Stanley Gibbons Share Discussion Threads

[chairman2] 11/11/2008 14:27

thanks BW1

[bookworm1] 11/11/2008 14:19

Chairman the target market that this literature is aimed at is not IMO sophisticated investors but the mature person who interested in getting into investing in stamps partly as a hobby and partly as an investment (with the support of the SGI investment dept to help them avoid making a mistake) and from what I can see it seems to be working. If you want to study the background for this type of sales language take look at Steve Sjuggerud alternative investment newsletter that goes out to about 7,500 US investors and by all accounts has quite a following. Whilst it might not appeal to you the key is does it achieve it intended objective?

There has been some talk about constructing a fund that invests in stamps and if they can pull it off I am sure the langage used there will be more discerning & sophisticated.

[chairman2] 10/11/2008 22:51

bookworm1

I agree with you basically its clever - up to a point

its no different to Christies and Sotheby's financing dealer
and buyer inventory - most of which activity is deeply covert.
(And rightly regarded with deep deep suspicion by outsiders.

Makes auction price records a bit meaningless tho'

and in stamps the auction prices are the holy scripture.

Where Robsys2 has a point is that the language used in the
marketing literature is off-putting to anyone with a serious
investment background. It is Naive and off-putting. It proabably
acts to reassure (overeseas) oligarchs and others new to
collecting but if you are trustee or fund manager the language
is literally incredible. SGI might be shooting themselves in
the foot by sounding like hucksters not sound money men.

[bookworm1] 10/11/2008 17:58

chairman from the customers point of view that might be true but in my opinion the guarantee is more of a way of encouraging customers to invest in shares. What the customer is really doing is buying and selling a selected stock of stamps for which SGI get commission income on the buy and sell transaction.

Robsys2 was expressing a concern about guaranteeing anything and it is this that I was taking issue with by trying to disengage it from debate about investing in stamps as I think it is misleading as to what is actually happening. IMO the company have very cleverly managed to package a sales incentive which can be expressed as an investment benefit. To my mind this is no different to offering a lease sale purchase on an asset instead of an oughtright purchase or retal; they are just different ways of encouraging a transaction and making a profit.

[bookworm1] 10/11/2008 16:30

Robsy2 guarantees are based on knowing how a particular market works. SGI management are comfortable offerring this guarantee because their own research confirms annual average returns of 9% and although 25% might sound too good to be true it is actually just 5% year on year (and is not a compounded return). I have had experience of similar marketing devices used in the retail sector under a different heading called 'warrenties' whereby the consumer is offerred a 100% guarantee that they will get a full replacement if their product fails within 5 years from purchase. If you know your business you also know how many failures you will get to offset the take up premiums. They are all designed to overcome customer reluctance to make a purchase by providing a form of reassurance. Equally SGI are in the business of buying and selling scarce materials that will be in demand by collectors.

You seem sceptical that such a return is possible thus suggesting that if you were making an investment into the high yield portfolio this would be one of your concerns about making a satisfactory return. IMO stamps are somewhat different to stocks & shares and exhibit different behavours as alternative investments especially during recessionary times.

If you are concerned examine the guarantee provision which has been extensively debated on this board as it is less than the bad debt provision for a typical trading company with an average selection of trade debtors. The rest is just fearmongering.

[robsy2] 07/11/2008 15:06

I have been a fan , shareholder and customer of SGI. I sold my shares some time ago when I saw the following type of claim. Surprised to see it is still being pushed about. Apart from night following day, what can anyone guarantee nowadays?
I advise extreme caution.


Safe Haven Investing
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[masurenguy] 28/10/2008 09:36

Big drop on small volume of less than 25000 shares. Now back to Feb 2006 prices.

[abergele] 27/10/2008 22:58

the charts and climate we are in say 100p ...

never mind the quality...feel the width..

[sichuk] 23/10/2008 08:02

OK thanks chairman, I will report back when I have news.

[chairman2] 21/10/2008 09:35

sichuk ask the company
they were planning to cooperate
with a fund management group in
such a launch

[sichuk] 21/10/2008 08:12

Is anybody aware of a stamp related ETF or ETN? I have been waiting for more develpement in the area reading somewhere that this was in the offing...

Investing in SGI directly isnt really what I want, as its not the core exposure Im after?

[masurenguy] 19/10/2008 14:46

The view taken by Glynn Davis on SGI just over 6 weeks ago was perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately the fall in global markets since then has drowned the logic contained in the fundamentals of many companies and the share price has subsequently fallen by 30% since then. Clearly a potential recovery stock once the markets finally stabilize !
...................................................................................

Thursday September 4th 2008
Stanley Gibbons' shares still worth collecting

Amid the meltdown of financial markets and collapse in share prices one of the rare bright investment spots is stamps and collectibles.
By Glynn Davis

For the 6 months to end-June it reported a 6% rise in pre-tax profits to £1.9m on turnover up 12% to £9.8m. It is not difficult to see the attraction of its core product when you consider that the British stamps index, the GB30, has increased by an impressive 39% over the past year. This is pretty decent going when you compare it with the general retail index that has dropped by almost 45% over this same period. Although this uplift in the GB30 has not translated directly into a similar share price gain for Stanley Gibbons - shares stand at 180p, compared with a 12-month high of 239.5p - they have still enjoyed a solid 2 months moving up from a low of 138p in early July. This fully justifies the 'Buy' recommendation that was re-iterated in a note from Seymour Pierce after the results when the shares traded at 157p, giving it a PE of a modest 8.6x 2008 earnings. Although this has now been pushed up to approaching 10x there is still much to be positive about Stanley Gibbons.

[mike24] 08/10/2008 09:44

POST 144 boards.fool site

10k-25k one yrs % free credit
25k-100k two yrs % free credit
over 100k THREE yrs % free credit

giving you the ability to continue to generate return
on capitol blah blah...

can someone explain? oh and how we are going to unwind
800 trill, of swaps?

edit M why not sell into that 39% rise,gold has peaked, and cash is king
because you will be able to buy assets at a 70%+ discount?

[masurenguy] 08/10/2008 08:55

A 6% drop on a volume of less than 13,000 shares so far. Crazy days unless there is a larger sale being worked in the background !

[wilmdav] 02/10/2008 10:19

The post-interim discussion has continued on TMF with thoughtful arguments for and against and some input from Mike Hall about the 38% increase in the GB Rarities Index. Well worth a read for those who have not already done so.

[trigger45] 30/9/2008 08:25

This is starting to look very cheap now.

[sheik yerbouti] 23/9/2008 13:55

These ought to be a relatively safe haven. The market doesn't seem to agree at the moment though.

[bookworm1] 16/9/2008 09:48

Another time to top up or the downward trend confirmed?

[cockneyrebel] 02/9/2008 13:34

Had a few more - looking too darn cheap now on a fwd PE of 7.5 and such a fab record - reckon these start to motor up a bit again soon.

CR