Johnston Press Share Discussion Threads

[mitch74] 23/4/2018 17:55

Some interesting comment from Evil Knievil:

Johnston Press (JPR) used to have a big private investor following. Nowadays, at 9.5p, it is capitalised at a trivial £10 million. But that conceals a huge £220 million debt problem which must be settled next year on or before 1st June 2019. Can they do it?

I for one do not know the answer to this question but I am beginning to think that there is a fair chance that they can. My basic reason is that JPR is making money and that therefore bondholders may be prepared to switch to equity to get back what they can.

The likely alternative is liquidation which means the loss of perhaps £500 million of tax losses and liquidation expenses* of the order of £10 million (my guess). These two factors alone surely justify going for the debt-for-equity swap even if it sticks in the craw for bondholders in effect rescuing ordinary shareholders. I leave aside holders of preference shares where intriguingly the board has stated its intention to pay arrears of preference dividend even though there is no legal obligation to do so – presumably because not paying the preference dividend might affect other covenants and agreements.

On Tuesday the results for calendar 2017 emerged. Central to its hopes is the online version of the Independent, known as the “i” – the hard copy of the Independent has fallen away.

The CEO, one Ashley Highfield, freely acknowledges the problems and has to keep all parties – advertisers, readers, and, above all, debt holders – happy.
The “i” is a high-quality product – just try it (inews.co.uk). And stay ahead of its advertising figures. I think bondholders might be pleasantly surprised in relation to where they are now.

It would be nice if one were able to see a trail of bargain prices actually recorded for both the bonds and the preference shares. I’ll contact the company and ask.

* Incidentally, there are ways of retaining the tax losses through hivedown. But the benefiting vehicle would have no quote. So that option does not appeal. Over to Rothschild and Ashurst (for a fee of course).


hxxps://masterinvestor.co.uk/evil-diaries/press-on-regardless/?utm_source=Daily+Bulletin&utm_campaign=35f970fcee-Daily_Bulletin_20180423&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_25eff0bb7f-35f970fcee-48553457

[mattab] 24/3/2018 11:10

One issue is apart from the many here is that they are paying millions for advice and execution on how to restructure the debt and then there is Custos who is confident that debt can be restructured on much more favourable terms. What is to stop the JPR board simply from entering punitive terms with the poison pill clause yet again to the detriment of Shareholders? Massive debt for enquity swap wiping out Shareholders? I do not hold fortunately got out with a decent return, however at this level the market is not expecting much if anything. I doubt very much if Custos knew of the clause that he would have took a stake in JPR, he and his advisors obviously didn’t but he is in it now. AH and cohorts are continuing to milk very last drop safe in the clause which is a real total disgrace. How this will play out - market assumes more dire consequences for shareholder value. But can Custos sort this? He seems to be waiting for abject failure of the Board as news then perhaps strike? Can he subvert other debt restructuring - assume shareholders should be able to

[wadget] 24/3/2018 10:39

Custos holding fire till the AGM in May it seems..

[thevaluehunter] 23/3/2018 14:26

Looks like management are going to leave the debt talks until last minute to grab as much salary as possible. They should be selling titles, raising cash and buying the bonds back. They are in no way aligned with shareholders and last year attempted to get their incentives paid in cash rather than shares.

[jazzyjeffnett] 14/3/2018 22:00

notice of full year results last year was 9 march? we are a bit late this year, debt talks could be holding things up? a few positives going into these talks, digi growth, interest rate to rise which could lead to a surplus in the pension fund, targeting large city's seems to be working so all may not be lost as the share price may suggest, who sells 2 shares? very strange. jj

[thevaluehunter] 02/2/2018 20:15

Scotsman headline is audience numbers on the rise but Highsalary forgets to mention the complete shareholder value destruction.

[saltaire111] 01/2/2018 17:37

They’re running out of rope.

[thevaluehunter] 01/2/2018 07:13

Cash balance down by £2.8m since June l.
Management need to be given boot and excessive salaries clawed back.

[rabbrooks] 16/1/2018 15:27

THe Viking may now be realising in many respects that the Salmond connection is the kiss of death

[mitch74] 16/1/2018 14:29

Yes: absolutely right. There is no end of things that they should be doing. Assume that they are locked in negotiations with advisers and bondholders in order to refinance the debt. But where is the Viking? He has been very quiet over the last month or so: no assault in the press and no further request for a meeting to oust the Chair(wo)man and appoint his own nominees. Given he is the leading shareholder I can't imagine that he's gone away and we can only speculate as to what he is up to. Really odd shareprice movements on no news. This is going to come to a head over the course of the next few months and it will be a wild ride!

