Mbl Share Discussion Threads

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 18:52

LDMachin...It does happen and with 91 investments I am bound to get at least half a dozen poor performers even in a good year. It is what happens from here that I need to get a good handle on.

[ldmachin] 31/1/2011 18:25

You do pick'em davidosh! I guess it's a blessing this one has only lost 70% of it's value in a year, unlike some other PLCs i can think of! ;-)

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 18:13

Looks like our new FD will go down well with the jive bunny. See the names at the start of the second par...



Neal Handforth, Ken Larby and Steve Walsh-Hill founded AAA Management after being moved when hearing an original artists' music. This artist had been playing for over 3 years, building up a loyal following but struggling to secure a publishing and recording contract. Collectively we had professional music, finance and event management expertise, having achieved considerable professional success, in our respective fields.

[rbcrbc] 31/1/2011 18:00

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/30/blackstone-eyes-uk-acquisitions

Blackstone has raised $15bn (£9.4bn) from investors in one of the biggest ever private equity fundraisings, furnishing the firm with a war chest for acquisitions in Britain and around the world.

The company, headed by Stephen Schwarzman, is understood to be looking at possible UK acquisitions in areas that include healthcare, media, leisure........

Maybe selling out for 100p wouldn't be such a bad option ????

[typo56] 31/1/2011 17:54

According to Companies House

STEALTH VENTURES LIMITED
104 CECIL ROAD
HALE
ALTRINCHAM
CHESHIRE
ENGLAND
WA15 9NU

Business & management consultancy

If you want more detailed info I suggest you part with £1.

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 17:47

There is no mention of the Servassure MD role at Daisy either !?

[fft] 31/1/2011 17:35

What is this "stealth ventures limited", which is his only current directorship.

the only references i can find are to an ailing (it is up for sale) canadian oil and gas company where his name doesnt feature at all.

doesnt sound promising for either vision or rocking the boat. could be a 'yes' man...

[mr hangman] 31/1/2011 17:00

There will be no bonuses paid to shareholders

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 16:42

LOL....Hope he has a clear vision and strategy rather than big wallet having seen the scale of bonus payments !! Apparently there were 1900 applications for the FD vacancy at MUBL. Only seven were interested in what they did. 1893 asked what date the bonuses are paid ?

[strollingmolby] 31/1/2011 16:31

The new director's past directorships:

Eyewear Warehouse Limited
Galaxy Optical Services Limited
Opticians Direct Limited
Galaxy Opticians Limited
Optimem Limited
Homespecs Limited
Heathwood Management Company Limited


Should have gone to SpecSavers...

[hugepants] 31/1/2011 14:54

GCI = compete muppets

[toback] 31/1/2011 13:52

I like the GCI article

Buy 155p
Hold 93p
Sell 57.5p

At least they are open about there record here.

Contrarians take heart!

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 12:41

They are still a customer under the original contract until at least September. This is only being advised as the terms of that contract are not only going to change and require tendering for but clearly MUBL may not get the next contract. If under the terms of the current contract MUBL are required to hold significant amounts of stock right through to any transfer that may or may not happen in September then you would certainly want to know that ALL that stock will be fully paid for with normal margin achieved or transferred under reasonable terms to the new distributor.

[timesmoney] 31/1/2011 12:00

No suprises in any of this except for the stock issue.
We never knew that MBL held stock on behalf of Morrissons and disclosure of this fact is very telling.
The stock must be very Morrison's specific, otherwise why mention it? And, more tellingly if Morrisons have felt the need to inform MBL that they will buy the stock in any event and MBL think we need to know that, it tells us the party is clearly over. On the same matter when it comes to this I cannot see Morrisons either paying full price or quickly. In any event lets not lose sight of the fact this disaster has unfolded with Morrison's still as a customer!

[chrisdgb] 31/1/2011 11:47

oh dear...

[cockneyrebel] 31/1/2011 11:45

If they are no longer in an offer period then can't they publish management expections now then? Instead of keep saying they are going to miss the expectation of the management that nobody are allowed to know what they are?

