Who are we?

Our operating company, Crawshaw Butchers, currently has 20 retail outlets and two distribution centres across Yorkshire, Humberside, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

In line with our growth strategy we have now successfully launched eight new shops in Retford, Castleford, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Bramley and more recently, Derby.

Company Website

Latest Announcements

Recent Broker notes

BarChart Indicators

Recent Market news

Crawshaws Fundamentals (CRAW)

Trading Update

On the 19th of November 2013 I reported that our like for like sales for the 7 weeks since 26th September were up 18%, and that we would issue a further update following the very important Christmas trading period.

I'm once again delighted to report that management actions are continuing to deliver a progressively improving result, with like for like sales for the 7 weeks to 29th December 2013 up 21%, and once again at a higher gross margin.

With costs very much under control, we now expect the out turn for the full year to end January 2014 to be materially higher than the current market forecast.

We are also delighted to report that on 25th November we opened a further retail outlet, in the new Sheffield covered market, which is trading well, and that we are close to completing the lease on a retail premises, also in Sheffield.

Richard Rose, Chairman of Crawshaw, commented: "Our customers are spending more with us, and we have attracted a lot more customers. This reflects the excellent quality and value we offer. The improvements in trading performance are spread across most of our stores, and this gives me much confidence for the future. We are excited to have been able to restore our store expansion program, albeit in a very controlled manner."

END

Nice one Skinny. Just like the pies!

In March 2004 Felix Group plc completed a placing and admission to the London Stock Exchange and was listed on AIM. In April 2008 the company was re-admitted to AIM with an enlarged share capital following the reverse acquisition of Crawshaw Group Limited and it was renamed Crawshaw Group plc.

kim do you think they could become given time another Greggs?

Well, they appear to be operating a tight ship and provided they do not expand too quickly anything is possible of course Halifax. I think the sp is becoming a little overinflated but I thought that when it was 12p, so what do I know! :o)

Due a re-rating.

Why didn't you tell us when they were 12p!

I know, I know!! Didn't want to be thought of a ramper! ;o)

I can't remember when I first highlighted it on the CHAR thread, it has moved a bit since then! Like a chicken on skates!

kim well done sp up another 5%

Keep buying those steaks folks! 😳

Well done kim :-)

kim what a winner sp up 16%

I had expected a lot of profit taking today but the sp remained fairly stable so CRAW could still be on a roll. Sausage roll, rolled shoulder of lamb/pork etc. Anything to beef the sp up! :o)
I'll get my coat!

kim we certainly need some good quality butchers and pie shops where we live after they were forced to close by the inexorable advance of the supermarkets whose products are only good for the dustbin.

Agreed that the supermarkets have been instrumental in destroying the meat industry as we used to know it Halifax; I am lucky in as much as we have real butchers and meat breeders here who care passionately about the welfare of their products and their animals (before they kill them! Two edged sword there maybe!!).

As long as you're not horsing around!

kim if you look around you may well ask what did God create the green fields for... and don't say wind turbines!

I have eaten horse meat in France and unwittingly eaten cat meat in a Chinese restaurant in Shrewsbury, many years ago! Chicken chow meow I suppose!

In my youth I thought that green fields were for lying down in with my girlfriend! ;o)

sp up 16% more to come?

Possibly. :o)

Well done Kim.

Great showing.

Didnt realise we had one in Huddersfield. Will be paying a visit.

Try a pie GF, let us know what it was like! 😊

Will do. In fact Ill get a job lot and let you know the quality.

Then Ill pop down Greggs and get the same and do a match up with quality and price.

cant be this weekend though, off to the footie.

I'm a sucker for Greggs sausage rolls. My wife has warned me.....it her or Greggs sausage rolls. (Sigh) I think I'll just heat this one up in the microwave. :o)

LOL.

Crawshaw Group plc (the "Company") (AIM: CRAW), announces that on 11 February 2014 it received notification that following a disposal of 620,000 ordinary shares on 11 February 2014, Stuart Hawthorne no longer holds a disclosable interest in the ordinary shares of the Company.

Thatl mean he wont get his annual pasty allowance.

I see they are doing 2 x 8oz sirloin steaks for just £5.00 - what about for her?

A dozen eggs.

Done!

LOL.

Crawshaw will be opening a new shop in late March at The Moor, Sheffield.

Have you been to pick up your 2 steaks for a fiver yet GF?!

Trading Update

Richard Rose, Chairman of Crawshaw, the meat focussed retailer, provides the following update on current trading:

"On 6 January 2014 I reported on an excellent Christmas trading period, which would result in profit for the year being 'materially higher than current market expectations'.

I'm now delighted to report that in the weeks since then, leading up to our year end 31 January 2014, both sales and margin were particularly strong. As a result we now expect our profits for the full year to 31 January 2014 to be further ahead of current market expectations.

I am also delighted to report that strong growth has continued into the new financial year.

Our plans to open additional shops are progressing well and we expect to open a new high street store towards the end of March 2014."

We expect to announce our full year results at the end of April, 2014.

Tasty! :o)

Pop! (technical term).

Well done skinny, nice + 20%

Crackling! (culinary term)! 😃

CRAW paid a maiden dividend of 0.20p on 31st July, 2013; it will be interesting to see if they can hike that up this year.

Crawshaws’ pigs are flying high

Nice write up Skinny!

Ive had them 2 steaks for a fiver.

Pretty good aswel, mind Im a crap cook but they tasted ok to me.

Those cooked chickens look pretty nice.

Glad you enjoyed them GF! Future looking rosy but the business could get the chop at any time! :o)
I think there is a good future here, just hope they don't expand too quickly (I think I may have said that before!) they'll get a roasting if they do!

Final results

Results highlights for the year to 31st January 2014.

· Sales for the year £21.0m (2013: £18.8m)

· Full year like for like sales up 11% (2013: 3%)

· EBITDA doubled to £1.4m (2013: £0.7m)

· Profit before tax £1.0m (2013: £0.3m)

· Earnings per share rose to 1.42p (2013: 0.31p)

· Net cash £1.0m (2013: £nil)

· LFL sales first 12 weeks of current year up 19% (2013: 1%)

RNS Number : 3529G

Crawshaw Group PLC

06 May 2014

Crawshaw Group plc

("Crawshaw" or the "Company")

Directors Dealings

The Company has received notice today that Richard Rose, a director and Chairman of Crawshaw transferred 800,000 ordinary shares in the Company at nil consideration to the Roses' Charity Trust on 30 April 2014.

Accordingly, Richard now holds 5,241,547 Ordinary Shares representing 9.07% of the issued share capital of the Company.

Holdings in company

I'm thinking of maybe shorting this stock, I see it worth 24-26p tops.

I wouldn't but then, I don't short stocks! :o)

Acquisition of East Yorkshire Beef Limited

Crawshaw Group plc (the "Company") (AIM: CRAW), announces that on 12 May 2014 it acquired 100% of the share capital of East Yorkshire Beef Limited.

This business operates one premium sector butchers shop in Pocklington, east of York which, for the financial year ended 5th April, 2014 generated a turnover of c. £1.1m and profits before tax of £22k. The acquisition gives the Company a foothold in a completely different sector of the market.

The Chairman, Richard Rose comments :
"We are very excited about this new development as it gives us a position in the premium segment of our market and provides both a well established retail store and a new supply chain which we could expand across other potential sites and online if we choose. Furthermore we believe there are operational synergies that can rapidly enhance the profitability of the acquired store."

