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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Stock Type |
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| GKN | GKN | London | Ordinary Share |
| Price Change | Price Change % | Share Price | Last Trade
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| 0.00 | 0.00% | 482.40 | 00:00:00 |
| Open Price | Low Price | High Price | Close Price | Previous Close |
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| 482.40 | 482.40 |
| Top Posts |
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Posted at 04/4/2018 13:54 by grahamburn I know I promised myself not to visit this board again until after the takeover completed (or in the unlikely event it is blocked), but this from the Business Commentary column in The Times today was too clever/amusing not to share.____________________ Comment April 4 2018, The Times Unions get wrong signals on GKN Robert Lea GKN’s radar system is an extraordinary invention. It is completely invisible. It has the ability to get in people’s minds and render their speech nonsense. For the GKN radar is exactly that: an invention. It doesn’t exist. The GKN radar has become a new battlefield for the trade unions. Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, went on BBC radio to declare that the government should belatedly intervene in the £8 billion takeover by Melrose on national security grounds, arguing: “If I was flying a military aircraft kitted out by a GKN radar, I would be worried.” So would we. Not just because Ms O’Grady doesn’t hold a pilot’s licence, but because GKN’s radar system is a fabrication of the fictional kind. To be charitable, Ms O’Grady took her GKN radar intelligence from a misinformed piece in another newspaper. But that is kind of the point: it is another example of trade union misinformation during this takeover battle of fake news (as it happens, GKN used to make radomes, the glass domes that protect radar avionics, but it has sold the business). The irony of the scrambled GKN radar message goes with the fuzzy transmissions of Jack Dromey, the trade unionist-turned-Labo To quote their one-time political hero Tony Blair, there are some battles that are just not worth fighting. With GKN it is more a case of fighting the wrong fight: neither GKN management nor the Melrose board are the friend of trade unions. Ms O’Grady closed her radio address admitting that she could not comprehend why it is short-termist shareholders and not the workforce who decide the ownership of a company. Thirteen years of Labour rule did not move the dial on takeover law. Yet if thinkers on the centre-left really care about corporate ownership, they could do worse than look to the stiftungs of the Continent. These share-bloc-owning foundations can be used to protect companies from takeovers. In a British context, they could be used to align the interests of employees, pension scheme members, even local government. But then again, just rubbishing the boss class is far easier. |
Posted at 20/3/2018 12:01 by grahamburn The article linked earlier was actually quite pro-GKN had you bothered to read it.I have been pro-GKN for many years, but have been disappointed by its management, especially in the last 8 months or so, where they have shown a lack of grip and policy. As a long-term investor, I do consider the long-term issues which affect ALL stakeholders - because that is the only way to secure long-term benefits for all of them: whether shareholders, employees, customers and pensioners. If you ignore any of them, then the company will not meet its economic and social responsibilities. No one has queried why the GKN pension funds are in substantial deficit and have been for many years. That isn't down to Melrose - or perhaps you think it is. Your posts (both here and on the Melrose thread) seem to concentrate solely on vague social responsibility issues which, though important, are not the whole story. Confirmation bias is anyone's own worst enemy. So please try to be objective. Indeed, you clearly haven't read widely (as any investor should do) because the majority of the UK press (and US) has been pro-GKN and pro-Dana (in spite of GKN's recent poor performance and Dana's long history of "issues"). Just to confirm my objective approach to the entire saga and to show that I do not exhibit confirmation bias, there's a lead news item in The Times today which provides balance to this thread - and might encourage some GKN shareholders, even if it doesn't change my own view that GKN have mishandled the current situation. |
