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.

4p is my target.

mitzy, that's very harsh;
-yet today's fall - is surely overdone?
( mirrors more-or-less, HBOS fall = a reminder that most Banks are "rubbish"?)
Do you hold this?

Never held hangon its just a chart thing..plus the Director selling before the last rns.

I used to regularly trade this around the 300p level. How times have changed & I remember them being 'immune to the credit crunch' as they always had the sub prime customers who would still continue to want loans. Of course if CTT can't borrow the money at favourable rates in the first place, then that theory soon went down the pan. Shame 'cos fundamentaly the company was providing a good service to borrowers who otherwise could not have got credit.

Never believe directors they are the last people to tell you.

Harrycat - do you get their Annual Reports?
-My reading (DYOR) indicates they have little security for most of these loans and if a repayment is missed, they extend the period -so it seems to me that anyone with (say) another loan will repay that first and let CTT wait! - Time will tell if their "good old days" will return, but many of their customers were "probably" on let's call it "sub-prime employment" ( and "benefits"?), so much of their "bunce" has gone as Folks don't need their ceiling painted, or shelves put-up etc....so I wonder if the Market hasn't got this Co. bang to rights.....only a further Accounting Report will prove otherwise...

The Banking Licence is another worry, because the Co had pinned investors' hopes on it...rather foolish in the circumstances...for you'd expect them to be very aware of their cash-source drying-up.
(However, having said that, CTT has cash from repayments; so maybe they can keep the business at earlier-levels,) - - yet I suspect CTT's "borrowings" need repaying...something like mid-09...and this is a "big-amount"...so I'm only watching for now.....
EDIT,(16Dec08) - 19p to buy, makes their Fundraising at 1.25 - oops.
EDIT,(24Dec08) - two opposite thoughts:-
1)- The Government doesn't need another "Bank" to fail and CTT has no experience as a Bank, if they foul-up it could cause problems amongst Labour voters where CTT is most-active.
2)- If the Government want to get the low-end of the Market moving (small traders etc), then CTT-Bank might be a lot quicker than giving a small amount to the National Banks (-who want to keep it!). -& see Harrycat's recent comments -
Is their Ch Exec really "that" wrong, though? . . . . (recent share buy prior to this blood-letting-....).
Sorry, folks; I guess Mittzy is right enough, the sp fall is a wholesale dash for the Exit, as D4E looms (mentioned in yesterday's Times.)....IF that happens then buying now is like paying 1, IMHO. - pse DYOR - this could be a twenty-bagger . . . .er.

I dont think they can recover they continue to fall daily.

Well, we know why the sp picked-up after the 10p low looked like the beginning of the end.
Three days after the upturn it seems BARC has invested 5m by way of shares, probably to av dn from earlier buys well over 1. ( so they are still losing) - and so more punters are chancing their arm on this, despite no licence news and even IF that comes, there is no g'tee folks will be interested in putting their money into this new Kid ( =Bank ) on the Block. Oh dear.
Today at 35p to buy, it is a far-call from 10p and this potential investor can see no improvement in value . . . . high street shops closing, UK Banks appear to need more Gov Money, US Bonds, Derrivitaves . . . the War in the Middle East ( Two, now!).... the list of Bad News reaches as far as I can see . . . so why is this dog perking-up?
Could it be the realisation that D4E is off the books - er, so that's alright, then, if true....but who says so?
Surely, BARC is ensuring it gets a seat at any D4E conference, rather than having to stand in-line...? Already this deal has shown BARC a notional profit....let's hope they don't sell, eh?

Incredible now up 40% wish I had bought @10p.

"sub-prime lender Cattles continues to advance strongly on hopes that its application for a banking licence will be granted. Yesterday, Barclays announced it had increased its stake in Cattles to 5%."
Watch out for a double bounce. That could be the sign to pile in, imo.

HARRYCAT, yes er, maybe. I heard that (again) it is now possible to "short" financials - so even if CTT gets their Licence they still have to prove the business model, while their target-customer are likely to be losing their jobs.
Not that I short, but some may . . .
-or- does BARC have wind that the licence is in the bag? - - - *(wash my mouth)

MoneyAM
Sub-prime lender Cattles this morning announced plans to reduce costs, preserve liquidity and significantly reshape the group. Cattles said there will be a reduction in the volume of business it will write and a thousand jobs will be cut.

The lender said discussions are ongoing with its bank syndicate regarding the refinancing of facilities due for repayment in July 2009 and also with the FSA regarding its banking licence application.

The reduction in new business volumes will have a negative impact on profitability in 2009.

Cattles will continue to write new business in 2009 but it is expected that new business volumes in Welcome Finance will be reduced by some 75% on 2008, which itself saw a reduction from 2007.

Collective consultation with employees has begun over a reduction of around 1,000 jobs within the group. This includes a proposal to close the operation in Hull which currently employs 400 people. In addition to job reductions and the suspension of dividend payments announced in the pre-close trading statement, a range of other cost saving measures will be adopted to conserve further cash over the coming months. "

Back down 23% today on cost cutting measures.

Mitzy, can you put any sense on the 25% rise today? - Late trade of 32k-worth appears to be part of this frenzy for action, with almost as many Sells as Buys, despite the rise.
I agree that cost-cutting measures are an indication of lewer activity (and profits), so I'm guessing the Directors have accepted that with the Lunatic International Financial excesses over - CTT is fit only as a small regional-lender serving a small market they know - in effect a return to their roots, now the Party is over.
+Just a shame (for investors, although I never was) CTT didn't understand the International Market before the 2000's - by 2005 it was already over.
( er, although many small punters like me hadn't seen its slide-effects).

Perhaps I should have bought at 12p, for I see this settling about 50p in a couple of years.. . . .

Alternative views. . . ?

From Digitallook:
"Sub-prime lender Cattles tops the FTSE 250 risers after being rated a speculative buy by broker Evolution Securities, which is e xpecting good news on the companys refinancing efforts."

Cattles are for the cows...5p now.


Cattles delays results - MoneyAM


Sub-prime lender Cattles said today it is delaying the release of its preliminary results.

The company has warned that profits will be substantially below expectations.

The group said the preliminary results were being delayed pending the completion of a review of the adequacy of its impairment provisions.

Cattles said that while it was not possible to determine the outcome of the review at this stage, it was expected to result in profit before tax being substantially lower than current market expectations.

A new date for the results will be released in due course.

Delay in producing accounts..!

The directors selling was a clue before Xmas.

Doesn't bode well for refinancing - a board that has no idea of the correct level of provisioning.

One suspects they are arguing with the auditors to spring this one out of the blue, as surely regualr provision review is an inherent necessity in this business ?

Cattles delays results - MoneyAM


Sub-prime lender Cattles said today it is delaying the release of its preliminary results.

The company has warned that profits will be substantially below expectations.

The group said the preliminary results were being delayed pending the completion of a review of the adequacy of its impairment provisions.

Cattles said that while it was not possible to determine the outcome of the review at this stage, it was expected to result in profit before tax being substantially lower than current market expectations.

A new date for the results will be released in due course.

Well I got my 4p eventually.