Chapelthorpe Share Discussion Threads

[arthur_lame_stocks] 10/3/2005 13:07

I think it's excellent new really. All they have to do now is find new leased premises for the umbrella business. I think this is surely the best way to maximise the value of the disposal of the umbrella business. This way they seperate the assets from the profits and get to sell them both.

As for Amberley, i'm not sure they get a say in it. They don't actually own the shares, they have a CFD over the shares. This gives them some rights but not others (i'm not sure of them though). They are gambling on the price rising.

I'm surprised the price hasn't reacted at all.

I have a feeling the requisitionists are going to lose the EGM vote.

Arthur

[vshukla] 10/3/2005 12:17

I would be voting against the proposal .. look forward to a bid at 30 p.

[geminian] 08/3/2005 19:23

Hi folks

I have voted with the current board with the around 11,000 shares I have averaging 22p.

I,m trusting the current board that the longer view will prove to be more beneficial than going with the proposals to oust them.

Willing to give them the benefit of the doubt at present.

[timbo003] 07/3/2005 21:15

Atkijo

I'm now even more inclined to vote with the current management, I'm very happy with progress over the last couple of years. If Advanced Realisation et al want control, they are going to have to pay a decent premium.

30p/share will do as far as I'm concerned.

[atkijo] 07/3/2005 20:58

Sooner we get to the EGM the better as far as I can see. Today's RNSs prove the point & doubtless have set the trend for the next 10 days of claim & counter claim. It's not rocket science to work out that if you take a 3 yr view the current management have done well but if you take a 5 yr view they haven't.

The Requisitionists do make some pertinent points which offers food for thought, and as a result am just starting to re-consider how to vote. But am not impressed by the fact that the Requisitionists company will take "10% of all monies returned to Ordinary shareholders (and/or value
retained within the Company) at contract termination (but excluding normal
dividends) in excess of 20 pence per share". And having looked back over the Holding In Company announcements it appears that both the Req's have accumulated their holdings within the last 3 yrs. If that is the case then it's a bit of a nerve to refer to a period when they had no holding!

Also, in today's RNS the Req's say that they are not looking for a fire sale, yet in their 28th Feb statement, say that the Req's company would "receive a realisation fee of 1% of any capital (including
special dividends) returned to Ordinary shareholders within the first twelve
calendar months following the appointment of the new Board and 0.5% of any
capital (including special dividends) returned to Ordinary shareholders within
the second twelve calendar months". Clear incentive for the first year over the second or what!!

All in all, bit of thinking to be done before final decision on how to vote... Interested to hear others views...

[timbo003] 28/2/2005 21:17

After a brief perusal of the docs, I'm inclined to think that I will vote against the proposals and in so doing support the current board.

From my perspective, (in at around 7p) CPL are doing remarkably well. Long may it continue. Having said that, I would be quite happy with a bid at around 30p.

After all, if Advanced Realisation et al, think CPL is such a good thing (potentially), why not just make an offer for the company.

circa 30p / share would do nicely for me!

[atkijo] 27/2/2005 17:50

I'll be voting against. I guess a lot comes down to when you bought & what price you paid for the shares you hold. I am averaged at about 8p, and with a likely divi of 1.1p this year, that equates to a 13.75% yield. Can't argue with that!

If you bought at 40p plus then the divi isn't so relevant, and the proposals may seem that much more attractive. But in my view the proposals seem to be more driven by wind up dates of funds rather than what might actually be best for all shareholders in medium/long term (rather like making an investment decision purely for tax reasons - rarely a wise investment decision!!).

In the last 3 yrs or so (ie since i've held) I can't complain about the share price or divi (both have gone up significantly!), so therefore can't really complain about the management either. Appreciate if you've held longer then you might have a different view.

[audigger] 18/2/2005 00:31

I was thinking of buying back into CPL, but there's now too much uncertainty for me to be comfortable doing so. Will watch and see how this develops. I suspect we could see some sharp movement pending the outcome of the AGM.

[atkijo] 17/2/2005 13:26

Susan - good article, thanks for posting the link. Had not realised that Advanced Value Realisation is a fund that is only set up for 3 yrs and will be wound up on 30th June. Assuming that is the case i would be very concerned about a fire-sale of assets (inevitably at low prices) if any potential buyer knows that the sale has to be completed by 30th June.

With the EGM not likely to be until the end of March, if AVR were successful they would only have 3 months to effect the sale, and all potential buyers would know it. Starting to look like that wouldn't be the best result for shareholders.

[susan widdowson] 16/2/2005 10:09

seems to sum the current situation up quite well.

[vshukla] 14/2/2005 12:36

Mr John Biles, Director, that on 9 February 2005 he purchased 75,000
Ordinary Shares of 5 pence each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of
20.75 pence per share.

What would this signify -> board is building up their holding ?

[arthur_lame_stocks] 14/2/2005 08:01

ADVARC also did the same thing to Lupus Capital and took the price from 5p a share up to over 20p a share (about 16p now).

Chapelthorpes management should at least justify the 1m a year they pay themselves.

Arthur

[atkijo] 13/2/2005 13:17

Rainy, per the trading statement it is the 2 'value' funds (North Atlantic Value and Second Advance Value) that have joined together and called for the EGM. According to the Chapelthorpe website these 2 hold just over 10% of the co.

My only experience of this happening previously was with AMS, when Advance Value Realisation Co. did exactly the same thing. What happened there was that the proposal was defeated, but then they requisitioned another EGM a year later when it was defeated again. Following that they promptly sold their entire holding. The whole episode cost AMS a fair bit of cash, and did nothing for the share price!

One difference between AMS and CPL is that AMS had much higher no. of shares owned by the institutions c65% at the time from memory, but not sure how this might affect the EGM here. The whole proposal seems very short termist to me, but that is beginning to appear to be the nature of these 'value' companies.

Personally think the management have done pretty well in the last few years, yes there have been problems but at least they seem to have been up front and honest about them (so far!).

Interesting times though...

Ack

[arthur_lame_stocks] 10/2/2005 10:09

Has anybody had a bash at working out what CPL might be worth broken up?

[timbo003] 08/2/2005 18:39

Interesting stuff!!

As far as profit warnings go that was a pretty good one!

* we will continue to reduce the debt
* we will continue to increase the divi
* we are going to do something about the brolly division which is going to make shareholders some cash

That will do for me!

On the other matter: No doubt shareholders will be getting letters from the young pretenders and the current incumbents arguing their respective cases. Not sure how I will vote at the mo', need to read the correspondence. I guess what we all really want is a bid (at a decent premium) rather than a boardroom coup, so in the absence of any further info, I'm inclined to think that I'll vote with the directors in the hope that it will flush out a bid in the event that the EGM motions are defeated.

[vshukla] 08/2/2005 11:21

people are still buying below 20p ??

[rambutan2] 08/2/2005 09:36

so, i assume amb/dawny day are part of the plan to extract value from cpl. something like they end up with part of the business and chris mills gets the cash hes after?

[balcony] 08/2/2005 08:11

Well not good news,and it now looks like we are now in play.

[balcony] 08/2/2005 08:11

Well not good news,and it now looks like we are now in play.