DYOR
...It's nice when Directors have faith in their products and they buy shares, but we're less keen when they sell them. However, as long as it's a few here and there, and there is a strong order-book and profits, dividends etc...who can blame them?
However, here we appear to have an instance of profiteering for no better reason than a profit is a profit, etc.
Just recently as others will have noticed CTT directors bought shares, OK, it was at a very low...but that's not all...Oh No!
Just yesterday we read that two Directors have sold shares - and in one instance it looks like a good profit was taken, in about a month - yet the reason the sp rose was not due to Good News..(which is in short supply, from where I sit)...it was entirely FTSE movement and tha fact these few Directors had bought...giving some comfort for CTT investors (-that all was OK.)
These sales make (the future) look less certain and with interest-rates so low....
-is there any room for a new expensive Money-lender/Bank...?
Maybe that is the reason for the selling - Directors are concerned the future is far from rosy...?
Oh deary.

Basket case - how the board of this Gp can justify their existance, god only knows.

Little good acting after the event (after the auditors presumably discovered this) - when really this is the fundamentals of stewardship. May as well resign and let others more capable do the job.

I don't hold as each time I've wanted to, there has been a reason to hold-back.

This last fiasco could be somewhat dangerous, since the repayment/negotiations of the loan ( 600m in June09, was it?), is likely to be "difficult" to say the least . . . if the businiess was in trouble before this (potential fraud) could wreck all future hopes.
It hardly beggers belief they wanted to become a Bank - mindyou UK Banks are nowt so bright, maybe they'd have fitted-in quite well . . . . . . but CTT may never find out......
(this was 4 early 2007, -now, under 3.pence . . . DYOR)
- - Bad news for shareholders and something that should have been forseen, esp. by the well-paid Directors themselves . . . . . I agree it does put a question mark over their Management . . . and the Board should resign. . . . . after they sack the Auditors, naturally.
+Recall, two Directors sold early Dec08, (abt. 45p I guess), so a tidy "profit" on today's sp....Arrgh!
EDIT: IC suggests there is a strong possibility of D4E - maybe wiping out retail shareholders !

That was the clue the Directors selling before Xmas.

Cattles Plc

Update on impairment provision review

On 20 February, 2009 the Board of Cattles announced a delay in the release of the Group's preliminary results announcement for the year ended 31 December, 2008. Since then, an independent forensic review, established by the Audit Committee, with the assistance of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Cattles' legal advisers, and Deloitte LLP, the Group's internal auditors, has made significant progress.

Based on information received to date and subject to completion of its external audit, the Board believes that the Group will incur a significant loss before tax for the year ended 31 December, 2008 and that it will be necessary to restate the Group's financial statements for the year ended 31 December, 2007.

The Board believes that Cattles is in breach of covenants under its borrowing arrangements and Cattles will therefore be seeking appropriate waivers from its relevant debt providers.

The Board now announces that Mr. James Corr, Finance Director of Cattles, Mr. Ian Cummine, Chief Operating Officer of Cattles and Chairman of Welcome Financial Services, and Mr. Adrian Cummings, Compliance and Risk Director for Welcome Financial Services Lending Division, have been suspended pending the outcome of the review. These suspensions are in addition to the suspensions announced on 3 March, 2009.

As previously announced, David Postings, CEO of Cattles, has taken direct management control of Welcome Financial Services. Gary Edwards, Group IT and Business Services Director, has taken on operational responsibilities at Welcome Financial Services and Susan Puddephatt has assumed the role of Risk and Compliance Director for the Group.

1p.

Which makes it junk stock! Who would have thought such a thing could happen a year ago?

Incredible to think it was 500p..

I'm somewhat confused - I realise this wqs "lots" only 12 months ago and they've had a stalled brush with being a Bank.
However, they were profitable and I wonder if anyone has asked:- In the good times where did all the profits go? - Surely any prudent Board would put some cash "by", to reduce their borrowings for the time when the interest-rates rose, from what appeared to be all-time lows.
(It was this cheap money that enabled many business to survive thaty should have known better. Of course it also fueled the rise in house-prices as buyers chased prices, based on increasing "multipliers" that permitted Banks/BS to lend huge sums to folks...OK, this wasn't "quite" sub-prime ( where the Mortgage is calculated to never be repaid, prevalent in the US.)

