Mbl Share Discussion Threads

[davidosh] 26/1/2011 15:55

Timesmoney....I do often agree with your line of thinking but surely this bit is just inefficient transfer of wealth...

Dont think TA has it all his way. He has/had serious family money tied up in this bis which has halved recently. No amount of bonus's at 40% tax make up for that.

If TA had reduced his holding a year ago when there was demand for the shares at say £1.60 alongside an increase in dividend to 10p rather than taking a huge bonus then the shares and company would have appeared a far more attractive investment for everyone ?

As it is now every party suspects TA is up to something such as a cheap MBO and with his large holding and huge bonus no new money will be invested so the share price just drifts. Even if eps drops to 30p most will have distrust now after the way events were handled last year. Two new non execs are needed that is for sure.

[timesmoney] 26/1/2011 13:51

TA holds all the cards, and this is the flaw with small listed co's. There is nothing you can do. These stocks are for in and our speculation, smile when it goes well and be prepared to run away licking your wounds when it doesn't. To view these investments as you would blue chips is insane. Dont think TA has it all his way. He has/had serious family money tied up in this bis which has halved recently. No amount of bonus's at 40% tax make up for that. And any logical analysis tells you this bis is either sold at around current valuation or goes bust soon anyway. MBO not a chance. No one can fund a dying sector unless management put their hands deeply in their own pockets, rather unlikely.
Take the hit and leave em to it.

[rbcrbc] 26/1/2011 09:28

Not sure what the solution is.

Part of the solution must be a couple of new independant non-execs, before the MBO is announced, to ensure a fair deal is reached.

[fft] 25/1/2011 04:25

No one can buy MUBL unless TA agrees, due to the size of the allen family holding.

TA runs the company as a private company, so he can effectively do what he likes regarding pay, bonuses, investments etc

Why would TA want the firm to be taken over and then have people to keep him in check, or who he would have to report to ? I just dont see what would be in it for him.

What this means is that MUBL will always be priced at a lower multiple than similar businesses in any field. unfortunate.

Not sure what the solution is. A big improvement would be if he had a big cut in salary/bonus and increased the dividend payout. That would allign interests more, and would lead to more investors who saw MUBL as a yield play. But, theres not a lot we can do to make that happen....

[kimboy2] 23/1/2011 20:00

I don't think Ocado do entertainment products so perhaps there is some synergy there :o)

[davidosh] 23/1/2011 18:34

There have been enough rumours that Morrisons will buy Ocado putting their rating into orbit so I guess that is probably too much to expect here.

[kimboy2] 23/1/2011 18:26

I presume we are going to get a trading update in the next week or so if previous experience is anything to go by.

Hopefully they will put an end to this ridiculous strategic review. However I don't suppose the reasoning behind the potential MBO have diminshed in the meantime unless Morrisons' cancel the contract, which I don't suppose they will.

It seems to me that the most obvious candidate for the takeover would be Morrisons' themselves. I think they have taken over suppliers in the past and there would be a number of benefits.

[rbcrbc] 21/1/2011 09:52

Over 80% of its revenues have been coming from Morrisons, ....... and where the supply contract is under review

If you look at last years sale of £195m and discount it by 80% to take into account the possible loss of Morrisons you get underlying sales of £39m then compare that to a mkt cap of £14m I think you will find that the loss of morrisons (at some point, we may keep it for another year) is fully priced into the share price

It is now almost 4 months since the strategic review announcement, if we dont see a serious update to it with the trading statement it will be time to get the offer period revoked.

Any third party potential offerer is unlikely to be twiddling their thumbs for 4 months. And it is probably good if an MBO waits until the main christmas period sales are know before making an offer - imagine how up in arms we would be if they made an offer just before (or in the middle of) the main trading period, so I think it is 6 working days away from a TA bid or withdrawl.

and with the share price at 120p ish immediately before the offer it is very likely to be at a premium to that.

[charliebrown2000] 20/1/2011 10:44

Well intentioned I'm sure, but davidosh sounds like Neville Chamberlain! The picture for MBL looks bleak. Over 80% of its revenues have been coming from Morrisons, a company which doesn't appear rate entertainment as a priority (compare the recent trading statement to that from Sainsbury's) and where the supply contract is under review (After the death of Entertainment UK, Tesco and Sainsbury's decided to go direct and cut out the middle-man. What's stopping Morrisons from doing the same? MBL's massive buying power?). As for the recent Sainsbury's online entertainment launch, it's very interesting to note that there's no mention of it in their trading update even in the sections describing the success of their online business nor in any of the press articles doing the rounds saying what great entertainment sales they had over Christmas! Too many problems, I suspect. And whatever happened to the download service that was promised to launch before the end of the year?

[strollingmolby] 20/1/2011 08:53

Don't forget the big fat dividend is due for payment tomorrow.

