Interserve Share Discussion Threads

[oliversanvil] 05/3/2019 17:58

whoknowswhoknowswhoknows//BillTucker You are not upto speed !!

[billtucker] 05/3/2019 17:07

Whoknows- I share your pain as a fellow employee and shareholder, as no doubt as many others. I have worked for IRV for the past 12 years and they’ve wiped out my value and jeopardised my retirement by raiding the pension fund.

Yet the board propose such a disastrous deal and have the cheek to say it’s doing it for the sake of employees?

[whoknowswhoknowswhoknows] 05/3/2019 16:50

Well, as an employee and a shareholder I feel cheated and mislead into investing. And to shelve a deal without any regards to many other employees in this situation, without consultation, shows that the Values are meaningless to them. An open offer asking for an extra 200k is unaffordable to an employee, so by even asking for that amount it seems Interserve are already expecting a foregone conclusion to the meaningful vote.

[eodfire] 05/3/2019 10:35

I was out at 11.8 as I didn't have the stomach to hold and hope any longer. Unfortunately holding this share didn't work out for me. Now back in the oil sector. I wish all the current holders all the best and hope you see a good recovery. I hope you stick it to all the shorters in at this level and not forgetting all the nay-sayers!

[shinnas] 05/3/2019 09:42

People piling in as the offer is better bet than before.

[shinnas] 05/3/2019 09:41

It took a while before sky rocketing this morning.

[cc2014] 05/3/2019 09:01

I don't know that the share price means anything now Fenners because the market cap is currently £20m and is way below what 99.9% of investment fund managers are interested in. Further we have no idea whether the company is even going to be listed in a few weeks.

If I look at it from my personal point of view why invest when it could be that I may not be able to sell my shares until the company is re-floated in 5? years time. Clearly current investors are not bothered about this although I perceive the big boys now have a level of information that gives them an advantage


At a practical level the company makes £93m EBITDA and this needs to pay the interest bill, capex, all historical things they have to put right (mostly but not exclusively EfW) and all other restructuring costs.

In 2017 it lost £240m, in 2018 it lost £110m (would have been £190m if not for the gain on disposal on Haymarket and gain on pension scheme revaluation).


Has the FD kitchen-sinked it? If I read the deleveraging plan the answer is no.

[fenners66] 05/3/2019 08:24

I guess the price reaction says the market does not think it will happen.
I thought shares may rise today on the basis of some chasing a potential larger stake - I guess that has to be assessed along with the risk that Coltrane votes against the current deal and it goes bust instead.

[cc2014] 05/3/2019 08:04

£110m. Who has that sort of money?

I can't get my head around Coltrane. Their current stake is worth £6m, yet they are prepared to take up rights to the tune of £110 at the extreme and offer a bridging loan of £75m. Ok, if the £110m gets raised the £75m (or very little of it) will be needed so that's just providing confidence to the market and of course there would be interest payable.

They don't seem able to walk away and instead are going to invest millions on top the millions they have already lost.

Offering up to £185m to defend a £6m position just doesn't make sense to me.


Will the board support it/explore it? I'd say they have no choice but to do so.

Will the bondholders agree with it? I'd say they are going to fracture now with different parties agreeing and other parties disagreeing. If you are RBS you'd probably be happy. You don't have to inject further funds and you have an exit to sell your shares. If you are Kempner/Emerald I suspect all they are interested in is control of the company. I suggest it's time for Kempner and Emerald to take the offer and move on. they've paid less than 50p in the £ for the debt so they can convert it and sell it in the market. A massive profit for them.

Of course what actually happens is hard to guess. It's seems to be personal for both sides.

[oliversanvil] 05/3/2019 07:38

A 35% better stake than the original proposal--If accepted would make the odds of a rights issue take up more successful.

[gkhan] 05/3/2019 00:42

Hard to see how the BOD can reject Coltrane’s offer if in fact they are acting in the best interest of existing shareholders?

[pal44] 04/3/2019 21:42

this_time_its_different… Try COST they good compare to this Co -- soon be 4p GLA

[fenners66] 04/3/2019 21:30

A 35% better stake than the original proposal - I guess the debt holders will initially reject it as they do not get the company in a years time....

