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MCRB Mcb Fin Grp.

122.50
0.00 (0.00%)
18 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Mcb Fin Grp. LSE:MCRB London Ordinary Share GB00B1LD2G45 ORD 10P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  0.00 0.00% 122.50 - 0.00 00:00:00
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
0 0 N/A 0

MCB Finance Share Discussion Threads

Showing 126 to 150 of 150 messages
Chat Pages: 6  5  4  3  2  1
DateSubjectAuthorDiscuss
09/2/2015
17:47
Same to you!
xenawarriorprincess
09/2/2015
17:04
Good to have 'met' you here. Happy investing!
geraldton1
09/2/2015
16:56
Farewell MCRB!

Thanks for an interesting and profitable, if not entirely fulfilled ride.

xenawarriorprincess
22/12/2014
16:17
Yes - I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

And I will have some cash to redeploy instead of being tied up here.

I will miss Mobile Credit, but then all things come to an end sometime.

I'll just have to find another unloved share (or two).

xenawarriorprincess
22/12/2014
10:27
I would agree IPF have got themselves a good deal but if you've still done well out of it then fair play. You can move on and redeploy and at least have the certainty of cash! I'm fairly happy as I was relatively new to the party this year, so can't complain! I wish you all the best over Xmas and have a great 2015.
geraldton1
21/12/2014
10:54
Disappointed with the agreed bid of 125p - but no choice but to run with the big boys.

MCRB is potentially worth much more than that, so I would conclude that either -

1. The recapitalization, refinancing of MCRB by the beginning of March 2015 was proving much more problematic than the company has ever admitted, or

2. IPF have just got an absolute bargain, or

3. Possibly both

IPF should be able to extract a profit of around £4M-£5m per annum out of this, and they're paying about £22M for it, and getting all the new digital products, sving, creditline, and 10 years management experience in running the digital offerings, and a credit book in 5 new countries which has a level of defaults 40% lower than their own offerings into the bargain - all chucked in for free - an absolute steal.

From the RNS it looks like management will be looked after - I don't hold much truck with the Boards recommendation, but if Dermot has agreed to it (and he has) then this will be the best thing going from his point of view as a shareholder - and that is good enough (albeit a little disappointing) for me.

But MCRB listed around 8 years ago at 135p, (180p on first days dealings) so although they survived the 2008 crash, despite the loan book being much larger, all that investment in new digital products, innovation, territories, a low rate of defaults etc., they have over 8 years actually managed to destroy shareholder value.

Over the years the company made a number of major strategic errors - the attempt to go private, losing the support of the major shareholders, the launch in Australia (I thought it a bold move at the time - it now appears to have been simply bonkers), spending loads on new digital platforms and technology and then not having the money to roll them out properly (or at all), paying high interest on the bonds, while everyone else was paying much less, which then sucked out much of the company's profits.

Indeed it is only in the last two years - really since the arrival of Paul Aylieff as Finance Director, that the company really seems to have made strides forward and been run properly on a day to day basis. So that has resulted in a highly profitable day to day business albeit crippled by the previous strategic errors.

And IPF, through their well timed low ball offer which will benefit from all the hard work over the last several years.

I suppose there is an outside chance of a counter bid from somewhere (anywhere), but the market doesn't appear to expect one and so I'll simply hold out to extract my full 125p from these.

So I'll come out with a significant profit, having been buying on and off for over 3 years, but I think the company could have done so much better if it had its act together much earlier, and operated as a company actually listed on the stock market rather than as a private entity.

xenawarriorprincess
18/12/2014
17:58
And IPF launched its first ever digital offering in Poland earlier this week -
xenawarriorprincess
18/12/2014
17:31
IPF announced that it has appointed a new non executive director today, Dan O'Connor, who will take over as Chairman of the company in April 2015.

Coincidence, or maybe the sign of a done deal?

Or simply normal day to day business?

xenawarriorprincess
16/12/2014
15:06
Surprised at the lack of activity here - almost no one is interested in this share.

The market appears to be pricing in a bid at 85p-100p, or even no bid at all. I can't imagine it would be that low - or if it was that the major shareholders would vote in favour.

But a bid appears pretty certain - reasons given for the delay -

"in order to allow time for completion of the procedures for obtaining a conditional waiver of certain change of control and similar provisions under the asset backed fixed rate notes and the subordinated fixed rate notes issued by MCB Treasury AB (a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCB) and MCB, respectively, and in order to allow IPF to complete its remaining due diligence."

Bondholders and remaining due diligence. I can't imagine MCRB would fail due diligence, and I assume that MCRB wish to change the terms of the bonds to allow them to continue in effect until 7th March, rather than be redeemed on the takeover (I'm guessing of course).

