Rhigos
09 Aug 2017
Re: Wrong again I sold 25% of my BKG shares yesterday when limit order met at a little over 3595. SP of course rose after sale so I will call it a cunning plan to increase price of my remaining 75%. In fact I top sliced because they were getting near all time high and had suffered earlier this year by being overweight in construction (also have PSN, BDEV, GFRD, WJG and REITs BLND, ESP and DIGS).I have held BKY for about 30 months and yesterday's sale realised a CG after costs of 32.2% and total return of 46.0% including next div as sold XD. A very pleasing return IMO over a medium term period. I am not planning to sell any more BKG this year.
marktime1231
07 Aug 2017
Wrong again another mistaken prediction by me, the BKG buy back programme is continuing even though we are on 'hooks for the dividend and few wanting to sell. So maybe the share price is going to spike all the way to £37-38 as per HSBC's prophecy.Might be forced into a reluctant sale after all. Or trim and buy back afterwards. I would miss not having some BKG in my portfolio, they have been my best winners. You are not supposed to invest in sentiment though are you.
vb6
04 Aug 2017
Re: Builders down today Interesting that BKG recovered much better than other builders today.Yours Amortisedvb6
axolotl
04 Aug 2017
Re: Builders down today Apparently there's a rumour going the rounds that the Help to Buy scheme is under review. I find it hard to believe that the government would want to do anything to make it even more difficult for first time buyers to get a roof over their heads as this would surely be the final nail in Theresa May's carefully self-constructed electoral coffin. But even if they do foreign investors will no doubt continue to mop up all the available property leaving loads of empty towers as a monument to government folly. In short imho the market reaction is overdone.
vb6
04 Aug 2017
Builders down today Anyone know what's happened to builders today.Big drops all round.Yours Bricking Itvb6
marktime1231
02 Aug 2017
Re: FTSE 100 Re-Entry ? BKG are rated under £22 still by Credit Suisse even after June's stellar financial performance announcement but I wouldn't hold for that re-entry point if I were you. There is a sense that acceleration in BKG's performance is easing - "headwinds" - and there has been some notable profit taking over £35 which is pretty much an all time high and may be the sustainable sp for now.While deciding what the next dividend will be - announcement 17 Aug, ex-div 25 Aug, pay day 15 Sep - the buy back may be suspended so you might see a short term lull in sp.BKG still needs to do something, though, other than sitting on cash and passing out good dividends while on a p/e <10 and with net assets greater than market cap, to defend it from becoming a massive target. Pidgeley may not be ready to retire just yet - watch for him offloading though - and that in my mind means a share buy back programme will continue to support the sp.The government's belated concern over the trade in freehold interests has been aimed so far at selling houses on leasehold tenure with unfair ground rents - yes, doesn't that sound ridiculous - as perpetrated so far in about 100,000 cases by the likes of Redrow, Taylor Wimpey, Bovis, Bellway and Persimmon. BKG not so much if at all.Government may also turn its attention in future to the exploitation of freehold control over leashold blocks built by the likes of BKG, but successive governments have turned a blind eye to the problems of ground rents, bullying freeholders and rip off property managers. Housing ministers come and go (remember the awful Grant Shapps?), and so do politicial donations by the beneficiaries of massive property portfolios.Pidgley has been quoted in the past as being open to new forms of housing tenure ... his brand image took a massive hit in 2011 and someone had to cough up around £1M on the eve of litigation when his St George Wharf complex opposite Westminster got into management difficulties - the manager/ground rent grazer were exploiting residents (including the likes of John Major) via the service charge to the max. with things like excessive insurance commissions and were involved in a very public compensation battle.At the time I thought that meant he was signalling support for the enactment of CLRA 2002, which allows for a new form of tenure called Commonhold through which blocks of leasehold flats escape exploitation by companies taking freehold interests off the developers. That stakeholding ownership model is pretty much how the rest of the world does things, but the UK remains a feudal state when it comes to property.Do not factor this in for the near term though, Commonhold has been ready but not en-acted for 15 years already.In the meantime BKG earn about £100M pa selling on freehold portfolios to the likes of Lord Whassisname and ultimately their yield is securitised to our pension funds.FTSE100 re-entry doesn't bring the automatic boost it used to, I don't think so anyway, but it will certainly sharpen the coverage by major brokers and may induce a correction in the out-of-step negative forecasts from the likes of Credit Suisse.
