Nmcn Share Discussion Threads

[battlebus2] 15/10/2020 08:32

Always be very wary when several high profile board changes are made, some without a good wishes card. Thankfully this is no longer a top position but at 1.7% of the portfolio it still hurts.

[igoe104] 15/10/2020 08:29

Looks like holders have been completely misled, by the previous board. The former CFO has alot to answer for... Unfortunately these individuals always bounce back into other good jobs.

[eezymunny] 15/10/2020 08:05

So now looking for finance. How the uneducati who ranted about the cash balance had it wrong, wrong wrong.

The risks here were clear for all to see. No sympathy.

[eezymunny] 04/10/2020 09:56

If you think CTO and NMCN are similar, then may I politely suggest talking to a financial advisor?

[edmundshaw] 03/10/2020 10:57

T Clarke is a very different animal as a specialist in electrical, plumbing, heat and air-conditioning installation and data centres. They do have a very different market...

[igoe104] 01/10/2020 13:18

Same sector, you bell...

[eezymunny] 01/10/2020 13:11

CTO is nothing to do with, nor like, NMCN FFS

[igoe104] 01/10/2020 09:46

CTO has had a positive update, with improved margins and positive forward guidance. So no excuses from NMCN then.

[jwball] 30/9/2020 14:49

Doesn't look good at present. CEO leaves suddenly

[cc2014] 25/9/2020 21:53

Long term chart looks like head and shoulders to me

[playful] 25/9/2020 20:20

I bought here and think it's actually a worthwhile investment.

[battlebus2] 25/9/2020 15:56

Best paid!!!

No more information was given about the departure with the statement adding that “the group may incur losses this year”.

The move comes as the contractor, formerly known as North Midland Construction, also searches for a new chief finance officer, after the departure of Dan Taylor was announced in July.

Homer and Taylor were among the best-paid construction plc executives, a study by CN found last year, in fifth and 18th place respectively. Last month Homer, who worked for Bam Construct, Galliford Try and then Morgan Sindall before taking over NMCN in 2016, defended the firm’s payment of a dividend, despite making use of government support schemes.

NMCN revenue in 2019 stood at £404.7m, making it the 42nd largest contractor in the UK as measured by the CN100.

[cc2014] 25/9/2020 15:12

The RNS says they "may make losses", not that they will make losses.

Either a) they've got cost overuns due to Covid or just poor site managment or poor bidding and it's a bit marginal whether they think with 3 months to go they will make a profit or not or
b) they've got a load of issues and haven't got a scooby.

Im my mind given their margin was around 1.5% I would have though Covid would have eaten all of that up anyways so ending the year at around breakeven seems not an unreasonable result. I'm surprised anyone would have any other expectations.


This is the trouble with the construction sector. There's just no buffer for the bad times.

[eezymunny] 25/9/2020 14:42

My point Kinwah is that unless you have inside information, you have NO IDEA what overruns there are, nor their scale. Therefore saying that you´re confident that they are small is not a reasonable thing to do IMO.

[kinwah] 25/9/2020 13:19

True there have been legacy contracts in the plural but only one gargantuan several tens of millions of pounds disaster contract where although the work has been completed, recovery of costs is still ongoing. The water company work has been steady and consistently profitable. It is other areas such as general building and telecoms which can hit problems. But the overall strength of the company is such that it suffered a huge loss on one contract and could bounce back without needing to fundraise.

[eezymunny] 25/9/2020 12:28

Except Kinwah, it wasn´t just a single "catastrophic" contract. There has been mention of "legacy contracts" (note the plural!) for years...

All these type of companies seem to suffer loss making contracts. Inevitable I suppose - big contract values, paper thin margins, throw overeager sales people and overconfident management into the mix and you have these horror shows...

[8aaaa] 25/9/2020 12:24

hand in the pot?..

[kinwah] 25/9/2020 12:18

Eezymunny I think the previous catastrophic contract was very much a one-off in terms of scale. I don't know the reasons for Homer's instant departure and they could be literally anything. You must bear in mind he was the first external CEO in the company's history so no slack would be given if he did something which displeased the family. Contractors are high risk but I think the contract risks are much better spread compared to 10 years ago.

[squeamish1] 25/9/2020 11:59

The writing was on the wall here when I bought in, that’s the biggest red flag this market offers. RNS obviously could be taken any which way, hence the big drop. Could be anything, maybe he got caught with his pants down in the boardroom, or maybe he embezzled £20m, or maybe he missed a decimal point on the Yorkshire contract for a cost of £40m. Who knows, the RNS doesn’t help us and uncertainty has never once helped a share price.

[eezymunny] 25/9/2020 11:11

Kinwah you say "I doubt that they have another seriously bad contract. I think the issues will be cost overruns due to Covid"

Your evidence for this? The CEO has left abruptly. Smells quite bad to me. Not going to get fired for just Covid delays one would have thought!

[igoe104] 25/9/2020 10:35

Yes at this level, this would make a nice takeover target, I can only see the government continuing with a big infrastructure spend over the coming years.

[kinwah] 25/9/2020 10:18

I doubt that they have another seriously bad contract. I think the issues will be cost overruns due to Covid and not being able to recover those costs from the client. Some work such as building student accommodation may be more problematic. This year was always going to be more difficult due to the changeover in the water companies' frameworks with a dip in turnover. At this level the shares are clearly cheap on a 2 year view.

[kneecaps2] 25/9/2020 10:15

looking very cheap now and I am sure a bid for this company cannot be far off.