Carrs Mill. Share Discussion Threads

[sheik yerbouti] 08/8/2008 08:18

Excellent trading statement - "profit before tax to substantially exceed £9.2 million."

EPS should be 85-90p or more then.

[grigor] 02/8/2008 15:34

More of the same

[grigor] 29/7/2008 21:43

Agree

High feed prices are good for CRM but might stifle demand

The forward PE is still very low

[scotch broth] 29/7/2008 15:21

Difficult to know which way to take it isnt it.
My understanding is that Carrs have difficulty passing on high wheat prices to milling customers but farmers accept higher prices for fertilisers.
Looks like the next results should be good-and not reflected in the share price yet.

[grigor] 28/7/2008 21:34

Feed prices hit Tyson's profits
By Hal Weitzman in Chicago

Published: July 28 2008 20:56 | Last updated: July 28 2008 20:56

Profits at Tyson, one of the US's biggest meat producers, were almost wiped out in the past quarter by the high cost of animal feed and unprofitable cattle price-hedging bets.

The company warned that it was bracing itself to be hit even harder in the coming three months as consumer price rises lag behind increases in feed costs.
and other food producers have struggled in the face of soaring grain and feed prices. Corn prices have hit record highs this year on strong demand from emerging economies and supply concerns because of flooding in the US's Midwest corn belt. ...

[scotch broth] 17/7/2008 15:23

Farmers Weekly more relevant for this share !

[grigor] 14/7/2008 11:58

The Beano for me

[roundell] 14/7/2008 11:42

Techinvest readers are you out there?

[scotch broth] 10/7/2008 09:06

Excellent trading statement today.
Pity about the market background.
I bought another 1000 to lend support.

[grigor] 02/6/2008 21:21

Farmers plough back benefits from milk prices
By Michael Kavanagh

Published: June 2 2008 02:55 | Last updated: June 2 2008 02:55

Even as demonstrations by dairy farmers raged across Europe last week in protest at the poor prices received for milk, the situation in northern England was one of relative bucolic calm.

During the past few months, farmers in the region have been reaping the benefits of an improvement in prices secured for milk production that has allowed them to return to levels of income not seen since the overlapping disasters of the BSE, or "mad-cow disease", epidemic and the subsequent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

In April, shares in the company increased by more than 20 per cent when it published a 45 per cent increase in interim profits to £5.17m ($10.21m). Last week, the company said it had continued to trade well while reporting its interims and forecast it was on course to generate full-year profits of £8.6m in the year to August, compared with £5.5m last time.

As farmers have benefited from higher commodity prices, improving incomes have also allowed Carr's leeway to pass on higher prices for fertilisers, animal foodstuffs and other farm supplies in the year to date.

The company, which also mills flour for bakers, has been able to buy well as a result of forward purchasing and to pass on price increases in this sector.

But the most important driver of Carr's trading improvement has been the better prices secured by dairy farmers, finance director Ron Wood reckons.

"Milk prices, which last year languished at 17p-18p a litre, have recovered to 25p-26p," he says. "And when farmers have money in their pocket, they like to spend it."

Many British farmers continue to face tough financial conditions – particularly those in marginal areas – as reductions in European subsidies undermine the long-run viability of some farming activities.

But both Carr's and its client base are pleased to make hay while the sun shines. And the recent recovery in the health of farm incomes is particularly important for the overall economy of much of the North West beyond its conurbations, says Mr Wood: "Agriculture is a big part of the economy of the North West of England, particularly north Lancashire, Westmorland and Cumbria."

"We don't have the diversity of industries of other regions where people with farms can supplement this with other jobs. Here, it's tourism and agriculture."

Earlier in the decade, Carlisle-based Carr's was forced to rationalise its business as its customer base retrenched or even went out of business.

But as the confidence of farmers has returned, they are prepared today to invest more heavily in order to increase their production levels.

That state of affairs has seen demand for Carr's range of feedstuffs increase as farmers seek short-term improvement in yields.

It has also increased demand for Carr's range of fertilisers as farmers seek to maintain and to improve land quality in the longer term.

After all, "the cheapest way to feed animals is to feed them grass", Mr Wood says.

Shares in Carr's, up 25 per cent over the year, closed at 702 1/2 p on Friday.

With full-year earnings-per-share forecasts still below 70p a share, Carr's still trades on a forward p/e ratio of less than 10.

[grigor] 27/5/2008 18:49

Odd time to come out with a trading statement, less than 2 months after the interims

[scotch broth] 25/4/2008 11:28

Everytime I buy a mere 1000 of these the price goes up.Of course when sentiment changes the reverse will apply.They could be difficult to dump on a bad day.Meanwhile holders owe me a vote of thanks for this morning.

[grigor] 24/4/2008 20:29

Onwards and upwards

[bryan2] 14/4/2008 16:47

Why todays jump?

[grigor] 14/4/2008 12:38

oops - must have clicked twice :-)

[cockneyrebel] 14/4/2008 10:45

Thanks Grigor - I read both posts word for word and they look identical :-)

CR

[grigor] 13/4/2008 20:52

April 11, 2008
The Rarity That Is Carr's Milling Industries
By Sally White

Now here's a rare find: a UK-quoted company in the agriculture sector. We're talking Carr's Milling Industries here, an engineer, an animal feeds, fertiliser and flour manufacturer. But it's nothing new. Parts of Carr's have been around for 175 years, looking after Cumbria's farmers.
In a regime of soaring agriculture prices this must be a 21st century market star. And going beyond agriculture, this little conglomerate even has a finger in alternative energy. It is a manufacturer of remote handling equipment for the nuclear industry as well as processing plant for oil, petro-chemicals and water. What a pity it is down among the minnows of the stock market – this is just the kind of company into which so many of the new agriculture funds are seeking to put their growing cash piles.

