Smiths News Share Discussion Threads

[this_is_me] 22/9/2022 07:28

Excellent news: EBITDA not less than GBP40m, last reported bank debt at interims less than £40 million, market cap less than £70 million, dividends £10 million for the year.

[1knocker] 21/9/2022 17:48

Historically, the trouble with this company is that outwardly it looks great until some announcement is made showing that it isn't !!

Costs rising? Wage costs, the price of diesel. Income not rising? fixed price delivery contracts. Who knows? Lets hope the debt is still coming down briskly.

I am resisting the temptation to buy more until I discover what lies behind the price drop. I may miss a top up bargain, but better that than buying blind.

[davidosh] 20/9/2022 17:53

I cannot see the reason for a sudden drop and certainly hope the double digit dividend is safe so I added a very significant number in the memory of Her Majesty the Queen at pretty much the bottom of the range today.

That is not to say it cannot go lower though of course.

[edmundshaw] 20/9/2022 16:06

World cup coming up too, which is usually worth a bit.

[tradertrev] 20/9/2022 15:43

Not a holder, but surely the death of Her Majesty will have been a short term bonanza for the company. All those extra colour souvenir supplements...

[baracuda2] 20/9/2022 15:01

At this rate the company will be worthless

[hotdawg] 20/9/2022 14:54

To be honest I downloaded the icalendar straight from smiths investors page some months back , looking at the same page now it seems that date has been erased so maybe November is more likely?

[edmundshaw] 20/9/2022 14:02

Is that a trading statement you are expecting Hotdawg? FY2022 results usually appear in November...

[fft] 20/9/2022 13:29

Why do you think results Friday ? I think it will be early November as in previous years.

[fenners66] 20/9/2022 12:55

So the question is , what happens to the 2nd half results?

Perhaps reduced profits by £4.5m above
Add Inflation costs , perhaps understated in May so maybe £3m
But reduced interest cost , £7m received from Tuffnells so a little bit lower

Overall I'm guessing lower 2nd half than first and probably lower dividend so maybe back to the 1.15p ?

Full year dividend in the region of 2.65 to 3.00p ?

So perhaps getting close to 10% maybe more

But it's a declining business over time.

[fenners66] 20/9/2022 12:50

Just having a read back through the interims (with the benefit of hindsight)

Looking back I do not like this bit

"The increase in working capital in the year was GBP7.8m (H1 2021: GBP4.8m) due to the timing of period end compared to the billing cycles of both publishers and retailers. These cycles lead to intra-month working capital movements of up to GBP40m. Underlying working capital levels remain consistent with the prior year period."

Especially since the later announcement

"McColl's represents a bad debt risk to the Company of GBP6-7m, with GBP1.2m being overdue."

Why not include that in the working capital explanation ?

This became

" In light of the administrator's latest guidance, the Company expects the overall bad debt risk to further reduce and to be in the region of GBP3.4m to GBP4.5m, which will impact statutory profit after tax for the full year. The Company continues to supply McColl's under its new ownership on improved payment terms, which provides partial mitigation to the impact on cash flow."

[baracuda2] 20/9/2022 12:26

Yeah me to, I've had it with these, bought these originally for the divi, once I bought them they tanked!

[hotdawg] 20/9/2022 12:19

FY2022 results announcement Friday I believe. Unless it's absolutely golden news I'm out

[baracuda2] 20/9/2022 12:06

Same old pattern each day, my worst investment ever!

[lord gnome] 13/9/2022 17:17

Interesting trades. What appears to be two decent buys over on AQSE totalling 310,000 shares, while trade on LSE is for pin money amounts. What's behind it I haven't a clue, but it would appear that someone wants to buy and is trying to keep it away from prying eyes.

[baracuda2] 13/9/2022 16:24

Me neither, relentless

[hillock1] 13/9/2022 15:52

Not so happy to see its daily share price performance..

[baracuda2] 13/9/2022 15:25

We need something to stop this constant fall.

[norbert colon] 07/9/2022 18:30

Should be a trading update in due course this month

[hotdawg] 07/9/2022 17:25

I guess not much happens between the reacquisition of publishers contracts, I believe every four years

[baracuda2] 07/9/2022 16:36

Where is this going, the most boring share ever!

[edmundshaw] 12/8/2022 10:56

Agree a trading update would be welcome. We had one mid-June last year, I am hoping for SOMETHING before the next results, especially given the recent share price weakness.

[martin44] 10/8/2022 23:40

Yes a trading update would be good to see and hopefully a very positive one at that!

[norbert colon] 10/8/2022 22:54

Forgot to add that year end is end of this month so a possible Sep or Oct pre-close trading update