Northamber Share Discussion Threads

[rainmaker] 21/9/2009 22:51

A couple of purchases today, results are out on Thursday.

regards

[cwa1] 18/9/2009 16:18

Just had a very small top up. Could only get 6667 online. Strange number but there you go. It's also the first trade that's actually shown up!

Fingers crossed now for some sign of progress at next statement time.

[rainmaker] 16/9/2009 00:33

In the very best tradition of Value Investing we're not making intricate forecasts about future trading merely buying on the strength of known facts and definite prospects-WSIWYG-"What you see is what you get"(a value investing term long before Computers came about) and at current levels the stocks of 40p a share, which are valued at cost or net realisable value, are in the price for absolutely nothing.

regards

[huttgl] 15/9/2009 15:52

5dally - Not wanting to buy any more at present so I didn't press the proceed button but when the online offer is made the trade would only need confirming so it should have gone through. I was using idealing.

[5dally] 15/9/2009 15:48

Funny I have been trying all day to buy online and nothing doing :-(

[huttgl] 15/9/2009 15:47

Odd share. I got 3000 on-line just after 08:00 today. Price rockets, which you would think indicated a shortage of stock, but a dummy sell online only allows me to offload 667 a time.
Currently I can buy 6667 online at 49p which accounts for the difficulty filling your remaining order at 39p. Must confess I don't really understand quite what this behaviour is indicative of.

[cwa1] 15/9/2009 13:22

Hi huttgl

Left it with my broker. Got me 10k at 39p, but had asked for 20k total. He said he'll leave it with MM's to see if he can fill the full 20k at that price. Some chance ;-) Don't think it'll be completed untill the market maker or I cancel the other 10k. Not sure tho as not an expert in MM ways.

Also got another 2500 thro another broker but don't see that either yet.

Cheers

[huttgl] 15/9/2009 13:07

CWA - did you get your 10k ? Can't see it on LSE or Plus.

[cyberpost] 15/9/2009 13:02

rainmaker

you sure they weren't reported on PLUS ?

[rainmaker] 15/9/2009 13:01

Masurenguy-I won't be 100% sure of that. I know for an absolute fact that there have been purchases made in the last few weeks that were never reported.

regards

[rrogans] 15/9/2009 10:58

Anyone have a view on what a take-over price would be? Presumably a premium to NAV? Unlikely to be a hostile take over, if the price move is related to the sale of the company, so 20% premium? £1.10?

Rich

[bozzy_s] 15/9/2009 10:07

(edited post above to include figures)

[bozzy_s] 15/9/2009 10:05

Those are the reported trades. The price movement could well be due to unfilled orders / unreported trades.

[masurenguy] 15/9/2009 10:00

Be careful - price has been manipulated up on just three orders - 2 x Buys of 3k & 1k @38.9p and one Sell of 2k @32.1p since yesterday morning and on that basis it has been marked up 45% to 40.5p !!!

It is also VERY illiquid too !

[bozzy_s] 15/9/2009 09:59

Very informative and interesting thread RM. Just wondering what your opinion is of TND? A small-cap profitable company with net tangible assets £4.5m (£2.1m cash) vs market cap £3.4m, and trading on a current-year P/E of around 3.

[balcony] 15/9/2009 08:43

Again moving along today,Could be the RAINMAKER effect

[cwa1] 15/9/2009 08:37

Morning All

Looks interesting. Certainly not on a current trading basis as things are clearly not rosey in the garden, yet. However, what astruggle it was to just pick up a miserable 10k of stock earlier on :-((

[btb2] 15/9/2009 08:19

Morning RM...noticed you mention this on your value thread.

Let's hope it's as good as UNIQ

No position at the moment, but the very best of luck to all

[rainmaker] 15/9/2009 02:07

The following text will not be seen after you upload your website, please keep it in order to retain your counter functionality
















Company: Northamber PLC

Epic:NAR

Activity:Distributor of Computer Hardware Peripherals

Price 37p a share

Net Cash 45p a share

Debtors cancel out Creditors so Stocks are in the price for zero-and at cost or net realisable value whichever is lower, are 40p a share

Net Working Capital(a proxy for it's minimum liquidation value) 80p a share

Net Asset Value 90p a share

So even after todays rise, by my calculations it's still trading at less than two thirds of net working capital(that's less than 52p a share for Northamber) and an automatic purchase according to legendary Stockmarket Guru, Ben Graham who stated that at that level or lower an Investor did not need to know what a Company did in order to buy it's shares since it was a true "bargain".The current historic dividend yield based on the last 12 months is 4.3%. With large cash resources it is quite conceivable with any sign of an upturn that Northamber will raise their dividend


From the interim results released 19/2/09 Balance Sheet Our well established policy is to conserve working capital and that we have continued to do. After GBP4.437 million in share buy-backs, dividends and returns to shareholders during 2007/2008, as at 31 December 2008 we retained cash reserves of GBP10.5 million. This compares with GBP11.8 million at 31 December 2007. Total net assets comparatively declined from 102p per share to 90p, and a current NAV GBP26.1 million down from GBP30.1 million the result of the above.


From the interim management statement, 30/4/09We continue to be cash positive which we now seek to provide us with tangible advantages in trading negotiations. At the end of March our cash balance was GBP13.2 million compared with GBP13.3 million at the year end and GBP11.0 million at 31 March 2008. So this is a cash generative business that managed to return approximately 15p a share in 2007/2008 yet it's cash balances have actually increased.


