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Taylor Woodrow Investors - TWOD

Share Name	Share Symbol	Market	Stock Type
Taylor Woodrow	TWOD	London	Ordinary Share

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Posted at 29/6/2007 07:13 by markpun Morning Folks, Just came across this... Housebuilders: what the analysts say Wednesday June 27, 2007 Guardian Unlimited Simon Brown of Evolution Securities said that today's warning of a UK housing slowdown from George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow explained why a rival hadn't tried to disrupt their merger. "The US is clearly very difficult. No wonder Persimmon has not come charging into the fray to bid for one or other of these companies, as US results appear to be heading inexorably downwards," he said. Mr Brown advised investors to sit back and watch, even though Taylor Woodrow's forward sales figure for the second half of 2007 is up 10%, against the outlook of 5% at Wimpey. "The merger of these two businesses will help to solve specific cost and land issues but there is no guarantee that the enlarged group will not fall into its bad habits of volume-driven growth, instead of adding value, once all that can be derived from the merger in immediate costs and benefits is dissipated," he warned. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 27/6/2007 16:23 by markpun Taylor Wimpey cuts jobs an ADVFN competitor Taylor Woodrow and George Wimpey today confirmed that they will cut just over 700 jobs. The new group will close four of their 38 UK regional offices as they complete their £5bn merger to become the UK's biggest housebuilder - to be called Taylor Wimpey. In a combined conference call this morning to update on first half trading, the housebuilders said they will also close the Taylor Woodrow UK corporate office in Solihull and open a new combined corporate office in London. 'We are cutting jobs at just over the 5% level we said three months ago when we announced the deal,' Wimpey CEO, Peter Redfern, said. 'After which we will be left with a total of around 13,000 employees in the UK and the US.' Synergies for the deal are expected to be around £70m by the end of 2008, but the companies said they would provide full details after they announce the completion of the merger next week. 'Everyone will know their exact role by next Monday when the deal completes,' Redfern said. 'And this speed will give us an advantageous headstart and increase our ability to drive synergies out of our two businesses and the underlying improvements in, for example, land buying and bill costs.' The combined group's executive roles, already announced when the deal was presented, include Peter Redfern as CEO and Peter Johnson as finance director. Johnson, currently Taylor Woodrow's finance director, highlighted that both businesses expect to see quite a good material margin improvement on the first half of last year. 'That has been the key challenge for both businesses and very much where our focus has been in terms of operational improvement,' he said. The combined group will have a UK landbank of over 92,000 plots, and aims to combine Taylor Woodrow's 'strategic land development skills' and George Wimpey's 'more efficient cost base and business structure'. Regarding the Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) impending review into potential competition and consumer concerns within the UK housebuilding industry, Johnson said the companies were not particularly nervous about the investigation, but could do without the 'distraction' it inevitably brings. 'It is mildly frustrating to have to go through the same questions we have already covered, for instance during the Barker review,' he said. 'If you take the main question on whether the housebuilders landbank, we know we don't,' Johnson said. 'We don't have sites for which we have planning on where we could be building and selling on but we are not.' 'We of course need a landbank because we have a pipeline of sites, and that includes sites at all different stages of the planning process', the finance direector added. Johnson said he hoped the review buries forever the question of whether the industry landbanks and focuses people's attention on the fact that the planning system has 'huge and unnecessary' complexities that bring about 'unnecessary' delays. Updating the market on trading for both companies, Redfern said the first half of the year in the UK housing market was solid. 'We were able to achieve some price rises, but particularly outside London (the market) remains pretty sensible,' he said. 'We don't see the market changing dramatically in the second half but it will be slower, as recent interest rate rises are impacting on customers' borrowing costs and overall confidence,' the CEO added. Regarding the US, Redfern said both businesses continued to see very difficult trading conditions with oversupply and a very competitive marketplace, and don't expect these tough conditions to change for the rest of the year. 'Credit availability is actually lower than six months ago and customers are well aware of constraints on borrowing,' he added. Both Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey issued trading statements today ahead of their first half results. Taylor Woodrow said its UK housing order book at week 24 was ahead by more than 10% year-on-year, both in value and volume, while Wimpey saw its UK forward order book around 5% ahead in volume terms, with gross margins showing good progress. Reacting to both the updates and the merger plans, Barclays said it remains cautious on the proposed merger. 