The Artisanal Spirits Share Discussion Threads

[gjabrj] 07/9/2005 14:51

any news from the agm?

[daz1966] 07/9/2005 10:33

House prices rise by 1.6% in August, their biggest monthly gain since September 2004, according to the Halifax.

[canford cliffs] 07/9/2005 09:55

break up value must be better than 2p....................

[gjabrj] 07/9/2005 09:31

I'd rather liquidate the company than fanny on like this for any longer, at least we would get a better return.

[blueblood] 07/9/2005 09:19

Stephens got more money than sense if he reckons this is going to turn it around. If I was him I wouldn't plan my retirement on a return of his 11p investment!!!

[canford cliffs] 07/9/2005 08:56

the city will crucify us over this dual appointment..............especially after all of the f&ck ups and fiddles under dean/Molasc - with a court case still ongoing for "alleged deceipt" how can the board appoint the guy into a position where there are no checks and controls over his integrety?

[blueblood] 07/9/2005 08:51

Looks like a pre profit warning if such a thing exists. Bickerton drags on and no timescale for appeal to House of Lords. Can't believe they've appointed Muselle as CEO although who else would take job with no prospect of lucrative share options. There again they could have awarded themselves options at 1/2p!!!

[james dean] 07/9/2005 08:12

Artisan CEO Freeman resigns, finance director Musselle to replace him

LONDON (AFX) - Artisan (UK) PLC said its chief executive Martyn Freeman has
decided to stand stand down as chief executive and as a director with immediate
effect, and will be replaced by finance director Chris Musselle.
Artisan said that as Freeman has substantially achieved the refocusing of
the company on its core activities of residential and business park development,
he has decided to pursue further opportunities outside of the group.
The company added that as well as becoming CEO, Musselle will continue the
role of finance director.
cml

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[blueblood] 07/9/2005 07:42

Not very good. I an really at the end of the road on this one. Any reasons to stay and see share price incease to 4p?

[james dean] 07/9/2005 07:22

AGM Statement

RNS Number:9240Q
Artisan (UK) PLC
07 September 2005


Artisan (UK) plc


Chairman's Statement Annual General Meeting
7 September 2005


At the last AGM I said that the strategy of investing in the core activities was
then producing a more stable and profitable return. I am very pleased that the
results for 2005 have borne this out with pre tax profits nearly doubling to
#2.1m. Whilst this may have been a little flattered by a very successful
conclusion to the year's trading, there is no doubt that Rippon Homes continued
to provide a strong return and the positive expectations for Artisan (UK)
Developments business park activity did translate into improved sales and
profitability. Your management team has more than delivered against
expectations.

Your team has also pursued a number of acquisition opportunities, but is yet to
find the correct opportunity. I am sure that shareholders will recognise that
the Group has successfully stabilised through concentration on its core
activities. Having achieved this stabilisation the board will continue to search
for an acquisition that meets its criteria both on price and potential to
enhance its activities.

As separately announced today we have taken the opportunity to restructure our
management team. At the same time Martyn Freeman, has been a key element of our
team through the last few years, has decided to stand down and I thank him
greatly for his contributions as Chief Executive. I welcome John Jones, Managing
Director of Rippon Homes, back to the main board and look forward to his
positive contributions. I am pleased to say that Financial Director Chris
Musselle now becomes Chief Executive. We have also recognised the strong
contributions made by the financial controllers in the trading companies and
appointed Geoff Lawler and Frances Harvey financial directors of the companies
they represent. Your board also recognises that, either through acquisition or
our own development, there is the opportunity for wider involvement in the
property market and this may well result in a further appointment to the board
when the right opportunity is found.

Those familiar with Artisan will be aware that for the last three years we have
been involved in litigation with the purchaser of Bickerton Construction Limited
and will be aware that this overhangs Artisan and its shareholders. I am pleased
to remind you that not only have we won the original hearing, but also the
appeal. Since the appeal hearing the appellants have sought leave for permission
to appeal to the House of Lords. In the meantime Artisan has received #456,000
on account of costs, although this will only be recognised in the Profit and
Loss account once we have achieved closure on the appeal process.

The outlook at present is a little mixed. Whilst Artisan (UK) Developments
continues to see good trading in its business park activities, the sales
achieved to date at Rippon Homes have been below our expectations as, in common
with other developers, we have seen reduced demand. However the Rippon Homes
team will utilise all avenues to complete sales. The board is confident that if
more normal trading conditions return to the residential market in the autumn
and early 2006, expectations for the financial year can be met.


Artisan (UK) plc Chief Executive 01480 436666
Chris Musselle [e-mail]

Seymour Pierce Nominated advisers 020 7107 8000
Sarah Wharry

Bankside Consultants Financial PR advisers 020 7367 8888
Simon Rothschild 07703 167065

Company website: www.artisan-plc.co.uk



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
AGMEAXNKEFNSEFE

[maxk] 06/9/2005 07:47

A home-grown victory as Turner tops poll for best painting

Charlotte Higgins
Tuesday September 6, 2005
The Guardian


A humble barber's son, born in Covent Garden, has triumphed over Van Gogh, Piero della Francesca and Manet in the hunt to find the greatest painting in Britain.
The nation's favourite is not by a continental big hitter, but by JMW Turner - The Fighting Temeraire - according to a poll run by BBC Radio 4's Today programme and the National Gallery.

