John Lewis Of Hungerford Share Discussion Threads

[cockneyrebel] 07/1/2008 13:02

Rosby, (ex MFI) has everyting in place now.

I always think it takes 18 months foir new management to deliver results after making all the necessary change - the next results will be the ones that show that imo.

Warm Welcome constantly increasing their holding, they haven't done bad so far :-)

CR

[greek islander] 07/1/2008 11:56

John Lewis OF Hunger Holding(s) in Company




RNS Number:1864L
John Lewis Of Hungerford PLC
07 January 2008


John Lewis of Hungerford plc (the "Company")

Significant shareholding

The Company received notification on 3 January 2008 that Warm Welcome Management
Limited is interested in a total of 16,375,000 ordinary shares in the Company,
which represents 11.01% of the issued share capital of the Company.

07 January 2008

Yes CR this does look like a takeover situation sometime in the next 12 months!!!

[cockneyrebel] 07/1/2008 10:46

Warm Welcome increase holding to 11% :-)

CR

[cockneyrebel] 06/1/2008 12:15

Need to gee your broker up if you're trying to buy in size Lord C. I've usually had a call when there has been someone hunting for stock - (which I think was you). Gee them up again and I'll let you know if I get the call again.

Agree about the Morale thing. I speak to a couple of stores and the enthusiasm I get from them these days are completely differrent. On of them was singing the praises of Rosby, the new accessories as well as the kitchens and worktops, something they have wanted to sell in the past but were only able to supply the painted kitchens and wooden worktops. How many sales did that stall for the co because buyers couldn't get the worktop they wanted or had to get an independent do the tops seperately after the kitchen was fitted?

Dropping the furniture is a great move too - I'm amazed they even had positive margins on this stuff, all the bespoke work that went into them. That's going to benefit margins this year a treat imo.

CR

[lord c.] 06/1/2008 10:58

Lord C.>>>CR

Lady C. doesn't let me visit adult only shops/centres.
However I am allowed to call into various JLH shops on a regular basis. Morale seems to have improved as much as the product range.
The two recent large transactions weren't offered to my broker. You could be right that Warm Welcome are still adding which would be a real vote of confidence. Anyway someone else out there is buying in volume. There cannot be much loose change left to shake out.......which is why I asked if you had been tapped up again.
LC

[cockneyrebel] 04/1/2008 20:49

One of the new stores will be Oxford Lord C.

Worth a visit to their store in Hungerford for a little chat - picked up some nice antiques while I was down there, it's an antiques Haven. Warners have a nice adult only centre that used to belong to Peter De Savory down there, fantasic old building - Warners entertainment is a bit weak tho - I'd go out for that.

The walnut Artisan Natural is very popular - doing a roring trade in worktops too now that they never used to sell.

Who's buying 400K and 250K then? Warm Welcome adding?

CR

[lord c.] 04/1/2008 20:17

LC>>>CR
I wouldn't dream of asking.............
I did like these results and think that we are at the start of something special.
Hope JLH have plenty of keyman cover!

[cockneyrebel] 04/1/2008 18:19

Thanks bigbigdave. Yep, I think the market is starting to understand. Good to hear that recent trading has been solid too, much as I had heard myself from covert enquiries. The beauty of these small caps too is that they don't suffer from the nonsense volatility of SETs trading that trigger nervous investors or entice excited traders. These have been solid as a rock and despite the current market I think these will break out soon - a clear buyer in the market imo.

Hi Lord C - nope, I haven't been 'tapped up' for stock recently but someone is obviously buying and getting it from somewhere, 400K bought yesterday, 250K today - not easy to get that volume. Only four months to the interims - that's when we'll start to see the tangible evidece of Rosby's changes imo - also why they copped good bonuses too.

Pity the FT doesn't mention Rosby being former MFI Marketing Director - that would have got the reader's attention.

And the answer is no if you still want to buy some off me :-)

Chart looks like it ticked up on the support line yesterday too.

CR

[cockneyrebel] 03/1/2008 11:44

Todays trades are buys - the usual MM nonsense means the price shown on screen isn't the price you can buy at.

