Superglass Share Discussion Threads

[oregano] 07/8/2015 08:54

downgrades for this year, downgrades for next year, this is negative which ever way you look at it. EV/ EBITDA of 5x for next year is probably right for a company that has alot to provide.

[whites123] 07/8/2015 07:23

Low margin sales cut.
Enough cash trading headroom.
New products.

Read between the headline text and SPGH is a company that has a plan and can see the benefits at the end of the tunnel.
As I alluded to, Its likening itself to the phoenix. :-)


Superglass Holdings plc

("Superglass" or the "Company")

Trading Update



Following the recent Board changes and the appointment of a Ken Munro as Chief Executive Officer, the Group provides the following progress update.



The ongoing turnaround plan remains broadly on track, with the delivery of planned cost savings and the continued repositioning of the business towards growing construction markets and more value added products is beginning to yield the positive margin improvements targeted.



As planned, throughout June and July 2015, the Company has undertaken a major capital investment project and has implemented the managed capacity reduction strategy announced last September, which going forward will deliver the planned operational cost savings and increase the focus on revenue quality. During the course of this complex capital project, the Company has taken the opportunity to make further improvements to the operational infrastructure and as a consequence production volumes have been lower than anticipated and a number of other capital projects, some of which have associated cost savings, have necessarily been deferred into the next financial year.



The Company has continued to reposition its revenue with strategic partners that require a richer mix of value added products and the planned improvement in net selling prices following the March price increase has been realised. However, the volume impact of adopting a more disciplined pricing policy which has seen the Company withdraw from lower margin export markets as well as some low value activity in the domestic market, has meant that sales volumes in the second half of the year will now be in line with the first half.



In keeping with the strategy of adding value to its customers the Company has increased the focus on new product development. The Company has launched a number of new products in recent months, the most significant development being the achievement in May 2015 of British Board of Agrément certification for "Superwhite 34", a cavity wall insulation solution for new build housing. This product opens up a new segment of the market to the Company which will benefit the 2016 financial year.



On 23 July 2015, the UK Government announced it was to cease funding The Green Deal Financing Company, thereby effectively winding down the Green Deal scheme and that the Department for Energy and Climate Change will "work with the building industry and consumer groups to make new policy and build a system that works". This policy change will have a negligible impact on the Company in the short term and depending upon the nature of any replacement scheme, may represent an opportunity over the longer term although none of this is reflected in the Company's projections at this time.



As previously announced, following changes to the supply of glass cullet, which is the Company's key raw material, some issues have been experienced with the material's consistency. In recent months, the Company has made substantial progress with its cullet supplier to stabilise the supply, however the inconsistency of supply has adversely impacted manufacturing cost in the period. The Company continues to work closely with its waste glass supplier to implement a long term solution to provide a reliable supply of cullet of the desired quality specification and is confident that this will be achieved.



The combined impact of all of the factors above is expected to delay the Company's anticipated return to a positive aggregate earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exceptional items which was previously expected in the second half of this financial year. However, the progress made in the second half will demonstrate the substantial improvement in the Company's financial performance over both the first half of the year and the equivalent period last year. The Board is increasingly optimistic that the combination of growing construction markets, the introduction of new higher value products, production efficiencies and tighter overall capacity supports a more positive outlook for price and margin improvement over the coming year.



Following the equity funding received last year the Board continues to impose a strong focus on cash management and can confirm that the Company continues to trade with adequate cash headroom.



Board

On 18 May 2015 the Board announced John Colley's decision to step down as Chairman on 19 June 2015 and the process to find a replacement is expected to be completed in the next few weeks.

[meijiman] 23/7/2015 15:54

Thanks. I may well follow up on that suggestion after my pending holiday.
As its priced to go bust or never recover its a bit like option money.
Chance of being a bagger from this point I think.....

[whites123] 22/7/2015 07:36

Meijiman,

Can I suggest that you give them a call.

NO price sensitive info, but as a shareholder or prospective interested party they are always happy to take questions and answer best they can.

I don't want to sound condescending, but I would steer away from pinging emails back and forth, speak to them, they know you know the business then and will I have found happily chat within the realms of allowable disclosure.

I am heartened, just as I was when I had my chats with STY.

