Intercede Share Discussion Threads

[wjccghcc] 17/8/2011 13:13

AFAIK most companies don't disclose the share option terms in an RNS nor in the annual report. I think they do have to make the LTIP scheme available to shareholders if requested though? David would know.

[fft] 17/8/2011 12:52

No one could possibly be suggesting that the price has been engineered down from 80p to 55p just for the benefit of the directors options... could they...

I find it very strange that the terms werent included in the RNS. How can any shareholder be expected to give a view until they know it. And if they dont announce the terms before the AGM, how can the motion be supported ?

[aphrodites] 17/8/2011 12:38

These share options have clearly been discussed and in the melting pot with the Remuneration Committee for some time.

Dare I speculate that the 1p price is more acceptable with the share price at 55p than 85p would have been!!!!!!!

And we all know how easy it is to hit the IGP share price on little volume and a few whispers to the MM's that there is selling in the wings.

I am totally behind the directors awarding themselves options if at the same time they are creating shareholder value. And of course if they have a suspicion that there is an unwelcome predator in the wings what better way of lining their own pockets while at the same time giving themselves a little more share ammunition to fight off an approach. In a private company of which I am a non-executive director we are presently going through exactly this sort of discussion. But I must admit a price of 1p for options has never entered out discussions!!

One could also conclude that vetting the options against meeting certain earnings per share targets over a three year period can only be good for shareholders and the share price. Providing of course the formula is taxing on the directors. Hopefully, the Board will be open with shareholders at the AGM about the STIFF criteria they will be setting themselves.

This of course questions what sort of results we are going to see them announce. Stiff criteria announced on the back of excellent results would suggest the Board is expecting spectacular trading going forwards and shareholders will not question the options at all. But a disappointing set of results this time with stiff criteria backed by an upbeat Chairman's statement might appease the situation. Should we prepare ourselves for this?

I do not like announcements like this which leave shareholders in the dark. On the other hand if my analysis is backed by excellent results then I am with WJC and I will not object to the options.

However, I feel there is more than meets the eye behind the recent weakness in the share price. And I do not believe the recent set-back in the markets has caused the fall from 85p to 50p. Mr Parris purchase of only 10,000 shares was strange in itself and if the company was half-minded it could have easily arrested and reversed the fall by buying 200,000 shares in the open market.

I have not been particularly impressed with finnCap's involvement with IGP. This is yet another example recently of some highly paid numb-head advisor,not being in touch or even caring about the small shareholder, and understanding the need to ensure there is more transparency behind what is going on.

The AGM could be very interesting.

[davidosh] 17/8/2011 12:17

They have a blocking stake for a lowball bid with directors and the somewhat linked Azalia Trust holding 34%. The two executive directors received very nearly half a million last year with profits under two million and forecast to go lower. The remuneration committee are the non execs who have been on the board for ten years or so since 2000 and 2002.

I will also be at the AGM and feel we need to know the eps hurdles. I have held IGP for five years and the shares floated at 60p so you could argue that an eps target on a market average 15 multiple would need to be 10p at least to give long term holders a fair return and align the directors with shareholder interests.

[strollingmolby] 17/8/2011 12:01

It certainly appears large in quantum, but the Board must reveal the relevant hurdles for us to understand when they may vest.

A further thought, may it also have been hastily put in place as an extra defence against a lowball offer (ie by raising the total t/o cost)? Could be way offbeam with that, and greed is the main motivating factor...

[shanklin] 17/8/2011 11:28

Given the options are worth circa £625k at the current depressed SP, I would like to think there would be no need for any annual bonuses. This feels like corporate theft from ordinary shareholders.

[wjccghcc] 17/8/2011 11:21

On the one hand, they haven't issued themselves any options for the last 9 years so I don't begrudge them doing it now. On the other, David is right - it is necessary to know the conditions attached and I will be asking at the AGM.

If the scheme is to further align the directors with shareholder interests, then I'm fine with it. In that case, I would like to see the director bonuses reduced this year.

[davidosh] 17/8/2011 11:01

No share buybacks but a very healthy award of share options this morning ! Any comments or some of you stunned ? What are the actual eps hurdles that are referred to ?