H2 doesn't give a fair reflection imo as they have been dumping the furniture side of the business. For anyone unaware they do kitchens and bespoke furniture. Making these things as one-offs and stand alones has cost them margin. H1 last year never saw the new kitchen ranges and with the move to 3 sales a year rather than two this will feed through to even greater sales. Kitchen co's all work the same, mark up the produt to overprice then have sales where they makke big turnover.

At last the website is being developed - not before time. This will increase sales and feedback further - and margins if they can pick up sales direct from the site. Until now the website has just directed buyers to the nearest store.

Economies of scale are huge in this type of business. Lorries carrying one kitchen down to Exeter can carry two at the same costs - as one prime example. As far as kitchen co's go JLH are still very small but a scale up rapidly increases theier economies.

H1 this year will see similar sales providing even higher margins as they no longer have to be involved in the furniture and are more focussed on the higher margins. A rise in sales and margins in H1 will see these getting profits on the up even more imo. All this talk about large ticked discretionaries finding it hard but JLH are growing kitchen sales at a pretty stonking rate.

CR

[lord c.] 03/1/2008 09:43

These results are good - and equally as important JLH now have confidence in the future and so they should. Best thing John Lewis ever did was to appoint Jon Rosby as MD. At long last they have a clear strategy,a first class product range and professionals running the show.
2008 should be a good year for JLH whatever the housing market does.
On further reflection I can see more buying in a very thin market and consequently a further substantial uptick in price.
LC.

[greek islander] 03/1/2008 09:04

CR and dell two opposing views on the same set of results.
Personally I thought they were promising and satisfying. Remain a good long term bet.

[dell314] 03/1/2008 08:17

So the improvement was all in H1 and H2 PBT is static.

Looks overvalued on these results, unless they can turn in a major improvement on next H1...

All IMHO, DYOR etc.

Rgds
dell

[cockneyrebel] 03/1/2008 07:39

Well sales up 12% odd, Kitchen sales up 28% (which is where they are now focussed on) profits up over 300%.

New Kitchens were not on sale in H1 last year so H1 this year will benefit from those, the reduction in the waste of time furniture and greater store numbers.

Great cashflow yet again.

2008 the year JLH deliver the big improvements imo - new software in place to handle the greater sales and plenty of room at the warehose to expand.

CR

[cockneyrebel] 07/12/2007 18:08

No, results haven't been audited yet I'm informed.

Not sure when the results are out - they have been as early as Nov, late as Feb in the past.

I did get theier brochure today tho - two new kitchen styles in there which looks promising. I hear they are opening a new store in Oxford too.

CR

[bigbigdave] 07/12/2007 17:57

Hi CR.
Thought that 500k buy might have moved it yesterday.
Do we believe results may be next week?

bbd

[cockneyrebel] 06/12/2007 13:51

Your 500K buy ahead of the results today Lord C. ?

CR

[cockneyrebel] 28/11/2007 16:41

I see you got your 800K then Lord C.

I noticed 200K bought when the brokers phone me for a million a few weeks back - guess this 800K makes the million you wanted? Nice price too :-)

Ntice the mm's too 80K later on and never flinched - you still buying more?

CR

[cockneyrebel] 22/11/2007 10:38

Galiform upbeat about kitchen sales today after Smallbone recently Lord C.


CR

[cockneyrebel] 21/11/2007 18:25

GI - this doesn't need the daily share price up flick to keep its investors happy - up 200% in a year but frequently has long flat spots - probably because buyers can only get meaningful amounts when there's stock around, and that's rare.

I have a load of thse pensioned, they are in there for a two to three year period until Mr Lewis gets an offer for his 60% from someone and I retire to the Seychelles.

Share price is hardly up on the May interims that were excellent, sales at a record, H1 earnings a near record, cashflow rising strongly. New products hadn't even kicked in then either. Agree with Lord C. wholeheartedly.

CR

[lord c.] 21/11/2007 17:46

Lord C.>>>Greek Islander,

Methinks everyone is waiting for the results due in a couple of weeks.
I am hoping for very good news - we shall soon see just how good Jon Rosby is.
Shares could be exceptional value right now - that's if you can get any.

[greek islander] 21/11/2007 00:00

The lack of comment here reflects the lack of movement in the share price
Maybe, just maybe, tomorrow will be different?