Oakdene Homes Share Discussion Threads

[tanners] 24/4/2008 11:59

TornadoDown - whilst the Directors have in the past traded their holdings pretty well, with some shrewd sales, I still wouldn't read too much into Director buys as they often have a rose tinted view of their own business which clouds their share trading judgement.

As davidosh rightly points out (and make no mistake he's a good authority on housebuilders!); the profits are dropping significantly and coupled with the high debt means that what looks like a cheap price could soon get cheaper.

The housing market is clearly not the bouyant sector it has been for the last 10 years, and those builders of significant numbers of flats/appartments look to be directly in the firing line.

There's loads of much better prospects than this imo.....and highly leveraged Companies such as this really are the last place to look.

[davidosh] 24/4/2008 11:49

Profits were far higher in 2006 and forecast to be £14m in 2007 so £5m is far from impressive and they could even make a loss in 2008 at that rate of slowdown and depression in sales

[a2584728] 24/4/2008 11:48

I think they may take this private at some point

[tornadodown] 24/4/2008 11:48

RNS Number:8216M
Oakdene Homes PLC
30 January 2008


Oakdene Homes plc
("Oakdene" or the "Company")

Trading update


Oakdene, the South East England housebuilding and property development Group,
today announces a trading update for the year ended 31st December 2007. The
Company's preliminary announcement of its final results will be in May 2008.



Oakdene anticipates that its trading profit before tax for the year ended 31st
December 2007 will be materially below market expectations but, subject to
unforeseen circumstances, not less than £5 million. This is principally as a
result of trading during the last 3 months of the year being significantly below
the Board's expectations and two anticipated major transactions not completing
before the year end.



The first was in respect of a bulk sale to investors of additional units at the
Group's flagship Newhaven development. Construction of the first phase
comprising 111 units was completed before the year end, and sales are proceeding
at a satisfactory rate. We therefore expect that these units will now be sold to
individual purchasers during 2008.



The second transaction which did not complete was the sale of a major
development site for which a substantial unsolicited offer had been received.



As has been widely reported, there was a significant slowdown in new housing
demand in the latter part of 2007 as a result of the reduced confidence levels
caused by the difficult credit conditions. As a result, the Company's individual
unit sales were markedly slower in the last three months of 2007, exacerbated by
general adverse press comment on the residential property market.



The Company has a strong land bank and despite the current difficult trading
conditions demand for development land in the South East region remains robust.
The planning applications for our major sites at Newhaven and Southampton are
proceeding well and we anticipate being granted planning approval for Phase 2 at
Newhaven in the first half of this year and for Southampton in the second half.
The grant of planning for these two water facing sites will be for in excess of
1100 residential units plus a small amount of commercial space and, at Newhaven,
the expansion of the existing near 300 berth Marina. The book price of these two
sites is circa £19 million.



Negotiations for the development of the additional land at Newhaven owned by
Newhaven Port & Properties Ltd ('NP&P') are making progress. As we announced in
August 2007, heads of agreement were reached with Societe d'Economie Mixte
Locale de Co-operation Transmanche ('SEML') for the purchase of NP&P which owns
the ferry terminal and 147 acres of residential and commercial developable land
around the sea front and harbour at Newhaven. Following further discussions, it
is now likely that Oakdene will develop the land in joint venture with SEML / NP
&P, which will relieve Oakdene of the obligation to own and operate the ferry
port.



The Board believes that low confidence levels will continue throughout the first
half of 2008 and that margins will remain fairly tight, but that the continuing
high demand for housing in the South East, combined with high employment and
easing credit conditions, will see confidence returning to the market in the
medium- to longer-term. The South East region remains the strongest housing
market in the Country and Oakdene, with its substantial land bank, is well
placed to take advantage of improving market conditions when they occur.

[tornadodown] 24/4/2008 11:15

Updated 4 March 2008

Total No. of issued shares 41,198,171

Shares not in public hands
Percentage of shares not in public hands 37.43 %

Directors Shareholdings Number of shares Percentage of issued voting share capital


Shares held by directors 4,448,800 10.80 %

Significant Shareholdings
As at 31 July 2007 the Company has been informed by certain major shareholders of the following beneficial interests in the ordinary share capital of the Company:

Shareholder Number of shares Percentage of issued voting share capital

Nigel Wray 6,320,513 15.66 %
Friends Provident International Ltd 4,617,038 11.20 %
Carl Turpin (Chief Executive) 4,104,923 9.96 %
RAB Special Situations (Master) Fund Ltd 2,943,973 7.29 %
Mrs M Decker 2,000,000 4.85 %
JO Hambro Investment Management Ltd 1,353,000 3.28 %

[tornadodown] 24/4/2008 11:12

Present portfolio of developments



Future project developments

[tornadodown] 24/4/2008 10:21

Having taken a cursory glance I do like the look of this. Profit to be circ £5M and taken a heavy fall although Directors have been buying quite a few on the way down.