So IPF would at present on any takeover only have to pay for MCRB itself, they've got £80M cash, and could then make arrangements to raise finance to redeem the bonds in March 2015 - from memory something like £30M is owed on the bonds at present.

It appears to be a serious approach, and almost done apart from tying up a few loose ends.

Hence my surprise at lack of market reaction.

As you say, we'll know by Friday.

xenawarriorprincess
16/12/2014
08:51
Guess we will know one way or the other by the end of the week....interesting they have gone for the extension.
geraldton1
15/12/2014
18:06
Presumably IPF can't reach agreement with the main shareholders on the value of MCRB - so the shareholders may be holding out for more than IPF are willingly ready to pay; or they may be prepared to accept IPF shares (one for one would be very good), which aren't presently on offer.

We will know within 24 hours, but of course there will be an incentive for IPF to take out a more agile and lower cost rival, and thus do a deal.

And if the takeover doesn't take place MCRB may then do a decent refinancing deal, which could boost profits significantly and enable expansion to take place.

No doubt IPF have been trying to find out as much as they can about MCRB, although I suspect one or two shareholders may not have been entirely cooperative, unless there was big money on the table.

xenawarriorprincess
15/12/2014
10:14
XWP - I've been away a fair bit recently. Lets hope this happens tomorrow. Not sure why they've left it so much to the wire!
geraldton1
14/12/2014
10:00
Did a google search a few days ago and nothing new came up - now all of this - I wonder which bondholder provisions they wish to waive and why?


"MCB Finance Group plc – Invitation to Teleconference for Bond Investors

04 Dec

MCB Finance Group plc and MCB Treasury AB (collectively “MCB”) invite the holders of the asset backed fixed rate notes with ISIN SE0004489672 and SE0004950350, and the holders of the subordinated fixed rate notes with ISIN SE0005100567 and ISIN SE0005100575 issued by MCB Treasury AB and MCB Finance Group plc respectively to a teleconference.

MCB has via the agent CorpNordic Sweden AB on 27 November 2014 initiated written procedures and requested conditional waivers from the noteholders. The waiver relates to provisions in the terms and conditions for the notes relating to a potential change of control and de listing of MCB Finance Group plc, and is made following an a preliminary approach by International Personal Finance Plc (“IPF”) relating to a possible cash offer for MCB Finance Group plc. There can be no certainty of an offer being made for MCB Finance Group plc by IPF, nor as to the terms of any offer.

On the conference call CFO Paul Aylieff will present the waiver request in detail and participants will be given an opportunity to ask questions.

The teleconference will take place on Monday 8 December 2014 at 15.00 CET and the telephone number is:

+46 850556480
PIN code: 87493789#"

xenawarriorprincess
14/12/2014
09:38
Press attention - whatever next?

Okay the story is a week or so old, but some attention is better than no attention at all, Irish Times from 5th December 2014.

I'd actually forgotten that Dermot Desmond has been gradually building his stake over the years, and from memory the relationship from Rietumu Banka has been largely (if not wholly) superseded by the bonds.



"MCB Finance, an AIM-listed consumer finance company that is 26 per cent owned by Dermot Desmond, has received an acquisition approach from International Personal Finance (IPF).

Founded in 2006, MCB offers flexible loans to consumers in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Australia under its Credit24 brand.

Shares in MCB went from 50p to 80p on the news, valuing the company at £9.29 million (€11.7 million).

The company notified shareholders of a cash offer to buy the business by IPF, a FTSE 250-listed home-credit business with a market capitalisation of £1.1 billion on November 18th.

IPF, which has operations in eastern Europe and Mexico, said the proposed acquisition of MCB would “accelerate the development of IPF’s digital lending business”.

Footprint

“In addition, it would increase IPF’s geographical footprint with a proven business model in a manner that is consistent with IPF’s declared strategy,” IPF added.

The board of MCB, which is chaired by veteran venture capitalist Dr Anton Mayr, said it was “engaged in preliminary discussions with IPF, and further announcements will be made as appropriate”.

MCB said as the acquisition approach was only preliminary it planned to continue “refinancing discussions with principal shareholders, with bondholders and with potential new investors”.

It said these discussions had begun before the approach as the company hoped to do a new equity fundraising and refinance its senior and subordinated debt facilities before they mature on March 7th next year.

Mr Desmond has been a long-term investor in MCB via an investment company called IIU Nominees.

Since 2008 IIU has increased its stake in the business from 10 per cent to some 26.29 per cent.

Mr Desmond has a long history of successfully investing in financial services businesses, often with a technology edge.