[thevaluehunter] 16/1/2018 14:04

They should be selling titles and using their cash pile to buy back debt at a discount.

[thevaluehunter] 16/1/2018 14:04

They should be selling titles and using their cash pile to buy back debt at a discount.

[samdb] 11/1/2018 19:59

It seems perverse that shareholders can't replace a board that is failing.If this activist is still interested the best thing he could do is to buy up any finance and call it in.

[thevaluehunter] 11/1/2018 19:53

A new low today can’t understand why they don’t ditch the expensive management.

[lord c.] 20/12/2017 09:12

I ask again, who in their right mind is going to loan £220m to JPR?

[thevaluehunter] 15/12/2017 16:24

As for the i ebitda I hope he's not charging costs for content to the local newspapers as a way of inflating the profit.

[thevaluehunter] 15/12/2017 16:24

As for the i ebitda I hope he's not charging costs for content to the local newspapers as a way of inflating the profit.

[albert zog] 14/12/2017 08:51

Cashley has taken out 550k on average in last two years. That’s 5pc of the JP market cap !Not aware of a single share purchase.

[thevaluehunter] 11/12/2017 22:05

I fear the worst AH has a track record of shareholder value destruction. I cannot believe he’s on +£500k for being a complete failure.

[samdb] 11/12/2017 20:54

I've started slowly buying back in as I can see this coming to a resolution early next year.Any kind of refinancing should see a break upwards in the JPR share price.

[dazzaa] 11/12/2017 20:02

Interesting Article but only in that it revives the real narrative that was being lost again.We have to remember that Highfield really has no answers he is no original thinker not an entrepreneur he clearly has no ideaAbout shareholder value a Director a CEO who sees the value of his company fall to a penny share and accepts as if its quite normal no mea culpas here or any shade of.

[mitch74] 11/12/2017 12:37

Cashley having a whinge in today's Times: yawn. That said D-day seems to be getting closer and if what he says is to be believed then it appears as though they have been getting on with the re-finance. Over to you Mr Viking...

Johnston Press boss hits back at ‘unhelpfulR17; attacks

The boardroom battle at Johnston Press has left the newspaper publisher struggling to recruit new journalists and to reassure readers, advertisers and staff over its future, its chief executive has claimed.

Ashley Highfield said that a campaign by Custos Group, the “disruptive investor” that holds a 20 per cent stake in the company, to sack the management and install Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, as chairman had been “really unhelpful”.

The media group behind newspapers such as the i, The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post saw off an attempted coup by Custos and Christen Ager-Hanssen, the Norwegian millionaire at the helm of the investment group, last month, but that is unlikely to be the end of the matter. Custos has said that it will try again imminently.

In the meantime, both sides are embroiled in a war of words. Mr Ager-Hanssen has repeatedly attacked the Johnson Press leadership, accusing Mr Highfield and his colleagues of “doing no more than rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

Mr Highfield, in turn, said that Mr Salmond was “potentially a highly divisive character”, having led the 2014 Scottish independence campaign, and questioned calls for Steve Auckland, the former boss of Evgeny Lebedev’s ESI Media stable, to replace him as chief executive at Johnston Press. He argued that the i had been “somewhat unloved” under Mr Auckland and Mr Lebedev, its former Russian owner, before it was bought by Johnston Press for £24 million.

“I’m thick-skinned enough that I take this as part of the job,” Mr Highfield, 52, said of the turmoil, “but I don’t like it when I start to see it impacting the business, either causing staff uncertainty, or difficulty in hiring, or advertisers and readers telling us they’re going to stop taking the papers.”

Mr Ager-Hanssen disputed that claim last night, alleging that “so many people at Johnston Press believe Ashley’s management is terrible”. Mr Auckland insisted that it was “certainly not the case” that the i had been neglected on his watch.

At the centre of the dispute is a company boasting more than 200 local and regional newspaper titles that is battling declining print audiences and debts that have dragged its market value from £1.5 billion to below £14 million in 13 years.

Mr Highfield predicted that Johnston Press would renegotiate a crucial £220 million debt with lenders within months. However, asked whether, should talks break down, the company would be able to pay off the bond by the June 2019 deadline, he replied: “No, we’re not.” Should it fail to pay on time, Johnston Press will fall into the hands of its lenders. Mr Highfield said that there was a “more than realistic chance” that a refinancing of the debt would be thrashed out “in a matter of months, rather than years”. Any agreement will need to satisfy the bondholders, pension trustees and investors — including Mr Ager-Hanssen.

“It’s probably not surprising that there’s a lot of noise right now, because we’re at five minutes to midnight on getting a deal,” Mr Highfield said, “and that’s probably the point at which people see whether there’s an angle.”