Meanbugger
19 Dec 2017
Re: Possible competing bid Well it's too late to post a proxy for the shareholder meeting and the court meeting on Friday. Sand Grove are now up to 9.8% after their buying around the 320p level. Mawer I think have 6.3% and MVN have 3.2%. If all three vote against the special resolution then they can probably defeat it on Friday and the court resolution would not be passed either. Maybe they are just trying to persuade Scarlet Bidco to up the offer to 330p and will attend in person to vote through an increased offer. Anyway we should have an interesting couple of days trading ahead of the meetings to see if a rival bidder does appear or if the recent buyers can force an improvement in the terms.
Meanbugger
30 Nov 2017
Re: Possible competing bid Well the shares have hit the magic 330p level which is where a counter bidder would presumably start off. I don't know who has been buying but my guess is arbitrageurs have dipped a toe into the situation. It could also be one of the global investment banks fancies bidding for it using an offshore vehicle then if successful splitting the businesses up and auctioning them off to whoever will pay the most for the bit they want. This could also be the way of dealing with any CMA complications if for example McKesson wanted the HSC business which might give them too great a market share - they definitely wouldn't want the automation business.This shows the stupidity of combining two good businesses with negative synergy between them. I should be grateful as it created a value opportunity which is now being unlocked.
Meanbugger
24 Nov 2017
Re: Possible competing bid Thinking a little bit about potential counter bidders I am sure McKesson will have a look at the Health and Social Care business as it would fit in with their patient records and systems business. As regards the automation side names like Fujitsu spring to mind but it could be almost any global operator.Servelec was the top bid candidate in my portfolio mainly due to the combination of two good businesses lumped together with no synergies between them. Coupled with very poor liquidity in the shares and a lack of understanding of the company by investors Servelec had all the hallmarks of a business worth more to trade buyers than the valuation put on it by investors. Thank you to Montagu and Scarlet Bidco for getting the auction going but unless they raise their offer substantially I can't see them being successful given the very deep pockets of some of the global players.
Meanbugger
24 Nov 2017
Possible competing bid Today's price action is clearly signalling the prospect of a competing bid. The irrevocables given so far are soft as anything and apart from a few per cent will fall away if someone else bids 330p as would the non-binding letters of intent. I don't know the industry well enough to suggest who the possible counter bidders could be but Servelec has two high quality businesses operating in different areas so might attract a number of counter bidders now it is definitely for sale. Who knows we might see £4 if an auction develops. Shareholders sit tight and enjoy the ride!
johnymccarthy
20 Jul 2016
Northern Trust Company The above named bought another 500,000 shares on the 15th, giving them a total of 7.71% of the company.Somebody believes they can recover from their recent mishap, I hope the Northern Trust Company are right.
johnymccarthy
20 Jul 2016
Northern Trust Company The above named bought another 500,000 shares on the 15th, giving them a total of 7.71% of the company.Somebody believes they can recover from their recent mishap, I hope the Northern Trust Company are right.
IOMINVESTCOM
15 Jun 2016
Paul Scott's view Share price: 226p (down 33% today)No. shares: 69.4mMarket cap: £156.8mTrading update (profit warning) - on checking the archive, I don't seem to have looked at this company before. It calls itself a "UK-based technology and software group". It seems to serve several sectors, including healthcare, social care, nuclear & power.The group today warns on 2016 performance:We had anticipated a heavier weighting towards the second half of the financial year than has historically been the case, but it is now clear, given further slippage in contracts, that there is likely to be a shortfall in our expectations for FY16 as a whole. Whilst Social Care and our Nuclear & Power businesses continue to trade within expectations, market headwinds for our Healthcare, Technologies and Oil & Gas businesses are such that the Board now expect Group operating profits for FY16 to be significantly lower than market expectations and lower than the outturn for FY15.More details are given as to how each division is trading, which I won't go into now.In situations like this, I always do 2 things;1) Find out what the brokers are doing to their forecasts - since they will usually be given a steer by the company. This enables us to re-value the shares, and decide whether they are a potential buying opportunity or not.2) Check out the last set of accounts, to see whether the balance sheet is strong enough to absorb a period of poor trading. If it's not, then a fundraising could be on the cards, which can trash the share price.It is usually also sensible to do another thing (preaching to myself here, as this is a mistake I frequently make):3) Wait. Usually shares take several weeks or months to bottom out. So buying immediately after a profit warning is usually (but not necessarily always) the wrong thing to do.Broker forecasts - I've found one broker note in my Inbox this morning, which shows EPS forecast for 2016 reduced by 26%, from 21.5p to 15.9p. Therefore on a share price of 226p, the revised PER is 14.2.Dividends - forecast for 5.8p this year, giving a yield of 2.6% - not very exciting.Balance sheet - I've just done a quick skim of the 2015 accounts, and it all looks fine. The company is highly profitable, and generates good cashflows. Its balance sheet looks OK, although bear in mind that it has recently spent £20m (from cash & bank debt) on making an acquisition from Tribal (LON:TRB) .Even after the cash outflow from this acquisition, I reckon Servelec's balance sheet still looks robust. So no solvency issues, and no need to raise fresh equity, in my opinion.My opinion - this looks a quality company, with a high operating margin, and strong, genuine cashflow (no excessive capitalising of development spend, for example). No funnies in the accounts at all, that I can see.Therefore it's going on my watch list for a possible future purchase, if the share price continues falling. I'd want a PER of 10, rather than 14, to tempt me in at this time.[link]
IOMINVESTCOM
18 Feb 2015
Good looking chart Tried to test next support at 2.90 today.Would not be surprised by the price action & trades that one or two large II increased their position today and news flow will follow shortly.GLTA
IOMINVESTCOM
16 Dec 2014
Investec ups Servelec's target Investec ups Servelec's target after Corelogic dealTechnology group Servelec Group (SERV) has completed the acquisition of software provider Corelogic, which it hopes will help it win government contracts.Investec analyst Julian Yates retained a ‘buy’ recommendation and increased the target price from 355p to 363p. The shares added 2p or 0.7% to 284p.‘Servelec has announced its first acquisition since the December 2013 IPO, buying Corelogic, a leading software provider to the adult and children’s UK social care market, which will enable Servelec to cater to the government’s “converged care” agenda of merging social, community and mental care.‘This looks a sensible deal, increasing the group’s critical mass in its core market. The price paid is £23.5 million and we see the deal as 6% accretive to full-year 2015 earnings per share, based on what we believe are cautious assumptions.[link]
