Melrose Industries Share Discussion Threads

[losos] 19/11/2019 10:30

B+ "It’s a hold for me." I recently adjusted my holding down slightly to be more in line with what percentage of overall portfolio I normally hold, remainder long term hold for sure.

Thanks for the updates. Market seems to like it.

[brexitplus] 19/11/2019 10:19

Yertiz

I agree about Nortek. Re GKN I think everything is progressing well. When sold the different parts will be much better than under the old regime and much more valuable.

Still, they know what they are doing. It’s a hold for me.

You must be pleased with Halma.

[yertiz] 19/11/2019 09:15

Another jam tomorrow update. I think Nortek has become another millstone around the share price neck. The sooner it is offloaded, the better MRO could concentrate on their primary objectives with the GKN businesses. Otherwise there is no way this will be £3 by Xmas, lol.

[brexitplus] 19/11/2019 08:56

DO YOU REMEMBER all of that posturing by Airbus re Brexit. Last week they said in the DT

“Airbus has “no reason” to quit Britain in the event of a bad Brexit deal, according to the plane-maker’s boss.

Guillaume Faury, chief executive of pan-European aerospace business which makes its airliners’ wings at its plant in Broughton, North Wales, said there is a “short-term risk [that] no deal would cause a lot of disruption”.

However, he added: “We have a very strong base in the UK and we are very happy with this industrial base. We have no reason to move production out of the UK. It would be difficult anyway, these are huge industrial systems - you can’t just move them.”

He said that “aside” from Brexit concerns, the UK has a “very competitive ecosystem” for the aerospace industry.

[brexitplus] 19/11/2019 08:18

Positive TRADING UPDATE

“TRADING UPDATE

Melrose Industries PLC ("Melrose" or the "Group") publishes the following trading update for the four months from 1 July 2019 to 31 October 2019 (the "Period"). All numbers are calculated at constant currency.

Melrose is trading in line with the Board's expectations for 2019.

The improvements in the businesses are being delivered at pace and the Melrose Board is confident this will unlock significant further shareholder value.

Divisional highlights

Aerospace

Aerospace has achieved sales growth of over 5% in the Period compared to the same period last year, once again outperforming the Board's expected longer term average growth rate. In addition, good margin improvement has been delivered compared to the same period last year.

Automotive

Automotive delivered a higher profit and margin in the Period compared to the same period last year.

In the Period sales were down 5% year-on-year, which includes the temporary effect of the General Motors strike in the US. The business consequently showed, once more, its ability to perform impressively even with this market headwind.

Powder Metallurgy

Powder Metallurgy was impacted proportionately more than Automotive by the temporary effect of the General Motors strike, which led to a sales decline of 13% in the Period compared to the same period last year - without the strike revenue would have been in line with the Board's expectations.

In the Period, contracts were exchanged to acquire Forecast 3D, a leading player in 3D printing, which had 2018 sales of $19 million. This acquisition is expected to complete by the year end and will further expand Powder Metallurgy's capabilities to become a leading global player in this fast growing and exciting market.

Nortek Air & Security

Nortek Air & Security has seen improving year-on-year trends in the Period compared to those seen in the first half of the year. The division achieved modest sales growth with margins similar to those achieved in the same period last year.


Other Industrial

Other Industrial is trading in line with the Board's expectations.

Net Debt

Group net debt was in line with the Board's expectations with significant investment and restructuring actions being funded to further improve performance and initial steps to reduce working capital in GKN being implemented as planned.

Melrose will be presenting its full year results on 5 March 2020.

Justin Dowley, Chairman of Melrose, said:

"Melrose continues to do what it has always done well: improve businesses. Some macro conditions could be more helpful, but this has not stopped us continuing to transform the GKN businesses, delivering another trading period in line with expectations, and achieving better trends than seen in the first half of the year. We are excited about what is possible and confident in our ability to unlock significant further shareholder value."

MY NOTE

“Several auto parts makers have been impacted by the 40-day strike at GM, which began on Sept. 16 over higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of profit and protection of healthcare benefits.”

[brexitplus] 18/11/2019 15:46

Losos

Have a look at Graphcore, an unlisted company, which is at the forefront (that’s a good word) of chip design for AI. Investors include Microsoft, Dell and BMW. I have a holding in Draper Esprit Plc which has invested £14 million which is currently valued at about £79 million, and Graphcore currently valued at about £1.7 billion. Last week it announced that Microsoft is using its chips in its cloud service Azure.

