Lancashire Share Discussion Threads

[jrphoenixw2] 04/3/2016 15:47

Neil Woodford (perhaps I should say 'The' Neil Woodford) of behalf of clients of Woodford Investment Management +320k yesterday or 1.47% to = total now 11% direct holding.

Enough smart money going in yet to establish some kind of floor?

[speedsgh] 04/3/2016 13:38

EC - Each to their of course to interpret what, if any, signal it sends.

[effortless cool] 04/3/2016 13:23

It signals to me that they are over-remunerated.

[speedsgh] 04/3/2016 13:12

So since Final Results (18 Feb) + news of departures at Cathedral (25/29 Feb) was released, we have so far had the following purchases by PDMRs:

Alex Maloney (CEO) bought 44,553 @ total cost £249,497
Peter Clarke (NED) bought 14,000 @ total cost £77,241
Elaine Whelan (CFO) bought 29,500 @ total cost £165,569
Kilian Whelan (spouse of CFO) bought 8,990 @ total cost £49,912

That's a total of £542,219. Looks like management are backing with their own hard earned cash their ability to successfully steer LRE through the low point in the underwriting cycle. That's sending a fairly strong signal imo.

[jrphoenixw2] 03/3/2016 18:23

Elaine Whela [spouse of]
+8,990 at £5.551931 per share
Date: 3 March 2016
Holding now +11,590 Common shares (0.0058% )

Another £50k worth...

[jrphoenixw2] 03/3/2016 17:02

Elaine Whelan ED/CFO +29,500 today at GBP5.6125 per share, holding now 316,669.

Combined with the other buys this week might this be considered a vote of self-confidence from the board?

[cwa1] 03/3/2016 10:58

Numis have upgraded from ADD to BUY but dropped their price target from 705p to 675P.

[jrphoenixw2] 02/3/2016 07:10

Peter Clarke (Non-ED) +14k @5.5172 1/3/16, (new total 14k)

[cwa1] 01/3/2016 16:41

Indeed. If it had been 2 or 3 thousand shares I would certainly have suspected an attempt to "puff" the share price but £250K is not small change even to a person of his, no doubt, wealth. Time will tell.....

[battyliveson] 01/3/2016 16:24

As you say spending £250,000 of your own money is a good show of faith. I have made a small investment. Strong US$ should help as well.

B

[speedsgh] 01/3/2016 16:04

CEO's purchase can be read as either positive (sees current price as an opportunity) or negative (trying to stem news-based falls) depending on your perspective, I suppose. Impossible to tell but a purchase worth £250k by the CEO is not an inconsiderable amount. Aimho.

Director/PDMR Shareholding -

[jrphoenixw2] 01/3/2016 15:41

Just seen the RNS alert that the CEO (Maloney) has today bought circa 44,553 at 560p. To take his total posn to 427k.

One bird doesn't make a summer, but...

[effortless cool] 01/3/2016 13:27

Top underwriters move all the time in London and businesses don't disintegrate because if it. Good underwriters tend to have good deputies ready to grasp the opportunity and a 12-month notice period during which their former employer can work towards ensuring retention of their business.

Where Cathedral will become truly unstuck if is the departees take their teams with them. Hopefully, Lancashire have made sure that they lock the deputies in.

[speedsgh] 01/3/2016 13:12

Some interesting tweets in past 24hrs from Adam McNestrie (editor of The Insurance Insider) -

Adam McNestrie ‏@adammcnestrie 3h 3 hours ago
John Hamblin formerly of Cathedral doesn't have a new job to go to yet: sources.

Adam McNestrie ‏@adammcnestrie 4h 4 hours ago
Lancashire smashed this morning £100mn off the share price. Backs against the wall. I've asked for an interview - let's see what comes back.

Adam McNestrie ‏@adammcnestrie 20h 20 hours ago
Mark Wilson and Simon King have resigned from Cathedral. Whole business disintegrating. Disaster for Lancashire. That's the top 5 guys.

EDIT - Also this tweet from mid-Feb now seems astute in light of recent events (assuming last earnout payment has now occurred)...

Adam McNestrie ‏@adammcnestrie Feb 18
Lancashire not replacing Cathedral CEO Peter Scales. Real question is what happens day of the last earnout payment - either Feb or March...

[effortless cool] 01/3/2016 12:46

It's simple enough, I think - a long-standing culture clash and lock-in periods ending.

[ursus] 01/3/2016 12:24

Coolie - why such a raft of Cathedral departures? Have you an insider's insight?

[effortless cool] 01/3/2016 11:43

Indeed I should not have done.

Regarding damage, it's hard to say. Losing good people will certainly damage the Cathedral franchise, but won't harm its intrinsic value as a Lloyd's managing agency. The departees will probably be on twelve months' notice and Cathedral will have a good shot at retaining their business on renewal.

At the end of the day, we're probably looking at short-term pain but no material long-term damage.

[joan of arc] 01/3/2016 10:00

Well EC it looks like you should not have closed your December short. Do you know any more regarding potential damage?

[garycook] 01/3/2016 09:38

Topped up. Bargain at these levels.

[bulltradept] 01/3/2016 09:03

Having a look at digital look there is only one broker which has this as a strong buy.

[effortless cool] 29/2/2016 21:13

They are losing very good people.

[joan of arc] 29/2/2016 18:56

So are they losing a good team or a bad one?

[speedsgh] 29/2/2016 17:14

More upheaval at Catherdral, it would appear...

Changes at Cathedral -

Lancashire Holdings Limited (Lancashire) has today announced changes to the Cathedral underwriting teams further to the management appointments announced last week of Alex Maloney, to the role of Chief Executive of Cathedral Capital Limited, and Richard Williams as the Cathedral Active Underwriter and as a director of Cathedral Underwriting Limited (CUL).

Underwriters Simon King, Mark Wilson and Nicholas Destro have tendered notice to resign, which have been accepted.

Alex Maloney said:
"We thank Simon, Mark and Nick for their contribution to the success of Cathedral. They have now decided to move on and we will work with them during their notice periods over the coming year to ensure continuity in our client service."

[speedsgh] 26/2/2016 14:07

jrp - I've no doubt it will show up here in due course...

[jrphoenixw2] 26/2/2016 13:15

Does anyone have the FX rate for the latest div? Today is the R/D, and the rate was to be fixed at Noon. I make it around 1.396 [on US$0.10], but that's an estimate. I'd be grateful if/when anyone has the actual they'd post it up here.