United Carpets Share Discussion Threads

[knowing] 06/9/2013 10:45

House prices up again. Demand growing. Bodes well.

[knowing] 05/9/2013 16:28

Seem to be doing OK as they are recruiting

[knowing] 05/9/2013 11:04

The Group remains debt free, has reasonable cash reserves and stock levels and therefore can look forward with a degree of confidence that it can continue to make good progress in the current financial year on the basis it has established firmer foundations to meet the challenges of the current market environment.

[knowing] 04/9/2013 14:53

Not a lot of stock available out there.

[lbo] 28/8/2013 20:04

Carpetright and Topps Tiles set for strong earnings growth




"Here in the UK, retail sales rose at an unexpectedly high rate in August, consistent with the quickest pace of hiring in over 10 years. The Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) monthly distributive trades survey increased from +17 to +27, significantly higher than the average analyst estimate for a jump to +19. It is thought that sales were boosted by the hot weather, the royal-baby effect and morale-boosting sporting victories during the month. The figures fuel further expectations for a true recovery within the UK economy"

[lbo] 23/8/2013 11:09

UK economic growth revised up to 0.7%



Mortgage lending highest for five years: Amount loaned hits £16.6bn and is nearly 30% higher than this time last year

[rec0very stock] 26/7/2013 16:40

I bought a very small stake this morning. There is a fairly resilient business here, it is not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination, however if the economy does have a sustained recovery, then it could be well placed to take advantage. When money is tight you make do with the old carpet and old bed but there is only so long the Mrs will put up with it.

I am not betting the house on it though and the spread is not great - I paid below offer at 2.25p but we need to see a significant rise before I am no longer under water. The good news for me is all the restructuring etc has not resulted in massive dilution, as is so often the case, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility to see this back at 10p one day. Restarting the dividend would give it a massive boost and they do believe in paying dividends, but I do not foresee that happening this year

[knowing] 25/7/2013 14:55

Could well be worth adding a few down here as a strong recovery play

[loganair] 25/7/2013 13:32

Looking at the results for me the most important part is:

"The Group remains debt free, has reasonable cash reserves and stock levels"

[lbo] 25/7/2013 11:23

United Carpets confident as it announces increase in pre-tax profits

[lbo] 25/7/2013 11:22

United Carpets 'heading in the right direction'

[loganair] 09/5/2013 09:55

A couple of weeks out of date:

A 'THRIVING' Urmston store is to close following a dispute with its landlord.

United Carpets, on Flixton Road, has been told by its landlord Kwik-Fit that it must be out of its premises by April 30 – and as the franchisee has nowhere to store the stock, everything must go.

Franchisee, Adrian Brown, said: "It's really come out of the blue and taken us all by surprise – we've only had four weeks' notice.

"We're devastated, because it means that our team at the store are all going to be out of jobs."

However, a spokesman for Kwik-Fit said when the United Carpets franchise went into administration last October, it owed Kwik-Fit 'a substantial amount of unpaid rent' and the now-liquidated company refused the offered lease agreement.

The spokesman continued: "We therefore have no option but to write off the arrears, take the properties back and attempt to re-let them.

"We are very sorry for Adrian's situation, however, if as a franchisee he has been paying the rent to United Carpets, a significant portion has not been passed on to us."

However, a spokesman for United Carpets said when the company entered adminstration it owed approximately three weeks rent and has since made several attempts to renogotiate revised lease terms with Kwik-Fit, but it has refused and instea 'sought to introduce more onerous conditions'.

What is not being disputed is that seven people are to lose their jobs and that the store will close within a fortnight.

"At least it means our customers in the next couple of weeks are going to get some great deals – we plan to go out in style," said Adrian.

[wakeland] 16/4/2013 16:49

With the Gov desperate to reflate house prices into the next election and house builders reporting more activity can UCG actually turn a corner?

[knowing] 16/4/2013 16:13

Sell a million buy 100K

[lbo] 25/2/2013 14:45

Wouldn't be surprise if a Private equity bidder took them out now. Market Cap of £2m, cash of over 700k still on the balance sheet and should do £0.4m EBITDA after the restructuring and reduced rents.

[dasv] 25/2/2013 08:58

looks like holders are puking. The company needs to turn itself around within the year. Net assets of 1.66m assets? Lost 1.83m cash last year.

Could be a recovery play from here - share price factors in no recovery.

[loganair] 23/2/2013 10:09

Unlike other retailers I think United Carpets are in a good position has they have no debt, so no interest to try and finance and no banks on there backs burdening the company with silly rates of interest and when want out just sell the debt on.

They have a long hard slog ahead of them, I for one are postive on the company and think they have a very good chance of weathering the storm ahead, especially as they have got rid of the burdensome loss making stores and on the rest reduced many of the rents by 1/3rd.

Depending on what happens on Monday I may put a few bob in to get in early on the ground floor.

[rec0very stock] 22/2/2013 17:07

Well at least they are back in the nick of time to not be delisted. It will be interesting to see what happens on Monday. More troubled times ahead i fear and not a recovery stock yet. I will be keeping it on my watch list as provided they can keep ticking over this could recover well when the economy picks up

[loganair] 22/2/2013 15:37

For me this is the most important sentence in the whole Final Results.

"The Group has no borrowings and following the purchase of assets from UCN still retains reasonable cash reserves."

[lbo] 22/2/2013 15:07

Well done to UCG and its directors! The underlying business remains profitable and will go forward now.

I see Jessops who did not survive also had very big problems with rents!



Jessop also revealed the extent of the escalation in rent costs the firm would have faced in recent years.

When he left 16 years ago, a typical store, he said, would be paying an average of £22,000-28,000 per year, and at most £35,000.

Last month, AP learned that a Jessops store in Manchester faced an annual rent bill of £170,000, according to Wilkinson Cameras, whose boss was put off making a bid for the shop after seeing the figure

[ih_384884] 21/2/2013 21:35

How sure are you of that? no results tomorrow and they delist!