That one made me smile skinny! There is a flurry of M & A activity involving multi billion dollar deals and these guys have bought a butchers shop in Pocklington!
Good luck to them and certainly brings us back to the real world!

It certainly does!

£22k on £1.1m?
no wonder they wanted to sell out and i bet the owners weren't taking out much either so as to make the books look better

cynic - they paid £220k for the business.

far too much unless there was a (valuable) freehold attaching

if not, they have just paid 10-fold for goodwill and minimal assets

Well I assume they think its a sensible purchase, synergies etc - as does the market - currently up 7.4%.

W.F Burton

good luck to you/them .... certainly not the sort of company i'ld want to buy into .... it's a really tough trade, even at the better end

Crawshaw results show promise

43.50p new high.

Plenty of meat left on this bone I feel! Will it become a takeover target I wonder?

Certainly on a run today.

Yes, or should that be a roll? :o)

Clicking on the BarCharts link in the header gives :-

Short Term Indicators Average: 60% Buy

Medium Term Indicators Average: 100% Buy

Long Term Indicators Average: 100% Buy

New high, above 50p.

Another new high today.

AGM this Thursday 26th,

Free pies? :o)

I think someone has eaten them all!

Lol!

AGM Statement

At our AGM today, Richard Rose will give the following trading and strategic update:-

We continue to trade very strongly with year to date LFL sales up 13.4%. We are delighted with this performance given LFL sales were up 8% through May and June last year. The strong performance is widely spread across our store portfolio and, added to this, our reduced cost new store fit out has worked well.

The board are now working on a plan to greatly accelerate our store roll out, and to build a National network of stores. Having proven our retail model in the North of England we believe we are ready to take the concept across the UK.

We will be building our resource to support this strategic move, and intend to begin by recruiting a Chief Executive Officer with relevant experience to lead this exciting phase of our growth and to support Kevin Boyd who will remain our Managing Director.

As a first step we have signed a 10 year agreement for lease on a new factory and distribution centre in Rotherham and will consolidate our two existing sites in Grimsby and Rotherham into this new facility. The space at the new site will give us much additional capacity and is better located which we believe will lead to a more productive and efficient operation. Running costs are expected to be slightly less than our current set up, and we will open a factory shop on the site which we expect to trade well given the performance of our existing out of town store in Scunthorpe.

We are extremely excited by this opportunity and look forward to the future with great confidence.

Looking very good for the future. :o)

I know they make dammed good pies but the P/E ratio is looking way too topy now after this rise today......

NAV per share 5.7p!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2014 (A) 2015 (E) 2016 (E)

EBITDA £1.38m £1.80m £1.90m
EBIT £1.00m £m £m
Dividend Yield 0.56% 1.16% 1.36%
Dividend Cover 4.58x 3.00x 2.71x
PER 38.75x 28.61x 27.10x
PEG 0.11f 0.81f 4.88f
Net Asset Value PS 5.69p 19.30p 21.60p

Yes, it does look a little overdone GF but I suspect this is now been driven purely on potential and that the NAV at January year end will become largely irrelevant. This is no longer a pie in the sky company, hopefully it won't be long before it becomes a pie near me company! :o)

LOL he he, needs a slice of reality.

On a serious note not sure wether you can compare it with Greggs but their comparable figures are........

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2013 (A) 2014 (E) 2015 (E)

EBITDA £78.05m £80.16m £83.42m
EBIT £44.66m £m £m
Dividend Yield 3.74% 3.74% 3.74%
Dividend Cover 1.74x 1.70x 1.78x
PER 15.40x 15.68x 15.05x
PEG -1.52f -8.52f 3.58f
Net Asset Value PS 221.20p 237.90p 253.60p

Result of AGM

Result of Annual General Meeting

At today's Annual General Meeting of Crawshaw Group Plc, all ordinary and special business resolutions were duly passed.

Well done all. :-))

GF - from which site do you get the format of figures in your post 73?

Hi Skinny, first of all well done I think your a holder. Up 8% plus today so far.

Was going to put a short on but went out last night on the mixture and forgot this morning.

Here we are updated in real time, Times online/Hemscott

Crawshaw Group PLC

FORECASTS

2015 2016
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)
W H Ireland Ltd
28-04-14 BUY 1.30 1.80 0.60 1.40 1.90 0.70

2015 2016
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)
Consensus 1.30 1.80 0.60 1.40 1.90 0.70
1 Month Change 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
3 Month Change 0.20 0.40 0.20 0.00 0.00 0.00

GROWTH
2014 (A) 2015 (E) 2016 (E)
Norm. EPS 345.06% 35.43% 5.56%
DPS % 106.90% 16.67%

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2014 (A) 2015 (E) 2016 (E)

EBITDA £1.38m £1.80m £1.90m
EBIT £1.00m £m £m
Dividend Yield 0.46% 0.95% 1.11%
Dividend Cover 4.58x 3.00x 2.71x
PER 47.59x 35.14x 33.29x
PEG 0.14f 0.99f 5.99f
Net Asset Value PS 5.69p 19.30p 21.60p

P/E now 47.6.....................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this a tech stock in disguise.

I think they do chips.

Thanks GF - 14 bob on the offer!

he he.

Conditional Placing and Notice of General Meeting

The Company is pleased to announce two conditional placings, through WH Ireland Limited, to raise gross proceeds of approximately £8,820,000 from the issue of 20,999,994 new ordinary shares of 5p each ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 42p per share (the "Placing Shares").

The issue of the Placing Shares is conditional, amongst other things, on the passing of the Resolutions byShareholders at the General Meeting, which is being convened for 10.00 a.m. on Tuesday 22 July 2014 at Bradmarsh Business Park, Bow Bridge Close, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S60 1BY, to authorise the Directors to allot the Placing Shares for cash on a non pre-emptive basis.

If the Resolutions are passed, 6,547,616 Ordinary Shares, being the First Placing Shares, will be allotted immediately after the General Meeting and 14,452,378 Ordinary Shares, being the Second Placing Shares, will be allotted on 23 July 2014. Admission of the First Placing Shares is expected to occur no later than 8.00am on 28 July 2014, or such later time/and or date as WH Ireland and/or the Company may agree and admission of the Second Placing Shares is expected to occur no later than 8.00am on 29 July 2014, or such later time/and or date as WH Ireland and/or the Company may agree.

Background and Rationale for the Placing and Proposed Use of Proceeds
As announced on 26 June 2014, the Board is focussed on growing the Crawshaw business through identifying new profitable store locations and investing resources in a structured expansion programme, whilst ensuring the core business continues to deliver quality products and excellent customer service at competitive prices.

The plan is to accelerate our store opening programme throughout 2015 and beyond with a view to having an estate of 200 shops within 8 years. We are currently investing in a new processing and distribution centre in Rotherham to support the expansion. We expect the centre to be operational in the 4th Quarter of this year and that it will have capacity to service 60 locations.

This new facility is ideally placed just off the M1 and will be used to service the initial new locations as it has the potential to cover areas such as the North West, the Midlands and the North East.

We have been opening varying sized stores in different locations over the last 5 years. We have learned a number of lessons and believe our new store model, with fit out costs below £250k, is the basis of a profitable roll out plan.

We intend to begin by recruiting a Chief Executive Officer with relevant experience to lead this exciting phase of our growth and to support Kevin Boyd who will remain our Managing Director.