[fmcalorum] 20/1/2011 08:49

Is there a fixed date for the trading update?

[marben100] 19/1/2011 20:53

I haven't sold any either. Let's get this SR and a Christmas trading update out of the way and see where we stand.

[jeffian] 19/1/2011 18:42

Hi, david,
Bearing in mind the debacle of the last few RNS's, I think I'm more worried about the presentation than the figures. Until we know what's behind the ongoing 'strategic review', it's hard to fathom what management are up to.

[davidosh] 19/1/2011 18:04

I have not sold any and certainly hoping the trading update will be much more positive than the last one. Morrisons have had a good pre Christmas trading period so it should be ok but whether they can catch up the earlier reported shortfall we shall have to wait and see.

Another conference call on the day of the trading update would be very useful.

[jeffian] 19/1/2011 17:39

This thread's gone a bit quiet. Everyone still holding or cut and run?

Must admit to feeling a bit nervous about the January trading update.

[rbcrbc] 18/1/2011 20:10

The entertainment and music companies I spoke to were horrified by the idea that HMV might go out of business, because they do not want to become dependent on sales over the internet or through supermarkets.

If HMV goes under we can get loads of cheap stock.....

(Or should that be when.......

[jonc] 18/1/2011 19:48

Do they supply HMV at all?




The entertainment companies I contacted said that for the time being they were likely to trade with HMV on this basis, because HMV is so vital to their ability to sell CDs and DVDs in the UK.

[kimboy2] 17/1/2011 23:06

I suppose it would be too much to hope that the MBL bonus structure is based on share price or profitability rather than just turning up..

[timesmoney] 17/1/2011 21:32

Sorry daviddosh I couldn't answer on the day of your post, too busy laughing.
Knowing what we know about this company and the 'board' what ever possessed you to think they would ever be in the slightest bit interested in what the Hut paid it's people?
You have forgotten that this company does not have a board in the accepted sense nor a remuneration committee.
The remuneration works to the simple formulae 'what can we get away with'
Where does PC rank in the list of top paid non exec chairman of AIM companies?

[davidosh] 16/1/2011 15:02

Does anyone know how much Matthew Moulding gets paid at The Hut and whether PC uses them as a comparitor company when setting remuneration ?

[jeffian] 16/1/2011 12:43

[January 16, 2011]
Web seller's boom year [Mail on Sunday (England)]
(Mail on Sunday (England) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) SALES at The Hut Group, one of Britain's most successful online retailers, surged last year as it launched a range of new websites.

The Hut, which operates sites including zavvi.com, confetti.co.uk and iwantoneofthose.com, increased sales by 70 per cent in 2010 to Pounds 87 million. Websites it launched included mybag.co.uk, gifted. com and intersport.co.uk.

It raised Pounds 32.5 million of new capital for acquisitions which included health-andbeauty site mankind.co.uk, which it bought in November.

The Hut said more than three-quarters of its growth was achieved though existing sites and contracts to fulfil orders placed with major retailers such as Tesco, Asda and WHSmith.

Chief executive Matthew Moulding attributed the results to 'substantial growth in a demanding consumer environment' that included Pounds 1.8 million of product sales on its peak day in December.

- NEIL CRAVEN (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

[rbcrbc] 11/1/2011 09:59

We've also spent a good deal of time supporting Mobily, as the kiosks we have developed for them move to the front of their stores and start taking the full force of significant customer traffic. The new business we've been pursuing in the Middle East may well come to fruition early in the New Year

Poor guys, having to spend all that time in the sun.....

[fft] 11/1/2011 04:00

"It's been a heck of a year"

sure has. profit warning, dodgy RNS timing, suspect information flow and the share price less than half of where it was 1 year ago.

"here's to an outstanding 2011"

it cant be any worse than 2010 !! Lets hope they are right.

[maxcashflow] 10/1/2011 20:09

Thanks Jeff. From December:

"And the snow returned, with some venom! Although up to our knees in it, it didn't slow us down as we sprinted through a month packed with Sainsbury's and Mobily. The Sainsbury's website has proved to be extremely successful - we've had some teething problems, as is always the case with any major launch, but we identified them, resolved them and put in place processes to prevent them from happening again. The sum total was well in excess of a million visitors to the website and a healthy number of products sold and shipped. We've also spent a good deal of time supporting Mobily, as the kiosks we have developed for them move to the front of their stores and start taking the full force of significant customer traffic. The new business we've been pursuing in the Middle East may well come to fruition early in the New Year - we should know, either way, for certain what is happening. As soon as we have news I'll make sure we distribute it through the usual channels. It's been a heck of a year, here's to an outstanding 2011! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all."

[jeff h] 10/1/2011 18:58

GMV has updated its blog for Sep - Dec