Robert Walters Share Discussion Threads

[liarspoker] 16/9/2008 09:11

Good luck imastu pidgitaswell - I don't understand how people can sell really cheap shares but well done on the 20%. :O)

[imastu pidgitaswell] 16/9/2008 08:35

Hmm - MPI bid dropped, MPI down 30-odd percent.



RWA didn't really follow it up, but I've bailed anyway for now. Stock market can be a savage, irrational place, and I'm expecting the traders to dump on this. Silly people, and the current strength has made me hesitate, but this is no time to be a hero.

With all the courage of a paranoid mouse, I'm out - taken my 20% profit and going to plonk it all in BP for a while and revisit this later, hopefully (for me) lower.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 12/9/2008 09:18

Showing some strength lately - ever since the results dip, in fact.

Unfortunate piece of news for the MPI deal today - though why the death of an honorary chairman should make the slightest difference is difficult to understand. Methinks some interested parties are putting a bit of a spin on it:

[cockneyrebel] 01/9/2008 14:00

Hope you're watching recruiter HVN as I mentioned last week - on the move up, PE 4 falling to 3.5 next year - results this month. Already said it will meet, directors buying.

CR

[devonlad] 29/8/2008 09:59

Imatsu, good analysis, exactly how I read it. Remove the cash pile, work out the eps and this is trading on a pe of 5, way too low. Company are investing in growth for the future, profitable, secure and on a low pe, bought some for the bottom drawer.

[its the oxman] 29/8/2008 09:13

reckon i've probably missed the low nearer 100p but bought a few today c.125p -results seem just about ok and plenty of recovery scope as and when things eventually pick up.

[imastu pidgitaswell] 29/8/2008 08:46

One question - in note 9, it refers to a 20m Chinese Renminbi loan (£1.5m) for the China acquisition - at a rate of base rate + 10%. base rate +10%??!! Typo?

[liarspoker] 29/8/2008 08:40

I'm happy to add more if we ever see £1-odd again.

Ditto. :O)

[liarspoker] 29/8/2008 07:56

61.42p admin expenses per diluted share iin H1 07.

81.46p admin expenses per diluted share in H1 08.

32.63% increase.

[liarspoker] 29/8/2008 07:49

Interesting numbers in the results upon first glance - it seems like the comp made big investments in H1 which lower headlining figures. Admin expenses are way bigger then last year. The lower tax figure is basically offset by a forex loss. Operations seem to be going good, apart from a slow down in UK as expected, but no doubt the share price will get hammered today imo.

[liarspoker] 28/8/2008 20:52

Harris increase their stake.

[cockneyrebel] 28/8/2008 17:18

another nice day :-)

Watch HVN - another recruiter, director buys there - very upbeat, PE under 4 and on a nice dip - reckon the chart is about to turn up again. Buyers will be in ahead of the results in Sep imo

CR

[imastu pidgitaswell] 28/8/2008 15:09

Squeeze those knackers...

Lots of short positions to close, no sellers. Pity.

:-)

Tomorrow, doubtless they'll try to make it all back, but enjoy today for now...

[imastu pidgitaswell] 28/8/2008 08:25

Results tomorrow - will anyone notice? All a bit phoney war since MPI came out with their takeover news at the start of the month, but feels like there has been a lot of churn of PIs and short term traders.

Thing is it's not difficult to see how the story will play - good results, UK financial sector weak, cautious outlook, all the scribblers will advise 'hold' rather than actually have an opinion - nothing that isn't already known.

What RWA needs is a commitment to buy back some 20% of the shares - out of the cash they already have and have made in the first half - they have nothing else to do with it.

At 128, its has 71mn shares, a market cap of £91m, net cash of £16m (£24m less £8m foreign hedging loan - but the cash to be higher and the loan lower tomorrow) - so that's a PE ratio of under 4.5, before this year's latest earnings increase. Daft.

[peladon] 23/8/2008 10:43

You'll regret it in the morning....

[liarspoker] 22/8/2008 12:07

RWA, like the ugly relative at the wedding party, is crashed drunk in the corner, not moving...

Maybe I've had too much to drink too but I'm thinking of lifting RWA's skirt and putting an additional stake in her business. :O)

[imastu pidgitaswell] 21/8/2008 10:05

MPI getting frisky.

RWA, like the ugly relative at the wedding party, is crashed drunk in the corner, not moving...

[imastu pidgitaswell] 18/8/2008 11:37

MPI - Torygraph speculation:

Michael Page may face hostile bid from Adecco

[cockneyrebel] 18/8/2008 11:30

MPI rocketing - making RWA look even cheaper :-)

CR

[cockneyrebel] 18/8/2008 10:37

Yep, and I think Adecco will be back after MPI either hostile or at a lot higher and friendly. Either way that will take out the recruiter co in the UK and leave the range of major recruiters for institutions to invest in even lower (where they have to invest in UK listed co's) which means the money demand for RWA and Hays when the recruitment market picks up will be much heavier imo.

CR

[imastu pidgitaswell] 18/8/2008 10:04

MPI H1 earnings per share up 28%.




Some negative comment about markets and conditions, but emphasis on how they have performed despite that. Fairly downbeat in tone, might have expected more trumpet-blowing given their Adecco situation. Still, it's their business.

Thing is, for RWA, around 4 times earnings if you strip out the cash, MPI is (at 330) on around 8-9 times. A premium is justified, but not that much. The other thing is that at these levels, it takes months rather than years for buybacks to give a real kicker to earnings per share.

[cockneyrebel] 15/8/2008 19:13

Hmmm, when you put it like that i.p. they do look even cheaper. I'll turn the £2 down then :-)

Thanks

CR

[imastu pidgitaswell] 15/8/2008 14:55

If I'm honest, I don't want something like 200p and out. I really can see these at £5 at some point within the next 5 years. I don't know when, it will be based on sentiment, but 3 years of buy-backs of around £13m, as per last year, will take out 45% of the shares (total currently is 71m) at current prices (1.25). After all, they have nothing else to do with the money - after dividends, it's all spare, and they have buckets (£24m) of free cash on the balance sheet anyway.

Put another way, flat profitability for three years will result in Earnings per Share of 42p. 200p would be daft, as 125p is now.

[cockneyrebel] 15/8/2008 12:50

They can have my shares for a 40% premium in cash, like they were going to pay MPI.

In fact if they paid 60% over the market for RWA that would still be cheaper than what MPI was trading on.

CR