Lees Foods Share Discussion Threads

[davidosh] 16/5/2012 13:34

rubstic....Just out of interest do you follow Grand National winners ! Maybe you are an investor to get some good form and tips from as Rubstic was the first ever Scottish trained horse to win the Grand National and was at 25/1. I think it was a former British Lions and Scottish rugby player that owned Rubstic. Any connection and are you up near Lees by any chance ?

[isis] 16/5/2012 13:01

I have seen some of these before whereby the MBO team then goes onto to sell the Company to a Third Party sometime later.

There isn't probably much you can do legally but it is highly suspect morally.

[davidosh] 16/5/2012 09:53

I have made 19 calls as a shareholder to three directors from the first day the bid was announced and I have been given various reasons for their inability to take a call. I have left a message and number each time. I have never received a return call. The directors appear to have total disregard for shareholders and are intent on carrying out their plans with as little challenge as they can. This is still a public company but Shore Capital are assisting this public mugging IMHO.

[cwa1] 16/5/2012 09:50

Absolutely incredible. Ban a journalist from the event to limit publicity????

Have these people COMPLETELY lost touch with reality?

[isis] 16/5/2012 09:27

These Directors are certainly not Cuddly Bears are they?

I do not like to see this kind of behavior tbh.

[jamesf21] 16/5/2012 09:25

Lees director bans The Herald from meeting:

[davidosh] 15/5/2012 20:46

I see the BBC Scotland news are covering the case...

[cwa1] 15/5/2012 12:16

Adjournment of Court Meeting and General Meeting

Further to the announcement by the Company on 1 May 2012, which set out the intention to seek an adjournment of the Court Meeting and the General Meeting, the Company confirms that these Meetings have today been adjourned until 10.00 a.m and 10.15 a.m. respectively on 22 May 2012 at the same venue, being the offices of Burness LLP, 50 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9WJ (the "Adjourned Meetings").

Notwithstanding these adjournments, the Company still expects that, subject to the requisite approvals being obtained at the Adjourned Meetings and the sanction of the Court, the Scheme will be implemented on 12 June 2012.

[isis] 12/5/2012 13:56

I suppose the best you can do is bring attention to the situation as you are doing but it looks like they have the bulk of the votes via subsidiary holdings.
This would be a very bad precedent for AIM, Shareholders and Investors alike should they go ahead with this.
It is clearly undervalued.

[davidosh] 11/5/2012 18:09

isis...Anything you can do to help the cause is much appreciated. This is not just about Lees and the cash grab as you put it...but also the ability that BoDs have to do this via SoAs if investors are asleep or not organised enough to block them.

The directors clearly stated that the AIM listing valuation was very poor and did not provide a fair value for the company then had the nerve and brass cheek to offer 2.7% more minus the normal and expected dividend so actually a discount to the market price !!

[isis] 11/5/2012 17:52

This is clearly a Cash grab. imo

Will send out a bad message if they succeed.

[cwa1] 10/5/2012 14:24

LOL rubstic. Nice try!

I simply looked at the: Property, plant and equipment line in the balance sheet this morning and wondered what it was made up of. I made the hopeful assumption that there might be some property in there and was idly wondering if there was anything undervalued lurking. So the only thing that would have come out of my musings would have been an even BIGGER undervaluation of the company IF there were some "cheap" assets in there that I wasn't aware of. So, no, I STILL think it is a steal.

It seems fairly incredible to me that you think that my valuation is so high. I would be interested to hear just how you justify the valuation of the company with over £2 million in cash(that's 82p per share in cash!!)and earnings of 32p per share at 230p per share/ £5.6m for the company?

[rubstic] 10/5/2012 14:08

CWA1- no wonder your valuation of Lees is so high if you have factored in land and buildings into their assets. Unless something has changed very recently and I have missed it, the factories are clearly both rented with a total operating lease commitment of over £7m in the December 10 accounts. Maybe this isn't the steal that you thought it was?!

