Now, this one was just awarded the Aim company of the year. Its a bit likeMears but it has a large GAS SERVICE section and the profits from this outfit would appear to be less healthy than from its Public Service arm. Does anyone have any knowledge of this company which is not cheap BUT could be on its way to making a lot more mazuma.

Acquisition of social housing contracts from Connaught

Morgan Sindall Group plc ("The Company" or "Morgan Sindall"), the construction and regeneration group, today announces that its Affordable Housing division, Lovell Partnerships ("Lovell"), has reached agreement to acquire the majority of the ongoing contracts and their related assets of the social housing division of Connaught plc, allowing essential maintenance services to continue without interruption. Around 2,500 employees connected with the ongoing contracts will transfer to Lovell as part of the agreement.

A total cash consideration of 28m has been paid for the assets, which represents a discount to their net book value. The payment has been made from the Company's existing cash resources. At 30 June 2010, Morgan Sindall had net cash of 138m and the Group will continue to have a strong financial position following the acquisition.

The acquisition is consistent with Morgan Sindall's long-term strategy to achieve leading positions in its chosen markets. The acquisition will significantly enhance Lovell's market leading position in the affordable housing sector and creates a national, full-service business delivering planned and reactive maintenance as well as new-build social and open market affordable housing. The new contracts are expected to generate approximately 200m of additional annual revenue, split broadly between response maintenance contracts and Decent Homes, planned maintenance contracts.

A result for them then.

won't make any difference at all to unsecured creditors

Who cares so long as most of the jobs are saved !

very altruistic of you

Well banks are making billions again so they wont miss the money they
lost, all that matters is the jobs, shareholders should have realised what
was coming and cut their losses and ran, hats off to the co-op, they seem
to be on the ball in more ways than one.

sorry to be (no i'm not at all sorry!) so attached to mammon, but CNT's sp valued a ZERO suited me very well indeed .....

however, i hear through the ether than some s/b company (NOT IG) closed everyone's position at the last traded price (about 16p) ..... totally unbelievable if true, as of course those who were long are splitting their sides with laughter and those who were short are spitting nails

But why do s/b Co's not close out all positions where a company has gone into administration &/or it's shares have been suspended? Like the equity holders who may be sitting on worthless stock, cfd/sb traders are also open to the same risk?

because the positions cannot be physically closed ..... for example, the sp in CNT is now NIL, but the short position cannot be officially closed until such a time as the administrator has made a formal announcement (or similar) that there is nothing left for unsecured creditors .... at that point, i can physically bank my gain, or in the case of a long holder, his loss is then crystalised

Ah, I see. In that case there is presumably a risk for the shorters that the sp may open considerably higher if there is a favourable takeover or bailout?

in theory you are absolutely right, though in practice that is pretty much inconceivable

to support my post 179 ...... totally immoral! .....

from Tom Winnifrith .....

I am told that SB clients of CMC who were/are short of Connaught are to be settled at the close of business today at 16.65p. Apparently, there is a rule in their terms of business which declares that settlement is not to be at the eventual make up price but the suspension figure.

I cannot argue with their rules on behalf of those who accepted them. But this rule is absurd and it means that investors should steer well clear of CMC. After all, if one shorts, one takes the risk of losing on the upside and one does so to collect the downside. If the downside is denied at the crucial moment, there is no point in opening the short.

It depends where you open the short :-)

front fly opening! ...... that weasel clause of CMC's is totally disgusting and i'm amazed they are allowed to get away with it ..... i wonder if any of the por bastards who were caught out will challenge it under "unfair contract" or similar

lol.

My gut reaction would be that if it's in clearly documented rules, then the punter has no legal path to claim. However, that won't do CMC's reputation much good & they may realise that is more important.

my guess is that CMC will make a killing out of it

cynic have you seen their book?

nope, but whether they do or not, it's a downright scurrilous and unprofessional way to act

always read the small print.