Leeds Share Discussion Threads

[playful] 25/10/2012 17:42

I attended the AGM today and was joined by three fellow shareholders, two of them seemed to be very longstanding and holding a substantial shareholding in the company. They were somewhat disgruntled with the stewardship of our company over the years and voiced their feelings from a pre-prepared statement. Jan remained calm and answered their questions and explained the DWSN situation in great detail. It seems the rug was pulled from under the company when they attempted to negotiate a settlement to the pension deficit.

The question on winding the company up and selling the assets was raised but it seems they are bidding for the American assets of DWSN after failing to secure good quality UK assets. We touched on the Yeadon land and I suggested they look into opening it up to public use (kids playground) as they may be eligible for a company tax break, Kathryn said she would look into this.

On a positive note they said Hemmers are doing exceptionally well, but unfortunately they have lost their Italian designer due to ill health. Jan also mentioned Kate Middleton had been seen sporting an outfit made from our fabrics!

We all pushed for a dividend and the chap next to me produced a docket from the last dividend payment which he has kept for over 10 years!

It was suggested the large shareholders are unwilling to listen to minority shareholders and their non-attendance demonstrated this, but I disagreed and said I felt certain they would welcome shareholder feedback.

It was a pleasant yet at times a lively meeting. I was impressed with both Jan and Kathryn but do wonder if they should recruit additional resources to move us along at a much faster pace.

Kathryn said next year its back to the BDO offices in Leeds as the AGM attendance was improving, so I hope to see you next year Des.

[deswalker] 25/10/2012 14:28

I didn't make it to the AGM but I'm pretty sure playful was there so we'll see what he has to say.

Quite a good AGM statement once one looks beyond the DWSN write-off which is obviously old news ...



Also in the annual report for the year ended 31 May 2012, I described the successful financial performances of our textile trading businesses in Germany and China. I am pleased to be able to report that this strong performance has continued into the first four months of the current financial year. After two years in which sales volumes have declined somewhat, it is pleasing that we have achieved modest year on year volume growth in the current financial year, with trading profits a little above our expectations."

[playful] 24/10/2012 15:44

Yes, I will attend the AGM tomorrow all being well. My guess is the office is going to be in the Drake Extrusion building which was part of Chapelthorpe, so we should be getting a good rate on the office space.

If anyone has any questions for them please post on here.

[solarno lopez] 24/10/2012 13:06

Jan is a pleasant chap

[deswalker] 24/10/2012 11:37

Hi guys,

Just spoken to Malcolm Wilson (Comp Sec) about the AGM. Neither JC nor PG will be there (indeed PG is no longer a Director as previously RNS'd). But MW, Kathryn Davenport and Jan Holmstrom (PG's man on the Board) will all be there.

MW said JH had attended the last three or more Board meetings at Hemmers so between them they will be in a position to answer questions about all the various issues. But I guess this will be more about the current operational situation rather than any longer term strategy which will obviously be determined by JC and PG.

The reason for the tiny share transfers was that they haven't had a single shareholder at the last two AGMs and hence they didn't have a quorum present. To avoid this happening again they did the tiny transfer.

This lack of shareholder attendance also explains why they moved the location away from BDO as it was decided there was no point in having such a big room and costs.

playful, in the light of the above are you still thinking about attending ? I'm still unsure.

Des

[playful] 23/10/2012 23:16

I will try and get there as it is only up the road so will happily report back.

Hopefully I'll get to chat with PG but as Des says I don't think he'll attend as this is really in the back of beyond.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 23/10/2012 21:59

Well if you do go Des let us know how you get on. And tell them to start paying a dividend.

[deswalker] 23/10/2012 20:17

Thanks for alerting me to this Arthur. I'd completely missed that it is on 25/10.

I've only been back in these for a couple of months on the Aug dip so haven't been to the last couple of AGMs after attending the previous two.

