Pcf Share Discussion Threads

[seasidehippo] 29/5/2021 16:50

An excellent positive post, the longer this drags on you may well be correct.

[cjd190573] 29/5/2021 16:14

Just giving this situation a little bit of thought. Can we deduce that if there is no PRA/FCA irregularity, by the fact that the company is not commercially suspended?. Also the trading updates in March do talk quite a lot about scalability, transformation and automation. Should we therefore be expecting this as shareholders? Does anyone also think that PCF is very much in the right place at the right time, right now, with a big vacancy in it's portfolio and a few companies looking for a little assistance (Amigo/NSF)to name a few, with a very savvy, cash rich major shareholder? Could there be a very different PCF about to emerge, over the coming months, with a new board, a clean balance sheet and a new vision? Could be a lot bubbling away. Again totally speculative but given that suspensions are only usually applied on the grounds of compliance and sensitive news, I am inclined to think a bit of both and a few busy RNS's. I also think that all of the accounting issues are purely continuity issues with three CFO's in the space of six months, with differences of opinion and we are seeing the disadvantages of working in isolation from home. Just trying to 'bottle half full' this. There is going to be a lot of gobbling up over the coming months. Just look at Metro Bank and it's mortgage book as an example?

[seasidehippo] 28/5/2021 18:54

Must be next Friday then!!

[dandigirl] 28/5/2021 16:57

No point in issuing a RNS on a Friday evening ahead of a bank holiday weekend. More likely to try to use the time over the weekend to hammer out something for next week.

[graham1ty] 28/5/2021 16:45

Well, if they cannot get an RNS out this evening, it is going to be a fun bank holiday weekend for accountants and lawyers........

Tues will be twelve days.......

[seasidehippo] 27/5/2021 22:31

Have you checked the Sun?

[seasidehippo] 27/5/2021 22:28

If its going to be bad news then it is highly likely IMO that an RNS will be issued on a Friday rather than early in the week, but of course i could be completely wrong with this assertion.
GLA

[dandigirl] 27/5/2021 22:05

Nothing in IC.

Nothing in Bell’s Shares Magazine.

Hmmm.

[dandigirl] 27/5/2021 17:41

No point in issuing a RNS on a Friday evening ahead of a bank holiday weekend. More likely to try to use the time over the weekend to hammer out something for next week.

[cc2014] 27/5/2021 14:22

Friday 16:35 RNS to be specific

[dandigirl] 27/5/2021 14:19

I don’t?

[seasidehippo] 27/5/2021 14:09

Smells like a Friday RNS and I think we all know what that means!!

[cc2014] 27/5/2021 13:01

To me it smells like the story of the company that grew too fast and the accounts department didn't keep up. Either through lack of expertise or resources.

Or perhaps it's the story of a company that wrote it's own software to deal with it's massive expansion and something got missed or the accounts people didn't fully understand it.


Whatever is going on is easy to see as a binary event which happenned last week but let's not forget they've been unable to get the accounts signed off for some time. Perhaps 3 months longer than it should reasonbly take. That's the evidence of an accounts department that either can't add up, or the systems are inadequate or they've got a load of accruals they can't substantiate. Or all three

As an aside don't even ask where the interims are which last year came out in the first week of June. I see they have pushed back to 30th June which I believe is the last day they can provide them under AIM rules although I would need to check that.



I see it that the problems of getting the accounts agreed have been building and building and I perceive the news leaked to the insiders months ago, because the share price was too low. The sellers kept coming whilst the rest of the market was on the biggest bull run in history. (which is why I kept coming back here as I figured either this was the easier trade in history or something was fundamentally wrong).

So, either they found some new problem last Wednesday or it just reached the tipping point where the shares had to be suspended. The poorly worded RNS and the later second RNS along with Scott's resignation appear to me to suggest a Board which wasn't operating well. The lack of follow up RNS also suggests to me the Board care little about the shareholders other than Somers and I would speculate that Somers have been quietly reshaping the Board with the CEO, CFO and MD all going in the last year.

I would agree with Dandigirl that it's Somers that are taking the time, but we are still left in the dark as to why and whether the issue is actually material. There again on the basis they are reviewing their accounts and reporting maybe PCF don't know either.



