James Halstead Share Discussion Threads

[lundhousegreen] 14/2/2013 08:32

I have always considered this share as leaning towards being a defensive stock,
so I disagree that the share will "tank" if the rest of the market falls. IMO. DYOR.

[25babies] 12/2/2013 14:59

Having doubled my money in three years I have decided to sell at 298p for no other reasons than not to be too greedy and lock in my profits. Also just slightly concerned that the whole market will tank and drag JHD down with it.

[bda3490] 07/2/2013 05:11

As I said - original date was Good Friday.

Shares are overvalued at moment.

[gripfit] 01/2/2013 13:54

yep your right trigger , i must have read it wrong by a month.

[trigger blade] 01/2/2013 12:21

Ha ha! That's the feeblest de-ramp attempt I've ever seen on a message board! They've brought the date forward by one day because the market isn't open on 29th March, Good Friday. It's what's known as a mistake.

You may be right that the habitual increase in turnover/profit will be difficult to sustain, I'm amazed they've kept it going as long as they have, but I doubt anything will be affected much by changing the results announcement by 24 hours.

[gripfit] 01/2/2013 11:48

and moving results date now aswell,,,,,,,i dont like that either.it's a good company , and has done well, but that means its share price can afford a good pull back.

[bda3490] 01/2/2013 10:31

I cant see them announcing on 29 March
Its Good Friday !!!
I think Gripfit has a point about trouble it 3s
1. At AGM is tough
2. Yesterday 7-8% down
3. Interims will obviously be OK but there was no mention of NOW

I think JHD will struggle to beat the full year but heck they are nearly 50% ahaed of 2008 in terms of profit - who else is. And the share price was 137p then (2 spilts) vs 289 - 200% up and with good div.

[lundhousegreen] 31/1/2013 15:20

JHD flat'ish on the day, at 3-20pm. (298 / 305p). Investors now read the announcement thoroughly and properly?

[redips2] 31/1/2013 13:03

Well well, this now on my watch list---maybe just a small hiccup with this well run co.

[gripfit] 31/1/2013 12:27

yep nehpets... it will get battered.wise money would look for the next train stop imho.

[nehpets81] 31/1/2013 12:03

I think that statement has probably shaken off a lot of the people riding the crest of this wave. It sounds like the time of record profits every update and easy money are over for JHD but this is still a solidly profitable company with no debt, a big pile of cash and an enviable market position and rep. The share price is back down to close to what I would consider a sensible level. It will be interesting to see what happens if that "modest increase in profits" doesn't materialise at the half year results.

[trigger blade] 31/1/2013 10:56

The special divi needs board approval, which is surely a given, especially after today's negatively received statement. The Halstead family control over 40% of the shares and they might like a bit of extra spending money, just like any other shareholder, so it's hard to imagine they'd have made the announcement and then vote against it. Cash reserves are up according to today, so even more reason to do it. I have no idea what it might be, December speculation (uninformed in my case) on here was 5p, after bonus issue.

[25babies] 31/1/2013 10:12

Has the special dividend been 'guaranteed'? At what level is it expected? Surely it is anyway discounted in the share price and the share price will fall accordingly ex div?

I agree about the pre-announcement slide. I had been trying to find out why mid January 6/7% drop whilst the market was going north. None of the brokers I know had a clue - though they felt the usual no smoke without fire.

[gripfit] 31/1/2013 09:07

warnings come in 3's............ i think that is the second 'break the ice gently' , the 3rd one may do the damage. hope not.Funny how the price crept down over the past few days, insiders allways seem to know first . imho.

[lundhousegreen] 31/1/2013 08:52

The markets only pick out " sales down 7 to 8%", but probably this should have read the other way round, i.e., sales down 3.5 to 4% but if you include the cessation of Phoenix , a one off cost, and forex swings, then it is nearer 7 to 8%.
Profits still expected to increase (at a decreased rate of knots than before, but the amount of record profits, etc., had been quite incredible) and there's the carrot of a tasty special dividend in a couple of months.
Probably worth topping up before some of the brokers/ instituions do so IMHO.

[wad collector] 31/1/2013 08:32

The Market isn't impressed this morning - currently down 12%. Time to add?

[lundhousegreen] 31/1/2013 08:06

Cash reserves up, hopefully still a special dividend to come in
the new tax year.

[lundhousegreen] 31/1/2013 08:04

James Halstead plc

Pre-close Trading Statement

James Halstead plc, the international commercial flooring manufacturer and distributor, is providing the following trading update prior to entering the close period ahead of its interim results for the six months to 31 December 2012.

James Halstead will announce these results on 29 March 2013.

As noted in the overview given by the Chairman, Mr Geoffrey Halstead, at the AGM held on 7 December 2012, in the UK the general economic climate continues to be challenging and in some key overseas markets we are trading below last year.

Our UK turnover is ahead of last year but export turnover has been impacted by lower sales in Australia and the Middle East. In total, sales are around 7-8% below the comparative prior year period, although more than half of this is the result of foreign exchange translation and the cessation of the motorcycle accessories business (Phoenix).

Cash reserves have increased since 30 June 2012 with further improvements in stock reduction.

Commenting Mark Halstead, Chief Executive, said:

"As noted previously, market conditions remain difficult, indeed we have less visibility of pending and deferred contracts than in previous years. Although we face challenges in some of our overseas markets I am pleased that the UK market continues to perform well. I am confident our market share is being maintained and remain confident that we are on track to report a modest increase in profits at the interim stage".

-ends-

[lundhousegreen] 30/1/2013 07:50

Pre-close trading statement usually end of January, so maybe tomorrow?

[wad collector] 11/1/2013 10:07

Crept up a bit since the split - currently 672/686 in old money , which I think is a new high.

[dashton42] 10/1/2013 14:57

Thanks for the link - I may need to go back to Share Market School now and do a bit of brushing up!

[trigger blade] 10/1/2013 14:07

This article explains things much better than I could and I did confuse things a bit between a share split and bonus issue in my previous post, apologies.

[dashton42] 10/1/2013 13:45

Thanks for that Trigger Blade. I'm still not sure I see the immediate advantage (for the shareholder) of a bonus issue of shares, as opposed to a routine share split. There doesn't seem to be much of a bonus involved if at 8am tomorrow, my holding's worth the same (or less!) than it was at the close of play tonight

Still, if my enlarged holding returns to around £6.50 per share in the future, I'll not be complaining!

[trigger blade] 10/1/2013 12:44

I think the answer is it doesn't make any difference to you or any shareholder, you will have twice as many shares worth half the price today, but the total value of your shareholding remains the same.

The reason for the issue is to improve the "marketability" of the shares, a high value share is reckoned to put off potential buyers.

The theory is that the price then starts to drift up towards the pre-bonus/split price and that is certainly what happened last time Halstead's did a share split, From memory, it was at £4, split to £2 and ended up where we are today at £6.50, although cracking results every year helped somewhat :-)

[dashton42] 10/1/2013 11:12

Er, so if the share price halves tomorrow, what's the point of issuing the bonus shares?

I can't really get my head around how this bonus issue benefits me (or not). Elucidate please, anyone.