Smc Share Discussion Threads

[matrix6] 26/5/2007 14:26

Maybe having Dattles aboard SMC would ben"E"fit the shareholders? he knows how to run a company into the ground!

[matrix6] 26/5/2007 14:22

i Think Steven Dattles suits this job more.

[matrix6] 26/5/2007 14:21

Here here! i agree

[squintyflinty] 26/5/2007 14:15

In the last issue of "Sharewatch" they advised a hold for more on SMC.
They were of the opinion that a recovery of the share price was hapenning.
They were slightly wrong in their judgement. In the next AGM ALL management should be voted out. They are totally incompetent and do not justify their salaries

[meadow50] 26/5/2007 14:01

looking at the B/S and accounts for 2006 ,turnover was 30m and debtors 26m.Maybe the debts aren't collectable.What on earth are their credit terms....if any??

[matrix6] 26/5/2007 14:01

I must say i was watching this thread, but not in depth, i did say the share price might hit 110p at best, but looking at the accounts i did also suggest that the ceo was getting in front of himself regarding takeovers and the cash flow may suffer.

The proof was in my pudding and if you understand accounts you would of steered clear of this stock.

I'm sorry you didn't listen to my observation.

[borsya] 26/5/2007 13:15

well I lost 6k .
They just proved that they don't have any idea what's going on, I won't be suprised if they'll issue another statement on Tuesday saying that "market overeacted" Feel sorry for everyone who lost on this one.

[meadow50] 26/5/2007 13:03

Mas
Thanks for these very illuminating TMF posts.Who is Aiw that he has the clout to manage a meeting face to face with the directors and then shrewdly identify their extraordinary lapses of management ability ?It seems that the professionals within the company don't seem to have noticed..appalling debt collection,financial controls etc.Where on earth was the advice from the auditors etc (ignored on non-existent) and were the finances of the practices taken over equally poor .that none of their top people noticed.Debtors bigger than turnover??WOW!What are the broker's analysts doing as well?
I lost a packet on these but because they have fallen so much,just might go back in now AiW has shown the directors how they should be running the company.Did they listen??
thanks again for info.

[masurenguy] 26/5/2007 12:06

One has to give credit to Paul Scott, who posted the following view on TMF just after AiW's account of his meeting with McColl and Boardman shortly after the first profits warning at the end of January.

AiW's post:

Paul Scotts response

Author: paulypilot.
Subject: Re: SMC Group (SMC) – part 2
Date: 8/2/07

Hi AiW,

Thanks for taking the trouble to meet management and write such a detailed & illuminating post about it. Your posts really are spectacularly good, and a huge asset to TMF - thank you !

Personally I picked up 20k SMC shares at 102p, deciding that the market had over-reacted to the profits warning, but after reading your post I'm having second thoughts.

From what you say, these Directors just sound totally incompetent to be honest. Let's not beat about the bush here. They seem to have made a flurry of acquisitions, but without the skills to properly manage them, or control the group finances.

Think I'll dump these shares if they go up a bit more. I suspect there will probably be more bad news to come - these mess-ups rarely result in just a one-off profits warning.

Regards, Paul.

[borsya] 26/5/2007 11:29

I think Volvo is on holiday and he hasn't realised yet what had happend. LOL

[cool_hand] 26/5/2007 11:26

The question now is how bad can this go? Are we oversold or will next weeks statement cause more misery?

It's the chance you take.

[njp] 26/5/2007 07:57

marvelman

Fair comment, and I was not far from significantly increasing my holding too. Only held off for (a) a further 'all's well' update from the company late June / early July and (b) possible cheaper prices if the general market suffered a correction. Damn glad I was cautious!

Despite that, I still think Rodders is a 'good guy' but he has too many commitments elsewhere and he needs to get someone full time in there pdq to get the mess sorted.

[hvs] 26/5/2007 07:36

lol !!!

Its the "PART TIME" thats the problem in this country now.

Like PART TIME TONY L IAR who is always away on his jaunts.

Pity he is not taking his family on holiday to IRAQ or AFGHANISTAN. Or is he ?

[marvelman] 26/5/2007 07:35

My concern, NJP , is that the previous announcement, indicated that the company was on the mend and that the ongoing review was to identify further savings.

"In the light of the changes being implemented in accordance with the business
review referred to above I have confidence that the Group is now in a good
position to achieve future targets and consolidate its reputation as one of the
leading companies in the architecture market."

This is why I and others piled in mistakedly believing the review had identified that any serious anomolies would have shown up....particularly as the auditors would have had a second crack at it.

Anyway, its accademic. I had had a great few weeks on the market which has been negated by this debacle and I would imagine some have been wiped out by it.I certainly do hold Sir Rodney responsible for his confident statements which did not include any cautionery undertones to warn us that something like this could happen again.Regards.

