Carr's Share Discussion Threads

[p1nkfish] 21/2/2023 14:33

I don't see what the problem is.
Mills on the board is OK with me.
Made some decent money off his involvements.

[kinwah] 21/2/2023 14:26

I think unprecedented rather than just a mite unusual. Carr's has many small shareholders with links to Carrs Billington either as former employees or customers. The larger shareholders have been there for a long time. CM probably thinks he could get shareholder support if push came to shove.

[fevertreeman] 21/2/2023 14:05

Just a mite bit unusual given the wholesale change on the Board that the Board felt obliged to agree to this. Feels to me like gun to head from Mills - agree to my man on the board or else......Am surprised top board didnt tell Chris to go multiply..reveals just how weak their position is after serial underperformance after underperformance...

[kinwah] 21/2/2023 12:22

Haha fevertreeman, I thought a clever man like you knew what happens in boardrooms. I would have thought that agreeing to have a Harwood representative on the board is a concession after some tough conversations and will ensure that the board doesn't do anything which might upset shareholders like giving themselves shedloads of options ahead of what's likely to happen over the next few months.

[p1nkfish] 21/2/2023 09:33

Carrs might look to raise capital off market for all we know, some sort of CLN and having Harwood on the board gives oversight to a source of such capital.

[p1nkfish] 21/2/2023 09:31

fever, will make no difference. There are probably plans already in 0lace for what's next. Nothing by accident, nothing without forethought.

[1tx] 21/2/2023 09:20

I assume getting the unaudited pro forma figures means that the audited figures are yet again being delayed....I would be happy to be proved wrong but I can't see the shares being worth more than a pound & that assumes that the company can maintain a dividend around the present level and ends up with a reasonable amount of cash from the sale of the agri businesses which I have doubts.My book cost is around 110p....

[fevertreeman] 21/2/2023 09:05

Lacklustre results,with more self-justification all around.

As [proff that governance and management of this company remains shot to pieces, I will be writing to the Chairman for an explanation around granting an NED board position to Harwood Capital merely based on Chris Mills having a 5% stake.

Begs huge numbers of questions.....

[boystown] 21/2/2023 09:03

When is trading likely to resume?

[p1nkfish] 21/2/2023 08:46

Suspect Mills will be waiting to add on weakness but no idea where the price will be for that to happen. Opportunity cost is mounting the longer this is in limbo.

[pugugly] 21/2/2023 08:26

Update appears to be a bit of smoke and mirrors (imo). Anyone got a gut feel as to where this will go once trading is resumed?

[somethingsup] 14/2/2023 17:51

In fact keep the cash no special dividend (income taxed) and sell the lot and pay 20% CGT.

[remslie] 14/2/2023 15:26

That would be the best solution

[fevertreeman] 14/2/2023 14:32

Or a takeover approach, which I would favour as the level of shareholder destruction by successive managemetn her has been dreadful. A complete lack of vision, dynamism and competence....

[remslie] 14/2/2023 13:25

I suspect a small new management team

[fevertreeman] 14/2/2023 12:29

As bottomfisher eloquently points out,Carrs continues to prove an utter shambles, sneaking out the RNS after close on a Friday, despite the fact the shares remain suspended, so why do that??? And what do I take from this?

The following points:

1. Not sure wqe#re out of the woods on the disposal. Remember that Austin the CFO on whose watch the deal happened was unceremoniously defenestrated in a terse aRNS announcing his successor in mid-December. Telling for those of us who know what happens in the boardroom, that there was not so much as a thank you or wish him well for future etc....

IMO concerns around the Board's competence & legacy will continue to haunt Carrs until we get a clean financial bill of health. I'd also question whether the new CFO will try to protect himself by announcing a whole load of exceptional items come the next set of results, and pinning it on his predecessor. Page and the Board have been woeful over last few years: firing previous CEO, taking forever to announce a strategic revieww that an 18 year old with a business studies BTEC could have come up with in about a fortnight, and then Page installing himself as CEO having failed to find s/o else.