We also believe that further investment will be required in a robust HR resource and to set up a in-house training and development centre to ensure that staff in each new store have the skills required to maintain the service and quality our customers expect.

The gross proceeds from the fundraising are to be used essentially to support the new store fit out, the further development of IT and logistics infrastructure and for working capital.


Principal Terms of the Placing
The Placing Agreement is conditional upon, inter alia, Resolutions 1 and 2 being duly passed at the General Meeting and First Admission becoming effective by no later than 8.00 a.m. on 28 July 2014 (or such later time and/or date as the Company and W H Ireland may agree, being not later than 30 August 2014) and Second Admission becoming effective by no later than 8.00 a.m. on 29 July 2014 (or such later time and/or date as the Company and W H Ireland may agree, being not later than 30 August 2014). If any of the conditions are not satisfied the Placing Shares will not be issued and all monies received from the placees will be returned to them (at the placees risk and without interest) as soon as possible thereafter.

The Placing Agreement contains warranties from the Company in favour of W H Ireland in relation to, inter alia, the accuracy of the information in this document and other matters relating to the Company and its business. In addition the Company has agreed to indemnify W H Ireland in relation to certain liabilities it may incur in relation to the Placing. W H Ireland has the right to terminate the Placing Agreement in certain circumstances prior to Admission, in particular, in the event of a breach of the warranties that W H Ireland in its absolute discretion determines to be material in the context of the Placing.

The Placing Shares will be issued free of all liens charges and encumbrances and will, when issued and fully paid, rank pari passu in all respects with the issued Ordinary Shares in the capital of the Company including the right to receive all dividends and other distributions declared, made or paid after the date of their issue.

General Meeting
A document containing a notice convening a General Meeting to be held at 10.00 a.m. on 22 July 2014 at Bradmarsh Business Park, Bow Bridge Close, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, S60 1 BY, together with a Form of Proxy, has been dispatched to our shareholders today. The business of the General Meeting is to propose the Resolutions. The Resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting are as follows:

Resolution 1 is an ordinary resolution to authorise the Directors to allot the Placing Shares, with such authority to expire three months following the passing of the resolution; and

Resolution 2 is a special resolution to dis-apply Shareholders' statutory pre-emption rights (which require a company to offer new shares for cash first to existing shareholders in proportion to their holdings) in relation to the allotment of the Placing Shares, with such authority to expire three months following the passing of the resolution.

Copies of the circular will also be available from today, from the Company's website www.crawshawbutchers.com.

I am not generally a fan of companies who offer shares to institutions rather than ordinary shareholders especially at a price significantly below the present sp, though I do see the logic behind it. However I am not too unhappy about this one, I like the way the company is operating, though I would not want to see it growing too rapidly. I thought maybe the sp would have declined a bit more than it has; looks like the fan base may be growing! Pass me another piece of pie please!

Kim - I don't think the price is that outrageous - it only takes us back to the (then) mid June highs - I agree about the institutions though.

Yes I suppose it depends when the placing was first offered, it would be nice if it was when the sp was 40p, it has risen quickly!

Result of General Meeting & Completion of Placing.

Arrowgrass Master Fund Ltd > 10% (13.59%)

Schroders < 5%

Interim Results 6 months to 31 July 2014

Highlights
· Like for Like (LFL) sales up 12% in the 6 months to the end of July (2013: +5%). Overall sales have increased to £11.8m (2013: £9.8m).
· Gross profit increased 21% to £5.2m (2013: £4.3m). Gross margin up at 44.1% (2013: 43.9%).
· EBITDA significantly improved at £0.9m (2013: £0.5m).
· PBT more than doubled at £0.7m (2013: £0.3m)
· Earnings per share up to 0.874p (2013: 0.473p)

Schroders > 5%

Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP > 14%

Couldn't resist a little top up, I am hopeful that CRAW's Christmas will be even better than mine! :o)

Yes that's quite a bounce from around the placing price.

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

Crawshaw Group Plc ('Crawshaw') is delighted to announce the appointment of Noel Collett as the Chief Executive Officer, and he is expected to take up his new role on 1st March 2015, when he will also be appointed as a director of Crawshaw.

Noel joins Crawshaw from Lidl, having spent 16 years with the German Discounter. He has held a number of senior leadership roles in the UK and Germany, and for the last 12 years has served as Lidl's Chief Operating Officer for the UK business. Noel has been widely credited as an instrumental figure in transforming Lidl from a low-cost brand to a high-quality value retailer during a decade of rapid sales growth. He has also been responsible for overseeing the Lidl portfolio growth from 200 stores to over 600 stores generating annual sales of over £4bn, whilst leading an expanding workforce of 14,000 employees. Additionally, Noel was responsible for the roll-out of the improved in-store "fresh concept", which included the fresh meat and poultry range, across all their UK stores.

Wow! I like it!

A case of "every lidl helps" - I'll get me coat!

I'll help you put it on!😀

Trading Update

Christmas Trading update

Crawshaw Group plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company"), the meat focussed retailer, provides the following update on current trading.

Trading for the 9 weeks to 28th December was in line with management expectations. Like for like sales for the period were down 3%, but the Company had budgeted for this small decrease given that sales for the comparable period last year were particularly strong, rising by 21%. Gross margin in the period has showed a further improvement of 1% over the prior year and therefore the Company's cash margin has increased year on year.

Year to date like for like sales are up 6%.

We anticipate that the Company's full year profit and cash generation will be in line with expectations.

Richard Rose, Chairman, commented: "Our customers continue to appreciate our quality and value and so customer satisfaction remains high. Our new factory shop has got off to a great start and is trading above expectation giving us much confidence as we plan our accelerated store opening program.


END

Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company"), the meat focussed retailer, provides the following update on trading.

Like for like sales for our financial year ending January, 2015 were up 5% building further on the increase of 11% in the previous year.

On the 8th of January we reported that cash margins had increased year on year. Further to this, and despite making some investment in our growth plan in the year, we now expect the out turn for the full year to end January 2015 to be materially higher than the current market forecast. The investment in our growth plan will accelerate further in the year to January 2016 as planned.

Richard Rose, Chairman of Crawshaw, commented: "Our average spend continues to increase reflecting the excellent quality and value we offer. All our stores are profitable and we are excited about the planned shop openings in the near future plus the arrival of our new CEO in the next week."

END

Crawshaw is beginning to look interesting again!

You just beat me to it! :-)

Final Results were 28th April last year.

Lightning, that's me! :o) Yes, not long before the results I suspect.

Acquisition of Gabbotts Farm Limited


Crawshaw Group plc (the "Company") (AIM: CRAW), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, announces that it has acquired 100% of the share capital of Gabbotts Farm Limited for £3.9m utilising existing cash resources on a "debt free cash free" basis from Cribbin Family Butchers (Holdings) Ltd.

Gabbotts Farm Limited is the holding company for Gabbotts Farm (Retail) Limited which operates 11 retail butchers units, which includes a factory meat mart attached to a small distribution centre, in the North West of England. Their retail format is almost identical to that of the Company, selling quality fresh meats and food to go at value prices.

Gabbotts Farm (Retail) Limited generated a turnover of c. £10.8m and an EBITDA of £0.8m (before group management fees and one off costs) for the financial year ended 31st December, 2014. The acquisition will increase earnings immediately and provide the Company with access to customers in a completely new geographical region, as well as presenting the potential for operational synergies to further enhance profitability.