[tournesol] 18/11/2019 12:36

Losos

Perhaps it's a pity that we don't use AI to run an unmanned parliament!

More seriously, having spent my entire working life in IT, I remain highly sceptical about driverless cars. I can perhaps imagine them working in a new build city which has been purpose designed to faciltate autonomous vehicles. I can't imagine them driving safely through historic cities like London, Cairo, Athens, Paris, Lagos. It is next to impossible to build a complex system which has 100% reliability - you can see that from all the high profile glitches in systems used by public facing organisations. Thos glitches are not simply bad design or faulty construction, they are an inevitable consequence of complexity.

My son works in AI and tells me I'm a dinosaur. He is not involved in driverless cars but tells me they are inevitable. He also tells me that 90% of white collar jobs will disappear and be done by AI technology within his working lifetime.

Bill Gates once said that with revolutionary technology, we tend to over-estimate its speed of arrival/roll-out but under-estimate its long term impact.

T

[meanwhile] 18/11/2019 12:27

Thanks, Losos.

I'll be making a record of your comments in my 'Investment Strategy' file.

[losos] 18/11/2019 12:17

MEANWHILE "Is there any mention of Melrose in this week’s ‘Horse and Hound’?"

No but there's plenty about electric tractors which may one day use GKN drive trains haha. Also I did see an 'unmanned' tractor sewing seed in the summer, was going very slowly, but weird to see no one in the cab. Personaly I would prefer to see any 'unmanned' vehicles in a muddy field rather than on the M1 haha.

[meanwhile] 17/11/2019 18:05

Losos,

I’m pleased to see you back here.

Is there any mention of Melrose in this week’s ‘Horse and Hound’?

[brexitplus] 17/11/2019 16:29

Hi Yertiz

Good win for Exeter. Gloucester should have won but lost SEVEN lineouts, two, one at the end of each half, near the Toulouse line. Still a good performance.

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 23:02

Why can't we all just get along?

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 21:03

Burford - on a downtrend again,
PLUS500/MINUS900(but stop-loss of 10% added) - looking weak,
PurpleBricks - now in the final stages of inevitable demise.

We used to hear a lot, around a year ago and on this MRO board, about these 3 stocks.
Why not now, lads?

[gettingrichslow] 15/11/2019 18:17

What do you think of Meanwhile, Sliotar?
Would you say he comes across as intelligent or a little bit slow?

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 17:33

And we are no longer the 'gruesome twosome'; Minerve has left this board. Although Sliotar is shaping up well to take his place
(Note the use of the semi-colon, grossly under-used these days).

MEANWHILE is now the 'lonesome onesome'.

[gettingrichslow] 15/11/2019 16:04

You’re very defensive about it Sliotar! Feeling a bit duplicitous are we??
🤣🤣🤣

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 15:54

Yes, we must be the same person.

[sliotar] 15/11/2019 15:48

Far far better advice from Mark Twain for the lad/lass is “the secret of getting ahead is getting started”.

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 15:31

Yes, you free spirits, you pioneers, explorers, adventurers, you trail blazers.

And Mark Twain, eh? And where is he now?

[brexitplus] 15/11/2019 15:16

Getting, for the record the “gruesome twosome” in all their aliases are, and have been for some time, filtered. Life is too short to waste time on them.

As Mark Twain said

“Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

That is exactly what we are doing.

[meanwhile] 15/11/2019 14:59

Sliotar must be the same person as MEANWHILE, because he has the same view on the bonuses and on getting.

[sliotar] 15/11/2019 14:22

Yes - £10 Billion. Easy for KKR. Just imagine those bonuses for the boys. Of course Gettingmatureslowly's LTIP is mummy giving him/her an extra Pound's pocket money.

[gettingrichslow] 15/11/2019 13:23

We established a long time ago that Meanwhile is not very capable with numbers and can’t do maths! And it’s so obvious that Sliotar is Meanwhile - always posts just after Meanwhile and always mentions one of Meanwhile’s favourite topics such as Director bonuses or ‘£3 by Xmas’ - in this case he mentions both!!

[brexitplus] 15/11/2019 13:06

I believe the market cap is not far off £11 BILLION.