Mitchells & Butlers Share Discussion Threads

[wendsworth] 27/2/2008 15:35

chris1604: 'NEW' you might be but ....you sure made an astute purchase with MAB at 424p ( I assume you meant that price !) .

I do not have an up to date NAV for this share .Suffice to say that its cash throughput coupled with numerous potential 'brown field' development sites in urban areas makes this an attractive proposition at current share price level. Most of MAB's sites have car parks and therefore you're talking megabucks to a property developer.

The market is down some 60 points whilst MAB is up some 15 - 20 points during the day . 'Word is' the company are to receive a further bid approach this time in the region of 550p . Is this the reason for today's move or the pending announcement of a new chairman?

[chris1604] 25/2/2008 17:55

New to this bb, just bought at 224p.

It does look as if this will be taken out fairly soon. I would be grateful for views on the value of this share without the take out premium

[wendsworth] 25/2/2008 15:37

This is avery quiet BB considering KKR are actively looking at the company and CARR is to stand down in his advisory role to that entity. There's REAL value here for any predator and CARR will know it!

[wendsworth] 25/2/2008 08:38

Much more juice in this lemon!

[wendsworth] 24/2/2008 23:27

Ronnie73 : You did the right thing. RNS tonight regarding KKR considering a bid for Mitchells.

Friday's move down was a 'tree shaking ' exercise to shake out weak holders. Have seen such moves before as a prelude to corporate activity in other bid situations.

Should see a steep rise back up in the share price tomorrow.

[jsmith10] 19/2/2008 12:58

Mention of a Bid approach this mornign on www.traderbanter.com

They have got a few thing right recently.

[ronnie73] 19/2/2008 11:38

Just bought some more at 446p. a lot of media talking about private equity groups as well as Punch interested. Seems some value at this pice i think. Hopefully a bidding war in the making. Also notice Friends Provident is still very low and is the target of Flowers , price 135p and rumoured to have been offered 170p.

[wendsworth] 14/2/2008 12:57

Strong again today.

'Word on the street' (!) is ....'550p offer not far off'.

Is this the reason for the moves up again this week?

Views of other holders?

[wendsworth] 12/2/2008 15:15

Topped up with some more this morning .

Looks like others are taking advantage as well...currently up >3%.

[wendsworth] 10/2/2008 15:08

Listen Blue : Interesting after hours announcement regarding the Hemmings Family raising their stake to >3% . 550p is 'nailed on ' for these shares and that would be cheap ...so probably would attract further bids.

[listen blue] 07/2/2008 16:49

Well someone is buying, 43.5% of todays trades were positive

[wendsworth] 07/2/2008 16:02

Has held up well in a week of general market volatility . Further bids to follow.

[wendsworth] 04/2/2008 20:56

Bundmar and Ronnie73 : You aint seen nothing yet.

A bid of 550p will be on the table within the next few weeks .

[ronnie73] 04/2/2008 13:57

Bundmar, Tchenguiz has lost a fair chunk in sbry as well and he sometimes likes to exaggerate. I know a few people that know him fairly well. I think he may sell for less. Hopefully will get 650p but i doubt it in the near future, something 5 plus is more likely. We shall see, anyway - think they are still worth buying around 470p or less.

[bundmar] 04/2/2008 12:31

talk is Tchenguiz wont setttle for anything less than 6.50 otherwise he will take it private, he has all those losses to ofset so it is likely for him to buy it at around 6 hold on for a few years before he realises the property value.

[wendsworth] 04/2/2008 08:24

Just the start!

[ronnie73] 03/2/2008 18:15

From BBC website:

Punch Taverns has made an offer to buy troubled pub chain rival Mitchells & Butlers, it has been reported.
Reports in Sunday newspapers did not say how much Punch was willing to pay, but a statement from it could be made as early as Monday morning.

Mitchells & Butlers, owner of the All Bar One chain, is vulnerable to takeover after losing £274m through a collapsed property deal.

Both companies have declined to comment on the press speculation.

However, M&B said last week that it had already received "preliminary and tentative" expressions of interest from a number of suitors.

Other interested parties

In addition to Punch, M&B is said to be attracting a lot of interest from private equity groups Blackstone, Cinven, TPG and CVC.

M&B's largest shareholder, entrepreneur Robert Tchenguiz, may also launch a bid for the firm.

He currently has a 23% stake.

A merger of Punch and M&B would create a pub giant worth around £3.7bn, with more than 10,500 outlets.

