Lpa Share Discussion Threads

[999henry] 09/3/2007 08:07

Well Well Well - In spite of the warning shots from the shareholders at the AGM the two "fat cats" have awarded themselves another chunk of share options!

[999henry] 26/2/2007 17:43

The problem for the Board is credibility - one by one the original family shareholders are realising what a bad deal they have got lately. Perhaps LPA will produce £250K PBT this year (neglecting the FRS17 add on) however they need a steady flow of these promised rail contracts to increase sales to £15M at which level they would hope for an operating profit of £500K. I think Mr Perloff's comments to the Executive Directors regarding the unsustainable level of their "take" from the profits should be viewed seriously by investors. You should note that the Chairman spoke in glowing terms about the prospects for Haswell and Excil and the steady results from Channel but curiously reticent about Niphan. if Niphan falls on its face this year it will largely negate the other 3 business performance.

[felix99] 26/2/2007 15:26

well got another 13k today :-)

Wish i had bought more at mid twenties when Perloff first appeared with his cheap do - but was cautious over the liquidity .

Looks to me like circa 50p NAV + whatever Saffron yields - which could be a hell of a lot with Resi . And oh yes business seems to be blossoming at last . A few more of these European deals and should be very promising.

Can see 50p in short order.

Perloff knocking back the share buy back a shame as I am sure they might have tried to buy stock in the mkt too.

[hastings] 26/2/2007 15:17

You sound like the cat that got the cream Felix99

[felix99] 26/2/2007 15:14

as one might say Hastings - "nice one Cyril , nice one son etc and don;t think I will be selling any so you can lap them up .

[hastings] 26/2/2007 14:23

Don't think so Cyril4.

[felix99] 26/2/2007 13:20

why sell - the fruits are blossoming and all we need is resi planning on Saffron and you are really off to the races.

Patience will be rewarded

[cyril4] 26/2/2007 10:56

sell sell sell

[cyril4] 22/2/2007 09:31

UNLESS AP TAKES CONTROL WE ALL MIGHT AS WELL SELL UP AND BUY LOTTERY TICKETS,PROBABLE GET A BETTER RETURN

Q. DOES ANYONE HAVE A GOOD WORD FOR THE PRESENT BOARD ?

[999henry] 19/2/2007 22:26

Clearly it was a good lunch! Back in June 2004 the crowing from the dungheap was that the order book had rocketed to 8.6M and in the ensuing 2.5 years it has soared by another 5% to 9.1M. But still LPA lost in that period. The great flaw is that if two companies in the Group have full order books and two do not then the overall result is a zero as production capacity in one region cannot be used in another! LPA is burdened by excessive overhead and will never give shareholder value until it is restructured. Just do not mention the generous dividend again! In 2000 £290K was shared out - this year we are promised £55K , but I note some fortunate executive(s) shared £72,000 in redundancy payments. Other fortunate executives are promised more trips to Asia in an effort to boost sales there, which have remained at about £600K over the past few years in spite of numerous visits. Must be something wrong with the marketing! I hardly think Mr Perloff is a corporate raider as he is already in the same business.

[hastings] 19/2/2007 20:35

Orders are soaring for raid target LPA

LPA Group at Saffron Walden has returned to profit, but could still be fighting a battle to see off a corporate raider.

The company, which supplies the rail industry with electrics, says it made a profit in the second half and has seen a strong start to the new year.

Turnover for the year ended September 30 was up 2% to £13.7m. The year as a whole saw a loss of £143,000, compared with a £300,000 profit in 2005. A 0.50p per share dividend is being maintained.

The order book is up, in spite of continuing delays in the award of rail contracts, and the group is seeing a lot of interest in LED lighting for defence, infrastructure and rail vehicles. LPA has also won its first contract from French railways, SNCF, and an upgrade contract with London Underground.

Peter Pollock, ceo, said:

"Orders have exceeded sales for the fourth successive year and the order book continues to grow. The base load at the start of the year has been the strongest on record."

He added that the company was currently bidding for projects in Asia.

