Fred Prior
31 Jan 2017
It makes me wonder exactly what price Darby asked from Mc Cs, he said 65p undervalued us and that he sees a great future for shareholders and wants to create maximum value, however, here we are languishing at 39p with 2 poor trading statements under our belt since his refusal of an offer that one can only assume was for around 75p in the end, yet still Darby didn't budge.Well Gavin, your/our company is now trading at 39p so do you have any words of wisdom or a rabbit in your hat for us now? You better act fast and do something Darby or else the baby gonna be prized from your arms and you won't have a say in the matter this time, I give you a couple weeks at most before a hostile gets thrown at yer!!
Fred Prior
30 Jan 2017
Re: Petition for Darbys removal No need to apologise Peter, whilst he may be giving away 3m mince pies for 50p a pack of 6 Mr Kipling (they were 2 packs for a pound before Christmas in Morrisons) I cannot see how you think he has created shareholder value? HE TURNED DOWN AN OFFER OF AROUND 70P.....and has since given out 2 poor trading quarters, what are you prepared to do, sit back and wait for a 3rd and 4th stinker?We are now trading under 40p, not quite all time lows but not far from it, with these updates continuing the same theme the SP will never get past 40p, hence why if Mc Cs come back with even the same offer of 70p I and I am sure many others will take it with open arms, the misery just could have ended 9mths ago and shareholders could have moved to pastures new, all he did was delay the inevitable!!Hopefully Mc Cs will offer a wee bit more this time as the FX has gone in their favour by some 20%, so even if they offer us an extra 10% thats still almost 80p a pop, or a pack of 6 mince pies if thats what takes your fancy......Good luck and I am counting down the days till a bid comes in.
Peter Stanton
28 Jan 2017
Re: Petition for Darbys removal I'm sorry Fred, but I have to disagree.I have been in this share since before the appearance of Michael Clarke. With canny buying and selling I have never made a loss.Under the leadership of Gavin Darby we have seen a substantial development of existing brands and great innovation in new brands, with many more yet to come. Removing the burden of Hovis from the balance sheet was a sensible thing for him to do. This has been a millstone around the neck of the company since the acquisition of RHM.I agree that after the fiasco of the bid last spring some people were really peeved at the rejection of the McCormick bid. But with recent substantial institutional buying one can't help thinking that the fireworks are about to go off. Finally providing evidence of Gavin Darby's comment last year that the bid "substantially undervalued" the company.I admit that I have a vested interest in this share and recently topped up yet again at this ridiculously low share price. I do not think it will be long before we see bidding interest again and a very big spike in the share price. If you keep your powder dry on this one, at the current share price it is hard for me to see any downside in the short to medium term.My ten cents worth !!GLA and of course DYORPeter in a wet and warmish Amsterdam
Fred Prior
27 Jan 2017
Petition for Darbys removal we need this guy gone as we now run the risk of a cheap T/O at 70p and without doubt it would be accepted....
Fred Prior
26 Jan 2017
Darby for the chop this m.uppet needs to go and fast, if TOSCA were involved he would have been gone long ago, makes me wonder why the institutions are putting up with this incompetent uranus.Somebody needs to do something or McCormicks will pick us up for 60 next time round!!!
triceratops
25 Jan 2017
Re: DEJA VU! Only 2 lots of Deja Vu!? I think I've had about 5 or maybe 6...I only hold a small stake in PFD these days, they were one of the first shares I bought when I started building my ISA portfolio in 2009. I convinced myself that their Brands were something to covet and that the public would buy them in good times and bad meaning that the company would turn itself around if we only gave it a bit more time.. sound familiar?I took heart from Warburg Pincus buying in and assumed the clever Private Equity guys would add value.I was very much mistaken. I keep them now as a reminder at how a company can promise a turnaround for getting on for a decade and still be years away from having things sorted.Whenever I think I may be getting too big for my boots and know better than the market I just have a look at the big red negative % next to this share and it serves as a good lesson. The lesson being that buying and holding a low cost and diversified basket of stocks and bonds is the only game in town. I'm sure it'll be put out of its misery at some point with a takeover, no idea when, in the meantime management will keep spinning us a yarn about jam tomorrow whilst they just collect another years salary..Tops
Nice to Michu
20 Jan 2017
Re: DEJA VU! this is so Deja Vu that's it's Deja Vu all over again 
It's a sitting duck for a takeover now though. If it comes off say 15% more I'll put a bit more back in in hope of that..