Now that CTT is under strain, I wonder why they cannot recover many of their loans . . . and realise that is their issue. Whereas in good times repayment was within the household budget, now that no-longer applies and CTT has no colateral to cover the loans . . . so they have to wait.

The big Q, is:- will they survive without D4E . . . ?

will the other banks make sure CTT survives?, despite knowing it has crap directors, I really don't understand why Barclays is increasing it's stake recently

Dr G - don't think its Barclays - only PI's using their nominee accounts etc

Recent News is that RBS has about 500m in this - Ooer! This means we have nearly the same (as taxpayers), so whatever happens to CTT we shall be less well off. The recent bad-news was that more Directors have been sacked (or supsended - only a matter of Time, DYOR) - Oh deary, will it ever stop?
Today the sp went up 25% - but it's still a shadow of earlier times....remember the Rights Issue just a year ago (was it?) at 1.20-ish....Arrgh.
BARC has woes of its own, withouit directly investing in a loser like this - (for the time being), so I think Joe Say is right....must be Barc-Nominees...

i have sold all of my shares in this, but I somehow feel this will survive, I think wider feeling among financials is they need a firm like this to lend people with poor history, otherwise they have to!

oops, the con goes beyond 2007

when is this going down to less than penny a share

Its done a Woolworths..

well dont say I didnt warn you 6 months ago.

You did - and it's been pretty clear since, that the Directors were not entirely aware of the dire state of the finances. Some havwe gone but the huge gearing/debt is unsustainable as it stands.
D4E is a possibility; - otherwise, switch off the light when the last person leaves.

CATTLES PLC
Proposal to close Welcome Car Finance

"The Board of Cattles announces its proposal to close its direct distribution car retailer, Welcome Car Finance. This decision has been taken to further conserve cash and improve liquidity within the business.

Welcome Car Finance has traded successfully during 2009 selling the stocks of cars it had from the end of last year without the acquisition of any new vehicles. However, without additional funds to acquire new stock, the business model will become unviable and it is likely that Welcome Car Finance will start to absorb cash.


Consultation with employees has begun over a reduction of around 130 jobs within the Group. The costs of closure are estimated at 5 million.


The Board has previously reported that it believed Cattles was in breach of covenants under its borrowing arrangements. Cattles continues in discussions with its banks and the holders of its outstanding Eurobonds and US Private Placement Notes. Management is working closely with its debt providers to sustain their support for the Group's programme of action to stabilise its financial position. The closure of Welcome Car Finance is another step aimed at reducing costs, preserving liquidity and reshaping the Group."

anybody got their silver locked in this?, cmon this is agony aunt thread!

Not me.

Sub-prime lender Cattles shares frozen as auditors scrutinise books
Failure to report annual results leads to suspension.


Cattles, the sub-prime lender which suspended six executives in February, had trading in its shares stopped on Thursday after failing to hit the deadline to report its already delayed annual results.

The company said its auditors were continuing to trawl through its books and could not sign off its accounts in time for it to report results by April 30.

Cattles has already delayed reporting results from the end of February, after discovering an 850m blackhole in its accounts.

The company, which lends to customers with poor credit histories, said it would not have been able to publish the figures by the end of April, and so it requested for trading in its shares to be suspended.

Cattles is also in talks with a syndicate of banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland which have loaned it 500m. Unless RBS and the rest of the group's creditors agree to roll over the credit line, which expires in July, Cattles may fall into administration.

Cattles asked accountancy firm Deloitte to review its books to work out what level of provisions it needs to take. Deloitte has completed the ask and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Cattles' long-standing auditors, are considering the numbers.

One of the issues delaying Cattles reporting its results is that PwC may want discussions with the banking syndicate over a refinancing to be finalised before it signs off Cattles' accounts as a going concern.

Cattles said it requested a suspension "in order to avoid a disorderly market and to protect investors pending publication of its audited report and accounts for the year."

The company shocked the market in February when it announced that six senior executives, including its finance director, had been suspended, amid accusations that the rest of the board were being supplied with "inaccurate and/or incomplete information".

An investigation by City law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Deloitte estimated that the black hole in the books stands at some 850m -about 25pc of the company's loan book.

More than 1,000 jobs have been cut from the main offices at Batley, West Yorkshire, Hull and Nottingham, with more job losses seen as inevitable.