Coral Products Share Discussion Threads

[charo] 10/5/2019 19:42

Clocktower
National accounts manager is just another name for a product sales rep.
Costs less but titles seem to matter.
If you read notices and web site
Coral have female group fd, female group hr manager and qualified female financial controller.
Supported female apprentice of year and sales admin manager qualifying for senior NVQ status.
Criticise all you want but from an educated position.

[clocktower] 10/5/2019 18:51

I notice Coral have recently taken on a third National Account Manager -


One would suffice, and a deputy at a lower salary - no wonder they are not making money if this is an example of mismanagement if ever there was.

Is it jobs for the boys?

They were shouting about being an diverse employer not long ago - so why not have a woman in the team - in most cases I would say they are better running most accounts than men, so why is the team at the top mainly male?

[clocktower] 10/5/2019 17:00

I agree with that charo but sometimes old farts like him do not know when the game is up and would rather go down with all guns blazing in the hope of overcoming the odds.

Often, they never like to let go much like many investors, and let someone else run with it that is more able. He has tried twice picking CEO`s both seem to be failures as the record is now showing.

As I said, time to speak to the passengers and let them know if they should at the very least put on their life jackets. so they can decide if they want to risk jumping or staying with the guy in charge.

[charo] 10/5/2019 16:33

Jg has circa 5.5 million shares bought with his cash and so far as we can tell never sold any.Now he is not a high net worth individual,maybe in mid £5/ 7 millions but not super rich.His stake in coral is surely ,at his age,a million down to 300k material.He is not going to walk away.

[clocktower] 10/5/2019 13:22

charo - to be fair the directors and JG are hardly going to admit to making a lash up and bound to try to suggest they are confident, in much the same way as a pilot would not want to alarm passengers of an impending disaster on a 737 Max Boeing plane, as he/she try to work out how they can avoid killing themselves and all along with them.

Sadly, it is usual that only when something drastic happens and hope is lost do the passengers become aware of the likely total loss, be it their lives or their investments.

Time they talked to the passengers before more of them look for the parachutes and jump to save themselves.

[base7] 10/5/2019 07:48

Thanks for sharing your view on the recent conference & great to hear that they are all confident about the future.JG is getting on a bit & while his investment here is unlikely to be his biggest I am sure he want to max out if he can & an outright disposal of CRU is the only way for him to achieve that,IMHO.
I first started buying years ago when JG first joined in the hope that he would create a small but diverse group & then exit for a decent profit.All has gone according to plan apart from the decent profit & , realistically, that is unlikely to arrive until CRU can be seen to be on even keel again & ,hopefully,growing.
I understand that Directors/PDMRs may be restricted from buying but in the absence of any news at all that seems unlikely

[charo] 09/5/2019 22:43

Have you considered that they may be in a close period, for what reason;only they know and can't announce.
As to auto market it is still billion pound market and if get right can make money. In any case only around 2% of sales.
We should hear something soon. IF WAS BAD WE WOULD HAVE HEARD MORE. Some 6 weeks and all quiet and having been at the investor show the chairman, not normally at such events, together with ceo and fd were very calm reassuring and confident in future.

[base7] 09/5/2019 22:20

Fair comment as Directors/PDMRs have always previously bought & our share price hasn't been this low for years.The fire was unfortunate & out of our control but we should have never entered the Auto Market ,which has ben in decline for some time & margins must be negligible.Maybe best to write off our investment there & close it down

[valuschmalu] 09/5/2019 21:09

charo-if undervalued, why no director buys this time round?

[clocktower] 09/5/2019 17:29

atholl91 - Coral is not conventional - While it has sucked the blood out of me this time, it has been good in the past and I have traded it up and downs over a number of years and though they have to some extent provided slightly misleading information in last couple of RNS, I believe they have over the past two years made huge strides to get Haydock back on the right path, and had it not been for the problems with the Tote orders may well have weathered the storm from the Auto business. Assuming that the totes order problems were associated with the fire at the Ocado warehouse.

