W.h. Ireland Share Discussion Threads

[paleje] 03/12/2014 08:02

Happy with that, in shape for a good 2015 and the increased divi reflects management's confidence. Agree the share price may remain soft for some time.

[tanelorn] 03/12/2014 07:51

Sadly i agree. Expect a swift drop followed by steady buying from weakness?.

[tintin82] 03/12/2014 07:47

I concur. Initial thought were oh no, profit warning! But reading the details there is a lot of positivity, not least the increase in dividend underpinning managements confidence. Not too hopefully for todays performance though.

[tanelorn] 03/12/2014 07:34

Trading Update, not bad really.....

My key Points:
1) W H Ireland has undergone significant change during 2014
2) Progress has been made in growing like for like assets under management
3) Increasing the number of corporate clients.
4) Completing a major management and business reorganisation.
5) Group's underlying trading performance has improved slightly on last year.
6) Board now expects 2014 adjusted operating profits to be below its previous expectations.
7) Board has greater confidence for 2015.
8) Significant margin improvement across the business as a whole and in particular within the Private Wealth Management division, for 2015
9) Reorganisation.. Full financial benefits of which will become evident in 2015.
10)Asset growth has remained strong and at year end assets under management and advice had risen by approximately 10% on a like for like basis.
11)Corporate Broking continues increase.
12)Some 2014 fees delayed until 2015
13)Reflecting the Board's confidence in the outlook for 2015, it will be proposing to Shareholders an increase in the final dividend payment of 0.5p to 2p per Ordinary share.

I have no idea how the retail punters will read this, but happy to hold for next year!.

[paleje] 24/11/2014 09:41

Good RNS this morning I thought, seems to have gone un-noticed.."significantly increase funds under management over next 12-18 months".

Also the pull back from floats, which seemed to happen late summer, might go the other way again next year, Gervais Williams wrote and article in the ST yesterday opining that small caps are in for a resurgence after a rough year, if that happens the enthusiasm for IPOs will return and all those pulled floats will be back with, presumably, others encouraged by what they see.

Should get a general trading update in a few weeks if they follow last year.

[darrener] 15/10/2014 10:33

Redundancies in back office will offset some of the costs!

[gargoyle2] 15/10/2014 10:02

Interesting holdings announcement yesterday. Here are some details:

[gargoyle2] 13/10/2014 14:49

A lot of recruiting been going on lately. Let's hope they are adding some value as well as some costs.

[gargoyle2] 13/10/2014 14:39

Good to see the FD picking up some shares here.

[paleje] 17/9/2014 08:14

Very strong numbers and bullish outlook from Cenkos this morning, admittedly one particularly large deal boosted them but aside from it their performance was good and remaining so going forward.

Barring one-off news our next update I think December and hopefully we're enjoying similarly healthy business, if so our share price is looking a bit left behind imo.

[protean] 28/7/2014 09:15

Beginning to show good upward momentum again after the sideways consolidation.

The recent article by Simon T in the IC has a fair value target of 180p. He also mentioned the Equity Development sum-of-the-parts valuation of 227p.

[bigdazzler] 28/7/2014 07:38

A good chance of a retest of the recent highs of 140 to come soon

[paleje] 25/7/2014 08:40

Yep cheers that worked.

There was a piece in the FT this morning about proposed changes in the way brokers are allowed to charge, the short of it being small brokers could have a tough time, scale will be important, it lends weight to the corporate activity theory.

....Charges for trading shares are bundled with the cost of broker research for fund managers. The FCA wants to separate these payments to reduce conflicts of interest, clarify the costs being incurred and ensure investors get a better deal.

Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, said earlier this month that bundling "reduces transparency and created a link between research spend and trading volume, without a clear assessment of the value this offers to investors".

The proposed reforms have triggered warnings that London's competitiveness as a financial centre could be put at risk by the changes, squeezing the profits of smaller asset managers and putting some small brokers out of business.

