Stylo Share Discussion Threads

[niggle] 15/7/2001 22:12

Triple baggers don't come along very often so read carefully and for god's sake DYOR!

At the current share price of 29p the group is valued at just £17.28m. Net assets stand at over £60m, The shares could rocket to over £1 quite easily if this man is serious
The last time this happened in the mid 80s the shares shot to over £3.50 ( £1.17 in todays post split price) It could easily happen again. This is the article from the Telegraph. Good luck folks.



Petchey portfolio threatens Stylo
By Richard Fletcher (Filed: 15/07/2001)


JACK PETCHEY, the active investor and property magnate, has built a secret stake in Stylo, the shoe retailer which owns Barratts and Saxone - raising hopes that the troubled group could finally be broken up or sold.

Stylo, which owns a large portfolio of freehold property - including more than 450 shops - has long been targeted by activist shareholders attracted by the group's freehold property portfolio.

Petchey has acquired a 1.3 per cent stake thorough Trefick, an Isle of Man based investment vehicle. Other activist shareholders with holdings in Stylo include Sir Ron Brierley's Guinness Peat Group, which controls a 7 per cent stake; Causeway Smaller Quoted Fund, which holds a 14 per cent stake; and Vicuna Advisors, which owns 8 per cent.

Petchey, who has acquired his stake over the last few weeks, is believed to have held discussions with other shareholders, through his broker Peel Hunt.

Previous attempts to break up the group have been frustrated by a dual shareholder structure - Petchey for example only controls 0.8 per cent of the voting shares - which means the company is effectively controlled by the Ziff family. Petchey is not the first property entrepreneur to attempt to break up Stylo. In the mid-1980s John Ritblat, chairman of British Land, took a stake, but conceded defeat three years later.

Last year Stylo effectively raised a for sale sign over the business, when it appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to review its options. The appointment followed the anouncement that the company had lost £23.6m. PwC failed to find a buyer for the whole business, but sold a leasehold store on Oxford Street for £11m, which enabled the retailer to reduce its debts.

Following the review Arnold Ziff, who founded Stylo, retired as chairman, to be replaced by his son Michael, and the group disposed of a number of brands such as Bacons, Stylo, Instep and Hush Puppies to focus on Barratts, Saxone and Priceless.

Petchey, who shuns the spotlight, has had phenomenonal success over the last three years shaking up the quoted property sector. The 75-year-old, who has amassed a £225m fortune, has been the catalyst for a wave of corporate action which has seen over 50 property companies merge or go private. Petchey is reported to have banked over £30m of profit from the consolidation.

In April Stylo announced pre-tax profits of £300,000 compared to the loss in the previous year. But Michael Ziff conceded that the group's profitability was still "wholly unsatisfactory" and warned that there was still a great deal to do before the company would be back on track.

[niggle] 15/7/2001 22:07

Triple baggers don't come along very often so read carefully and for god's sake DYOR!

I have started a new thread because of the recent news in the Sunday Telegraph. Old thread

So the big news for the few of us who are shareholders is that it is possible that this Petchey bloke could force the break up of Stylo.

If this turns out to be the case the shares will ROCKET. At the current share price of 29p the group is valued at just £17.28m. Net assets stand at over £60m, The shares could rocket to over £1 quite easily if this man is serious and forces the break up. To do this he would have to convince the other shareholders to get together and then one of the Ziff family members so that the voting shares majority is reached.

The last time this happened in the mid 80s the shares shot to over £3.50 ( £1.17 in todays post split price) It could easily happen again. This is the article from the Telegraph. Good luck folks.



Petchey portfolio threatens Stylo
By Richard Fletcher (Filed: 15/07/2001)


JACK PETCHEY, the active investor and property magnate, has built a secret stake in Stylo, the shoe retailer which owns Barratts and Saxone - raising hopes that the troubled group could finally be broken up or sold.

Stylo, which owns a large portfolio of freehold property - including more than 450 shops - has long been targeted by activist shareholders attracted by the group's freehold property portfolio.

