Pittards Share Discussion Threads

[clocktower] 14/5/2021 12:09

It would not be beneficial to them to issue more shares S.

They might buy them from outside the market though, so not to have to pay a big premium, on the other hand they might want to get the share price through the 60p mark, as it seems to be struggling to breakout but once it does there really could be a squeeze with so few free flowing.

Chart looks good, seems to forming a cup shape.

[clocktower] 14/5/2021 11:47

If they are anything like David Cameron they will be leasing a privet jet for trips to Ethiopia (holidays) - and when the government said stay at home, did he forget which home he was meant to be at, and did he break the rules more than once flying between his three homes while he was pestering former pals for favours in the National Interest of Course. LOL - All the same they claim to be trying to save the planet and yet fly around in private jets, and its only when their dirty washing is made public that they loose their memories. Not to mention hiding all the share options etc.

[smithie6] 14/5/2021 11:28

buying 400k more shares to give to the dirs. for their options, if hit the perf. targets

I don't think they will be able to buy them, noting that only a small % of the shares are in public hands

so, imo they will just issue 400k new shares

(compulsory pro rata purchase of the shares from shareholders is also an option but would produce some criticism imo so wouldn't be chosen as a solution imo)

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a) pay a divi to shareholders, or b) reduce the bank debt or c) reward the directors

I would prefer option a) or b).

[smithie6] 14/5/2021 11:17

imo

hedging is hedging

it is not identifying the impact of exchange rates on the accounts & on the financial perf. of the co. (selling in $ but 85-90% of staff getting paid in Ethiopian money). And skins bought in Ethiopia in local currency but sold in $.

(which is all good news for Pittards & the profit, or it should be)

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btw it can go the other way if the change in exchange rate trends in the other direction.

Mobile streams had Argentina pesos as their biggest income but the accounts report in £. & with various costs in £.
They got shafted by the fall in the Argentine peso (& then by on-going falling turnover).

[clocktower] 14/5/2021 11:06

S Do you think they have started to buy those 400k shares today, hence the pop up?

If so do you think they could get hold of that amount under 70p by working it and shaking some out?

[clocktower] 14/5/2021 10:42

By golly S your getting good at your summing up of the likely situation.

They did mention hedging in the last report S. :-)

[smithie6] 14/5/2021 09:48

clocktower
I mentioned that exchange rate might be one explanation for the big fall in turnover per worker
just seen the exchange rate chart for Ethiopia.
falling currency the same as the Argentine peso, & the Columbian currency.

but in line with a falling currency there is normally high inflation (since imports all rise in price in the local currency), which partly or fully counteracts the reduction the resulting value in dollars.

(the skin providers in Ethiopia will be happy since they provide something that is needed & the price may well rise directly in line with local inflation, allowing them to continue to buy the same amount of food etc.

Mr Rendell & the dirs may have been buying because of the exchange rate effects.
The cost of products from Pittards Ethiopia priced in dollars, ~80% of sales are in US dollars, have fallen markedly imo. In theory giving the opportunity to increase the profit margin and/or reduce prices in $ & increase sales.

[clocktower] 14/5/2021 06:39

Your painting a very attractive picture S.

See what happens to your brain when you become a conspiracy theorist.

[smithie6] 14/5/2021 00:19

takeover offer

in Sept 2013 an approach was rejected, cash, as insufficient

the offer was higher than 120p. Perhaps 150p, 160p.
The big holders must be unhappy now that they didn't tell the bod to put the offer to the shareholders !

a few months later (in Feb. 2014) the non-exec. chairman of Mulberry joined the PTD bod.
I wonder if the approach was from Mulberry ??!

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 23:26

interesting that accounts say that large shareholders have regular meetings with the bod

& of course info is given out, which is not issued in RNSs

yet those big shareholders have then bought shares in the market, J.Rendell has bought lots more.

permitted/allowed ??

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 23:22

1) 'soon have surplus power'

& for the last 15 years while the MD has been the MD ?, there has been plenty of time to add some solar panels imo, to reduce cost of power & improve profits

but it looks like power is very cheap in Ethiopia, I think.
0.02$/kwhr

so phps the use of solar panels would put up the energy price, if one assumed a lifetime of 15 years & maintainence/inspection costs

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2) The accounts give reducing the CO2 production as a co. goal.

so even if Ethiopia has the power available the factories are still supposed to reduce their CO2 production

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 22:59

Ethiopia will soon have surplus power because of the dam that could cause a war because of water in the Nile, so why buy solar panels?

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 22:56

Back in the 90’s I read a study produced by someone at a US higher education establishment about added value. For example look at the polo shirts on the market - all much of a muchness but put a embroidered logo that cost 20 cents in China, India etc. and add anything upwards of 100% and maybe in a well known brand 1000%.

Take a sandwich, add a relish , add a fancy box , cost negligible, extra profits substantial if you market it as luxury and can get away with it.

No difference with the stocks we buy and sell, tart them up and the price rises.

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 22:55

(cost of energy consumption

phps quite frightening

8 700 000 kwhrs !

at 15p/hour that would be
1.3 million pounds !!

a big part of the costs when you remove some unavoidable current costs like the bod, finance cost, staff costs, cost of materials

& yet it appears that despite the assumed high cost in buying energy that no solar panels have yet been put on the large roofs of the factories in sunny Ethiopia. at first glance that seems strange.