[cwa1] 10/5/2012 10:36

As a matter of interest does anyone here know when the land and buildings were last revalued by Lees? Would be interesting to know just what they are worth relative to what is being shown in the accounts.

[stilton] 10/5/2012 10:19

To add to your warning CWA, I just checked my broker's online voting system and the deadline for voting was yesterday. Presumably to give them time to assimilate votes and transfer votes to the requisite authrority, though 4 days ahead of the original stated due date seems a little slow for what must be a computer process. I had already voted.
Worth checking your broker's deadlines if not yet voted. Also, I will be checking again before the new deadline in case the system changes.

[cwa1] 10/5/2012 09:50

Purely as a word of warning, I asked Selftrade if my previously cast vote against the motions for the 15/5/12 meeting would be carried forward to the adjourned meeting on 22/5/12. I was given assurance by Shore Capital that this WOULD be what would happen. Conversely Selftrade(admittedly probably just a jobsworth that hasn't a clue) has categorically stated that this would not happen and any vote for the previous date would not automatically be re entered for the new, adjourned, date and that a new instruction was required with full details of time, place, etc, etc, which is a PITA frankly.

[cwa1] 09/5/2012 07:49

Some Lees press from this morning....

The Herald



LEES Foods, is sitting on a £2 million cash pile after annual profits rose 4.4% to just shy of £1m, according to results published days before investors vote on an attempted management buyout of the Lanarkshire macaroon maker.

The news of the cash load, which doubled in the course of last year, will heighten controversy over the £5.6m takeover bid which some investors claim is too low.

The results, which the company agreed to publish after investor pressure, show sales of its products, which include snowballs and teacakes, rose 8.9% to £20.3m in the year to December 31

and The Scotsman who have an interesting take on a referal to the Takeover Panel by some David Stredder fellow of The Share Society :-)....



Shareholders campaigning against the proposed management buy-out of Lees Foods have referred the company to the Takeover Panel over fees offered to the broker recommending the £5.6 million deal.


ShareSoc argues that Shore Capital – which made the recommendation because all the confectionery firm's non-executive directors are involved in the offer – stands to be paid higher fees if the 230p-a-share deal is accepted. They say that means it is not independent, although it is understood the situation is not unusual.

The Takeover Panel said it does not comment on specific cases.

Many individual shareholders say the offer undervalues Coatbridge-based Lees and are demanding a price above 300p.

David Stredder, a Lees shareholder who is also a director of ShareSoc, said the group believed it had enough investors on side to vote down the attempt to take the company private at a meeting later this month.

[davidosh] 08/5/2012 16:46

No mention of a divi because they want to leave the market without paying one.

The cost of being listed is allegedly £150k so in their eyes the PBT in a full year could be £1.3m on current growth. By the end of 2012 without this unwanted MBO there would have potentially been £3.5m (HMRC 500k still to be added) in the bank even after paying an 8p dividend !

An MBO at £5.6m is an absolute steal based on these results.

Just look at the sensational H2 comparisons to the previous same half in 2010 ..

PBT

2010...388k
2011...570k (almost 50% increase)

EPS

2010...12.1p
2011...19.1p (58% improvement)

CASH

2010...£1.02m
2011...£2.02m (£1m generated)

The exit price here should be £8m plus for sure.

[jamesf21] 08/5/2012 16:27

Clearly excellent results. They've generated £1m in a year, with pbt pretty much at £1m. I'm still convinced that this company is an absolute bargain at £5.6m.

[strollingmolby] 08/5/2012 16:24

No mention of a divi?

[cwa1] 08/5/2012 08:29

Oh, and whilst we wait, some press from The Herald from the weekend on the union pronouncement:-

[cwa1] 08/5/2012 08:27

Ahem.....

Company expects to announce its Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2011 (the "Preliminary Results") on Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Why are we waiting, they sing. Just about every other company gets them out at 7am. Last minute massaging down of the figures? Wondering how many downbeat predictions and words they can get away with vis a vis the advisers and auditors?

Come on lads, just get them out and let us have a look.