Callun
09 Jun 2016
Dividend reinstated From today's results:As a reflection of the progress the business has made in recent years we are especially pleased that we are reintroducing dividend payments with a proposed final dividend for the year of 5.5p payable to shareholders in August 2016. This is anticipated to be the start of a progressive dividend policy with annual growth broadly matched to the growth in underlying earnings of the business in future years. The reinstatement of the dividend marks the start of the next phase for Wincanton following the completion of the recovery and transformation programme over the last five years. We believe that the business is now on a strong foundation focused on its core activity, having reduced debt and onerous lease obligations. It now has the capacity to make investments for future growth as well as to meet the needs of its key stakeholders. Furthermore, we believe the Group is well positioned, with a strong track record of profitable growth, to make further progress for the benefit of shareholders and all other stakeholders including the pension scheme, our customers and all colleagues. We look forward to the future with confidence.
wuffet
08 Jun 2016
Re: Today's trades Finals tomorrow
Callun
08 Jun 2016
Today's trades Unusually high volume, mainly centred on 3 trades around 10.10 this morning seems to have woken the market to WIN, with a rise of >6% at this time.Any ideas what is going on, anybody?Callun
Callun
10 Mar 2016
Re: Edison Hi Bowman,Hopefully we have reached the bottom of the recent falls, but in the present general market conditions, who knows?I topped up, and will be satisfied with a steady climb back towards the end 2015 levels. Although WIN continue to face challenges the management seem to have a believable plan to move forward. Back in the day, WIN was one of the better divi payers, and hopefully will be again one day. The core business is relatively straightforward, and a tight rein on the costs and cash flow should produce positive results.I am a long term holder and have hung on through the highs and lows. Looking forward to more highs hopefully.Callun
Bowman
09 Mar 2016
Re: Edison Callun,A nice end to the day, with an acceptable degree of movement upwards, although still some way to go in order to erase the recent drop. Let us hope that this change of direction persists for a while.
Tenobas
09 Mar 2016
Re: Edison Hello Edison"The disposal of Records Management is effectively the end of the current phase of restructuring, with net debt reduced from a peak of £270m to £45m in FY16e and ..."I think we all know that there has been no significant change in net indebtedness and that there has been a 10% reduction in profits due to asset sales.
Callun
09 Mar 2016
Re: Edison Certainly a positive paper with a generous valuation, but assumes that there will be an equally generous resumption of the dividend. Such a payment would send a strong signal to the market because it would have to be partnered with a planned down payment of debt to prove its sustainability.Certainly worth watching for any signs of an uptick in the SP, but presently it continues to fall.Callun
Bowman
09 Mar 2016
Edison Edison has issued a summary paper on Wincanton, which might be of interest to WIN followers.[link] mention has been made to why the sp has recently dropped from ~200 to ~150, but maybe this is a good opportunity to add some more.
The buzz
15 Jan 2016
Re: Savage Drop There might well be a component of mining shares in the pension fund, so they would have fallen in value. The pension fund deficit will also depend on interest rates - and my recollection was that the higher rates would give a lower deficit, so recent expectations of a slow rise in interest rates might be considered to be pessimistic. What might not help is the expectation of low growth and a slowing housing market- that might subdue business.Conversely it might be simply the removal of capital from the equity market as a whole (based on a pessimistic 6 month outlook) - and WIN is not getting much support at these levels for sales, is and consequently falling. That option implies that the shares might well rebound next time that someone like Questor tips the shares.The B
Bowman
15 Jan 2016
Re: Savage Drop According to the Spring 2014 Trustees Report the assets of the Pension Scheme were allocated as follows, but no further specifics were given. I suspect that allocation to an individual corporate share would be relatively small, so the recent moves in oil shares should not have a large influence.Corporate shares (“equities”
- 37%Bonds (Government and Corporate) - 43%Property - 7%Cash - 5%Hedge Funds - 8%I believe that fuel cost changes are fed through to the Client, so recent fuel price movements should have limited effect on the bottom line.The pension deficit aspects have been known for a long time, so should not have been the trigger for a sudden large downward move in the sp. We shall have to wait for next week to see if this is the beginning of a more aggressive mark down of the shares or is just a single day's move.
Misty Creamybib
15 Jan 2016
Re: Savage Drop The chart looks bearish now.13 Jan 2016 Price Crosses Moving Average (200-day) Long-Term Bearish 180.50 n/a Thoughts have moved the the pension deficit and how much of the pension fund is invested in BP and Shell I guess. I sold out at 170 yesterday based on 200MA and concerns over the pension fund. Perversely the stock should benefit from lower fuel prices. Time to sit on the sidelines and await an entry point where the chart is more positive as I do not think the overall valuation based on broker estimates is too bad.
Bowman
15 Jan 2016
Savage Drop Today's drop is a trifle extreme since there does not appear to be a specific trigger. Has anybody and views on why WIN should drop so much?
Tenobas
14 Nov 2015
Re: Half Year Results The detractors have not disappeared.The important developments in the half year were (least important first):1) The haulage business increased its profits by £1m for the half year.2) The actuary agreed to increase the discount rate on the pension liabilities from 3.25% to 3.8% in exchange for the company agreeing to stump up for administration costs in the future.3) The records management business OPERATIONS were sold.These made profits of £3.5m and were sold for £55.7m. This is a return of 6.2% foregone.The average group debt was £124m on which the interest cost was £5m. This is a cost of 4%. But the pension obligations being 1% of the total obligations were kept (£2.5m?).So a business earning 6.2% and one tenth of the group profits was sold presumably to try and bring the debt ratios into line.4) The assets of the pension fund fell by £71m ( £900m -> £830m?)This was a disastrous result;it conforms to the long term trend that the business shrinks by about 4% annually but the pension deficit grows by about the same amount. Including administration cost obligations the pension fund deficit already exceeds the market value.The annual cash payments into the pension fund will now exceed the earnings and still the deficit grows.We do not need to look far for the next financial crisis in the UK economy it will be the collapse of the Pension Protection Fund (unless the Treasury has already decided to let the pensioners take the hit).
Tenobas
12 Nov 2015
Re: Half Year Results The detractors have not disappeared.The important developments in the half year were (least important first):1) The haulage business increased its profits by £1m for the half year.2) The actuary agreed to increase the discount rate on the pension liabilities from 3.25% to 3.8% in exchange for the company agreeing to stump up for administration costs in the future.3) The assets of the pension fund fell by £71m.Since the assets are only worth about £900m this was a disastrous result.
The buzz
12 Nov 2015
Half Year Results The results seemed to me to be more or less OK. Nothing sparkling, but steady progress at reducing debt and still on track to a stable financial position. I have said for some time now that if they can keep this up then the company would not be overwhelmed by the debt and pension deficit. The detractors at that time seem to have disappeared now. I have sold all my WIN now as I felt that they were close to being fully valued for there current state of recovery. That said I can see them continuing to recover and build new business.The B
