Smiths News Share Discussion Threads

[retsius] 28/12/2011 14:13

Why would you want to sell now before the div. and trading update? Now is the time to fill yer boots.Cheap as chips.

[retsius] 28/12/2011 14:11

xd 4/01/2012

[tom111] 28/12/2011 11:20

Just bought a few more surely the share price wont go down much further

[cockneyrebel] 28/12/2011 10:59

Been some good buying in the past few days.

Goes XD for 5.4p final divi if you are holding at the close on Tuesday.

CR

[retsius] 22/12/2011 16:39

Bought some today.Must be the buy of the year for income seekers--unless we all stop reading the papers --not! bwtfdik

[tom111] 20/12/2011 20:31

NWS is in the retail sector really and as such has been dragged down with it imho

[davidosh] 20/12/2011 17:13

Sadly these markets just have sellers aboard. It is possible that a few may buy on short term views of the divi but become sellers after the div date and just push it further down. I just hope the business is fine in which case my long term view is that this is safe to hold and a great income stock to keep me warm whilst holding.

[edmundshaw] 20/12/2011 16:57

I also added a few more today.

Ex div on January 4th for 5.4p.

Is this really going to drop to just over 72p to compensate for the ex div? On a yield of around 11%? If not, instant profit. Alternatively the rating gets crazy (and therefore already is crazy)...

[tole] 20/12/2011 14:39

Have also added a few more down here fwiw.




FT columnist John Lee reveals his largest shareholdings.

John Lee is a member of the House of Lords and a popular investment columnist. He is a former government minister, too.

John is a hero to many private investors in the UK. By tucking money away year after year, and choosing his investments wisely, he has accumulated a portfolio worth more than £1 million.

Lord Lee aims to invest in established, profitable, dividend-paying companies with a long-term view. He is a value investor at heart, searching for modest valuations with the conviction that real value always comes through in the end. So what are the five companies John has more of his money in than any others?

1. PZ Cussons
2. Treatt
3. Nichols
4. Christie
5. Smiths News

Smiths News (LSE: NWS) is another company with a five-year record of increasing dividends. The group distributes newspapers and magazines to shops and supermarkets, mostly in the south east, and the nature of the firm's contracts ought to bring a high degree of assurance over future earnings. Smiths also owns Bertrams, a book wholesaler to both bricks-and-mortar shops and the online giants.

Though there are some concerns about the long-term future of newspaper and book sales in the UK, Smiths has a very strong position in its markets, making it very difficult for anyone to compete. The company has enviable track record and dividend, which at today's share price put ths shares on a yield of almost 10%.

[artfullfox] 20/12/2011 12:11

Bought in today, Hopefully the divi will pay for the xmas presants.

[lucky_lady] 13/12/2011 14:12

I topped up today. Seems to be some support at these levels.

[cockneyrebel] 12/12/2011 12:44

Goes XD Jan 4th for 5.4p final divi.

Interim Management statement Jan 4th or there abouts too.

There's 13.6p in divi to be had here over 55 weeks and a PE under 5 on forecasts.

The Outlook said this with the results:

"OUTLOOK
Our medium term direction is clear and progressing well.
We are confident Smiths News can maintain a modest profit growth whilst continuing to generate substantial cash returns.

Following the integration of Dawson Books, Bertrams is expected to generate revenues in excess of GBP200m and operating profits of at least GBP10m by FY2014. We will continue to seek new customer wins both in the UK and globally in the Dawson Media and Marketing businesses, growing their profits by over 20% per annum.
Our diversification strategy is expected to bring businesses with sustainable growth prospects into our portfolio. Non-newspaper and magazine operating profits should be in excess of 30% within 3 years.
The Group has started FY2012 trading in line with expectations, and remains on track to grow profits in the current financial year. This is reflected in the proposed 8% dividend increase announced today, the fifth consecutive rise since demerger."

All imo/dyor.