He founded National City Brokers in Dublin in 1981 and is also a large shareholder in Latvian bank Rietumu Banka.

Credit facility

MCB said in a stock exchange announcement in 2012 that Rietumu provided it with a €17 million revolving credit facility.

“The relationship between the company and Rietumu is long-standing, the banking facility having been in place with Rietumu since September 2007,” MCB said"

xenawarriorprincess
13/12/2014
10:56
These are the holdings declared to date

Smec Ou.............................5,788,070............32.72%
H Nilert............................1,228,222.............6.94%
P Duleyrie............................803,961.............4.54%
Europanel A B (Jan Lindblad)..........740,000.............4.18%
Altius Finance (D Malamatinas)........681,577.............3.85%
M C Global............................441,389.............2.50%
Concept T'ees (Padium Kapital)........482,135.............2.16%
Swedbank Eastern Europe Equity........298,333.............1.70%
H C Allen.............................247,818.............1.40%
R Ryhanen.............................125,542.............0.71%
W Nilert...............................30,000.............0.17%
IPF.........................................0.............0.00%

Total....................................................60.87%

Only the Swedbank RNS of 12th December actually appears on the company website.

Still missing are "The Three Amigos!" - IIU Nominees Limited 26.29% (Dermot Desmond), P Lorange 4.77%, and Hansa Eastern European Equity 3.01% - their total is 34.07%, meaning that with them 94.94% of the shares should be accounted for.

Details of the three absentees are as follows:-

IIU Nominees Limited, principal vehicle for Dermot Desmond - Irish billionaire, with numerous business interests, known as "The Kaiser", also owns 33% of Latvian Rietumu Banka, dealing with high end clients in the Baltics and Eastern Europe, on 14th June 2013 increased his shareholding in MCRB from 14.59% to 26.29% paying about 85p per share; I'm pretty sure he would know the rules under the Takeover Code backwards, forwards, sideways etc...

Peter Lorange - former President of the International Institute for Management Development Zurich, where he was Professor of Strategy and was the Kristian Gerhard Jebsen Chair of International Shipping. He was also The William H. Wurster Professor of Multinational Management. Owns his own shipping company, and sits on the boards of several international shipping companies. A CV far too long to repeat. 4.77% shareholder, I'm pretty sure he will have leafed through the Takeover Code once or twice during his business career.

Hansa Eastern European Equity Fund - 3.01% - Part of Hansa Life Insurance, Lithuanias largest life insurance entity, and which in turn is owned by Hansa Bank. Swedbank is a strategic investor in Hansa Bank so we may get an RNS from them soon - or maybe not.

Quite why "The Three Amigos!" are so shy about disclosing their current interests I'm not sure. One could speculate.

Anyway ticked up 3.5p last week to 83.5p, lets see what happens by 5.00pm on 16th December.

xenawarriorprincess
09/12/2014
17:29
Ticked up today 1.5p to 81.5p on no trades.

Dermot Desmond and the other two have still not declared their holdings, albeit they are now a week late.

I wonder what is going on behind the scenes, and who is saying what to whom?

I'm sure that Mr Desmond knows the rules - probably backwards, actually.

As befits a billionaire, he is sailing close to the wind, although I suspect he is doing so with purpose.

xenawarriorprincess
07/12/2014
08:50
This is the shareholder register as at 18th September 2014, taken from the company website. It is as expected.

Smec Oü..............................5,788,070...........32.72%
IIU Nominees Limited.................4,650,785...........26.29%
H. Nilert * .........................1,228,222............6.94%
P. Lorange ............................844,021............4.77%
Philippe Duleyrie .....................803,961............4.54%
Europanel AB ..........................740,000............4.18%
Conils Ltd ............................681,577............3.85%
Hansa Eastern European Equity Fund.....533,333............3.01%

* 558,619 held through Birch Holding Limited

These are the holdings declared so far

Smec Ou.............................5,788,070............32.72%
H Nilert............................1,228,222.............6.94%
P Duleyrie............................803,961.............4.54%
Europanel A B (Jan Lindblad)..........740,000.............4.18%
Altius Finance (D Malamatinas)........681,577.............3.85%
M C Global............................441,389.............2.50%
Concept T'ees (Padium Kapital)........482,135.............2.16%
H C Allen.............................247,818.............1.40%
R Ryhanen.............................125,542.............0.71%
W Nilert...............................30,000.............0.17%
IPF.........................................0.............0.00%

Total....................................................59.17%

I would assume that the Conlis/Altius holding is simply a change of name rather then a proper transfer.

W Nilert is obviously related to H Nilert, a board member, P Duleyrie and R Ryhanen are also on the board.

