 08:48

Thanks, Pedro, for the information on winding up dormant companies.

Would you please forward this to Camellia?


Could I politely suggest that Grant Thornton has an economic interest in making it seem more complicated than it really is?

Either way, the Company should get on with it.

[russman] 24/8/2022 17:58

Time for some opportune investment disposals to streamline the UK tax structure.
Art, shares & properties first.

[russman] 23/8/2022 07:49

As previously highlighted, a number of the Group's key trading subsidiaries have minority shareholders such that when cash is repatriated to the UK by way of dividends, those minorities are entitled to their share of the relevant dividend.

Taxation

The Group's effective tax rate of 36.6% (2020: 110.3%) reflects the use of current year UK trading losses to offset taxable gains arising on investment disposals.

[russman] 20/8/2022 05:52

You can understand why the Kakuzi minority are complaining.
CAM stonewalls.

[piedro] 19/8/2022 21:55

RNS Number : 5175W
Kakuzi Ld
19 August 2022

EXTRACT FROM THE INTERIM FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE PERIOD OF SIX MONTHS TO 30 JUNE 2022

[piedro] 19/8/2022 11:58

Russman,
Are the Kakuzi results to your liking?