Pursuant to this Plan, the following Executive Directors and Persons Discharging Managerial Responsibilities (PDMRs) were granted options over ordinary shares exercisable at 1 penny per share ("Options") on 16 August 2011:


Name Role Number of Options Awarded
---------------- ---------- --------------------------
Richard Parris Director 567,029
---------------- ---------- --------------------------
Andrew Walker Director 374,094
---------------- ---------- --------------------------
Jayne Murphy PDMR 302,536
---------------- ---------- --------------------------

Vesting of the Options is conditional on the Company meeting certain earnings per share targets over a three year period.


Surely we need to know the conditions if shareholders are to approve this ? The share price was 83p only a month ago so this is a million pound giveaway in stock at a penny a share !!

[aphrodites] 07/8/2011 09:10

At volatile times in the market like these it is always welcome to see the CEO of a company buying his own company shares in the market. But one does have to question what message Richard Parris was trying to give to the market, if one at all.

We all know how illiquid the market can be in IGP shares but to buy only 10,000 shares does beg the question as to what he was trying to achieve!

Today we hear that the chairman and chief executives of Barclays spent £1.5m between them buying shares. Similarly, the executives of LloydsTSB were buying their shares in the market in size on Friday. And, bosses at Inmarsat, the satellite company, invested £2.6m.

I know IGP is not a major company and the salaries of staff are not in the same league as the bankers' but IGP's Board and especially its advisors really should try to get their acts together if they want to send a message to the market.

To buy only 10,000 shares at 56p and then to see sellers at 50p afterwards does not exactly inspire existing shareholders into thinking we have a finely tuned executive team and its advisors working with our interests at heart to create and maintain shareholder value.

The company bought shares from its staff earlier this year at a higher price than 56p and of course it has the authority from shareholders to buy back its own stock in the market. The question now is does Richard Parris's purchase preclude the company from buying shares? I am not suggesting for one minute that Parris is acting ahead of the company buying shares in the market. But has his action restricted the company from buying shares in the market especially if it forces the price back above 60p which could easily happen?

If the company was prepared to buy its staff shares at a much higher price earlier this year it should certainly be prepared to put some of its cash mountain into the market to buy shares in the low 50p's.

Come on Mr Parris, and your so called professional advisors, stop dithering around and please get your act together. Let's see a determined effort to send a clear message to the market about what you are endeavouring to achieve. Either co-ordinate all your directors and yourself to buy more shares in the market or let's get the Board to agree to buy 200,000 to 300,000 in a share buy back from the cash mountain you hold.

The share price should not be down here.

[fft] 05/8/2011 03:42

Good point aphro. So, if there is no placing imminent, i wonder whether there was any reason for the drop from 75p in the last few weeks (prior to the general panic that has occured in the last couple of days).

[aphrodites] 04/8/2011 20:49

fft

The reason for this is to dismiss the idea that there is going to be a placement and some form of acquisition.

No Board member would be able to buy in what would have to be a closed period ahead of such an announcement.

But don't forget IGP has those shares it bought off staff at a much higher price!!!!

[fft] 04/8/2011 17:31

bit bizarre to release a director purchase RNS after normal hours. But it was only 10k...

[daz] 04/8/2011 16:25

You can get in now for less than Richard Parris has just paid, you might need a strong stomach with everything in freefall though.

[courant] 27/7/2011 11:23

Interesting rant about MBOs in undervalued small-caps in Herald's interims today, (hopefully not) relevant to IGP holders:



Regards,

[aphrodites] 26/7/2011 21:40

FELIX

Spot on my friend.

You obviously have a good knowledge of how the markets work and the games the MM's play.

If they have been made insiders they do not even need to deal. They can suggest to someone they might like to sell a few; nudge nudge wink wink, which enables them to mark the price down.

A 20% mark down to help the institutions to take on stock does not seem out of the question.

But these bloody institutions do nothing and yet get offered bargains on a plate.

If you and I are right, and there is a placement to buy something, it will be interesting to see if the market digests the acquisition favourably by marking the share price higher.

