red = 25dma
green = 50 dma
black = 200 dma


The Telegraph says the banks like Southern Cross Healthcare, and so it seems to have an almost endless supply of new capital. It recently secured �300m to fund acquisition plans. It also develops its own sites and hopes to add 1,000 beds this year. A good operator with a proven model, Southern Cross is well worth buying.

annual reports etc available from www.schealthcare.co.uk


have just bought for myself at 355

Not much further to fall.

aldo - post 149 - if what you wrote was correct, then i'm glad i'm not your bank manager ...... at least mitzy only invests 500 at a time (i think)

I fear nothing left for small investors

Time to buy SCHE... very cheap now.


Elderly campaigners, charities and union leaders warned that the threat of collapse at Southern Cross Healthcare would be a catastrophe that could threaten the lives of residents at its 750 homes.

In response, Downing Street offered a guarantee that elderly and disabled people in Southern Cross homes would not lose out, but declined to say whether any emergency funding would be available.

The crisis comes as the public spending watchdog, the Audit Commission warns that the quality of services for elderly people will be under further threat as councils are forced to negotiate lower fees for private care places.

Southern Cross, which made a 311 million loss in the six months to the end of March, has blamed its problems on reduced council spending on long-term care. The group announced this week that it will be forced to cut the rent it pays to the landlords of the homes it runs by 30% for four months.

Saga, the over-50s group, called on ministers to draw up an urgent rescue plan for care homes in trouble. Ros Altmann, Sagas director general, said: The government and local authorities may have to step in and take control of the situation.

Lives could be at risk as a result of Southern Cross collapsing.

The GMB union, which has around 12,000 members working in the care homes, urged politicians across the UK to take action to help secure the future for the staff and the residents.

General secretary Paul Kenny said politicians must sort out the uncertainty the residents face. These are not factories facing closure, they are a vital part of the social fabric of every community, he said.

The Prime Ministers official spokesman gave a guarantee that affected residents would not lose out.

We are clear that we are putting the interests of residents at the top of the list, he said. It may well be in their interests to keep them in the same place. But I think we have to look at that very carefully and we have got to let this process continue with the company and the various other interested parties.

However, he declined to discuss whether there was any contingency in care budgets to cover extra costs. Southern Cross is in talks with its landlords, who could force the group into deeper trouble if they refuse to agree to the rent cut.

Jamie Buchan, chief executive of Southern Cross, said he believed the company would survive, with fewer homes, but there would be no need for a government bail out. He told The Daily Telegraph: I dont think the Government would or would need to provide financial support.

Worth 2p or 3p at the most.

God - these were 6 3 years ago and perceived as safe!

I remember SCSW tipping them at 400p and look at them now.

I bet a few people have lost their shirt

at least when i started this thread there was still plenty of upside!

Cynic - its quite funny when looking at the chart in the header, coupled with the last line of your opener. "have just bought for myself at 355"

indeed - forgot it updated automatically!

Former Southern Cross tycoon owns five houses worth 77m... while 31,000 residents may have to leave their care homes


Stephen Schwarzman owns a 35-room Manhattan apartment, mansions in Palm Beach, The Hamptons and St Tropez - and a winter villa in Jamaica

The tycoon behind the controversial U.S. firm that made 640million from the embattled Southern Cross care-home business boasts one of the world's most magnificent property portfolios.

While more than 31,000 vulnerable elderly people in Britain fear they may have to leave their care homes because of the financial crisis overtaking Southern Cross, Stephen Schwarzman, the 64-year-old billionaire chief executive of private equity firm Blackstone, has a personal property empire worth 77million.

One home is a palatial 35-room, two-storey apartment on Manhattan's Park Avenue which he bought in 2000 for 20million.

Its ballroom-size foyer leads into a drawing room -- reputedly the largest in the city -- where a silver-framed photo shows the tycoon arm in arm with George W. Bush.

Adorned with works by Claude Monet, the 20,000 sq ft house also has a gym, sauna, steam room, billiards room, screening room and a wing for servants, who take their meals in a separate dining room.

Schwarzman is renowned in New York for ostentatious parties. One of them had an 007 theme with Bond girls carrying trays of nibbles.

Guests at his 60th birthday party in 2007 included two fellow multi-millionaires, Donald Trump and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Rod Stewart was paid more than 500,000 to perform at the extravaganza.

In 2003, Schwarzman forked out 15million for a white Palm Beach mansion called Four Winds.

The 1937 house was old by the standards of the exclusive Florida resort, and classified as a protected historic landmark.

Measuring 13,000 sq ft, it was 'too small', however, for Schwarzman. He filed plans with the Palm Beach Landmarks Preservation Commission for a 'renovation and restoration' which included adding a second storey and a servants' wing.

The Blackstone chief made almost 500million when his company sold its interest in Southern Cross, Britain's biggest care-home provider.

The deal involved the sale of the group's properties, forcing Southern Cross to lease them back from another company.

Southern Cross is now saddled with expensive long-term rent commitments and on the brink of bankruptcy, leaving residents fearing for their futures.

Blackstone has been accused of profiteering at the expense of the elderly and vulnerable.

Temporary suspension.

i think not ...... SCHE is seriously dead in the water ...... shareholders will have lost the lot

The success of "private companies" in "social service areas".

Should be a warning, that some areas are "no go" areas for "privatisation".

you do talk twaddle sometimes to try to make a totally different fact fit your socialist viewpoint

Cynic,

Look at your own header.

Look at the white paper which is being introduced,

Another future U-turn.

look how long ago i started the thread and what sp was doing then you ass ...... amazed that someone with your left-wing viewpoiints does not consider it immoral t0 invest in shares - after all, surely mking a profit is exploitation by another name

good call lol

Looks like the end is nigh for SCHE soon. Sell now before it folds.

They are still recruiting!!!!