[meijiman] 14/7/2015 09:07

I'm sure the shares are worth more than 3.5p but it will be hard to get people interested until there is evidence this is not going bust/earnings are set to improve. Or maybe losses set to diminish. Some will not be aware that the previous incompetent management has been replaced. Who are the brokers to this outfit? -its their job to get the message across along with the spinner.

[masurenguy] 14/7/2015 08:51

Next trading update would normally be a year end statement at the beginning of September. However they could always make an "unscheduled" update on current progress on the back of an RNS relating to some other company news but of course this is entirely unpredictable!

No position - just watching.

[meijiman] 14/7/2015 08:39

The share price will take care of itself once information is in the public domain. When is the next update due?

[whites123] 04/7/2015 08:26

Exactly as expected.

Higher price offered than being quoted.
No restrictions (up to 500,000 shares) but restricted to 25,000 if you wish to buy.

Milestone news around the corner.

Lack of trades mean that no one has picked up on this.

If you have a couple of hours spare, then research and call them.
It will 100% be in your financial interest to do so.

[whites123] 01/7/2015 21:46

2.5 Million bought today.
Not unsubstantial as value attributable of circa £100,000

Its going to pop... :-)

There are buyers out there,:-)

[whites123] 01/7/2015 07:50

Probably (IMO) just a little cynical :-)

I wondered also regards a possible sell down of their whole holding, but consider that Hamilton has stated he would buy more if he could then I think there would be a transaction between the 2 parties rather than a market sell off.

The stock has been walked down and the price quoted for sells can be improved upon electronically.

Hamilton has acquired 6.35 million shares in the AIM-listed company which, based on Monday's closing price of 3.62p per share, amounts to an investment of around £229,870.





Hamilton managing director Andrew Lapping, who founded firm with Mr Boyle in 1999, believes it is the ideal time to invest in Superglass, noting that the share price "does not reflect the enormous amount of effort" which has made to transform its "ancient plant" into a world-class facility.

He said: "I just see value in it, basically, [it has] a very strong operational team with a very loyal workforce. For me, I think my timing on this is pretty good. The share price was 50p-plus a few months ago, and it's now down at 3p or 4p. And if anything the company is in a better position than it was 12 months ago, it's got to be.

"With the economy picking up, [and the] housing [and] commercial property sectors picking up, it just looks fundamentally cheap to me. I'd probably buy more shares if I could get my hands on them."

[cyberbub] 30/6/2015 22:46

Do people think that River and Mercantile are selling down their whole holding? In which case it could be months before they are out...

While the potential turnaround looks quite good, I think there is a danger that if it starts to move into profit, the management might take it private and rob shareholders of any upside recovery... am I being too cynical? I suppose any takeout price would be well north of 4p though...

NAI

[whites123] 30/6/2015 13:26

This will be very similar if not mirroring STY.

Mark my words. :-)

[whites123] 24/6/2015 08:59

Small purchases (Monetary Value) and my average is now 15p :-)
And Im happy. ? :-)

Considering I bought into the story at nearer 50p originally the inept management almost killed the company outright.

New focussed team in place, revised plans, and a very much improving market suggests to me this (Along with a couple of other stocks I hold in "broadly same sector") will do well 2015 / 2016 and onwards.

New major shareholder on board as well with history.

Streamlined and cost effective plant. Should it still be tarnished with the past?

[whites123] 23/6/2015 15:42

" How can they compete with imports from low cost countries?"

Building Regs.. (Fire safety)
Green: (Environmentally friendly)

[lefrene] 23/6/2015 15:33

It seems to be in a commodity manufacturing market with its production a long way from the likely bulk of UK users. It would seem that its fortunes are closely associated with new home building, and possibly refurbs and new industrial buildings. How can they compete with imports from low cost countries?

[oregano] 23/6/2015 13:50

MG - net cash was £1m, that cash on the BS came from a bank facility, so you need to add that onto the mkt cap. ie, EV is about £7/8m.

clearly small, so if they get it right they could shift, but in H1 they made a gross loss, so it looks like a big turnaround to me.

