anyone watching this one?

Yes, I have been watching it, but I just don't know enough about the milk business to buy in to this. Who are the competition? Used to be the MMB, but now is presumably Dairy Crest? Who packages own brand milk? Tesco, Sainsbury etc?
Looks like sp is recovering, but would need to look at the balance sheet first to see if RWD are making money.

Wiseman's main competition is from Arla and The Dairy Farmers Of Britian. They have big contracts with Tesco, Sainsbury, Summerfield, Iceland, Co-op to name a few. As far as i know they are doing well and the results were not bad considering the volatility of fuel prices and the general financial situation of the country at the moment.
No idea why the sudden movement today but happy to see it on the way up anyway.

01 November 2008
By Erikka Askeland
Business correspondent

MOST cows in the UK inhabit the western half of the country. As it turns out, the rainier climate on the Atlantic side of Britain provides a more amenable environment for the bovine than the dryer, albeit more populated east.
Robert Wiseman, the chief executive of one of Britain's top three fresh milk dairies, has used this to his company's benefit. Locating the most recent of its seven dairies in the west at Droitwich Spa, among one of the world's largest dairy herds, ADVERTISEMENTand most recently at Bridgwater in Somerset gives the dairy an advantage, simply by being closer to the cows.

"The rest of the dairy industry has a lot of legacy issues they are built in the wrong place. You have got two big dairies inside the M25. You don't see many cows around there," observes Robert Wiseman's spokesman Graeme Jack. Wiseman himself is also close to the cows. Outside the company's headquarters at Nerston, near East Kilbride, there are black and white Friesian cows those used in the dairy's packaging and lorries.

It is where Wiseman's father, also Robert, established the milk round in 1947 that would eventually become one of the biggest dairy businesses in the country, listed on the London Stock Exchange with an market capitlisation of about 280 million.

The milk sector is under pressure. At the end of next week, the company is will bring out its interim results. Wiseman, who has previously described his firm as "a logistics business that happens to have a dairy at the other end", faces rising costs the raw materials such as the milk, the plastic for the milk bottles, the petrol to run its 1,200 strong fleet of lorries. On the other side he also faces the intransigence of retailers reluctant to pay more or to charge their customers more.

Added to this is a sector struggling under increasing burdens. According to NFU Scotland, milk production in the UK has not been so low in 37 years. Dairy farmers are going out of business as they struggle to contain costs.

"We are going to see in 2009 some processing capacity in the UK closing down," warns Ian Potter, a leading UK milk quota broker. "But clearly it won't be Wisemans."

Wiseman is, according to Potter, a "white knight" of the otherwise cut-throat dairy industry. Although, as one of the big three milk processors, which also includes Arla and Dairy Crest, Wiseman is inevitably the subject of grumbling.

Last year some farmers, concerned about not benefitting from a spike in commodity prices, held a protest outside Wiseman dairies.

"I call Wiseman the white knight of the industry. Since the demise of the Milk Marketing Board when farmers could sell direct to grocers, Wiseman has consistently been one of the top-end payers," says Potter.

"At this moment in time there are plenty of dairy farmers who would jump at the opportunity to be offered a Wiseman contract," adds Potter.

As if times weren't hard enough, Wiseman had also until last month been embroiled in a lengthy and difficult investigation by the Office of Fair Trading. The regulator was looking into alleged cartel activity in Scotland which at one point involved dawn raids on Wiseman offices.

This ran alongside a separate OFT investigation on price fixing between supermarkets and milk producers, which resulted in Wiseman paying out a 6m fine.

Last month the OFT cleared Wiseman, along with other Scottish dairies including Grahams and Scottish Milk Dairies, of the price fixing allegations due to insufficient evidence.

The issue had been rolling on since 2000, sparked by rival Express Diaries which had recently acquired a small dairy in Nairn.

Industry insiders suggest the row was sparked when Wiseman opened its Droitwich dairy smack in the middle of Express territory. Express then retaliated by moving into Scotland and then complaining to the OFT.

Wiseman feels vindicated by the OFT's decision but it hasn't been easy. It has eaten up eight years of time, and cost Wiseman "hundreds of thousands" of pounds.

If you nicked Wiseman's skin you might find milk flowing in his veins, not blood. Although he fancied being a chef because he liked cooking, the milk round was always the first priority since the age of 12 when he would get up before 5am to do the morning milk run before school.

The founder, Robert senior, passed the company on to his sons when he turned 60. There are three brothers, Alan, Robert and Gavin as well as sister Jean.

Alan, the chairman, was the first to join the business in 1967, while Robert followed in 1976. Gavin is the purchasing director while Jean is not involved with the running of the business.

Robert is married to his second wife Paula, and between them they have six children.

They married a few years after the tragic death of his first wife, Janette, who died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage while the family was on holiday in Florida. As difficult as this was, he has come to terms with his loss.

When turned 50 in 2005 he threw a massive party at his home, Auchterarder House, Perthshire, which he and Paula have lovingly restored since they bought it in 2002.

Friends of the family say it was Alan who set the company on the acquisition trail. soaking up 56 rivals since the brothers took over. Meanwhile, Robert is "very hands-on, day-to-day guiding the company and its strategy".

