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NAR Northamber Plc

35.50
-10.50 (-22.83%)
28 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
Northamber Plc LSE:NAR London Ordinary Share GB00B2Q99X01 ORD 1P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  -10.50 -22.83% 35.50 34.00 37.00 44.00 35.50 44.00 325,210 09:39:13
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
Computers & Software-whsl 67.15M -411k -0.0151 -23.51 9.67M
Northamber Plc is listed in the Computers & Software-whsl sector of the London Stock Exchange with ticker NAR. The last closing price for Northamber was 46p. Over the last year, Northamber shares have traded in a share price range of 35.00p to 51.00p.

Northamber currently has 27,231,586 shares in issue. The market capitalisation of Northamber is £9.67 million. Northamber has a price to earnings ratio (PE ratio) of -23.51.

Northamber Share Discussion Threads

Showing 851 to 873 of 1025 messages
Chat Pages: 41  40  39  38  37  36  35  34  33  32  31  30  Older
DateSubjectAuthorDiscuss
15/3/2016
08:54
Interims quite late this year
hybrasil
22/2/2016
18:26
Interesting that their new non exec has a background in property. Could this mean that they are finally going to try and realise some of the value in the balance sheet?
arthur_lame_stocks
22/2/2016
13:55
Northamber is pleased to be able to announce the appointment of Geoff Walters as a non-executive director of the Company with immediate effect and he will also chair the Company's audit committee.

Commenting on the appointment, Chairman David Phillips said "Geoff brings to the post a vast experience in a wide range of industries and an extensive knowledge of financial matters and experience of the City.

After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with Binder Hamlyn London, he held positions as Finance Director or Company Secretary in companies mainly in the property and construction sector such as Priest Marians Holdings PLC, Antler Property Corporation and Kajima Europe UK Holding Limited as well as being Group Accountant at Rosehaugh PLC.

He is an Associate Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales."

Geoffrey Paul Walters, aged 64, is or has been in the previous 5 years, a director of the following companies:

battlebus2
17/12/2015
10:32
Profdoc - very much hope so but won't believe it until I see it
sleepy
17/12/2015
10:29
This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland. For some reason the AGM made me think of the Mad Hatters Tea Party. Wonder why?
sleepy
17/12/2015
10:20
Perhaps they'll take the company private?
netnut
17/12/2015
09:59
What do they mean by "capital structure" and "capital efficiencies" I wonder. Somewhat ambiguous, but do you think some of what we said is, on second thoughts once the directors had time to digest, being considered valid?
Glen

profdoc
16/12/2015
21:04
From Google News

Northamber Says Properties Likely To Be Worth More Than Existing Book Values
Tue, 15th Dec 2015 17:33

LONDON (Alliance News) - Northamber PLC on Tuesday said its chairman has noted that "based on indications received" the value of both properties are "likely to be greater than their existing book values, subject to planning permission".


Outlining the company's performance and strong financial position at its annual meeting of shareholders, Chairman David Phillips "noted that consideration continued to be given to the property and the capital structure of the company, so as to best support both the business and its capital efficiencies", Northamber said.

Shares in Northamber were untraded on Tuesday, closing at 35.00 pence.

By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini

Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Alliance News

sleepy
16/12/2015
17:39
It does seem that they have absolutely no intention of creating any interest in these shares what so ever.

profdoc - After reading the newletter maybe I should read your book as I think it will put me ahead of the Northamber management.

(You couldn't blame anyone for thinking that the management seem quite content with the status quo as long as they can draw an income. After all everyone's got a job haven't they!)

netnut
16/12/2015
15:06
Northamber’s AGM's update on assets - its stuffed with them, but....
Yesterday’s AGM was very interesting. The Board were very welcoming to the five shareholders who made the effort.
There is a lot more value in the property portfolio than shown in the balance sheet.
And there is a reasonably good chance that both the warehouse and the offices will be sold with the company piling up cash. This will add to the £5.4m already there (no debt, no pension deficit).
Market capitalisation is 37p x 28.1m shares = £10.4m
The warehouse is situated on an estate near to Tesco and M&S. The directors of Northamber are actively considering the possibility of sale (nothing definite) at a sum much more than the £6.7m Northamber paid. I’m guessing here (no inside knowledge), but given its location £10m or so might be possible.
They are also considering the sale of the office in Chessington, which already has planning permission for conversion to 28 flats. My guess here is around £2.5m to £3m could be wrung out of a property developer.
So, if all that comes to pass the company could have £18m of cash with a market capitalisation of £10.4m. Interesting.
On top of that the operating business has inventory of £4.5m and receivables of £10.1m offset by payables (the only liability) of £7.8m. Perhaps £5m or so could be extracted from these assets?
Also, there were some indications that the company has in recent months managed to occasionally go into the black.
But there is a problem:
The BoD made it very plain in a long discussion that they are minded to reinvest the money received in the operating business – yes, the same operating business that lost a total of £3m over the last 5 years.
However, they do offer a variation on the theme. They are trying to eliminate “empty revenues” and concentrate on the strategy of Value-added narrow lining (see my earlier Newsletters meaning that....

profdoc
11/12/2015
12:58
Let's hop the AGM will hold some promising.

