Marston's Share Discussion Threads

[ssords] 19/7/2011 17:52

Greene King has just made/completed bid for Capital pubs. Doubt that they will wish just yet to pick up such as MARS. Expect to see MARS slide back a little.
SSORDS

[mesquida] 11/7/2011 09:16

Once again MARS is showing positive in a weak market - some weeks ago a poster on this board was talking about a chart pattern called a golden cross - I would really appreciate some up to date comment from him if he is reading this board today.

[jeff h] 06/7/2011 15:21

mesquida - Peel Hunt also positive recently.

The various brokers views maybe being acted upon by the investment community perhaps.

Greene King has previously been muted as a potential predator but that's very much a longshot I'd think.

[mesquida] 06/7/2011 14:13

After several days of rises you would have thought that this would have met a little profit-taking today, in line with the general market. But no, the buyers are still getting on top. Anybody heard anything specific as to why MARS is finally back in favour. Obviously the PANMURE note will have helped, but I am sure that there is more to it than that!

[jeff h] 30/6/2011 13:34

Panmure Gordon kept its buy rating and upped its target price for brewing and pubs group Marston's, saying that management is successfully executing a "well-thought-out strategy."

"Management is quietly making significant strides to reposition the group to achieve a more balanced earnings profile, drive earnings growth, improve returns and reduce leverage whilst maintaining and subsequently growing its best-in-class dividend," said analysts Simon French and Lindsey Kerrigan.

The target price is raised from 120p to 130p.

[2grimbo] 28/6/2011 16:17

yes britains real ale industry booming with the number of breweries up ten per cent in a year

[bigbertie] 27/6/2011 10:26

Price rising - amazing what a warm weekend can do!

[jeff h] 20/6/2011 14:49

Added some more before for below a quid.

With the 6% yield they seem a bargain.

The innovative new leases for the tenancy arm appear to be a big winner.

The new builds are earning a bigger ROI than targeted.

The move in the market away from lager to cask ale also helps them. I note they are now brewing for Tetley after Carlsberg closed the historic Leeds brewery last week.

Forecasts are likely to be upgraded then imo.

Even a decent chance of a bid with the giant Molson Coors recently buying minnow Sharp's for its Doom Bar cask ale brand.

[inntolife] 13/6/2011 10:31

Hyden, 1024 Thank you for that.

Damm that is going to make my life easyer.

PSD

[diku] 12/6/2011 20:30

They are at it again...

10-Jun-11 Marston's MARS Goldman Sachs Sell 101.50p 81.00p - Reiteration

[rmillaree] 10/6/2011 11:14

I asked the company in feb about the debt and they did confirm that the step up in rates would cost an extra £3 million or so from 2013. The analysts are aware of this and this will be factored into any forecasts for that time.
They confirmed other than the step up in rates there is no problem if they go past the "expected maturity date" for the loan notes with actual expiry dates well in the future
I would suspect at present despite low interest rates they are unable to secure anything better than what they have.

In some respects the debt probably wont improve over the short term however if they can increase profits yoy when the large pub expansion slows down one would expect the cashflow to improve.Once they start to pay down debt then the interest will reduce the EPS should increase nicely. Thats the theory - hopefully nothing goes wrong in the meantime.

[spacecake] 10/6/2011 10:56

Linhur,
Is what your looking for here...

[linhur] 21/5/2011 14:03

Surprised there is no information on any debt refinancing - particularly the option to refinance in 2012 or else an increase in the rate.Nothing much will happen with Mars whilst the debt is £1bn and the tail of pubs grows longer to nearly 1000 pubs

[spencerfrater] 19/5/2011 20:32

Oops! You're right - apologies.
Thanks Hyden.

[hyden] 19/5/2011 20:28

ex-div 1st June, record date 3rd June. It is in the results - just a little further down. In explorer press [CTL] and 'F' to open a 'Find' dialogue box, then simply type 'Dividend' and presse [ENTER]. You can now cycle through all instances of the word 'Dividend'. I find it very useful to track down payment dates and such like. :-)

[spencerfrater] 19/5/2011 20:19

I read their interim statement - the full thing. Nowhere does it mention the ex-div date. Only the payment date. Unusual. Anyone know what date it goes ex-div?

[fangorn2] 19/5/2011 09:21

Yep, long term hold. nice yield. One to tuck away and forget about it seems.

[redartbmud] 19/5/2011 09:10

wskill

Read what you say & agree it is going nowhere in the long term.

[fangorn2] 19/5/2011 08:25

Interims time...

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
· Group revenue up 2.8% to £317.9 million (2010: £309.2 million)
· Underlying profit before tax up 5.0% to £29.2 million (2010: £27.8 million)
· Marston's Inns and Taverns like-for-like sales up 2.4% with operating profit up 3.9%
· Marston's Pub Company operating profit up 0.3% with improving trends
· Marston's Beer Company operating profit up 1.4%
· Net debt of £1,105 million, slightly below last year
· Earnings per share and interim dividend:
- Underlying earnings per share up 7.9% to 4.1 pence per share (2010: 3.8 pence per share)
- Maintained interim dividend of 2.1 pence per share: increased dividend cover to 1.9 times

[wskill] 19/5/2011 08:18

Well done to the management sticking to their strategy its now starting to pay off 25 new builds a year a good long term hold for me.

[redartbmud] 15/5/2011 19:48

Spence

If you consider the fundamentals:
1. Some people are probably holding for the divi & will sell on results
2. The 2x underlying earnings is an important benchmark & I don't believe they will raise divi till they can see probability of hitting that target - unlikely at present last results not brilliant & nothing has changed in the company or the industry

[spencerfrater] 15/5/2011 18:54

Thanks jeffian. Makes sense.

At least we're still looking at roughly a 5% yield then (with 2% imminent). Not bad, although the technicals are saying the price will come off very soon. And that will probably be more than 2%... tough decision as to whether to stay in for the divi or realise a decent capital gain whilst it's still there...

[jeffian] 15/5/2011 18:23

Spencerfrater,

Not sure when ex-div but I think the chances are that the div will be held at the same level this year (2.1p interim/3.7p final). When MARS refinanced via the Rights Issue, they said that "The Board's policy remains to target dividend cover of around 2 times over the medium-term although the level of cover in any one year may vary." Last year's total div was only covered 1.72x by 'underlying earnings' and forecast 2011 earnings of 10.65p would still leave cover below 2x, so they may just leave it where it is until profits catch up and then move it up in line with future profit growth. Mind you, the get-out clause ("although the level of cover in any one year may vary") gives them some wriggle-room so they may increase it marginally for show, but I doubt it'll be much.

[mesquida] 15/5/2011 17:37

What update on Monday, mhw28865? I was under the impression that the interims were due to be released on the 19th - surely that is Thursday, not Monday!!

[spencerfrater] 15/5/2011 17:25

Anyone know what date it goes ex-div?
Any ideas on what the div will be?