Casdon Share Discussion Threads

[mrjasonp] 20/2/2004 12:04

£4,000 buy - that's why! Anyone owning up?

MrP

[mrjasonp] 20/2/2004 10:00

A little tick up this morning

[mrjasonp] 19/2/2004 14:08

Still here. Not a lot happening, but as I said, still a bargain at these prices.

Hopeing (I know, I know, wishful thinking) that the board get their act together & start talking to investors slightly more than 4 times a year (interims, finals + a correction/amendment for each!)

MrP

[simonevans] 12/2/2004 21:20

i'm still in. still a good company at this price imo.

[scaleyman] 12/2/2004 15:17

Very quiet here, nobody in?

[mrjasonp] 27/1/2004 17:45

Thanks BB

Wasn't sure if you were still around, as you've been quiet of late.

MrP

[bbinvest] 27/1/2004 08:20

No problem, MrP

Still holding & not surpirsed by this bounce. Agree with your (my?) sentiments & still see CDY as a long term winner.

(Have checked out SGD, as you mentioned - looks like it's going places & there doesn't seem to be anyone with a bad word to say (BB'ers & the press). A little more investigation & I may buy)

BB

[mrjasonp] 27/1/2004 00:03

Good day to start a new thread, after a small top-up followed by a tiny tick-up!

[mrjasonp] 26/1/2004 23:36

Cassidy Bros (Casdon) STILL a Bargain!!!

6 Months figures
£2.3M turnover
£114k pre-tax profit
£1.6M net current assets (£287k of which is cash)
£3.7M balance sheet (50% higher than mkt cap)
NO Intangibles
Paying dividends
Mkt Cap £2.49M!!



CDY specialise in the manufacture of nursery equipment & children's toys that are reproductions of real life household goods, i.e. the Dyson vacuum (BBInvest's kids have one!). They have a history of springing surprises on shareholders, with no warning if trading is not going to be up to expectations. This is reflected in the current low shareprice.

The Chairman said in his interim report "We expect sales of the existing product range to plateau this year in the UK but increase to the rest of the world, in particular Australia, Spain and Italy. The latter sales don't affect turnover as we are paid on a commission basis. Revenue earned in this way is used to reduce 'Cost of Sales'. Further regular revenue can be expected as of 1 December 2003 from a successful long term leasing of 12,000 sq ft of surplus warehouse space, which apart from some occasional short term let income has remained empty for four years.

We plan to enter the Arts and Crafts category of trade with a product which is based on forensic facial reconstruction using pegs placed in certain positions on the skull. It hasn't been attempted before and we believe it will be a world first. It will be aimed not only at the toy trade but also the adult hobby market, and at varied skill levels. For those of us who have tried 'painting by numbers' one could describe this range as 'sculpture by numbers' and patents have been applied for. One of the sculptured subjects in the range will be a character licensed from a recent box office hit film and an ideal subject for this product, supported by Neanderthal man, Tyrannosaurus Rex and Julius Caesar."

They have also released some Cadburys products which are not reflected in the H1 figures above, so with this additional revenue, exports increasing & income from leasing of warehouse space, I would hope for an improvement in H2. If H2 improves by just 25% (bearing in mind it will include the Christmas period), then we would see full year pre-tax profit of £250k (i.e. 10% Mkt Cap!!!)



CDY is a pretty illiquid share - Directors own 56.5%, so only about a million quids worth can be traded (So you aren't going to be able to get a lot). And, although listed, the board can act as if they are running a small private concern (well they almost are, aren't they?!)

I have held these shares for over six months now, sold some at a profit late last year, but have topped up again now that they are at bargain prices.

Useful Links




Thanks to BBInvest who's Aug03 Thread header I have used as the basis for this one (& others - check out SGD for another bargain!) - Hope you don't mind!

[gamblinman] 26/1/2004 18:19

Market makers have no stock after the last few buys so any buying will take the stock up.

[mrjasonp] 26/1/2004 18:15

& nice to see a tiny rise today, after topping up!

[mrjasonp] 26/1/2004 18:14

The management certainly lack accountability (mentioned in BBInvest's thread header iin Mid 2003), but I don't think they look inept. A tiny manufacturing company that has remained profitable (albeit small profits this time around).

Trading well under NAV, yet cash generative & paying dividends. New income stream from leasing & new & innovative products in the pipeline.

If you look (not too hard) you can easily find small companies with Mkt Cap's significantly higher than CDY's, but with no assets & only hope of making a profit.

I feel CDY is well undervalued & have put my money where my mouth is.