tradingup
19 Jan 2017
DEJA VU! Echoes of another disastrous CEO, Robert Schofield, who lost the plot with his ambition to 'builda great British food company' and had to be booted out.Darby's days must be numbered. He gets a severe kicking in the Times Business Commentarytoday as a man who is a'whizz at making exceedingly good excuses.' He now has zerocredibility and should walk the plank.Ar one time Premier had a decent range of products - Branston pickle, Sarsons vinegar,Hartleys jam and Quorn to mention but a few. My concern now is how they can survive on a diet of mine pies and rice pudding.
Disorder
19 Jan 2017
Re: Takeover Having sold out after the previous catastrophe, i believe this is now in hostile snap it up Quite an easy and a very realistic 50% upside achievable in a very short time.Need someone to show their cards, as i believe something is being played out behind the scenes.My Opinion = Strong Buy
marktime1231
18 Jan 2017
Re: Takeover If it was worth a cheeky bid from McCormicks last February, before GBP to USD shelved by 15%, all power to them if they want to make a fresh cheeky bid. Any bad feelings will be quickly solved by chopping Darby. Beever is heading for the golf course anyway.The institutions should take 62p given we are at 42p today. That would make everyone a winner and leave Nissin neutral rather than at a stonking 30% dividendless loss.I still can't believe PFD turned McCormicks down at 65p when the share price had been as low as 31.5p before the bid first went public last March. Aren't directors sanctionable for destroying shareholder value?
pyueck
18 Jan 2017
Re: Takeover I hope your bullishness on another takeover is correct. I however fear that if Nissin wanted to make a bid they would have made it last time and McCormick probably have no interest in returning after their snub last time.Also what they would be buying is less attractive after todays update, so I can't see some crazy bidding war as people were talking about after the last bid.I wish in the analyst calls the analysts were more insightful in their questions. Who was asking 'are you thinking of resigning after turning down 65p promising 2-4% growth, when 9 months later sales are falling?'. We need to have proper investors on these calls not graduates asking off the sheet questions with no real understanding of the businesses.
Fred Prior
18 Jan 2017
Takeover thanks to Darby and his incompetence we have just illuminated the hostile takeover light.......the sooner someone takes this out of his hands the better.My guess is Nissa will be 1st to bid and will hopefully get trumped by McCormicks, something very fishy about Nisa acquiring @ 62p around the time of the McCormick bid, hence why Darby blurted out their bid undervalued us, will be interesting what the buffoon has to say this time.I have no faith in him returning this to decent profit whatsoever, so unless there are games being played out here I cannot see that the instis do either.I do not think we will need to wait too long.Good luck all and I will make sure I steer clear of the next ship he captains, if any.
nk1999
18 Jan 2017
Re: RNS (as poor III can't post it!) OK, finally it has appeared on III, just as I posted.
nk1999
18 Jan 2017
RNS (as poor III can't post it!) Link to RNS as III News section still does not have it:[link]
pyueck
18 Jan 2017
I thought it was a cold September !? I thought all pfd's problems were down to a cold September.Clearly there are certain branded products which are falling off a cliff. Products appear to be heavily discounted, and new product launches are not even helping to keep sales flat.I get it that cost inflation has an impact on profitability (imho expect net profit to be a lot more hit than trading!). But sales falling is inexcusable, especially after the promises after the bid rejection.Should Darby go, well I'm sure heads he wins tails he wins, I.e. He will get a huge payout either way. It's time companies came up with remuneration policies actually aligned to investors interests. And as in football management should he go, only if you have a better replacement lined up!