[mathisvale] 24/4/2008 09:25

Today's AGM statement from Persimmon says that the (housing sector) train hit the buffers in the last 3 weeks. This is not a sector to be in at the moment IMO

[a2584728] 22/4/2008 12:51

CR I agree whole heartedly.

[cockneyrebel] 21/4/2008 11:21

Looks like something going on here imo - several large trades today, very high volume a little while back and all MM's looking firm.

I hate builders but these look like they might have someone sniffing about imo.

CR

[davidosh] 17/4/2008 19:24

No direct links but I monitor the website and you can see which flats have gone under offer or sold. A friend bought one of them eight months ago too so I know the general situation there.

[galles] 17/4/2008 15:48

Davidosh, do you work or have any dealings with the Newhaven development then? Your claim about them not being able to sell their properties sounds like you have vast knowledge of their operation!

[cockneyrebel] 17/4/2008 15:27

Strange to see a little builder buck the trend, Telford are down too.

Some corporate activity?

CR

[cockneyrebel] 17/4/2008 15:25

Why's someone paying 2p over the market to buy 30K ?

CR

[davidosh] 17/4/2008 13:23

Perhaps they have sold another flat at Newhaven .....they have sold barely any in the past six months so worth an RNS even !!

They will need to sell something as the gearing is mammoth and the banks will be over their shoulders pointing a few fingers at the need to bring some cash in

[typo56] 17/4/2008 13:20

Builders have falen today on the TW. warning, but not OKD for some reason

[galles] 17/4/2008 11:23

Hyper, looking at the share price of other builders, instead of rising after the news, they are actually falling, so I can't see this as the reason behind OKD's rise.

A25, where did this rumour come from? Will certainly be a good sign if others are interested in their land bank but really depends on how much they can get in return for it.

[hyper al] 17/4/2008 10:36

The rise could just be that the government is about to announce that it will secure loans for mortgage companies against government secured bonds.

This will release large sums for mortgages and boost house sales (maybe not prices), certainly in the short term.

[a2584728] 17/4/2008 10:26

I think they may have a bid coming for the Mewhaven site from one of the more cash generative builders, we shall see.

[galles] 17/4/2008 10:23

Nice jump today, something is up!?

[amla] 15/4/2008 17:50

Just had a look at their website.It seems that they are stuck with a lot of flats and some houses to sell.Of all the developments,the first phase at Newhaven has had the most sells and reservations.
So we have a lot of nice,newly completed properties in lovely surroundings in the right areas but all quite expensive in today's market.
I think the share price looks very low considering the property value alone,once this crisis has passed.The problem will be in maintaining sales staff and the dwellings themself and can Oakdene sustain this slow period while servicing it's debt...which is?
If the debt is manageable,I see no reason why they would not be bought out.Bovis has no debt...would they be interested?
It seems that Oakdene completed this building phase just a tad too late to benefit from the glorious years before this credit crisis.What a shame!
Anyone of you got a reason to buy?Shares,I mean!!

[typo56] 04/4/2008 19:56

redtelephone
I wouldn't know. If you're not the seller/buyer or broker or the market maker how would you know?

However, the trade is for about 10% of the company and Carl Turpin holds about 10% of the company. Quite possible it's tax management - perhaps selling to realise capital losses against tax at 40% rather than 18% next week.

[redtelephone] 04/4/2008 18:06

Typo
was the 4m a sell or buy.it's ? on adfvn.

[typo56] 04/4/2008 17:05

sscrabble, 35m is the weighted number of shares in issue over the period, not the number of shares in issue at the end of the period.

There was a 7.5m share placing on 10 May 2007 and 850k on 4 June 2007 for exercise of options. The RNS of 29 May 2007 states that the total voting rights is 41,198,171.

Interesting trade today of 4,120,656 at 47p. RNS of 27 Feb 2008 states Carl Turpin holds 4,104,923. The numbers don't quite equate. End of year tax planning, or something else? That's just over 10% of the company. Also a trade of 616,700 at 47p.