Chief Executive Officer, Noel Collett, comments:

"This acquisition provides a well established retail portfolio and factory operation in a new geographical region which is an integral part of our expansion strategy and the start of our exciting journey of achieving 200 stores. Furthermore, the operational synergies and the new supply chain network can rapidly enhance sales and profitability".

So, more meat on the bone, very nice!:o)

Final Results

Results highlights for the year to 31st January 2015.

· Total Group Sales for the year up 17% to £24.6m (2014: £21.0m)

· Full year like for like sales up 5% (2014: 11%)

· EBITDA up 15% to £1.6m (2014: £1.4m)

· Adjusted EBITDA* up 30% to £1.8m (2014: £1.4m)

· Profit before tax £1.2m (2014: £1.0m)

· Net cash £9.1m (2014: £1.0m)

· Earnings per share lower at 1.30p (2014: 1.42p) as a result of the share placing in the year

· LFL sales first 10 weeks of current year down 4% (2014: +19%) with good outlook for the year ahead

more....


"Dividend
The Board is delighted to propose the payment of a final dividend of 0.47 pence per share, which together with the interim dividend of 0.10 pence per share, paid on 31st October 2014, takes the total dividend for the year to 0.57 pence per share, an increase of 10% (2014: 0.52 pence per share). Shareholder approval will be sought at the Annual General Meeting, to be held on 23rd June 2015, to pay the final dividend on 31st July 2015 to shareholders on the register on 3rd July 2015. The ex-dividend date will be 2nd July 2015. As last year, shareholders will have the opportunity to elect to reinvest their cash dividend and purchase existing shares in the Company through a Dividend Reinvestment Plan ('DRIP')."

Steady progress, excellent!

A lot more upside to come here. A share for the patient and the hungry! 😀

Growth Shares Award

2015 high today @57p

9 month high today @63p.

It's on a sausage roll!

Director Change

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw", the "Company" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, today announces that Colin Crawshaw will step down from the Plc Board as Buying Director with immediate effect.

Colin will continue to work in his current function as part-time head of buying to facilitate a smooth transition to the new full-time Buying Director.


Chief Executive Officer, Noel Collett, comments:

"We wish to express our sincere gratitude to Colin for his drive, commitment and loyalty over the past 25 years with the Group and wish him the very best for the future.

Colin's retirement provides the opportunity to appoint a new full-time Buying Director, which forms part of our core strategy to deliver our plan of opening 200 stores. This plan is progressing very well and is on track, so we continue to look to the future with great confidence and excitement."


Colin Crawshaw comments:

"I have thoroughly enjoyed my 40 years in the Butcher Industry and being part of the Crawshaws business for over 25 years. I think now is the right moment for me to step aside and hand over responsibility to a full-time Buying Director. This will help the business to deliver the growth plans and I will do everything to support the new appointee during the transition."

AGM Statement

At this afternoon's AGM of Crawshaw Group PLC, the fresh meat and food to go retailer, the Chairman, Richard Rose, will give the following trading and strategic update:

In the 8 weeks since my last statement on the 23rd April, LFL sales for the extended group are up 2.3%, building further on the increase of 6.4% achieved over the same period last year. This strong trading performance is spread across our combined store portfolio and we have seen positive growth in both customer numbers and average spend.

The initial integration of Gabbotts Farm Ltd has been very smooth and we are well underway with developing the customer proposition in all stores. The post-integration initiatives have enhanced our sales and profitability, and we will continue with the operational synergies and extension of the supply chain network.

Our growth plan is progressing very well and is on track. We have recently opened a new store in Leeds, the Bolton store will open in July, and a further 4 stores are planned to open before Christmas. This growth, including the Gabbotts Farm acquisition, represents an increase of 17 stores for the financial year and will take our portfolio to 39 stores.

Richard Rose, Chairman of Crawshaw, commented: "Our sales, customer numbers and average spend continue to increase reflecting the excellent quality and value we offer. Under the leadership of our new CEO Noel Collett, the board continue to build and develop the resource, infrastructure and initiatives to grow sales within the existing estate and deliver the roll out strategy in a controlled and disciplined manner. It is a very exciting time for the business and we look to the future with great confidence."

Directorate Change

Yesterday's sales at a guess - Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP > 14%

I was on a train on which the wifi connection failed, what happened yesterday? Do you mean buys skinny or did Crawshaws have a sale of pies?! :o)

Kim - Director Shareholding

Link copied - Crawshaw to create 300 Yorkshire jobs with £25m investment

Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP < 14%

A bit of share shuffling going on!

12 month+ high today @67p.

Directorate Change

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw", the "Company" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, is delighted to announce the appointment of Alan Richardson (38) as Chief Financial Officer. Alan is expected to join the business on 7th September 2015 when he will be appointed a director of Crawshaw Group Plc and, after a short handover with Lynda Sherratt, will assume full responsibility for the Finance Director and Company Secretary roles on 1st October 2015 following the interim results announcement.

Alan joins Crawshaw Group Plc from Morrisons Supermarkets Plc ("Morrisons"), having spent 5 years with the supermarket chain where he held a number of senior finance roles, most recently as Finance Director for Group Retail and Logistics. In addition to full P&L responsibility, capex and cashflow forecasting cycles for all 500 stores and 8 logistics centres, he was a key member of the commercial team supporting the rapid expansion into the convenience store format. Prior to Morrisons, Alan spent 8 years with ASDA where he held a number of senior finance roles, following his qualification as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 2001.

Kevin Boyd, currently Crawshaw Group Plc Managing Director, will be appointed Chief Commercial Officer from 7th September 2015, with a wider remit and responsibility for Buying, Supply Chain, Factory Operations, Food Production, Logistics, Food Safety and Health & Safety.

Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw", the "Company" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, is pleased to report that following various initiatives undertaken by new management, like-for-like sales have been particularly strong in the last quarter, with the growth being realised across the entire estate. This has been accompanied by a strengthening gross margin position.

In addition, the two new stores that opened recently are trading very well and above our "base case".

We look forward to presenting a strong trading position at our interim announcement on 29 September 2015 and now expect the Company to exceed market expectations for the year ended 31 January 2016.

Pop!

A new high @72p.

Make that 72.5! :o)

Keep up! 73p :-)

72.5 at close. I won!:o)

29th September 2015

Interim Results Crawshaw Group PLC (“the Company”), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, today reports its interim results for the 6 months ended 31 July 2015.

Highlights
• 41% rise in Adjusted EBITDA1 to £1.2 (2014 : £0.9m)
• EBITDA £0.5m (2014 : £0.9m)
• 42% increase in group turnover to £16.7m (2014: £11.8m)
• 44% increase in gross profit to £7.5m (2014 : £5.2m)
• Adjusted Profit before tax2 up 27% to £0.9m (2014: £0.7m) and Adjusted Earnings per share3 up 26% to 1.102p (2014: 0.874p)
• Reported Loss Before tax of -£0.1m (2014 : £0.7m)
• Cash balances of £6.0m at 31st July 2014 (31st January : £9.1m

Richard Rose, the chairman, said; "Crawshaw Group has delivered a strong performance for the six months to 31 July 2015 with significant trading momentum and profit growth.

