Sureserve Share Discussion Threads

[diduno] 03/9/2019 09:33

The trial of those facing charges in connection with the Lakehouse/Hackney Council bribery case started yesterday at Southwark Crown Court. It will be extremely interesting to see what happens over the next few months.

I am also reliably informed that investigations continue into the sale of Fosters by Lakehouse for £1. Evidently Fosters had a balance sheet value of £3.6m at the time of sale.

[diduno] 12/8/2019 08:44

12/08/2019 - Construction news reports Lakehouse creditors' claims jump by £14m.

[diduno] 03/8/2019 13:26

Vfast - let's see who's right in a few months. The first trial starts in September to be followed by another in January. Evidently there are too many defendants for one trial. Too difficult for jurors to follow. If my sources are correct, and they have been up until now, there could well be more people facing charges following these trials, depending of course on what comes out.
The purpose of my posts was to warn investors. Vfast seems to ignore the fact the shares have tumbled since flotation. Still lets not let that dash hopes for the future. Past performance is no indication for the future. But in this case I very much suspect it will prove to be exactly that.

[trustman] 02/8/2019 08:59

Clearly put vfast and on that basis I think the shares could be argued as good value.
Have you considered all the posts on this thread referring to sins of the past possibly still being at least partially relevant to the company?
As far as I can see the company does not refer to them, and if on financial matters at least gives a specific provision-which presumably has been reviewed by auditors and the board.
It strikes me that if this company can put the past behind it is worth a second look.
As you say IMO DYOR!

[vfast] 29/7/2019 13:37

Sureserve reconstruction of the business appears to be complete and from its last statement it refers to good profitability and order book moving forward.

Also the company seems to be isolated from any Brexit problems been focused on the UK market in regulated areas of social housing, public buildings, education, energy services and industrial and commercial buildings.

Year ending in September and will expect an update before the company enters its close period if all is still on track which I expect it will be investors may see the company as a safe haven for any Brexit fall out.

IMO DYOR

[vfast] 27/6/2019 08:19

Igoe, some good positive write ups. Hopefully the share price will be re-rated sometime over the next 12 months.

[igoe104] 27/6/2019 07:36

Edison note summary.

Sureserve Group - Interims reflect a more predictable business


Given the pre-restructuring history of Sureserve, the absence of any surprises or exceptionals in this set of interims is a cause for celebration. The more streamlined group is now focused on compliance and energy services, where growth is underpinned by regulatory drivers. H119 results showed revenues expanding by 13% y-o-y and EBITDA growing by 17%. The current FY19e P/E of 7.1x is in marked contrast to the 15.5x recently offered by Macquarie for PTSG, one of Sureserve’s peers, and highlights the relative attraction of the business.

Our EPS estimates are unchanged for 2020, but tweaked up from 3.9p to 4.0p for FY19 following the interims. The business is seasonal in nature and H2 has a greater contribution to profitability as there are fewer callouts in the summer. Our FY19 EBITA estimate is virtually unchanged at £8.8m and is roughly in line with the c £9m management is targeting. We expect net debt to fall as the group is expecting an 80% cash conversion (underlying EBITA to operating cash flow) for the full year and at present believe shareholders prefer debt to be paid down instead of dividend income.

The compliance and energy services businesses have strong market positions. Gas compliance has a market-leading position in public work and is likely to benefit from the consolidation in housing associations and the allocation of council budgets from maintenance to safety. Energy services has seen growth driven by smart metering and energy efficiency contract wins, and should see the benefit of the £55m Arbed 3, which has been mobilised and is now due to contribute profitably for H219.

Peter Smith (ex-Mitie) has been announced as the new finance director and will join the company on 29 July 2019. This will allow Michael McMahon more bandwidth on developing the business and should allow more focus on narrowing the gap in fundamentals the group’s valuation.

Management is growing the business successfully and sensibly. However, the share price has yet to reflect this. The P/E multiple is around 7x for both FY19e and FY20e and is at odds with the more stable business into which Sureserve has transformed itself.

[igoe104] 26/6/2019 07:36

Shore Capital have a 8 page note, this is the summary.


Recovery remains on-track

The compliance and energy efficiency group delivered a 17% increase in EBITA for H1 2019E to March, on a 13% increase in sales. This follows a transformational year in 2018 after the problematic Property Services and Construction divisions were sold. We are not changing our FY 2019 or 2020 profit estimates at this point, but these results suggest they may be conservative. (Headline diluted EPS estimates have been raised by c. 5% reflecting fewer dilutive shares.) With growth driven by regulatory imperative, the FY 2019E P/E of 6.7x contrasts sharply with the 15.5x implied by last week’s agreed cash offer by Macquarie Group for Premier Technical Services Group.

