Cranswick Share Discussion Threads

[karlm] 28/5/2003 13:09

No idea Big Cat

Also one thing that isn't factored in is the compensation for the farmers that went bust beacause of CWKs tactics.

This is a lot bigger than people think.

[big_cat] 28/5/2003 13:04

Any reason why Amvescap are buying into this stock?

[karlm] 27/5/2003 08:32

"At present the figure stands at 150 pig farmers, mainly in Yorkshire. That is in the context of some 1,000 to 1,400 such farmers nationwide."

Lets put some figures together, estimating...

5 years x 1200 farmers x £6000 P.A each

Thats a whopping £36 Million potential in claims

This could be higher as I can't estimate the loss per year although at £20 per head underpayed, that's only 3000 pigs per farmer per year. Face it if you were one of the farmers you'd make damn sure you'd get your cut, so that's a potential 1400 claimants.

CWK have only put away a 10th of that and I think i'm being very fair on my estimates.

This share will be like an abatoir floor this week, very bloody and very red.

L2 starting to weeken

[sharecrazyfem] 26/5/2003 14:42

Beware of pessimists who want to drag the price down so they can get it on the cheap. the price of CWK has gone far lower than it should considering the profits made. I'll be watching over the coming week but i see it going back to 400p once this pig farmers are paid off.

[karlm] 25/5/2003 23:42

"At present the figure stands at 150 pig farmers, mainly in Yorkshire. That is in the context of some 1,000 to 1,400 such farmers nationwide."

Lets put some figures together, estimating...

5 years x 1200 farmers x £6000 P.A each

Thats a whopping £36 Million potential in claims

This could be higher as I can't estimate the loss per year although at £20 per head underpayed, that's only 3000 pigs per farmer per year. Face it if you were one of the farmers you'd make damn sure you'd get your cut, so that's a potential 1400 claimants.

CWK have only put away a 10th of that and I think i'm being very fair on my estimates.

This share will be like an abatoir floor next week, very bloody and very red.

Will be increasing my short first thing tuesday.

[karlm] 24/5/2003 19:38

Looks like an appropriate title following todays news


Cranswick payments claims rise

PIG farmers are banding together to try to get more compensation out of Cranswick, the pigs, pork and feed company, over underpayments for their animals dating back several years.



They held a meeting on Wednesday at the offices of Leeds commercial law firm Hammonds and plan another on June 3. Out of the first meeting came a decision to ask the National Pig Association (NPA) to pull together a comprehensive list of all producers who might have been underpaid.
At present the figure stands at 150 pig farmers, mainly in Yorkshire. That is in the context of some 1,000 to 1,400 such farmers nationwide.
Driffield-based Cranswick has been open in accepting responsibility for the underpayments, which came to light when the director responsible for pig marketing owned up to weighing the animals short.
He is said to have acted on his own initiative to save the company money.
Cranswick provided £3.2m for the underpayments, including £1m in interest, when it published full-year figures on Tuesday showing pre-tax profits ahead by 27 per cent to £22.2m.
The company has been assessing compensation levels and writing cheques to farmers. But many, backed by the NPA, want an independent audit or at least a dialogue where their voice can be heard.
Hammonds, which claims experience in large class actions where many plaintiffs get together to pursue their claims, has contacts in the farming sector and has offered advice.
Partner Simon Miller said: "The strong feeling at Wednesday's meeting was that the producers wanted to have representation and to enter into a constructive process with Cranswick.
"Nobody really knows how far back this goes and how far it extends. We want to encourage Cranswick to get round a table and sort this out amicably. Then the farmers can rest assured they have been paid out properly.
"We would say that their auditors Ernst & Young cannot be completely independent on this."
At Wednesday's meeting, David Prior of Leeds accountants RSM Robson Rhodes advised on accounting matters.
Pig farmers have taken a battering in recent years. In 1996/97 the national herd was expanded to take advantage of the shortage of beef following concerns over BSE.
But the strong pound meant pig prices came under pressure. The foot and mouth crisis came on top of that and meant producers found it hard to replace breeding stock.
According to Richard Longthorpe, chairman of the NPA, farmers were taking a £20 loss on each of their animals when selling for £55.
Cranswick chairman Jim Bloom, a farmer and one of the founding members of the company, said last night: "The speediest resolution to correcting this error is the route we are taking.
"Cranswick has been in regular discussions with the National Pig Association, which represents pig producers.
"During March, Cranswick repaid those suppliers due compensation for the year to March 31 2003. We have indicated, through the NPA, that the review of prior years should be completed by the end of June.
"The management of the livestock trading activity has been changed and the company, which has its origins in pig farming, apologises sincerely to its suppliers."
[e-mail]

23 May 2003

[karlm] 24/5/2003 19:26

Here is the link

[karlm] 24/5/2003 19:23

Having difficulty holding onto it's 12 month low and with this news in todays Yorkshire post it looks like the're in for a lot of pig poo.