[masurenguy] 23/6/2015 13:12

Hmmm.......cash at the end of Feb was £4.1m and todays market cap @3.5p is £4.6m proving an EV of circa £1.5m. If they lose another £1.9m in H2 we could the see the shareprice dip below 3p. Obviously we can only wait and see how H2 pans out.

No position but on my watchlist.

[whites123] 23/6/2015 12:30

Its no easy task to resurrect this, but having spent many an hour chewing it over with them (Without price sensitive info being divulged) and SPGH products being used (Loosely) in the sector I work in I know that the orders have been increasing.
The uncertainty of who was going to be in government has been removed and I am more than happy to state that I get the feeling that things are progressing relatively well.

Short term there could be further downward pressure, but the recent funding took place at 5p.
In lots of cases this would have underpinned the share price
In this instance its fallen right through it. That is what sentiment does.

For now I see it as a speculative buy with cash to underpin the stock to the tune of 3p

Not for widows and orphans, but certainly one for the speculator who is not adverse to a bit of risk.

[oregano] 23/6/2015 11:48

it would appear to my untrained eye, the difference between this and STY is that STY has pumped out some decent numbers and the financial restructuring was a catalyst.

these guys appear to have alot of work to do to reach break even for the year. At least they have a plan.

I see R&M selling more, interesting to see if Lapping is as good as his word and buys them!

[whites123] 23/6/2015 10:13

Have spoken to BOD members a few times during the past couple of months and am "heartened" (Cautiously optimistic)

They have a good cash buffer still and the plans put into place to refocus and save are proceeding as expected.

I had (And still have) a holding which cost me circa £50k which currently is worth some meagre £4,000..
Quite a loss.. but a quick look around and there are others who are seeing potential value.

The industry sector is picking up and I am even hopeful they will be able to do a STY style turnaround of share price in rather quick time.


Boyle investment firm takes Superglass stake

THE Hamilton Portfolio, the private equity and investment firm co-founded by Scottish entrepreneur John Boyle, has taken a 4.15 per cent stake in Superglass Holdings, the insulation manufacturer.

The move is a vote of confidence in Stirling-based Superglass, which parted company with chief executive Alex McLeod in March and has run up heavy losses in recent years.

Hamilton has acquired 6.35 million shares in the AIM-listed company which, based on Monday's closing price of 3.62p per share, amounts to an investment of around £229,870.

Hamilton managing director Andrew Lapping, who founded firm with Mr Boyle in 1999, believes it is the ideal time to invest in Superglass, noting that the share price "does not reflect the enormous amount of effort" which has made to transform its "ancient plant" into a world-class facility.

He said: "I just see value in it, basically, [it has] a very strong operational team with a very loyal workforce. For me, I think my timing on this is pretty good. The share price was 50p-plus a few months ago, and it's now down at 3p or 4p. And if anything the company is in a better position than it was 12 months ago, it's got to be.

"With the economy picking up, [and the] housing [and] commercial property sectors picking up, it just looks fundamentally cheap to me. I'd probably buy more shares if I could get my hands on them."

Mr Lapping added: "I would describe it as a calculated punt because I see the company doing well as the market continues to improve."

Shares in Superglass closed up 0.12p at 3.75p.

[masurenguy] 31/3/2015 08:42

This goes someway to explain the disastrous trading performance since the restructuring & refinancing (at a 50p placing) when they downgraded from the main market to AIM a couple of years ago.

Failed policy leaves millions with poorly insulated lofts

More than 7m homes have poorly insulated lofts and the rate at which they are being improved has fallen by almost 90% in two years, according to a report by a consumer watchdog. Only 177,000 lofts were insulated last year, down from 1.3m in 2012, Which? found using government data. The number of homes gaining cavity wall insulation fell by 45% over the same period and the rate of solid wall insulation fell by 40%.

The report attributes the decline partly to the failure of the government’s Green Deal scheme, which was intended to persuade millions of homeowners to take out loans to insulate their homes, but which signed up fewer than 10,000 in its first two years. The Which? report says Britain’s housing stock is among Europe’s least energy efficient.

Full article here:

No position. I've kept this share on my watchlist for several years but it has never appeared to have achieved a viable business model to invest in or any credible recovery potential. The failure of the Green Deal scheme has clearly been a contributory factor in this context.