I have been in and out of these a few times :-)) ..... bumping around their bottom but starting to bounce a little ..... closed @ 87/90p on Friday.

They have fallen from grace because of poor distribution probelens caused by poor management and an out of House warehousing system. THis is being sorted and new guys have replaced the old .....

Great brand name and selling could be overdone ..... anyway I am in for a few @ 90p and will let them ride for a while - not a t trade. Recent director buying around this price


ains


bought @ 90p - currently moving up at 141/145p 13/05 = plus 56.66% net

Canaccord comment today:
Management now expects y/e net debt of c. £50m vs. CGe £34m and stated that there is still 'sufficient' liquidity and covenant headroom at this level. We assume a £5m working capital outflow (partly timing), £27m cash cost for exceptionals and pension and £25m capex. We assume that capex falls from £25m in FY18E to £15m in FY19E. While the benefits of central cost reduction should start to come through in FY19E, should there be no improvement in trading, then we think further action would be required in the run-up to peak trading 2018 to secure liquidity.
We think that there is a place for Mothercare in the UK, but the right-sizing of the store portfolio needs to happen faster. International is profitable and could well return to long-term growth. From an equity investment perspective though, the high operational gearing of the UK business makes the risk:reward ratio highly unfavourable, particularly given the weak balance sheet.
Along with y/e net debt of c. £50m the company has an actuarial pension deficit of £139m (2017 tri-annual valuation). The rent bill was £42.8m in FY17 with total operating lease commitments of £235m (average lease length 4.5 years). So, before attributing any value to the assets of the business, the cost of the liabilities is potentially over £400m.
This makes Mothercare a difficult take-out candidate, despite the potential strategic value of the business. The reality is, in our view, that the UK business would already have gone through administration (and potentially come out a stronger, right-sized business) were it not for the cash flows of International keeping it afloat. We cut our DCF based price target from 47p to 29p, reflecting our earnings cuts as well as lower capex assumptions and a roll-forward. Maintain SELL."

Heading for the corporate graveyard?

Mothercare goes down to TEN?

wirth bhindsight (of cpourse0 shame i didn'y have the balls to short MTC back in november
thought i was short CLLN at the time, i also lacked the courage to hold that position, though i'm sure i took at least a modest profit


meanwhile
MTC has long been a basket case in the making, as has been plain to see (and as posted) for many a long day

The issue with "waiting until it goes under" is that more damage may be done and you don't get to keep the ledgers.... all are scattered to the winds. Also, whilst making a Bid might be more-money, in reality you would spend this just trying to gather the scattered pieces.
Therefore, if you wanted a slice of this Business ( or Name, Customer-book, etc.), the smartest thing is to make a Bid -and a moderately good one- before your rivals do.
If no-one likes the business, then let it go under.
Today DYOR, I heard Maplin and ( ToysR Us?) Co have brought in Administrators.... reason being "Brexit" - what an Excuse! . . . and their lack of on-line attention whilst having expensive retail Stores + Staff etc.

Difficult to know where this is going - will "Everything" be On-line soon?

Already it's easier to buy nuts/bolts from China than visit ScrewFix ( who I consider to be expensive, as they only sell box of 200 ).... Whilst they don't have HiStreet stores.....

It wont happen, but companies like Amazon have to pay their fare share of taxes. Until the playing field is leveled. More Mega sheds will be erected. Modern day, above ground coalmines with no daylight and long shifts.

CD - rubbish! ...... shopping habits have changed and have nothing whatsoever to do with whether or not Company X or Y or Z pay £1 or £10m in taxes

Take your point :)

Mothercare and Laura Ashley are stuck in the 70's.

Stakeholders will be striped.

Carpetright going the same way .

2018 could be a good year.

Top faller today not good.

Just shows that director buying isn’t necessarily a good indicator. Two director bought in Jan at 46p/share.

Maybe that's all the Directors did? On-Line is the new-way . . . but companies still have to get the stuff to the customer . . .
I note that these are 50p shares....going for 20p =less than face-value. Maybe that was the reason Dirs bought..... believing Market must turn-up soon. Thanks cynic; I shall for now.

AVOID!!

AVOID!!

AVOID!!

Agree with cynic -even babies are now using the internet to buy their nappies