2. The company is a sitting duck for a takeover unless Page can quickly turn things around and bulk up what is now a small business. No evidence from the incredibly lacklustre strategic update he fronted at the time of the pivot and sale. I predcited at the time that this would sooner or later attract private equity or activists..and lo and behold the avuncular Chris Mills, he of North Atlantic fame has popped up ...he can smell an opportunity...

3. Trading update does nothing to cheer either: the strategic review got rid of a huige wedge of revenues alberit low margin that were fairly low beta. Immediately the business has shrunk, and we';re supposed to buy the argument that it is in better shape since junking the JBV?

Nothing has changed! In AG products, we are reliant on farmers, weather etc; In Engineering we're in a tough competitive business with margins under pressure despite the supposedly specialist nature of what Carrs does.

4. Way forward is murky. Have little faith in Page's M&A or leadership skills and it is M&A that will have to replace the lost revenues....this is not an organic growth story...so answer is what?

[remslie] 13/2/2023 14:19

I suspect the only way to realise value is to appoint a small team to unbundle the business. I fear with current team we will make little progress

[p1nkfish] 11/2/2023 21:37

Not long ago GT had limitations due to headcount vs workload.
May account for these delays too.

The TA (on the weekly) was improving prior to this hiatus.

[somethingsup] 11/2/2023 20:38

I don’t think there will be any problems in the accounts. It’s what the markets thinks going forward. PP now has in place 2 top class new execs which should prove positive for the share price.

[pugugly] 11/2/2023 20:27

Guesses as to how big a fall likely when the accounts are published? Or maybe no problems revealed and a bounce up?

[somethingsup] 11/2/2023 19:59

I hardly think it fair to blame everything on Peter Page. He is advised by Grant Thornton on the release of the Audit. GT must have some very complex internal reporting to have advised a CEO on a number of occasions when the Audit would be completed…and they GT have not finalised their internal sign offs. GT need to sort themselves out.
Anyway with the proceeds of the sale I’m hoping we buy out the remaining JV’s in the Agricultural Business and offer us a special dividend with the balance. I can’t actually see the point in overpaying for another business and all the associated integration when we can grow organically with what we have.
Might be a bumpy ride in short term but things will improve greatly IMHO.

[remslie] 11/2/2023 18:27

I completely agree

[bottomfisher] 11/2/2023 18:12

The latest delay (the third) in the release of Carr’s long overdue results for the year to September 2022 is highly embarrassing and reflects poorly on the stewardship of Peter Page, the ex-Devro ceo, who took over as chairman at the start of 2020.

The delay in the release of the accounts means that the company’s shares have had to be suspended since January 4th.The initial plan was to have the results published “as soon as possible” in January. That deadline was then shifted to February 14th and has now been pushed back to “no later” than February 27th which is the same day as the company’s long delayed annual general meeting to approve the accounts for the year to September 2022. So much for shareholders having time to read the report and accounts before the agm vote.

The delay in the release of the 2021/22 accounts has been portrayed as a due to technical difficulties resulting from a need for a separate audit of an associate company that was sold as part of the disposal of Carr’s low margin agricultural supplies division. The company insists that trading for the last financial year and the first half of 2022/23 has “been in line with management expectations”, whatever that means.

However, the delay in publishing the accounts, together with the long delay in implementing the strategic review which led to the eventual sale of the agricultural supplies division, has left shareholders frustrated. The arrival of Christopher Mills’ Harwood Capital on Carr’s share register less than four months ago, suggests that Carr’s lacklustre performance has finally started to attract the attention of potential predators/activist investors.

Since Page took over as chairman three years ago he has been through two chief executives and took on the role of executive chairman in October 2021. He steps down to become chief executive after this month’s agm, when Tim Jones, the former chairman of one time stock market high flyer Treatt, takes over as Carr’s chairman.

The latest trading update, released with news of a further delay in the publication of last year’s results, made a depressing read. After a good start in the early part of the current financial year trading had become “more challenging” with lower volumes of feed blocks sold related to weather conditions in both the USA and UK markets, and “competitive pricing for tenders in the engineering division”.

This hardly suggests that the slimmed down Carr’s is going to be quickly transformed into a high margin growth stock. Hopefully, finding a new chief executive to replace Page will be a top priority in the new chairman’s in-tray.