Wey Education Share Discussion Threads

[melody9999] 01/7/2020 11:51

Followed the BOD recent lead and sold out this morning. If they don't see the opportunity for this business (and their holdings) to increase in value, then that is fair enough. On the other hand, if they are selling purely because they can see so many options that will vest in the near future, I guess more director sells can be expected.

[smudgeroo] 30/6/2020 12:12

WiganCasino,

Thanks for the reply. The beauty of P&F charts is all the noise is removed. The 71.43p price target is interesting as that would give the company a market cap of £100m pretty much on the nose, using the current number of shares in issue. I'm sure it's coincidence but a nice round number nonetheless.

[wigancasino] 29/6/2020 22:38

Smudgeroo, very interesting P&F chart details, I like how you have clearly shown the higher lows and higher highs and still moving in the upward direction. However your word of warning is noted about keeping an eye on it, of course the upward momentum of reaching the 71.43 target would be very pleasing for all. Cheers

[seabornlegend] 28/6/2020 18:54

Where are WH Ireland in all of this? Does anyone have a oontact there?

[smudgeroo] 28/6/2020 15:47

From a technical standpoint it's interesting to note the price level at which the directors chose to sell some of their shares. I've put some thoughts up on twitter for those that are interested.

[kcr69] 28/6/2020 10:27

Netcurtains, many thanks for the links.

6,000 students in Inter High alone will logically translate to a revenue of circa £15m - £20m in FY21 against £6m in FY 19, and that is before Wey Academy and any other ventures are considered.

I am not sure I will ever fathom or even try to fathom the reasoning given behind the recent director sells, particularly given the 2 executive directors are both pushing 6 figure salaries and in this context each of their stock sales were fairly minuscule given the very nature of a SIPP.

Were they naive or cynical, I am not really sure, however based on the comments of Mrs Daniell and if 6,000 students do turn up at Inter High next year (or even to the wider Wey group), then I really don't care.

[netcurtains] 28/6/2020 09:48

bigboyblue: She was talking about InterHigh so it is possible that if its 6k in one its also 6k in the other (academy21)... hence talk of 10k's in the zoom meeting.

I suspect she means a school year - from september 2020 to july 2021 (at some point in that year).

[bigboyblue] 28/6/2020 09:42

The first link in particular is very informative. I don't recall seeing anticipated numbers for next year being mentioned previously. Do you think she means next academic year (ie September) or does she mean 2021?

[netcurtains] 27/6/2020 08:52

marketing campaigns starting for September Term:


this one is for academy21

[netcurtains] 26/6/2020 15:22

Shanklin: Agreed. There is reason to underplay. The cancellation of the UKs GCSEs and A level exams would have dented some of the business (I suspect A levels and GCSEs are a major part of the business - but could be wrong)...

My theory is a company like Pearson (PSON) might be interested in buying WEY (they have also just done a deal with Harrow) providing the next set of accounts shows the right sort of numbers and they can get the company for about 30-35p a share.

It is possible that the Massie heirs and others might want to "retire" and they control in total about 50% (and the big investors at 22p would almost certainly be very happy with 30-35p a share).

[shanklin] 26/6/2020 14:06

FWIW I have no issue with WEY underplaying their prospects and having understated broker forecasts. Much better this, and beating forecasts, than failing to meet broker estimates.

[from8to800] 26/6/2020 12:40

Something smells fishy. Stops firmly in place.

[netcurtains] 26/6/2020 11:18

Well if it helps sentiment any I do still have half my WEY shares. But not overly optimistic that this will break 30p any time soon - but stranger things have happened.

[bdh1] 26/6/2020 09:58

Agree comms / RNSs are mediocre. Outlook statements are always pessimistic offering ltd information. Forecasts are exceeded consistently. I’d ignore the FD / HR Sales. They’re puppets. Barrie owns 22% of Crimson Tide. Wey shareholding is negligible in comparison. He hasn’t said (& doesn’t have to say unfortunately) where he’s re-balanced too. He might easily have bought more CT shares based on his insider knowledge of that Co.s prospects. We don’t have benefit of that.

The government has still pumped £350m into the sector. Online schooling is on the up. Anybody who has bought at the knockdown price may have got a bargain

[seabornlegend] 26/6/2020 09:47

Their PR machine is simply non existent.

[bigboyblue] 26/6/2020 09:28

I wouldn't criticise a director for selling shares and in fact I didn't (see post 156), after all who am I to know their individual financial circumstances. It's the fact that 3 of them have sold at once that is troubling.