Might just be helpful to investors - not that the board seem to have that as an objective imo.

CR

[jeffian] 31/1/2011 10:46

Urghhhh! I was in pain. I am now in more pain!

It's difficult to know what to make of this lot, they send out so many mixed signals. As stated by several above, the heavy investment in new premises and systems suggests some confidence in the size of the business going forward, to which I would add that the recent payment of quite a chunky dividend would normally show confidence in continued cash generation. (Mind you, VLK did the same thing, paying a divi out of reserves just before..............)

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 09:48

It should not be overlooked that The Hut was and still is allegedly planning to float on the market this coming Summer so presumably wants a listing. Why fork out millions in fees and advisors to enable a float if a company doing far more business already and with lots of cash is sitting there at £9m market cap !??

If Trevor is not planning an MBO any more then maybe a clean exit would be better for all of us including him ? I still think the remaining business plus cash will be worth considerably more than the current market cap.

Incidentally I agree totally with Kimboy and I think the decision makers at Morrisons will have looked very jealously at the MUBL accounts and as they provide the bulk of the work they probably think it can be squeezed if the directors are so easily able to take that level of remuneration. TA was probably paid more than the Morrisons bosses who are running a FTSE 100 company....lol

Well it certainly has not been the MUBL shareholders getting fat !

[kimboy2] 31/1/2011 09:33

Well in one sense I am not surprised to see Morrisons tender the work. I can imagine the Morrisons CEO seeing a minor supplier with a CEO who is paid as much as he is and think WTF.

Having said that I thought the easiest solution would be for Morrisons to takeover MBL.

I think it is right that they didn't give a ny figures at all as they are in a tender situation. Why give The Hut, and I assume that is who we are talking about, any information at all.

It would be interesting to look at some of The Hut's figures to see exactly what margins they are on. I believe they reported turnover of £87m in 2010 so there perhaps may be questions as to whether they could handle it.

The facts are now that MUBL is an £8m company which is less than the PBT last year. This is also below tangible assets and probably cash when/if Morrisons pay for the stock they will be holding for them during the run down of the contract.

If they lose Morrisons, and I think they probably won't, the question then is what is the value of the rest of the parts of the business and can the admin costs be reduced to match the reduced status of the company. This would include the CEO's salary.

IMV in the end the company is only going to be on a really firm footing when it is trading on it's own account and not box shifting for others.

The strategy was always to make enough money from Morrisons et al and invest it in other operations to make money when they went. This point may have arrived.

[davidosh] 31/1/2011 09:18

This is presumably our new FD...



Having qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant, Walsh-Hill has spent the majority of his career in the retail sector where he held a number of senior finance roles, including Finance Director at Blackwell's and Galaxy Optical Services.

He was shortlisted for the Accountancy Age Growing Business FD of the Year and North West FD of the Year in 2008.


He certainly sounds a step in the right direction as clearly not an internal appointment.

[rbcrbc] 31/1/2011 09:09

As has been said the lack of numbers is very strange.

The statement says:

Consequently, PROFIT for the year ending 31 March 2011 is expected to be substantially behind management's revised expectations

which we sort of knew anyway because of the investments in they year, it says NOTHING about sales volumes or margins, anything less than a 10% fall in sales should have been moderatley good and they previously said margins would hold firm.

Morrisons has confirmed to the Company that it will assume responsibility for the stock held by MBL on its behalf during the remaining period of the existing contracts. This stock commitment represents a significant proportion of the stock held by the Company.

held by MBL on its behalf ?? Does that mean it is or is not in our books ?
If it is part of our inventory figure have we paid for it ?
If it is 80% of the £21m inventories figure does that mean we will get a £17m cash injection when morrisons tak on the stock ?

If so our current Mkt Cap of under £10m is less than cash ???

Too many questions. (and not enough non-execs)

Good Luck organising the meet David, a face to face would be good to meet the new FD, maybe with a webcast for those who cant make it in person.