PrefInvestor1
02 Aug 2017
FTSE 100 Re-Entry ? Hi All,With their mkt cap up to 4.826Bn BKG must surely be a good candidate for FTSE 100 re-entry next time that happens ?. That should drive the share price up a bit as all the trackers have to buy in.I sold out pre-election and have been waiting for an opportunity to buyback in. Maybe when they go XD September time ?Btw Does anyone know if BKG are big on this leasehold issue, that sounds like it might become house builders PPI ?.ATBPref
riverside red
01 Aug 2017
Re: Buying their own shares again... Hopefully with the pressure on proxy bond shares, the institutional investors may also want the focus to switch back to cash dividends.
marktime1231
31 Jul 2017
So what is fair value When BKG was trading under £28 it looked to be a good decision to balance dividends with a buy back programme to boost the share price. At that time I thought BKG was fair value up to £33, since when they have come in with even stronger earnings and the price has grown to £35 today ... most recently boosted I suspect because of an anticipated September dividend of maybe 80p; and the likes of HSBC promoting £37-38.We are still in p/e < 10 territory even if forward earnings are cut 25% by a quieter London market and by a loss of income from selling freehold interests to ground rent exploiters.So while BKG already has a super land bank and no debt to speak of I don't know if there is a better way to deliver shareholder value ... restoring dividends to about the 6% level would be welcome, beyond which I think BKG should continue to hoover up their own stock while it is trading below fair value ... but what level is that?Under £33 sure.Up to £37 not so sure.Over £38 they can have mine!
Topalov
28 Jul 2017
Re: Buying their own shares again... Buying back the shares at below £27 has proven to be a great decision for shareholders.
vekta
27 Jul 2017
Re: Buying their own shares again... Yes, don't like share buybacks, there are quite a few Co's I'd like to invest in but not while they're buying back. But of course it pushes up the sp and that helps the exec's bonus! Generosity begins at home! Vekta
PJ Foster
27 Jul 2017
Re: Buying their own shares again... With the share price approaching £35, the argument for buyback vs dividend seems even more tenuous. When the price was below £27 and the board felt Berkeley was undervalued - then maybe there was an excuse (although I'd still rather have had the full cash div myself). But at this level - please BKG, stop buying and return the shareholder funds as dividends.If I want to increase my holding in BKG, then I can do so by re-investing the dividends myself.Frustrated,
dazedandconfused
28 Jun 2017
Buying their own shares again... back in the market again, at a much higher price than before; the Board must be very confident of their forward value. Positive sign, i suggest (albeit less balance for our Divi payments, but then Tony probably has enough bunce by now...)
axolotl
11 Apr 2017
Re: why have all the building shares gon... Share buybacks might well be a good idea for the benefit of the company and its shareholders but dougmel's suggestion that a dividend cut was engineered purely to facilitate the chairman's 'dumping' of a million shares seems a tad far-fetched.
Topalov
10 Apr 2017
Re: why have all the building shares gon... Actually my previous post was a bit simplistic - in theory I suspect there should be no change in share price as the company will have less cash (or increased borrowings) in exchange for having less shares on issue and the shares have been bought at the current market price.However I suspect in reality there could well be an impact on price - buying back shares will reduce the P/E ratio which may well have a greater impact when investors value a share than the reduced cash balance.Share buybacks are only a good for shareholders if shares are cheap. The definition of cheap should be that in the medium to long term the share price will be higher than the purchase price.I don't mind share buybacks - I am invested in the company because I believe the shares offer good value so have no problem with the company using its cash to buy its own good value shares. I can always sell if I need the cash.