Some have commented here that the company has capable people in their specialist field, but perhaps not so capable as businessmen/women. I can understand why; shareholders seem to be something of an irrelevance. If that's the way they feel, then WEY shouldn't be a listed company.

Practically every company has put out one or more RNSs about covid. Most are about adverse effects, a few about beneficial effects, but even where it's 'no change' there has been communication with investors. Based on previous years we aren't due an update until late August, but I think we are owed a proper update now.

The company has been given a unique opportunity to grow the business rapidly. How are they doing? That should include at least some rough numbers. What about Interhigh advance enrolments for September, say compared to this stage last year? What about any increase in business for academy 21 from councils and schools during the last 3 months or so? What is the company DOING to capitalise on the current situation? Recruitment of additional teaching staff (which we've had to speculate about)? Additional support staff?

No need to mention the director sales again; the damage is done and no number of excuses is likely to make it retrievable. But HOW ABOUT THE BUSINESS? (Sorry, I feel it's necessary to shout in this case)

[longshanks] 26/6/2020 09:23

The Daniellis have sold in recent times: 3.75m shares in November 2019 at a price around 11p.Clearly those sales did not have a negative impact on the share price over the medium term and I can't see why these should either.

[netcurtains] 26/6/2020 07:56

74tom: That is why I kept half.

Its as if there will be some sort of corporate action later (agreement, joint venture, takeover or merger) that involves WEY having a current price below 30p. Hence no positive RNS news at all only negative.

There are employees (senior teachers) etc who have not sold any and of course the CEO has not sold any (or her husband) or Sara de Freitas. It might be against the rules to BUY shares if goodish news known down the line but you probably can get away with selling (if news goodish).

Say an offer came in for 30p and share price was 15p then there would be no difficulty getting shareholders to agree. But if share price was 35p obviously its a non-runner.

We know Mr Massie's heirs have huge percentage of the company and other people millions of shares (eg the big investors who came in at 22p to invest £6m - eg gave WEY the cash pile for shares at 22p). One suspects they might be happy to get out at 30p (if not committed to home school as a way of life)....

[74tom] 25/6/2020 22:52

Agree completely Net, on one hand it feels like they are embarrassed to announce the positive impact of Covid on their business, or even RNS anything regarding current initiatives etc. That is poor and in stark contrast to many listed companies. They may as well not be listed if they don’t want to communicate to the market.

However, to then have 3 director sells with such weak reasoning makes it appear as though they are using their listing to cash in at the expense of more optimistic shareholders.

For an FD of a publicly listed company with a paltry 80k shareholding to sell half his shares and site portfolio balancing as his reasoning is beyond the pale though.

To make it even more bizarre, Whipp holds 2m options, Knowles & Nichols-Grey 3m each. Exercise price around 4p from memory. How on earth do today’s sales balance their overall portfolios? Unless they don’t count the options, which given they are held in a relatively liquid company makes no sense.

Why not exercise your options & sell some to cover the tax & take some profit at the same time? That would have been my advice instead of trashing sentiment.

[razoblade] 25/6/2020 20:42

So much chat about buyback and acquisitions. Clearly nothing near term hence the show

[netcurtains] 25/6/2020 18:14

bigboyblue: none of them come across like Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. They dont seem to
believe like its a religion. I feel really sad about these announcements. They read like grey men in business suits who do not believe. I would love WEY to have a charismatic leader who really believed passionately about home school and was full of enthusiasm for it, and his or her whole life revolved around bringing home school to the entire world. I wold love to have a leader who was an evangelist.

The biggest event in home schools entire history and WEY make not a single RNS announcement apart from grey suited directors are juggling their SIPPs.

[bigboyblue] 25/6/2020 18:01

I hope the directors' sales don't mean that trading has been disappointing (although who is to say what we should expect in the current circumstances?). We may not know until September.
I also hope they read this board so that they know what message they have sent.

[owenski] 25/6/2020 17:04

SIPP's are long term holdings, so what's he saying about the company long term?

Not very committed here are they anyway.

[shanklin] 25/6/2020 16:23

Having had two days of directors kicking themselves and the company in the proverbials with BS justifications, hopefully they will now get back to running the company for the benefit of shareholders... ...and their options.

[abergele] 25/6/2020 15:40

A couple of nice positive posts,, gla lth's