[vfast] 25/6/2019 10:44

Good results and prospects moving forward. Expecting to see a progressive increase in the dividend when the final results come out and over the coming years.

[igoe104] 25/6/2019 07:26

Good numbers.


Sureserve Group plc, the asset and support services group
Unaudited Interim Results for the six months ended 31 March 2019 (H1 FY19)
Transformed business positioned for growth
Bob Holt, Chairman of Sureserve Group commented:
"I am pleased to report an excellent set of results for the 6 months ended 31 March 2019, with the Group trading comfortably ahead of the previous year.

Both our Compliance and Energy business groups showed a significant improvement year on year. It should be remembered that the first half of our year takes into account the winter months where gas in particular incurs significantly higher costs than the summer months. It was pleasing to see our smart meter installation business achieve profitability and we look to the future with a positive view on that business.

The results demonstrate that we were well ahead of the comparable period last year and the Board look forward to achieving a successful outcome for the year to September.

It would be remiss of me to not highlight the commitment from Michael McMahon and the operational and support management teams. I commend my colleagues for their hard work and desire to drive the Group to market leading positions in the markets they serve. We operate across both the public and private sector markets which have seen difficult UK wide trading conditions, and our performance against this is a further demonstration of our ability to win new business on a profitable and cash generative basis.

I personally look forward to bringing you further good news in the future."

Financial highlights
Ø Revenue from continuing operations grew by 13% to £102.5m (H1 FY18: £91.1m)
Ø Underlying EBITA1 from continuing operations grew by 17% to £3.1m (H1 FY18: £2.7m)
Ø Underlying EBITA1 margins from continuing operations were 3.0% (H1 FY18: 2.9%)
Ø Underlying pre-tax profit2 of £2.5m (H1 FY18: £1.9m)
Ø Group profit before tax from continuing operations of £1.1m (H1 FY18: Loss of £0.5m), after amortisation of acquisition intangibles of £1.4m (H1 FY18: £2.2m) and finance expenses of £0.6m (H1 FY18: £0.7m)
Ø Underlying cash conversion of 51% (H1 FY18: 25%)
Ø Losses from discontinued operations of £nil (FY18: losses of £11.8m resulting from the impairment exercise undertaken in the prior year as part of the preparation of these activities for sale). Earnings per share from continuing operations of 0.6p (H1 FY18: loss per share of 0.2p)
Ø Earnings per share from continuing operations and discontinued operations of 0.6p (H1 FY18: loss per share of 7.7p).
Ø Balance sheet remains robust, with net debt of £12.9m (31 March 2018: £14.2m) at the end of our peak seasonal working capital period

[diduno] 19/6/2019 09:48

Would it be possible for a £13m debt to be built up by Mapps Group since it took over LHC? Or is it more likely that the debt, or the vast majority of it, was there prior to the takeover?

It is unfortunate - or most fortunate depending how you view it - that it is claimed the company's computer system was hit by a virus attack wiping out both Sureserve & LHC records. This appears to have been offered as the reason for the debt being as high as it is.

Is Sureserve or Mapps saying in all seriousness that it had no way of quantifying the debt prior to the virus attack? If it is, how could Mapps be expected to establish the financial position prior to takeover?

Once its systems had been restored, presuming it had no back up which for a company of its size would appear extremely negligent, what did either Sureserve or Mapps do to remedy the situation and pay those owed money? From the amounts owed to some subcontractors, it appears the debts were built up over many months.

Whatever did happen has to be established by the administrator and those responsible must be made to answer for whatever actions they did or didn't take. Would it break Sureserve to honour these debts although it is possibly too late to save some of the businesses affected, or will it claim the debts are those of Mapps Group. The whole affair is complicated by the sale of a company worth £m's, Fosters, being sold for the grand sum of £1! Mapps clearly did not wish to recover any of LHC losses!

[trustman] 18/6/2019 22:02

The court case and other allegations are serious.
However does anyone have any insight as to whether the surviving operations can carry outstanding debt. The key question for shareholders is do they have a basis for correctly valuing the company.

[sharw] 10/6/2019 12:27

I see that the administrator's report was published last week. It can be found here:



Paras 1.7 to 1.13 show how badly the deal was constructed and paras 2.23 to 2.25 suggest more to come from this can of worms.

[diduno] 05/6/2019 12:30

I do hope creditors are able to get some satisfaction at the meeting but my experience of Lakehouse is that it does, as far as possible, cover itself. Whether it has done so now will be extremely interesting to see.

However, from information passed to me I am led to believe that some very senior former company staff will have some serious issues to answer for at at the trial scheduled to commence in September, and I am not referring to those currently facing charges. It appears possible that the normal 'modus operandi' of the company has been continued resulting in many companies being owed many £m's.

