Personal Share Discussion Threads

[simonevans] 29/2/2004 11:51

False Dawn - you seem to have some very detailed knowledge on this one - had a bad experience with them then?

[steam belcher] 25/2/2004 10:33

They seem to be increasing the emphasis on flex benefits with the recent acquisition. They will lose some clients due to the dubious cost of some of their products, but they seem flexible enough to adapt to the changing market. HR folk are quite easy to sell to, especialy if you are providing benefits with little hassle for them!

[flc] 21/1/2004 15:48

Comments noted SB. The one thing you forget to mention though is that the corporate market is beginning to wake up to the fact that the likes of Personal Group are milking their employees. Employee benefit or exploitation? I know of at least three companies where they were shown the door due to their hard sell approach.

With banks and insurance companies jumping on the employee benefit band wagon and offering their propositions FOC PG will struggle to retain their client base or win new clients.

The current valuation IMHO is about right but how long they can sustain growth is questionable.

[steam belcher] 11/12/2003 12:55

They've signed some big deals with Allied Bakeries and Starbucks - the roll outs have gone very well. New business seminars seem well attended and renewal business from the likes of Compass proves the model works well.

Employees tend to pay by direct debit so even after they leave the customers carry on paying if they want.

The employers pay consultancy fees too! Nice work if you can get it!

[davemuray] 15/10/2003 07:14

After following the share for some time and again looking at the piece in IC have added a small holding to my portfolio. Seems an intresting share with very little news flow.......

[2magpies] 12/10/2003 09:48

both shares mag AND IC say BUY!

[2magpies] 10/10/2003 11:03

is there anybody there?????

[cockneyrebel] 24/7/2003 23:42

Starting to move again.

Seems very cheap - and some very interesting big trades posted on 17th July - take a peep - 290K and 240K buys plus 60K and 50K - rare in this one.

Low PE and big yield.

CR

[eric bristow] 24/7/2003 12:08

Employees are being "advised" to buy more shares by the big-wigs at PGH and business is booming by all accounts. Worth tucking a few away I'd say.

EB

[2magpies] 04/7/2003 23:12

DUC is their broker now.

More coverage? Deals in the wings?

Here's hoping.

[flc] 04/7/2003 16:03

May be an approach in the not too distant future. One of the large insurers would pay good money to get their hands on this company and their distribution channels.

I still think they are a bunch of sharks though!

[flc] 19/5/2003 12:20

Your're right CR, there's no seasonality in earnings and with a claims ratio of circa 7% on the core product it's rock solid with minimum risk. If they closed the door to new business tomorrow the run out is enormous. 350,000 policy holders paying £60 - £100 p/a with an average claim of £50 - not bad!!

Employee benefit or employee exploitation?

[cockneyrebel] 17/5/2003 10:38

Sorry, waffled a bit above, that should have read 13.5p this year eps, up from 8p laste year. Broker estimates for 14p this year. Must have miss-edited that befor posting and never re-read it.


5.9p eps in H1, 7.3p eps in H2,

You'd think 14p looks a safe bet for the year ahead as from what I can see there is little seasonality in the earnings.

CR

[simonevans] 17/5/2003 09:12

I agree - the chart does now look very encouraging. I haven't paid this one much attention recently - it's one of those stocks you buy and hold for a long time, but things look like they could get more interesting. £2 may be on the cards.

[2magpies] 12/5/2003 15:26

interesting chart,

plus very bullish sounding(to me) words from company at last results

[cockneyrebel] 12/5/2003 12:12

Seems to be a chart breakout today - looks an interesting stock.

Grabbed a few earlier - directors are buying nicely.

Broker estimates are for 13.4p eps this year, from the 8p for the year gone

With a 6% yield of 8.5p forecast for this year this seems good value.

Plenty of cash in the bank and decent cashflow too.

Looks interesting to me.

CR

[fun lovin criminal] 31/3/2003 07:36

I work for a competitor of this company. PGH have built a very robust and profitable business over the last 18 years. Essentially, they were the pioneers of benefit booklet publication in the UK enjoying almost a free reign in this market sector.

Voluntary benefits will be a huge growth industry over the coming years as employers seek cost effective ways of enhancing benefit packages. Therefore, PGH will face growing competition - we have already won some of their business. Their core product (Hospital Cash Plan) is a poor substitute when compared with other insurance products albeit they are extremely successful at 'selling' it in to employee groups through worksite activities giving them a live base of over 350,000 members.

Their worksite activities have caused some upset in the corporate market and their sometimes hard sell approach to employees has lost them some sizeable corporate clients. Never the less, they are still market leaders, have a good client list and millions of pounds of premiums sat in their book.