Highway Insurance Share Discussion Threads

[noiseboy] 03/4/2006 14:39

A lot of AT Trades going in..... bit strange

[noiseboy] 03/4/2006 14:35

Think you should stay in karldinnel!

[leslas] 03/4/2006 14:32

No But its looking better every day

[noiseboy] 03/4/2006 14:27

ai ai whats going on here then!

[troutisout] 02/4/2006 18:21

karldinnel,
1, A nice chunky dividend yield,
2, Recent directors/wife buying,
3, The acquisition of the insurance brokers and intermediaries will give Highway another profits stream and I can see this expanding and also you may see Highway lever this position by expanding it's underwriting activities.

Trout.

[karldinnel] 02/4/2006 12:25

Well, I believe in booking profits once a certain level has been reached.

But troutisout, what are your reasons for thinking I should hold back from selling the rest of my stake?

[troutisout] 01/4/2006 23:58

I feel happy for you karldinnel and at the same time sad for you.
You have sold half your holding , possibly too quickly, but a profit is a profit.
As for thoughts, you have jumped the gun massively!!!

[karldinnel] 01/4/2006 23:08

Oh dear Oniabsta. You either failed to see my point, or perhaps you are just a latecomer to this share who's got a chip on his shoulder about that.

I'm not here to have a slanging match with you. I'm just after thoughts about whether others agree with me that perhaps Highway will now go sideways for some time. I have sold half my stake, and I think perhaps the rest of it could also be put to better use elsewhere. If the dividend is held this year, then I can't see why the shares won't at least hold their value, but the view from the management that the business is operating in a highly competitive market, and that they are happy now for Highway to just hold its position, means that the equity growth story here is over for the time being.

Thoughts anyone?

[babysitter] 31/3/2006 21:54

two buys of 145k shares @89.7p reported after hours. someone likes this stock :~)

[oniabsta] 31/3/2006 18:43

Yes, we'll all have a long worry about what you should do karl, but then again...................... who cares !

[karldinnel] 31/3/2006 17:55

Who cares what you bought in at? I bought my first tranche of shares for 44p and the average price that my considerable stake in HWY cost me was less than 60p per share. Certainly, pat on the back, well done... but the question now is what do we do. I was sitting on a fantastic gain and so sold half my stake at just over 80p a week or so ago.

But now I am wondering whether to hold for the next set of divis (interims - payment of which will be some months off) or to get out and avoid the risk of something going wrong at the business. I suppose the cautious outlook statement has spooked me a bit, but then why all the director buying?

[siskinbird] 31/3/2006 10:17

karl
I'm inclined to agree with babysitter that there's some expectation of takeover/consolidation activity factored into the price - but that's true of so many shares these days. Yield is still exceptionally attractive and my view is that this share still has some way to go.

I don't know a lot about charts, but what I do know tells me that this isn't going down for a while....

I bought in at about 66p and am happy to hold.

[babysitter] 31/3/2006 10:16

it does not matter what you and i think. what matters is whether the market wants the shares or not. at this time it does, so ask yourself - what does the market (and directors) know that we do not?

[karldinnel] 31/3/2006 09:25

All this petty point scoring is very sad.

Back to the issue in hand. I sold half my stake at just a bit more than 80p per share (I like to lock in profits given the opportunity) after the shares had gone ex-div, but how much higher can they go? Divi yield is still above 6% if the 5.3p total dividend is maintained this year, but I remember the outlook statement being rather cautious. Thoughts anyone?

[leslas] 31/3/2006 09:12

Looks like some action today??

[siskinbird] 31/3/2006 09:07

Yes, just me being pedantic really! I agree that they are a really great share.

[gorse] 31/3/2006 09:06

Well, I did my first topslice, reducing my holdings by 12.5%, and using some of the proceeds to buy Hardy Underwriting.

[babysitter] 31/3/2006 09:02

do not think you can look at long term chart for guidance, the business has transformed since. consolidation in the sector is perhaps behind the demand for the shares, i have been suspecting a take out these last few months.....

[leslas] 31/3/2006 08:59

sorry but i only looked at the chart on the screen but they are a great share

[siskinbird] 31/3/2006 07:55

Hardly, Leslas - these were trading at above 150p in 1998 - double click on the longterm chart and alter the time period to "All" to see.....

[leslas] 30/3/2006 14:33

Near its all time high

[noiseboy] 29/3/2006 11:06

Another nice 25k directors buy, should help the sp

[babysitter] 28/3/2006 06:58

are we looking at an announcement predicting enhanced profitability? (italics are mine)

from this morning rns:

The Board of Highway Insurance Holdings Plc ('HIH') announces that it has
decided to stop running its Board Meeting in tandem with that of its FSA
regulated subsidiary, Highway Insurance Company Limited ('HighCo'). This
decision has been taken because of the changed nature of Highway's operations
and in particular, its move into distribution. The Company is no longer solely a
motor underwriter.

from results:

Broking Operations

During 2005 we continued to build our distribution business, making our third
acquisition of MRB in October. Our three broking businesses aggregated have a
turnover of #17m and handle nearly 180,000 policies. Customers are sourced from
directories, specialist publications, strategic partnerships and, increasingly,
via the internet.

Our objectives with this division are threefold.

To integrate the business processes of the three brokers in a divisional
structure, incorporating industry best practice. To optimise the value-add
potential of owning customers, looking increasingly to incorporate an
underwriting relationship with Highway. To enhance our customer service
capabilities to achieve policy growth. These steps will enable the Company to
extend its position on the value chain and give us some protection against
further fade in the third party distributed sector of the motor insurance
market.

During the year we encountered opportunities to make significant progress in
policy count growth. While this was a boon, which occurred a little earlier than
we might have expected, the promotional costs associated with the move had the
effect of reducing the budgeted divisional profit from #1m to #700,000.