Edit: If pressed I would run with the outputs from the new computer system are either inconsistent, unreliable or don't cross-triangulate against other data.
Because if it were justification of accruals it would't take a week (never mind 3 months) to sort and if it were large scale fraud I think the RNS would have had to allude to it and by now they would have an estimate of the value. If it were impairments again that wouldn't take 3 months to sort (unless the output from your computer system is unreliable). All my guess though. It could be anything.

[dandigirl] 27/5/2021 12:33

Let us remember that there is a significant shareholder to be consulted with and to reach agreement with. They, too, are probably feeling pretty aggrieved at whatever had happened. Like the rest of us, they would not have been expecting this.

However, for them, more than likely this is an opportunity not to be missed. IF a capital raising is required, not only do they have to provide funds but, perhaps, underwrite the remainder. It could be that there is an opportunity to take PCF private, on the cheap, rejuvenate then re-float.

My guess is that it is the conversations with SOMERS that are taking the time - and let’s face it, they are in pole position and see no reason to be pushed into something not of their liking. Just my musings.

[graham1ty] 27/5/2021 11:27

Who knows !!!

[seasidehippo] 27/5/2021 11:11

If you are correct, wouldn't it be an investigation rather than a "review"??

[graham1ty] 27/5/2021 11:01

It must be something major, and major enough for Scott to resign. And I don’t think it can be merely an argument with the auditors. What could there be that they had not picked up a sniff of in six months since the Prelims. Since the restatement of the Prelims over two months ago, it must have been clear the auditors and Company would have to be extra careful to get the audit right. If it was an argument about IFRS9 and impairments, they would have thrashed it out, and that is hardly a resignation issue ( unless Scott felt he was not getting supported by the Board).

It feels that the issue ( whatever it is) came out of the blue. Scott did not resign until the next day, so the issue with him arose after the suspension one could speculate. If it was merely “systems”;, that would have been apparent months ago in the audit.

Conclusion......who knows ????

[cc2014] 27/5/2021 10:01

Another day goes by with no update.

On the one hand it would be good for them to get something about before the bank holiday weekend. On the other might as well take another 3 days.

Why do they need so long? It's beyond me. I would hate to think they are putting shareholders through this and there isn't a serious problem, yet the longer it goes on the more I conclude that there must be one, but also that there must also be a credible solution they are working on, else you might as well just get on and spill the bad news to the market.

[thewheeliedealer] 26/5/2021 20:44

Hi all,

My mate Peter @Conkers3 and myself did a ‘Twin Petes Investing’ Podcast last week and PCF was one of the Stocks we discussed. I am quite shocked by how this has turned out, and without doubt it is a trap I could easily have tripped into. It is only luck that meant I wasn’t in it.

We also discussed a lot about Markets and the outlook for Summer and into the Autumn, and as always we also chatted about loads of other Stocks and Ideas for research and a fair bit of educational stuff with regards to Investing and Portfolio Management (and without doubt some important psychology stuff always creeps in).

Anyway, if you use Youtube, Apple, Audioboom, Overcast, Google+ or Spotify, Podchaser etc. you can find it under the 'Conkers Corner' Channel (you want Podcast TPI 49) and you can find it on Soundcloud at the link below.

I hope you enjoy it and find it useful, we try to keep them light and they are totally unscripted, with the intent being that it is like you are eavesdropping on us having a chat down the local boozer.

Cheers, WD
@wheeliedealer



And you can hear it on YouTube here:

[the millipede] 26/5/2021 19:51

Yeah. Ok. Fair points. Hope you are right.

[seasidehippo] 26/5/2021 17:33

Why should it take a long time? They have an internal audit function and they have recently undergone a year end audit by the external auditor.

[the millipede] 26/5/2021 16:58

"PCF announces that trading in the Group's shares has been temporarily suspended while the Group undertakes a further review in relation to its financial controls and reporting processes."

I have to admit, this suggests to me, it might be a while before we hear anything.

[graham1ty] 26/5/2021 07:14

And the silence continues......

I do not subscribe to Investors Chronicle, but has ST said anything ? He cannot ignore this as it is one of his top tips ( for about three years). Even if it is brief, or only speculation, has he written anything ?

[dandigirl] 25/5/2021 18:31

I just hope that PCF is continuing to write new car loans. The used car market is very strong at present. Happy that we hold SUS too. Their share price is doing better of late.