Melrose Industries Share Discussion Threads

[minerve] 05/3/2018 08:42

"Acquire, develop, sell"

More like: acquire, load debt, sack management & others, sell a few sideline businesses, pay obscene bonuses for not doing anything special - just needs zero conscience + greed, sell on, market activity as "turnaround specialists".

I like the word 'specialist', it really should be 'turnaround charlatans'.

But people will buy into the shady concept as long as they can get a few bob to go to Paris, buy a shop, have lunch in Clifton (not that great - too busy).

Many people are easily bought today. It doesn't take much. Values are weak.

[brexitplus] 05/3/2018 06:44

Hi Meanwhile, I think we had better not even look at Stirling. We have been “warned.”;

On the other hand, quite a few big investors are in. Investec, Ruffer, etc.

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 23:02

brexitplus,

Found it on Sky News.

hxxps://news.sky.com/story/melrose-trio-back-lookalike-stirling-as-gkn-battle-goes-on-11276330

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 22:58

brexitplus, my friend,

what's the source of your information on MRO directors investing in Stirling?
I've found something on Stirling & its business model, a mini replica of MRO, with the strategy of "acquire, develop, sell".

[minerve] 04/3/2018 20:40

"Might have a flutter myself."

Oh dear.

[brexitplus] 04/3/2018 19:34

Melrose directors investing in Stirling Industries IPO on Tuesday. Might have a flutter myself.

Chips off the old block!

[brexitplus] 04/3/2018 17:56

Meanwhile, I see you pushed the boat out. Dairy Milk bits!!!!

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 17:54

Excellent work, both of you.

No Clifton lunch for us, just a sandwich and a McDonalds Mcflurry, with Dairy Milk bits in it.
I don’t think you can beat it for the poorer wallet.

[grahamburn] 04/3/2018 17:14

Well done, brexitplus.

I only looked at the overall schedule which referred to "Select Committees" with the reference to the Culture Committee. Once I clicked on that following your post, there's the detailed schedule for the whole slot.

Suppose I should have been more observant and noticed the "s" on the end of Committees!

[brexitplus] 04/3/2018 16:46

It’s LIVE 10 -11.30 am on the BBC Parliament programme, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee. Just looked it up. Half an hour each party by the look of it.

For the pedantic amongst you, may I take this opportunity to apologise for my spelling of bankruptcy. Posted quickly after a very good and rather alcoholic dinner!!!

Sadly not in Paris today but an excellent lunch in Clifton, Bristol, after being unable to get out for three days because of the snow.

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 16:30

Thanks, Graham, pity though.

[grahamburn] 04/3/2018 15:30

MEANWHILE

May well be on BBC Parliament channel.

EDIT: Just looked up schedule and don't think it is..... 9.30 Culture Committee (Fake News), 11.45 Carillion Committee.

Pity as would probably been more interesting than Fake News!!

PS Might change, but guess the general viewing audience will be more interested in fake news!

[grahamburn] 04/3/2018 15:29

Interesting commentary in The Times Business News yesterday.

May I stress before any poster queries my motives that I am non-partisan in this prospective hostile bid - simply interested in genuine facts, evidence and discussion on the pros and cons of each successful or not UK company's position. Any transaction must be in the long term interests of all stakeholders - shareholders, employees, suppliers and customers.

_________

Business commentary
March 3 2018, 12:01am, The Times
Defence is all kinds of everything
Alistair Osborne

Sing along now: “Snowdrops and daffodils, butterflies and bees.” The GKN defence has been a multi-faceted affair. But, at last, it’s making sense.

It’s got a thing going with Dana. Yes, Dana, winner of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest. And not with any old ditty but All Kinds of Everything: the soundtrack to GKN’s defence. Just think of all the ways it’s tried to see off Melrose’s £6.9 billion hostile bid.

It’s played the pensions card, frightening GKN’s retirees — even though it knew Melrose had already offered to put another £150 million into their fund. Then there was the national security card, despite GKN not featuring among the Ministry of Defence’s leading suppliers (not in the top 100, according to Melrose).

Plus, of course, the efforts of its new boss Anne Stevens. She’s painted the Melrose raiders as mere moneymen, unlike the woman behind Project Boost, the turnaround plan based on “real engineering, not financial engineering”. No matter, either, that Ms Stevens is planning to break up the group into its automotive and aerospace parts in 15 months — far faster than Melrose, which reckons you should improve things first.

And now look. Up pops Dana, knitting it all together in her Irish lilt. So talk about disappointing. Turns out it’s a different Dana — the main reason, you imagine, GKN shares fell 3 per cent to 420p. This one comes from Maumee, Ohio, and fancies getting hitched to GKN’s Driveline wing via some “potential combination . . . effected mainly in equity”. Indeed, GKN reckons the possible tie-up “could provide greater value to shareholders” than a demerger.

Talks with Dana Inc are at an early stage, flushed out by the Financial Times. Yet you can see why Jefferies analysts believe “the relative scale of the two businesses” makes a deal “very demanding”. Dana, valued at only $3.8 billion, looks no bigger than a standalone Driveline: it had $7.2 billion sales last year, less than Driveline’s £5.3 billion, even if, unsurprisingly, Dana has better margins.

And why would GKN investors want a ton of Dana shares?

