Intercede Share Discussion Threads

[shanklin] 14/9/2011 07:49

Having "announced today that it has secured ISO 9001 and TickIT certification", perhaps for their next trick IGP could certify the non-execs who put in place the ludicrous and greedy options scheme they put in place recently.

[wjccghcc] 11/9/2011 22:13

Less than half do that I've seen. However up to now IGP have had very good investor relations so it would be good of them to set an example.

[iicb] 11/9/2011 21:58

Have you written to them and ask why they haven't been disclosed? Is it typical for them to be disclosed then?

Cheers,
iiCB

[wjccghcc] 11/9/2011 18:50

It's not fishy. An LTIP with an exercise price of 0p or 1p is not uncommon.

However, as David says, shareholders should have the right to know what the performance targets are.

[iicb] 11/9/2011 18:34

Something very fishy is going on with this incentives scheme. Personally, having got out at 70p after waiting many years, I'm not convinced management are operating in the shareholders best interests, and more their own interests. Why are they also buying such small amounts with their own cash? Oh, the incentives at 1p exercise.

Hence, sell is the order of the day with IGP. They'll be another and better time to own these shares.

I used to think IGP would do really well and be a 4x bagger potentially, but now, I'm not so sure anymore and will keep out of it.

Good luck though if you hold.

iiCB

[davidosh] 09/9/2011 11:26

You may have to ask Katie Potts directly but I am certain she was never consulted and I very much doubt that Giles Hargreaves was either. If given proof that they were then I might be somewhat happier as they are seen as very shrewd investors who think like we do and would have guided the remuneration committee in how to structure this sensibly.

[pyman] 09/9/2011 10:26

I wonder what Katie Potts thinks about the options given Herald is a recent investor

[rambutan2] 06/9/2011 01:05

Looby, I'd be interested.

[looby loo] 05/9/2011 20:30

Hi fft,

I thought people might be encouraged to go to the Intercede AGM if the journey to Lutterworth was made easier and cheaper. So I suggested to David yesterday evening, perhaps hiring a minibus (or a coach, if there were sufficient people interested).

So no plans have been made yet. We can do whatever folks want to do. How about rendezvous at a London Underground Station close to the M1; say Golders Green or Hampstead on the Northern Line? (Looking on Google Earth, Hampstead might be better for parking the minibus.)

Then maybe make a stop(s) along the M1 en route for others, if necessary. We return back to London in the minibus, after the AGM to whatever Underground Station folks need to get to their next meeting, etc.

If anyone's got any other suggestions, please let us know.

[fft] 05/9/2011 17:01

Hi David,

would the minibus head back to London for the LOQ meeting after the IGP AGM ?

I could do that. My first thought was to hire a car and after the meeting carry on up North, but i could do LOQ first and then get the train.

[davidosh] 05/9/2011 01:27

How many are planning on attending the Agm in Lutterworth at 11am on the 21st of this month ?

I have a meeting in London at 3.30pm and then another at 5pm so will need to head back around 1pm ish. One of the guys is thinking of hiring a minibus from London as Lutterworth Hall is quite a journey by cab from the train station.

[igoe104] 02/9/2011 12:52

Write up on piv.

[felix99] 25/8/2011 17:47

There is nothing happening really apart from the directors issuing options !

The story hasn't changed for me it just leaves a bit of a sour taste when the share price is languishing in these markets.

Even then to be fair there will be a big tax liability for these things deferred to when they cash them in so I guess you want to issue them at the lowest price to minimise the tax on them.

Certainly can;t fault their timing on that!

[julianc35] 25/8/2011 17:39

Surely the directors would be prevented from buying shares or issuing options if they knew something was happening as they would be using "price sensitive information". Any comments?

[yump] 25/8/2011 16:10

Well, I've always had a pool of cash over the years which is held waiting for times when the market has a hiccup and companies where nothing has changed lose 30% of their value. Especially where that coincides with the company not being quite as perfect as investors might wish for.

A lot of the time the shares in smaller companies move speficically according to their fortunes, as long as the market is reasonably stable, but from time to time you get a nasty overall drop and the small companies get hammered.

Of course it might always be the start of a longer term bear market, but you can't know; so I take the view that you are at least buying in 25% off a high in companies that don't seem to have anything wrong.

If I had regularly waited for 25-30% drops in the small companies I've got and then topped up, rather than topping up on some of the rises, I've worked out I'd be 20-30% better off, which is quite scary, although its easier said than done to buy in when the price has dipped badly.

