Distil Share Discussion Threads

[kaos3] 23/8/2023 13:33

not being sold here in Slovenia. nor Austria

[petersinthemarket] 23/8/2023 13:17

I am a little concerned about the success of the so-called new distribution policy and I want to let DG know what is happening out in the real world. Does anyone else have anything to say about their local RedLeg supplies?

[bigboyblue] 22/8/2023 07:52

A large Tesco near me has both shelves (original and pineapple) empty and the label on the shelf says 'Reduced for Clearance'. If Tesco have dropped Redleg that would be a big loss. Still showing on the Tesco website.

[petersinthemarket] 12/8/2023 11:58

Mny tks for responses guys - very helpful - I am hoping that, at least, the distribution issues have been resolved at last. The question of sales volume recovery will of course have to wait for a TU or the interims in October.

[thepopeofchillitown] 12/8/2023 11:27

Its back in my local Sainsbury's after many months. Whatever the issues, they seem to be resolved.

[tommyjnewton] 03/8/2023 16:35

Good to see shareholders standing up against further dilution. I would have myself if I had got round to be organised with the shenadigans involved these days. I have numerous small holdings.

[haggismchaggis] 03/8/2023 16:30

Peter, yes, a strong showing that shareholders want to avoid any more dilution, including ii's I'd have thought.
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This company has been trudging along since it listed as Blavod Black Vodka on 21 May 1999.
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That is 24 years of not achieving any significant success or shareholder returns, staggering.
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Drinks go out the door, money comes in, BoD and staff get paid nicely, and shareholders just see their investment getting smaller and smaller.
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Don was SUPPOSED to change all that but he's failed to do so. He told ii's that the core business was "we build and sell brands. brands sell for tens of millions", yet in his 13 years at DIS he has not sold a single brand, even when offers were there for RegLeg he spurned them as he thought he could get more money, but if he'd taken the £10m he laughed at many years ago, DIS would be a totally different company today and would not have suffered any of the dilution we've seen since then.
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And what is Roland Grain's plot in all this? He's invested a lot of money to get into the company, but apart from Ardgowan which I see as his idea, does he ever anticipate any returns to us PI's ever? Or is he just going to join in with the gravy train that the rest of the Directors have been enjoying for decades?
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[petersinthemarket] 03/8/2023 15:23

Interesting!

''All Resolutions, with the exception of Resolutions 5 and 6, were duly passed at the AGM.''
- In other words, ALL resolutions were certainly not passed, only 4 out of 6.

''…. resolutions 5 and 6, in respect of authorising the directors to disapply pre-emption rights, were not passed..''
- A pre-emption right is essentially a right of first refusal in any new share offer and imo all share issues should always include existing shareholders.

''….. a significant proportion (more than 20%) of shareholders voted against resolution 4 in respect of authorising the directors to allot shares.''
- In fact 24% voted against. There are, imo, more than enough shares in existence and new allotments to managers and others are unacceptable until the company demonstrates some shred of business success.

''This was notwithstanding all 3 resolutions are consistent with current investor guidelines including the Investment Association Share Capital Management Guidelines and Pre-emption Group Guidelines.''
- Completely irrelevant – What else would you expect these groups to say?

''The Board will continue to engage in discussions with shareholders to better understand their views.''
- I assume this only means talking to a couple of major institutions/large holders. When did they last consult ordinary shareholders about anything?

I smell dis-satisfaction and one look at the share price will explain why.
pete

[lr2] 26/7/2023 17:25

Thank you Peter.

[petersinthemarket] 26/7/2023 15:50

>LR2 - we provided Ardgowan with a £3m convertible loan paying 5% pa interest against certain Ardgowan production promises. We had intended to increase this by a further £2m at the end of last year, but this was abandoned due to the mess made of the distributorship change-over.
pete

[petersinthemarket] 26/7/2023 15:41

Not sure I understand your question gipps. To the best of my knowledge, for DIS, the open day was just a walk around to show off our new visitor centre and white spirit distillery installation progress. I suspect the relabelled Blackwood samples were existing stock and not new stuff from our part of the Inverkip distillery which is not quite finished yet. However, the stuff was probably made somewhere in Scotland, as we moved Blackwoods production away from the Midlands many months ago. The intention of the new home and the bottle rebranding is to pull in a lot more of the Scottish pedigree to the brand. Brand differentiation is of major importance to gin and vodka, as both are so easy for anyone to make.

The day was probably more important for Ardgowan as the Inverkip site is theirs and they are at least producing an excellent series of expensive short-run whisky blends for collectors while they wait for their new whiskies to develop (a long way off yet, up to 10yrs).

Their blends will also shortly be important to DIS when we offer our own (Ardgowan) DIS branded whisky blend.

DIS was represented on the day by our CEO. DIS is effectively bolted on to Ardgowan now as we share directors and future development interests.

The day was obviously a blinding success with 5000 visitors, some from overseas. The photos show the queue to get in.

DIS really does have a lot going for it this FY. I just hope it gets reflected in our quarterly revenues.

[lr2] 26/7/2023 15:11

What percentage of Inverkip Distillery does Distil own? Does the value of it come close to the Distil market cap?

[gipps] 26/7/2023 14:13

Distillery open then does that mean we might be on our North?

[petersinthemarket] 07/7/2023 11:51

Pope .........
We will have to wait and see where the valuation gets to.
I believe the numbers will improve markedly as this FY progresses.
As for RedLeg, the strategy changed a while back.
No-one is going to sell RedLeg - it's our flagship.
It wouldn't leave us a lot of value if that went.
Anyone wanting to buy RedLeg will now have to buy DIS.
Not out of the question imv.
pete

[berny3] 07/7/2023 09:29

I don't think it is possible to arrive at a valuation as there are too many variables. Looking at the current state of affairs last year was disappointing to say the least. There has to have been a sudden fall out with Sazerac (Hi-Spirits) which lead to them parting ways suddenly. Raking over those ashes I do not think is productive. Lessons would have been learned. Looking at current results we are at a little over 50% of turnover prior to split with High-Spirits. We don't have enough information to understand but cash would have been extremely tight over the last year and investing in marketing etc would have been difficult. So a 50% of t/o is OK. It is what happens over the following year. And yes we have been here before, but going over old ground is pointless, you have a choice get up and go if you don't like it! On a positive there should be a better equipped executive function of the company now with new appointments. Margins should be better if distribution is in house.

There are questions over why so much was put into a TV advert and distribution was not geared up and prepared ahead. we don't know the reasons there, but again dragging over the past is pointless. Redleg was established under the stewardship of the current CEO (DG) a fantastic job was done on getting that from grass roots marketing up to a respectable brand. It looks like some of that influence has gone back into the brand again this year and with a more effective and diverse executive function in the company a strategic plan should be in place and we will have to wait and see how that progresses.

I don't understand the whiskey distillery and I don't see that as a compatible function with the current brands. I do think the Gin and Vodka is very strong and has good potential as a cash cow along with the rum. If marketing and distribution can be run well. But all in all we need to look ahead rather than rake over the old.

[boffster] 06/7/2023 23:55

£25m?, I'll believe it when I see it!
Only a couple more 100% days and I'll be in profit too.........