[njp] 26/5/2007 07:17

I'm not sure it's Sir Rodney who has to carry the can. He was, until recently anyway, only a part time chairman and is now trying to get to the bottom of this mess. Clearly, however, he's increasingly in the frame the longer it takes to get to grips with this mess, and he didn't do himself any favours in authorising those 'confident we'll meet revised expectations' statements.

He's no doubt been the one to step in quickly and alert the market quickly that things still haven't been sorted. To my mind we need to see decisive action next week to draw a line under all this, and that has to include management changes.

[marvelman] 26/5/2007 07:01

Succinct post NJP.Its obvious that the FD has to go....which will throw up another problem in that the new FD will of course find yet more skeletons and on and on it goes.This has not reached the end of its turmoil and the board restructuring will just be the first phase of the next phase.Not worth the stress....and could anyone, even his wife, ever trust Sir Rodney again.

[njp] 26/5/2007 05:32

Well, I for one feel for Volvo and anyone who's lost big on SMC today. Those who stayed clear after the warnings have been proved right, but there was a credible case for believing it was right to go long and the company's last two announcements only a month ago confirmed that all was well and forecasts were achievable. Indeed, it was only my caution in deciding to wait until further evidence from the company that they were on the right track that stopped me going in big time for a recovery.

Sadly, yet another warning shows to me that the finance function is still far from being in control. It seems amazing that they can be in such turmoil when the industry as a whole is booming, but they grew too fast and didn't put the necessary control infrastructure in place. It seems too that they made a mistake in appointing an FD without relevant industry experience. Hard to escape the conclusion that they need both a CEO and an FD who can turn this around.

The only hope would be that the underlying business is performing better than the chaotic accounting leads one to fear, but right now that's a gamble which the level of debt and potential consideration make a high stakes game.

[up2day] 26/5/2007 01:00

the company stock has allways been volatile as below shows

SMC Group "High - Low - Last - Volume"
Month HI LO LS VO
MAY-07 89.0 47.0 47.0 3726201
APR-07 99.5 53.0 83.0 10160230
MAR-07 113.5 53.5 56.5 8390715
FEB-07 119.0 100.5 105.0 9370454
JAN-07 193.5 104.0 104.0 11063220
DEC-06 193.5 168.5 183.0 3182815
NOV-06 173.0 164.0 168.5 1670408
OCT-06 171.0 156.0 164.5 3528877
SEP-06 166.5 134.0 160.0 2360448
AUG-06 152.0 134.0 134.0 2977704
JUL-06 142.5 129.0 137.5 4067257
JUN-06 144.5 130.5 130.5 1019231
MAY-06 176.0 119.0 140.0 2221458
APR-06 184.5 161.0 162.5 2702974
MAR-06 179.5 131.5 174.5 2012019
FEB-06 143.5 102.5 135.5 1225256
JAN-06 123.5 106.5 109.0 1007473
DEC-05 115.5 88.0 109.5 1370772
NOV-05 96.5 76.5 90.5 1841726
OCT-05 78.5 69.5 76.5 1221918
SEP-05 76.5 49.5 68.5 2897494
{RETURN = next page, DELETE = new request}

[tonystringy] 25/5/2007 23:14

GME???

No.....I wont say anything.......other than- at least Volvo, along with the rest of us (I may not have held but close enough to count) has 3 days to consider his investment strategies.

That's me done....last post here.

[quotes_4_u] 25/5/2007 22:53

You have to be positive about the stocks you hold.

I hope Gme comes good for volvo but i just cant bring myself to
buy a iffy stock theseday ahead of news, it's just too risky !

[pec2004] 25/5/2007 22:50

It will be interesting to see what Volvo has to say if he appears again.

[scumdog] 25/5/2007 22:38

VOLVO believed what he wanted to believe i.e. directorspeak - and has probably got burnt. Disappointed that he hasn't commented on here today.

= = = = Here's some gems from VOLVO = = = =

VOLVO - 24 May'07 - 12:01 - 6728 of 6909

The SMC situation has not changed since its last trading statement given by Sir Rodney about a month ago.

There will be a trading statement along with the AGM statement on June 12th according to sources close to the company.

VOLVO - 16 May'07 - 22:07 - 6695 of 6912

It will be the annual general meeting when the news that the company is trading as forecast or even better will be said on June 12th and I suggest buying before this.

VOLVO - 9 May'07 - 14:43 - 6642 of 6912

You will have 5 weeks to buy stock because the company will issue a trading statement that will make the pe look silly.DYOR.

= = = = Well at least VOLVO was right about the trading statement – but not in the way he was anticipating!! = = = =


VOLVO - 26 Apr'07 - 14:15 - 6567 of 6912

I know I go on about but this company is clean.It has had E and Y over the books and Deloitte.It is straight forward one way money to 1.20 then you have the interims.


VOLVO - 24 Apr'07 - 10:13 - 6522 of 6912

This will be the low.

Just wait until the interims this shareprice will double.