Ricardo Share Discussion Threads

[pictureframe] 02/1/2004 13:13

nice 10k buy and up we go again, spread it tightening looks like its ready to break £2.00 now

[pictureframe] 30/12/2003 09:20

morning all, see we are up again slightly.

This is what happened yesterday but by the close we were up 7%. Looking good.

[blackbear] 29/12/2003 19:04

Get on board ...when it moves , it moves in straight lines... look at the charts... my exit is 3 quid.

[pictureframe] 29/12/2003 15:23

£2.00 already, next resistance will be at £2.50. Looking very exciting

[goliard] 29/12/2003 12:43

Well I finally bought in this morning after sitting on the side for months. 240p is my exit target.

[pictureframe] 29/12/2003 12:28

jump on board its looking like its ready to break out now. Just got some more!

[pictureframe] 29/12/2003 12:15

up a tad, would be very encouraging if it breaks £2.00

[pictureframe] 29/12/2003 12:00

more director buying, all the signs are there that this is ready to rebound !

Should be at least £2.40 imho.

Looking again at my header I will be buying some more either today or tomorrow.
Good Luck

[pictureframe] 23/12/2003 09:26

Yes it has, lets hope it does another Peterhouse (another one that has started its recovery).

Need to see some institutional buying

[blackbear] 23/12/2003 09:17

ahhh It's moved...

[diggerdaws] 22/12/2003 16:39

another large buy

[campbed] 19/12/2003 16:05

looks as though one MM has squared off his book today with 23557 sale but only at top whack of 185p.

[pictureframe] 19/12/2003 10:42

A few buys gone through, spread is awful though. Think MMs need to close it to encourage trading

[pictureframe] 18/12/2003 13:53

TWST: Can we begin with an introduction to Ricardo plc (London: RCDO.L)?

Mr. Goodburn: We were established in about 1915 by Sir Harry Ricardo, who was an eminent automotive engineer, and up until 1990 we focused on the design and development of the internal combustion engine for motorcars, both gasoline and diesel. Then in 1990, we acquired a transmission company, thereby entering into the design and development of transmissions and thus the complete powertrain. About three years ago, we set up another division, Ricardo Vehicle Engineering, which covers all the other clever bits of engineering apart from the powertrain that are beneath the skin of the vehicle, i.e. handling, braking, suspension, noise, vibration and harshness, and more importantly electronics and controls. As you are aware, electronics and controls is becoming a larger part of the cost of the vehicle.

TWST: Who are you main customers?

Mr. Goodburn: Our major customers are all of the major OEMs around the world -- GM, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, BMW, BW, Renault. They are all our customers.

TWST: Do your locations reflect where the customers are?

Mr. Goodburn: Very much so. We started off 90 years ago in the UK on the south coast of England at Shoreham, which is where we still have our main technical center and we employ about 700 people there. We also have another 400 engineers in the Midlands at Leamington, which is really the center of the English automotive industry. Then in Detroit we have a further 300 engineers based at Belleville to service our American customers. We also have a small operation in Chicago and some offices in Germany. In fact, we are just developing our German company right now.

TWST: What about the Asian market, Japan? Is that something further down the line?

Mr. Goodburn: We do have Japanese and Korean customers and we are looking at starting up in Japan. But we wouldn't be doing that with any degree of urgency until we are happy that we've got our German operation on a firm footing. I think one of the key points to remember about Ricardo is we are not dependant on the volume of vehicles sold around the world. We are dependant on the number of new models and new variants that our customers wish to bring to market. That is a very important point therefore we base our technical centres where vehicles are developed.

TWST: Does that mean you don't get caught up in the cyclicality of the industry?

Mr. Goodburn: Yes, because we are not dependent on the volume of vehicles sold, we don't boom in the boom times and we don't go bust when our customers are having a real downturn. With that said, we do tend to do a little bit better in the boom times and we probably stay on an even keel in times like the present.

TWST: Who are your competition and what is your edge?