Petchey has acquired a 1.3 per cent stake thorough Trefick, an Isle of Man based investment vehicle. Other activist shareholders with holdings in Stylo include Sir Ron Brierley's Guinness Peat Group, which controls a 7 per cent stake; Causeway Smaller Quoted Fund, which holds a 14 per cent stake; and Vicuna Advisors, which owns 8 per cent.

Petchey, who has acquired his stake over the last few weeks, is believed to have held discussions with other shareholders, through his broker Peel Hunt.

Previous attempts to break up the group have been frustrated by a dual shareholder structure - Petchey for example only controls 0.8 per cent of the voting shares - which means the company is effectively controlled by the Ziff family. Petchey is not the first property entrepreneur to attempt to break up Stylo. In the mid-1980s John Ritblat, chairman of British Land, took a stake, but conceded defeat three years later.

Last year Stylo effectively raised a for sale sign over the business, when it appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers to review its options. The appointment followed the anouncement that the company had lost £23.6m. PwC failed to find a buyer for the whole business, but sold a leasehold store on Oxford Street for £11m, which enabled the retailer to reduce its debts.

Following the review Arnold Ziff, who founded Stylo, retired as chairman, to be replaced by his son Michael, and the group disposed of a number of brands such as Bacons, Stylo, Instep and Hush Puppies to focus on Barratts, Saxone and Priceless.

Petchey, who shuns the spotlight, has had phenomenonal success over the last three years shaking up the quoted property sector. The 75-year-old, who has amassed a £225m fortune, has been the catalyst for a wave of corporate action which has seen over 50 property companies merge or go private. Petchey is reported to have banked over £30m of profit from the consolidation.

In April Stylo announced pre-tax profits of £300,000 compared to the loss in the previous year. But Michael Ziff conceded that the group's profitability was still "wholly unsatisfactory" and warned that there was still a great deal to do before the company would be back on track.

The group has never recovered from the disastrous acquisition of the Hush Puppies and Saxone brands from Sears in 1996.

niggle

[usedbook] 14/5/2001 04:57

Came off a bit on some substantial sales.
Now 27-30.
Must be one of the best value plays on the market.

[usedbook] 03/5/2001 04:00

Ticking up nicely 30-34 now.Achieved on very little volume.
If a few institutions change tack the price could gap up.
Maybe once Time Products is sorted GPG might move on Stylo.

[usedbook] 26/4/2001 04:36

Well, they turned a 6 million interim loss into a breakeven position at the year end,which is pretty good going considering the size of the business.
As to the point about boots and the weather,I think this management would not have invested in epos and software not to use it.
I also think management will have more time to get the stock mix right-they've been firefighting for 2 years just to get the stylo ship on an even keel.
There may well be tough times ahead,but its obvious that the managers are a pretty savvy bunch, and I do expect further progress.Whether the share price will reflect management efforts I know not,but I reckon they are reasonable value at 30-40p:esp considering the property backing.

[niggle] 25/4/2001 21:11

Usedbook:

I've copied these posts from the Premium BB.

niggle - 20 Oct'00 - 16:36 - 7 of 8 edit


Will you mm's stop reducing the price of Stylo. I hear that trade is pretty good at the moment and that the year end results will be way ahead of last year.!!

niggle

niggle - 14 Dec'00 - 16:10 - 8 of 8 edit


Guiness Peat ahve bought 1m shares in Stylo. Shows that someone has some confidence doesn't it?


Whilst i agree with you in the short term, I would question whether they can sustain this rally. Back end sales surge was made off very strong boot sales in the Ladies dept with not much elsewhere. If boots experience a downturm which inevitably will at some stage and the sun doesn't start shining they along with all shoe shops will be screwed this summer. Be careful. IMHO, DYOR etc etc

ie not a one way bet (although I did buy when they went down to 20 a couple of weeks ago!)

Regards

niggle

[usedbook] 25/4/2001 16:30

In this type of recession environment it pays to get back to basics,and what coud be more basic than shoes on the feet.
Im impressed by the turnaround the management have made in 12 months;I also like the cautious tone of the statement.
With over a 100p of assets and a 30p offer price /share it looks inexpensive.

