William Sinclair Share Discussion Threads

[thatsourlinda] 17/4/2002 13:16

Hold on tight up 10% today so far. I dont know what has specifically caused that, but I hope it happens again! Where there's muck there's brass. J Arthur Bowers is one of their famous brands, a sort of very expensive mud I think which all gardeners rave over and can't do without. It may sound dull but leisure is a big growth industry, and I would bet that gardening is the highest growth sector of that high growth industry. All I hear from so called analysts these days is pump cash into small high dividend companies. Sinclair fits the bill and it looks like many are listening to what the analysts have been saying.

[thatsourlinda] 14/3/2002 22:52

Yes Chuckie Egg I am still holding and I'm not going to throw away such a value share. The dividend at 2.4p was a statement of confidence in the future although the profits show they had a poor market last year. The big name brands are growing considerably Bowers Pearlite and such like and of course the garden centre business is storming ahead being part of the leisure industry. There was also good news on their property front and it looks like they can moneterise some of their old peat bogs. The 25% share price rise in a week says it all really and it is still really cheap.

[chuckie egg] 14/3/2002 00:47

Sorry TOL, misread your handle, easily done.

Hope you're still holding, something up,it was a matter a time before this share perked up.

Could be that Old Mutual has found a buyer for the Pets Division, or previous take-over talks are on again. Without both the shares are fundamentally cheap. A nice juicy dividend coming soon for investors who buy now.

[thatsourlinda] 18/2/2002 00:59

Chuckie Egg,

My initials are TOL, not TSL thankyou very much!!

Interim Results due a week on Wendesady, the 27/2/02.

I'm looking for progress on the various re-organisations, so I'll be more interested in the direcotrs' comments rather than the hard figures. However, a £1m interin=m profit and 2.4p dividend would be nice.

[thatsourlinda] 28/1/2002 00:40

I bought Sinclair last week as a clean value holding. No Skeletons, ripe for recovery and could have a very good next few years, amazing value at this low price. If inversters don't rate this as an excellent high yield value share then what do they rate as one?

[chuckie egg] 27/1/2002 14:21

TSL,

The interim results are due in Feb, should see some action in the run up to the announcement. You will have to be patient with this share but at least you will be compensated with a 11% div , better than sticking in a bank.

Of course I expect much more than a good div, a reasonable set of interim result could trigger a re-rating.

[thatsourlinda] 16/1/2002 00:30

Good afternoon. Does anyone else have any thoughts on Sinclair?

[thatsourlinda] 14/1/2002 19:21

Thanks for your thoughts JIMCAR sorry to hear you're sitting on a loss with this one. It has really been hit hard with 3 profit warnings over the last 18 months, putting it's rating now as cheap as chips. The guidance given means it is now very unlikely to miss the very much lowered estimates, so the projected eps of 9.3 for this year to June looks like it has the company's agreement. The ppe is therefore just of 6 (lowering to 5.6 for next year). Likewise for the 6p forecast dividend for this year and next, giving a yield of just over 10%.

Tangible book value is £22.5m giving a p/tbv of 0.6 (or put another way, each pound invested (at 57.5p) buys tangible assets of £1.67).

Five years ago, this share traded at about £2.60. It has drifted down to the current 57.5p. How it managed that during the very time that other leisure businesses, especially garden centres, have taken off smacks of management incompetance. Consequently, there have been several senior position retirements with new blood coming in over the last year or so. New Chairman, new Cheif exec (from outside the group). At the latest EGM, there were signs that the new directors are concentrating on outing the inherent value for shareholders. The chairman said 'as part of the review which encompasses all of the options to maximise shareholder value .....'

So Sinclair has lost it's way over the years, and profit warned, and profit warned, and profit warned. It then got a new CE and Chairman, and their focusing on shareholder value may be about to come to fruition. If so, there could be a lot of upside to these. Downside should be cushioned by the high asset value per share. The dividend, if held as expected, should ensure a decent return even if the new execs can't out any other value. Supplying garden products seems a good sector to be in, mixed feelings about pet-foods. All in all, this is going on my buy list at this price.

Their internet site is at

[thatsourlinda] 12/1/2002 11:18

I took note of your earlier post and took a quick look and they do look very good from an initial look. Your figures in your first post are correct. I'll bounce this one off some friends today and if favourable I'll have a deeper look Sunday afternoon. There are technical reasons why this could be interesting such as management changes, old profit warnings, new management's focus on outing the value, previously failed takeovers from memory. I would also like to hear other opinions on this one.

[chuckie egg] 08/1/2002 08:42

Anyone else watching these shares ? They have moved up in the last couple of days.

[yortis] 10/12/2001 10:23

Held these shares for some time and had watched it go down. At least it made a small come back recently but wished the management just give in and accept the takeover offer on table in November.

[chuckie egg] 07/12/2001 08:30

Technically looking good as well. The shares have crept up the last few days breaking away from its base. No resistance until 67p.

[chuckie egg] 07/12/2001 00:00

William Sinclair manufactures and distributes products for the garden, professional horticultural, pet, household and garden accessories markets.

Not the most glamorous company but they are undervalued. Changes are underway to improve profitability which includes the recruitment of a new chief executive , in March 2001.

The new chief executive has already implemented changes to reduce the cost base, see September statement. The board of directors know that they must perform otherwise the terminated takeover talks in Nov 2001 will be on again.

The company trades on a cheap forward p/e ratio but more importantly it is backed by solid assets.Looking at the balance sheet, most of it's assets are buildings. Although not liquid they can be sold off close to book value. After combing through the balance sheet, I cannot see any blackhole. The debtors to turnover ratio is reasonable. The inventory to turnover ratio is reasonable.

Please note this is a biased view. I remember the criticism I received for my FIO posting, for recommending FIO at 40p now 80p.