Nestor Healthcare Share Discussion Threads

[fatso] 18/8/2004 12:25

Dived to 92p and rising back. Not an olympic effort,
Shorters, please try harder.

[fatso] 18/8/2004 11:20

I made 8 grand out of Primecare last month,working for them like a donkey, on a treadmill.
Would like to give something back, say invest 3 grand in Nestor.
The problem - is this the final sell off or should I wait until this
nice outfit dives to, say, 40 pence on panic selling?

[m.t.glass] 18/8/2004 09:07

Price hesitating on that 100p diving platform. Took it 20 weeks to get above that level 8 years ago; don't fancy waiting that long for it to drop. Give it a push someone ;o)

[m.t.glass] 06/8/2004 10:08

5 of the 10 MMs have cut their prices in the past 10 minutes ..

[m.t.glass] 04/8/2004 16:29

... "This will be a learning experience for the trusts. A number want to give it a go themselves rather than give it to the private sector, but that is an unproven solution, and we will be there to provide support later," he said.


But will they still be there? How long can the company smugly wait for its prodigal customers to return? The professionals it has on its books are surely not going to hang around.

[m.t.glass] 04/8/2004 15:55

Nestor Healthcare falls on new warning
By Stephen Foley (The Independent)
04 August 2004


Nestor Healthcare, the doctors and nurses agency, warned yesterday that it will lose more than half its business providing out-of-hours GP cover because the National Health Service is taking the work away from the private sector.

Nestor shares tumbled 13 per cent to a new seven-year low on its second profits warning in three months after saying its Primecare division will end up covering for less than 4,000 doctors, compared with 9,000 at the start of the year. The collapse has been devastating for the company because it bet £12m on the construction of two giant call centres, expecting to handle a substantially increased workload.

Investors were warned to expect the write-off of most of the £87m of goodwill associated with the acquisition of Primecare in 2001. Analysts also predicted that one of the two call centres - in Sheffield and Birmingham - would be closed.

Local health trusts are taking over responsibility for out-of-hours cover and have opted to make in-house arrangements.

Stephen Booty, the acting chief executive of Nestor since Justin Jewitt was ousted in May, said the NHS had proved to have "a natural philosophical resistance" to using the private sector. But he said he was optimistic of improving Primecare's market share after the initial hiatus. "This will be a learning experience for the trusts. A number want to give it a go themselves rather than give it to the private sector, but that is an unproven solution, and we will be there to provide support later," he said.

An internal restructuring will save £4m a year, Nestor said. However, a decision on the future of the call centres will not be made until later this month. Mr Booty said he had a preference now for a mixture of central and local facilities.

Nestor also said yesterday that there was no improvement in its biggest business, providing emergency nursing cover to hospitals. A new national database of NHS nurses willing to work overtime or part-time has reduced the need to bring in expensive private sector agencies. Nestor's business providing home helps to local authorities is the only part of the group currently growing.

Mr Booty said he was expecting to outline future plans for the company towards the end of the year. "First I need to get the business back on an even keel, patching up the holes, and until I have done that I can't consider where we are going to set sail for".

[m.t.glass] 04/8/2004 15:26

Maybe even a fall to 75-80p?





What a sorry state of affairs. Years ago this was a core growth holding of mine. Now the new boss says he's too busy patching the holes to even think about where it goes next. Supplying temporary cleaners and carers via social services departments is now the only bit that isn't dying.

Share price now back to where it was 8 years ago in 1996.

[washbrook] 03/8/2004 12:52

A great short this.Quids in.

[eastbourne1982] 03/8/2004 10:59

What a shocker, how many profit warnings is that, I don't hold, made a tiny profit on last bounce.

[happyjoe] 14/7/2004 17:02

Good news on the grapevine!

Nestor have recruited David Jones from Corporate Services Group, the man responsible for the success of their health sector, which has trebled in turnover in the 3/4 years of his leadership.

[sper] 25/5/2004 13:44

Nestor on the brink

Firm's GP gamble backfires

posted 09:57am 27/05/04
Richard Staines





Nestor Healthcare, the UK's largest listed health recruitment firm, was looking decidedly sickly last week after it issued its second trade warning in six months, announced its chief executive was quitting and was trashed by analysts.

Justin Jewitt (pictured), who had been in charge of the company since 1998, stepped down in the wake of the announcement of the trade warning. He had gambled on the NHS choosing Nestor to run night-time GP cover from primary care trusts.

But the health service is using its NHS Professionals in-house agency instead of private companies where possible, costing Nestor around £2m in revenue, and it is not using the private sector to cover out-of-hours calls to GPs at all.

The investment bank Nomura urged investors to sell shares in the firm, which said its profits would be at least £4m lower than expected.

A Nomura analyst said: "This is particularly bad news for Nestor, since the company has invested heavily in setting up two new national call centres to handle this business. Consequently it is carrying a high level of fixed costs that we think it will now have extreme difficulty in covering. The company is very highly indebted and has almost no fixed assets, so we believe it will be very reliant on the goodwill of its banks. Sell."

The company's two call centres in Birmingham and Sheffield employ around 600 staff, which could be at risk from cost-cutting plans announced by the board.

This is not the first time that Nestor has gambled on winning government contracts and lost. In 2001, it bought Healthcall, a private company that had a contract to run tests on miners' lungs. But the firm lost the contract a few months later, costing Nestor around £26m.

Article from recruiter magazine

[james3125] 20/5/2004 16:08

Hence the slippery slope still, right Astonicus

[astonicus] 17/5/2004 11:02

Schroders increased its holding by 1/3rd on Friday 14th and now holds nearly 25% of Nestors Stock.

If you support their judgement it suggests the bottom has been reached

[pointscorer] 14/5/2004 12:10

Gone blue. Good for at least a quick 10% imo

[pointscorer] 14/5/2004 11:55

on the bounce. large volumes coming in and the large sellers leaving the scene

[bigface] 13/5/2004 22:00

Well done slipperystc - you got this one spot on - what is your take on the current situation.

This is a quote from last years analysis:



slipperystc - 31 Mar'03 - 00:20 - 11 of 118


Nestor mention in the Sunday Times list of the UKs most unloved companies 150p here we come

[goliard] 13/5/2004 17:32

I've just read through last years accounts. These guys have 90mil in long term debt and have admitted that both areas of the business are failing. I cant see these being higher than 50p in a few months time and may be a fantastic short. Profits may well be 10million or below next year. On a pe of 10 that values the business at 100mill, take off the debt of 90 million and you're left with a cap of 10 million!! I know this sounds stupid now, but i think that's where this is heading.

[taurusthebear] 13/5/2004 15:58

washbrook - surely a good short was at 0805 am today, not tomorrow. I'd say that with 36% off the price today, you would have jumped on any shorting bandwagon about 20% too late tomorrow morning! :0)

[washbrook] 13/5/2004 14:20

My view is that it will be worth shorting if no bounce tomorrow.

[eastbourne1982] 13/5/2004 11:31

I would be happier to open a short than buy for a bounce, at present though I am not doing anything with this. Read the news, not good.

[gunnergonk] 13/5/2004 11:18

hey guys whens the bounce? or is this just heading south permanantly?