Notable by their absence so far are IIU Nominees (Dermot Desmond), P Lorange and Hansa. Their holdings should add up to 34.07%, meaning that 93.24% of the shares are (possibly) accounted for.

The possible takeover seems to have had the effect of flushing out a few of the smaller holders.

All should have declared by 2nd December.

I wonder why they have not as yet. Is Mr Desmond up to something, or is he just being a naughty boy?

We'll see who declares next week - offer (if there is one) by 16th December.

xenawarriorprincess
04/12/2014
18:53
Only 57.77% of shareholders have declared so far.

A few notable names missing at present.

xenawarriorprincess
29/11/2014
12:48
MCRB's finance costs for the first 9 months of the year were €5.196M. for a full year this equates to €6.928M or £5.542M.

As net borrowings are €42.781M this is equivalent to a net borrowing cost of 16.19%, close to the 18% they pay on the bonds.

IPF have borrowed on their bonds at 5.75%.

If MCRB could borrow at the same rates then they could save roughly €4.469M per year in interest charges or £3.57M.

If all this money simply fell to the bottom line then PBT would increase from €2.367M to €6.836M or £5.468M.

Net income attributable to shareholders for the 9 months was €1.545M or 8.7c per share.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if they could refinance the bonds at around 6% then this would be a ridiculously profitable company. They would pay more tax but income attributable to shareholders would increase to something like €5M or £4M, putting them on a p/e of 3.

MCRB, of course, are considering a more complicated arrangement for financing the bonds, involving debt, new investors and equity from existing shareholders. Obviously as yet no agreement has been reached between the big players.

At 481p IPF is on a p/e of 13.5. Brokers are generally favourable with price targets between 530p to 640p, although PG and Liberum are negative.

MCRB, if it were able to borrow at the same rates as IPF were to be valued on the same basis as IPF then the share price would be 308p, or thereabouts.

Of course IPF is sitting on £80m cash, equivalent to 8% of the share price, and is a much bigger company, valued at £1Bn.

But MCRB has the technology, making its operations super efficient, and cutting out some of the agencies and door to door collectors would in time make IPF more profitable, and enable them to graduate to a more "sophisticated" type operation.

I'm not sure IPF would go as high as 300p, although it could be worth more to IPF as IPF not only get their hands on proven technology, but also new markets, an operation with much lower delinquencies and see off a potentially much more efficient operator.

IPF would want to get in as cheap as possible, I'd be disappointed if it was anything less than 150p (notwithstanding the shares are only 80p now and 53p when the potential bid was announced).

But they have to balance the possibility of MCRB having difficulty refinancing, thereby getting the company cheaply, with the problems it could cause if MCRB did refinance and they then have a super profitable, well financed, high tech competitor in their main markets, and being a number of years away from rolling out an efficient and sophisticated internet based system themselves.

Only MCRB management and possibly major shareholders know how the debt negotiations are going. No doubt IPF are trying to find out prior to pitching their formal offer, if indeed it comes, and are probably in direct negotiations with major shareholders in any event.

Dermot Desmond a major (28%) holder can drive a mean bargain - he bought City of London Airport for £23M around 1995 and sold it 10 years later for a rumoured £750M! So I think we are probably in safe hands so far as any negotiations are concerned.

The potential bid, and actual bid itself, if it comes, may in itself jazz things up quite a bit, so if debt negotiations had stalled the parties may now suddenly see matters in a different light.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks.

xenawarriorprincess
29/11/2014
08:18
I agree the MM's probably have very little stock.

In the 6 months leading up to the 18th November RNS the stock had only been traded 19 times, and 4 of those were me!

We should get some more RNS's next week showing the present shareholder interests in MCRB - 2nd December should be that deadline - although I don't expect much change from the previously announced positions, it will be interesting to see if there are any holders between 1% and 3%.

Then we have the two trades last week - 125K and 133K at 15.04 on 24th November. The price at that time was 70p-77p, the price having ticked up 1p during the day, the 125K was at 72p, the 133K was at 75p. The 3p difference on 133k shares is just £10 short of £4,000, so it could have been some sort of matched bargain transaction, via a broker - and the fee was £4K, nice work if you can get it.

Maybe both were sells, or more likely one buy and one sell. If one buy and one sell then they are below the 176,901 (1%) threshold where disclosure needs to be made - and there has been no such disclosure. If both were buys (or sells) then a position should have been disclosed. But interesting that such a large trade, for MCRB, doesn't move the price, when a trade of a couple of thousand shares usually is enough to move it up or down by a couple of pence.

A move into the high 80p's would see us at a 3 year high.

