Styles & Wood Share Discussion Threads

[nw99] 22/11/2017 14:19

Plenty of work for them shares will re rate

[lefrene] 20/11/2017 11:55

Good find there RP19, certainly an avenue for STY to pursue, I'm sure they will.

[rp19] 19/11/2017 18:46

Not sure about the industry as a whole but there appears to be a focus at STY of concentrating on better margin areas of work. The Department for Works & Pensions has a £375 fit-out/build framework that is due to start in April 2018. I'd imagine STY will be seeking a place on that.

[lefrene] 19/11/2017 18:19

RP19, I wonder if Carillion unravelling will improve margins across the whole sector? Anecdotes imply that Carillion was 'buying work' and then short changing their suppliers, simply chasing volume, pretty much the same tactics that very nearly brought STY to grief.

Being in framework schemes certainly can't do any harm, their reputation for bringing things in on time and to budget must be getting noticed.

If Carillion gets broken up, then their ongoing projects will need reliable businesses to step in. There must be quite a few who would be happy to see it gone.

[rp19] 19/11/2017 11:04

Good link - nice to see that STY have made it onto various lots of the ESFAs school building framework. Obviously no guarantees of work with frameworks but there would appear to be a decent bit of work to go around.

[lefrene] 14/11/2017 14:31

At least STY gets known in the industry even if the stock market doesn't seem to know it exists :¬)

[lefrene] 10/11/2017 13:01

This looks like a business that's doing ok, it looks cheap, so I can't help but wonder why people are selling it, unless of course they are selling simply because the price is drifting down?


Styles & Wood First Half Performance Boosted By Acquisitions
[ 29 Sep 2017 11:27 ]

LONDON (Alliance News) - Property services and project delivery company Styles & Wood Group PLC saw its first half revenue rise and profit more than double, with growth driven by a positive impact from acquisitions.


Its revenue for the first half, which ended June 30, rose 18% to GBP55.5 million from GBP47.1 million and pretax profit rose to GBP867,000 from GBP407,000.


Styles & Wood said revenue was aided by contributions from the acquisitions of Keysource Ltd in September last year and The GDM Group Ltd in January.


Styles & Wood paid an initial GBP1.0 million cash payment for Keysource with up to GBP5.0 million of deferments payable in cash in shares subject to performance criteria in the three years up to December 31 2018.


GDM was acquired for an initial consideration in cash and shares of GBP4.0 million with a potential deferred payment of up to GBP3.1 million in cash subject to performance in the three years leading up to the end of 2019.


The company said both acquisitions have performed well in the year to date, significantly enhancing not only its customer service offering but also in earnings, with further potential growth expected.


Strong revenue growth in the company's professional services division to GBP30.2 million from GBP19.0 million was offset by contracting services revenue falling to GBP18.6 million from GBP27.5 million.


The drop in contracting revenue was primarily due to timing issues regarding two major projects' scope and delays in planning. These delayed start dates mean revenue in this sector will be heavily weighted to the second half of the year.


Facility services revenue rose to GBP6.7 million from GBP538,000 the year before.


Styles & Wood said current order book and trading forecasts remain in line with
management expectations for the full year, with new framework appointments and major project wins due to provide further growth going into 2018.



By George Collard; [e-mail]

[lefrene] 10/11/2017 12:17

Followers of that tip sheet must be reconsidering their subscriptions!

[lefrene] 09/11/2017 10:24

"Quality" or not the steady drip of small sells is grinding this down. Visibility of future earnings is needed, there is a sense of the tide going out.

The figures look quite healthy.

[kmann] 08/11/2017 08:20

Great gamesmanship brando. Bit of a lull before the next contract win imo. Certainly quality on offer here.

[lefrene] 06/11/2017 22:17

That's a nice healthy dose of cynicism brando69 and might well be a sane view.

However three holders have 49.5% of the company, I guess they would want a hefty premium to give up their interest. Indeed once counted up there's less than 1.6 million shares in free float, small wonder the price moves in steps. I guess the major holders want to keep it that way? Certainly seeing directors buying would be a vote of confidence.

[rp19] 06/11/2017 21:31

Can't see managers/directors taking it private as they own so little (perhaps begs the question why ownership is so low). I think the British Growth Fund's ownership is important here. They took a big stake in VCP (don't own) and it has performed excellently. Happy to hold based on what I know but lack of newsflow is a bit frustrating. Interims only recently out so probably not a lot coming soon unless they announce new contracts/framework agreements.