Robert Talbut, chief investment officer at Royal London Asset Management, said: "You need to implement this reform on a global and consistent basis otherwise it would make asset managers in London less competitive relative to New York or Singapore."

The chief executive of a boutique investment bank said: "This could be the end of the small and mid-cap brokers – not in the next six months but perhaps over three years.".....

[gargoyle2] 24/7/2014 08:41

any better?

[paleje] 24/7/2014 08:40

That link seems glitched, Gargoyle2, but no worries the gyst is clear, happy to hold.

[gargoyle2] 24/7/2014 08:01

Yes, paleje. That puts him on a similar structured share package to the CEO now.

I thought yesterday's post-market close holdings announcement was interesting too. 10% shareholding bought (by way of CFD) by Polygon. Their strategy is here:

Note the reference to "event driven equities" and, in particular, (1) M&A: favouring hostile, cross-border or otherwise complex transactions more likely to be misunderstood by the market, and (2) special situations: "piggybacking" on corporate activism and/or pre-deal opportunities.

An 'event driven' approach to investment is the same terminology adopted by Oceanwood Capital, who took a 5% stake last November. See my posts at 1642 and 1667. I reckon they are banking on some corporate activity. Wouldn't surprise me at all if this was taken out. Really cheap on an AUM valuation – see Paul Scott recently. Definitely think we'll be back up to and past the March highs pretty soon.

[paleje] 24/7/2014 07:27

Nice opening option package for the FD, let's hope he gets to exercise them at nil cost.

[gargoyle2] 21/7/2014 13:48

Good commentary by Paul Scott (in the other place) today. WHI still pricey on a PER basis, but looking cheap on an AUM basis. I'm happy to remain a holder here.

[hgr] 21/7/2014 12:44

Nice write up in the investors chronicle:



Should see the share price heading north

[paleje] 21/7/2014 10:55

It's a good article and thanks Gargoyle2, agree ready and waiting in the main part but still, good research. Odd thing is people are selling when it seems to me that numbers are going to continue to improve and, barring some catastrophe (I don't think Labour is as big a threat at they make out) the best will come in FY2015 which kicks off in just over 4 months. Look ahead:)

[peter27] 21/7/2014 09:59

Most of this very interesting article smacks of having been written beforehand. If they had been at odds to previous signals there might have been a delay in publication. I think these results were anticipated which is why there has been some profit-taking.

[meijiman] 21/7/2014 09:22

These lads are fast workers -results only came out at 7am. Or perhaps they have done a bit of work before having had access?

[paleje] 21/7/2014 07:33

Happy enough with interims, market disinterested:)

Revenue up over 12%, corporate client numbers up from 84 to 92, repeat revenue up over 9%, reorganisation going well, FY 2015 to see the full benefits of cost savings with additional growth reflecting in bottom line.

[paleje] 07/7/2014 08:17

Express has a small piece about the strength of IPOs in the year to June although they don't mention that some have been pulled and some have under-performed expectations. If the trend is weakening then the fat success fees will too but the corporate broking should still prosper and, in our case, wealth management seems to be flourishing with IoM now up and running, a new office in Milton Keynes and additional hires to London office (poached from the competition).

I noticed in this morning's press GS are expanding their private client wealth management division globally.


Published: Mon, July 7, 2014

Aim market, stock exchangeLondon's junior stock exchange has enjoyed its best year yet[GETTY]

Some 82 firms raised £2.4billion in initial public offerings (IPOs) in the year to June compared with £834million from 46 companies floating during the past year according to accountants UHY Hacker Young.

Businesses joining the exchange over the past three months include shoe retailer Shoe Zone and cake and coffee chain Patisserie Valerie.

The number of companies delisting from AIM was 70 providing a net gain of 12 – the first time that there has been growth since before the credit crunch.

UHY partner Colin Wright said: "Investors are more willing to put money into AIM-listed companies than at any time over the past five years. They appear to be more confident of a return on investment from these junior market companies."