MWB Group Share Discussion Threads

[patricjohnson] 10/10/2002 11:52

COMPANY BUYS BACK MILLIONS OF SHARES
LOOKS INTRESTING AT 37P
ANY THOUGHTS?

[verdley] 10/10/2002 11:30

10% of share capital purchase at 37p - looks promising. Any thoughts anyone?

[verdley] 07/10/2002 14:38

Agree about all the frustrated comments - I was tempted (but resisted!) at around a £1. Am waiting for the full annual report to come out before committing. However, this may the worst that it can get. Looks like asset fire sale value would yield around 25p. Given that disposals seem to be around 100% of valuation, the only downside seems to be (a) how much cash is eaten by the Business Exchange and (b) will Liberty recover? Otherwise, there seems to be only upside left in the current price. Does anyone else agree?

[factsonly] 02/10/2002 13:13

Appointment of Mr Sanderson as a non-executive director. Is this really necessary!? He works/ed for MyTravel... not exactly a great success story. Personally think MWB is wasting money.

[gren] 30/9/2002 19:01

So what? The shares rose by 30% after my post - a decent return in these markets. I then sold at £1 after the interim results. Meanwhile you were almost certainly stopped out of your short position. Still following the shares - looked good value at 70p level but decided to wait for finals. Obviously wasn't impressed and now I think I'll leave well alone.

[stu31] 30/9/2002 16:10

gren - 14 Mar'02 - 19:31 - 7 of 35


Praline & Stu31, I'm slightly mystified why you think this share is a screaming short. If you do your own research, as opposed to relying on newspaper speculation and/or following some fat gimp with ill-deserved "guru" status I think you'll the fundamentals of this company are excellent:

TNAV £2.20/share (ie trading at 60% discount to tangible assets)
Historic P/E 10
Yield 3.7%

The shares are trading at a similar discount to net assets as Queen's Moat Houses which has gearing of around 600%. By contrast MWB has gearing of 100%, hardly excessive particularly for a property company - they have been growing quite rapidly, this requires funding and debt in this case is preferable to equity.

On the trading front I think the downturn in the serviced office business has been exaggerated (the share price has been tracking Regus down, despite the fact that MWB unlike Regus owns the properties rather than being locked into fixed operating leases). Losses at Liberty are expected to fall this year (not sure how this will be affected by September 11 though) while the hotels are all operated on minimum income contracts ie. losses to 30/6/01 should be eliminated fairly rapidly.

So an excellent growth stock trading at a massive and unjustified discount to net assets. And the directors bought £2m of shares at £1 - I suspect they are slightly better informed than a couple of amateur shorters.

Bonjour.

[tony14] 30/9/2002 15:14

Good call Praline!

[topgooner] 28/9/2002 00:10

any guesses on how far this one going down to?

[factsonly] 27/9/2002 16:13

Judging by the buying, I think someone might be thinking about a takeover. Hope they do and not pay the MWB directors any compensation for sacking them.

[ewnw11314] 27/9/2002 09:36

management what a load of rubbish

[factsonly] 27/9/2002 08:30

How can MWB end up making such a bad loss and with less than half the shareholdersfunds it had at the start of the year!? Are the mgt too engrossed in their own little side venture and sucking money out for themselves? They should of sold Liberty when they were offered the money! They never even mentioned if they would achieve their 250p a share target, should be around 140p instead now. If making such a big loss is not a sackable offence then I don't really know what is.

Go and resign chairman and lackies... if not, you will be pushed off at the next agm.

[sll] 13/9/2002 08:21

They will run with Malmaison for now and continue to develop the brand, but the group's stated strategy (2002 interims) is to return substantial value to shareholders over a [4] year view. I see Malmaison as a classic private equity play, but in a sense that's what MWB are now doing with it and that's the position they have wisely put themselves into. They now own it outright. An industry relevant new MD has just been brought in (no doubt heavily incentivised to make Malmaison grow profitably) and, mid-term, MWB will want to sell it on in +/- 3 years time as a much more developed and viable niche-leading brand. If 'a major' steps up in the meantime and offers them silly money for it (unlikely but not impossible), they will be in a position to grudgingly accept. I hold MWB as a long-range investment.