[ronnie73] 03/2/2008 17:39

Yes, another great British company possibly going to be taken over by a foreign predator. Anyway, also glad I picked some up on Friday around 450p. There should be a fair amount of interest in the company in coming days with Tchenguiz also rumoured to be a possible acquirer/increasing his stake- various private equity companies (although, not sure how easy it is for them to raise capital at the moment)but most likely scenario a merger with Punch. However, with so many interested parties we should hopefully get a decent rally after the sharp sell-off in recent months.

So many FTSE 100 constituents are undervalued when compared with foreign companies. No doubt, the increasing financial muscle of China (Rio on Friday as the latest big stake) and India is also going to bring a few more UK companies under the spotlight for value buys. And how can we ignore the power of the Middle East sovereign funds that are also busy acquiring decent stakes in US companies (notably financials). Can't be too long before some of the UK banks come under the spotlight as targets.

[wendsworth] 03/2/2008 17:10

Demandred : Good.You did slightly better than me on buy price! You DEFINITELY did the right thing. What retail investors (as opposed to market investors) tend to do in financial 'hiccup' situations of generally well run companies is to 'concentrate on the wort and not the body'. Predators tend to do the opposite by taking a more strategic long term view.

leedskier: Noted. Many thanks. Its also the leading item on channel 4 businerss teletext. Punch have made the first move and others will be bound to follow because the 'potential brown site' properties are 'mouth watering' to asset stripping equity groups.

I see this share opening up near the 500p level tomorrow .

[leedskier] 03/2/2008 12:45

Punch Taverns Bids for Mitchells & Butlers Pubs, Telegraph Says

By Nicholas Larkin

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Punch Taverns Plc bid to buy rival pub owner Mitchells & Butlers Plc, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing anyone.

Punch submitted an all-share proposal last week following London-based Mitchells's disclosure that it lost 274 million pounds ($539.2 million) on failed interest-rate and inflation hedges, the newspaper reported today. A takeover would create a group with about 10,500 pubs, the Telegraph said.

Roger Carr, Mitchells's non-executive chairman, this weekend drafted advisers Greenhill to work on the takeover bid with Citigroup Inc., which was involved in an earlier proposal to separate Mitchells's operating company from its real estate assets, the Telegraph said.

Mitchells, which owns the O'Neill's and All Bar One pub chains, said Jan. 29 that it may get a takeover bid. Punch Taverns, the largest U.K. pub owner, and private equity firms TPG Inc., CVC Capital Partners Ltd., Cinven Ltd. and Apax Partners Worldwide LLP have all made ``expressions of interest'' to Mitchells, the Financial Times reported Feb. 1.

[demandred] 01/2/2008 11:19

I did get in yesterday but at 4.39. It then dropped to the low 4.20's which made me cringe. So good rally to be up at the end of the day ... and now a good rise today.

[wendsworth] 01/2/2008 08:49

Demandred: Up she goes !

[wendsworth] 31/1/2008 23:42

Demandred : I got in and its not too late for you. Morgan Stanley have got it right. Predators will see the combination of property portfolio based upon potentially lucrative brown field sites plus cash generation IRRESISTIBLE at current market level.

Unfortunately, yet another well established British company will find itself in foreign ownership because of the abject failure of its Board.

[demandred] 31/1/2008 16:30

good rally from the low of the day. Its just unfortunate a didn't get in at those lows!!!

[sumo barry] 31/1/2008 13:33

Careful - Not sure it will be as bleak as you suggest (sounds like a proper depression!) but I do think MAB revenue will be hit by a consumer slow down - after all eating out is one of the first tings that many consumers will stop if their disposable income drops as a result of essentials rising. MABs food sales will be hit and the drink sales that go with it.

For example - my mates dad treats his family to food every Thursday at the local MAB pub where there is a quiz. He gets up there at 7pm, buys them all food (son, sons bird, his missus, sometimes his daughter and her bloke when they want a feed). Then he buys them all a couple of drinks, then he has a go on the quiz and has about 6 pints for himself (plus a beer here and there for some others). He recons he gets through about £60 to £70 each Thursday doing this. Each year that is £3,000 plus of after tax income. Recently he has lost his regular income so I have no doubt he will cut back.

It only takes a smallish percentage of people in the UK who have similar habits to cut back and MABs sales & profits get hit hard. Even £20 per week from the avrage customer is £1k revenue on beer per year. If average wage is £25k in uk then that is quite a bit of it - especially as after tax income.

In agreement that you wont get your house in Chelsea for £100k though, but then again with Bernanke at the controls you can never say never!