[niggle] 14/12/2000 16:10

Guiness Peat ahve bought 1m shares in Stylo. Shows that someone has some confidence doesn't it?

[niggle] 20/10/2000 16:36

Will you mm's stop reducing the price of Stylo. I hear that trade is pretty good at the moment and that the year end results will be way ahead of last year.!!

niggle

[niggle] 10/8/2000 08:31

Heard a rumour yesterday re sales of shops. I'll post up later
n

[niggle] 18/5/2000 14:19

e-venturer

Please don't be misled by FII, Stylo are not diversifying in the same way, apart from a transactional website for 'Talls and smalls'. The results will be awful so don't look there either. The only light is if they resolve the debt entirely or manage to sell a chunk of unprofitable shops (unlikely) or MBO (more likely). However, it is not unknown for these shares to rise on bad news so what do I know!?

cheers
niggle

[e-venturer] 17/5/2000 23:34

I bought some of these yesterday for the very reason. They do appear to be undervalued given their assets. I believe that FII were in a similar situation. That's not to say that Stylo are going to change direction.

It's almost 7 months since their last results so I think we will find out more with the forthcoming results.

Today's move was definitely a move in the right direction.

[pudseybear] 17/5/2000 19:29

Was born there.... not been back for 44 years!!

PB

[niggle] 17/5/2000 18:02

They will probably sell other sites to eradicate the debt all together. Break up/MBO type deals are all still possible as the company tries to move to profitability. It could fly but has been in the doldrums for so long that not many are interested in buying in.

cheers
n

PS I assume you are from Pudsey, quite near them!

[pudseybear] 17/5/2000 15:10

I've been holding these for a while for this eventuality. It looks an excellent deal and preferable to the original suggestions which seemed to revolve around breaking up the company. The Ziffs are obviously keen to extract value and there must surely be other deals on the horizon. Surprise is that price hasn't reacted more.

PB

[niggle] 17/5/2000 09:10

I know there was at least one other person interested in this bombed out retailer, but can't remember who. Anyhow they sealed a deal yesterday to sell their Oxford Streeet lease netting £10.2m and clearing a large proportion of their debt. With a market cap. just over £18m and net assets of over £60m it may be one to watch as a recovery play.

(Also stylo still own a large number of freeholds and long lease holds, which with the recent property price rises may achieve an even higher valuation)

RNS Number:7029K
Stylo PLC
16 May 2000


STYLO plc ('Stylo' or 'the Company' or 'the Group')

Stylo announces that it has entered into a conditional agreement with Coal
Pension Properties Limited to dispose of the Group's property located at
388/396 Oxford Street, London W1 ('the Property') for a cash consideration of
#11.0 million. The disposal is conditional, inter alia, on the approval of the
shareholders of Stylo.

The cash proceeds of the disposal of the Property, net of associated costs of
approximately #0.6 million, will be applied in significantly reducing Group
bank borrowings.

The short leasehold interest in 388/396 Oxford Street has been owned by the
Group since 1964, and has a book value of just #0.2 million. The disposal will
result, therefore, in a profit to the Group of #10.2 million, underlining the
strength of the Company's asset base. The disposal of the Property is one of a
package of measures designed to reduce Group borrowings and rationalise the
operations of the Company, and is expected to lead to a modest overall
increase in the Group's net asset value.

The Company is in the process of arranging banking facilities to 30 June 2001.
The Board believes that these banking facilities will provide adequate
resources for the next stage of the Group's development, and that new
facilities will be made available in due course, to run on from 30 June 2001.

The preliminary results for the year ended 29 January 2000 will be announced
shortly and a circular regarding the disposal will be sent to shareholders.

Stylo's Chief Executive, Michael Ziff, commented: 'This disposal is in line
with the Group's stated intention of significantly reducing short term
borrowings. It is expected that a combination of cash flow and further
disposals will bring short term borrowings within normal working capital
requirements.'


For further information, please contact:

Stylo plc 01274 617761
Michael Ziff
John Weaving

Equity Marketing 020 7242 8005
Brian Basham

Shares price hasn't reponded yet tho'

cheers
niggle