Safeland Share Discussion Threads

[skyracer] 05/2/2002 16:24

SAF shoots self in foot.



I cant believe today's purchase of own shares with the market generally weak, and HPS in particular falling. Seems to me they dont know what else to do.....

[sunshine daydream] 06/9/2001 22:37

ho hum. Hercules results next week. Safeland buying very large percentage of safeland shares =lots of hercules shares on the cheap

[sunshine daydream] 21/8/2001 02:15

hello Glenn just clearing my mind to respond to your post trying to remember what advice I got. My family are out of Biz and SAf but very hot on HPS we have gone on buying ever since. The boss was cooling off on HPS thinking the heat had gone out of them and they themselves were talking about averaging 20% earnings growth over next few years unless they made acquisitions, which must have been a hint because they did and are looking very hot again.

[simonevans] 22/7/2001 20:16

Italian self storage JV looks interesting. Could be another flotation on the way in due course.

[hilda] 18/6/2001 08:40

I would be disappointed to see much downward movement in these shares. Like Simon I have confiidence that Larry Lipman will, overall, continue to see us right. Jeff, I do not really follow about the buy-back. Surely all shares/shareholders benefit equally?
Safeland I think is always cheap by nav? No reason to expect it to catch up towards the average nav discount, but it feels safe anyway.

[jeff h] 17/6/2001 19:00

Simon.... I've held Safeland for a long time.

I expect the finals to be accompanied with a
final div of 1p... but what I'd really like
to see is a distribution of Hercules shares
in place of a cash div.

You are correct in saying these have a mv of
£8m but I think you'll find these are in
Safelands books at £2.2m or there abouts, hence
the 74p NAV is understated.

Perhaps Hendersons the biggest outside investor
shareholder should ask them to do this.. in the
meantime the buybacks mean that the Lipmans are
using the company cash to slowly take it private
(they'll own 60% if the latest buyback arrangement
is fully carried out)... but who could blame them ?

[glennborthwick] 10/6/2001 10:07

I think its probably the opposite. Bizspace will do well in a slowdown because of their business model. They offer short term contracts for serviced offices a bit like workspace. In a slowdown companies won't commit to long term contracts or the capital expense of setting up their own office.

Also they have set up in usual areas - Cardiff/Sheffield etc. which should insulate them somewhat from the vagaries of the south east

[hilda] 10/6/2001 09:27

Glenn, Bizspace does seem to be going well just now; but can they keep it up if the economy slows or recedes? Seems like they are a typical candidate for hard trading times if those do become the trading circumstances don't you think?
They have not been a good performer so far.
Clearly you are right that they are on track at the moment though.

[glennborthwick] 08/6/2001 10:31

This is one of my long time favourites - on the iii board some of my early posts show there exact holdings in hercules and safestore.

Excellent management but poor results this year I think

Bizspace is going to be a big story over the next few years.

[hilda] 08/6/2001 10:21

PS cool chart link
I expect you know more than me by now about Saf, I am going on long association rather than detailed knowledge

[hilda] 08/6/2001 10:17

jhan,
off the top of my head I do not have accurate breakdown, I am terrible at that sort of thing. Basically I think they've cleared out of Biz, are big in Hercules shares and Safestore I am not sure. Thats a satisfactory picture I think.
The evidence for the company is broadly historical I would say. Excuse me if I get any figures wildly wrong, but it seems to me the benefit of Hercules share distribution to Safeland shareholders is currently about 60p per share. The recent (HPS) rights adds 10p per share, which might be construed as meaning a Safeland share is 'worth'116p to the long term holder before you add in anything for the Bizspace and Safestore. One of those was 1 new share per 23 SAF wasn't it? Which sounds like pennies.
Safelands next results are expected to be lower than last year- due in a couple of days aren't they?- which they attribute plausibly enough to an overheated property market. This almost adds up to them neing a good bear market share, i.e. the company will perform better if they market they operate in cools down, as well as other reasons like starting out with a low p/e- high p/e shares being so vulnerable, and having assets in excess of market cap.
I think they work away quite quietly on some of these demerger ventures, its been a successful strategy so far so I hope (with no evidence) to see it continue. If they involve buying property no doubt nothing will be done until the market cools considerably.
I see they are to continue with buying up their own shares, this would be a good thing for shareholders wouldn't it?
I wouldn't rush in before results (monday?)
I don't have anything to back up the 'hot' element of the 'tip', but Safeland has been extremely rewarding as a long term share and looks like a good place to to have some capital if you are feeling nervous about the current outlook.

[jhan66] 05/6/2001 13:44

hilda,
Spotted your vote for this share at the Cafe.

Very early in my research, do you have an accurate breakdown of their holdings (if any) in Hercules, Sagestore & BizSpace?

Chart link may be of interest:

[hilda] 31/5/2001 12:30

What a winner this has been for the long term investor....the share price graph only tells part of the story