I could make it quite easily as it's only a 40 min drive but I wonder whether it would be worth it. The location has moved away from the BDO offices in Leeds to some parochial setting and so it feels like neither JC nor PG will be in attendance (the latter doesn't fly I believe so his trips from Sweden are rare).

I suspect that the reason for the small share transfers recently announced will be for AGM legal reasons which lends more weight to me thinking that nobody of any influence will be there.

Is anyone else on here going ?

Des

[arthur_lame_stocks] 23/10/2012 18:19

anyone going to the AGM?

[bracke] 16/10/2012 16:49

CR

LOL. An expensive way to repay the loan.

[cockneyrebel] 16/10/2012 16:35

looks like she was owed 50p and had it in shares :-)

CR

[bracke] 16/10/2012 16:32

There has to be a reason for the share transfer other than moving 3 shares between directors other than what we are seeing.

[callumross] 16/10/2012 16:10

LOL - this underlines the total incompetence of the company. The transfer of 3 shares between directors must have cost the company a fortune in RNS announcement costs. Could they not just have left them alone when the value was less than £1. Crazy!

"Leeds Group announces that Mr Malcolm Wilson (Company Secretary) and Ms Kathryn Davenport, the Company's Chairman have each acquired 3 ordinary shares in the Company for nil consideration. The shares were gifted by Mrs Wilson who remains interested in 4 Ordinary Shares in the Company.
The date of dealing was 16 October 2012. Following the transactions, Mr Wilson and Ms Davenport are each interested in 3 ordinary shares in the Company, representing less than 0.001% per cent of the Company's issued share capital."

[playful] 16/10/2012 16:07

I don't know about anyone else but todays RNS made me chuckle

[arthur_lame_stocks] 11/10/2012 18:45

Anyone think LDSG will buy Dawsons off the administrator?

[oooff] 18/9/2012 15:40

They will probably rocket.
I sold some at 17p two weeks ago, that I had held since around 2007.

[deswalker] 18/9/2012 13:59

Interesting rise today. Fingers crossed there's something behind it.

[cg1953] 22/8/2012 14:27

Callumross.
NO....see my post of July 23rd.
They have no experience in running a textile biz such as DWSN !!
In fact I fail to see what they can do, other than destroy remaining shareholder value !!
Am now praying that someone will bid for LDSG just to takeover the Hemmers operation and so put this old dog out of its misery.
.35 pence ........................here hoping !!!!

[callumross] 21/8/2012 18:16

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether LDSG might consider buying DWSN from the administrators, unencumbered by the pension deficit? If so, could transform the company.

[jonak] 09/8/2012 12:59

today on the dawson dilemma, on the bbc

[kazoom] 23/7/2012 19:14

I must confess I hadn't paid much attention to Dawsons (a mistake obviously!!).

But having now had a look I am totally baffled.

On an IAS19 basis the pension deficit at October 11 was a manageable £12.9m (Assets 115.5 Liabilities 128.4) but according to the interims the triennial actuarial valuation reveals a deficit in excess of £50m.

Now I know that there are differences in assumptions that give rise to different numbers, but that's on hell of a discrepancy (c. 30% difference on either the gross assets or liabilities).

Does anyone have any detail on what the differences in assumptions are that drive this huge gap?

Dawson's statement appears to infer that they do not believe the actuarial valuation to be reasonable (they also talk about differences between the s.75 (buyout basis) and the
s.179 (PPF liability basis) which to be honest means nothing to me).

I wonder whether this really is the end of the negotiation and story or whether this is a dangerous game of brinksmanship being played off between tPR, PPF & Dawsons.

Any thoughts anyone?

[cg1953] 23/7/2012 18:05

Another brilliant punt by our Swedish masters.......NOT.

I was unaware that LDSG was interested in any of Dawsons trading operations.
They are in a totally unrelated [textile] field to that of DWSN.
Nor would they be given preferential treatment bidding for any assets in the event of a now likely administration at DWSN.
All in all it looks like our investment will be a total loss.

[solarno lopez] 20/7/2012 13:04

Leeds will probably pick up the sections they want from an Administrator