[ribarro] 04/6/2019 10:41

There is a creditors meeting on Thursday of this week for Lakehouse Contracts which should be very revealing. I will give just one example, Sureserve announced that they had sold Lakehouse Contracts for £500k and there would be further payments depending on performance. The £500k was never paid to Sureserve. This is just one of many dodgy if not illegal transactions that has taken place. At the meeting Duff and Phelps are going to be installed as Administrators removing CMB, the current administrators. Why are CMB being removed? Because they have ties to Lakehouse Contracts and Sureserve and some of the characters involved. Once Duff and Phelps are installed they are going to go after Sureserve and Lakehouse Contracts for every penny they can get. They are also going to investigate CMBs handling of the administration. For anyone who wants to see some angry creditors, the meeting is being held at 10:00am on 6 June 2019 at The Brewery, 52 Chiswell Street, London, EC1Y 4SD.

[igoe104] 21/5/2019 07:27

Spot on Vfast, Downing adding again. Up to nearly 6% now.

[vfast] 16/5/2019 18:56

16th May 363,000 shares today, Downing's Judith Mackenzie?

17th May 2,600,000 Judith Mackenzie again?

We'll find out next week!

[inoaboutlh] 13/5/2019 19:58

Sureserve D&B was made dormant, but in their 2017 accounts it states that they are about to start trading again.

Knowhow77 - it is not so much of a "conspiracy theory" more of asking questions about the directors of a business that appears to have so many inconsistencies - from involvement with the Hackney fraud case through to selling a business with no cash to a group of "industry experts" that Bob Holt "expected" to do well.

Was there any involvement in selling a subsidiary of Lakehouse Contracts (Foster) for £1 when the asset value was £3.6m? Is it odd that the new owner is also tied in with Polyteck - tied into the Hackney fraud?

Perhaps it is all just a coincidence! Or, one could ask how assets get transferred to co-defendants in a fraud trial. Is there something to hide?

[diduno] 08/5/2019 15:01

It appears that all of the above Sureserve companies, with the exception of Sureserve Group plc, only moved to the Basildon address 09 April 2019. I apologise for not looking further into this before posting above.

However, Sureserve Design & Build ceased trading 01 January 2016.

[knowhow77] 08/5/2019 12:55

Yawn ,yawn ,yawn the conspiracy theories are in overdrive !!!!

[diduno] 08/5/2019 12:11

From Companies House records Sureserve set up several companies in 2015: Sureserve Compliance Services; Construction Services; Energy Services; Sureserve Group plc;

There were others incorporated in 2003: Sureserve Design & Build; Sureserve Holdings & Sureserve Property Services. With the exception of Sureserve Group plc, all share the same Unit 1 Yardley Business Park, Luckyn Lane, Basildon SS14 3BZ address.

It is interesting to note that this address, which is an industrial/business unit, is currently shown on google maps as 'To Let'. With so many Sureserve companies registered there, where do they now operate from?

It appears that Sureserve Group plc at 50 Liverpool Street, London EC2M 7PY is the only Sureserve business with a valid registered address.

Why have so many companies been set up, most sharing the same directors, but now seemingly with no valid registered offices? What with LHC now in administration and owning £m's, it does look very dubious.

[winklehoff] 08/5/2019 10:12

You make some valid points. I can't claim to be expert on corporate law in this scenario. But the ownership web is extremely murky indeed....the question is, why?

[inoaboutlh] 08/5/2019 09:08

Winkelhoff - I absolutely agree with your statement about obligations, but you must also understand that this only holds water if the directors have been squeaky clean. Once the can of worms is opened, concerning control on paper and real beneficial control (as hinted at quite correctly by sharw - is it not odd how Polyteck keeps raising its head?), then who knows where this could go? There is some history in this department. The LH Contracts shares seemed to have been passed around connected parties like the proverbial hot potato, but just who has been pulling the strings?

LH Contracts may always have been a separate entity but they have never had any control over the small amount of cash that they have - they have always had to have approval from Plc for any commitments. That hardly seems as though it is running under its own steam.

I understand that the creditors now total in excess of £13m whereas the £9m quoted by CE was the amount showing "on the books". Who will be surprised that these figures are that far apart? I suppose the claimed virus attack (claimed as January as opposed to the issues in February!) will be the (convenient) excuse.

It also seems from the administrator's report that Lakehouse (now Sureserve) D&B is also heavily implicated in this sorry affair.

[vfast] 07/5/2019 22:08

Winklehoff, indeed you appear to have a better understanding of the contracts in relationship to the liabilities regarding the companies involved.