Vertu Motors Share Discussion Threads

[daneswooddynamo] 22/8/2021 16:43

Fifth largest dealer group in the UK with over 150 sites. His compensation looks good value to me but more importantly he is very aligned with shareholders as he is loaded up with equity

[davebowler] 22/8/2021 14:41

'Undercover Boss' on 4 gave a good impression of Vertu boss Robert Forrester overall.

[theisland] 22/8/2021 13:26

IMO one should focus less on the stock performance and more on the underlying business performance. CEO compensation is in line with the rest of the industry and I guess that executive compensation is quite high in the industry because having competent management to run these kind of businesses is crucial. It’s a rather though business, not the one every idiot can run it... Everybody point out to the bad performance of the stock going back to 2007... this makes no sense to me: all car dealers went public at unreasonable high valuations during those times and most have performed even worse than Vertu (look at Pendragon and Lookers charts for example). All in all, Vertu CEO is doing a good job if you look to the numbers and I would prefer to pay a high salary to a good CEO than a low salary to an incompetent one. He built the 5th car dealer from scratch in only ten years through M&A without doing major mistakes, which I don’t think it’s an easy task... of course he had to compromise on some dilution in the past to grow enough through M&A to gain the scale advantage for being consistently profitable in this sector, but now it seems clear from the last update that the company have the resources to keep growing externally financing growth with free cash flow and a little debt if needed - so dilution should not be a problem anymore. Rerating needed here IMO.

[mw8156] 22/8/2021 12:31

what amuses is that the executive directors, according to the report, expressed a willingness to forego their bonuses but were awarded them anyway by the remuneration committee. Why? when the performance was so bad during the pandemic. Also, they did not want further contribution to their pensions, possibly because of the LTA complication, and were reimbursed through their salaries.
Those in a similar position in the public sector are not so fortunate and just have to grin and bear the punitive LTA charges.

[gutterhead] 22/8/2021 10:01

Quite reasonable versus ceo of Marshall’s motor group.

[wad collector] 21/8/2021 23:42

I am afraid that is the nature of the world of renumeration ....but not much that the PIs can do about it , as the decisions are voted through by Investment Managers who share the same long snouts..

[mw8156] 21/8/2021 19:32

a/c to investors' champion website the share has declined from 75p since 2007 and the CEO has been rewarded with £590K and 690K in the last 2 years, not bad for a plc with a cap of less than £200m, and dividends have been absent. To be fair, Vertu is not alone, the CEO of Cambria has also been handsomely rewarded though Cambria's share price has a better record. BoD should realise that the owners are the shareholders.

[otemple3] 20/8/2021 23:33

Just type Vertu annual report into Google and it takes you straight there. It's in the results section, the first option in the menu. Very clear directors remuneration section, plus a section showing possible scenarios for year based on various performance metrics. Doesn't get much clearer than that so am not sure what you are finding difficult here?

[mw8156] 20/8/2021 22:28

investors are wary, having seen poor returns these last few years while Directors have been taking out very large salaries, very difficult to access the precise figures or the Annual Report on their website. Granted this is a business with a large turnover. Have to hope the business owners, ie shareholders, will now be rewarded with promised dividends and may be capital appreciation.

[ih_676530] 20/8/2021 14:55

Today's announcements will be covered in the news over the weekend(Already trending via The Evening Standard , Yorkshire Post, Business Live, Proactive Investors) and I'd expect more City's brokers to issue new price targets (City Confidential new PT is 74p) .

It looks like the share price broke the 50p's barrier this morning, nicely settled above that line& traders bagged their 5-10% profit so I'd expect the share price to gain more strength next week and continue to climb up on Monday

[boonboon] 20/8/2021 12:23

Still currently in half one now though.

[ih_761262] 20/8/2021 12:05

Vertu Motors to restart dividends to shareholders on the back of 'exceptional' used car market

hxxps://www.business-live.co.uk/retail-consumer/vertu-motors-restart-dividends-shareholders-21358589

[boonboon] 20/8/2021 12:04

They're being ultra cautious imo. Assuming the worst case scenario.Covid causing significant business disruption.New cars suffering significant disruption to lead times.Difficulty getting hold of used car stock.I think/hope we will continue to see earnings upgrades.

[ih_761262] 20/8/2021 12:02

Have you listened to the CEO's comment on H2 yesterday?


From Twitter (incl. video):

"Oh we are very busy .. very very busy. Our booking levels are very very strong” CEO of #VertuMotors #VTU $VTU -Investors presentation, 19 Aug 2021

"

[sharetips] 20/8/2021 11:56

74p price target in cityconfidential this morning - www.cityconfidential.co.uk

[bigbertie1] 20/8/2021 11:50

but they are forecasting £50m for first half, so second half is just over break-even.

EDIT: the 29/7 update forecast 1H adjusted pbt >£40m and year to Feb 22 adjusted pbt £40-45m
the 20/8 update forecast 1H adjusted pbt >£50m and year to Feb 22 pbt £50-55m (was 40-45)

so the word "adjusted" has slipped out of the year forecast in the 20/8 update, however it states the number was previously 40-45 as in the previous forecast. So the extra adjusted (?) pbt in 2H is £0 to £5m.

That's my reading of it. cheers BB

[ih_761262] 20/8/2021 11:38

"the year forecast looks very pessimistic"

Are you for real?

3rd monthly trading update with big increase in profit forecast
23 June - £28m to £32m
29 July - £40m to £45m
Today - £50m to £55m

[bigbertie1] 20/8/2021 11:33

Stunning stuff. I agree the year forecast looks very pessimistic, but the uncertainties are many and real. But surprised the share price has not risen further this morning. 1nf3m0 right - AIM probably stops big boys from joining in! The price fluctuations this morning suggest some people are selling now at just over 50p - seems crazy. Good luck all.

[sam_] 20/8/2021 10:30

Up till this morning, the company’s share price has been completely supported by NTAV (Net Tangible Asset Value).

Sp should see steady increase from here, I’m long on this one.

[1nf3rn0] 20/8/2021 09:22

Still clearly undervalued and these profit upgrades are not getting the reaction they deserve.Has the company ever considered a main market listing? Can't help but think the fact they are on AIM leads to at least a 20% discount being applied.

[tallprawn] 20/8/2021 07:28

Nice update again here today - Re-rate due here, as is the case over at Lookers. Both companies trading very well.Whether the market delivers an uplift to the share price or not is another thing. We could well need to wait for sentiment to change around new car/vehicle availability first.

[purplepelmets] 20/8/2021 07:27

How is such a massive weighting to the 1st half expected? Do people not buy cars in the autumn? Makes no sense

[1nf3rn0] 20/8/2021 07:25

If they can do 50m for the half year 50-55m for full year still seems pessimistic even with new vehicle supply issues. Expect a further FY upgrade in due course.New car sales bounce back, when it happens, should also be a positive for a future financial year.

[chrisb1103] 20/8/2021 07:24

Outstanding! Surely +10% due on this news?Would like to see this breakout north of 50p

[techno20] 20/8/2021 07:20

Clearly mgmt feel similarly frustrated. Fantastic performance and hopefully the buy back will be the catalyst to get the share price motoring!