"The final quarter of last year showed recovery and the first quarter of the current year has been the strongest in the group's recent history.

"We expect to make sound progress in the year as a whole."

LPA's strategy is to reduce its dependence on large longterm contracts by developing standard products, and to cut manufacturing costs through low-cost country sourcing, although this will not affect assembly work at its plants in Saffron Walden, Clacton and Yorkshire.

Asked whether LPA, which employs 175 people, would be selling off its prime location in Saffron Walden for housing, Mr Pollock said: "Not at the moment, but maybe in the medium term."

He added that the board would be having a meeting with Andrew Perloff in the next few weeks to discuss the company's performance.

Mr Perloff, whose main interest is a property company, Panther Securities, bought a substantial holding in LPA last year and only this week increased it to over 17%.



25 January 2007

[arthur_lame_stocks] 19/2/2007 12:08

Also can anybody tell me how big the pension fund is? I see that they are including a substantial surplus on this fund in the accounts but what is the size of the assets/liabilities in the fund. I don´t have a copy of the most recent AR.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 19/2/2007 10:50

999henry

Does Andrew Perloff give any more indication of what his solution is for the company? Have you seen what he has done at Elektron(EKT)/Howle Holdings(HOH). He was a major shareholder in Elektron which made an all share offer for (HOH). The deal itself looked a bit odd although it probably gave long suffering Howler Holders to get some more appealing stock.

The main driver appears to have been his desire to get his hands on Howler´s freehold properties which were sold and leased back to his property company Panther Securities on terms which to me look favourable to Panther.

I wonder if he might also try to add LPA to the Elektron stable, his interest is obviously going to be in its properties and if the management costs can be cut substantially then there might even be a profitable company to be had here.

[999henry] 18/2/2007 08:51

You really should see Andrew PERLOFF's letter to the shareholders. He shows that after tax profit (loss) for the 7 years 2000-2006 is a LOSS of £672,000. In the same 7 years the CEO and FD have paid themselves a total of £1,633,000. National Insurance Contributions paid by LPA for them amount to £30,000 PA. Their share of the pension fund has risen to £930,000. Sorry I forgot to mention the shareholders they got £564,000 between them over the period of which £295,00 was in 2000 -The last good year for the shareholders! It seems that family shareholders are quite happy still living in hope of next year!

[cyril4] 17/2/2007 09:13

WHEN IS AP GOING TO MAKE HIS MOVE,HOW MUCH LONGER DO WE HAVE TO WAIT BEFORE WE CAN MOVE FORWARD AND HOPEFULLY UPWARDS

[999henry] 12/2/2007 08:19

I have just received a letter - apparently written by a shareholder and former director - drawing my attention to the dreadful performance of present board and urging a no vote against dilution of shares by new options giveaway and reelection of long timeserving director! Any other shareholders got one ?

[cyril4] 09/2/2007 09:49

DOES ANYONE KNOW THE FINAL RESULTS YET

[999henry] 31/1/2007 08:16

It is worse than I told you! If you take the PBT (not the Operating Profit) for the period 2000-2006 the sum is a loss of £5000! The exceptional results in 98 & 99 were largely due to the massive contribution by Channel Electric and prior to the disasterous acquisition of Excil and Haswell in 2000 combined with a bad hair year for Niphan !!

[cyril4] 29/1/2007 08:55

panther secretaries never heard of them

[999henry] 27/1/2007 15:50

Shown below in 3 columns are Sales,Operating Profit (in £K) and dividends per share in pence. For those who are not numerically challenged put them on a Excel spread sheet and display as charts -then you will see how bad the Board is!
5279 524 2.25
7670 937 2.5
10297 1095 2.7
10366 -75 2.8
13570 462 0.5
13806 -56 0.25
12574 -97 0.25
13540 337 0.45
13469 370 0.5
13700 -143 0.5 Row 1 is year 1997 when present CEO took over. Line 10 are the results published this week.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 27/1/2007 12:17

Andrew Perloff is the chairman and major shareholder of property company Panther Securities. The company´s results are usually worth a read as he likes to have a bit of a rant about the state of the country as he sees it.