Tandem Share Discussion Threads

[graham1ty] 25/5/2012 20:00

Whoppy not sure what came with the original Pot Black acquisition, but it aint snooker tables to train the next generation of young Chinese maestros. Is mainly kids, fold up snooker and pool tables, nothing like full size tables.....suspect that the name ( for us old Reardon watching folk) is worth more to us than to the company !!

[graham1ty] 25/5/2012 10:13

never, not sure about the facts on raleigh. Raleigh reported a drop in sales of 8% in 2011 made up of a 23% drop in bike numbers ( 19% fall in revenue) and only a 17% increase in parts/accessories partly balanced the bike falls. Raleigh was bought for the international business......the UK reported only £820,000 in profits, hardly the driver for a £62m valuation.

Mintel must also be taken with a note of caution. Was the bulk of the rport written prior to April ? I know it was published later, but the weather in the peak buying season might have completely dampened the increases they forecast

re overall performance, I do totally agree. Is very very difficult in this retail/economic environment to make money and they are failing to add value. Whether that is selling businesses ( Ben Sayers is still in the books at £600,000 and Pot Black at a short million); paying far higher divis; share buybacks; or the right acquisition I do not know.

I hate the idea of an acquisition, unless absolutely right. They will pay too much, spend months integrating it, bear exceptional costs ( leases/redundancies) for a couple of years............leaving aside how they pay for it.

Back to your valuation point: Raleigh sold for millions as have other bike related businesses. Can the TND board do more in these markets ?: tough. Should this business be valued at £3m ? Absolutely not. It is cash generative and even as a business unable to grow visibly in this marketplace, it is worth far more than £3m

I would love to know what the valuation would be on this if someone like Finden Crofts of Raleigh, or the founders of Wiggle, or Brompton showed an interest

[neverforget] 24/5/2012 20:34

whilst i agree in part about the high street and the mv part of the business i cant agree with you about the bike part. raleigh was sold for £61m. 15X the market cap of tnd. raleigh had been growing sales and profits for the last 5 years. tnd have had shrinking sales and shrinking profits profits. The latest mintel report shows the bike sector still performing strongly, yet tnd is down. you can come up with every excuse you can find but the simple fact is the facts do not back up the boards statements. Bike sales should be up. It is that simple. They are down. I have no doubt that the board are hard working but they do not have a decent strategy, they entered parts & accs about 4 years too late. so you think buying more shares is the answer? how about reinvesting into the business? how about selling off a part of the business and distributing the proceeds? thought not. no ambition, no drive, no idea! Next you will get how the US$ is hurting them:

[graham1ty] 23/5/2012 17:03

Whoppy, I was one of the two that did attend and had a very productive 75 mins almost on my own with the Board.

While I am as disappointed as anyone, and hate the pass-the-parcel of excuses ( dollar, weather, pension problems)I think that many of your comments are unfair and give no credit for the hard work the new team has done over the last two years. It is awful as we all know out on the high street and Tandem can do no more than anyone else to buck that trend.

While profits disappoint ( again, again), this is reflected in lower salaries and it remains cash generative. I do wish that would be used for a divi that meant something, and I do wish the Board were geared up to the hilt with an equity exposure, but for the moment, they think it is cheap buying shares at 83p

[whoppy] 22/5/2012 15:26

nope , just want to get out when I break even..need £2 though. Management know what they need to do. If not then gawd help us. May aswell sell the business and return the money to shareholders. How much would it be worth if they did? More than today's MCap I bet. Show's you what added value the management bring. All existing shareholders are underwater here and have written off any investment hence the lack of interest as the management have got nothing worth saying. No forecast, (apart from the weather..it's raining, sorry we lose money folks) no broker coverage, no nothing. It could be so much different if the business was in the right hands attracting new investors, especially at this low price. Really should be child's play. Unfortunately though no one is going to buy shares as they have never even heard of Tandem. If they did they would probably think they manufacture tandems. Who's going to buy tandems. You half your customer base straight away as you need two cyclists to sell one bike. lol. Of course, it's not like that, but nobody is going to know or find out so not really an appropraite name for a cycling manufacturer. Ivokes the wrong image. Might aswell call it tricycles are us.
It is a real shame. Not even management want to buy any shares. They don't mind using shareholders money though. Instead of putting them in treasury all the directors should get together and buy at least 100,000 shares and keep them. Makes you think doesn't it. Let's see if they can.

[davidosh] 22/5/2012 14:13

Tandem has over 2000 shareholders and only two made it to the company AGM !

Shocking turnout

What happened to all those who actively post here ? Do you not want to speak to the management direct?

[effortless cool] 22/5/2012 10:18

amt,

I don't think that buybacks are the most effective way of helping the shareprice. Dividends, however, have a direct negative effect on the share price (they may well also have an indirect positive effect).

I would suggest that total shareholder return would be optimised by higher dividends. The nominal share price, however, would be maximised through buybacks. The fact that management's variable remuneration is linked to the nominal share price, rather than total shareholder return is, of course, entirely coincidental.

Shareholders also need to consider what this stock is.

Do they see it as a growth stock? In that case, existing management is clearly incapable of delivering growth and they should get new management in. Excess cash should be reinvested, not spend on dividends or buybacks.

Do they see it as a value stock? In that case, it should be managed as a cash cow, delivering as high a dividend as possible with as little expense and reinvestment as possible. Management should be incentivised based on total return, not just the share price.