'Annual General on 15 December 2015'

netnut
23/11/2015
12:04
Thank you Arthur. I have only just noticed your post. Yes I too have bought PRES.

I dont know any of the shares you mention with the exception of HYDG and like you I dont like recruiters. I'll come back when I have done my homework.

Your very full post is much appreciated.

hybrasil
20/11/2015
20:26
Sorry Hybrasil

Forgot to mention I also bought e few PRES. I waited for the trading update which was good so I missed the bottom but they look cheap to me despite their main markets being depressed so in better times could be worth a lot more, have already fallen a long way.

arthur_lame_stocks
20/11/2015
20:22
Hi Hybrasil

Although I've had a pretty good year so far most of the stocks I'm sitting on are the rump of unsuccessful investments.

I have

AVS - I have made a substantial profit on these but expect more so am not selling yet.

BVM - Wish I'd sold these a few years ago but have faith in the new management to turn things around.

DRS - Bought as a recovery play and not going bust in the short term but not performing either.

HYDG - I don't by and large like recruiters but I think this is worth more than the price I paid and the balance sheet is strong.

NAR - Well we're all here

ODX - Reckon it's worth what I paid even if their new products don't work out, but cash might become an issue in a couple of years time.

OMG - Done well out of these, but hoping they can licence their tech to a couple of major players

PEN - Got caught out by the results but think they're a fundamentally sound business and will recover.

SUH - Been sitting on these for years and think I will make a profit in time, certainly not going bust.

I also have a few investments in my new SIPP.

AUK - They just looked cheap to me based on earnings and the price but I don't want to hold them for the long term.

GOAL - Bought right at the recent bottom, strong balance sheet, good margins and cashflow and potential growth.

The truth is Hybrasil I think the market is overvalued so I am being very cautious, it's better IMO to sit on cash and wait for opportunities than feel the need to be fully invested all of the time. So many low quality stocks seem to be on pe's of 20 or more that I can't believe we are not due some sort of correction.

All the best

Arthur

arthur_lame_stocks
20/11/2015
08:59
Arthur Lame Stocks.

Good to see you around again. You have been on advfn for a very long time.

What is in your portfolio at the moment?

hybrasil
16/11/2015
18:18
I agree with all your saying Profdoc, i suspect they will want to allow a little more time to see if we can return to a more stable profit..
battlebus2
16/11/2015
11:06
Hi Glen

The only reason I hold a few of these shares, which I bought for around 31p is that I am hoping that before long the Phillips family realise that they are flogging a dead horse and liquidate the business releasing, as you say, over £20m in cash.

I can't see them ever earning an acceptable return on all of that capital as things stand and they have more to lose than any of us.

What I don't like seeing is the gradual erosion of shareholder value but I still believe the difference between the price I paid and the value of the high quality assets (cash and property) that they hold is so great that it's worth holding on a bit longer.