Carr's share rice rose by 102p or 21 per cent on 7th April after it announced a 46 per cent rise in interim profits. Even after that leap in value though, the company was still only capitalised it at a mere £67 million. A look at the company's website would suggest that it is as unaccustomed to receiving investors' attention as the market is to noticing Carr's – neither the interim results nor the share price feature. Yet it is right up at the new front-line, benefiting from higher prices for wheat and fertilisers. What's more it's has been able to pass on these price rises to its customers as well as adding engineering products in the energy area to its offering.

"Food inflation is here, and here to stay," was chief executive Chris Holmes's comment on the new state of affairs in agriculture. Carr's Milling has even been able to increase some market share.

The interim story for the period to end March was a pretty good one in all areas bar engineering. All four of the agriculture related activities - animal feed manufacture, fertiliser blending, agricultural retailing and oil distribution - performed well. Operating profit from these activities rose by 56.9 per cent to £4.02 million on revenue up by 45.1 per cent at £118.82 million. On the food subsidiary side operating profit rose by 21 per cent to £1.11 million on revenue up by 57.9 per cent to £39.68m. That was mainly because of flour price increases and a cost reduction programme.

Chairman Richard Inglewood was able to state that "improved farm incomes are benefiting our business. We are selling more products at better margins in the UK and seeing encouraging trends in our overseas agricultural markets. The agriculture division will continue to drive the performance of the Group. A more stable backdrop in food will further enhance profitability. The trends are positive for the second half of this year and beyond."

He added: "Our positioning in speciality products, particularly in the Agricultural market, is driving increases in both margins and sales, whilst food price inflation is enabling us to recapture much of the lost margin in our food business. These factors combine to give us a high degree of confidence in the full year".

The background against which Carr's has done so well includes the 50 per cent increase in milk prices towards the end of last year, which has enabled the farmers to pass on rising animal feed and energy costs.

In the US and in Europe farmers are also able to pass on price rises. Carr's low moisture feed block businesses in the US and Germany were faced with higher prices for molasses, a main ingredient, but were able to pass on most of this added cost. Carr's' market share in this area is growing as it has a joint venture in Germany that is now selling to Russia.

Meanwhile, revenue from fertiliser sales was up 114 per cent on volumes up 60 per cent, as compared to the interim period last year. Carr's has benefited from farmers buying early to secure supply and to offset further price increases. In addition, Carr's leading market position in Scotland and north west England and the success of its niche, slow release environmentally-friendly fertiliser further boosted profitability. Volumes of this high margin product increased by around 50 per cent year on year and it now represents one-sixth of total fertiliser volumes.

With farmers' incomes improving, sales at Carr's 14 retail branches gained by 10 per cent, accelerating in the second quarter.

Revenue from fuel sales increased by 70 percent, partially because of the acquisition of Johnstone Fuels & Lubricants in January 2007.

In its food business Carr's now faces strong and rising grain costs. But the company's cost-cutting programme makes it hopeful that the improving profit trend will continue, however, and it is protecting its position by buying forward where possible.

Even in engineering, which was disappointing this time round, with sales down 14.7 per cent at £3.3 million and profit 16 per cent lower at £0.5 million, Carr's is optimistic. It says that underlying trends remain healthy. The decline in sales and profitability "reflected the part completion of one particularly difficult contract for the supply of vessels". This contract will be completed in the next few months.

House broker Investec raised its profit forecast after the interims to £7.6 million for the year. That still leaves the prospective price earnings multiple at only 9.1 even after the share price rise. Not surprisingly chief executive Chris Holmes and finance director Ron Wood followed up their interim City briefings by promptly taking up their options to buy some more shares.

[roseyglow] 08/4/2008 21:02

Yes Weemonkey aint the greatest balance sheet analyst.

You dont have to be Einstein to figure out that when most of the commodities in making animal feeds that constitute the greater part of the stock and Debtors figure have doubled in price since last summer, additional working capital finance is necessary.

The demand for animal feed from dairy farmers, who have seen the farmgate price for milk rise from 20 pence to 28 pence in the last 6 months has resulted in all mills in Carrs heartland, north west England working to capacity. Undoubtedly margins will rise as will Carrs H2 profits

[sammu] 07/4/2008 23:34

I called these totally wrong selling out towards the end of last year. I though they had big problems passing on the the price rises, but it seems they have overcome these. I bought back in today.

Weemonkey with regard to the cash flow this is almost entirely due to the huge increase in T/O as a result of price increases, and is not concerning as long as it is anticipated and managed correctly.

[grigor] 07/4/2008 21:19

One of the few UK market plays on rising soft commodity prices

[cockneyrebel] 07/4/2008 19:15

What, like SUY Frauddy, that you have so many of? 2K shares or a grads worth moves that - but that's okay isn't it?

Frauddy speak with folked tongue.

CR

[ydderf] 07/4/2008 15:43

.....and of course the shares shouldn't really even be quoted, such is the illiquidity, ok if you are a penny punter like crookney, but it's not going to make anyone's fortune when you can only buy 500 shares at a time.....