Melrose Industries Share Discussion Threads

[minerve] 25/4/2018 22:03

Cisk

"Those fees are obscene."

Melrose executives paid themselves £40M each last year. They were obviously embarrassed by their own greed because the figure had to be 'wrenched out' of them during questioning by the Parliamentary Committee.

They are obviously going to line their pockets with even more in the near future. How many wing components are they going to have to sell to pay the £285M bonus that has been reported they are going to make.

The £285M could be shared by all the shareholders.

They don't have exclusivity to the methods they employ. They haven't found any unique way of running a company.

The same old party tricks have been used many times over and the ignorant masses are bribed to believe in the immoral game.

[grahamburn] 25/4/2018 21:57

GRS.

Thanks for your kind and supportive comments which, I hope, are reasonably accurate about my background and abilities. However, I would never presume to make such comments on a public bulletin board about myself or divulge information about the size of my wallet or various portfolios or specific investment style or rationale etc etc.

Suffice to say that I have enjoyed the last two decades of investing on my own account for capital growth and providing an income (nb not going to divulge/reveal the extent of either!). However, for the past 8 years or so this has been my sole activity which might just indicate something.

Indeed, I have aimed to be on a par with the average professional investor who according to accepted knowledge hopes to achieve 6 (or maybe 7) successful investments in every 10. I am happy that I have achieved, and even exceeded, that target over most years (or investment periods), but freely admit that I have also absorbed - and learned from - some significant errors of judgement. (Incidentally, Melrose falls within the successful group, as indeed did GKN!)

Enough said, as it is pointless to get into such discussions on boards such as this. I rarely post on boards for that very reason.

Let me conclude by imparting one prescient word of wisdom on bulletin boards which has served me well over the years. It is often wise to invest in shares which do not have highly active bulletin boards or ones where individuals post incessantly.

Up until this year, this particular bulletin board has been a pleasure to read. I sincerely hope it will soon return to that status in the very near future.... otherwise I might have to reappraise my investment in Melrose!

Or perhaps it will prove to be the exception to the rule!!

[brexitplus] 25/4/2018 21:53

Current MRO and GKN prices are completely in sync on 1.69 x MRO + 81p.

Only about 10% of GKN shares are now in the market while many MRO shares are in the market, giving opportunties for arbitrage. This will continue until delisting, possibly as late as 21st May.

There may be an overhang of MRO shares leading to a decrease in share price

The current position is common in this situation and will continue until the situation stabilises.

I will be taking advantage of the lower prices to top up.

[cisk] 25/4/2018 21:37

Those fees are obscene. Just how many cv joints or wing components need to be sold to cover just the fee ‘paid’ to Dana?

EVERY GKN shareholder should be grateful to Melrose for ridding the company of the cancer that is Stevens et al. Clearly at best incompetent - at worst arrest the lot of them. They’ve driven a once brilliant company into the ground and now it’s up to Melrose to fix it.

[gettingrichslow] 25/4/2018 20:58

Minerve, remember we don't really know anything about each other. Just guesses. As grahamburn points out we're all anonymous posters. Some on here claim to have had great successes in their respective careers. Some claim to have recently bought into company X, the share price of which has (surprise!) rocketed in the days since! But we don't really know about each other do we? My guess is that grahamburn is a shrewd investor. I wouldn't underestimate his skill set. I cannot say that of others though on here who seem to have serious insecurities.

[minerve] 25/4/2018 20:48

grahamburn

I have no interest in reading Melrose documentation. Why would I want to?

Usually shares get ahead with anticipation of greater things but obviously the market needs a little more convincing than you do. ;)

You can certainly talk but I have yet to see anything from you that shows me you are excellent in execution.

Slow boat to China. I hope Alabama rot doesn't set in like on the Lloyds thread. LOL

[gettingrichslow] 25/4/2018 20:20

Wise words from grahamburn. I think Meanwhile's approach is 'If the wind direction changes, I change my mind' rather than taking a long term strategic view like some of us on here...

[grahamburn] 25/4/2018 20:03

Meanwhile.

Reading a paper or analysts comment is certainly not a pre-requisite to adding a post on a bulletin board. However, it does assist discussion if posters are more fully informed on different points of view as well as assimilating views that they may, initially, disagree with. That may, up to a point, include reading "anonymous" posters on free bulletin boards.... but not always as many of those are either ill-informed or have their own axe to grind/hobby horse.

As Keynes said: "If the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"

Very relevant to investing, especially in contested takeovers. Indeed, GKN used to exhibit signs of being a sound investment until it began to fall apart in the middle of last year, completing the process in the last 3 months or so since a disrupter came along to upset their plans (or rather the board's lack of plans).

Minerve (in 3667).

In addition to the last paragraph above, your reference to "How are the shares doing, guys?" shows that you haven't read the Melrose documentation or followed their comments.... something about at least a 5 year view springs to mind rather than a few days.

