London Finance & Investm... Share Discussion Threads

[topvest] 23/2/2009 19:42

Yes, looking a bit grim for Lonfin. They also have too much debt at the moment, albeit they have some good assets in WSE and Finsbury. I wonder what the covenants on the debt are; it would be disappointing to have to sell down the general portfolio at such a low point.

Anyway, Lonfin are heavily exposed to Finsbury and how they do. They only make mid-range cakes and so I think they are fairly recession resistant to be honest.

The point on the warrants is interesting- yes, I could see these being re-priced.

No bullish statement on the year-end dividend, unlike previous years which suggests to me that they need H2 to be better. Still reasonably bullish long term on this, but disappointed with performance. The mistake imho was not selling MWB in 2007 when they had the opportunity to unload at much much better prices. That would have helped them invest in WSE and have no debt rather than the £2m+ they now have.

[markt] 23/2/2009 12:05

Maybe directors should announce more free warrants....and not at 28p like in 2008.....maybe at 9p-10p !! since I think the price will be there soon...

[markt] 23/2/2009 12:03

pah...

16p NAV as last company declared NAV....
if trades at large discount to NAV, since price has been falling...and investments are not doing well..

then current price could easily fall ....to 9 or 10p....without needing any change in NAV per share

Directors...a disaster....not up to the job

[markt] 23/2/2009 11:42

Sharegolders funds
2007 21M
2008 12M
2009 interim report. 5.9M

Directors should re-sign

...an amateur investor could have protected better the assetts of the shareholders

what have the directors been doing ?...nothing ?..they actually turn up for work ?

[markt] 23/2/2009 11:13

"Quite reliant on Finsbury Food here to improve things"

...but sales of cakes will be hit by the crisis....and they report that margins are getting hit as well..
hence the low price for Finsbury shares...

[topvest] 18/2/2009 21:09

Results out today; fairly grim as expected, but at least the dividend has been maintained. Quite reliant on Finsbury Food here to improve things. They have a £2.6m bank loan which is higher than you would like, but WSE has net cash and so could always merge with them if had to. On-top of that they have a reasonable cushion on the general portfolio. No comment on full year dividend and so this could be cut if any disappointment on three strategic investments. I expect this to bounce back at some point, but they've had a tough time of late.

[callumross] 26/11/2008 11:39

surprised this one hasn't tumbled, what with their large holding in FIF, which has dropped sharply this morning.

[markt] 07/11/2008 12:51

Hi Topvest
but I don't think they will merge...

they have had the chance before....and never taken it
there are tax benefits by having 2 entities for example...

eg. WSE share issue was for benefit of LFI I think....to reduce LFI tax bill
I think 1 is AIM and 1 is main market....for tax reasons in my view

(they could have liquified everything when NAV was 100p....and issued shares to shareholders....in MWB etc....
but if do something like that then the directors lose their salaries !!
and salaries for sitting on boards of MWB , Swallowfield etc...

salaries all adds up even if not expensive as directors of 1 company...

[topvest] 20/9/2008 08:21

I see that they have announced the warrant issue. LFI has had a tough year and the balance sheet looks a tad more stretched than it was previously. However, LFI is now heavily weighted towards WSE (which is at a very low price, but has embedded value) and Finsbury Food which could quite easily triple if inflationary pressures ease. MWB is the disappointment as I think LFI should have sold 3m shares last year and not just 1m.
Anyway pleased to get some more warrants and will consider adding more on weakness.
They have always been kept separate, but a merger of WSE and LFI would probably be good for shareholder value in knocking out the double discount on WSE holding and reducing running costs.

[markt] 13/8/2008 21:13

someone traded 7k shares at 32p a number of days back...

looked like a sale

since almost no other trades to get rid of those 7k shares....the MM stuck with them...



hence MMs not keen on taking on many more shares, I think, (unless more buys and sells appear to create a flow....)

[callumross] 13/8/2008 13:47

yes, but virtually untradeable now, as one MM dropped out from providing a quote leaving winterfloods with a complete monopoly on the stock, and only firm in 1000 shares. No matter how cheap, who would want to be involved in this stock when you are completely at the mercy of WINS. Will look at it again if they recruit another MM and increase the market size.

[topvest] 09/8/2008 14:19

Looking cheap

[markt] 21/11/2007 18:39

the MMs perhaps received an order from above to do that across the board....

to reduce their risk....

if they hold stock/shares and market falls then they loose money....

sensible thing to do....

---

7% price fall with no trade surprises me....

[callumross] 21/11/2007 12:43

something not right here - the MM's have today reduced the number of shares they are quoting firm in from 5000 to only 1000 and reduced the share price to boot!

[ntv] 08/11/2007 17:15

going down nicely now

[ben value] 08/11/2007 17:08

I was the only trade today. The only reason for selling was my stop loss. Sorry it sent the price down a bit.

[markt] 08/11/2007 16:32

Can someone press the button for the brakes !!

...hopefully will stop falling !

[topvest] 15/9/2007 08:25

Results solid, if dull. What we need is some movement on strategic investments; Finsbury Food, Western Selection and MWB are all high quality assets, but what next.............!

[oooff] 14/9/2007 15:19

Oops, Not one, but two incorrect dividend dates in the final results.
Does not give a great impression for accuracy.

[markt] 13/8/2007 16:27

Anyone calculated the NAV per share recently ??

I'm interested to know....

MWB has hardly fallen at all....
that is where biggest part of LFI cash is...


and Finsbury is holding up quite well.....
...is the share price fall perhaps overdone regards the change in NAV per share ?

[markt] 27/4/2007 16:40

45p in Jan. approx. mid price.
now 56.5 mid price.

11.5p increase.
Ref. price of 45p = 25.5 % increase.

Number of months = 4. So 1/3rd of a year, so 25.5% in 4 months

which 'would' equate to about 75% in a year !!. Amazing :-)

but it did much the same last year !! :-)

[cwa1] 23/4/2007 16:16

Nice to see a little tick up as well.

[cwa1] 23/4/2007 12:40

And the third biggest holding in the general portfolio....

[cwa1] 23/4/2007 12:38

And for your further delectation a chart of their biggest general portfolio holding....



None of this can be doing the NAV any harm at all.

:-))