It would be wrong to say that things at Northamber are rosy as the Company lost £300k in the six months to 31 December 2008-it's first loss in fifteen years. However they have kept a close eye on costs and actually reduced operating costs by £900k last year.In the interim management statement on 30 April,the CEO, David Phillips said"At the time of the interims results in February, against a very dismal economic backdrop, I necessarily reported a significant decline in turnover for the first half of the year.I also warned that it would be inappropriate to be optimistic for the near future. That degree of pessimism was not unwarranted within the UK economy and given the somewhat discretionary expenditure nature of our product and service offerings.


However I would contend that the "market" has overcompensated for the current poor trading of Northamber and that the economy and the economic outlook has improved since April.Northamber has 45p a share in net cash and at the current price you pay absolutely nothing for it's stocks of £10.5mln or 36p a share so it's reasonable to assume that, unless the UK's economy worsens, that the downside is limited from current levels.

Such is the inherent "margin of safety"available at the current price that I would not wait until the final results on 24 September before buying since I believe any sign of an upturn or optimism will send the share price flying.My target is 70p, a slight discount to it's current net working capital and would expect that to be reached within a year. It's perfectly feasible that with the CEO and majority shareholder, David Phillips ,within a year or two of the retirement age, that the business may be sold in which case you could reasonably expect the bidding to start at net asset value of 90p.

Normal caveats apply-please do your own research as I have done mine. Past performance of previous ideas Uniq, SDI Group, London Forfaiting, Pace Microtechnolgy,Teather & Greenwood, Theo Fennell, Stanley Gibbons Group, etc,etc,etc,etc is no guarantee of success.regards

[rainmaker] 15/9/2009 01:58

I know Ben, there's only one market maker. I'm going to write up on this Company but in the meantime,the bare bones, from memory(so you'll need to check my figures), are the following-

Company: Northamber PLC
Epic:NAR
Activity:Distributor of Computer Hardware Peripherals
Price 37p a share
Net Cash 45p a share
Debtors cancel out Creditors so Stocks are in the price for zero-and at cost or net realisable value whichever is lower, are 40p a share
Net Working Capital(a proxy for it's minimum liquidation value)80p a share
Net Asset Value 90p a share

So even after todays rise, by my calculations it's still trading at less than two thirds of net working capital(that's less than 52p a share for Northamber) and an automatic purchase according to legendary Stockmarket Guru, Ben Graham who stated that at that level or lower an Investor did not need to know what a Company did in order to buy it's shares since it was a true "bargain".The current historic dividend yield based on the last 12 months is 4.3%. With large cash resources it is quite conceivable with any sign of an upturn that Northamber will raise their dividend


From the interim results released 19/2/09


Balance Sheet

Our well established policy is to conserve working capital and that we have
continued to do. After GBP4.437 million in share buy-backs, dividends and
returns to shareholders during 2007/2008, as at 31 December 2008 we retained
cash reserves of GBP10.5 million. This compares with GBP11.8 million at 31
December 2007. Total net assets comparatively declined from 102p per share to
90p, and a current NAV GBP26.1 million down from GBP30.1 million the result of
the above.


From the interim management statement, 30/4/09

We continue to be cash positive which we now seek to provide us with tangible
advantages in trading negotiations. At the end of March our cash balance was
GBP13.2 million compared with GBP13.3 million at the year end and
GBP11.0 million at 31 March 2008.

So this is a cash generative business that managed to return approximately 15p a share in 2007/2008 yet it's cash balances have actually increased.

It would be wrong to say that things at Northamber are rosy as the Company lost £300k in the six months to 31 December 2008-it's first loss in fifteen years. However they have kept a close eye on costs and actually reduced operating costs by £900k last year.In the interim management statement on 30 April,the CEO, David Phillips said

"At the time of the interims results in February, against a very dismal economic backdrop, I necessarily reported a significant decline in turnover for the first half of the year.I also warned that it would be inappropriate to be optimistic for the near future. That degree of pessimism was not unwarranted within the UK economy and given the somewhat discretionary expenditure nature of our product and service offerings.


However I would contend that the "market" has overcompensated for the current poor trading of Northamber and that the economy and the economic outlook has improved since April.Northamber has 45p a share in net cash and at the current price you pay absolutely nothing for it's stocks of £10.5mln or 36p a share so it's reasonable to assume that, unless the UK's economy worsens, that the downside is limited from current levels.Such is the inherent "margin of safety"available at the current price that I would not wait until the final results on 24 September before buying since I believe any sign of an upturn or optimism will send the share price flying.My target is 70p, a slight discount to it's current net working capital and would expect that to be reached within a year. It's perfectly feasible that with the CEO and majority shareholder, David Phillips ,within a year or two of the retirement age, that the business may be sold in which case you could reasonably expect the bidding to start at net asset value of 90p.

Normal caveats apply-please do your own research as I have done mine. Past performance of previous ideas Uniq, SDI Group, London Forfaiting, Pace Microtechnolgy,Teather & Greenwood, Theo Fennell, Stanley Gibbons Group, etc,etc,etc,etc is no guarantee of success.

regards

[ben value] 14/9/2009 15:58

I think even small amounts of volume can push up the SP

[rainmaker] 14/9/2009 15:37

Hey, what happened to the SP?


regards

[balcony] 14/9/2009 13:02

On the move now

[old boy returns] 10/9/2009 09:16

The market is completely ignoring NAR. NTAV must be at least 90p so they are trading at a massive discount. Also the economic slowdown and resulting fall in tournover will have reduced the working capital requirement and so increased the cash element of NTAV. Also likely that a number of smaller / financially weaker competitors will have gone out of business during the recession so NAR should be well positioned for an upturn with the release of pent-up demand due to delayed replacement of IT systems.