Cheers

Arthur

arthur_lame_stocks
16/11/2015
10:27
Does anyone agree with the following summary of strategic options I have sent to David Phillips and Alexander Philips (no reply so far.
Glen
Northamber – Does it make sense for the firm to try to rescue the operating business?
The motivation for purchasing Northamber’s (LSE:NAR) shares two years ago was to benefit from the obvious path for the directors to take, namely the gradual run down of the business, releasing cash from property, inventory and receivables.
That would result in at least a doubling of money invested in the shares because it held net current assets much greater than MCap. And there was another amount of money roughly equivalent to the MCap in easily marketable property.
(See earlier Newsletter posts: 19th – 27th Nov 2014, 13th Dec 2014, 18th & 19th March, 8th – 10th Sept, 23rd Oct ) (I’m grateful to Graham Neary, a fellow shareholder in Northamber, for helping me to write this post – and agreeing to be associated with it).
Two years on, net current asset value, NCAV, has fallen to £12,338,000 (before my usual downward adjustment to inventory and receivables numbers to conservatively allow for failure to realise the stated BS value in the “liquidation by stealth”).
However, the value tied up in property has probably risen given the rise in property around London over the two years.
Thus the MCap is probably around one-half of the value of the cash that could be released on a liquidation of the firm.
So, why is the management team not following the script?
Hope of rescuing the operating business has been rekindled with the arrival of Alexander Phillips, the son of the 61.23% shareholder and chairman, David Phillips.
Alexander has been busy changing the mix of products sold and revitalising the sales effort. This is bearing some fruit, e.g. sales in the year to end June 2015 were 4.1% higher than the previous year, at £65.5m, gross margin is up to 7% compared with 6.8%, there are fewer “empty revenues” and loses were reduced by £269,000.
Also, they are not splashing money around trying a last ditch attempt at break out from their moribund condition: capital expenditure is very small, distribution plus administrative costs have not grown, inventory and receivables are down 8.6% and 12.9% respectively, cash has risen 7.2% to £5.4m (one-half of MCap).
Also the loses roughly equal my estimate of the property value gains; while NCAV is declining by over £0.8m pa, the value of the offices in Chessington (with planning permission for flats) and the warehouse have collectively risen by the roughly the same amount.
So, assuming no deterioration in the operating business, and hopefully some improvement, the overall value of shareholders’ cash tied up in the business has been stabilised at £20m - £22m.
I can see from David’s point of view that it is worth giving it one more shot, especially when you have a son who is eager to take the reins.
But, surely we must consider:
(1) Whether, even if the business is revived, it will ever produce the minimum level of return that an intelligent business person should expect from the employment of over £20m. This should be at least £1.6m on average in every year in the future. Some would argue that the risks in this type of operating business are so high that we should expect at least £2m year-in-year-out. The last time it achieved anything like this was 10 years ago, and that was with a much higher turnover.
(2) Alternative ways of releasing value for shareholders.
On the first point, we cannot know for sure what can happen, we can only look at subjective probabilities of alternative events we can imagine, grounded in our understanding of the industry economics.
What are the odds of the following happening? On a turnover of £70m (£4.5m greater than in 2015) gross margins rise to a height they have not been for a long, long time of 8%. This will produce gross profit of £5.6m.
Further assume for this scenario that distribution and administrative costs fall from £5.5m to only £5m at a time of rising turnover.
Then we have a pre-tax profit of £0.6m. A big improvement over the £0.89m loss last year, but still far short of the required return on shareholders’ money tied up here.
This is the best reasonable scenario I can come up with; and so I have to ask, what are the odds of achieving even this modest level of profits given the appalling industry economics?
Each of us has to come up with our own number, but I could not ascribe more than 33% - even in one of my better moods.
All the other reasonable scenarios are worse – many of them showing continued losses.
Without a rise in property values (a distinct possibility) to offset the decline in NCAV serious declines in value will occur.
Then there is the dream scenario, the unreasonable hope scenario.
Here sales rise up to £100m on a gross profit margin of 8% and costs of £5m. Then pre-tax profits are £3m.
Well it could happen, but what are odds?
I leave you to make your own judgement. In making it you would, of course, consider the rate of turnaround already achieved, e.g. turnover up by 4.5%.
This is what the chairman has to say on his optimism about the turnaround:
“Although remaining optimistic regarding the future of the Company, at this point in time I am unable to forecast the immediate future with any certainty but will continue to use our very best endeavours to deliver change and continue to aggressively dilute our empty revenue exposure to the commercial impossibilities of the mainstream hardware based sector.” (2015 Prelims)
Not exactly brimming with optimism!
Alternative ways of realising value for shareholders
1. Run down the operating business and sell off both properties. Liquidate the company and pay shareholders say £20m or 71p per share.
2. Alternatively, sell the two properties and move the operating business into smaller rental premises. Then pay a special dividend – which amounts to more than the current market capitalisation. A variation on this is to use the proceeds of the property sales to buy back say £11m of shares.
3. Sell the office property and move the office functions to the warehouse. Pay a special dividend at say 20p per share or complete a share buy-back for £5m
4. The Phillips family could buy out the other shareholders at 71p a share, and take private the entire enterprise. Thus avoiding costs of being quoted, boosting profits and allow free rein to Alexander to develop his ideas outside the public spotlight.
A judgement call
Each of us has to make a decision on the basis of our judgement of the likelihood of a turnaround sufficient to justify holding the cash within the operating business.
I would dearly like Alexander to succeed in turning around the business – I wish him luck. But I would put two deadlines on him.
First if the company is not profitable in either of the next two six month periods staged liquidation should be accelerated.
Second, if profits of at least £1m are not achieved in the year ending May 2016 then a faster liquidation plan should be immediately implemented.
This is giving Alexander the chance to prove me wrong in my assertion that sustainable profits of at least £1.6m are unlikely to be achievable in this persistently bad industry environment.
Please say your piece
What do you think? Should we press the directors to have such a pledge in place?
Please write and let me know how we shareholders should proceed to plead our case for rational decision-making here?
I’m at a loss to know what to do when the 61.23% shareholder has both strong control and the difficulty of possibly taking away a company his son would like to run. Help me.
In the meantime I remain a shareholder because of my expectation that the stagnation of value will not go on forever – logic will out in the end. Either there will be a glorious revival or there will be a liquidation.
But I’m conscious of Keynes’ wisdom on waiting for rationality to emerge triumphant, saying in the long run we are all dead! And: the market (read ‘directors’, in this case) can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent!

profdoc
30/10/2015
11:37
Surprised to se a tick up on a small buy but i'm not complaining, value should eventually shine through.
battlebus2
27/10/2015
16:10
Scholium (SCHO) is worth a look since its a profitable net net at a 33% discount.
kev0856153
27/10/2015
14:20
Paul Scott note on NAR - down the page
sleepy
27/10/2015
13:35
Some of the comments are also interesting - click comment button on right at bottom of article to see them
sleepy
26/10/2015
10:08
Thank you, Battlebus2
profdoc
Chat Pages: 41  40  39  38  37  36  35  34  33  32  31  30  Older

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