Posted at 19/3/2018 20:55 by bukko - MAUMEE, Ohio, March 19, 2018 /PRNewswir- - Dana Incorporated (NYSE: DAN) has undertaken a series of productive meetings with U.K.-based shareholders of GKN PLC (LON: GKN). During those meetings, Dana outlined the compelling rationale for its proposed combination with GKN Driveline. Dana received direct feedback from GKN shareholders that they would like to hold stock in the proposed new Dana plc and participate in the undeniable strategic benefits of the Dana-GKN Driveline combination, as well as the significant value that will be unlocked through this transaction n order to provide more shareholders with an opportunity to hold stock of Dana plc, Dana today confirmed that it will seek a secondary 'standard listing' on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange for Dana plc following the completion of the proposed combination. Additionally, Dana confirmed that it expects to continue to pay its current quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share to the enlarged shareholder group. Jonathan Collins, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Dana, said: "The clear message from shareholders is that they want to be able to hold stock in a combined Dana plc, which will be a global leader in vehicle drive systems and electrical propulsion. Through a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange, existing shareholders of both Dana and GKN will have an opportunity to share in the success of the new company, including value created through the delivery of $235 million in annual synergies |
Posted at 10/3/2018 18:47 by grahamburn Yet again, another sensible balanced appraisal in The Times Business Commentary today:____________________ The bid goes on That’ll keep the politicians and unions happy. Instead of seeing GKN sold to another British engineering company — the corporate raiders from Melrose — what about carving up the business and flogging half of it to America? A week on from the news that Dana had arrived on the scene, the automotive outfit from Maumee, Ohio, has got a deal that adds some thrust to GKN’s defence. Merging Dana with GKN’s Driveline unit will give the UK group’s shareholders 47.25 per cent of the combined group plus £1.2 billion cash. Adjust for taking on a chunk of GKN’s pension deficit and the deal values Driveline at £4.4 billion, including debts. In fact, a bit more now, given the 4 per cent rise in Dana shares. It sent GKN shares up 3 per cent to 434¼p, valuing it at £7.47 billion. Or almost £330 million more than Melrose’s offer. That presently values GKN at 415p after Melrose shares rose 4 per cent to 224¼p. Pressure on Melrose, then, to up its bid. Even so, despite the mooted $235 million synergies, the Dana/Driveline deal is hardly a knockout. As Melrose was quick to point out, the fig-leaf of being a UK plc doesn’t disguise the fact that the combo would be Dana-controlled, HQ’d in Ohio and not even listed in London. So would GKN investors want all that New York-listed paper, which Melrose reckons would be “taxed as dividend income”? And what about improving Driveline before it’s sold? Plenty of mileage in this bid yet. |
Posted at 09/3/2018 17:32 by grahamburn Succinct response from Melrose which emphasises all the downsides for GKN shareholders and points out the risk that the receipt of Dana shares may be subject to UK dividend tax. Doesn't give any hint that Melrose are thinking of raising their offer, though their board are experienced negotiators when it comes to takeovers.____________________ 9 March 2018 Statement regarding GKN plc ("GKN") announcement The Board of Melrose notes today's announcement by GKN in relation to the proposed sale of its Driveline business to Dana Incorporated ("Dana") and notes the following: · The proposed new entity would be majority Dana-owned, Dana-managed and headquartered in Ohio. · GKN shareholders would receive US-listed shares, which many would neither wish or be able to hold. · For UK-resident shareholders of GKN, the receipt of the new Dana shares is expected to be treated and taxed as dividend income. · The hasty sale by GKN is being proposed prior to any improvement being made for the benefit of GKN shareholders. · This transaction will involve a lengthy and uncertain completion process, including anti-trust clearances in the EU, US and China, as well as Dana's shareholder approval, which is not expected until Q4 2018. Christopher Miller, Chairman of Melrose said: "Today's announcement changes nothing and is a further admission of the management failure of GKN. A hasty sale of one of Britain's most important businesses will leave it listed overseas, run by a foreign management team and rebranded as a US business. In our view it is structured in a way prejudicial to GKN shareholders' interests. We urge GKN shareholders to accept the Melrose offer." |