[factsonly] 11/9/2002 18:03

I agree entirely, I would love to see them expand internationally and be given shares in them as a part of the disposal programme.

[sll] 11/9/2002 08:16

I am quite impressed by the Malmaison deal. My guess is that MWB do need clean 100% title to the 'brand and buildings' to be able to sell either or both 100% clean, if/when a suitable deal can be struck. Equally it gives them 100% control pro tem, which has to be good. As an enthusiastic user of Malmaison, I can testify that it is a very different proposition that is highly distinguished from an otherwise very bland hotels sector. Going forwards, I can't see that brand diminishing in value, providing they manage it correctly. All in all - good news!

[verdley] 10/9/2002 09:54

I thought they were concentrating on disposals, not acquisitions!

[factsonly] 10/9/2002 09:50

Liked today's announcement that MWB has bought complete ownership of malmaison. Excellent brand and group, with excellent growth prospects... something I'd gladly bet someone like sixcontinents will be happy to pay a premium for. The best option for shareholders I believe is that MWB demerges malmaison in 2003.

[sll] 05/9/2002 01:20

Guess the interest will return post finals.

[8 ball] 22/8/2002 22:37

Interesting to see Standard life building a stake.

Good rise today, with a late 100,000 trade, maybe Standard life buying again.

Not holding MWB at present, my interest is via London Finance.

[sll] 12/8/2002 16:42

What a shame that MWB's board are debarred from buying at today's pricing, being in their closed period. I would bet they will move in again if the price is still this low after the finals - although I can't see that being the case. Has anyone got any views as to what may lie behind the recent fall and where it might go next? I hold.

[praline] 12/8/2002 16:16

I hate to gloat folks and indeed I closed my short much earlier than I should have but I did warn everyone about this rubbish when I opened this thread on 14th March - look at it now - hitting all time lows daily and heading for 30-40p in short order - no doubt my prediction will be sneered at again but I will be proved right before year end - ALL BOW TO PRALINE!

[sll] 12/8/2002 07:48

F - take your point, but with material borrowings still to be reduced it may be best to de-gear for a bit longer and get the Banks well away from the table. At some not too distant future point, your suggestion might usefully be lodged with the company.

[factsonly] 12/8/2002 01:11

Just did some checking on the numbers, it seems two of the more recent smaller deals were above NAV and the larger two were profitable (not clear is they were above NAV, but have a niggling feeling thy weren't). Anyway, if they maintain this momentum, I don't see why they won't hit the £2 a share mark in a few years time. If I was the chairman, I'd ask for approval to buy back shares and buy them whenever they are a major discount to NAV/share (and cancelling them) i.e. now. This will ensure the final payout per share for remaining shareholders would be even higher.

[sll] 10/8/2002 13:27

F - The Board and senior staff, including new Chairman Brian Myerson's 'Active Value' fund interests (the latest [£20m of new money at 80p per share]shareholder at an 80p entry price) control more than 25% of MWB equity on my calcs. They are thus unusually well placed to rebuff any unwanted low ball bid, unless they were to become convinced that such was the 'best way out' and they recommended it. I neither believe that is nor will become the case, unless there is an extraordinary property market collapse. In normal 'up and down' market conditions, they'll play this one as long as needed to extract maximum value for their 25% plus and our 75% minus. DYOR. I added this week and have now built a position I am content with at an average value I can live with. Regards!

[factsonly] 09/8/2002 18:15

4 disposals since the 1st July, not bad, that's one every 2 weeks or so. Just a bit mystified why the stock is declining, I just hope no other property firm comes in and snaps up MWB the cheap and cheat us out of our £2.

[sll] 09/8/2002 09:04

F - fully agree.