'We think any benefits are counterbalanced by the premium rating and would remind investors that both businesses, in addition to their US exposure, were low-quality franchises,' the broker said in a note. 'This is reflected in their low margins and expensive land banks.' Meanwhile, Investec said it expects further bad news in the short term and sees risk on the downside. 'We can only justify a Hold and see better value elsewhere in the sector, even when the combined group is created,' the broker added. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 23/6/2007 09:33 by markpun Yesterday's trading: FTSE tumbles on King's comments Geoff Foster, Daily Mail 22 June 2007, 7:40am Isn't Bank of England Governor Mervyn King a bundle of fun? Barely a day goes by without him forecasting some kind of economic crisis or imminent rise in interest rates. You wonder whether the man actually has a mortgage. And his constant gloomy predictions drive highly-geared dealers up the wall and more often than not spread panic among investors and homeowners. His warning at the annual Mansion House Banquet that Britain could be facing a major debt crisis reinforced fears that UK interest rates will be raised a further quarter point to 5.75% in July. Shares took fright. King's comments coincided with a heavy overnight fall on Wall Street after rising bond yields in the US revived concerns about higher global interest rates. The possible collapse of two Bear Stearns controlled hedge funds over sub-prime loan exposure also gave markets the jitters. Down 85 points at one stage, the Footsie finished 53.3 points lower at 6596. Interest rate sensitive sectors bore the brunt of the selling. Joe Public continues to see his disposable income substantially reduced by higher mortgage costs and bigger council tax, water and food bills. The great British shopper is definitely pulling his horns in and summer sale signs are now commonplace in the High Street. Analysts fear that the impact on the consumer could be both deeper and longer lasting than investors are currently anticipating. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 07/6/2007 13:36 by judge jury Dunno - I am no trader, but it is looking v oversold (see RSI). I would have thought 400p (PER of some 7x based on 57p eps) would be a good place to buy for a long term investment ... unless the UK market implodes of course. However, you must remember that it was only a few years ago when the housebuilders were on PERs of 5-6x. With three housebuilders in the FTSE 100, I cant see investors letting the sector drop to these lows but you never know. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 29/5/2007 20:56 by judge jury Also, I guess the recent sell off has been caused by those short term investors, who bought in the hope of a counter bid, closing their long positions now that they realise the counter bid wont materialise. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 02/5/2007 07:20 by markpun Morning Folks, Taylor Woodrow PLC - AGM Statement Wed May 2, 2007 7:01 AM BST Email This Article \| Print This Article \| RSS [-] Text [+] RNS Number:9242V Taylor Woodrow PLC 02 May 2007 AGM Statement Ian Smith, Chief Executive of Taylor Woodrow, will make the following comments regarding current trading at today's AGM: "In the UK, market conditions remain robust and our business reflects this. We have achieved a slightly higher number of reservations in the year to date compared to the equivalent period of 2006, along with a reduction in cancellation rates. Site openings are on track to deliver the anticipated 5 per cent increase in average sites and we remain confident in the prospects for the full year. However, in line with our comments at the year end, we expect profit timing in 2007 to be weighted to the second half. Sales rates in North America overall are running at a higher level than in the second half of 2006, although prices remain weak and market conditions continue to vary considerably across our key markets. Conditions remain good in our markets in Texas and Canada and the Arizona market is stabilising. However, market weakness persists in California and particularly Florida and conditions have worsened in certain submarkets within those states. The Spring selling season for our high-rise tower division in Florida has been very poor. While the locations of our sites are excellent the high-rise market has weakened significantly and we have therefore taken the decision to save costs by suspending sales efforts for this business until market conditions improve. This decision will result in a one-off non-cash provision of £15.5 million relating to our land holdings in this sector. In addition, we intend to take a further £9.5 million provision to reflect weakness in certain local markets in Southern California and Florida. We remain cautious in the land market across North America and have reduced our level of spend compared to last year. However, we are ready to take advantage of opportunistic deals as they might emerge later in the year and continue to be confident in the prospects for the business in the medium-term. As disclosed in our 2006 Report and Accounts, a jury trial in Florida awarded damages against several US-based Taylor Woodrow subsidiaries totalling £22.7 million in November 2006. On 4 April 2007, the judge ruled on post-trial motions filed by Taylor Woodrow and reduced the award to £13.9 million. We will be pursuing an appeal, but have provided £16.6 million this year