Hansard Global Share Discussion Threads

[fangorn2] 31/7/2012 14:41

Yep, it was the court decision I was commenting on.
Sorry for not being absolutely clear.

[stemis] 31/7/2012 12:16

Yes, I think we were all aware of the claims. It was the decision of the court which was not known. No doubt the court case will be a negative until it is finally decided. The main thing for me is that HSD continue to develop the business and pay the dividends.

[grahamburn] 31/7/2012 10:00

SteMis/Fangorn2. The issue regarding policyholders complaints have been documented in all the company's statements over the past year to 18 months, the most recent being their early May IMS:

"As reported previously, the Group has been subject to a number of policyholder complaints in relation to the selection and performance of assets linked to policies. An initial hearing into particular complaints was held in Norway in the last week of April. While judgement in this case is not expected to be delivered until the end of May 2012, based on the pleadings and advice received to date, the Group has not made any provision in respect of any complaints. Additional legal and professional fees of approximately GBP0.3m in relation to these actions will impact on IFRS results in Q4."

However, even though it would appear that the issues will now be heard during a full court case, the company is still maintaining in today's announcement that their legal advice is that there is no case to answer as the company does not provide investment advice. They are not making any provision in their accounts for the claims, so are presumably fairly confident, but it will probably leave a cloud hanging over the company (shares) for an extended period.

[loganair] 31/7/2012 09:57

As long as Hansard are going to be around for a few good years to come and they keep increasing their dividends, I have no worries.

[fangorn2] 31/7/2012 09:49

Cheers logan.

Any idea why Numis is so much higher on the EPS estimates front?

2012 20.5p versus Panmure's 8.04p

[loganair] 31/7/2012 09:48

The two brokers who have given forcast during July:

.....................................2012.......................2013
..................Date....Rec..Pre-tax...EPS.....DPS.....Pre-tax...EPS....DPS
Panmure Gordon...27-07-12 BUY £11.20mln..8.04p..14.20p..£15.10nln.10.67p.14.80p
Numis Securities.05-07-12 BUY.....-.....20.50p..14.00p......-.....19.00p.14.20p

[fangorn2] 31/7/2012 09:23

Tough time for all Financial providers. They have had consistently expensive products, really not sure why people trust them myself. When I was overseas I had a look at their offerings - was shocked.

Nice chunky yield though.And if they can maintain the business margins, will be a nice little earner. Big question is - are they cheap at 125p

[stemis] 31/7/2012 09:16

No, its pretty bad.

Having said that I think the announcement was pretty reassuring. They are clearly trying to reposition the business more towards regular premium flows (which are more dependable) and margins are increasing. With all the uncertainty it's clearly a tough time to be in the business of savings products, but they seem to be doing fine even if profit will take a dip in the short term.

[fangorn2] 31/7/2012 09:01

Stem, Indeed, Not sure why that failed to get announced at the time as I,for one,wasn't aware of it.

[stemis] 31/7/2012 08:31

An initial Court hearing into the majority of these complaints was held in Norway in April, at which the Judge concluded that the Group has a case to answer.

This would explain the fall in the share price from around 145p to the current 125p. Why was this not announced to the market in April? Looks like some people were already aware of this information.

[fangorn2] 31/7/2012 07:32

New business results..



New business results for the year ended 30 June 2012

[paul_butcher1999] 13/7/2012 01:19

agree - euro crisis not big problem for Hansard at all. My only point is it is a big problem for Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal - and all of them will leave the Euro in short to medium term. Not a problem for Hansard though. Hansard shares are massively undervalued.

[hieronymous1] 12/7/2012 19:04

Leonard Polonsky, Chairman of Hansard Global plc, commented:

"The performance of the Group since the start of the financial year has been resilient despite the increased market volatility, particularly in the Eurozone. While global conditions remain challenging and uncertain we believe that the Group's focus on the growth markets of the Far East and Latin America and our continuing investment in distribution infrastructure, systems and online platform, will position us well for the future."


Omnes

The Eurozone mess affects Hansard Group a lot less than it does most internationally trading companies.

[aleman] 12/7/2012 17:50

You have the wrong end of the stick. Somebody suggested PIIGS were doing awfully and would be thrown out of the Eurozone so their currencies could fall. I was suggesting that they were doing better than the generalisations being thrown about in the media and pointed out Spanish property was showing signs of bottoming because it was so cheap. Today's better than expected European industrial output figures for May saw all 5 PIIGS turn in positive numbers. Their recent trend is much better. Over the year, Ireland is +4.4% after some very strong recent numbers, while Germany is -0.2%. It's also worth comparing France at -3.8% to Greece at -2.6% with the latter being positive for the last 2 months when everyone was saying it was getting so bad Greece would exit. Industrial output numbers are volatile but it looks very much like PIIGS have turned up as the rest have eased back.


The stresses of the common currency seem to be abating after some tremendous productivity improvements in the last 3 years which have brought PIIGS much closer into line. Most of the commentary about the need to for PIIGS to drop out of the Euro on the basis of currency level and productivity is now out of date, but still being pushed by those trying to accelerate the federalisation of an undemocratic Europe, who have most of the media in their pocket.

[hieronymous1] 12/7/2012 16:54

In case Thuja, you are not simply being ironic, the Spanish property posts are simply off topic.

Hansard supports financial advisors with
tax efficient custom configured investment
products in a life assurance wrapper

[thuja2] 12/7/2012 16:26

It would seems by the posts here that HSD just invests in Spanish property, though it says it invests globally, would you be trying to ramp it down to get in at a lower price?

[pvb] 11/7/2012 19:03

Now on a trailing PER of 10

[pvb] 11/7/2012 10:13

Now on a trailing PER of 10.4

[morwood] 11/7/2012 09:35

I just don't get this stock. The price just keep drifting downwards...

[pvb] 10/7/2012 18:14

Another day another dive. What is going on? If anything!

[paul_butcher1999] 05/7/2012 20:17

the other reason is its exit from the euro though ...

[fangorn2] 17/6/2012 18:12

Ah so there is some truth in the rumours Loganair. Thanks for coming back to me.

A reason not to buy property in Spain, regardless of how cheap it is. The risks are too high imv.

[loganair] 17/6/2012 11:37

Fangorn2 13 Jun'12 - 12:12 - 258 of 263

The downside I gather is that Spain's rules governing property rights are rather arbitrary, and that local government can allegedly decide to run a main road through your back garden without the home owner having any recourse.

Not sure validity of such well known critiques given the medium they have been voiced in (Daily mail) but perhaps someone can expand.



Fangorn2 - In Valencia they not only do that, the Regional Government will also charge you the full cost of doing so. I personally know of two people that this has happened too.

[paul_butcher1999] 16/6/2012 19:57

Aleman, with Spanish property the relative 'value' of the property is irrelevant. Yes it may be very low for long run averages. Fine, but the issue is not that but it's ineviatble expulsion from the euro. That puts the 'bottom' 40- 60 % lower than whatever it is now. I agree generally though - mugs game to try and pick exact bottom. Just in is this case we have the euro situation. Buying Spanish property now would be gibbering madness.