[davidosh] 25/8/2011 15:56

Yump....i think you are spot on there.

fft...Due to speak on Monday when he returns from holiday but I suspect he meant Tuesday as bank holiday here on Monday.

[yump] 25/8/2011 15:50

I think you have to weigh up what effect the combination of these has, before coming to any conclusions about chart formations or anyone 'knowing something', before they can be identified:

1. Flattish profits until some more contracts appear
2. The share option announcement
3. The general market drop
4. Quite a thinly traded share

In my book that quite reasonably adds up to a sudden correction, although not much in the company has actually changed.

If it were a heavily traded company then you might expect it to recover as the market recovers, but in my experience small companies get knocked down quickly (presumably by mm's because they know pi's have a tendency to poo themselves on these occasions), but don't get marked back up until some sustained buying occurs, or a new progress announcement is made.

[fft] 25/8/2011 15:27

looking at the price action today, it does appear that the MM's are completely unwilling to hold any IND stock at all. They do appear to have been spooked (or know something). I wonder how long before we, the poor pi's, find out, or is the head and shoulders going to complete all the way back to 30p before we are told....

Did you have chance to talk to the RemCom people DD ?

[davidosh] 23/8/2011 20:43

It is almost certain that the targets/hurdles for the options will be very benign. I suspect there is an element of catch up for the directors who have not had a satisfactory LTIP in place for many years here. However to balance that the shareholders have had nothing either as there are no dividends and after ten years listed the share price is still below the float price of 60p !!

If Carlsberg were creating an options scheme right now then to be fair to all parties I think they would have options kicking in at about £1 and in fairness the share price was over 80p just a few weeks ago....Not to forget that 1p options are a gift by any other name so the target price is very important to shareholders !! The fact it is not there in the detail suggests it is far lower than we would like or expect.

Richard Parris is a good guy so I am sure he will be feeling awkward if he knows shareholders are far from happy about the timing and poor communication of this award.

[yump] 22/8/2011 13:34

If you could pick a bad time to announce something like this, they've done a perfect job, after (currently) flat eps for this year (unless some new contracts appear soon). The positive implication is that they expect eps to grow, otherwise there's not much point in using eps criteria on the options. At least eps is directly related to shareholder interests, as against 'other' profit figures.

Would be much better to know the details though.

If a 30% eps rise is required, I guess I wouldn't be that complaintive.

[courant] 22/8/2011 12:23

David,

Many thanks for following this through. I have no issue with share options for senior management in principle, but the terms should serve to: a) properly incentivise management and b) be of net benefit to all shareholders. Without full disclosure of the details it's impossible to assess a) and that means there is a serious risk that b) is not met, especially given the number of options awarded.

Regards,

[davidosh] 22/8/2011 11:54

I intend to speak to the chairman of the Remcom this week to try to get questions answered and prevent further public embarassment on these issues or we shall be meeting head on at the AGM and it would be a shame to have the meeting dominated by this subject.

If any of you have questions you want me to raise with him then do post them here. I will do a full write up afterwards as I will advise him that I intend to make my findings public. That may of course force the terms to be disclosed as he will not want me to be the one advising shareholders nor making the AGM a confrontational event.

[fft] 22/8/2011 11:47

But disconcerting if, as per post on Fool, that they wont tell shareholders what the conditions are....

Shareholders having to write letters to directors to enforce company law to disclose information doesnt seem an ideal way forward and does bring into question where the loyalties and aspirations of the directors lie.

[felix99] 22/8/2011 11:43

all options usually becomew exercisable on a bid so wouldnt be surpised at that at all. FWIW I dont think RP and co are that greedy but think this is something dreamed up by advisers of the fat cat variety .

I think if we can band together and have a good moan then the strike price might be reconsidered.

I have seen lots of options given out at 1p - its quite common for LTIP type schemes - perhaps not in options but in free shares which vest in the future in variable amounts depending on the criteria and performance met.

My issue is the number issued as a % of share capital . Unless it has been done as a poison pill or something - but then I would expect really tough conditions linked to share price performance and only a small proportion of the options vesting without a bid , if that is what they were designed to do.

[pyman] 22/8/2011 10:20

just talked with a broker re the 1p strike on options. He agreed it was very odd. I trying to find other examples but to no avail.Standard is to offfer options at a 10% discount to current share price and while I agree that options are a good incentive for managment this seems little more than a give away as long as they hit targets they already have 550% in the bag! options should be linked to share price performance- the true measure of a managments ability and this is not the case here.It would be interesting to know if thye become exersisable in the event of a bid regardless of eps performance targets being hit. The terms must become public knowledge!