Mr. Goodburn: Our main competition is the in-house capabilities of our customers, because they all have their own large research and development departments. So we spend a lot of our own money on our own research and development to build up our intellectual knowledge and as a result our customers have to come to that to us for that knowledge. But quite often they'll do a lot of these developments themselves in house. So I think our customers are our main competition. Now, we also have independent competitors. There two main independent competitors, both in mainland Europe. One is called AVL based in Austria; and the other is FEV based in German. They are both of a similar size to us but we have one real competitive advantage over them. They both tend to focus on just engine design and developments where as we've got the engine, the transmission and all the other clever bits of engineering in the vehicle. As far as other competitors, in the US there is a company called MSX, but they tend to be more about renting their engineers out to work on their customers premises. Our engineers are some of the best automotive engineers in the world. They don't tend to work on a customer's premises. They work on fixed-price projects on our premises using our own facilities and we take full responsibility for those projects.

[pictureframe] 18/12/2003 13:48

nice 183,000 share bought. Looks like its found the bottom.

[pictureframe] 18/12/2003 13:43

Seems to have found the bottom here for now. Guess its a wait and see in the new year

[jennywren] 17/12/2003 11:36

Seems to be holding a flat line for now but normally when i buy it goes down and goes up when i sell. I am holding some of these but havn't got a clue what the market is doing now. It seemed like a good bet a few weeks ago.

[donhas] 09/12/2003 14:34

Let's have a flutter - some for the ISA I think

[blackbear] 08/12/2003 19:21

Now that's a confidence booster , only £10k , but i top up nether the less..

[pictureframe] 08/12/2003 12:05

LONDON (AFX) - Ricardo PLC said chief executive Rodney Westhead has acquired
5,000 ordinary shares in the company at 182 pence each and now holds 233,275
shares, representing 0.468 pct.
[e-mail]
slm/

[pugugly] 05/12/2003 15:49

Note mid term bottom of 102p (mid price) on 6/12/96 but as low as 62p on 4/9/92. Both these prices however need upgrading for inflation (apologies inflation tables not currently to hand) However caution according to Refs (Nov edition) ntav only 73.7p and nav only 125p.

Another BEAR point could be that some 31% (source Refs) of turnover is in North America. Depending on contract terms and hedging this could:-
1. Make them significantly less competitive where using UK based/paid employees and
2. Lead to a significant reduction in £ translated profits.

I am also looking into thereason for the drop in ntav per share from 111p in 2002 to 73.7p in 2003 (source again refs) No obvious reason I can see from the tables. Any knowledge?


However dyor etc..

[pictureframe] 03/12/2003 14:09

LONDON (AFX) - Ricardo PLC said the High Court has dismissed a claim made by
a business, which is part of the Rolls Royce Group, on work performed.
In a statement, the company noted that despite the dismissal, the claim
could still be subject to appeal.
"However, the directors remain of the opinion that the claim will be
successfully defended and accordingly no provision has been made in respect of
the matter," it added.
[e-mail]
ra

[panagos] 03/12/2003 12:03

bottom at 1.65? spot on prediction?

Its true. When you are not emotionally involved with a share (do not have a position) you call it much better

[campbed] 03/12/2003 12:01

I'd say a £50m lawsuit is a pretty big cloud to be largely lifted.

Many of you today look to be getting quite excited – bids, tip, RNS etc.

Yesterday afternoon’s trades indicate that some 640k shares were cleared and I’d guess that all that’s happened is that that seller has no more to sell or indicated he’s holding for the moment. However looks as another 200k gone to MM this morning but offsetting trade not shown yet.

Let’s not forget this share has halved in price and the spread yesterday widened to 17p so a 10% bounce (dead cat if seller returns??) is not really unexpected after the placing of that overhang.

Anyone buying now should have a minimum 2 year view IMO. Shorters IMO are betting on more institutions bailing out and that those institutions who will be staying in will be willing to lend shares for shorting.

[blackbear] 03/12/2003 11:20

Thanx Hutton....