Stanley Gibbons Share Discussion Threads

[pylewell] 16/8/2005 09:33

Gregory -
It was a stamp I dreamed of having as a boy. It was the Silver Jubilee KGV Prussian Blue 2 1/2d.

[hectorp] 16/8/2005 08:01

Overbought short term, long term value... would want to see 90p again before investing.

[gregory0106] 16/8/2005 08:00

Must be a good feeling knowing that Gibbons has effectively helped to buy your new stamp - I always like it when a company contributes to my purchases.

[pylewell] 15/8/2005 15:28

Just sold part of my holding in SGI. Was a forced sale - must have the cash to pay for a super rare stamp I am buying for investment.

[pylewell] 15/8/2005 14:51

Here is the Investors Chronicle tip for 12th 18th Aug issue. -

STANLEY GIBBONS
THESE ARE DIFFICULT TIMES FOR INVESTORS.
Stockmarket performance over the last few years has been, at best, uninspiring, and interest rates are low and falling. As a result, alternative investments have become more popular. For large institutions, this means hedge funds and property, but private investors have been more imaginative, opting for art, fine wines and stamps.
Thats great news for Stanley Gibbons, the UKs leading stamp dealer. Its first half results, announced at the end of last month, revealed that sales rose 15% to £5.3m, while pretax pofits were up 23 per cent to £700,000. Investors are largely to thank for the increased activity, but hobbyists are also playing their part. Chief executive Michael Hall reports that pensioners are increasingly returning to childhood hobbies, including stampcollecting, and the UK's ageing population ensures that the numberof collectors is still growing.
The changingprofile of stamp buyers has had consequences for Stanley Gibbons sales mix. The company's average sales price has risen as wealthier clients begin to dominate. That's bad news for profit margins - theres more competition to acquire expensive stamps, so prices for them are rising more quickly than for cheaper stamps. On the other hand. expensive stamps produce a higher returnon capital, as it takes less effort to market and sell a single stamp thanit does to sell a collection of 50.
Stamps are rapidly attracting buyers in emerging markets. Mr Hall reports growing interest from emerging economies such as China, India, Russia, and Brazil.This is because people have become wealthier and have more disposable income, and because they are looking for a way to move money overseas. Stanley Gibbons is also taking advantage of the internet - direct internet sales now account for 7% of the total, but they are growing by 16% each year. Hits on the website in the first half grew from 10m a month last year to 30m a month this year.
But Stanley Gibbon's core attraction remains its exposure to the stamp investment market, and it plans to capitalise on this with the launch of a stamp investment fund. The fund will be independently run, with it's own directors, but Stanley Gibbons will act as its adviser and trade on its behalf. It could be very lucrative. As adviser, it will earn 1.5% to 2% annual management fee, and will also receive a performance fee of 20% of any annual return made over the target growth level of 10% a year. Trading will also be lucrative.Although margins will be lower than they are for Gibbon's standard business.there will be plenty of volume as the fund grows. A £5m fund would equal 50% of current annual turnowver, but Mr Hall is targeting a £25m fund.

These potentially impressive returns are not yet secure, though. Setting up the fund is taking longer than expected, and reulatory clearance is still awaited. And although initial soundings suggest that clients will be interested, nothing is certain until the fund is marketed, and marketing can't start until the regulators give the go-ahead. Mr Hall is hoping to have some positive news by October.

Even without the fund, Stanley Gibbons is an attractive investment Last year the company made pre-tax profits of £1.74m and EPS of 5.1p - the numbers in the table are flattered by a one-off gain ondisposal. Broker Seymour Pierce expects profits to rise 44% to £2.5m this year, with EPS of 7.1p and then 20% to £3m next year, with EPS of 8.5p, putting the shares on an undemanding 12 times forecast earnings. Combine that with a healthy babance sheet, and a commitment to a rising dividend, and the shares look undervalued. BUY

[its the oxman] 12/8/2005 14:07

should have the legs for 110p this time

[darwar] 12/8/2005 11:33

warren buffet stuff...

Brand name
Market share

Can ONLY go up ^


Even got me old stamp alban out again.....dust dust 40yrs ago odd

[jimmy cricket] 12/8/2005 10:11

this is a world leading brand, market cap less than £30m currently, can you believe it?

[ygor705] 12/8/2005 09:50

Chart now looks bullish to me

[skyship] 12/8/2005 09:14

Have read the article - certainly makes a good case for a BUY - with or without the new Stamp Fund.

That critical £1 threshold, on which I posted last week, is yet again "In Play". We fell away from it again for the 6th time last week; and each pullback just makes the final breakthrough even more significant.

looks as though today and Monday could be crucial to the near-term performance of this stock.......

[gregory0106] 12/8/2005 08:38

Surprised it took the IC an extra week to get an uitem out on a stock they have loved for ages - I expected this last week.

[irenekent] 12/8/2005 08:24

We're done for - kiss of death when they recommend anything!

[cambium] 12/8/2005 08:20

Nice copy in the Investors Chronicle BUY

[elmfield] 12/8/2005 08:07

Morning stamp lickers, nice day eh?

[wiganer] 10/8/2005 11:05

Yup, anything below 95 to buy and I might be back in. Am sure there are others waiting to do likewise. I'd have thought we are pretty close to the "new floor".

Was tempted to hold on for the divi, but looks to have worked out Ok selling early..

[its the oxman] 10/8/2005 11:03

opportunity - will probably recover shortly

[gregory0106] 10/8/2005 08:44

Quiet a drop today as share goes ex-div - down to 95 - 98 now.

[wiganer] 09/8/2005 10:39

Sold up this morning at a small profit.

[don carter] 08/8/2005 09:11

Hectorp....I think the fact that the SIF has taken longer to set up than expected is probably the main cause of the slight retrace. However re-reading the results it is clear that the Fund could be set up any time during this second half, and once done that should lead to a rise to a new high. I don't want to be out of this when that happens because the rise could be sharp on announcement and could easily be missed. Therefore at this level SGI looks an attractive medium-term hold in my view. With the divi to come, there could well be a 20% return over 6 months IMHO.

[hectorp] 06/8/2005 11:49

Bounced too sharply chaps -needs to consolidates around 95-97p IMO, then you may get a further rise.
H.

[its the oxman] 05/8/2005 12:02

agree - good little pause before next move up hopefully - was never going to move in a straight line.

[ygor705] 05/8/2005 11:58

Well we now know what the 500k trade was all about.............institution taking a bigger stake. Would not be too concerned about today's adjustment; normal market movement imo.

[gregory0106] 05/8/2005 08:50

Bid dropped below a £1 now - has this run ended already??

[addas99] 05/8/2005 08:45

It looks as though a few people set their sell target at a round pound.
Each to their own.

[westcountryboy] 05/8/2005 08:13

No mention in today's online IC that I can find.