"During the half year under review we acquired Gabbotts Farm Ltd, consisting of 11 retail butchers shops, and a factory shop attached to a small distribution centre in the North West of England. We are delighted with both the strategic / geographical fit, and its performance to date. It was quickly fully integrated, is being re-branded, and its trading performance is extremely encouraging.

"As we gear up to deliver our significant expansion plans we are incurring a number of planned Accelerated Opening Costs. As these costs are to build the platform for future growth, we have reported an Adjusted EBITDA number to provide transparency on our underlying performance.

"I am pleased to report a 41% increase year on year on this measure, with the legacy business converting sales at an Adjusted EBITDA of 14%. New store performance continued to provide much encouragement with two new stores opened in the period under review.

"Of particular note is the performance of our two most recent stores, Bolton and Worksop, which most closely represent our rollout concept. Both stores opened well and are trading ahead of our expectations with early indications they will outperform our 'base case' profitability assumptions.

"Since my last statement at the end of June we have seen a significant improvement in sales momentum as a result of a number of initiatives launched by new management.

"This has strengthened our LFL performance from -2.2% in Q1 to +3.5% in Q2. I am pleased to note that this has continued into H2 with the first 7 weeks of the period showing LFLs at +6.7%. This improvement is being seen across the whole Crawshaw and Gabbotts store portfolio and so is particularly encouraging.

And again @76p76.50p.

77p! :o)

Done a bit of shopping there today...some good buys!

That's good to hear! There are no shops near enough for me. Not yet! :o)

Pop! 82.50p

I should have got myself a bigger slice of this pie!

Yes me too - always the way - but a safer approach long term.

True, seems a safe share so no chance of not making a sausage out of it! :o)

Its certainly not pie in the sky....... I'll get me coat!

Lol!

Up again, 84p.

StockMarketWire.com

Crawshaw Group anticipates its FY results to Jan. 31, 2016, will be in line with market expectations.

It said total group sales were up 64% in the 15-week period versus the prior year, and are up 52% year to date.

Like-for-like sales for the same period were up 0.8% versus the prior year, and are up 1.7% year to date.

The sales growth has been converted well with cash gross margin increasing by 65% in the 15 week period versus the prior year, and 55% year to date.

This has been supported by the gross margin strengthening by 80 basis points over the same year to date period.

Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw", the "Company" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, provides the following update on trading for the 15 week period since our last update on 29th September 2015 to the 3rd January 2016.

Total group sales were up 64% in the 15 week period versus the prior year, and are up 52% year to date. Like-for-like sales for the same period were up 0.8% versus the prior year, and are up 1.7% year to date.

The sales growth has been converted well with cash gross margin increasing by 65% in the 15 week period versus the prior year, and 55% year to date. This has been supported by the gross margin strengthening by 80 basis points over the same year to date period.

The Board therefore anticipates that the full year results ended 31st January 2016 will be in line with market expectations.


Chief Executive Officer, Noel Collett, comments:

"We are delighted to be able to report such strong sales performance as our growth strategy continues to rapidly enhance sales and profitability. Our growth plan is progressing very well and is on track with an increase of 17 stores for the current financial year taking our portfolio to 39 stores. We are also pleased with the positive like-for-like performance in our mature stores, particularly given the disruption and challenging high street footfall patterns caused by the prolonged adverse weather conditions in the North of England. Clearly our growth is very exciting for the business and we look to the next financial year with energy and confidence".

The recent share price decline presumably reflects concerns that sales might be dented by floods in so many northern towns and villages, reducing footfall, and by floods at farms supplying meat. The fact that they've made any LfL gain at all in those circumstances is encouraging.

Nice and steady!

Small mention in Mail.

SP has been drifting lately but could start to rise again soon, CRAW will be opening a new store in Cannock soon, their 41st and they have a new,much better website:- http://http://www.crawshawbutchers.com/ There is a long way to go before they achieve their target of 200 stores but slow(ish) and steady is the way!

SP on the move up again, new stores opening and results due on the 28th. Not sure how far the SP can go, is it already at the top or is there more to come?

Crawshaw's 45th store, it's largest to date, is to be opened in Leicester next month. The Premier League Champions-elect will be able to buy lots of juicy steaks to keep their strength up! :o)

Full year results on 27 April.

Cheers skinny, I was told the 28th, informant now out of a job! :o)

Final Results

Financial Highlights:
• Turnover up +51% to £37.1m (2015: £24.6m)
• LFL sales growth of +1.8% (2015: +5%)
• Adjusted** EBITDA up +45% to £2.6m (2015: £1.8m)
• EBITDA* £1.0m (2015: £1.6m)
• Statutory loss before tax of £0.3m (2015: Profit before tax £1.2m), in line with plan and reflecting investment for accelerated expansion
• Cash balances of £4.9m at 31 January 2016 (£9.1m at 31 January 2015) following the acquisition of Gabbotts Farm
• Final dividend of 0.47p (2015: 0.47p)

* EBITDA is defined by the Group as profit/loss before tax, exceptional items, depreciation, amortisation, profit/(loss) on disposal of assets, net finance costs and share based payment charges attributable to the LTIP Growth Share Scheme.
** Adjusted EBITDA is defined by Group as EBITDA before "accelerated opening costs". Accelerated opening costs are defined by the Group as the overhead investment in people, processes, systems and new store pre-opening costs i.e. costs directly associated with our accelerated store opening programme. In the period these costs amounted to £1.6m (2015: £0.2m) resulting in an adjusted EBITDA of £2.6m (2015: £1.8m).

Strategy Highlights:
• Transformative year with the new management team and the appropriate infrastructure in place to deliver the rapid growth plan
• Significant investment in the rebranding of the legacy estate and standardisation of the retail proposition complete ahead of the new store rollout
• Record levels of premium quality homemade produce sold after investment in our unique vertically integrated concept
• 17 stores added in the year and performing in line with expectations
• Extensive property pipeline will deliver 15 new stores in current year, including further expansion into Yorkshire/North West heartlands and entering Midlands/Birmingham area

Chief Executive Officer, Noel Collett, comments:
"We are pleased to report another set of solid results for the business and are delighted with the significant progress we've made during a very transformative year. We have proved that customers love our compelling retail concept, delivering quality fresh meat and food-to-go at exceptional prices. With strong foundations now in place, we are well positioned to build on our current position and establish Crawshaws as a national brand."

Peel Hunt Buy 83.00 100.00 100.00 Reiterates

Good steady progress as usual!

A couple of larger trades @90p earlier when the spread was 83-85p.

Yes, interesting. They weren't mine unfortunately! :o)

PDMR notification

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company"), announces that it was notified today by Ken McMeikan (Non-Executive Director) that his wife Melanie McMeikan purchased on the same day 180,000 ordinary shares of 5p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 83p each. Following this purchase, Ken McMeikan has a beneficial interest in 180,000 Ordinary Shares representing 0.23% of the Company's issued share capital.

Store number 48 to open in Southport next Thursday

Store 49 opened in Burnley on Friday, maybe the Burnley players all had a Crawshaw steak to help them beat Liverpool 2 - 0 on Saturday!

Half Yearly Report is due on 29 September, hopefully it will be upbeat.

Good morning meat eaters. Has anyone seen when/where the 50th store is to be opened?

Trading Update

At Crawshaw's AGM on 29 June 2016 it was announced that the Group had, during the prior couple of weeks, experienced some suppressed footfall patterns caused by a combination of the international football, adverse weather and Brexit. These factors persisted through to the end of the half year period, resulting in a further reduction in like for like sales for the half year, although this was partly mitigated again by a further strengthening of gross margin. We expect to report on our half year results on 29 September 2016.