Anyway I've got two dates in my diary, 2nd December and 16th December, which is the deadline for the formal offer - if it comes.

xenawarriorprincess
28/11/2014
16:20
XWP - no worries. The shares still keep ticking up a bit...not much around in market maker hands. Fingers crossed this gets taken out, as we've both said it definitely makes sense (at the right price) to both parties. Have a good w/e.
geraldton1
25/11/2014
18:45
Yes, interesting price action yesterday and today, a couple of small sells, and a small buy and the price is up 6%.

I suspect that the MM's hold hardly any stock, as this is an infrequently traded share.

I'd rather not correspond privately, if it is all the same to you. I'm just a small pi, with no inside track on anything, and anything I do post is open for anybody to view. Indeed much of what I post is for my own use, so I can go back and see what I was thinking at any one time. Certainly my various posts on MCRB have singularly failed to stir any interest in the share.

I've been looking at the RNS issued by IPF on 18th November. It was positively gushing about the abilities of MCRB -

"The proposed acquisition of MCB would enable IPF to use the rich experience MCB has gained since it began operating in 2006 to accelerate the development of IPF's digital lending business and it would also expand IPF's range of new digital products and distribution channels. In addition, it would increase IPF's geographical footprint with a proven business model in a manner that is consistent with IPF's declared strategy."

This certainly suggests that IPF is very keen on snaffling MRCB. As yet IPF has no digital offering.

IPF has also been buying back its own shares on a regular almost weekly basis over the last 12 months plus - often up to 100k per day. They currently hold around 7M in Treasury which is worth a cool £33M. The company appears to be generating loads of cash and they don't appear to know quite what to do with it, so they've mounted a share buy back to improve their capital ratio.

Cash at the half year was £80m.

MCRB's credit quality also appears to be significantly better than IPF's. In the last quarter 28.1% of IPF's loans were impaired compared to 19.2% for MCRB's loans.

It is also noteworthy that IPF has recently refinanced its own borrowings with bonds at 5.75%, illustrating what could be potentially available to MCRB if they also were to refinance on favourable terms (they are at present paying 18% and still making a decent profit!) - and which at that price would lead a very significant increase in profits for MCRB.

Presently MCRB are valued at less than £14M - and I'm sure they are worth much more than that to IPF.

xenawarriorprincess
24/11/2014
12:21
PS: Price ticked up a bit today
geraldton1
24/11/2014
12:17
XWP - I don't suppose you have a private email address you could give me so we could continue our chat offline? No worries if not, my two main emails (work and personal) are both pretty obviously me. I need a mcrb@hotmail.com type thing!
geraldton1
23/11/2014
10:02
Certainly overlooked - but in recent years MCRB has acted almost as if it was a private company - with RNS's few and far between, and has not courted publicity.

Indeed in 2014, until the latest set of announcements there had only been 7 RNS's all year - all dealing with such "dry" matters as accounts, the AGM and annual report.

I know that RNS's cost money, and that some companies seem to issue them for almost no reason (and they're not necessarily the best companies), but MCRB do seem almost to avoid publicity.

For example they launched a mobile app in Finland in June 2014, and Creditline was launched in Latvia in October 2014. Creditline has proved to be a money spinner in Finland and has outperformed expectations, but you wouldn't know it had launched in Latvia unless you trawled through the latest quarterly update. And to find out about the mobile app you would have to translate the Finnish website. Mobile apps seem to be a bit of a buzzword at the moment - but MCRB seem to want to keep their progress in this area fairly quiet.

The latest investor presentation detailed exciting expansion plans - for mobile apps, the extension of Creditline and Sving into new markets, plans for deposits etc. Those plans may have been somewhat delayed due to funding issues, but there has been no update to the presentation in over a year.

So they've been acting a bit shy. Which hasn't done much for the share price.

Anyway - enough of that.

It would certainly make sense from an IPF point of view for IPF to take them over, I guess it is all a question of what Smec and Dermot are prepared to accept, and whether they can all agree a deal.

I've always had the impression that there is some rivalry and disagreement between Smec and Dermot, and that neither of them are too happy with the Board, but that maybe neither can agree on replacements for the Board either - so they've ended up continuing with the same management team.

So maybe now IPF have come in, even if they don't end up taking MCRB over, the end result could be that things will get stirred up quite a bit, and that sleepy MCRB will never be quite the same again.

In fact if IPF do make an offer I wouldn't be at all surprised to see at least one further offeror entering as well, once it becomes known that MCRB is in play.

Certainly there must be sizable local financial institutions would want to get access to the products and technology which MCRB have developed over the last few years.

So I await the next few weeks with interest - as you say its almost Xmas!

xenawarriorprincess
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