TX2
05 Jun 2018
What next? Well Laurence & chum are back having with new Chinese investor bought back control of the company by buying in the market at a substantial premium to present price.But do they have the answer to Quarto's problems in particular it seems very highly borrowed.Are they planning just toughing it out with the bankers?Very good luck to them I have done very well here on three occasions investing here over the last 10 years and I hope they pull it off but at the moment I am sitting on the side lines.
picstloup
21 Feb 2018
Stake-builders? Chuk Kin Lau now has 25.6% of the shares, and ole Larry Orbach 17.8%. IIf they're going to slug it out for control, it should help other shareholders, so decided to stick myself down for another 3200 with a "fill or kill" for today at £1.77. Not filled yet.
picstloup
30 Jan 2018
Re: Trading Update Latest update looked pretty decent for a long term recovery. What effect Laurence Orbach doing a Banquo's ghost with his 17% of the stock will have could be interesting. Is he going to try to take back his company?Not planning to buy any more, but debt going back down is encouraging.
TX2
09 Nov 2017
Trading Update Although there is basically a decent business here it is clear additional capital will be required;so I sold the smallish 4000 share holding I bought back here following the sale of my long term holding last year & earlier this year at a multiple of todays price & my purchase price following previous mixed messages from Quarto.Interestingly there appears to be a large buyer of the shares based on purchases,perhaps the potential bidder from last year who may or may not be the Chinese printer who has bought a large stake recently so was able to sell at almost my purchase price.I intend to watch until we get a better picture of the financial restructuring required.
TX2
17 Aug 2017
Re: Going Bust? Unlikely but is over geared.
Another Jacko
16 Aug 2017
Going Bust? I could really see these going bust now. They have too much debt and don't generate cash despite the high headline profit.Personally these are a bargepole stock for me.
TX2
16 Aug 2017
Re: How much is Well I have bought back in but only half the number I had previously & at less than half the price I sold out at.The problem is the eye popping debt which is a big multiple of net assets of which all & more are made up of intangibles......Failure to perform could be an even more serious problem for its lenders.
picstloup
16 Aug 2017
Re: How much is "we have an excellent publishing programme for the Autumn and the Holiday period – one of our strongest in the last few years – and everyone at Quarto is fully focused on executing our plans and maximising the opportunities in the second half of the year.”Well, it had better be.
TX2
09 Aug 2017
Re: How much is "inherent value"? Yes;I would have thought £2.30 would be the bottom end of inherent value based on recent share price but the problem is that it is all very vague and the "what if's" are firstly the potential bidder may not like what he sees when he looks at the books or may think he has got Quarto in a difficult position and make a take it or leave it low offer.The problem being that Quarto has to say the least a heavily borrowed balance sheet and without a bid may have to raise cash which may not be easy and could be value damaging to existing shareholders.However if Quarto's problems are a short term blip the company could have a value to a large publisher who could strip out a fair amount of management overhead which could make it cheap at a £50m value buying a fair sized business.
Windsor Buffet
08 Aug 2017
Re: How much is Given that the shares were recently trading within a smidgen of £3 I would think that £2.30 is the absolute minimum. I sold out a few years ago due to the 'new Board' being full of rhetoric but short on delivery (especially debt reduction). Leaver did manage to get a lot of support from city institutions (that presumably bought out ex Chairman Orbach) and he'll need their support if this is to go ahead.
picstloup
08 Aug 2017
How much is "inherent value"? Or rather, how much does Marcus Leaver think is inherent value from the possible takeover? Mr Leaver's credibility took a bit of a dive after the profits warning, but normally one would expect a premium of 40%+ from a takeover, so today's 15% rise suggests the market is not that impressed either.I would have thought anything under £2.30 was insulting, but that may just be because that's roughly my average purchase price.
gamesinvestor
14 Jul 2017
Re: Appropriate? ""oh never mind""nice one there Franky HowardUp Pompeii !!Ode to Flavia -- [link] -- Woe, woe and thrice woe !
LK Hyman
05 Jul 2017
Appropriate? "Dorothée de Montgolfier, Group Director of Communications"Looks as if the share price of this puppy has been pricked ...LKH on the flybridge ... Montgolfier ... balloon ... oh never mind
TX2
04 Jul 2017
Re: Trading Update Actually I think many of these type of gift books are priced to sell at 50% off however as well as these it does have a number of speciality publishing outfits. For example it is a big publisher of classic car books in USA( as well as distributing Haynes books) under Motorbooks International imprint;in the UK it also publishes the well known Alfred Wainwright books on the Lake District(Frances Lincoln Publishing);it is also a big publisher of child care books in USA & numerous hobby & craft books many of which are in continual printMinor problem with this company although it is quoted & mainly managed in UK it is registered in Delaware USA and you have to fill in a W-8EN US Tax Form to claim exemption from US tax .The shares are very illiquid and can be difficult to trade.However I have done well with this company over many years and I will look at it again probably after the results.
picstloup
04 Jul 2017
Re: Trading Update Well, that's me heavily underwater on my two purchases of £2.20 and £2.55. I'm hanging in here on the grounds that debt is reducing and Latin-American exposure should be profitable, but the profits warning and loss of the CFO do not ensure confidence, so I probably won't be buying more. John Lee claims to operate a stop loss of 20%, so, in theory, he sold up today.Not expecting to be back in profit for a while.