Outlook

Conditions have remained difficult in the weeks since the period end but we are acting quickly to restore sales momentum and feel that this can be achieved rapidly in readiness for the very important winter and festive season.

Over the last year or so we have actively sought to rationalise range, reduce the number of price-led promotions and drive higher margin lines, and the strategy has worked well. However, with our customers now being even more price focussed post Brexit, and with the supermarkets very recently launching some aggressive meat promotions, we are reacting to ensure we maintain the value-led approach that has proved successful in the past. This includes introducing more local choice and lower price point packs.

Whilst the same factors have impacted our new store sales performance, the initiatives described above will clearly benefit those stores as well. We are particularly pleased with our new standalone factory outlet store format, which significantly outperforms the high street format on every measure, as do our more established three mature outlets. Fit out costs are lower per square foot, property and running costs are very low, EBITDA margins are excellent, and without a food to go element the operation is even simpler to roll out.

Added to that, being out of town with parking, and therefore more of a destination, factory outlet stores are not so dependent upon local footfall. We are therefore currently reviewing our store roll out strategy with a view to adding more of these types of openings in our overall new store opening pipeline. We have one further site at an advanced stage, and another in the pipeline.

We are confident our actions can restore sales momentum, and we will be prepared to invest in margin to drive sales and sharpen our value proposition. We are disappointed with current trading and clearly the outlook for the full year will depend upon the result of our actions, upon trading during the important peak winter and festive season, and upon the timing of our store openings.

Hmmm - Peel Hunt Under Review 51.50 - - Under Review

44.25p -29.25p (-39.80%)

I have been on the past very weary of the high rating this company was commanding and as so I did posted.
On last Year results the company placed as highlights the figures but omitted the Earning per share .............

27 April, 2016
Year ended 31 January 2016.
Financial Highlights:
• Turnover up +51% to £37.1m (2015: £24.6m)
• LFL sales growth of +1.8% (2015: +5%)
• Adjusted** EBITDA up +45% to £2.6m (2015: £1.8m)
• EBITDA* £1.0m (2015: £1.6m)
• Statutory loss before tax of £0.3m (2015: Profit before tax £1.2m), in line with plan and reflecting investment for accelerated expansion
• Cash balances of £4.9m at 31 January 2016 (£9.1m at 31 January 2015) following the acquisition of Gabbotts Farm
• Final dividend of 0.47p (2015: 0.47p) ............

were to me EPS values the company share price, It took me a good look down the report to find out they were negative............

Profit Before Tax "PBT" and Earnings Per Share "EPS"

The Group delivered a loss before tax of £0.3m (2015: £1.2m profit) as we incur additional costs to deliver our growth plan and we recognised an IFRS 2 shared based payment charge through the income statement of £0.4m (2015: NIL). This translated to a negative EPS as expected at (0.342) pence per share (2015: 1.301 pence per share).

Now I know why and I will put the management as "mild crooks" many companies operate this way so they have to be place on the right category for that reason.

No wonder then today the large fall on the share price after the profit warning decline in sales blaming on everything but them self ( caused by a combination of the international football, adverse weather and Brexit )

The shares not long ago were over 95p

Hmm, a tough one to chew! Disappointing that management should blame international football, adverse weather and Brexit for a fall in sales, particularly the first one! I think the sp had gone ahead of itself by some margin but I feel that the business is solid enough with the potential for further expansion as outlined. Could it also be a takeover target?

Kim, that would be the easy way out right now...but who?

Cranswick might be interested opto!

Thanks for that Kim, sorry it took a long time to get back, went out then came back to PC problems....which all got sorted with a complete power off reboot :-)

Damn these computer things!😃

CRAW 36.25p -5.25p -12.65%

The marked down continues, will it see 30p that some thing is about the point where there is value on the stock

HARGREAVE HALE LIMITED < 12%

KEEP an EYE

34.50p ( 34 v 35 )

look like the bottom has been reached and buyers are back again, improving Level 2 also as the bid is being now supported by 2 MMs

Paying higher price all the time as offer is 35p, at this rate it will go higher soon

34.49p
34.57p
34.67p
34.73p
34.75p
34.83p

finally the bid went up earlier and now the offer, now looks more a bounce on the go
new price 34.50 v 35.50p

Everything is turning up on the chart

Everything on the right place now as the larger buys are showing on the ticker 50K
spread 35.50 v 37p

3:29:29
36.40p
50,000
£18.20k

Disappointed though I am with recent developments I have increased my steak, er stake for no particular reason! :o)

I nearly split my sides laughing Kim !!

Yes I've 'beefed up' my holding also.

Be careful you could both get fried here

Was I the first to buy cheap BEEF this morning?

Lets hope is not.....

Do I see buying is going on now?
Was marked down after a few small sells total 14K and 2 MMs were the guilty ones at the same tame with offer at 36p,
but small buying is going on and paying higher price all the time.

It's not bringing home the bacon for jimmy to fry yet! :o)

The early bird bought 10K @ 35p and took SING out of the offer

at the same time PEEL has gone into the bid 35p

Half-year Report

Interim Results
Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw", the "Company" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, announces results for the 26 weeks ended 31 July 2016.

Financial Highlights
· 29% increase in group turnover to £21.6m (2015: £16.7m)
· 31% increase in gross profit to £9.8m (2015: £7.5m)
· Like-for-like sales -4.4% (2015: +1.0%)
· Adjusted EBITDA1 £1.1m (2015: £1.2m)
· EBITDA2 £0.3m (2015: £0.5m)
· Loss Before tax of -£0.4m (2015: -£0.1m)
· Cash of £4.0m at 31 July 2016 (31 July 2015: £6.0m)
· £4m, 5 year revolving credit facility ("RCF") secured
· No interim dividend proposed (2015: 0.10 pence per share)

1. Adjusted EBITDA is defined by the Group as profit/loss before tax, exceptional items, depreciation, amortisation, Profit/(loss) on disposal of assets, net finance costs, "Accelerated opening costs" and share based payment charges attributable to the LTIP Growth Share scheme. Accelerated opening costs are defined by the Group as the investments in people, processes and systems in the year to provide direct support for our accelerated store opening program - in the period these costs amounted to £0.7m (2015: £0.7m) resulting in Adjusted EBITDA of £1.1m (2015: £1.2m).
2. EBITDA is defined by the Group as profit/loss before tax, exceptional items, amortization, profit/(loss) on disposal of assets, net finance costs and share based payment charges attributable to the LTIP Growth Share Scheme.

Strategy Highlights
· Sales growth restoration plans in place across the store estate
· Investment in the core business infrastructure now complete
· Capex in the central production capability complete for future growth
· 9 new stores opened in the period ended 31 July 2016
· 1 new store opened in H2 bringing total to 49 trading stores as at 29 September 2016
· New standalone factory outlet store performing significantly above expectations

Chief Executive Officer, Noel Collett, comments;
"We have made considerable progress with our store expansion program over the last 18 months but are very disappointed by the recent like-for-like sales performance as some of the price and range initiatives didn't resonate with customers as we had expected. We are acting quickly to restore sales momentum by returning our focus to the local value-led proposition that has proved successful in the past. We have already re-introduced a locally driven, value-led promotion strategy which is bringing more customers in store, although these activities require short term margin investment and will therefore impact full year profit expectations".

