Marchpole is one of those stocks which have had a really bad time. Boardroom battles, losses, price collapse, profit warnings up the ying yang.

Now all of those things seem to be sorted out, new management are getting to grips, new contracts and the price is on the up. So much so that Monday ought to see a 50/200 day MA golden cross.

DYOR of course, but I think I will be putting a few of these away at the open.

Socco

me too, though i accept there is a somewhat subjective or even spiteful glee involved

pbracken - 19 Nov'07 - 08:49 - 2960 of 2960


Morris has misled shareholders, no question. The AGM statement gave no indication of today's FY profits warning, and it's inconceiveable that the Board were not aware of the likely shortfall in September. The FD's departure probably relates to some issue over the extent of the disclosure - why would Harrison want his reputation tarnished by a Chairman playing fast and loose?

It's very unlikley that MPH will make up the profits black hole in the second half, which means a second warning is imminent. The US, inparticular, has been a disaster, and the restructuring announced today is probably a precursor to the sale or closure of it.

In summary, poor results, deceitfully packaged and disclosed, from a board led by an inflated ego.

could not have put it better myself .... have been saying for months that the chickens would come home to roost sooner of later, the former being the case as it happens.

lex .... looking very much as though 60p will be tested toady rather than somewhere in the future.

tesco ...... don't say you were not warned several times ...... it's just that all has come to pass a lot quicker than even i envisaged.

momentos - 19 Nov'07 - 11:57 - 2998 of 3009


So the headline news is:

- US has turned shite and cant even manage USD5m on HY, where it was turning over USD20m FY before.

- UK Turnover ex Greenmark was probably around 11m.

- Admin expenses remain huge and unexplained.

- Cant even get a proper Finance director. Have one who retired from YourSpace two years ago as interim and someone who hasn't got the experience to be called anything more than "Chief Financial Officer".

- Something is up 60%, but god knows what. Not the fecking share price thats for sure.

My only question is why have Barclays gone all the way to 12%? They are hardly the stupidest investors. Are they holding for someone? Has the share price conveniently crashed for someone to pick shares up on the cheap?

Call in the regulators I say. In the last 12 months they have

- paid illegal dividends.
- failed to remember how many shares they have (share issue authority cock up)
- failed to giv a profit warning when clearly due
- paid disproportionate bonuses to execs to the detriment of shareholders
- misrepresented intangible values by 6m.

Hope they get fried tomorrow at the EGM. Bet Morris is "on holiday".

call in the regulators???????? ..... what is it with you guys?
as for Barclays, they showed their skills when piling in BFC just before it went belly-up!

John Harrison (ex FD) was a really nice guy, or so i am told, and he probably got fed up with MM trying to bully him into making announcements etc with which he did not agree.

Admin expenses can probably be explained away by set-up and licencing costs for the new acquisitions + high legal fees + MM's unwarranted and no doubt significant bonus

Morris holds around 5.29 mln shares or 19.48 pct
bet his bank manager is thrilled too, for that has cut MM's nett worth by 7.4m from the peak at 2.00

tesco ..... 20p is starting to look more likely than 200p! ...... to be less frivolous, i don't think MPH will go belly up, but it's certainly in the wrong sector and, as i have said before, fails to look after its key staff ..... i guess one might ask whether MM has the wherewithal to take the company back private, as i think was mooted some time ago, or if there is of sufficient substance to the company to make it a target for someone (at the right price!)

now feel really ill .......

Whilst not wishing to rub salt into Tesco's wounds, a very good call Richard - dead impressed :)

i think it was quite an easy call ...... high street has been in a dire state for many months and when you link that with known bad management and a certain lack of transparency in the figures with regard to future trading followed by a downgrade at the next set, there is only so long that the city will be patient

cynic looks like you have called it right, well done and I had it wrong, good job that I refused the bet. Ps sold all holdings in mph and will just keep an eye on proceedings........regards...tesco

sorry if you lost a bundle Mr T, but we all make wrong calls and just have to hope that the good ones outweigh ...... guess i lacked the balls to short here though

cynic bought from 75p upwards but lost 20% of capital and wasted years following that man morris, who as you stated many times is not to be trusted. Out now and moving on, have you anything worth investing in to recoup my losses and .....................lol, ........tesco

depends on what sector you fancy and whether you want to buy quality or blue sky

thinking of oil rather than retail and blue sky...................................tesco

PMO or IEC or PFC

thanks ill take a look, have a good christmas and new year..............tesco

MR T .... promoise not having a dig, but you might care to look at the MPH web site and sits vac .... you will find MPH is still looking for a menswear knitwear specialist designer, 3-4 months after the last one left ..... it is a somewhat and unusual and specialised field, underlining MPH's appalling man-management skills whereby they carelessly lose key staff by failing to look after them properly .... all basic stuff!

oh dear oh dear oh dear ..... the chickens have come home to roost ..... MPH now admits that it will be showing a LOSS with it's FY figures