CR

[jeff h] 12/12/2011 12:32

Bought in this am - as posters point out low P/E and high seemingly sustainable yield which can't be bad.

[cw2000] 06/12/2011 20:45

With the yield heading for 10%, I propose the company should borrow money at say 7% to buy in shares and save themselves the 10% div.
Perhaps a simplistic view, perhaps one they should explore!

[tom111] 02/12/2011 19:33

This share has a bad habit of drifting down after results with little or no interest shown until the next results.

[lord gnome] 02/12/2011 16:18

Top-up time approaching fast. A near 10% yield on offer with a PE of just 5. The market is just waiting for NWS to make a game-changing acquisition. Time to accumulate at these levels.
My only problem is an abundance of choice in this market where so many stocks are cheap by any metric. I have a very small amount of cash that isn't currently invested and I am like a kid in a sweet shop trying to spend it. I have about 8 candidates currently on the shortlist and I change my mind three times a day. These have got to look seriously good ahead of ex-div day.

[baracuda2] 02/12/2011 15:44

Whats going here!!

[tole] 02/12/2011 14:36

Bit of a drift down here of late.

[hamilton] 18/11/2011 12:04

oh god, janekane the P&D merchant is here. My advise is do not believe a word. Caveat emptor!

[cockneyrebel] 15/11/2011 16:41

I've been holding since the results. The yield is big and covered well by earnings per share nearly double that.

Free cashflow of £22m this year. Caught this on Dow Jones after the results:

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Newspaper and magazine distributor Smiths News PLC (NWS.LN) expects to add an extra GBP10-GBP20 million of revenue in fiscal year 2012 from print sales during the Olympics and European Football Championships, the firm's chief executive said Thursday.
"The combination of the two events will be a boost to sales through one-off specials and collectable editions," CEO Mark Cashmore told Dow Jones Newswires. "The impact of a home Olympics is unknown, but we certainly expect an improvement in like-for-like sales in 2012."
Smiths, which has a 55% share of the U.K. newspaper and magazine wholesale market and has in recent years moved into book selling and distribution, earlier Thursday reported a 5.2% decline in revenue to GBP1.73 billion for the year ended Aug. 31.
Pretax profit for the period, however, rose 14% as a result of cost savings of GBP22 million, a feat the company is unlikely to repeat in 2012 according to Cashmore.
"We can continue to deliver significant cost savings, but it's unlikely we'll see another GBP22 million year," Cashmore said, adding that he refused to initiate "slash and burn" policies to cut costs.
Future growth would therefore be delivered through improved performance in Smiths' core distribution businesses and diversification into other sectors, Cashmore said.
"We are actively engaged with acquisition targets and anticipate non-newspaper and magazine profits to be in excess of 30% within 3 years," he said.

[retsius] 15/11/2011 14:18

Can they maintain divvy? Must be a good punt for income.

[edmundshaw] 15/11/2011 14:12

Bought in 3 months ago. Having held Dawson, I had the cash from the bargain NWS takeover. The added value from the Dawson bits (last year the news, this year the rest) made the decision easy.

Agree very good value and yield. Not interested in selling any close to these prices.

[tom111] 15/11/2011 10:22

Bought in a couple of days ago for the same reason looks safer than most in this enviroment

[cockneyrebel] 15/11/2011 10:16

Good trading update from MNZS today - don't look as cheap as NWS tho by a mile imo.

Yo get a final divi of 5.4p here that goes XD on Jan 4th

You get 8p div next year, so over 13 months the return in yield is 13.4p.

If the shares don't rise over the next 13 months you still near 15% back.

I dunno if I'll hold for the whole of that time if the shares take off but in the meantime the downside has to be extremely limited if that's the return in that time. If the shares came off 11p over the next 13 months and you were still holding you're still up on a buy at this level.

imo,

CR

[janekane] 07/11/2011 14:01

just bought 7000 @94.8 great divi at about 9%