Enquiries:
Crawshaw Group plc Peel Hunt LLP
Noel Collett, Alan Richardson Dan Webster, Adrian Trimmings, George Sellar
01709 369 600 020 7418 8900



Chief Executive's Report

In the 26 weeks ended 31 July 2016, total revenue for the Group increased by 29% to £21.6m (2015: £16.7m) with like-for-like sales at -4.4%. Gross profit increased by 31% to £9.8m (2015: £7.5m). EBITDA for the period was £0.3m (2015: £0.5m) with increased operating costs offsetting sales and margin growth.

Operational review:
We have largely completed phase one of the rollout programme with the delivery of nine new trading stores across the period. In order to consistently deliver the rollout of new stores at this pace, we had embarked on a period of standardisation and built a strong platform of discipline and central control. Whilst this was done to aid rapid store rollout, we had also applied facets of this approach to our legacy stores in order to drive sales and margin, changing both the price and range architecture to those adopted in the new stores.

Initial results were encouraging, with strong like-for-like sales and margin through the middle of last financial year as these initiatives were gradually rolled out. With the benefit of hindsight, it is clear that these changes didn't resonate as well with customers as we thought. Customer loyalty initially translated into additional sales through bigger, better value packs at higher price points in the first instance before giving way to waning loyalty and lower sales as we traded through H1 this year. This is evident in the shape of our -4.4% like-for-like sales performance across the half with -0.8% growth in Q1 widening to -7.8% in Q2. This trend was amplified in the first 7 weeks of our H2 performance with like-for-like sales tracking at -15.8%, which in hindsight was not wholly unexpected given the impact of the changes noted to the price and range architecture coinciding with the business trading over the strongest growth from last year (2015: +6.7%).

We have now identified the cause of this sales underperformance by spending a great deal of time in stores with our customers and colleagues. The feedback from these visits was relatively straightforward. Our customers want to see some of the old fresh meat pack sizes, price points and offers that were previously on sale in their specific store.

As a result, we have made immediate changes to give store managers flexibility to re-introduce local ranging products which has been positively received. We have also significantly increased the number and depth of price-led promotions on fresh meat with managers being given the flexibility to choose the promotions that resonate most with their customers. Within the food-to-go category, the same flexible principles have been applied and a number of store specific favourite dishes have been re-introduced to the menu and some of the prices have been rolled back - these are already leading to an increase in customer numbers and sales. Furthermore, given that the current climate has made customers more price-focussed than ever, seeking smaller packs with great value, we have launched a store trial where the fixed price points in the multibuy range are even lower to test customer reaction. We are confident that these actions will restore sales momentum and we have already seen some positive signs with customer numbers improving week to week on both fresh and food-to-go.

As noted, our store opening programme across H1 has been proceeding at pace, with nine additional stores opened in the period and a further store opening at the start of H2, taking the current estate to 49 stores. All stores have successfully opened on time and on budget. As would be expected as we have opened more stores, there is a wider spread of performance against our base case targets. We have a good number of stores that have opened well and are trading in line with our expectations, we have a number of stores which have traded ahead of expectations from opening day and equally a number of stores which are not trading as strongly as anticipated. Overall we remain encouraged by the potential opportunity of our store rollout programme. Of particular interest and significance is the performance of our standalone fresh meat factory shop in West Bromwich. Our 4 factory shops sell predominantly fresh meat (no hot food-to-go offer) and have higher sales, lower operating costs and lower fit out costs than our units on the high street and in shopping centres. Our location and format strategy has always been one of operating a diverse portfolio across high streets, shopping centres and factory shop locations, and in the current trading environment, the performance of our West Bromwich factory shop has encouraged us to plan the trial of up to 2 further factory shops this year to test the predictability of the concept and inform the shape of the rollout programme for next year.

We will maintain a disciplined approach to our growth strategy, which means it is imperative that the pace and timings of the store openings are managed correctly. Whilst we have a strong pipeline of each store format and have proven our ability to open stores in each location, we have taken the decision to open up to 12 stores this year versus the 15 previously communicated to enable us to fully appraise the factory shop opportunity and allow management to focus on restoring sales momentum. An update on the growth strategy for 2017 will be provided with the full year results announcement in April 2017.

Financial review:

Gross profit:
Margin has been well managed across the half with the 29% growth in sales being converted to a 31% increase in gross margin to £9.8m (2015: £7.5m). The margin rate improved to 45.2% (2015 44.8%) which moderated the impact of the -4.4% drop in like-for-like sales to a -1.5% fall in the margin achieved in those stores. I am pleased to report that the exchange rate impact on our input prices post BREXIT vote has been largely mitigated in the first half through our flexible sourcing and specification model.

EBITDA and profit before tax "PBT":
Group EBITDA for H1 was £0.3m (2015: £0.5m). Group sales and margin increases were offset by increased operating costs as a result of; 1) additional ongoing central costs being incurred as the business scaled up; 2) higher operating costs experienced in the new stores as they trade through their maturity curves and; 3) lower profitability in like-for-like estate as a result of lower sales.

Adjusted EBITDA at £1.1m was £0.1m lower than the prior year (2015: £1.2m). Accelerated opening costs were in line with last year at £0.7m (2015: £0.7m) as detailed in the table below. Salaries and new store pre-opening cost increased in line with the pace of new store rollout. This increase was offset by a reduction in consultancy costs which were incurred last year prior to internal capability being in place.

more....

Better than I expected!

Peel Hunt today reaffirms its buy investment rating on Crawshaw Group PLC (LON:CRAW) and set its price target at 60p.

33.50p ( 33/34p )

Good demand from the start of the day, as it seems the marked down of a couple days ago and then bounce back at the same day, is signaling the lows are being reached. Good Indicators all rising from lows and MACD moving over "0" and divergence.

Arrowgrass Capital Partners LLP > 3%

35.25p +0.50p

A very large 200K buy @ 35.50p should encourage new takes of the stock as is bouncing back

08:41:19
35.50p
200,000
£71.00k

35.75 +0.50 (+1.42%)

A very slow movement up, but considering the market has been lower during last week, is a good performance so far

this isn't one i follow though i know a lot of guys here do
clearly they blotted their copybook rather badly with their figures a couple of weeks ago

36.25p +1.00 (+2.84%)

A large size buy has moved again the share price

5:31:46
36.30
50,000
£18.15k

Close T+2 @ 36p

going nowhere

but made enough to buy a couple Personalised Christmas Stocking filled of CraswShaws stuff

mentor, these sausage of yours taste bad... LOL.

You are asking for it........

re - mentor, these sausage of yours taste bad.

you should not put those things in your mouth
but being you what else can one expect.

what a thin-skinned sausage you are :-)

Got some at under 27p

A very large drop today, and buyers are getting the stock at this price
small spread 26.50 v 27p
one at each side, the bid has come up not long ago from 26p

Some comments from other places ..........

"Goose instead of turkey, £4.99/kg, order yours now. #lovechristmas
1:42 AM - 23 Nov 2016"
hTtps://twitter.com/crawshaws/status/801360162187579397

No similar posting on the facebook page but that seems sensible with the Christmas hamper video / advert still attracting veiwings; currently 555.
hTtps://www.facebook.com/Crawshaw-Butchers-264781463537640/

The stores visited of late have been busy and, indeed, seemingly getting busier; except just the one day when it was lashing it down.

