Christie Share Discussion Threads

[spirito] 13/12/2019 13:46

Sttetet qt

[cwa1] 13/12/2019 13:44

Not a lot of interest here so might as well post this announcement:-

Christie & Co successfully brokers sale of petrol filling station group

Christie Group plc (CTG.L), the leading provider of Professional & Financial Services and Stock & Inventory Systems & Services to the hospitality, leisure, healthcare, medical, childcare & education and retail sectors, is pleased to announce that Christie & Co, its specialist provider of agency and advisory services, has completed on the sale of Cornwall Garage Group to Ascona Group.

The portfolio of 17 petrol filling stations, located across the Midlands, Home Counties and South West of England, was established by John Murray in the early 1960s and comprises fourteen freehold and three leasehold sites. It was ranked 13 on the Forecourt Trader Top 50 Indie 2019 listing.

The group has been purchased by Ascona Group which itself has rapidly expanded over the last two years. This acquisition takes them to 37 operational sites and moves the group into the top 10 independent fuel retailers in the UK.

Grant, Lance and Pamela Murray comment, "The Murray family are pleased to announce the sale of the Cornwall Garage Group to Ascona Group. The company was set up over 50 years ago by John Murray. Following his death in post at 94 years old the family decided to sell the group in order to facilitate the development of other interests. We wish Ascona Group every success in the future and thank our loyal and hardworking staff for all their help in making the Cornwall Garage Group such a happy and successful family business. We'd also like to thank the Christie & Co team for all their hard work, persistence, dedication and advice throughout the process, from marketing through to completion."

Mark Kaluza, Director of Retail at Christie & Co who led the deal for the Murrays adds, "We have worked with the Murrays for a number of years and were delighted to receive their instructions to handle the sale. They agreed to a full and open marketing campaign which exposed the opportunity to the entire market. We received significant interest in the group as a whole and over 100 offers for individual sites. We wish Darren and his team well with integrating 17 sites in to the expanding Ascona Group portfolio and are very pleased to have played a large part in their expansion plans. with this pivotal acquisition."

[remslie] 02/10/2019 08:09

I completely agree with the above. IMO the CEO and chairman role should be split but this seems unlikely given the shareholding.
Orridge is clearly the problem child and it appears to be showing no signs of improving despite the new strategy. I suspect it just lacks scale to be able to succeed in this regulatory environment and not helped by the carnage on the high street and given the wages on offer struggle to fill the post without paying salaries that are unprofitable. I suspect as they shift the workforce to full time they then suffer from underutilisation. Orridge therefore almost certainly needs to merge and scale up and at the same time this will remove the losses from the p and L of Christies.i suspect they are reluctant to do this when it is loss making and so the can gets kicked further down the road. They need to sort it out but sadly there is no one independent to hold the business to account. A divestment or partial divestment would allow a rerating of the stock. I suspect the losses from this division exceed £1m. It would also be encouraging to see the business be more cash flow positive. They seem to struggle to throw cash off which is disappointing.
They will get there if they can sort Orridge and keep the sales going through despite Brexit which seems to be the case albeit with some concerns around financing.

[sludgesurfer] 12/9/2019 15:06

Nope. On decent volume as well.

[cwa1] 12/9/2019 13:14

Perky today, anyone picked up on anything?

[cwa1] 01/7/2019 13:36

Tiny director purchase:-

[sleepy] 14/6/2019 13:18

The laughter from Directors when a shareholder mentioned the dismal share price return over the last 30 years seems to sum up the view that the Directors have of shareholders

[vprt] 13/6/2019 19:30

Sleepy: Hmmmm, I did not look around the room so hard to tell, and some will probably have voted in advance on paper, so hard to tell. I voted against it. Perhaps you should request a poll next year, and/or for the votes for and against to be counted and published?

Clearly management is paid extremely generously (the CEO at more than twice the AIM CEO median if you compare with the BDO report stats) and with several others not far off - which is in sharp contrast to e.g. the minimum wage people they employ in some parts of the business, and very uncomfortable from a governance viewpoint when they have:
(1) a combined CEO/Chair (with very flaky wording about why)
(2) a majority of executive directors on the board (these same, highly paid people!)
(3) a chair of the remcom who is not independent

They were very lucky, and probably relieved, not to be pushed harder on compensation and governance during the Q&A. (I spoke with one of the NEDs 1-1 about it, though).

PS: I am willing to except the MD of PFS from my compensation comments above - I am happy for him to be paid very well given the very strong performance of that division and the nature of those services.

[sleepy] 13/6/2019 13:04

Am I correct in saying that all the votes in favour of the remuneration resolution at yesterday’s AGM came from Directors and that there were none in favour from the Non Director shareholders?

[gleach23] 12/6/2019 11:27

One of the longer AGM statements I've read :)

All in all reads as reassuring for H2 and will hopefully provide ongoing strength for the share price which has drifted so much of late.

Only 50 shares available to buy online. Long may that shortage continue!

[norbert colon] 25/5/2019 12:36

Hi vprtYes I will be going along - DM me if you want to discuss further. Thanks

[vprt] 25/5/2019 12:21

Anyone going to the AGM on 12 June?

I am likely but not certain to make it there myself. In my view this company is in clear need of some strong inputs and clear messages about governance and priorities (I'd be happy to discuss, and I plan to voice some of my concerns in the meeting). The AGM turnout is normally abysmal with only 3-5 people other than directors, so one extra person can make a positive difference here.

[gleach23] 24/5/2019 22:28

Hi Oxman...unfortunately the outlook comments in the April Finals hardly set us up well for H1 with its mentioned of a H2 weighting. Hopefully the diversity of its business can ensure solid progress continues to be made though.

Should have an AGM TU on 12th June so not long to find out.

[its the oxman] 24/5/2019 10:04

Chart suggests it's worth a punt if it slips below 80p.

[its the oxman] 24/5/2019 10:03

Any holders got a feel for where this is going. Quite a fall recently.

[hiraniha] 11/4/2019 17:12

Aye. Happy to carry on holding this one.

[cwa1] 11/4/2019 08:08

Finals out:-



Actually seem REASONABLY OK on a quick glance-but a lot of; challenging, second half weighted, depends on Brexit type comments that probably mean there won't be any pictures of share price rockets on here today!

[cwa1] 20/3/2019 11:53

Just took a few at 100p. Hoping not a mistake. Certainly not been much newsflow to get your teeth stuck in to.

[hiraniha] 05/3/2019 16:17

Emailed the company for details of the next trading update. They came back with a 'to be decided' response.

[cwa1] 05/2/2019 16:26

Perked up a touch today, nice to see.