Morrison (wm) Supermarkets Share Discussion Threads

[gregmorg] 01/8/2021 09:36

Really I think you should look at your calculations a tad more closely. One off charges are exactly that. Also assets are a bankers dream to which leverage gets applied.
The current offer is just too low and fortunately the big shareholders have indicated their positions . I admit I am puzzled as to why the management supports this low offer as , to my mind, it has damaged their professional credibility enormously.Yet I suppose if it teases out much better offers then less so. But that can be a dangerous game. We will see what the next few weeks bring.

[arja] 01/8/2021 09:17

hard for me to understand why MRW is valued so highly as earnings do not even cover the dividend and a a very high p/e ratio ! But market is never wrong and a counter bid likely this week .

[cwa1] 30/7/2021 15:06

Perked up a couple of coppers recently. Word of a counter bid leaking out, or just "nosey" buying?

[kingalf] 29/7/2021 17:19

I don't think it's dead, they just want more money for it.
£2.75 ish would secure the sale and get the 75% approval required.
Forget about Amazon, they would have indicated some kind of interest by now.
They've got deep enough pockets, why waste your time on Morrisons, when you could easily afford Tesco.

[maxp4] 29/7/2021 16:23

And another telling fortress to get lost

[maxp4] 28/7/2021 19:11

This deal is dead . Jo Hambro just announced it wont be backing it. L&G not intrested either

[loganair] 28/7/2021 16:49

Silchester said that there was “little in the recommended offer that could not be achieved by Morrison as a listed company”, and the board should “allow more time to respond to other parties who might offer better value to Morrison’s public shareholders”.

According to independent retail analyst Nick Bubb, this is “certainly an embarrassing public rebuke for the board, for accepting the low-ball Fortress offer".

It seems designed to encourage a higher offer from Clayton Dubilier & Rice, Bubb added, with CD&R seeing its £5.5bn approach last month immediately rejected by Morrisons.

Meanwhile, Fortress announced on Wednesday morning that its consortium has been joined by GIC, the Singapore sovereign wealth fund.

With 75% of shareholder votes needed to approve the deal, it is starting to look very tough for chief executive David Potts and fellow board members ahead of the investors meeting on 16 August.

[albert3591] 28/7/2021 16:42

Let them fight it out, then Amazon will come along with a knockout bid.

[tygwyg] 28/7/2021 16:26

The vote... turnout is key...Turnout 60% SIL Alone >>> BlockTurnout 70% SIL + min 2.4% holders >>> BlockTurnout 80% SIL + min 4.9% holders >>> BlockTurnout 90% SIL + min 7.4% holders >>> BlockSilchester in the driving seat

[loganair] 28/7/2021 15:02

Singapore wealth fund joins Fortress-led consortium on £6.3bn Morrisons takeover

Cambourne Life Investment, a subsidiary of GIC, has agreed to join Fortress Investment Group – alongside Canadian pension fund CPPIB and a subsidiary of US group Koch Industries – as an additional co-investor

This would allow the consortium to sweeten its bid for Morrisons after the supermarket’s largest shareholder - Silchester International, which owns a 15.14% stake in the company - said on Tuesday that it was not inclined to support the bid.

GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, holds around 0.21 per cent of the issued share capital of Morrisons.

[nerdlinger] 28/7/2021 13:34

There is still a chance this could all be a part of the exec's cunning plan to get all bids out and have them decisively rejected by allied holders. There were reports that they had been war-gaming their defence with Rothschilds when the low share price made them vulnerable to asset-stripping (google morrisons rothschild "defence"). However, if their keenness to agree the Fortress deal is an act they appear to be over-acting...

[tim 3] 28/7/2021 13:17

Totally agree.The takeover will be bad for customers, staff and probably shareholders too in the long run.Does not matter what they say they only in it for the money.

[pjleeds] 28/7/2021 11:59

The chancers aren't just the people looking to buy, I think you have to include wanting to sell, ie. the directors.

[my retirement fund] 28/7/2021 10:40

Recently shopped at Morristons too. Felt a bit like a Waitrose on steroids except for sensible prices. What a shame if this ever gets taken out, lets hope the shareholders tell the chancers where to stick their greedy fat hands.

[tygwyg] 28/7/2021 10:09

I would think that Fortress drop drafted before SIL statement... getting interesting

[tim 3] 28/7/2021 09:15

I always shop at Sainsburys.

However recently there were so many items out of stock I decided to try Morrisons.

Difference was night and day not one item I needed was out of stock.

Impressed.

[pjleeds] 28/7/2021 08:34

See post 3039

[scotches] 28/7/2021 08:10

If Silchester think that the Fortress bid doesn't offer anything which could not already be achieved as a listed company why is the current MRW management so keen to endorse the offer. They have been "humiliated"

Could it be that David Potts thinks he has done his time and wants to depart. All the charity giveaways during the pandemic seemed to suggest he was keen for a gong to embellish the end of his time at the company.

The average tenure of a CEO is just over 5 years. Potts has been at the helm for over six years and generally considered to have done well to improve performance and recover from the hapless previous management. Even if the bidders claim the current team are staying post-bid that could just be another lure to try and secure bid acceptance.

[petersw1] 27/7/2021 18:21

Any idea why the board didn't sound out how likely it's major investors were to support the deal before recommending it?Seems very wasteful of time and resources to go through these motions if it could be easily determined if it has no chance of passing.

[tygwyg] 27/7/2021 17:37

Wonder who's tapped them up?CD&R and xxx?

[nerdlinger] 27/7/2021 17:35

Good news. It even sounds like they're not likely to vote for any asset-stripping price.

[scotches] 27/7/2021 12:54

This link (dated June 2021) has the general public at over 13% ownership in which case it does look as if nominee accounts also mean some PI.



"General Public Ownership
With a 13% ownership, the general public have some degree of sway over Wm Morrison Supermarkets. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies."