LK Hyman
23 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor Games,"I dumped Procter & Gamble. Big name but after 3rd CEO in as many years ..."Sensible move, m8. ULVR is a much better company than P&G these days.It was all over for P&G in my humble when they brought back AG Lafley from the Old Folks' Home to have a second crack at the C suite. Never trust a man known only by his initials sezLKH on the flybridge
Hardboy
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor Games: "Big name but after 3rd CEO in as many years "That's a long tenure compared to soccer club managers. (Swansea on their 3rd this season)
LK Hyman
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor Games,"what % of your wad is JMAT?"4.8% ... number 5 in my Top of the Pops. Would be number 4 but for the recent share consolidation!LKH on the flybridge
gamesinvestor
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor "I'm delighted to have got out of this munter at a price well above the current one."LK - Indeed, I'm feeling pretty lucky at pressing the button at a high point here.This company has been significantly cash flow negative for 4 years and to maintain the dividend at this level seems to be a little disingenous -- the CEO should bite the bullet and cut it, the stock would probably respond positively.LK - On another subject, and after a further year end review I dumped Procter & Gamble. Big name but after 3rd CEO in as many years and a still a handsome P/E and declining sales I decided I'd rather see some upside in business and take a small profit plus a couple of divis for now.Incidentally, what % of your wad is JMAT?Games
LK Hyman
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor For once I think Questor is right and that this is a value trap.Jonathan Guthrie (Lombard in the FT) for whom I have the highest regard has once again stuck the boot in hard against Fallon today, his erstwhile ultimate boss as CEO of Pearson, until Pearson sold the FT.No company can prosper with a poor CEO and I certainly agree with Lombard that the guy is drinking in the last chance saloon.The statement about retaining the divi, when many were expecting it to be cut, is an easy one to make but the proof of the pudding will come over the next couple of years ... while Fallon is racking up his own chunky remuneration and 10% of Pearson staff walk the plank at his bidding.I'm delighted to have got out of this munter at a price well above the current one.LKH on the flybridge
massmid
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor I think Questor is inaccurate as you say and harsh in its analysis.Pearson is in competitive markets but is well placed too to grow when US enrollments rise again.In the meantime the divi is a good support and the share is reasonably priced after its large fall in the last 6 months.
Hardboy
22 Jan 2016
Re: Telegraph- Questor Questor, as always, makes up his mind then rigs the facts to suit his argument. I'm not saying he's wrong here, but I would argue with some of his points: -"The company is now increasingly exposed to a downturn in U.S. education."Is that a bad market to be in? really? Is the largest economy in the world going to stop educating their children? Of course not. Like all markets there will be short term fluctuations, but if you were searching for a market with an assured long term future, it would be hard to find a better one than US education. (Of course how you make money in that market is a different question, but I'm assuming Pearson have a few people of above average intelligence who see how to do so.)And is it wrong to be a company focussed on one area rather than being a hotch potch of different types of business? "Pearson has been forced into selling trophy assets "They have had a clear strategy for some time to focus the business as an education business rather than a publisher. Whether or not that is a good strategy we shall see, but selling the FT & the Economist was completely consistent with their strategy; and they got good prices for mature products. Questor makes it sound like they have lost control of their cash, whereas it seems to me they always knew what they were doing.
nk1999
22 Jan 2016
Telegraph- Questor "The Questor Column
on’t chase Pearson’s dividend, the shares are a value trap: Shares in Pearson soared more than 17% as the media group pledged to maintain dividends; investors had feared a painful cut. However, the relief may be short-lived. The company is now increasingly exposed to a downturn in U.S. education. Pearson splashed out more than $4.2 billion on education companies within a six-year period from 2007 onwards, mostly under the leadership of Marjorie Scardino. The wisdom of those deals can be demonstrated by the varying fortunes of the companies on either side of the table. Reed Elsevier, which has renamed as RELX group, sold Harcourt in 2007; its shares have soared more than 60% since. Pearson shares are below where they stood at the start of 2007. Pearson has been forced into selling trophy assets to plug a growing debt pile on the balance sheet. The Financial Times was sold to Nikkei in July last year for £844 million. That was quickly followed a month later by the sale of Pearson’s 50% stake in The Economist to existing shareholders for £469 million. Pearson’s net debts are expected to drop from £1.6 billion at the end of 2014 to about £240 million at the end of December. The company is already reeling from losing testing contracts in New York, Texas and Ohio last year, and that follows the loss of a $220 million contract in Florida in 2014. The operating profits are expected to fall to between £260 million and £300 million in the year ahead, and we think the company could be facing painful write downs in the value of its asset base. Time to sell. Pearson at 772p +114.5p. Questor says “Sell”."
Hardboy
21 Jan 2016
Update Investors - particularly institutional investors - like certainty (or as much as is possible in the investment world) & this statement gives very clearly what is expected over the next 3 years - including a commitment to a dividend (which even after today's rise offers a yield of 6.9%.)Yes restructuring means cuts ('twas ever thus) but they are focussing on what they have decided is their best market for long term growth. We will se whether their strategy works or not; but it is a clear strategy at least.
II Editor
21 Jan 2016
NEW ARTICLE: Why Pearson just rocketed 17% "Few expected much from education publisher LSE
SONearson's regular January update. "Tough trading conditions, a cut dividend, restructuring and retrenchment," is how one analyst teed it up yesterday. And it really wasn't pretty, but there is ..."[link]
gamesinvestor
21 Jan 2016
Restructuring Or cuts in another language.[link]
LK Hyman
30 Dec 2015
Re: Lombard's prediction for Pearson 201... Games,"I'm going with Terry on this one rightly or wrongly."I'd always take Terry ahead of Woody. Terry's articles (and his book Accounting for Growth) are always thought provoking and tend to have me nodding like the Churchill bulldog. Terry also gives the impression of being more of a Steady Eddie type though I bet he's a nightmare to work with or for.Looks as if Pearson is once again emulating Status Quo:[link] at the LK Wash & Valet
gamesinvestor
30 Dec 2015
Re: Lombard's prediction for Pearson 201... LK -- ""Might have a decko at Dairy Crest"""Did that. It's too expensive now. """I did the same and came to the exact same conclusion and so as not to annoy myself I deleted the ticker symbol from my screen.Doing another clean up at the moment before year end -- sold William Hill at a small profit, looks pricey, now heavily taxed and suffering competititive margin squeeze.Sold another tranche of AZN -- down below 1% now and the rest should go.I no longer trust anything that Woodford holds and based on some of the howlers of late, I don't believe he or his team read annual reports or balance sheets. I'm going with Terry on this one rightly or wrongly. You will have seen Woody get reamed on Game Digital last week -- another in a long list of losses.Get your point on the commoditisation of PEEK, but maybe they (VCT) still have first mover advantage - I dunno - no decision yet, still looking it over.Games
LK Hyman
29 Dec 2015
Re: Lombard's prediction for Pearson 201... Games,"Might have a decko at Dairy Crest"Did that. It's too expensive now. I missed the big runup over the last year. Never mind, eh? I chust hope it doesn't turn into another Greggs for me LOL.Fallon is lookin' like that Mourinho bloke .... no longer a special one.LKH at the LK Wash & Valet or perhaps van Gaal
LK Hyman
29 Dec 2015
Re: Lombard's prediction for Pearson 201... Games,"don't know if you are still invested in AZN or look at the board these days"I am still in AZN (2.9% of wad) but I don't look at the board much. Come 31 December I take a long hard look at my portfolio (such as it is LOL), reset my "cost" to the price prevailing on that date and consider what if anything I wanna buy or sell. I'm not convinced by Pascal, so I may well decide to shift into summat I believe I know a bit more about, rightly or wrongly.I doubt I'll get back into Victrex, though it is no doubt a fine company. I still harbour a fear that PEEK will suddenly become commoditised, but again it is a company (and a product) about which I know insufficient to justify piling back in.Not that I would claim to be an expert on all, or indeed any, of the companies in which my wad is sat.I see Pearson is again going down ... like an anchor. Although I used to like it and invested in it when it owned the FT, because I admired so many of their excellent writers ... Guthrie, Tett, Kellaway, Authers, Ganesh, Jacobs, Wolf (even though I can never understand the feller), Kay, Munchengladbach, yadda yadda, I've never had any time for Fallon. And if you have no faith in the CEO it's time to sell ... as I did back whenever it was, earlier this year. Certainly shan't be getting back into Pearson. Might have a decko at Dairy Crest which is an interestin' little company now it's got shot of milk tel quel.LKH at the LK Wash & Valet
