Great Portland Estates Share Discussion Threads

[nat7] 10/1/2007 17:43

3,250,000 shares traded today - looks like they have bought some more shares back. At this rate there will be none left in the market soon

[Abuse team] 05/1/2007 12:43

Post removed by ADVFN

[goldthorpe] 05/1/2007 12:41

'Rich pickings in private equity', Investors Chronicle, p.111, 5 Jan 2007.
(for subscribers)

The current international interest in private equity creates opportunities for investors to profit. However, you must be aware of the risks and understand the type of exposure you are taking before you attempt to jump on to the bandwagon...

...Mr Elliott comments: "Where they do seem to offer value, there is invariably an issue." He points to Graphite Enterprise, which trades on a discount but has 44 per cent of its portfolio in cash. Regardless of discounts, his recommended private-equity investment trusts on performance grounds are HgCapital and SVG Capital.

Mr Gilligan suggests holding between 5 and 10 per cent of your portfolio in private equity. He recommends Graphite Enterprise, as "a team that's managed the cycle very well", and Dunedin Enterprise, as "a value play".....

[nil pd] 22/11/2006 12:17

425.5p NAV


RNS Number:4831M
Graphite Enterprise Trust PLC
22 November 2006

ANNOUNCEMENT TO STOCK EXCHANGE



GRAPHITE ENTERPRISE TRUST PLC



22 November 2006




The Board of Graphite Enterprise Trust plc announces that the net asset value
per share as at 30 September 2006 was 425.5p. This represents an increase in
net asset value per share of 6.8% over the net asset value per share of 398.4p
at 31 December 2005 and compares with a rise of 7.1% in the FTSE All-Share Index
in the same period.

The summary balance sheet as at 30 September 2006 is set out below:

#m % of total assets
Investment portfolio 195.3 53.8%
FTSE 100 Call Option 25.5 7.0%
Total portfolio 220.8 60.8%
Net current assets 142.3 39.2%
Total assets 363.1 100.0%


The Company was effectively 90.0% invested as a percentage of total net assets
at 30 September 2006 (30 June: 85.4%), taking into account the effect of the
option.

In the three months to 30 September 2006, additions to the investment portfolio
were #24.9 million (year to date: #67.1 million), and disposals were #9.6
million (year to date: #67.0 million). There were no new commitments to funds
in the three month period, and outstanding commitments at 30 September 2006 were
#163.4 million. A number of fund commitment opportunities are currently being
considered.

The Company will not make a special dividend payment in 2006 but it is likely
that there will be an increase in the final dividend.


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

NAVILFFTLRLLFIR

[goldthorpe] 17/11/2006 12:47

Stream of buys just now with 398-400p spread. Might close over 400.

[purse] 17/11/2006 11:15

400p BID Whoopee !!!!

[nil pd] 17/11/2006 10:34

400p offer now. Bring it on!

[goldthorpe] 16/11/2006 11:16

I'm reasonably happy about the investment in funds because it's giving us small people access to the larger private equity deals and so a larger spread of investments, albeit at a price of an extra layer of costs. Remember there are commitments to the in-house fund, Graphite Capital Partners VI. A few more Maplin and Wagamama would be nice though!

Graphite Capital appear to me to be a fairly cautious operation. I mentioned in this thread a while ago an acquaintance who is a retired business owner and did a due diligence for them a few years ago. He was impressed with their approach and the type of questions they asked about the business.

I've never sold any of my GPE holding (which is quite large) and don't intend to for a few years apart from crystallizing a capital of a block bought in a dealing account in 2003.

Thanks for the thoughtful input 'Nil Pd', '18BT', 'thedaidai' et al.

[thedaidai] 15/11/2006 19:48

I sold about 70% of mine 6 months ago because I thought they had shifted strategy from investing in individual companies to investing in funds. I found it much harder to research the performance of the funds and their underlying investments. Still think GPE is an OK share to hold but wanted more control over my investment. Haven't regretted the move.

[18bt] 15/11/2006 18:26

They don't seem to be doing many deals. All the other VCs are buying things here and there, but nothing from Graphite .... are they getting long in the tooth. I still hold, but wondering whether SVIIT or HG aren't better bet.

[goldthorpe] 15/11/2006 18:14

NAV will be announced in a week or two. Special dividend again, I wonder?

[nil pd] 11/11/2006 19:49

Hi goldthorpe. Yes I noticed that! Good eh? I guess we will bounce around at this level for 6 months or so, with the psychological 400 barrier in the way. Then again, maybe not, as GPE do seem to deliver consistently.

I wonder when the FTSE option will be sold?

[goldthorpe] 09/11/2006 14:42

Nil Pd, largeish 7p spead at moment; but offer price now 398p!

[nil pd] 25/10/2006 11:32

Indeed goldthorpe. Also I see the share price getting close to my minimum expectation of 397p. Could be 400 plus soon, hopefully.

[goldthorpe] 24/10/2006 08:14

More shares bought back last Friday, at about 10% discount to NAV. There must be more cash around than I thought. Perhaps there's reasonable inflow of cash?

[thedaidai] 21/9/2006 13:35

For some reason, GPE included the line "As in previous years, the directors do not propose to pay an interim dividend" in their 2005 interims but did not include such a note in this year's interims. I do not expect an interim dividend to be paid.

Note that comparisons with previous years are muddied by exceptional dividends paid when they received a larger than expected income associated with particular disposals

[nil pd] 21/9/2006 10:18

Regarding my question about an interim dividend, this statement (in my opinion) does not say "an interim dividend of 3.4p will be paid":

'The revenue return attributable to shareholders for the period was £2.9 million or 3.4p per share (June 2005: £3.8 million, 4.3p)'.

Anyway, I'll read the announcement in detail to see what sense I can make of that.

BTW, I don't mean a discount of 95%, I mean (of course) 5%: multiply NAV x 0.95. Soz!

[nil pd] 21/9/2006 09:41

NAV of 418.6p, and applying a reasonable market discount to NAV of 95%, indicates that we should be valued by the market at about 397p.

Do I understand correctly that there is no interim divvy?

EDIT: GPE are modest with their achievements aren't they? I missed the announcement, timed as it was just before market close.

[goldthorpe] 20/9/2006 12:12

Anyone know when the Interim results are due out?

[nil pd] 10/7/2006 14:10

Thanks goldthorpe.

[goldthorpe] 10/7/2006 08:56

Nil Pd, a reference to the award:

[nil pd] 04/7/2006 16:50

Wish I'd followed you then (in May) goldthorpe! The discount will offer pressure northward.

[goldthorpe] 04/7/2006 16:19

According to last annual/half-yearly report or two, they say they are cautious and don't want to over-pay whilst Private Equity has been booming. It seems to me that Graphite Capital receive the largesse of the bigger firms that seem to provide the exits recently (Maplin in particular). They've effectively returned some excess cash to shareholders by buying back at a reasonably large discount. I'm happy with that.

I bought more in May when they followed the market down. Discount now >10%.

[nil pd] 04/7/2006 12:58

Changed my mind on the above post, EPS looks better and dividends will rise. In fact, a few more hefty buy-backs might just be in order. One of the best Private Equity businesses according to a report (sorry, can't quote reference as it was word of mouth - will seek the reference, unless anyone has it).

Having reduced a while back, not sold out, I am a buyer of GPE again.