anyone have an idea why this has been flying over the last week? had Hutchings finally bought something?

interesting levels now...

nothing concrete but it is just the history of the man. when he took on his old mentor Hanson to pip him for RHM that was as bold a move as one could make. he hasn't joined LUP to build a tin pot empire. my view, after following his prior purchases, is that the first acquistion will be big and bold and within 12 months he will duplicate that purchase by leveraging off the success and size of the first.

a spiel i know but i have a sneaking suspicion that i will be proved correct. we shall see.

proptrade, I certainly hope so but this inactivity is certainly testing the patience of the SP and this particular investor! Having said that, I wouldn't want the first acquisition to be a rush-job (highly unlikely I know) but the SP won't stay at 17-18p forever. There will be a downward trend unless something happens soon IMO.

we shall see...i fancy a deal before xmas

I don't want to be right on this one but nervous that 17p has been broken in a southerly direction.

i know this is taking a while but Hutchings i believe will find not just a deal but an earthshattering one...i remember early Tomkins. he will not disappoint amd has a chunk of his own capital in there....

Do you have any knowledge as to what the deal may be because "earthshattering" is pretty emotive language!

i know nothing (said in the style of fawlty towers) but i have always traded on a gut feel and tended to only follow successful managers and boards. what we have here is a protege of Hanson who build a FTSE 100 company and is involved in a company because he fancies another roll of the dice.

these guys are never in it for a few hundered thousand and a desk. he is either going to make waves or sit on his own beach somewhere listening to them (nice quote, i may patent that!). his involvemt with LUP would indicate the former and i think he will position himself with a serious acquision. I may be wrong but there was also great article the other day taking about the reemergence of shell companies and the rebirth of the conglomerate.

lets see....

Let's hope so - another small tick down today. I think they need to at least be feeding the market titbits of teaser information just to keep interest up.

Very interesting!

Mail on Sunday - Greg Hutchings of Lupus emerges as a possible 'white knight' bidder for Novar.

no way!!!!!!!! that would be so his style.... that is exactly what i have been banging on about on this thread.

Indeed but I'm not sure that a bidding war is what we need - any thoughts?

I think there are a few white knights out there. General Electric and Siemans for two, if you believe the papers. Novar have let it be known (through spokesmen) that they have effectively thrown in the towel and put the company up for sale or break-up, instructing their advisers to solicit bids for the company or its components.

One would have thought that Novar would attract a higher price from larger entities who would have more scope to cut costs from combining with existing businesses, than someone like Lupus or Melrose. At the end of the day, it will depend on how big Mr Hutchins' ego is. I don't think he will overpay, because that is not his style and he has too much of his own cash in LUP to run that risk. Reading between the lines in the latest interim statement, he has already walked away from a few deals, so we can continue to sleep well at night!

you say that but i think this is the kind of coupl that is so Hutchings style...look what he did when he swiped RHM from his old mentor Hanson.

maybe it won't be this deal but i am convinced it will be momentus!

There is no doubt in my mind that Novar is worth quite a bit more than the current price and melrose started too low to win.

that palys directly into the hand of a Hutchings style bid ala RHM....watch this space

If Hutchings does bid, what do you think will happen to the LUP SP? Often the price of the bidder falls, especially if we're talking big money.

but in this case it is the future value+growth. we will be a situation of certainty and the chances are that if successful there would be a leap in the sp.

Let's hope so!

What the hell happened to this today?

Not sure, lots of chatter. I think its people just getting fed up with waiting.