StockMarketWire.com
Fresh meat and food-to-go retailer Crawshaw has noted the recent movement in its share price and confirmed the group continues to trade in line with management expectation.

A trading udpate says: "We have made good progress restoring sales momentum since our last trading update on 29 September 2016. Our renewed value-led product and marketing focus, together with a return to localised ranging, is beginning to work, resulting in a good progression in customer numbers and sales performance.

"The LFL sales performance of the Group has improved from -15.8% for the first 7 weeks of H2 to -8.1% for the 4 weeks ended 27 November 2016 driven by a 13% improvement in customer numbers across the same time period.

"We expect the rate of improvement in LFL sales to further improve in December as our returning customer's trade across the breadth of our seasonal offer and our existing customers benefit from better value Christmas meat hampers and redeeming their savings club cards.

"The Board are confident in the actions taken so far and are encouraged by the early improvements in sales, but note the importance of this progress being maintained through the key winter and festive period to deliver full year profit expectations.

"In the period since our last update we have opened our 50th store, in the Gorton area of Manchester. This is our second standalone factory shop concept to open in the year and is currently trading in line with expectations."

Crawshaw will announce a trading update on 6 January.

Chief executive Noel Collett said: "We are encouraged by the customer reaction to the changes we've made to the proposition and are confident sales will continue to improve through the important winter and festive period. Our store teams are set to give our customers a great Christmas which will provide the platform to further restore sales momentum in the new year."

the spread is just now very narrow 21.25 v 21.50p after a few large size buys, but the one at the offer does not want to move up yet.

time to tell but about time it bounces up

Schroder bought 4M and share price at bottom, isn't that strange to say the least
They have now over 10%

Schroder
earlier - 4,028,150
now - 8,156,021 - 10.332%

Schroder bought 4M and share price at bottom, isn't that strange to say the least
They have now over 10%
earlier - 4,028,150
now - 8,156,021 - 10.332%
------------------
but very strange the 4M buy

no sign on the volume of such a large amount ( not event during the last month on total
if is was during such a long time sure it shoulkd have been declare at certain % 5,6,7% etc.

Trading Update

Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Group"), the fresh meat and food-to-go retailer, provides the following update on Christmas trading for the 5 week period since our last update on 29 November 2016 to the 1 January 2017.

We have continued to build on the progress noted in our last update with the improvements in sales and customer numbers being maintained through December as planned. Group sales were up 13% in the 5 week period versus the prior year, with total customer numbers also up 13% for the same period. Like-for-like sales were -3.8% for the 5 weeks ended 1 January 2017 having improved from -8.1% for the 4 weeks ended 27 November 2016. Like-for-like customer numbers were -4.2% having improved from -9.7% for the same periods.

As previously communicated, this improvement in both sales and customer number momentum has required a moderate level of margin investment, with gross margins in the like-for-like stores at 43.6% H2 2017 to date (versus 44.9% H2 2016 to date).

With the improvement in performance continuing through the festive trading period, the Board remain confident in achieving full year market expectations.

edited.

Final Results

Crawshaw enters transformational partnership with 2 Sisters Food Group

Confirmation of definitive agreements for subscription and warrants

SP recovered most of what was lost on the results. Director buy yesterday:-


Crawshaw Group Plc ("Crawshaw" or the "Company"), announces that it was notified yesterday by Jim McCarthy, Non-Executive Director, that he purchased on the same day 190,000 ordinary shares of 5p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 26.5p each. Following this purchase, Jim McCarthy has a beneficial interest in 190,000 Ordinary Shares representing 0.2% of the Company's issued share capital.

Schroders plc > 10%

StockMarketWire.com
Crawshaw's pre-tax losses rose to £1.2m in the 26 weeks to 30 July - up from £0.4m a year ago and including £0.4m of exceptional costs.

Group revenue rose by 2.3% to £22.1m but gross margins fell to 42.9% from 45.2%.

The group posted an underlying operating loss of £0.8m (2016: loss of £0.4m).

Chief executive Noel Collett said: 'These results demonstrate progress in ensuring we have high quality products at the lowest possible prices.

'The improvements to the breadth, depth and price of our ranges are driving the significantly improving trend in customer numbers, which is a key metric of loyalty and success in preparation for the important winter and festive season ahead.

'As part of our focus on achieving unbeatable value, we are prioritising and accelerating the rollout of our proven factory shop format.

'The economics of these sites are hugely attractive, and they allow us to offer a wider range of fresh meat and associated products at a price not possible in our high street shops.

'We remain excited by our 2Sisters supply agreement and believe this partnership will be transformational for the long-term growth of the Group.

'Market conditions remain challenging, but we are confident that our focus on value leaves us well placed for the long-term.'

Harry - you confused me - that's from last Wednesday?

I am not excited by their 2Sisters supply agreement! 🐔😱

Yes it is skinny, but it was prompted by an article in this w/e FT about the chicken industry and a chap called Ranjit Singh Boparan who is being investigated by the FSA. Via a slightly odd route, the Boparan family actually own 29.7% of Crawshaws, which is possibly why the CRAW sp is being hit at the moment.

Thanks Harry.

hero to zero!!!!

Directorate change and trading update

Crawshaw Group Plc, the UK's leading value butcher, announces the following intended changes to its Board of Directors.

Noel Collett, Chief Executive Officer, has informed the Board of his intention to step down to pursue other opportunities but will remain in his role until a replacement CEO is appointed to ensure an orderly hand over.

The Group also announces that Alan Richardson, Chief Financial Officer, has notified the Board of his intention to leave the business in early May to take up an opportunity outside the Group.

Trading for the year ended January 2018 remains unchanged and the full year results will be announced in April. Trading in the first 6 weeks of the new financial year has been challenging, exacerbated by the recent poor weather but the factory shop format continues to perform well.

Jim McCarthy, Chairman of Crawshaw Group, said:

"The Board of Crawshaw thanks Noel and Alan for their contribution and wishes them success in their future endeavours. We anticipate being in a position to announce a new CEO and CFO in the near term who will help drive the business forward."

"The Board of Crawshaw thanks Noel and Alan for their contribution" - Really!!!!

Crafty Butchers!!!!!!

dead meat
above is effectively a profit warning and that's why 2 top execs are going

not yet, quite. ... it's back to the 7p price of 2013 - a big rise just a few years ago to 95p is long forgotten.
At this 7p- price is it a punt? - or the dead meat as some-say?

Intention to appoint administrators and Suspension to trading on AIM

As previously announced on 26 October 2018, the Board was considering a number of remedial actions including raising additional funding through an equity capital raising in order to address the key issues it had identified with the Company. Since then, the Board has been in discussions with existing investors and prospective investors. Unfortunately these discussions have not been successful in raising sufficient capital to address those key issues.



The Company does not have sufficient cash resources to effect the required restructuring of the business.

In the light of the above and the operational and financial uncertainty which the Company now faces, in order to protect both shareholders and creditors, the Board has taken the decision to place the Company into administration and intends to appoint administrators shortly with the purpose of seeking buyers for the Group's business and assets on a going concern basis.

As a result, the Board announces it has requested a suspension of trading in its shares on AIM with effect from 7.30am on 31 October 2018.

Further announcements will be made in due course.

Shame, a classic case of expanding too fast whilst taking the eye of the ball!

Like Burnley, Kim.

Ha! Yes quite!