[brando69] 06/11/2017 18:06

or maybe they are happy to see share price drift so managers can table a low-ball bid to take private... they can then save the divi for later

[brando69] 06/11/2017 17:18

if it was that clear cut, surely directors would be filling their boots...? not a closed period is it?

[lefrene] 06/11/2017 17:11

How times change, here's an item from the Manchester Evening News in 2009. Note a prospective takeover for £80 million when the order book was £77 million. Now the company has orders circa £130 million, yet it's only valued at £29 million by the market today. A direct comparison would suggest a take over value four times the current price! Unlikely to happen, and perhaps not a fair comparison, but it still suggests that STY is much undervalued, unless there is something else going on?


"ALTRINCHAM-based store refurbishment group Styles & Wood may be sold to venture capital buyers after three years on the stock market.

The board announced it was exploring options to boost its balance sheet, including a sale to private equity or an equity fundraising.

An attempt by former chief executive Neil Davies and ex-chairman Gerard Quiligotti to take the company private for £80m was abandoned last year.

Styles & Wood's shares have slumped amid retail sector woes and it warned its results for 2008 would be hit by exceptional items.

The business, now led by CEO Ivan McKeever, said trading since the start of this year was in line with expectations and it was benefiting from action to slash costs by more than £4m. It has an order book of £77.4m. "

[lefrene] 06/11/2017 16:53

A bit ironic really when one considers their recent three year contract deal here, providing compliance services to the finance industry!



"Styles&Wood plc has secured a new three-year contract to deploy its Arctick software solution to VLS, a portfolio management business that works with some of the UK’s largest financial services firms.

The contract will see Styles&Wood migrate VLS to its Arctick Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solution, which helps firms to effectively manage, monitor, identify and report incidents and risks.

Styles&Wood has worked with VLS to implement a tailored version of the system. It will be used to automate manual and labour-intensive processes to significantly improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, while evidencing regulatory compliance.

The software was originally developed in conjunction with Nationwide Building Society – which uses it across its customer services and operations division, and was launched to the wider financial services market in February. Its functionality is aligned with the stringent risk governance and controls expectations of the Financial Conduct Authority under SYSC 7 and SMCR.


Ian Wilson, Managing Executive of Arctick at Styles&Wood, said:

“Financial services firms are among the most heavily regulated in the UK, so being able to clearly evidence and demonstrate compliance is critical.”

“VLS services financial firms with significant portfolios under management and came to us because they needed to streamline their audit, compliance and risk processes. Arctick will help them improve operational efficiency, reduce costs and demonstrate exceptional levels of compliance with existing and upcoming regulation.”

Sarah-Jane Green, Head of Risk and Compliance at VLS, said:

“Since regulation is constantly evolving, we needed a provider with an adaptable solution that can reflect these changes and provide excellent levels of customer service. Arctick will also enable us to achieve new efficiencies across the business while giving us security in knowing we can demonstrate robust risk management.”

Styles&Wood Plc provides a full range of professional and contracting services to some of the UK’s premier brands and leading blue chip organisations. Its technology business unit offers a suite of software and data analytics for estates professionals and governance, risk and compliance teams."

[john09] 06/11/2017 16:44

Even lower than 7 I think?

[brando69] 06/11/2017 16:39

that would bring current p/e to around 7 would it not?

[john09] 06/11/2017 16:37

£2.50 could be on the cards. When narrowly traded small caps break down like this the MMS love a further tree shake to scare holders off

[lefrene] 06/11/2017 16:31

Could go anywhere brando69, Mr Lenehan's strategy might be working or not, is it risky? One might argue that it is riskier not to take risks, after-all the business needs other strings to its bow, rather than just being good at shop fitting etc. As always shareholders can never see what is really happening. High time the UK had quarterly reporting!

[brando69] 06/11/2017 14:05

looks set to retest 300 eh?

[lefrene] 06/11/2017 13:53

It might be lucrative kMann, but the company appears rather poor at getting that message to the market. In fact it rather feels that they are indifferent to how the market see's them.

[kmann] 01/11/2017 18:06

As fas as i know, this sort of consulting work is lucrative, but the greater point is this work speads the name, and they can take more work from the whole build cycle.

[lefrene] 30/10/2017 11:20

Another contract, but difficult to know what these services earn.

[lefrene] 16/10/2017 15:23

I wonder how lucrative this is, and whether it leads to other work?