John Lewis Of Hungerford Share Discussion Threads

[lord c.] 18/6/2015 14:34

JLH remind me of a Cornish cream tea - stale scones, rancid cream and the jam missing.

For years they have failed to deliver for shareholders and I see no evidence of a dividend in the near future.

They are overpriced.

[davidosh] 18/6/2015 10:16

Just to get the facts straight....

If you check into the John Lewis shareholding history you will see that he sells a small percentage of his shares every year. He is only paid a very small amount as a non exec at JLH and i suspect he needs to sell a few shares to supplement his income but frankly it is none of my business what he does with it. I also do my own DD when I am a buyer and directors are on the other side of any transaction it is reasonable to ascertain if they know something that you may not !

In this case I do not think you can read anything into it.

The election is over and the economy is lifting. John Lewis of H have hopefully got their new staff fully trained now and the newly opened stores are already doing very well from the last update. Maybe you are overlooking the grounds for optimism and focussing too much on a routine small share trade. If sales increase steadily the high margins will deliver nicely here.

[lord c.] 18/6/2015 09:57

Whatever is going on is sheer madness.
These shares are well overpriced - the John Lewis sell off proves this as he partially baled out obviously with the best price (0.85p) he could get.

[timmo] 17/6/2015 09:28

What's going on here ? Buyout ?
Can,t find any news to justify rise yesterday.
Anybody know anything.?

[adamb1978] 29/5/2015 13:00

Only had a handful of these but am now out at a loss; you dont have to make it back the same way you lost it after all.

I had another look at the numbers and I dont see that their £10m turnover, 5% margin target by the end of 2016 (ie so really 2017) is achievable so really its 2018 or 2019 at best....and by then we'll have another recession and this isnt the most recession proof business either in terms of sector or its reducing cash pile.

As mentioned above, in the short/medium term I dont see too much downside but cant see the share price getting moving - too small for many investors

[davidosh] 29/5/2015 11:46

An interesting video on the rebranding...

hxxp://www.zekecreative.com/Portfolio/John-Lewis-of-Hungerford

Hopefully this will be on the JLH website shortly as potential customers would want to see how the company views itself.

[davidosh] 09/5/2015 22:39

If any of you would like to attend a presentation on the company strategy from here then email me via mellomeeting.co.uk and I will give you the details. It is likely to be at their Chiswick store in about two weeks time.

[adamb1978] 08/5/2015 18:57

Results were more or less as I expected them to be given the previous announcements about losing a couple key sales people.

The bright spot is that the two new showrooms are producing materially already. The market cap is also now in-line with the book value of the freehold property so in theory there shouldnt be any downside from here.

I'm not sure what would generate upside though. In a perfect world, they'd do a sale and leaseback of the property and return the proceeds to shareholders - meaning that the operating business would come for free (or even less than that).

I dont expect management to do that though and just expect more muddling on....

[cockneyrebel] 08/5/2015 14:28

It just gets worse doesn't it Lord C.

If it was a horse it would have been shot years ago.

CR

[lord c.] 08/5/2015 14:00

Oh dear oh dear...............

[cockneyrebel] 20/4/2015 16:45

Hi Lord C - long time no speak :-)

This thing should never have been listed imo - Richard Worthington has a lot to answer for imo.

CR

[lord c.] 20/4/2015 12:50

These guys will be disproportionately hurt if Labour/ScotNats win on the 7th May which at the time of writing seems a strong possibility.
They will squeeze the JLH target audience bigtime.
There already seems to be a slowdown in big ticket sales/orders.
My new target = 0.5p offer price within months if Ed is next pm.

[davidosh] 02/2/2015 12:46

I suspect the BoD are full on with solving operational issues at present. We had an excellent presentation last year and I requested one again which is why they state that there will be one but at a later date.

It would have been better to set a date now and make it at the Fulham store again IMO.

[playful] 02/2/2015 12:14

Poor show in restricting shareholder questions. I hope David tells them in no uncertain terms to adopt a more shareholder friendly attitude.

[lord c.] 13/1/2015 16:26

Lord C. >>>>Davidosh

Methinks you owe Shelter a fiver - please pay up.

LC

[adamb1978] 23/12/2014 10:45

Hi David

Would have loved to join, however have my two toddlers with me today so probably wouldnt be too condusive to a call! Would love to hear the feedback afterwards though if you could post the 3 or 4 bullet highlights.

Main questions which I have are:
- trying to get any assurance that the departures of the couple staff is only temporary and any indication on when those stores will be back up to run-rate
- comments on further store openings
- plans for the balance sheet. They could easily pay a 3% yield which would attract more investors in

Adam

[davidosh] 23/12/2014 08:49

I will be arranging a call with the directors this morning to discuss the results now they are released. I can arrange for two or three of you to join me if you email me your details.

[adamb1978] 23/12/2014 08:48

So another year before the share price moves meaningfully again? Too much to hope for someone to take it out before then

[graham1ty] 23/12/2014 08:26

Adam, very mixed bag. However, the cash generation is very impressive. As a % of the Market cap it is remarkable. Disappointing top line, and unfortunate that business so dependent on a couple of people.....but follow the cash

[adamb1978] 23/12/2014 08:19

hmmmm, included in 'current trading':

However, as a relatively small business unexpected operating challenges can have a disproportionate impact on our short term financial performance with sales in Q2 adversely impacted by a number of staff changes in our showrooms. In particular, the unrelated resignations of two of our most experienced designers, both of whom have decided to pursue alternative careers away from kitchen design. The quality of our designers is critical to our business and it inevitability takes time to bring suitable replacements into the business and a lead time before they generate sales

They go on to say flat sales y-o-y despite the new store openings due to these staff losses

[adamb1978] 23/12/2014 08:14

Final results out. Depending on what you take as the market price for these illiquid shares, net cash now somewhere arond 30% of the market cap

[adamb1978] 29/11/2014 09:34

Agreed Pugugly

[pugugly] 28/11/2014 13:43

Interesting share transactions today - Looks potentailly as a rorganising of interests at about 1p per share - However probably too illiquid and closely controlled to be more than an interesting evolution and not an investing trigger (imo etc)

[graham1ty] 24/10/2014 14:59

Adam. I gather it is someone moving their holding into a SIPP, so not a trade at all. 1.65p reflects the level this should be

[adamb1978] 24/10/2014 13:03

so that must be John Lewis himself selling about a third of his 77m shares. Whoever the buyer is, it has to be good news - if its a strategic investor then that should drive the price up whereas if its institutions then we should have more interest in teh city and greater liquidity

(am talking to myself here....)