H&t Share Discussion Threads

[topvest] 13/8/2019 20:52

All looking positive here. Happy to hold.

[cwa1] 13/8/2019 07:51

Results...



John Nichols, H&T chief executive, said:

"We have made a good start to the year due to the resilient nature of our product set, our investment in people, and our digital initiatives. A strengthening gold price is helpful to our business. PBT is up nearly 8% to £6.8m, and revenue is up £1.5m, primarily driven by increased pawnbroking, personal lending and retail activity.

"Against this solid background, in July 2019 we completed the acquisition of 65 trading stores and bought 29 pledge books from the Money Shop, all of which have been integrated into the Group (we had previously acquired 17 books for £0.4m in the period). To facilitate this acquisition, in July we raised £6.0m of additional equity funding by way of an accelerated bookbuild placing, having renewed our £35.0m credit facility with Lloyds. The total acquisition price was £11.0m, which included taking possession of £6.0m of pledged assets, £1.0m of cash, a freehold property and trading fixtures and fittings, together with 241 employees.

"We can be confident of the success of this important transaction as a result of the investment in people and processes made over many years. The acquired stores conduct similar business and will geographically complement our existing store estate. With the application of H&T's appropriate capital, staffing support and management, and with the expansion of pledge business and the introduction of our personal lending products the investment will provide significant value to shareholders.

"We will further leverage this expanded store estate by continuing to develop and invest in digital multi-channel capability."

[podgyted] 07/8/2019 22:27

Recommended in today's Telegraph Questor column - strangely without a mention of the word gold.

[wynmck] 07/8/2019 14:43

rns-results 13th

[taylor20] 07/8/2019 13:10

pogyted: "Think the market has forgotten how good a rise in the price of gold is for a pawnbroker."

I have bought in here, as rising gold certainly is 'good' for the business, and I also think they are one company that will benefit from the Brexit chaos.

However worth noting that the 'Pawn Broker' aspect of the business only indirectly benefits from a rising gold price (in that the punter can borrow more against the same item of jewellery, hence more interest, etc.).

Any 'gain' from a rise in value of pawned items (above the value of the pledge + interest) has to be returned to the customer.

The reverse is obviously not true (fall in gold)! So the upside from gold rising is a lot less than the downside from gold falling.

[muzmanoz] 07/8/2019 08:44

Interim results have been announced between 14 August and 16 August for the last 3 years so hoping for an announcement next week.

Will be interesting to find out more about the money shop acquisition and the effect of the increased gold price.

[podgyted] 06/8/2019 08:16

Gold now £1,200+, a record.

Think the market has forgotten how good a rise in the price of gold is for a pawnbroker.

At end of:-

April £984
May £1,034
June £1,111
July £1,165

[spob] 02/8/2019 18:05

This is the pound sterling priced gold etf over the last year

Basically shows the movement in the actual UK gold price

[thorpematt] 22/7/2019 20:05

Yes, not the news any one wanted to hear. I surmise this relates to the announcement last February (14th): -




I have no connection to Mr Fenerty (other than intermittently owning stock in HAT over the years), but here's a link I found on the HAT website which may be of interest to some of you:-




...which in turn links here:-

[cwa1] 22/7/2019 13:36

H&T Group plc

Stephen Fenerty

"It is with great sadness that the board of H&T announces the death of Stephen Fenerty, finance director for H&T Group for more than five years. Steve was commercial director, before that having served the company with great loyalty for nearly 15 years. Steve possessed extraordinary intellect and insights which were both a joy and contributed hugely to H&T, our employees, customers, shareholders and board.

"Our thoughts are with his family at this untimely loss."

[thorpematt] 02/7/2019 21:18

Numis has raised target here by 25% in lieu of what it reckons is a nice fit acquisition.

(Hence no bargain shares for me I guess).

[cwa1] 02/7/2019 07:30

Decent:-

Result of Placing

H&T Group plc ("H&T" or the "Company"), the UK's leading pawnbroker, is pleased to announce the successful completion of the placing announced on 1 July 2019 (the "Placing").

A total of 1,882,925 new ordinary shares in the Company of 5p each (the "Placing Shares") have been placed by Numis Securities Limited ("Numis") at a price of 316p per Placing Shares (the "Placing Price"), raising proceeds of GBP6.0m (before expenses).

The Placing Shares issued represent approximately 5.0% of the issued ordinary share capital of the Company prior to the Placing. The Placing Price represents a discount of 0.0% to the closing price of 316p on 1 July 2019.

In relation to the above, an application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the Placing Shares, which will, when issued, be credited as fully paid and rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares, to be admitted to trading on AIM on or around 4 July 2019.

In accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, following this issue, the Company's issued share capital will consist of 39,710,426 ordinary shares. The Company does not hold any ordinary shares in treasury.

The figure of 39,710,426 ordinary shares should be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

[typo56] 01/7/2019 20:09

No pre-emption rights for existing holders, which is a bit poor, but it will probably only add 5%-6% to the shares in issue.

[thorpematt] 01/7/2019 18:55

A Couple of million new shares coming down the pipe. I would hope for an opportunity for some cheap stock.

I note that HAT will acquire 64 new leases onto the books. Of course the new IAS16 will mean that there will be an effect on the balance sheet to the tune of £22k (the average lease value) x 64 stores, minus any short-term leases minus any drops via renegottiation. Personallly the new standard is not of much use to me in valueing a business but I know many analysts like it.

In terms of growth I suppose it augers rather well. RFX did a similar much smaller set of deals earlier in the year but this is more significant and a good fit I think. HAT as not diluted in the past really. Price looks a bit of a bargain looking at ratio of PBT for last year and considering efficiency ought to get significantly better with HATs operational improvement.

[cwa1] 01/7/2019 17:33

Will be interesting to see how the placing goes. From the announcement:-

Robust current trading

Trading results YTD are in-line with the Board's expectations as demand for small, simple, short term loans remains strong, across both secured and unsecured products.

The Company has developed and continue to improve its platform for growth, which it is leveraging to become the leading provider of alternative credit services to a growing customer base.

Also:-

The Acquisition is expected to be earnings-enhancing
in the first full year of ownership, comfortably exceeding
the return of capital hurdle rate in the first full-year,
and the continued strong cash generation of the enlarged
group delivers rapid deleveraging

[ntv] 01/7/2019 17:09

bought some stores tonight and a placing
I so nearly bought the other day, got it right for once

[rndm355] 25/6/2019 18:47

H&T and Ramsdens discussed at 1:40 of this discussion.

[daijavu] 25/6/2019 09:55

The market is down today because of US sanctions on Iran.

[blackfinance] 25/6/2019 09:28

Lol - and just as quickly back down!

[standish11] 24/6/2019 18:50

Tipped by Simon Thompson in the Investors Chronicle today.

[snowydays] 24/6/2019 17:01

Probably on hopes they will pick up business after a major competitor shuts down.

[blackfinance] 24/6/2019 12:46

Nice jump....but why ????