[fenners66] 04/3/2019 21:29

On the back of that offer I fail to understand why they did not propose to remove ALL the directors.

[cc2014] 04/3/2019 21:01

NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Coltrane Asset Management ("Coltrane") has today written to the board of Interserve plc (the "Company") to propose updated terms for a financial restructuring of the Company following the company releases last week. The key feature of the Coltrane proposal is the issuing of at least £110m of new shares in the Company, to be offered to shareholders pro rata and underwritten by Coltrane (subject to receiving full financial information from the Company).

This new issue and the conversion of £435m of debt in the Company into equity at par would leave existing creditors owning 55%, with shareholders owning 37.5%, assuming a full take up. It would also mean the Company having materially lower net leverage than the Company's updated proposal upon completion – initially 2.1x in the Coltrane proposal, versus 2.6x in the Company's. Taking account of the Company's own public financial projections, Coltrane anticipates that net debt would fall to around 1x by year end.

In addition, despite concerns the Company has tried to prevent shareholders from implementing a better proposal, and from holding a shareholders' meeting at which Coltrane has proposed that the majority of the board be removed in favour of new board members with extensive turnaround experience, Coltrane has offered to bridge any interim liquidity gap that stems from the Company's operating cash flow. This bridge would cure the primary trigger for the creditors' ability to force a default and insolvency of the Company.

Given that a better proposal for a greater number of stakeholders is now on the table the directors, in their capacity as fiduciaries to the Company, should halt cooperation with lenders on implementation of their plan. If the company is not able to make such a decision then this raises serious questions about the board's decisions leading to this point, and about the position of the lenders, including major UK banks. Throughout this process, the board has prioritised discussions with lenders rather than shareholders, limiting the company's options and reducing the scope for a solution that addresses the interests of all stakeholders.

The updated Coltrane proposal would also contemplate identical treatment for the pension fund and equal terms for the New Bonding Arrangements as under the Company's proposal. The additional cash on the balance sheet could also facilitate further collateral for bonding providers, and as the Company's liquidity requires.

As a result, the Coltrane proposal offers a materially superior outcome to the Company and all its critical stakeholders – namely its customers, bonding and guarantee providers, the pension fund, and the Government and other customers. It will also put the Company in the position it would have been had the Company approached Coltrane for a solution first.

[this_time_its_different] 04/3/2019 21:00

I bought for the divi, then I realised the management are clueless and the divi is not going to be around for long. I never buy construction companies now, its a rule in investing you never break.

[killieboy] 04/3/2019 18:36

this_time_its_different….. How can you group Galliford, Kier and Interserve together - completely different beasts! I personally have made a few bob from both GFRD and KIER although IRV has let me down!!!! PS. Wonder what Coltrane have come up with this time...…?

[topvest] 04/3/2019 18:19

If you never invest in construction companies, why did you buy this?

[this_time_its_different] 04/3/2019 11:45

It's going back to 10p. Funny thing is, I sold out a long time ago at 325p because I thought the management was dodgy. I never invest in construction companies EVER. Galliford Try, Interserve, Kier Group.....they are all the same d-o-g-s-h-i-t.

[this_time_its_different] 04/3/2019 11:08

This is another Carillion, management have run the business to the ground.

[pal44] 04/3/2019 08:15

Waiting for 4p to buy some ...

[killieboy] 03/3/2019 15:36

topvest - its is "bust". I personally have written this one off - prospectus with application is in my recycling bin! :)

[topvest] 03/3/2019 11:00

Yes, really is unbelievable that they can recommend something that NOT ONE of the directors is prepared to invest £1 in! Remember 2018 was a financial year with results ahead of expectations from virtually the first trading day of the year.

They actually made a £111m loss, but an underlying operating profit of £93m if you add back anything that went wrong. To be fair they have probably worked very hard to save something here as it looked bust out of sight!

[gkhan] 03/3/2019 10:01

Why would the directors want to invest their hard earned cash, (bonuses) in a Private Company whose value is unknown with no sight of an exit date?