Manganese Bronze Share Discussion Threads

[diku] 18/10/2012 10:40

Does MNGS have a case against that Chinese company that supplied the parts?..

What chance they do an RI and Placing shares at 10p whereby Geely takes the Placing shares and RI shares thus increasing their stake in the company....

[adorran] 16/10/2012 14:44

Can't really argue with the history, I wasn't ever saying that there were no problems. The company has been mismanaged like no other I've seen, how heads haven't rolled, I do not know. The business has a future if it were properly managed and funded. I hope they sort it out, especially for the 100+ employees who are not at fault here. Inject some cash, develop the product and change the leadership. I would have thought the high brand awareness is worth the relative peanuts that it would cost to control, but letting it die won't help anyone bar the competition.......

[peterninefive] 16/10/2012 09:38

Adorran Your post 1035
Nothing to do with hind site.

As a taxi operator for over 30 years I have made over a dozen visits to the factory to meet with directors, management and shop stewards.

Also as a member of the TGWU Unite Union vehicle design group I have been involved since the 1990s in persuading the company to make improvements to the vehicle - puting the most used switches in the most inaccessible places was one of their ill thought practices which we corrected. We got them to get rid of the glass passenger partition and replace it with attack proof poly- carbonate and modify the dashboard over the luggage area to accomodate larger suitcases.

This company were proud of the metal presses dating from 1939 when they bashed out panels for armoured personnel carriers but still in use they bashed out ill fitting body panels and should have been replaced long ago.

I gave up visiting them when they introduced the TX4 because they had continued thier practice of scouring the bargain buckets of the motor trade for parts. Miss-matching as I saw it engines from Italy Gearboxes from Austria and the number of parts which seemed to continue to come from old lines of Land Rover, Ford Sierra, etc. was not what was necessary for an intensely used commercial vehicle.

I last met with the factory's shop stewards before the summer. They were concerned for the jobs of the workforce and were talking on behalf of both the workforce and the management who at long last wanted to listen to drivers to find out why they were not buying the product. If they had listend to drivers over the last 20 years they would still be a thriving business but my view of the management is I wouldn't have them run a church fete stall.

This latest problem is likely to be due to their mentality of reaching for the bottom priced part. The steering of a taxi is a masterpiece of engineering but the extreme turning circle causes much more strain on the power steering box. It needs to be of the highest quality not Chinese junk.

They could easily retro fit the previous steering box and get all these drivers back on the road but they have to be ot of money. You cannot loose money year on year, have doubtful accounting and stockpile unsold vehicles and still have a long term financial future. They don't even have a short term future in my opinion.

I missed out on the spectacular 2007 rise in this company's price to £8 because I could not see the value in the company that others were aparently seeing. Directors cashing in their options at the same time told me they didn't believe it either.

Drivers are hanging on to their TX1s with the Nissan engines because they had reliable engines so I think Nissan will quickly take the whole share of the market that London Taxis International once had because Nissan already have a good name. I think that the conversion of Peugeots and Fiats is also under threat from the Nissan but do your own research, I have no inside information on Nissan.

I hope Nissan will build a British version in Coventry which has long been a centre for vehicle engineering skill and is where other conversion taxis are already made.

MNGS - RIP

[adorran] 15/10/2012 22:41

I'm told that MBH and Geely board members met in London this afternoon and are due to meet again in the morning. Either way, it'll surely be the last thing the MBH guys do before being shown the door!
Agree with you about TATA, that would be a real result. Geely end up walking away then someone will get a bargain. Yes, the product needs a lot of development, but it would be a very cheap way into a worldwide brand.....

[diku] 15/10/2012 22:22

It will depend on how well the board negotiate the survival with Geely.....I still think TATA should get involved here....they turned around Jaguar in UK and are well suited to make inroads into the Indian market...

Any news on Geely Executives arrivng in UK as per the w/end media report?...

[adorran] 15/10/2012 22:14

You're right in saying that, but they're also wanting to break into the UK car market soon. They will not want to be seen as the company who introduced the manufacturer of the dud parts then sat back and let their British joint venture partner go to the wall only to pick over the bones. Unless there was huge financial benefit in going down that route then they'll try and avoid it - and there just isn't any huge advantage.

[adorran] 15/10/2012 20:17

Let it go under and Geely kiss goodbye to the £20M they're owed. They'll get control for next to nothing and keep the debt on the books. Someone needs to carry the can for this mess though - this has been grossly mismanaged.

[diku] 15/10/2012 19:42

Just a thought that maybe Geely have been playing it all along....if I remember correctly just few years ago the board wanted to raise money via RI when price was around 50p but Geely was not interested at the time....

[adorran] 15/10/2012 18:15

Ahh, the benefits of hindsight. Yes, given the facts available at that time, you were. However, this new issue (unknown to us at the time) casts a slightly different light on things. Still believe that Geely will come to the party, they've nothing to gain from administration as the biggest creditor. It'll be an interesting few days to see how this pans out.......

[peterninefive] 15/10/2012 16:57

Adorran
I refer to your posts 1012 & 1014 on 4 Oct'12
So you think I was scaremongering ten days ago, do you?

[diku] 15/10/2012 14:09

The saying goes....Made in China!.....

[targatarga] 15/10/2012 11:38

So geely introduced the supplier... Another trojan at work...

[adorran] 15/10/2012 11:29

See the logic, but Geely are are actually the main creditors themselves. They also won't want to be seen to be the cause of collapse as they introduced the supplier of the faulty components. My bet? Cash flow assistance from Geely in return for a higher stake in business. If it happens, it'll happen quickly.

[legg96] 15/10/2012 11:08

The shares would now be at 0.5p if they had not been suspended. The Chinese will buy the assets they want from the administator. The Chinese are shrewd businessmen and are not going to bail out the creditors.

[diku] 14/10/2012 22:43

There ought to be a special award for value destroy......they wouldn't be short of candidates within the PLC casinos!....

[adorran] 14/10/2012 22:04

When the CEO took over, the shares were at £7.60 - they've now been suspended at 10p!!!! He must be the luckiest CEO in the country, or I'm missing something......

[diku] 14/10/2012 16:49

I must say the recent news have been drip feed in a untimely manner that suits the board....some mind games being played here.....

[buywell2] 14/10/2012 16:36

And a massive dilution for PI's and small shareholders in the company

[diku] 14/10/2012 16:29

Surely this is loss of confidence at board level....TATA might show an interest here in partnership with Geely minus the entire board.....

[buywell2] 13/10/2012 13:40

Could well happen .... the BOD should have been sacked years back

[tradermania] 12/10/2012 20:09

Chinese shall buy them and start making them in China since they love british brands.

[buywell2] 12/10/2012 16:57

This used to be a good company


buywell2 14 Aug'12 - 14:51 - 957 of 1020 edit

So what have they done to fix their computer system ?

They reckon a £3.9m black hole is being blaimed on it

Are they doing a NatWest ?

Due to a combination of system and procedural errors, a number of transactions relating to 2010 and 2011 and some residual balances from the previous system were not properly processed through the new IT system. This problem led to the over-statement of stock and under-statement of liabilities in the financial statements of previous years. The cumulative effect of these errors is an estimated GBP3.9m understatement of historical losses which go back over several years although the work to apportion the loss between previous years is not yet complete. In accordance with the provisions of IAS 8, the balance sheet at 31 December 2011 and the financial results for 2011 and prior years will have to be restated.


What a bunch of plonkers