Any idea how long the Andover warehouse will be out of action, as I have not followed Ocado.

[charo] 09/5/2019 16:04

I can say having met at investor show with senior management there view is co is monumentally undervalued and do major shareholders.
They are not spooked by share price fall and will keep doing day jobs ensuring long term survival with profitable growth.
Not always straight line.

[atholl91] 09/5/2019 15:08

CT. Conventional premiums are 30% above market price giving 9p - If shareholders were offered 10p a share there would be a stampede for the exit.

[clocktower] 04/5/2019 17:53

Selling bits will only damage the prospects of the whole package, now that the company has invested in the recycling plant, every subsidiary is needed to maximise the efficiency of the plant.

Sell the whole company by all means to someone that needs more capacity and has the ability to run it profitable year in year out. Taking the debt into account the whole package would I expect leave current shareholders with around 14/15p a share.

The new owners could then sell the bits that they would not require, due to duplication I expect - that could leave the buyers with a very healthy profit in a very short timeframe.

[charo] 04/5/2019 12:52

Coral lost substantialmoney for the 5 years to 2011,whilst producing volume media products.
Sure though last two years have been tough the operating cash flow has been more than sufficient to meet the very high investment.
If criticism dividends have been too high and too soon.Without such debt would be considerably lower.But that's the rules they operate under.Blue sky and vastly loss making "disruptives" rule the day.Reminds me of dot com investment bubble.
Jg needs slap down those demanding cuvs whilst expecting improved efficiency and keep on course.
Interpack has doubled sales and contributions u der coral,why sell.

[valuschmalu] 04/5/2019 12:20

They just havent been able to solve the Haydock factory problem since DVD sales started to fall in 2006. It worked fine when humming along at high capacity rates but no one seems to be able to get it to run profitably on a consistent basis at lower capacity levels. A lot of cash has been pumped in to it (either capex or operating losses) and net debt is now at unsustainable levels.

IMHO (and I realise this will not be a popular opinion), I think the time has come for more drastic action. It is crucial they get net debt to a more sensible level of around £4mn (2x 'average' EBITDA) or lower. Either they sell Haydock and the machinery or they sell a subsidiary. Personally I wouldnt be averse to selling Interpack at a nice profit but locking into a multi-year manufacturing contract to at least keep some guaranteed business in the factory. Negative winds blowing in food packaging so might be nice to take profits off the table and massively delever the company.

[charo] 03/5/2019 22:03

Madness,one subsidiary will sell for more than market cap.

[base7] 03/5/2019 13:43

Now the year end has passed we need a steadying RNS providing comprehensive update.The figures are now known ,as us the order book & the lack of Director /PDMR buying after the warning was disappointing & a concern as they have always bought following previous warnings .Our lowly share price tells all we know about what The Market thinks & our best hope could be that JG has had enough & trying to sell us to the highest ,or any , bidder.

[likitorma] 03/5/2019 10:05

Down it goes, further down it goes.

[mrphil] 03/5/2019 09:42

Have mentioned to CRU that our local council are intending to introduce kerbside glass collections - must be a business opportunity there!

[clocktower] 03/5/2019 08:36

cbdrelief - have you tried not ramping stocks that have nothing to do with the plastics business on various threads.
Edited:
I see advfn have removed the post I responded about.

[clocktower] 02/5/2019 17:40

I will sit tight with the rest till then charo.

[charo] 02/5/2019 10:14

The chances of jg diluting himself are nil.His history shows that. Short term difficulties are grist to his mill though with year end just gone 30th April expect update soon

[clocktower] 02/5/2019 08:25

My thoughts also DP19 however, having sold some of my holding since the last RNS I am minded to wait for the possible placing and take up any rights I may have and offer to take more if it looks attractive.

So far it seems nobody is optimistic about Coral`s prospects now. Hmmmmmmm!

[rp19] 01/5/2019 22:41

Decision for the individual but don't see any near term drivers for share price appreciation and limited ability to trust management. Money better elsewhere for me.