Posted at 04/3/2018 15:29 by grahamburn Interesting commentary in The Times Business News yesterday.May I stress before any poster queries my motives that I am non-partisan in this prospective hostile bid - simply interested in genuine facts, evidence and discussion on the pros and cons of each successful or not UK company's position. Any transaction must be in the long term interests of all stakeholders - shareholders, employees, suppliers and customers. _________ Business commentary March 3 2018, 12:01am, The Times Defence is all kinds of everything Alistair Osborne Sing along now: “Snowdrops and daffodils, butterflies and bees.” The GKN defence has been a multi-faceted affair. But, at last, it’s making sense. It’s got a thing going with Dana. Yes, Dana, winner of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest. And not with any old ditty but All Kinds of Everything: the soundtrack to GKN’s defence. Just think of all the ways it’s tried to see off Melrose’s £6.9 billion hostile bid. It’s played the pensions card, frightening GKN’s retirees — even though it knew Melrose had already offered to put another £150 million into their fund. Then there was the national security card, despite GKN not featuring among the Ministry of Defence’s leading suppliers (not in the top 100, according to Melrose). Plus, of course, the efforts of its new boss Anne Stevens. She’s painted the Melrose raiders as mere moneymen, unlike the woman behind Project Boost, the turnaround plan based on “real engineering, not financial engineering”. No matter, either, that Ms Stevens is planning to break up the group into its automotive and aerospace parts in 15 months — far faster than Melrose, which reckons you should improve things first. And now look. Up pops Dana, knitting it all together in her Irish lilt. So talk about disappointing. Turns out it’s a different Dana — the main reason, you imagine, GKN shares fell 3 per cent to 420p. This one comes from Maumee, Ohio, and fancies getting hitched to GKN’s Driveline wing via some “potential combination . . . effected mainly in equity”. Indeed, GKN reckons the possible tie-up “could provide greater value to shareholders” than a demerger. Talks with Dana Inc are at an early stage, flushed out by the Financial Times. Yet you can see why Jefferies analysts believe “the relative scale of the two businesses” makes a deal “very demanding”. Dana, valued at only $3.8 billion, looks no bigger than a standalone Driveline: it had $7.2 billion sales last year, less than Driveline’s £5.3 billion, even if, unsurprisingly, Dana has better margins. And why would GKN investors want a ton of Dana shares? They haven’t always looked the greatest bet, what with Dana collapsing into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006. And the shares have had quite a run of late, nicely timed for a share-based pop at the GKN business. What, too, would Britain’s politicians think? They don’t even like the idea of another British engineering company buying GKN. So what would they make of GKN’s American boss selling one of its two main businesses to some US outfit? Still, at least Dana has livened things up, which is more than you could ever say for the other Dana’s song. GKN has demonstrated that there are companies out there happy to help it to break itself up, potentially upping the pressure on Melrose to raise its offer. After its shares fell 3 per cent yesterday to 215½p, its bid is now 18p shy of GKN’s share price. A bit short, then, of all kinds of everything. |
Posted at 17/1/2018 10:45 by broadwood Turnaround specialist Melrose has stepped up its fight to acquire FTSE 100 engineering giant GKN with a hostile takeover bid worth around £8.5bn, including debt.Melrose hopes to tempt GKN’s shareholders with the prospect of an immediate cash payout worth 81p per share and 57pc ownership of the combined company after its board rejected a takeover approach last week. The terms of the offer are the same as those GKN rebuffed, but now represent a 29pc premium on the closing of its shares the day before the initial approach was disclosed. It values GKN at 430.1p per share, or £7.4bn, and Melrose will also have to take on GKN's debt of around £1bn. Simon Peckham, Melrose’s chief executive said: "Since our approach was announced, the Melrose share price has risen as the market digests the attractive opportunity our proposal represents." He added: “However, the real value uplift will come from merging the interests of the two sets of shareholders and creating a business valued at approximately £11 billion today, of which GKN holders will own the majority, including Nortek, our US business which is trading strongly.” Melrose believes it can “re-energise and re-purpose” GKN's operations to boost its margins after the engineering firm issued two profit warnings towards the end of last year. The approach forced GKN to reveal its own turnaround plans last week, including the separation of its automotive and aerospace arms and the appointment of interim boss Anne Stevens as permanent chief executive |
