Hill & Smith Share Discussion Threads

[phillis] 11/11/2010 12:33

buy now
the end of the industrial world is not nigh

[robizm] 11/11/2010 11:34

As most pension scheme members are non active (ie deferred & pensioners) they will benefit from the change from rpi to cpi for increasing pensions & deferred members which is an on going saving every year. this saved bt billions. also there has been an improvement in asset values as well so do not think it is so negative

[pugugly] 11/11/2010 11:01

Recent strength of Sterling could hit their overseas business and cut back in govt spending will (imo) have significant downward pressure on UK business. The reduction forecast for UK infrastructure expenditure will (imo) put pressure on all operators in this area and will lead to suicidally low tenders.

Debt at £74.8 million still too high in my view though an improvement over last year

PLUS They have a significant pension deficit which (imo) can only get worse and act as a drag on profits available for dividends

From the last annual report

Pensions
The Hill & Smith Executive Pension Scheme and the Hill &
Smith Pension Scheme (the 'Schemes') remain the largest
employee benefit obligations within the Group. In common
with many other UK companies, the Schemes are mature having
significantly more pensioners and deferred pensioners than
active participating members.
Subsequent to the year end the Group agreed the triennial
valuation for the two UK defined benefit pension plans as at
5 April 2009. This valuation resulted in a funding deficit of
£26.7m. A recovery plan has been agreed with the Trustees
that requires deficit funding payments of £1.9m for three years,
followed by payments of £2.3m for a further seven years. The
current level of deficit funding amounts to £0.6m. The date of
the next triennial review will be 5 April 2012.
The IAS19 deficit at 31 December 2009 for the Group's defined
benefit plans was £16.7m, up from £11.8m in the prior year. The
increase principally reflects lower corporate bond yields together
with higher inflation expectations.

[matt123d] 11/11/2010 10:54

Added to short this morning. Nice downtrend forming now.

[phillis] 11/11/2010 10:39

agree
bit of an overreaction
divi safe

[hvs] 11/11/2010 10:26

TIME TO BUY BUY BUY

[hvs] 07/11/2010 12:21

No wonder.

We will soon see a REAL rise.

IMS will be very positive and cash flow just keeps on getting better and better.

[killieboy] 28/10/2010 17:06

Good article with buy rec in "Shares" today

[hvs] 13/9/2010 16:40

Doing very well.

A lot more to come.

[hvs] 03/9/2010 17:32

I just done that.

Get it in and wait.

This is too too cheap.

[phillis] 03/9/2010 13:23

single figure P/E ratio
dividend 5%
50%+ business outside UK

Time to stock up

[barniebear] 19/8/2010 13:10

STEVENLONDON3 I have bought & sold these (big time) twice the reason i have not taken advantage of the recent weekness in the S/P is despite that only a portion of HILS business is in the UK almost ALL countries in the west goverments are embarking on public expenditure cuts & those that are not mainly the USA will follow the rest when elections are out of the way.

BTW Did you know all uk public service expenditure over £20k has now to be passed by a minister.

[stevenlondon3] 06/7/2010 11:49

Spoken to the company today about recent share price weakness.
-Some shareholders are nervous of the company's exposure to public expenditure cuts. The UK is now however a much smaller percentage of total business.
-Market conditions have not changed since the beginning of may when the company made its last public announcement.

Personally i think the shares are very cheap...if it had been on a growth rating I would have been much more nervous of the impact of the cuts. Balance sheet stong.

[phillis] 09/5/2010 08:50

Hill & Smith

348.5p

Questor says BUY

Unfortunately for Midlands-based industrial group Hill & Smith, its positive update on Friday was buried in the election cliffhanger. The statement came a couple of days after the group unveiled a new contract win worth £4m for the supply of gantries on the M1 motorway.

Following a strong 2009, Hill said that trading was in line with expectations in the first quarter of the year, with pre-tax profits higher than the first quarter of last year.

Hill operates in three divisions - infrastructure, galvanizing and building and construction products. Its UK roads business performed strongly, benefiting from the extended Highways Agency Managed Motorway Scheme and additional fiscal stimulus spend.

Galvanizing volumes were 4pc below the equivalent quarter last year.

Just under 50pc of sales now come from outside the UK, which is important for future growth.

There are concerns about a slowdown in road spending in the UK, but even if all new road building in the UK were stopped it would only take about 7pc off earnings, according to calculations by broker Evolution.

At the end of March, net debt was £89.9m, compared with £140.8m at the end of March 2009 and £87.6m at the year end.

The shares were first recommended at 202p on February 7 last and they are up 73pc. Trading on a December 2010 earnings multiple of just 8.8 times and yielding 3.6pc, the shares remain a buy.

[hvs] 12/3/2010 15:06

This will £ 4.00.

Best run company

[hvs] 11/3/2010 13:13

Sell what is going up and buy what is going to go down ?

[phillis] 09/3/2010 15:30

great cash generation
USA a little quiet perhaps?

[cfb2] 09/3/2010 10:23

The Growth Company Investor reduce recommendation was made on 23rd February. Since then the share price has risen almost 11%. Says it all really.

CFB

[stevenlondon3] 28/1/2010 10:02

Apart from general market conditions has there been any recent negative news to explain share weakness?

[barniebear] 14/1/2010 08:26

The high volume boards seem to be populated by people putting their money in "risky" companies where they are hoping for the elusive 10 bagger. They are possibly living on their nerves and most of the posts consist of rubbish, inane banter & petty bickering, with very little worthwhile information or debate.


No i "DO" risky COs for the craic!!Hence i was in hills Last year when things were much different!!However have you considered where hils will be post election Huge cuts everywhere (except sacred cows) with roads probably a top target for cutting!

[iglet] 12/1/2010 08:16

It's one of those companies that just quietly gets on with what they do in a competent and efficient way, without a song & dance and doesn't need constant commenting on. I have a very rough rule of thumb whereby any company that attracts a heavy volume of posts is one to be wary of.

Have a look at such as DNLM & CWK. Their boards are extremely quiet as well and they have not done too badly.

The high volume boards seem to be populated by people putting their money in "risky" companies where they are hoping for the elusive 10 bagger. They are possibly living on their nerves and most of the posts consist of rubbish, inane banter & petty bickering, with very little worthwhile information or debate.

[miss womble] 11/1/2010 10:23

Where is everybody? Has nobody got anything to say regarding this interesting share? Regards to all, MW