William Sinclair Share Discussion Threads

[cockneyrebel] 29/5/2007 11:34

Cooking with gas today :-)

CR

[liarspoker] 29/5/2007 11:28

Very nice. :O)

[bozzy_s] 29/5/2007 11:25

No news. Has it been tipped somewhere?

[jakleeds] 29/5/2007 11:20

The price!!

[bozzy_s] 29/5/2007 11:18

Hello, wassup here?

[cockneyrebel] 10/5/2007 20:33

Ed.J my sympathy. Lawns are a thankless task. The lawns around here are moss raked by the badgers - you then have the pot holes to deal with!

Thanks regarding WGB.

Thanks for the upgrade details WJCC - still looks a buy to me - nearly £6m property assets on that balance sheet and I suspect there scope for Arbuthnot to be beaten there still and boost the 08 forecasts further.

CR

[jakleeds] 10/5/2007 19:02

And this could turn out to be very lucrative:

"Good progress has been made in the period at Freeland, our 50% joint venture,
which has developed a new technology to improve yield from garden cuttings.
Material that would previously have gone to landfill will soon be recycled as a
valuable component in peat reduced composts."

[jakleeds] 10/5/2007 15:56

Here's what the IC said in Jan, which explains why a long hot summer will definitely boost SNCL's fortunes:


Summer weather is critical to William Sinclair's fortunes. It owns (with no value in the balance sheet) and leases a number of peat bogs in Cumbria and Scotland. But a wet summer in 2004 made it much harder - and sometimes impossible - to extract soggy peat, while also making it much more expensive to transport due to its increased weight. Thankfully, last summer's weather was much better. Add to that a new chief executive, Bernard Burns - who, according to chairman Bill Simpson, is "bursting to improve profitability" - and Sinclair's profits could be on the mend.

After a seven-year wait, the company is now expanding production by recommissioning two bogs it owns in Scotland. It's also continuing to develop non-peat composts, which now account for more than 10 per cent of sales. Sinclair is asset-rich, too (particularly following last year's revaluation). It owns - but does not need - 11 mainly freehold buildings, plus storage sites used during the winter to bag peat ahead of spring demand.

[bozzy_s] 10/5/2007 10:55

For anyone who's interested, Level 2 has just flipped positive, 2v1.

[bozzy_s] 09/5/2007 14:07

Thanks for the broker forecast details.

Might be trading at a fairly high P/E, but with such a strong assets base I'm happy to be holding here.

[edmondj] 09/5/2007 08:31

CR,

Still toiling at removing about 50 years worth of moss and thatch from five lawns (some steep) in about two acres, will be out aerating again as soon as this rain moistens the soil enough. I bust my existing fork so got another with a lifetime guarantee. I think Sinclair owes me a free spreader on account of the lawn sand I buy!

Well done re. Walker Greenbank, incidentally.

[wjccghcc] 09/5/2007 08:14

Arbuthnot upgrade to 6.13p and 7.01p for year ending Jun 07 and 08 respectively.

[jakleeds] 09/5/2007 07:39

After that statement, it won't be long before it gets tipped in the Chronic imo, which should draw more interest to it.

Watch this space.

[cockneyrebel] 08/5/2007 15:37

Thames water have already said they will not be having a hosepipe ban this year Ed.J - whether you can trust that or not I don't know.

As far as a trading statement goes - it would be foolish to say they will 'Materially exceed' when there was still 7 weeks to go to the year end, if they couldn't rely on materially exceeding, weather complying or not imo.

So it seems to me any good weather between here and year end is likely to add to those results imo.


Having done work for a couple of garden centres the weather definitely helps, especially if we get an early start to the summer. Punters tend to buy bedding plants too early and see the frost catch them then need to replace them. We all get to the garden centres more when it's sunny too - my local Wyevale has them parked on the verges to get in there if the weekend is bright.

Sounds like you need to get out there with the lawn aerator a bit more often Ed.J :-)

CR

[jakleeds] 08/5/2007 15:24

Forecasts were as follows:



2007 2008
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Arbuthnot Securities
03-05-07 BUY 1.15 5.04 3.00 1.50 6.57 3.00



There's still a lot of value to be had here yet, with margins increasing and the co valued at less than half its t/o, and then there's the properties etc.

[bozzy_s] 08/5/2007 14:17

Does anyone have the broker forecasts for FY results? Would be nice to know the figure we are going to materially beat!

[edmondj] 08/5/2007 07:52

:-((

Who can trust forecasters anyway, lol!

[jakleeds] 08/5/2007 07:49

OK Edmond, point taken, thanks. Gardenboy makes an excellent point, that they have 11 undervalued properties, some of which may become surplus to requirements which they will sell.

It is going to be a very very hot, long summer, if reports are to be believed.

[gardenboy] 08/5/2007 07:42

took a punt on these at 100p after a bit of advice that their property assets were way undervalued.

Today's news excellent - agree with Edmond though that intense heat and drought not very conducive to good gardening.

[edmondj] 08/5/2007 07:41

My point is, good weather helps...up to a point. Hopefully a long hot summer can be avoided! I would certainly stop investing in the garden in a situation of drought, it's already a battle. Fingers crossed for rain.

Practical example: I recently spent over £100 on Sinclair's lawn sand but would not apply it again unless soil thoroughly moistens.

[jakleeds] 08/5/2007 07:25

Edmond,

They said "In addition, in light of the recent good weather, William
Sinclair has experienced strong demand particularly from its retail division.."


Anyway, a 25000 t-trade buy just gone through - another director buy? Let's hope so.

[edmondj] 08/5/2007 07:17

Can't see how the prospect of "the longest/hottest summer forecast" is necessarily good for gardening sales, the ground is already as hard as nails, lawn fertiliser may not work, if true then gardeners may have to batten down hatches and just sweat to preserve what they have amid hosepipe bans.

More positively, it is raining! It would appear balanced weather is best for the likes of SNCL, i.e. not so much rain that it keeps people out of garden centres, but not drought either.

[iandippie] 08/5/2007 07:11

Hi CR. Do you use a broker that can get you stock at an agreed price before 8am? Reason I ask is cos I use selftrade, and of course, as they are execution only, I can only get a price once the market opens. In a case like this, that clearly makes a big difference!

Ian

[jakleeds] 08/5/2007 07:11

Welcome aboard CR, I don't know which is better, the statement or seeing you here!!

Added some more myself, thankyou. With the hottest and longest summer since records began, and a nice divi to boot, this is going to do very well.

No wonder the CEO has been buying lately.

[jakleeds] 08/5/2007 07:02

Wow, fantastic news, but was expected imo.