Posted at 13/1/2018 18:57 by grahamburn MinerveI have, on other boards, respected your comments and admired your grasp of facts. However, for once, it would appear you haven't adequately researched Melrose and its modus operandi of "BUY, IMPROVE, SELL", as illustrated by your casual reference to an "airconditioning firm it bought". Melrose does not just deal in financial metrics (as conglomerates did in the past), but rather re-organises (culling only where appropriate), whilst investing heavily in parts of a business with genuine potential to build a better business for ALL stakeholders before moving on to its next project. Far from being a manufacturing paragon, GKN has been limping along for far too long — an issue driven home by November’s botched succession plan and profits warning. Meantime, Melrose’s “buy, improve, sell” model has delivered billions of pounds of value over 15 years — hard to pull off, whatever the economic backdrop, without improving the businesses it buys. Melrose started life in 2003 with a minnow value of £13m. Where is it now? Melrose is currently valued at £4.4 billion. But it would be bigger than GKN if you added another £4.4 billion it’s returned to investors after turning round the likes of FKI and Elster. The suddenly-appointed new CEO at GKN, Ann Stevens, may have her “Project Boost” plan to lift GKN’s below-target margins. But as recently as January 3, GKN was confirming she was only a stand-in chief executive: a role forced on her in November by the ousting of the man supposed to succeed ex-boss Nigel Stein: aerospace head Kevin Cummings, fired before he even took the job. Yes, Ms Stevens spent 16 years at Ford. But that ended in 2006 — and she hasn’t run anything for four years. Indeed, she wouldn’t now be permanent chief executive if it wasn’t for Melrose’s approach. Which team would you sooner back, especially as the putative deal offered by Melrose would give GKN shareholders 57% of the enlarged total business? In short, you will have a substantial stake in a larger business which has a record of margin improvement, a City fan club and debt lined up from Royal Bank of Canada and Lloyds for a formal bid. It also looks smarter to improve GKN’s businesses before breaking them up. If Melrose bumps the price, GKN will need a lot more than Sir Vince to win this fight. Again, I stress, I have significant holdings in BOTH GKN and MELROSE so can, I hope, take a broader view. NB Some of the above comments (ie facts and figures) are taken in part, for convenience, from the Business Commentary section of The Times Business News. |
Posted at 12/1/2018 08:26 by broadwood GKN has rejected a preliminary and unsolicited proposal from Melrose Industries and described it as 'entirely opportunistic'The 405p per share proposal - which was received on 8 Jan - comprised 80% in new Melrose shares and 20% in cash. GKN said the board considered the proposal together with its financial advisers, Gleacher Shacklock, J.P. Morgan Cazenove and UBS, and had unanimously rejected it, having concluded that it was entirely opportunistic and fundamentally undervalued the company and its prospects. GKN said that in addition, the proposal would materially dilute the exposure of shareholders to the meaningful upside opportunities that the board believed were present within the company. GKN also announced that interim chief executive Anne Stevens had agreed to become the group's new CEO with immediate effect. Chairman, Mike Turner said: 'The Board believes that Anne Stevens has the track record to transform GKN. 'After a successful turnaround of The Ford Motor Company's businesses in Mexico, Canada and South America, she was appointed as chief operating officer for the Americas where she developed the transformation plan for Ford's US business. 'Subsequently, Anne became chairman, CEO and president of Carpenter Technology. 'She was a non-executive director of Lockheed Martin from 2002 until she stepped down at the end of 2017 to take up her executive role at GKN. 'Her operational and strategic skills are ideally suited to GKN and the Board is very impressed with the contribution she has made so far in setting out plans for a significant improvement in the group's performance.' GKN said Q4 trading was in line with forecasts and the group continues to expect 2017 management profit before tax to be slightly ahead of 2016 (which was £678 million) before the additional working capital write-off in North American Aerospace announced on 16 November 2017. |