The Turner won with 31,892 votes from the public; The Hay Wain, by Turner's contemporary and rival John Constable, came second, with 21,711.




Both hang in the National Gallery.
Third was Edouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, owned by the Courtauld Gallery, with 11,295.

The National Gallery's director, Charles Saumarez Smith, was surprised by the outcome: "I thought Van Gogh's Sunflowers or Constable's The Hay Wain, of all our pictures, would win."

Five paintings in the gallery were shortlisted in the poll, in which a total of 118,977 votes were cast, making it the most popular in Radio 4's history.

"It's interesting that, in this great collection of European paintings, the top two are British," said Mr Saumarez Smith as the result was announced at the gallery.

The Turner's full title - The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth To Be Broken Up, 1838 - refers to the final journey of a ship built in 1798 which fought at Trafalgar, just behind Nelson's Victory.

After 40 years she was being taken to the breakers, her splendour contrasting with the steam tug towing her - a collision of romanticism and modernity.

Stephen Deuchar, the director of Tate Britain, home of the Turner bequest, said: "It's a great thrill to see Turner acclaimed by the public in this way. It confirms what we perhaps knew already, that Turner is Britain's favourite painter."

Constable, whose Hay Wain many expected to walk away with the vote, "is associated with more rooted English traditions", he added, while Turner produced "great proto-modernist landscapes", as demonstrated in the recent, hugely popular Tate Britain exhibition Turner Whistler Monet.

According to Ernst Vegelin, a curator at the Courtauld Gallery, whose Manet came third in the poll: "Turner was always going to be the frontrunner. It's a sentimental evocation of Britain as a seafaring nation."

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, was, he said, notwithstanding the presence at number five of David Hockney's 1970-71 work Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, "the most modern picture on the list.

"It presents a new and distinctively modern world view, a world in which there is ambiguity and distortion".

The Arnolfini Portrait, by Jan Van Eyck, was fourth; Van Gogh's Sunflowers was sixth; Revd Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, by Sir Henry Raeburn, was seventh; The Last of England, by Ford Madox Brown, was eighth; The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, ninth; and The Rake's Progress, by William Hogarth, 10th.

[gjabrj] 05/9/2005 11:13

Anyone attending the agm?

[hosede] 31/8/2005 16:52

Doshdabbler
at 32% discount to TNAV its not that risky! It also has interests in industrial construction a market that tends to run countercyclical to housebuilding; this should give it some protection against a housing slump.
Having (foolishly) bought around 8p in the Dean era, I have been increasing my holding at and below 3p so my APP is now 3.69p. I expect to get out with a small profit in due course.

[gjabrj] 31/8/2005 14:12

I'll wait until the agm and if I'm not impressed then I'm out after six long years.

[sll] 31/8/2005 08:03

blueblood - am still fully invested here (have not sold a single share) and see no reason to exit a profitable well run company trading at a 32% discount to TNAV. in my view, the o/s legal case (house of lords possibility et al) is probably worth a good chunk of that 32%, if not most of it. steve

[blueblood] 30/8/2005 23:03

Thanks SLL do u still have the faith? I'm thinking of getting rid my av is 4p.

[doshdabbler] 30/8/2005 10:44

No offence, but why stick with a fairly risky share that is already fairly priced? ART's turnover is hardly going to skyrocket over the next few years, therefore I expect it to tread water for a long time to come IMHO. Stevens can't be that smart if he bought in at 11p. I imagine Dean is still having a right old chuckle down in Gibraltar. I am not gloating, just thoroughly bemused by anyone's continuing faith in this company.

[blueblood] 28/8/2005 23:08

When is the AGM?

[bylow] 26/8/2005 13:13

AGM
Is anyone here planning to attend the AGM? Unfortunately I cannot as I am in the USA. Because I believe that the litigation issues will be resolved in Artisan's favour in the next few months, the drag that these have imposed on Artisan's management time and resources will be lifted, I believe it is time for the directors to now set out a specific strategy for getting the company to grow-a strategy that is realistic and has a good probability of being implemented successfully. Artisan has been treading water for the past four years. This should not be permitted to go on and on just for the sake of keeping the directors in a well paid job.
I know that AGm's are by convention not intended by the company concerned to be a forum for Q and A and a dialogue with shareholders but questions are allowed at the end of the meeting and I am asking here if someone is willing to put together a few direct questions on the issue of Artisan's future to Stevens and the board.
Brian

[gjabrj] 26/8/2005 10:57

Lets hope the agm stirs some interest in this share, or it will be time to cash some in.

[gombie] 20/8/2005 18:14

Thanks Bylow.