They haven’t always looked the greatest bet, what with Dana collapsing into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006. And the shares have had quite a run of late, nicely timed for a share-based pop at the GKN business. What, too, would Britain’s politicians think? They don’t even like the idea of another British engineering company buying GKN. So what would they make of GKN’s American boss selling one of its two main businesses to some US outfit?

Still, at least Dana has livened things up, which is more than you could ever say for the other Dana’s song. GKN has demonstrated that there are companies out there happy to help it to break itself up, potentially upping the pressure on Melrose to raise its offer. After its shares fell 3 per cent yesterday to 215½p, its bid is now 18p shy of GKN’s share price. A bit short, then, of all kinds of everything.

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 14:46

Sogoesit,
The commons committee session could certainly be quite entertaining. Do you know if it's televised?

[sogoesit] 04/3/2018 13:40

Will be interesting to see how Stevens will "sell" an asset-strip strategy to a non-UK ex-bankrupt company and who, and for what reason, the Unions will get behind.

Given the logic conflicts amongst the players it could very well be highly amusing if not so serious. A scenario ripe for Melrose to pick-out the hypocrisy.

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 12:45

Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee
The future of GKN inquiry

Next meeting(s) 06 March 2018 9:30 am
Oral Evidence Session The future of GKN

Scope of the inquiry
The Committee will be taking evidence from GKN, Melrose Industries and Unite the Union on the future of GKN. It will provide an opportunity for the current owners of this major UK supplier to the automotive and aerospace industries to set out its plans for the company and for Melrose to explain why they are better equipped to run it.
The Committee will explore the potential impact of the takeover on jobs, research and development, defence supply chains and for pension holders in the context of the Government's industrial strategy.

Witness(es)
Anne Stevens, Chief Executive, GKN
Jos Sclater, Group Finance Director, GKN
Christopher Miller, Co-founder and Executive Chairman, Melrose Industries
David Roper, Co-founder and Executive Vice-Chairman, Melrose Industries
Simon Peckham, Co-founder and Chief Executive, Melrose Industries
Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary for Manufacturing, Unite the Union
Steve Turner, Assistant General Secretary for Aerospace, Unite the Union
Location
The Wilson Room, Portcullis House

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 12:01

brexitplus,

Artical today, shown below, confirms that Dana had statid intention, as you had indicated, to offer Equity.

From Today's Express :-

"FTSE 100 group GKN, led by chief executive Anne Stevens is fighting to fend off a £7.4billion hostile bid from turnaround specialist Melrose Industries, which it has attacked as opportunistic and fundamentally undervaluing the business.
It aims to win over shareholders by pledging to return up to £2.5billion over the next three years and has set out plans to demerge its aerospace and automotive operations into separately listed businesses by mid-2019.
It has received “a number of approaches” about its businesses and has “engaged with discussions with Dana regarding a potential combination with GKN Driveline that would be effected mainly in equity”. It said a combination with Dana could provide greater value to shareholders than its own Project Boost transformation programme focused on improving cash flow and profit margins.
GKN and Dana both said there is no certainty that ongoing discussions would lead to a deal. Dana filed for bankruptcy in 2006 as suppliers found themselves squeezed by spending cutbacks at US carmakers. It came out of protection in 2008.
Employing 30,000 people, it posted sales of $7.2billion (£5.2billion) last year.

Panmure Gordon analyst, Sanjay Jha, doubted whether GKN shareholders would “accept paper from a US automotive company given the history of bankruptcies there”.
He added: “It is even harder to imagine how UK politicians who are so worried about losing ‘strategicR17; jobs in the West Midlands will approve a sale to a foreign auto parts manufacturer which filed for Chapter 11 in 2006, two years before the financial crisis.”
Melrose argues that an improvement at GKN can only be driven with “new leadership and fresh thinking”, with GKN investors taking a majority stake in a “UK manufacturing powerhouse”.

A Melrose spokeswoman said: “We have said all along that this is a decision about which management team can deliver value and long term growth. Today’s news appears to show that GKN doesn’t trust itself to do so.
“Melrose stands ready to provide the better option for shareholders and UK plc.”

[minerve] 04/3/2018 11:48

No, it's not. Idiot.

[meanwhile] 04/3/2018 10:23

Yes, that's correct, Bankruptsy. Other spelling is Bankruptcy.

[minerve] 04/3/2018 09:58

"bankruptsy"

??

[meanwhile] 03/3/2018 23:29

Really, pay with equity?
Who's going to accept U.S. equity?

[brexitplus] 03/3/2018 21:03

Also important is that Dana want to pay with equity. Dana was in Chapter 11 bankruptsy in 2006.

[dozey3] 03/3/2018 18:55

Headless chiGKN. No GKN holder can surely prefer a rushed half-baked deal with an overseas company by a CEO in post for barely ten minutes to the rational approach of improvement before disposal practised by MRO. It could cost them dearly.

[meanwhile] 03/3/2018 18:39

Losos,

9th March, I think for the bid acceptance deadline.
The Commons Committee interviews all parties, GKN, Melrose & UNITE on 6th March.

What interests me is how GKN are going to justify, to the Commons Committee, talking to Dana (USA company) but refusing to talk to Melrose (UK company).
I am hoping Melrose have something up their sleeve for UK PLC, and this could be the time to reveal it.