[yump] 26/7/2011 10:10

B. nuisance isn't it, these shares going up and down.

Can someone point me in the direction of shares that rise in the summer please ?
Oh, and that has to be in the face of just a few minor Eurozone worries, economic worries etc. etc.

imo the last announcement would have had to have been in the top 5% of bullish announcements to fight off that combination.

PS
I'm glad I didn't sell last summer - that was way more worrying ;-)

[felix99] 26/7/2011 09:29

mark downs have been aggressive - it is being manipulated and MM's clearly know something imho . If it is just a big holder selling there would be a few Inst like KP who would mop up any loose stock. It has been marked down on no volume

For whatever reason they appear to have stopped/ buying which to me means they have been made insiders to something and will receive a cut of the action that way with no need to buy in mkt - and they are now barred out anyway.

Effectively in my view the MM's know there will be a placing at say 60p and so they are short selling at higher knowing full well they can subscribe in a placing to close out.

Anyway we shall see - anything bought here is still a good buy although I am not sure you will make a quick turn on it - I for one will hold off buying more till I know what this is all about

[wjccghcc] 26/7/2011 08:49

I agree with hybrasil. I think it's herd instinct combined with illiquidity. Seen it several times before with IGP.

[hybrasil] 26/7/2011 08:47

bought 20k for my trading account.

[hybrasil] 26/7/2011 08:41

I would guess you are both trying to look around a corner that does not exist.

I have a long term hold here and also fairly regularily trade these.

I am about to press the buy position again.

They have 6m in cash. I maybe wrong but I dont see them buying anything at the moment.

[aphrodites] 26/7/2011 08:19

FELIX

You echo my sentiments entirely re the fund raising.

Let's wait and see what is in the pipe-line.

[felix99] 26/7/2011 07:52

Must be a fund raising for an acquisition Aphro. WINS opened at 64 on the offer this am - City boys knocking the price down to where they want to pay for stock imho.

I suspect perhaps they may want to get a base on Board of Inst to boost their funding options down the line. If they are not acquiring anything I suspect they may want to tender for a whole job perhaps rather than be a subcontractor to others. They make nice money but I bet the mark up on their gear in the contract to the main tender holder to the end user makes them a bit sick - perhaps they are getting readxy to bid for these things or a bigger slice of these things gonig forward. Which would need cash ?

[aphrodites] 26/7/2011 06:13

igoe

I do not concur with your view of IGP having a history of a falling share price at this time of year.

This suggests someone is selling short which is not feasible in a share with such poor liquidity.

Just because it happened last year does not mean it should happen again now.

IGP's improving trading record is now unquestionable and the share should be on a rising trend not in a seasonal falling one.

If you look back at the graph you will see that the share price was in a period of constant decline from Dec 2009 to August 2010. It has been rising ever since that low, admittedly with minor set backs.

Mark my words, there is more behind this fall than meets the eye. It has a nasty smell that someone knows more about what is going on behind the scenes than is in the open and in the interest of shareholders.

And if this time I am proven right AGAIN about insider trading it will need to be reported to the FSA. It will not be difficult to identify the sellers in a share like this with such a low turnover!!!!!!!!

I hope I am wrong!!!!!

[igoe104] 25/7/2011 17:35

IGP share price has a history of falling june-september. last year it fell to 28p before it went on a strong rally in october. i think its blot up the shutters and look again in october. and set alerts just in case of RNS.

[aphrodites] 25/7/2011 15:38

The last time we saw a fall of this magnitude, nearly 17% in the last two trading days, we saw a placement made in May 2007 at 33p with Hargrave Hales. The price fell from 58p to 45p in two days before the announcement, 22% then!

Is there something in the pipe-line that only the institutions know about such as an acquisition and large institutional share placements?

Has the company broker inadvertently let something slip?

Obviously the lack of news on new contracts is not helping the share price; neither is the current state of the market.

Much against my better judgment I have joined the game selling a few shares to see where the price can be pushed before the institutions decide there is good value. Having seen their funds perform well as a result of IGP's share price advance they will not want to see all the good work undone again in this quarter.

Or will we know in the next few days that there are good reasons for this set back!!!!