Wood Group (john) Share Discussion Threads

[ayl30] 07/3/2023 08:32

Sell 50% and hedge your bets?

[weaverbeever] 07/3/2023 08:27

What to do? Sell now and take the cash. Or hold and hope for either a 2nd bidder of for current offer to be raised. Risk now is bidder pulls out and price falls sharply.

[saltaire111] 07/3/2023 08:00

If they get the offer up to £2-50, I’d accept.

Salty

[sundance13] 07/3/2023 07:42

North of 220 I reckon but south of 230

[boozey] 07/3/2023 07:41

'Minded to reject' is not the same as 'unanimously rejected', which suggests that the valuation is beginning to approach what the Board believe to be fair value.

[ayl30] 07/3/2023 07:26

Will be interesting to see how market reacts. Perhaps we need a new bidder to liven the price up?

[sundance13] 07/3/2023 07:05

On 6 March 2023 Apollo submitted a fourth proposal for a cash offer (the "Latest Proposal") to the Board, which values Wood shares at 237 pence per share. The Board believes this Latest Proposal continues to undervalue the Group and is therefore minded to reject. The Board will continue to engage with its shareholders and intends to engage further, on a limited basis, with Apollo.

[chutes01] 06/3/2023 15:05

chart settled, looks ready for next leg up on renewed offer above 230p or a new suitor
too cheap here

[wendsworth] 06/3/2023 14:00

SP seems to want to push on today? News in the offing? ....although volume is low?

[wendsworth] 03/3/2023 09:21

askv: Agree ref Sparta .As to 'below 300p'....It won't happen.

[chutes01] 01/3/2023 16:08

yeh, you might get 160p again

[wendsworth] 01/3/2023 15:52

chutes: If and when Apollo walk away, resulting in an share price re-trace, I shall double my current holding. Hopefully that will be before Finals.

[chutes01] 28/2/2023 21:10

Yes, we shareholders must not be dry shafted now, after the mess that Watson & Co created, it's being righted, now is not the time to sell out cheap
The market is offering a gift here.

[wendsworth] 28/2/2023 18:58

Boozey and chutes: You both make thought provoking comments. AS for me I have no desire for Apollo to succeed. My WG holding is an investment. As such, I am hopeful of a Special Dividend announcement on 28/03. If that materialises I see the share price steadily rising up to 300p and beyond within twelve months. WG Holders have had a tough time over the past five or six years. Now the company has been turned round is not the time to sell out particularly to Apollo whose declared aim is to 'ACHIEVE EXCESS PROFITS ON ITS ACQUISITIONS. Private Equity 'vultures' are most definitely not to be encouraged . Just pop into your local ASDA or MORRISONS and note the difference ...and keep in focus DEBENHAMS.

[chutes01] 28/2/2023 16:54

indeed boozey, I'm informed this will have a positive outcome, so the next few weeks will be interesting to watch
Market allowing short positions to clear up in orderly fashion
Just make sure you are fully locked and loaded,don't miss out, Natch.

[boozey] 28/2/2023 16:38

chutes it is not just a management decision to agree a takeover or not. There are activist investors at large here who indeed may have been instrumental behind the Apollo approach in the first place. As they have offered and been refused at 230p we know they will need to go higher if they want an outcome. With 230p being broadly 50% higher than the prevailing price at the time the bid was announced, there will be a ceiling to how high they will go without a counter offer. PIs own on average around 8% of the average FTSE Company - most of these are high net worth individuals. Strip them out and the average PI ownership in a company like Wood would be around 3% to 4%. We have no influence so let's wait and see how this plays out.

[dipa11] 28/2/2023 16:10

https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00B5N0P849/Shorting is closed on 23rd February 23

[dipa11] 28/2/2023 16:08

https://shorttracker.co.uk/company/GB00B5N0P849/Shorting is closed on 23rd February 23

[ashkv] 28/2/2023 16:00

Interesting if I read the below RNS correctly - Sparta Capital Management have added 1.9 million shares at an approximate average of 194.5p shares via CFD

[chutes01] 28/2/2023 13:52

No evidence yet of any counter offers emerging here
As management return from Paris, 'lines of stoor, and plenty of hoors', a Champagne fest at the top hotels.

Unthinkable that they can let this go west for 230p, regardless of what bungs they are offered on the side, that would sell many down the river, however it may be the preferred option for some to get out now with their pockets full.
Still viable here if any t/o starts with a 3, 50% in few weeks

[wendsworth] 27/2/2023 19:14

ashkv: Whatever the outcome as to Apollo's interest, which will doubtless be to asset strip and load the company with debt,WG is way under-valued.The energy crisis has completely changed the North Sea scenario. In light of the evident dangers posed by private equity there could well be interest from the likes of Shell , BP and even Centrica none of whom would wish to see the vital support of its North Sea operations put at risk with the progressive degradation of Wood Group.

[ashkv] 27/2/2023 11:19

Very poor share price reaction - 15% below rejected offer price and would have hoped UK IIs take WG 15-20% above offer price to protect national champions and UK investors...

[ashkv] 27/2/2023 11:18

Wood Group/Apollo: oil services group cannot ignore bidders forever
After years of drift, Wood Group finds itself on the sonar of private equity

FEBRUARY 23 2023
Wood Group began life in offshore oil services as a part of a family fishing business. Four decades on, private equity investor Apollo Global has trawled the UK market and found some potential. Wood Group’s shares rose 30 per cent in one day after divulging that it had rejected three Apollo offers up to 230 pence per share. That price would value the group, using net debt estimates for 2023, at about £2bn. Apollo sees opportunity in a sad City tale of poorly timed acquisitions.

Until 2017, Wood Group had a history of successful bolt-on company purchases, most well under $200mn. Former chief executive Robin Watson then decided that a big acquisition would plump up Wood Group’s market value. In 2017, he bought AmecFosterWheeler, a mishmash of oil services and engineering businesses, for more than £2.2bn.

Amec had already tried a similar strategy in 2014 when it paid £1.9bn for US-based FosterWheeler alone, points out Mark Wilson at Jefferies. Wood Group’s was no more successful. The share price has fallen 72 per cent since the purchase.

New-ish Wood Group chief executive Ken Gilmartin would like time to right the vessel. Meanwhile, Apollo has another 28 days under takeover rules to decide whether it wants to proceed. Given Wood Group’s record, shareholders should be interested in further information about Apollo’s interest.

Apollo could pay more. Even at 230p, Wood Group trades at an enterprise value about 5 times its forward ebitda, a fifth below Italian peer Saipem. Wood Group’s clearest rival across all businesses is Worley of Australia, which trades at more than twice the ebitda multiple. It is possible that there are more parts of Wood’s sprawling business to divest. A year ago, it managed to sell its Built Environment consulting unit — formerly within FosterWheeler — for $1.8bn (£1.4bn), or 18 times ebitda.

After years of drift, Wood Group finds itself on the sonar of private equity. While Gilmartin is right not to sell cheaply, he has yet to provide a compelling vision. Shareholders’ patience will wear thin if no engagement with bidders occurs.