Posted at 25/10/2016 07:25 by mj19 08:20 25/10/16Aerospace and automotive engineering group GKN issued a trading update for the nine months to 30 September on Tuesday, with management sales increasing 21% to £6.9bn, including organic sales growth of 2% - or £151m - in line with expectations.The FTSE 100 company said sales in the automotive businesses continued to perform well against the market and the aerospace division grew in line with expectations, though the land systems markets remained tough.As it had previously anticipated, the group trading margin was lower than the equivalent period last year, which it put down to the commencement of the £35m restructuring programme, launch related costs in GKN Driveline, the absence of last year's one-off benefits in GKN Aerospace and the inclusion of Fokker Technologies.The board said operating cash flow was similar to the equivalent period last year.GKN Aerospace sales in the nine months were £2.5bn, up 2% on an organic basis with beneficial currency translation of £126 million.Commercial sales were helped by the ramp-up in production of the Airbus A350 and A320 airliners, and the Boeing 737 airliner which more than offset lower Airbus A330, A380 and Boeing 777 sales.GKN said military sales were lower than the prior year, reflecting the continuing decline of mature programmes - primarily the F/A-18 Super Hornet and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.Fokker Technologies - acquired on 28 October 2015 and now GKN Aerospace Fokker - added £580m of sales in the nine months.The integration plans were progressing well, the board reported, and GKN Aerospace Fokker performed in line with expectations."For GKN Aerospace overall, the mix of new and mature programmes, together with slower than expected customer ramp-ups, restricted our ability to offset last year's one-off benefits," the board said in a statement."This and the inclusion of Fokker, led to lower margins than the same period last year."GKN Driveline sales in the nine months were £3.1bn, with organic sales increasing 6% - against global industry production rates that were up 4% according to the board - and beneficial currency translation of £238m.External forecasts continued to expect full year global auto production to increase by 3%, the board added.It saw strong, above-market organic growth continue in Europe due to new programme launches and the strength of premium vehicles.GKN Driveline performed above the Americas market as well, which the board said was helped by new programme launches in North America.Within Asia, sales growth in China was above the market too as new programmes and customer mix more than offset GKN Driveline's lower exposure to domestic brands and smaller vehicles.The division's margin was below last year's equivalent period due to "significant launch costs" on a US all-wheel drive programme, as previously reported."These additional costs are now on a downward trend, although the second half is likely to see a similar impact to the first half," the board explained.GKN Powder Metallurgy sales in the nine months were £762m, up from £694m, with beneficial currency translation of £64m.Organic sales were flat, the board said, reflecting slower demand in North America offset by improved sales in Europe and Asia.There was also reportedly a negative impact on powder sales from the direct pass through of lower raw material prices, which helped GKN Powder Metallurgy report slightly higher margins than the comparable period last year.GKN Land Systems sales in the period were £534m, marginally lower than the £535m reported for the same period last year, with organic sales declining 8%.That was primarily due to weak demand for agricultural equipment and the ending of two chassis contracts, offset by a £44m benefit from currency translation.On 21 October, GKN announced that it had agreed to sell the Stromag business for an enterprise value of 198m, with completion expected in the first quarter of 2017."From 1 January 2017, GKN Land Systems will no longer operate as a division, with Shafts and Services being reported within GKN Driveline and Wheels and Structures moving to Other businesses," the board confirmed.Sales for GKN's other businesses fell to £28m, from £33m a year earlier, reflecting the scale back of GKN Hybrid Power, which caused the segment overall to report a small loss in the period."GKN has continued to make progress," said chief executive Nigel Stein."Organic growth was 2%, whilst we also benefitted significantly from the successful acquisition and integration of GKN Aerospace Fokker as well as from favourable currency translation due to the weakness of sterling."As expected, our organic profit performance was down primarily due to one-off items, including the costs of the restructuring, which will position us better for the years ahead."Stein said in line with the global economic outlook, the board sees growth rates easing in its major markets."The automotive market is now forecast to see a 1% increase in light vehicle production in the final quarter [and] new commercial aerospace programmes continue to ramp-up, although at a slower rate than expected."Our military aerospace programmes and agricultural equipment markets look set to continue their decline," he explained."Despite the slightly tougher macro-economic environment, the group continues to expect 2016 to be another year of growth." |
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