Shearwater Share Discussion Threads

[dickbush] 07/6/2010 16:29

I can't see a bid of £2 or more. That pension deficit has sucked away over £1/share from shareholder value. £1.70, maybe. But I'd be delighted to be wrong.

[yoyoy] 07/6/2010 16:25

Given the pension fund problems and the majority of its income from UK the offer will be below 150p and probably nearer to the current price of 120 - 115.

[lucky_lady] 07/6/2010 16:14

I am changing my name to Un-Lucky_Lady as I sold out this morning. Sods Law. Got out with a 20% gain though after buying in at 79p a couple of weeks ago so can't complain too much.

[indomie] 07/6/2010 16:11

Costain?

Scott Wilson confirms takeover bid
7 June, 2010 | By NCE Editorial

Scott Wilson has told the London Stock Exchange that it has received approaches with regard to a possible acquisition of the company.


In a statement it said that the board had noted the recent movement in the company's share price and announced that it has received approaches with regard to a possible acquisition. There can be no certainty that these approaches will result in an offer for the company, it said.

Contractor Costain has already been linked with an acquistion of the firm. In March it unveiled an ambitious strategy to expand significantly in consultancy and engineering design in order to offer clients the "full life cycle" of services. Chief executive Andrew Wyllie said the expansion would be fuelled by acquistional and organic growth.

The firm currently regularly works in alliance or network with Capita Symonds, Halcrow, Land Bridge Associates, Shepherd Gilmour, but also works regularly with Scott Wilson.

Wyllie unveiled the strategy, dubbed "Choosing Costain" as he announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2009 showing a record turnover of £1.1bn, a record order book of £2.6bn and a net cash balance of £121M. In 2008 the firm turned over £996M and had an order book of £2.0bn.

Analysts said the potential buyer was likely to be an overseas firm making a speculative bid. Grontmij said it "could not confirm" whether it had made a bid. In January it said it was looking for acquisitions in fast growing markets such as central and eastern Europe. Scott Wilson employs over 200 staff in Poland based in offices in Warsaw, Poznań, Wrocław, Kraków and Gdańsk. The company's activities in Poland are principally in the road, railway and environmental sectors.

Scott Wilson would not comment on speculation and said a a further announcement will be made when appropriate.

[indomie] 07/6/2010 16:01

phew - all i can say is that i sold down last week and bought back on friday to see what would happen with HYC's results!!!! :-S

IMO this was £3.50 two years ago so would expect minimum £2.00 offer and really £2.50+ - it depends on latest valuations on the pension deficit, but with good cash generation, debt is on course to have been cut this year to £10m or less and there will be good synergies for some of those interested in SWG! This will drive any offer price higher....... plus ofcourse a favourable exchange rate if any potential buyer isnt british (quite likely!).....

[celeritas] 07/6/2010 15:49

This is the sole reason I picked this stock in Chips comp, very cheap company and vulnerable to a takeover.

[spot1034] 07/6/2010 15:40

HYC also moving higher now presumably in response to this news, although they have results out tomorrow which might also be a factor.

[spot1034] 07/6/2010 15:32

Just goes to show how dangerous it is to be out of a share like this. I've been sorely tempted to sell several times due to frustration at its undervaluation, but it seemed so cheap that something like this was bound to happen sooner or later.

[mattjos] 07/6/2010 15:32

phil ... i'd say it would have to be higher than that. The CEO will not want to go out cheap and under 200 looks cheap to me on their earnings and, more importantly, the way their earnings are re-balancing towards asia & africa .... it would be very frsutrating to get taken out cheap now after all the groundwork they've put in thus far ... but, that's why they're in play now i guess. UK investor can't see beyond the questions over uk income stream and seems to have overlooked the overseas angle but clearly a predator has not

[philjeans] 07/6/2010 15:28

But with more than one "approach" on the table, we could well see a 200p price yet.

Hold tight.

[philjeans] 07/6/2010 15:26

Well, a successful bid would be 150p plus I'd say, so still quite a way up.

[6971] 07/6/2010 15:18

What a difference 10 minutes makes - just picked up my son from school and couldn't work out why my portfolio had increased so much.

Let's see what comes of this over the next few days.

[mattjos] 07/6/2010 15:16

they'll surely have to pay well north of 175 to pick this up.
The overseas assets in Canada, Africa, India, China .... there will be USA groups keen to acquire those assets ... Brits tend to do well in those countries (better than the yanks anyway) and that will be a some of the attraction

[mattjos] 07/6/2010 15:11

'approaches'

[mattjos] 07/6/2010 15:08

quelle surprise

[wormcatcher] 07/6/2010 15:08

Well news out - and lift off.

[indomie] 07/6/2010 13:06

Also growing talk that HYC will soon be snapped up which is bound to put SWG in the frame too.......unless HYC buy or merge with SWG first that is ;-p

[spot1034] 07/6/2010 09:58

Nice rise in the first couple of hours today.

[spot1034] 03/6/2010 17:25

There are some important dates coming up, and they are all Tuesdays. There's the Budget on the Tuesday 22nd, when we might possibly get a better idea of how UK public spending cuts could affect the company, hotly followed by results for the year just ended which are due on on Tuesday 29th.

In the meantime, rival HYC announces its own full year results next Tuesday, the 8th, which might also give a clue as to how the sector is doing. They have already made an upbeat pre-close statement, although their business seems to be slightly more weighted towards overseas work.

[mattjos] 03/6/2010 15:59

drives me nuts this stock ... am sure it broke a while ago but then got blown off by the markets. Now trying to recover the break but, frightened like a lamb!

[indomie] 31/5/2010 18:58

Thanks Mattjos, but £23.4m went into the pensions deficit at flotation back in 2006, (plus an extra £1.2m top up a yr since) with a promise to eliminate it within four years (i.e.: 2010)! Instead its even bigger now at £79m than it was then - ofcourse its subject to actuarial fluctuations, but with insufficient info from the company to assess longer term risks (i.e.: increased deficit payments), its the main reason for me starting to considering moving on.

I sold a few at the end of last week - was too heavy in equities anyway - esp. with all the wider problems in European markets right now. If the share price drops again tomoz, then will sell the remaining bulk. Such a shame tho - management have never adapted to plc status (the CEO has gone out of his way to talk down takeover hopes) and should IMO have adopted a merger strategy back in '07 when this crisis started - could have provided a good synergy story and enhanced SWGs platform for growth as world markets improved.....

[spot1034] 27/5/2010 10:33

Not only would a bid for this company put us shareholders out of our misery - I won't say long-suffering as some of us haven't been here that long! - it would also, I feel, be the right move for the company and its employees to become part of a larger group. The time will surely come - the only question is how much longer we have to wait.

[mattjos] 26/5/2010 22:36

indomie ... a common feeling i suspect. sometimes one should not try to argue with the mkts. of course it will then promptly run to 250, where it should be in other circumstances :-)

[indomie] 26/5/2010 21:50

even though debt is expected to fall to £12m or so at year end, i'm loosing patience with this one and well aware this stock was at sub 50p level not too long ago - if it drops again tomorrow, i'm be dumping my holding! hardly inspiring when even the directors arent buying!

[nick rubens] 26/5/2010 14:43

SWG broken through NT's stop loss.Would be interesting to see his update later today.