[whoppy] 22/5/2012 09:28

Maybe because the options are conditional on achieving a certain eps. Heaven forbid the managemnet try and actually create shareholder value through a strategy of increasing sales, revenue and profit. The business has no direction and is dependant on whether the Sun is out or not, rather than the management having a strategy or a product that customers feel they want to buy into. According to Tandem, no one goes out if it's raining. They always bring up the weather as an excuse if they don't hit their targets. They don't give consumers credit as to what it is they might want to buy irrespective of the weather which is why they have no sales strategy. Please vote NO to re-election of directors and remuneration.

[amt] 22/5/2012 09:17

Effortless Cool. Buying back. why would it help their options if you dont think it will help the share price?

[effortless cool] 22/5/2012 09:15

They bought back 15,000 shares - you couldn't make it up!

Buying back shares is actually a particularly stupid tactic for microcaps like this. All it does is kill any liquidity in the shares.

What they should be doing to deliver value to shareholders is raising the dividend.

Of course, there is definitely no possibility that management's apparent preference for buybacks over dividends is motivated by the options that they hold. Anyone who suggested that would be totally wrong.

[strollingmolby] 22/5/2012 09:05

AGM Statement

Chairman, Mervyn Keene, will make the following statement at today's AGM:
"Revenue for the 20 weeks to 18 May 2012 was approximately 5% behind the comparative period last year.

Sales of bicycles and accessories reduced by approximately 8%. Following the positive progress made in the 15 weeks to 13 April 2012 as stated in our final results announcement, the subsequent 5 weeks have been particularly difficult. It has been reported that April 2012 was the wettest since records began and the coldest for twenty three years. In addition, the reported reduction in consumer spending in April 2012 compared to the same month in the prior year has impacted performance in the bicycles businesses.

Notwithstanding these challenges we remain optimistic about our bicycles and accessories businesses. Our Claud Butler and Dawes traditionally inspired ranges of fashionable, heritage type cycles continue to sell well. Our parts and accessories offering has expanded, both with our independent bicycle customers and national retailers. A successful London 2012 Olympic Games for Team GB should also have a positive impact on the cycling market.

Revenue from our sports, leisure and toys business was marginally ahead of the same period last year. As we have previously stated, the wheeled toy market is being constricted by cautious national retailer buying strategies. Although a number of our 'evergreen' licenses including Thomas and Fireman Sam have performed well, despite signing a number of exciting licenses, it is proving difficult to encourage retailers to take risks with new, unproven properties.

We are encouraged by the early signs that 'Mike The Knight' could develop into a strong property and we already have considerable interest for the second half of the year.

Revenue from our own brands Hedstrom and Ben Sayers was ahead of the prior year and sales from the distribution of the Bioflow sports band are growing.
Although shipping costs have increased since the start of the year, they have been partly offset by a comparatively weak US dollar. We also continue to carefully monitor and control our cost base.

We are delighted to announce that immediately following the Annual General Meeting on 22 May 2012 we intend to appoint Phil Ratcliffe to the Board in the newly created position of Group Commercial Director. Phil is currently Sales & Marketing Director of our subsidiary, MV Sports & Leisure Limited. He will work closely as part of the executive Board in implementing Group strategy and, in particular, the sales and marketing related initiatives that we have identified to take the Group forward.

On 11 May 2012 the Company bought back 15,000 shares at a price of 83.5 pence per share. We will continue to explore ways to enhance shareholder value including the possible buy back of additional shares.

In accordance with our announcement on 16 April 2012, a dividend of 2.1 pence per ordinary share will be paid on 14 June 2012 to shareholders on the register on 18 May 2012."

[graham1ty] 21/5/2012 08:26

I am not sure what the law is on encouraging attendees ? Can the company call a few shareholders saying: "just trying to plan how many sandwiches to order, are you coming ?" !!

[graham1ty] 21/5/2012 08:25

Yes, David, will be there as discussed. Can we drum up any more interest ?

[davidosh] 20/5/2012 21:02

Anyone else going to the Agm on Tuesday at the Tandem HQ in Birmingham ?

[graham1ty] 17/5/2012 15:15

We can ask next week about the Mintel survey on cycling, press release May2012. 8% growth in overall market; forecast of another 23% in next five years; average retail price risen 40% even if volumes down; general upbeat forecasts.

Can TND add anything to the analysis ?

Good to see share buybacks at these levels

[amt] 15/5/2012 07:54

While the rest of the AIM market is collapsing Tnd holding up well

[charo] 14/5/2012 10:18

why bother.

[cwa1] 14/5/2012 08:50

TRANSACTION IN OWN SHARES
The Company announces that it has purchased 15,000 ordinary shares of 25 pence each in the Company at a price of 83.5 pence per share and transferred them into treasury.
The Company now holds a total of 1,361,980 new ordinary shares of 25 pence each in the Company in treasury and the total number of voting rights in the Company is 4,651,500.

[neverforget] 28/4/2012 12:03

ralegh now sold for £60 odd million. tandem? they wont be interested because the management would be out of a job

[graham1ty] 27/4/2012 16:12

88p.............I'm getting dizzy.....

[graham1ty] 27/4/2012 15:16

And, showing how much management time it takes............there are seven pages on the pension position. Ben Sayers, still valued in the accounts at £576,000 ( the retained, unimpaired goodwill which the Board would have to write off if they thouught it worth less) does not get a mention in the narrative despite last year's plug "had a particularly good year with revenue growth of 20%" and golf clubs get a picture on the front cover. However, how they are doing now..........not worth a mention.

I do hate companies that issue reports without even the basic imformation: "this is what we do". Say ( heaven forbid) that a meeting with a new investor was set up, or a journalist took an interest, and they were sent the accounts before the meeting, they would be entitled still to ask "what exactly do you do as your main, annual circular to shareholders does not actually tell me"