against the potential liability including associated costs. Spain and Construction continue to trade in line with expectations. Overall, the strength of our performance in the UK is substantially offsetting the impact of ongoing market weakness in North America and, excluding the exceptional items in North America, the outlook for 2007 remains in line with our expectations." Norman Askew, Chairman of Taylor Woodrow, will make the following comments regarding the proposed merger with George Wimpey Plc at today's AGM: "The proposed merger of Taylor Woodrow plc and George Wimpey Plc to form Taylor Wimpey plc announced on 26 March 2007 continues to progress extremely well and according to plan. The Board believes that the merger has compelling strategic and financial logic for both companies. The merger will create a combined business with significantly enhanced prospects in both the UK and the US. The Taylor Wimpey Group will be the leading UK house builder in terms of completions, will have a combined UK landbank of over 92,000 plots, and will be strengthened in the US through the combination of highly complementary operations across some of the most attractive US markets. In addition, shareholders will also benefit from enhanced profitability through the delivery of significant cost savings and acceleration of both companies' margin improvement plans. Documents to shareholders are expected to be posted on Friday, 4 May 2007 and the merger is expected to complete as scheduled around the beginning of July." A conference call for analysts and investors will be held at 09:00 today. The dial in number is +44 (0) 1452 562 717 and the conference ID number is 7976765. -ends- Notes to editors: Taylor Woodrow is a housing development group. Its primary business is the development of sustainable communities of high quality homes across the UK and in selected markets in North America and Spain. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the year ending 31 December 2006 consolidated revenue increased by 3% to £3.6bn. Taylor Woodrow announced its proposed merger with George Wimpey Plc on 26 March 2007. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 25/4/2007 07:19 by markpun Morning Folks, Could we expect a recovery today? Market Report: Property stocks bounce on Slough bid rumours By Andrew Dewson Published: 25 April 2007 Property stocks bounced back after a bout of profit-taking related to valuation concerns, amid talk that British Land will use the proceeds of a partial sale of its Meadowhall shopping centre to bid for Slough Estates. The UK's second largest landlord is selling up to half of its interest in Meadowhall, near Sheffield, thought to be worth up to £1.8bn, although it intends to remain the largest single shareholder. The word is it will use the proceeds to fund a bid for Slough, valuing the shares at up to 1,100p each, putting the offer in the region of £7.5bn including £2.3bn of debt. Although there are plenty of traders who believe there is nothing behind the rumours, such a deal would make British Land the largest real estate stock in the UK by a wide margin. Slough surged 27.5p to 783.5p in early deals before closing 14p firmer at 770p. British Land settled 4p worse at 1,472p. Banks were unloved once again, as investors switched their focus on to exposure to the Spanish building and property sector. Barclays fell 20.5p to 712.5p despite it looking more and more like the bank has won the race for ABN Amro. Investors are concerned about its level of lending to Spanish building groups. One bright spot in the banks was Standard Chartered, largely ignored during the ABN Amro saga, as UBS upped its price target for the Asia-focused bank to 1,850p and reiterated its "buy" advice. The shares rose 11p to 1,531p. Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 27/3/2007 08:13 by judge jury Any intervention seems to be media speculation at this stage, and doesnt seem to have much substance. But who knows? Perfect marriage could be demolished Tom Griggs analyses the 'made in heaven' merger of George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow, which a rival may yet pull apart. By TOBY SHELLEY 27 March 2007 Financial Times Peter Redfern, chief executive of George Wimpey, says his company's merger with Taylor Woodrow is a "marriage made in heaven". In fact, it was hatched "in a grubby little service station on the M40", according to Ian Smith, his counterpart at Taylor Woodrow. That has not made the deal, announced yesterday, any less appealing to investors. "The nil-premium merger proposed between Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey is particularly attractive in terms of combining Wimpey's build cost efficiency with Taylor Woodrow's land bank in the UK, strategic in particular," says Kate Moy an analyst at Teather & Greenwood. Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow have underperformed their sector with operating margins of 13 per cent at both groups, compared with more than 20 per cent at Persimmon and 16 per cent at Barratt. Mr Smith - who only joined Taylor Woodrow in January after running General Healthcare and being short-listed to run the NHS - seems to have wasted no time in addressing this shortcoming. He, however, is leaving. The task of making the deal work will fall to Mr Redfern, who, at 36, will be almost the youngest chief executive in the FTSE 100 when the enlarged company, Taylor Wimpey, joins the index. Mr Redfern only took charge in July, having run Wimpey's UK operations and lifted margins there to 17 per cent, although these fell back again in 2006. He believes that, by bringing the two companies together, he can make them more profitable by cutting Pounds 70m of costs and improving their purchasing power with suppliers of building materials. The deal is the fourth this year among the large housebuilders. Over the past decade, the sector has shrunk from 32 companies to 10 as the complexity of the planning system and shortage of usable land has encouraged builders to become bigger. Merging, analysts say, has enabled companies to cut costs, but it has also given them much-needed flexibility, balance sheet strength and bargaining power against suppliers. For those reason, few analysts or investors expect yesterday's deal to be the last. Shares in Redrow, Bovis Homes and Bellway shot up by 4.5 to 7.5 per cent yesterday on speculation that they would be soon be swallowed up. Many, however, believe that the next target could be the deal announced yesterday. In particular, speculation that Persimmon would bid for Taylor Woodrow drove its shares up 13 per cent yesterday - much more than the 3 per cent gain enjoyed by Wimpey. Nil-premium mergers of equals in this sector have failed before, as when Beazer and Bryant attempted to combine in 2001. Beazer ended up being bought by Persimmon and Bryant by Taylor Woodrow. Persimmon said last month it had completed the integration of Westbury, the company it acquired more than a year ago. Since then, Persimmon has paid down debt and appears ready to take on another acquisition, although it would not comment on this yesterday. Analysts say Persimmon would be more likely to have a go at Taylor Woodrow than Wimpey because of its superior land bank and because a combination with the larger Wimpey could arouse the interest of the Competition Commission in some parts of the UK. According to Chris Millington, an analyst at Bridgewell, a bid by Persimmon for Taylor Woodrow would be earnings-enhancing at current market rates, even assuming that the US, Spanish and construction businesses were sold off without a premium. However, any attempt by Persimmon to sell off US assets could result in a significant tax hit under FIRPTA (foreign investment in retail property tax act). Tax experts said this could be significant but was unlikely to be a deal-breaker. Ms Moy, of Teather & Greenwood, thinks Persimmon is unlikely to pursue its alternative options - a bid for one of Redrow, Bovis or Bellway - because of their high valuations and the additional premiums all three companies would attract because of their strong land banks. The other potential spoiler for Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow's deal is private equity. Sir Tom Hunter and HBOS are the obvious candidates after their acquisitions in the past 12 months of McCarthy & Stone and Crest Nicholson. The fact that, even after these deals, they were able to attempt a Pounds 2bn-plus bid for Wilson Bowden, albeit unsuccessfully, suggests they would not be put off by either Taylor Woodrow or Wimpey's size. Mr Millington, of Bridgewell, believes the managements of Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow may be holding something back in case of a counter-bid from Persimmon or private equity. "I would be very surprised if there was no speculation," he says. "There is scope for a more leveraged balance sheet and I'm sure the boards will have spoken about the possibility of a cash payment or restructured dividend." Additional reporting by Toby Shelley Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 26/3/2007 17:22 by judge jury I agree with much of this, but do think that the deal will be a good one in the long term THE SKEPTIC: Builders' Wimpey Offer 26 March 2007 Dow Jones International News By Arindam Nag A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN LONDON (Dow Jones)--Another day, yet another record deal in the U.K. building sector. But not everyone is likely to be happy with the marriage between George Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow. The deal will create a stronger group with more land and buildings under construction, and a stronger balance sheet that could be used for more deals, especially in the fragmented U.S. market. But investors in Wimpey are being offered just 49% of the enlarged group, despite having the higher market cap of the two. And they aren't being offered any premium to come to the altar. Surely Wimpey's investors deserve better. The merger will generate savings of GBP70 million, the two companies say. At just 1.4% of the combined market cap, this looks low given the wide overlap in operations - both in the U.K. and in the U.S. Wimpey is in the middle of an efficiency exercise of its own that will generate savings of GBP25 million. To put the conservative synergy target into perspective, Persimmon Group, the largest U.K. builder, paid only GBP646 million for Westbury, which is nearly a quarter of Wimpey's size but has already achieved GBP32 million of synergies in 2006 and is targeting another GBP45 million in 2007. Without any premium, Wimpey is being valued at 1.5X book value. That compares with the 1.8X Barratt paid for Wilson Bowden and the 2.5X HBOS offered for McCarthy & Stone. The merging groups argue that this deal is about future growth from a stronger platform. That's partly justified given the two companies' recent poor track records. After all, Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey's Ebitda margins - at 13.1% and 11.5% respectively - are lower than the 17.4% peer median. The combination can leverage on the