dave297
19 Feb 2015
Surprise Surprise ! Better news from todays positive trading update-although the fact that we are "marginally" behind budget before exceptionals still infers the slightest of profit warnings,allbeit that there are still 9/10 weeks before 30 April to make up that shortfall.Payment of the Interim is clearly great news although I would have rathered that JG had not had to lend us £200k,particularly as part of it will have been used for severance pay,possibly to The Fersters-which is ironic-AIMHO
Shmully
16 Feb 2015
Re: Top Up I for one will not be rushing to buy more shares until we get confirmation that the 10 year contract to supply totes is on schedule. If they mess that up it will have a dramatic effect on the future of the company.
BADDOGREX3
15 Feb 2015
Re: Top Up Joes purchase of 100,000 shares has stopped the bears having a field day with the stock.He has injected £200,000 of his own money into the business at a very reasonable rate of return and has appointed a properly qualified and experienced manufacturing manager for plastics production.The New contract with Local Authorities will I am sure bring in some fat to the bottom line at some time?.The Fersters milked the company dry even selling and leasing back the Factory but still drawing their fat salaries, it would have folded under their stewardship The Media contract was their baby and was a Numpty move in the face of on line down loading of music.Block buster and other rental outlets requiring cases are extinct and even the greatest dim wit could have seen this happening.When the Fersters were spending on tooling for DVD cases I called one one of them, Stewart I think and suggested that the MP3 player would herald a step change in the market which could herald the demise of the case business.I was told through clenched teeth to mind my own business.
Roger Baron
04 Feb 2015
Top Up That's a pity. Was going to top up yesterday and now Joe has got in first and pushed the price up! Still, am sure I will make a good profit on these in the next year or two, even at 9.5p!
dave297
03 Feb 2015
Re: Very disappointing JG joined CRU & immediately set about trying to diversify the company away from the declining media division which represented 100% of the company s business.The company was originally set up by the Ferster family to manufacture the products which ultimately resulted in the bad debt.The decline in the DVD etc market resulted in a lower bad debt than would have been the case 12 months earlier a point which shareholders can hardly be happy about but at least the company should survive.I guess that our Debtor with VDC has been "managed" for quite some time & getting payment must have been increasingly difficult,ultimately resulting in the bad debt.I would expect that the Fersters had the connection with VDC & managed the account & their departure at the time that their Debt was turning bad was not a coincidence-the writing was on the wall .Assuming that the company continues to trade at similar levels of monthly profitability,allbeit that we are no longer invoicing VDC(for goods on low margins that they werent paying for)I would have hoped that CRU could have traded out of the situation without needing a 3 year loan of £200k from JG.Unfortunately the need for JG to inject £200k demonstrates the weakness in the working capital position,despite having net assets of more than £9mill & the SP has been marked down to reflect the uncertainty arising.The Interim should be cancelled & hopefully CRU is trading strongly in its other divisions & the new big contract is being executed profitably.I agree that Director buying would give a positive signal but only if it was in decent quantities & we dont know whether or not the Fersters want to dispose of their substantial family stake now they are no longer connected.
Shmully
03 Feb 2015
Very disappointing Since the Fersters have left the stock has fallen dramatically. This was not expected. Maybe Mr Grimmond has lost his way?
Roger Baron
02 Feb 2015
Re: no dilution agreed, and surprised price has fallen so much.
BADDOGREX3
02 Feb 2015
no dilution Great news less of a hit than we thought and Joe has put up the working capital requirement for nominal interest.Don't expect a dividend .A nasty set back but not one we cant overcome.I look forward to when insiders start to buy again.
dave297
10 Jan 2015
Re: Reason for the correction Judging by JGs comments I suspect that the Board having been fretting about this Debtor for some time & had been trying to reduce it.Unfortunate to disrupt what should otherwise have been a record year & which now will have to be deferred,yet again,to next year.It will be interesting to see if the Interim dividend is cancelled & it would be excellent for confidence,& our yield, if the Interim is paid,resulting in 0.70 p for the year.
BADDOGREX3
09 Jan 2015
Reason for the correction Media customer has gone pop owing Half a million Credit control needs a sound thrashing.But divergence from this imploding market and the low oil price will assist recovery I look on this a a buying opportunity waiting for the dust to settle and keeping an eye out for insider buying.The confirmation of the Tote deal will be the start of a new uptrend and the end of media market misery
dave297
08 Dec 2014
Interims today Substantial improvement on last year with first time Interim dividend .Disappointing delays in the tote deal but 10 years is a long time and a few months will make no difference in the whole sphere of things.It will be interesting to see whether a new CEO will be appointed some time soon
dave297
04 Dec 2014
Re: The Oil Price will feed the bottom line There may well be some or much truth in what you say.we will never know the total cost of the Ferster family package ,but a professional senior manager for Haydock should nt cost more than 60/70k + bonus.However I doubt whether Joe will want to be a full time exec chairman for too long so a CEO will be needed ,ideally recruited internally.I still consider that, with view to his age and shareholding ,& other "friendly" shareholders (ie to Joe), he will be considering an outright sale of the company.I dont know how wealthy he is,but he could be at a stage where getting 20p now will be preferable to working hard for another 3 years to try & get 50p.I prefer 50p !
BADDOGREX3
04 Dec 2014
The Oil Price will feed the bottom line For years the Ferster Family bemoaned the rise and rise of the oil price for pushing raw plastic prices to uneconomic levels.So they invested in plastic DVD case production on the advent of the launch of MP3. Clever? Things went from bad to worse so they sold the buildings and leased them back continuing to drawing their nice fat salaries In my opinion they have not been great visionary's or innovators and have milked the company dry .Thank s to Joe getting involved we have survived and the company is starting to prosper Performance will be improved by the departure of the Fersters and they know it .They will be holding on to the stock as they watch the turn around they and us are in the hands of professionals and nepotism is at last dead.Look at the 2 year chart A nice steady uptrend is in place.I am a happier man and await the return of the 70p per share once attained years ago Well done Mr Grimmond.Good by Mr Ferster. Happy days.
Roger Baron
03 Dec 2014
Re: Fersters resigned So possibly not then.
schwee
02 Dec 2014
Re: Fersters resigned The usual reason when you are getting older i.e. to splash the cash before it is too late.