[brexitplus] 25/4/2018 18:12

Getting. Do you mean insane?

[gettingrichslow] 25/4/2018 18:09

Lonely and inane!

[brexitplus] 25/4/2018 17:54

Watch out Getting... He’s after you. I said he was lonely!!!

[gettingrichslow] 25/4/2018 17:49

Yes, that's helpful Meanwhile. Well, more helpful than one of your 'calculations' anyway!

[meanwhile] 25/4/2018 17:37

getting,
Does this help you at all?

Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.

Getting to know you,
Putting it my way,
But nicely,
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.

[gettingrichslow] 25/4/2018 17:31

Minerve, for someone who obviously has a good amount of knowledge and experience you do sometimes come out with some utter nonsense...'Melrose are to blame' - are you serious??

Although you're right about them being the catalyst that upset the status quo. There's no doubt about that.

[meanwhile] 25/4/2018 17:16

I've taken a lot of criticism again today, and I've probably only seen half of it, with the filters screening out the more boring posters.
I've been told off for commenting on the poor market response to the 'honeymoon period'.
I've been criticised severely for not reading The Times comment before posting, as if reading the daily newspapers was a prerequisite to thinking. (But I can't recall seeing anything from this poster that wasn't from The Times.)

However, someone has to keep these fellows in touch with the real world, so, with help from one or two others, I'll have to keep going.

[minerve] 25/4/2018 17:14

All that would not have happened had Melrose not been around. Melrose are to blame.

They were the catalyst that upset the status quo.

How are the shares doing guys?

Having fun?

[brexitplus] 25/4/2018 16:31

Grahamburn

Found this on iii.

In his column in the Times business section today, Alastair Osborne blasts the former management of GKN, who lost an attempt to keep the company independent.

Describing them as "reckless and incompetent" he says they were happy to "smash up the company, screw over the suppliers and rack up £147m in adviser and break fees".

He singles out chairman Mike Turner, chief executive Anne Stevens and finance director Jos Sclater.

Their defence against the hostile bid from Melrose invovled "blowing" £60m on advice from three investment banks, Mr Osborne says.

He also points out that Dana have earned £40m for doing nothing, other than agreeing to buy GKN's auto business at a "bombed-out price"

Now Melrose can ream this company out.

[meanwhile] 25/4/2018 14:29

Graham, and with all due respect to all your excellent qualities, does it look to you as though it’s all turning out well?
The Times comment is worthless. To Old MRO holders it matters nothing that they have been joined in their declining fortunes by a bigger group from GKN.

[minerve] 25/4/2018 11:30

LOL. What a circus! When does the Big Top arrive?

[grahamburn] 25/4/2018 11:26

Meanwhile. With all due respects to your undoubted knowledge, abilities, investing acumen and (large) wallet, please read the Comment column in The Times before coming out with somewhat off-the-beam inane comments.

The article concluded that as GKN shareholders now hold the majority of shares in Melrose it is those very people who are paying most of the cost for their board's disregard of their fiduciary duties.

An interesting aside in the column which hasn't been mentioned (which illustrates the gaping divide between the fiduciary behaviour of the two boards of directors) is that the fees payable to Melrose's advisors would have been slashed from £70m to just £22m had Melrose not succeeded in their bid. Any sane and objective commentator should recognise that GKN is now in much safer hands.

[meanwhile] 25/4/2018 10:48

That honeymoon was over very quickly. The Groom already wishes he'd never set eyes on the bride.

[bscuit] 25/4/2018 10:35

Agreed it was disgraceful. Ideally failure to disclose should result in exiting GKN directors settlements being slashed or cancelled for breach of fiduciary duty to disclose and in agreeing poison pill to detriment of successful bidder. But I doubt that will happen.

[brexitplus] 25/4/2018 10:05

Tournesol

From the article you quoted. Dodgy by the previous GKN board and should be looked at by Rachel Reeves’ Committee. Also screwing the suppliers.

“It has emerged that not only did Dana secure itself a £40 milllion “break fee”, or compensation for the deal not completing, but GKN also agreed to pay £27 million in fees clocked up by Dana’s advisers Credit Suisse, Barclays and Finsbury, another City PR firm.

The latter agreement has caused consternation in the City. “This is a bonfire of the insanities,” one City source said yesterday. “The GKN board has spent £27 million on Dana’s advisers without telling anyone, for a deal that never happened and was never voted on by their shareholders.””


“Melrose also disclosed that GKN had postponed payments of £150 million to its suppliers in the last quarter of last year to stop its debts spiralling out of control.”

[meanwhile] 25/4/2018 10:04

Excoriate - to denounce or berate severely.

[tournesol] 25/4/2018 09:45

good article in the Times today - excoriates GKN management and the politicians who opposed the bid

article is behind paywall but headline at:-

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sting-in-tail-for-melrose-shareholders-js8f0v63c