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 22:41

That’s the 7 years bad luck over then.

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 22:23

interesting

Burberry share price has gone x10 between 2008 low & now !!
(cap. value of 8000 million !
& there was me thinking they just did long lasting jackets (incl. waxed cotton jackets) for the landed gentry (& ppl wanting to look like landed gentry !))

will Pittards be able to copy any of that in coming years ?!

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 22:19

clocktower
interesting, you have history in the sector of luxury brands !
nice/useful.

not me,
I struggle a bit with the idea of a name on a product multiplying its price by x2 or x3. But yes, buying a product with a fashionable name on it seems to be very important to the general population nowadays.

Some of the Burberry bags are stunning designs & shapes (timeless, in 20, 50 years the shapes/designs will still look special) & I guess I can understand them being desirable for the rich/successful (& their wives ).

Will Pittards be able to create special timeless stunning designs ?
....the ones I saw in a quick look were attractive but not stunning shapes like some of the Burberry bags.

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 22:00

It’s a marriage then!

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 21:54

ah ha, so the Mulberry Man is actually the chairman of Mulberry !

the co. has done well to get him to be involved with Pittards.

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Interesting situation since surely Pittards is a competitor to Mulberry in the market of leather bags, & where Pittards is trying to increase its sales. I wonder what Mulberry think about that. Phps they think the sales of Pittard are so low versus those of Mulberry that its irrelevant to Mulberry.

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 21:46

They had to make some excuse, as they could hardly turn around and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth could they, if they have been managing the situation to meet a planned result.

I have no doubt that they will now be managing the stock in a manner that you have not seen over the past five years, and there will be huge reductions in stocks and it will be put down to the skills of the BOD having changed because of COVID and the reopening of business etc etc. Pat on the back folks, maybe they could do with a bit more diversity on the BOD as well.

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 21:28

btw
inventory mnmgt was actually worse in 2020, not better as you phps think

2020
inventory. 15 million
revenue. 15 million

ie. enough inventory was held for 12 months of sales


2019
inventory 17.3 million
revenue 22 million

inventory for 9.4 months of sales

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so, for 2020 inventory went from 9.4 months worth at the end of 2019 to be 12 months worth at the end of 2020.

The dirs. report in the accounts that they did well. In fact it is obvious that they are wrong.

The inventory of 12 months of turnover/sales is nuts !, ridiculous !
(especially with the numbers that PTD has for profit margin, cash generation, bank debt & cost of financing that high inventory).
& I don't think it is possible to find any other AIM co. that has 12 months worth of inventory. Not one.
(one might question whether the exec directors actually direct the different departments or just let each site & department do what they want !)

(but perhaps the poor performance is fully included in the share price, close to a 10-20 year low & half of the nett assets !;
which has made the shares 'interesting' )

& for example the (claimed !) cost reduction of 2 million pnds appears to only have been produced because the co. bank required it !!

not sure if the exec. dirs could direct traffic...(ok, I'm convinced that the MD couldn't, as shown by the co. perf. since he took over in 2006)
but hopefully the chairman & the 'Mulberry Man' (& the bank !!) can try to control finances, strategic changes, reduce the inventory & the debt & start making some profit !....after 15 yrs the MD has had plenty of opportunity !

[clocktower] 13/5/2021 21:22

PTD brands would never be compared to Mulberry so could never be considered competitive in any way, they complement each other.

Mulberry went through a transition if you check S. Go back to around 1995 and they were run in a completely different way, and the prices of the bags were not anywhere near today’s mega bucks. I purchased a travel bag that I still have and is like new and of a design they still make. I paid around £175 for it and today it is £1350.00 on their website.

I bought shares at around 50p in them a long rime ago, sold to early but only recently started buying back in at around £2.50 now happy to keep buying at £3.50 as they also are on the road to recovery.

[smithie6] 13/5/2021 20:49

this small but very arty/styled bag from Burberry is £1630 !!!

hxxps://es.burberry.com/bolso-olympia-pequeno-en-piel-de-dos-tonos-p80347071

that is highly profitable

'if' a trendy desired bag could be made by Pittards in Ethopia using their labour rates, it would clearly make a good % profit margin

(making gloves, too much competition imo ; & small margin)

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a cashmere scarf
£420 !! :-0

for a scarf !!

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btw Burberry has a cap. value of about
£ 8000 million !!!

& nett cash of about
£1000 million !!

they could buy PTD at double its current price using just the money from the staff kitty for running the coffee machine !!

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someone linked to Mulberry is a non-exec at Pittards
yes, I had noticed.
but 'if' they get any pay from Mulberry then they can't help PTD to try to take any mkt share away from Mulberry.

Burberry, Mulberry....I just remember that Pittards turnover was £15 million last year & in recent yrs they struggle to make a profit, so since 2006 when the current MD took over the co. has shrunk while Burberry & Mulberry have grown & done well.
So clearly Pittards has not shown any signs of being another Burberry or Mulberry, not in the period 2006-2020 anyway.
All gonna change next month ?, I'll believe it when it happens !!, but I won't hold my breath.