Forward looking and dedication will make "Jarvis" a name to remember. IMO

Jarvis banks to sell 250m of debt to US syndicate

Group led by Bank of America buys debt at a reduced price with the option of obtaining a sharehold in the firm


18 February, 2005

By Angela Monaghan

The syndicate of banks that bailed Jarvis out of financial ruin has sold up to 250m of the debt to a group led by the Bank of America.

Under the deal last Friday, lenders including Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland transferred some of the Jarvis debt to the Bank of America at a reduced price, understood to be about 50-75p for every pound of original debt. This means the banks are in effect writing off some of the money they have lent to Jarvis.

However, for the original banks, it is at least a guarantee that they will receive some of the money invested in Jarvis. They are likely to have obtained a better price now for the debt than they would have a few months ago when Jarvis was in dire straits.

The Bank of America group has the option to swap the debt they have obtained for a shareholding in the business. Although the firm is by no means out of danger, it is in a more stable position now that it has been broken up and parts sold off.

It is thought that the Bank of America syndicate includes at least two other banks.

The sale of the debt is the latest in a string of complex financial transactions at Jarvis, which is now led by chief executive Alan Lovell. Two weeks ago, Jarvis secured a lifeline when it sold its 147m stake in London Underground consortium Tube Lines to Amey. It also agreed a 110m refinancing package for 14 PFI projects that are under construction.

After these deals went through, Jarvis original banks agreed to extend its debt facility until 27 March next year. Lovell was awarded a 450,000 bonus for concluding these transactions.

Despite the turnaround, Jarvis is a shadow of the company that had a 1bn market capitalisation two years ago. It never fully recovered from the damage to its reputation from the Potters Bar rail crash in May 2002, in which seven people died.

It is also still unclear how much the company owes in advisory fees. Some in the market believe it could be as much as 60m.

Jarvis has turned its attention to its rail renewal, road and plant hire businesses

Jarvis chief gives hope to York staff
Thursday, February 24, 2005
by Alex Lloyd

JARVIS chairman Stephen Norris has reassured York staff that the troubled company is back on track after a turbulent year which brought it to the brink of collapse.

York employees of Jarvis faced an uncertain future as the firm posted half-year losses of more than 230 million and the chief executive resigned.

But the crisis was averted when shareholders unanimously agreed to sell its 25 million portfolio of York properties, including its headquarters Jarvis House, in Toft Green, York, to Network Rail.

The company also sold its stake in the Tubelines consortium that carries out most of the engineering work on the London Underground to persuade its primary lenders to re-finance debts until March 2006.

Mr Norris, who was in York to speak to the City of York Conservative Association, told the Evening Press it had been a "momentous year" for Jarvis. He said: "There was a time a few months ago when all the reports were effectively writing our obituaries, but we have recovered from that."

"We have gone back to the core business and that is road and rail and associated plant hire, and that has the potential to be a good, profitable business. We are also doing what we are very good at, because Jarvis remains the most cost effective re-railer in Britain."

He said the move to new, smaller premises in Blossom Street, York, had marked a fresh start, for the company which now has 3,000 staff nationwide compared to 13,000 at one time.

"It is so good for morale to change the environment," he said. "It has been an absolutely torrid time. It has been very painful at times and certainly exhausting."

The former Conservative transport minister, who was twice runner-up to Ken Livingstone in the battle of become London Mayor, said York staff should feel reassured about the future of the jobs.

"I can't say that all the remodelling of the company we need to do is completed as of today, but I think people recognise we are starting to recruit rather than shed.

"We may well find there are areas we have to reduce costs, but at the same time, we are recruiting good quality people."



http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/business/YORK_BUSINESS_NEWS0.html

Is this the end of JRVS????

no

Yes it is...........see the latest news.

what 'latest news'?

SAM24, Surely you are not suggesting that because the FD has resigned (Assuming this is the so called 'latest news' you are referring to which actually by now is 'OLD NEWS') because he does not want to re-locate to York, then this is the end of Jarvis??!!.........get real!

Don't kid yourself, going down to 4p if there is no new contracts very soon
and I don't see that going to happen, can you??

No Sam, I dont see it going down to 4p either.

I wish I could believe you!!
You have to get real.

it will move back up

Even the press are now confused as to where this is going.

From FT
A three-year journey nears the South Pole
By Salamander Davoudi
Published: April 2 2005 03:00 | Last updated: April 2 2005 03:00

Shares in Jarvis have been journeying southwards since 2002 and are almost at the South Pole. Valued at 827m three years ago, today Jarvis is worth 20m. Since the beginning of this year the shares have tumbled a further 54 per cent as the company has gone through a refinancing, lost its finance director and announced it had to borrow an additional 17m to fund working capital requirements. The control of Jarvis, with debt at about 280m, is now firmly in the hands of its creditors. Management is now looking to do a debt-for-equity swap. The value of the company's debt may be fixed but in such a deal the lower the share price the bigger the proportion of total equity the banks receive. One analyst said: "Jarvis plc may even want the share price to drift lower because the banks want to take 99.9 per cent of the company's equity in the forthcoming debt-for-equity swap." The market is in an "information vacuum" and knows nothing about the performance of Jarvis's underlying businesses. It is very frustrated that no trading updates have been released. The shares closed at 14p. Salamander Davoudi

Jarvis up 20% so far today

I think JRVS is finally recovering.

I've lost a lot but luckily got out in the mid 20's so not that bad. Still holding very small amount. This is going down imo until the D4E has been resolved. Although I'm a holder I would stay clear of these until that issue is sorted, unless you can afford to take a risk.

From UK-Analyst.com: April 13th 2005

Lock up your daughters. Steven "shagger" Norris will be celebrating tonight after Jarvis shares jumped 20%. Well that's probably not true - he surely won't be celebrating, actually. The reason the share price went up was nothing to do with good news - in fact the news was bad. The group's chief operating officer resigned after just 5 weeks in the role. Bears were closing positions as they bet there would be little in the way of bad news to come in the short term. But whether they are right or not remains to be seen.

I noted in the Sunday Telegraph that the D4E swap is under way with a group of American banks and hedge funds,they will control 80% of the company.

be interesting if the hedge funds went t$ts up though.

sequestor.
care to elaborate?