Cranswick payments claims rise

PIG farmers are banding together to try to get more compensation out of Cranswick, the pigs, pork and feed company, over underpayments for their animals dating back several years.



They held a meeting on Wednesday at the offices of Leeds commercial law firm Hammonds and plan another on June 3. Out of the first meeting came a decision to ask the National Pig Association (NPA) to pull together a comprehensive list of all producers who might have been underpaid.
At present the figure stands at 150 pig farmers, mainly in Yorkshire. That is in the context of some 1,000 to 1,400 such farmers nationwide.
Driffield-based Cranswick has been open in accepting responsibility for the underpayments, which came to light when the director responsible for pig marketing owned up to weighing the animals short.
He is said to have acted on his own initiative to save the company money.
Cranswick provided £3.2m for the underpayments, including £1m in interest, when it published full-year figures on Tuesday showing pre-tax profits ahead by 27 per cent to £22.2m.
The company has been assessing compensation levels and writing cheques to farmers. But many, backed by the NPA, want an independent audit or at least a dialogue where their voice can be heard.
Hammonds, which claims experience in large class actions where many plaintiffs get together to pursue their claims, has contacts in the farming sector and has offered advice.
Partner Simon Miller said: "The strong feeling at Wednesday's meeting was that the producers wanted to have representation and to enter into a constructive process with Cranswick.
"Nobody really knows how far back this goes and how far it extends. We want to encourage Cranswick to get round a table and sort this out amicably. Then the farmers can rest assured they have been paid out properly.
"We would say that their auditors Ernst & Young cannot be completely independent on this."
At Wednesday's meeting, David Prior of Leeds accountants RSM Robson Rhodes advised on accounting matters.
Pig farmers have taken a battering in recent years. In 1996/97 the national herd was expanded to take advantage of the shortage of beef following concerns over BSE.
But the strong pound meant pig prices came under pressure. The foot and mouth crisis came on top of that and meant producers found it hard to replace breeding stock.
According to Richard Longthorpe, chairman of the NPA, farmers were taking a £20 loss on each of their animals when selling for £55.
Cranswick chairman Jim Bloom, a farmer and one of the founding members of the company, said last night: "The speediest resolution to correcting this error is the route we are taking.
"Cranswick has been in regular discussions with the National Pig Association, which represents pig producers.
"During March, Cranswick repaid those suppliers due compensation for the year to March 31 2003. We have indicated, through the NPA, that the review of prior years should be completed by the end of June.
"The management of the livestock trading activity has been changed and the company, which has its origins in pig farming, apologises sincerely to its suppliers."
[e-mail]

23 May 2003


PS Yes I am short as I see these going a lot lower.

[baroch] 21/5/2003 14:20

shares have db at 360p -turned a down day into an up day-maybe the bad stuff is in the price worth a punt

[sharecrazyfem] 20/5/2003 21:32

so what are u guys saying about this?

[jelfsie] 20/5/2003 10:54

Sorry am I missing something?. This was a profit warning. Shares dont deserve more than a P/E of 10. cant see much holding this above 300p myself.

[ttjohnson] 20/5/2003 10:23

Agreed...........might not be the share to bring home the bacon just yet. ;-)

[honiton] 20/5/2003 10:06

Looks light litigation threat.

Time to leave alone.

NB

[ttjohnson] 20/5/2003 09:33

Not too sure what we can read into this paragraph from AFX.

"Referring to the pig market, the company said, it recently discovered that
underpayments had been made over a number of years to pig producers for pigs
sold to the pig marketing business.
Provision has been made to correct this and changes have been made to the
management of this activity."

Don't like the word "Provision", perhaps something we're not being told here ?

[idioterna] 20/5/2003 08:41

Got these on my monitor and wondering why they're taking such a pounding? Results don't look so bad and the dividend has been increased. So why has the share price tumbled over 10% on opening?

[honiton] 14/5/2003 21:27

Difficult to know where support level is.

Possible buy in next two days on leadup to results.

PS RFD's figures were not too bad.

[baglady] 14/5/2003 18:06

I'm staying in for the time being - track record pretty good. but wish I'd sold a couple of days ago!

[honiton] 13/5/2003 16:45

Rumours of poor results.

I'm out.

[baglady] 13/5/2003 15:17

Anyone know any reason why Cranswick shares have dropped so drastically today?

[honiton] 05/5/2003 22:18

Hardly the same.

DVO is an international player which produces a food component and has suffered due to sale of Collagen operations, F&M and BSE.

CWK is a pork play which makes end user consumables.


I'm expecting results to be good.

NB

[tobias] 01/5/2003 10:07

see food sec and devro both up

[honiton] 30/4/2003 23:53

Any reason for recent strength?

[honiton] 18/4/2003 20:17

Anybody notice the late purchase on Thursday for considerbaly more than the dib-offer spread.

Somebody is keen to get their hands on this stock.

[honiton] 11/4/2003 11:36

Small bounch recently. Not that serious news or Standard Life would not have increased their holding.