Lpa Share Discussion Threads

[charo] 17/11/2006 17:11

board needs to strenghten otherwise next stop elektron

[cyril4] 17/11/2006 11:08

Can Mr Andrew Perloff pull it off,yes and good for all of us shareholders,I'm off to the bank with my rewards,CYRIL4

[henry999] 17/11/2006 10:11

Difficult to see how Mr Perloff can be refused a place on the Board. This presently consists of the Chief Exec and his henchman the FD. The Chairman is a substantial shareholder even without taking into account other associated shareholders. he quit as an executive at an early age after a decade of drift. The non-exec has a background in financial journalism and is probably unable to do much apart from holding up his hand when asked to vote yea.

[henry999] 15/11/2006 20:04

Note 20 Share Capital lists all options. The Remuneration Report lists Director's options. 195,000 were issued at 13p of which 75,000 went to the F.D. No clue as to who actually exercised the option - could be someone from senior management.

[henry999] 15/11/2006 08:47

The CEO last purchased shares in 1997 -presumably his buy-in to the business. Share options in total are 1,466,000 of which 1,175,000 are assigned to the CEO and FD.This leaves 291,00 divided amongst the operational managers. All save 195,000 are underwater. The problem with the original LPA Industries business is that it hung on the coat tails of British Rail, never developed a product range and is desperately hunting rail business in mainland Europe but with fierce competition from local suppliers.Clearly Niphan (LPA Industries rebranded) was caught with its pants down when Siemens got the bulk of the slam door replacement business a few years ago as they had not been looking at Belgium/France or Germany as potential suppliers to the UK market. Haswell is a metal basher and up to the last reported results has steadily lost money. Excil up in Yorkshire appears to have some good lighting products based on LED technology. The surprise package is Channel which as a distributor has made consistent profits but turnover has remained flat since acquisition in 1998.Clearly no investment has been made here although it appears to have sustained the Group over the past 9 years.The big problem for the Group is the overhead. The CEO and the FD cost £250,000 a year. Four minnows hardly justify this sort of top structure. There is no evidence of any marketing input at board level. The MD of Channel holds the title but by all accounts is an electrical engineer. The question for shareholders is - Does the present board have any view of the future at all?

[charo] 14/11/2006 17:08

this is an attempt by electron to gain control without bidding.aim team must ensure any attempt to do so is thwarted.it may well be a great idea and if so electron should spell out its strategy and make a bid.

[henry999] 11/11/2006 08:21

An unimpressive defence statement! The order book reported in the 2005 accounts was £8.8 million so it has increased by 200K - But when is it deliverable? What margin is likely to be achieved? The Chief Executive consistently reports anticipation of progress and intermittently exciting sales prospects. The revaluation of the Saffron Walden site is an irrelevance unless there are plans for the long overdue transfer of all manufacturing to sub-contract - China perhaps where so much time and money has been spent. Good Luck to Mr Perloff He has done the shareholders a big favour by shaking up the Board of Directors.

[henry999] 04/11/2006 07:34

There is no one with a marketing background in evidence at LPA Group hence the failure to find new markets outside the Rail Industry. A logical engineering input at Board level is required to counter the the accountants who believe slash and burn as the way out of a deteriorating business situation.

[astjgroom] 03/11/2006 09:46

i am wrong about the land price after research its not worth half of that.

[henry999] 01/11/2006 22:13

Good call Eternal! The Chief Executive is esentially an accountant - and was also Chairman of Lionheart Plc which went into liquidation in 2002 or therabouts. The Chairman was MD until 1999 when he took early retirement. He holds 808,000 shares and the various families appear to have about 35% of the shares. There is one non-executive director who has been around for over a decade and has a background in being a non-exec and possibly in financial journalism. There is of course the obligatory F D. Not an engineer amongst them! Need I say more.

[astjgroom] 01/11/2006 09:27

Henry and Eternal

Its a very difficult time for British Manufacturing and I am sure the board is as committed to seeing the share price rise as we are. After all if they are sitting on 10% of LPA Shares, not even taking into account family and friends who will no doubt have shares. I am confident the board will be working hard to rectify the current situation and lift the share price to double/treble what it is now at the very least.

The 1.5acre must be worth a million to 1.5 with flats, but for the end seller in Safron Walden it could be worth £6-8m, with 30-40 flats

[henry999] 01/11/2006 07:27

Thank you for your support Eternal. I have been an LPA watcher since 97 when the present Chief Executive was brought in to expand the Group by acquisition and organic growth. The Board is in effect the Chief Executive supported by the Chairman who quit in 2000 as MD at an early age. There is a non-exec who has been there for years andof course the inevitable financial director! This is not a board to indulge in serious debate of make the very necessary changes. Seemingly two senior managers have been made redundantand not replaced.

[henry999] 31/10/2006 18:33

I doubt the family shareholders will be interested. They appear to believe that miracles will happen this year!

[25babies] 31/10/2006 08:29

6 years and I get the timing wrong by 4 weeks - grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Cbird

[henry999] 02/10/2006 16:24

I think a good call Cbird- I remain in but that is my gambling streak.