enlarged landbank strength of 92,000 plots, which is equivalent to more than four years' supply. That's also more than the roughly 80,000 plots that Persimmon owns. But still, given that investors in both companies had to live recently with below-par returns, offering a simultaneous special dividend would have been justified, since there are no immediate benefits to be had by approving the deal. The combined group's balance sheet could easily support such a dividend. Its combined net debt/equity will stand at 20.4%, less than Persimmon's 33%. Even if the group returned GBP350 million by borrowings - at an interest expense of less than GBP25 million - its leverage would remain competitive. The companies have indicated that they want to preserve the financial muscle to do regional deals in the U.S. But this may not be wise immediately, given the current volatility in builders' earnings there. Indeed, arbitrage traders have boosted share prices of both companies Monday. But for the value investors who have stuck around, some cash would have been more appropriate. (Arindam Nag has covered business and finance for 15 years in Asia, Europe and the United States. He can be reached at +44 207-842-9289 or by e-mail: arindam.nag@dowjones.com) [ 26-03-07 1426GMT ] Read Full Thread Reply
Posted at 25/3/2007 09:12 by spob From The Sunday Times March 25, 2007 Builders in £5bn merger talks Jenny Davey and Matthew Goodman GEORGE WIMPEY and Taylor Woodrow are in advanced merger talks to create a £5 billion transatlantic housebuilding giant. The deal will be confirmed to the London Stock Exchange tomorrow and will cap an extraordinary wave of takeover and merger deals in the housing sector in the past 12 months. Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow, both valued at £2.5 billion, are in detailed discussions about an all-share deal that will propel the new company into the FTSE 100. Peter Redfern, Wimpey's chief executive, is expected to assume control and Norman Askew, chairman of Taylor Woodrow, is tipped to become chairman of the merged business. Final details of the deal are being hammered out this weekend. Ian Smith, who recently joined Taylor Woodrow as chief executive from General Healthcare, is expected to leave the business with a handsome pay-off. Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey are expected to generate big cost savings by combining their American and UK housing divisions and stripping out duplicate overheads. The company will have a workforce of almost 14,000. Analysts expect at least 10% of the staff to be made redundant. Wimpey has a network of 26 regional businesses and it is thought that a number of offices could be closed down. The combination will create a company that will build more than 30,000 homes a year with sales of £6.8 billion. Last year Wimpey completed 17,963 homes, of which 13,616 were in Britain and 4,347 in the United States. Taylor Woodrow built 13,165 homes last year, of which 8,294 were in the UK, 4,492 in North America and 379 in Spain and Gibraltar. Industry experts said there was a chance that Persimmon could try to bust open the talks with a cash bid for Taylor Woodrow. Persimmon, chaired by John White, is back on the prowl for acquisitions after reducing its debt following its takeover last year of smaller rival Westbury. The firm reported profits of £566m last year and as a sign of confidence lifted its dividend by 72%. It also surprised analysts by saying it had achieved savings of £45m from its acquisition of Westbury. Housebuilders have seen huge benefits from merging operations and pooling landbanks. Earlier this year Barratt agreed to buy Wilson Bowden, a deal that when completed will create a £4.9 billion business. Wimpey is being advised by JP Morgan Cazenove and UBS is advising Taylor Woodrow. The two housebuilders have been affected by the slowdown in the American housing market and this is believed to be one of the main reasons why they entered into the merger negotiations. In January Taylor Woodrow announced a £40m writedown in the value of its American landbank. It is thought that big shareholders in both companies have been sounded out about a merger. The pace of takeover activity in the sector has been unprecedented. The Scottish entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter recently bought Crest Nicholson with HBOS, the bank. Other deals include buyouts at McCarthy & Stone, the retirement-home specialist, and Countryside Properties. It is thought Wimpey has also looked closely at buying Redrow, which is worth almost £1 billion, but the proposal was shelved. Not all builders have succumbed to mergers and acquisitions fever. Berkeley, the group run by Tony Pidgley, was at one time in talks to be taken private by Guy Hands, the private-equity entrepreneur. The talks broke down and Pidgley used the opportunity to push through an innovative, private-equity style way of realising value. This has enriched both the directors and investors. The firm is now expected to accelerate its plan to return £1.45 billion, equivalent to £12 a share, to investors. It is thought the group will ask permission at its annual meeting in June to return the next £2 a share instalment of the capital return this summer - it had been due in January 2009. The final £3 instalment, due in January 2011, is likely to be paid by the start of 2009. Analysts say that builders have been big beneficiaries of a benign economy, high employment and low interest rates. Read Full Thread Reply

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