Qinetiq Share Discussion Threads

[mw] 18/11/2009 12:31

Love was due to stand down on Nov 30th after the interims, but I see that Leo Quinn has been in post since Nov 16th (brought forward?). It will be interesting to hear what he has to say next week. Very short period of time to master his brief.
Certainly the senior management posts have been slimmed down over the years. I wonder who now are on the way out, if any.

[themba] 18/11/2009 10:47

The axe is falling already. Some senior managers are on their way out.

[zeppo] 17/11/2009 19:24

In today's Daily Mail

''Golden hello' of £1.57m for QinetiQ boss ' This is Money: Karl West

The new boss of controversial defence company QinetiQ is to receive a lucrative 'golden hello' package that ...'

www.thisismoney.co.uk/markets/article.html?in_article_id+49416&in_page_id+3&position=moretopstories


Looking forward to the Interims next Wednesday.



z

[selborne_edge] 10/11/2009 21:49

I have just been reviewing the number of sites that QQ controls. There must be scope for a little cost-cutting among that little lot.

[wad collector] 10/11/2009 21:32

Dare I say it , it appears that the worst is behind us and this is finally going to tiptoe towards its flotation price?

[mackie] 30/10/2009 10:35

It wouldn't surprise me if he had stood down on purpose to maximise his options. I note he is still retained as a consultant, on what terms , who knows!!

[wad collector] 30/10/2009 09:03

How does a departing CEO feel when news of his departure is greeted with biggest one day rise ever? Smiles about his options I guess.

[selborne_edge] 29/10/2009 21:07

Its all very well to criticise the MOD, QQ and BAE about the sad loss of the NIMROD but it was a very old aircraft and should have been replaced years ago. The fact is that successive governments have not been prepared to provide a state-of-art replacement aircraft and the price of this failing has now been paid by the lives of our servicemen.

[ssords] 29/10/2009 20:38

Opened up with dread today - pleasant surprise. Anybody know anything (preferably good) about new arrival?
Ssords

[cutyourlosses] 29/10/2009 16:36

Maybe the market expected a worse report from the Nimrod crash. This now quantifies their involvement, and the market generally likes it when an unknown becomes a known. That coupled with the new exciting appointment, is like drawing a line under the old regime.

[mackie] 29/10/2009 16:11

Hard to believe this is purely the result of a new CEO. Surely there must be something else going on in the background that the market have got wind of.
Whatever!! A long awaited move back into the blue for me. Very welcome.

[damanko] 29/10/2009 15:35

A lot more wad. Can see no particular reason for this surge - other than the appointment stuff. Have to hope for Mr Love didn't offload too much of his stake yesterday. Ho hum.

[philo124] 29/10/2009 14:25

160p plus now!

[wad collector] 29/10/2009 14:16

Looks like we could do with some more bad news!

[wad collector] 29/10/2009 11:16

QQ got some bad press with the Nimrod Crash report - fortunately not hit the share price this am; here'a an extract.




He also said Mr Haddon-Cave, one of Britain's leading aviation law barristers, had been critical of both the MoD and its industrial partners at both organisational and individual levels.

Mr Haddon-Cave said he had criticised 10 individuals in the report - five at the MoD, three at BAE Systems and two at QinetiQ - while throughout the review BAE Systems had been a company "in denial".

[themba] 29/10/2009 08:36

Looks to me that the market is breathing a sigh of relief at Love departing or maybe at the arrival of Quinn.

[philo124] 28/10/2009 08:29

I topped up at this level some time ago.

Really has moved up now

[spudders] 27/10/2009 17:44

PHIL - holding onto this & in for the long, bought in at 211 ages back, holding out to b/e :(

[philo124] 27/10/2009 17:40

Anybody still holding on to this; seems strange hasn't kept up with Meggit and
Cobham.

[mw] 27/10/2009 09:55

DTR was never openly on the cards when QQ was floated. This type of contract never was, it could be argued, core business for QQ. Nice to have, if you could get it, because of the benefits to cash flow. But not without risks.
As far as I can see the business impact would be a few years away anyway. Other well diversified defence interests should more than compensate over time, so we shouldn't get it out of proportion.
But then again, Wales would be rather upset to lose the St. Athan investment. Might be easier for the Tories to cut this one after the election (no heartland votes at issue).
Having said all of that, I hope it does go ahead and that QQ is succesful in bringing it to fruition.

[envirovision] 25/10/2009 23:54

Investors Chronicle very bearish on QQ after the recent news it may lose the billion pound contracts with HMG.

[zeppo] 25/10/2009 17:02

At worst I still believe/hope that BA. Ultra or some other company will get involved with part or whole of QQ.


Financial Mail
25 October 2009
Andy Brough, fund manager at Schroders, explains why Ultra Electronics is an example of a successful stock market float and he won't be repeating his mistake of selling their shares


'..... Ultra Electronics, which floated in October 1996 at 250p and whose shares are now 1318p.

The management remained as substantial shareholders, the original venture capital backers exited, but the company didn't raise any extra money for itself.

In fact, since Ultra floated it has never returned to the market to raise any money. All the acquisitions that it has made have been financed from its own resources, but without building up large amounts of debt. It sounds too good to be true, so how has Ultra done it?

Operating in the defence industry means that the products the company has developed require much technological input. That is whether the firm is selling sonar buoys to detect submarines or the cooling system on a HiPAG rocket system for a Eurofighter.

All this technology means Ultra can earn superior margins. This translates into excellent cash generation as a margin of 14% on the company's turnover of £660m gets you a lot more cash than a margin of five%.

In addition, the products that Ultra makes do not require large capital investment. All this cash can then be used to make more acquisitions.

This adds new market opportunities to the group and increases the profits and the cash generation for the future.

Concerns have been raised over likely cuts in defence budgets in the UK and the US, which are Ultra's main markets.

However, Ultra is unlikely to be affected as it is only a small player in these huge markets and can take advantage of the big increase in spending in developing countries such as India and Indonesia........'

z

[zeppo] 24/10/2009 16:19

Hope the interims can give some positive information.

Otherwise its a matter of waiting for better run companies to get involved.

The golden share?

z