Jamie Mathieson, director of stockbrokers Bell Lawrie, has known the family since the company floated in 1994, counting Robert as a "pal".

"Alan is silent but deadly. Robert is much more vocal and demonstrative. But both of them are highly focused and very able, and they know their industry inside out," says Mathieson.


BACKGROUND

Robert Tennent Wiseman, 53.

Raised in East Kilbride, he joined the family business in 1976 after graduating from Auchencruive Agricultural College in Ayr the same year his father hands over the business to his sons.

The family's wealth is now estimated to be 170m.

1985 Robert is appointed managing director

1994 The company floats on the LSE

2002 Becomes chief executive

2007 The company is fined 6m by the Office of Fair Trading for its involvement in a price-fixing scandal.

Brothers Robert and Alan cash in shares worth more than 15m in shares in the business to beat changes in CGT legislation. Robert retained 17.24 per cent, while overall the Wiseman family holds 35.7 per cent

2008 A profits warning due to rising costs sees share price slump nearly 40 per cent. Share price has failed to recover.

StockMarketWire.com
"Milk producer Robert Wiseman Dairies warned this morning that operating profits will be impacted by around 7m in the second half of the year, as a result of recent intense competitive pressures hitting margins.

For the 23 weeks up to and including 11th September, overall milk sales have grown by 8.5% in comparison to the same period last year, with sales benefiting from volume gains made in the previous year. The group said it remains confident that sales volumes for the year will be in line with expectations.

As a result of recent intense competitive pressures across all sectors of the market operating profits will be impacted. Whilst anticipated volumes for the year remain unchanged, operating profits will be impacted by around 7m in the second half of the year to 2nd April 2011 and, assuming no improvement in margins or volume gains, by approximately 16m in the full financial year to 31st March 2012.

Wiseman said the reduction in anticipated profit is very disappointing, but it believes it is best placed within the dairy industry to manage the impact of a highly competitive trading environment going forward.

The financial performance continues to be impacted by volatility in oil related costs, which have remained higher in the current period than in the equivalent period of the previous year.

While fuel costs have eased, the cost of plastic has not declined by the same level. The higher oil related costs incurred have been mitigated by the contribution from higher cream revenues, which have exceeded those generated in the same period of last year. These higher returns also helped support an increase in the price paid for raw milk supplies from August.

Plans to install the final element of capacity at Bridgwater are progressing satisfactorily and the dairy will have a total capacity of 500 million litres per annum available from November 2010. Further to this, we will have a dairy and depot network in place to allow the medium-term target of 2 billion litres of sales to be met.

Wiseman said it intends to maintain the total dividend payments for the current year at 18p per share in line with last year and retain a strong balance sheet with low levels of debt.

Interim Results for the six months ended 2nd October 2010 will be published on Monday, 15th November 2010. "

Back to 300p I guess.

Not completely sure whether to buy some.

These are strong today with volume - any followers?

And now in auction!

Blast - a bit slow there :-

Statement regarding rise in share price

The Board of Robert Wiseman Dairies PLC ("Robert Wiseman Dairies" or the "Company") notes the recent rise in the Company's share price. The Board confirms that discussions regarding a possible cash offer are taking place with Müller Dairy (U.K.) Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unternehmensgruppe Theo Müller S.e.c.s) ("Müller"). There can be no certainty that any offer will be made for the Company.

For the purposes of Rule 2.6(a) of the City Code, The date by which Müller must either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Robert Wiseman Dairies or confirm that it will not do so is 10 February 2012. This deadline will not be extended other than with the consent of the Takeover Panel.

In auction again +18.9%

Well I managed to take 30 points - so not too sad.

Bit late bringing this to our attention skinny........shame on you.,.

BB - the shares were at 265p when I posted :-)

Post 11, I hope you did mitzy. :-)

Leak, what leak. Offer for Robert Wiseman Dairies PLC

RNS Number : 6567V

Unternehmensgruppe Theo Mueller

16 January 2012

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF THAT JURISDICTION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

16 January 2012

Acquisition of shares in Robert Wiseman Dairies PLC ("Wiseman") by Muller Dairy (U.K.) Limited ("Muller Dairy (UK)") (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unternehmensgruppe Theo Muller S.e.c.s ("Muller")).

Muller confirms that Muller Dairy (UK) today acquired 8,973,825 Wiseman Shares representing approximately 12.7 per cent. of the issued share capital of Wiseman at a price of or below 390 pence per Wiseman Share, including from F&C Fund Management Limited and F&C Management Limited who had already given an irrevocable in respect of the Offer.

Muller now owns, has received irrevocable undertakings or has a letter of intent over a total of 44,287,523 Wiseman Shares, representing approximately 62.6 per cent. of the issued share capital of Wiseman as at the date of this announcement. Updated details of the irrevocable undertakings are set out below in full.

Defined terms used in this announcement have the same meaning as those in the announcement of the firm intention to make the Offer dated 16 January 2012.

A copy of this announcement will be available at www.muellergroup.com

The content of the website referred to in this announcement is not incorporated into and does not form part of this announcement.