MrP

[mad4it] 26/1/2004 09:34

mad4IT - 16 Nov'03 - 14:13 - 78 of 127 edit


Fundamentally undervalued, perhaps. But the trouble is this company is run like a 'family owned corner shop'.

I remember the terrible results that dropped CDY from £1+ to 30p. There should have been a profit warning issued beforehand. The management looked inept and lacked accountability, it still does, the curse of the family owned business it seems.

I suggest you take a look at the other CDY threads for comments made by holders at the time.

Good luck to all holders.
.........................................................................

So it was, so shall it ever be.

[gamblinman] 26/1/2004 09:32

Many thanks again MrJasonP this info will be of use to me and other future investors.Sounds like a very good deal.

[mrjasonp] 26/1/2004 09:26

Oh yes, I forgot - when you open an a/c you get the first 30 days dealing charge at £4.95, so you can go mad!

[mrjasonp] 26/1/2004 09:24

Got my 1595 shares @ 47p.

Yes HL run a nominee a/c & £9.95 is a flat fee. The thing I really like (which won't suit everyone) is that you open a Bank Of Scotland a/c with the 'HL Branch', which is your trading a/c (pays interest!) so when you are trading online, you can see exactly how much cash you have to spend.

Their web address is

(wonder if they will pay me commission now, instead of charging? ;o) )

MrP

[gamblinman] 26/1/2004 08:57

MR.P Thanks for the info.Do thet hold shares for you and is £9-95 a flat fee or will the cost go up with amount purchased.Also how do you deal on-line just put a price in or take their price. Thanks

[mrjasonp] 25/1/2004 21:58

GAMBLINMAN

I use Hargreaves Lansdown (online) - I am topping up with £750 in the morning, so you will be able to see what they give them to me for (charges are £9.95)

MrP

[simonevans] 25/1/2004 16:37

They are trading significantly below NAV as the property hasn't been revalued. The recent lease probably adds £500-£1000k to the property value and you also have to factor in general increases in commercial property since last revalued.

[gamblinman] 25/1/2004 13:14

Out if interest guys can we find out which broker offers the best deal on trading these.I have just parted company with my broker.

[hugepants] 25/1/2004 09:05

It never makes much sense to me when a profitable company is priced below its NAV, especially when the NAV is made up of freehold property and liquid assets. Leasing the property should add 1p onto earnings (not to be sniffed at!). I dont think the markdown after results was justified given the already low market cap.

[mrjasonp] 24/1/2004 22:24

Company has been punished by the market for releasing poor results with no warning (nothing new there, then!). The 'bounce' indicates that the drop was a little overdone & I see this as an opportunity to top-up. Company is currently valued at 33% lower than NAV (remember - no intangibles!).

Have put a chunk into SGD last week (looks a great medium - long term bet), but have £750 sitting in a broker account that I had forgotten about, so will get some more CDY on Monday.

MrP

[gamblinman] 21/1/2004 18:13

Poor results.Late arrival of Cadbury products.Strong competition in marketplace.
That said strong balance sheet with income now from surplus property of £60000 (my guess).Value per share of 65p+ and that late buy tonight of 10000 @45p means there is some confidence.Plus look in the Index cat. and lots of Casdon toys.More importantly the competitor sweet shop now replaced with Casdon.

[simonevans] 14/1/2004 20:26

Well not quite what we hoped for.

Quite a severe drop today - bit of a surprise really. Paul Cassidy needs to get his statements a bit more accurate imo - he seems to surprise the market every time he says anything and I agree that stating that sales were bouyant only six months ago was not very clever - maybe they were in May and June, but fell-off badly over the summer. Last couple of statements, he has surprised the market with poor results, but before that he was doing it the other way around - i.e. better results.

Except for the family control risk, still undervalued though imo - dividend for the year-end likely to be 1.5-2p ish and Cassidy are innovative - there is a reasonable chance they will find a couple of "winners" at some point. Property valuation probably underwrites ALL of the market cap. Sub-let space will increase the valuation as well.

What exactly is meant by "Your Directors have decided that an interim dividend of 0.75 pence per share will be appropriate for the current results, optimised by future prospects, payable on 5 April 2004."

"optimised by future prospects" - odd choice of wording.

New product sounds interesting. Pic' & Mix and Cadbury product also seem to be doing well. My daughter enjoys the Pic & Mix! Delayed christmas orders may mean higher November and December sales - stock levels don't look encouraging, but they may have delayed deliveries.

Increased commission income on exports sounds encouraging as well as property rental income of £50-100k per annum.

Overall, no big profits to be made for a while with this announcement. Looks interesting at this share price though on a medium term view.

[jdhurry] 14/1/2004 17:45

35p would do nicely! Shame for those who had to bail out though.