sharegardener
19 Mar 2015
Re: Al Kharafi selling again I forgot to say it was 3,090,000 shares sold at 305p per share on 16/3/15. This was a surprising discount to the recent SP. After these have all been mopped up then SP could rise further. Ahmed Samy of Al Kharafi is the NED on the Costain board. If they sell off their holding below 7% they lose the right to have a NED. Currently 7.5% remaining so they may not sell off the remainder.From the capital raise document last year:''Kharafi and UEM have shareholders’ agreements with the Company pursuant to which Kharafi and UEM each have a right to appoint a representative to the Board for as long they each hold 7% of Costain’s issued share capital. Ahmed Samy has been Kharafi’s representative on the Board since 30 November 2013, replacing Samer Younis. UEM have no current representative on the Board.Kharafi and UEM, who together hold approximately 41% of the issued share capital of the Company, are fully supportive of the Capital Raising and have irrevocably undertaken to vote in favour of the First Resolution and the Second Resolution to be proposed at the General Meeting.In addition, both Kharafi and UEM have agreed not to dispose of any Ordinary Shares in the Group, save in certain specified circumstances, for a period of 6 months from the date of the Prospectus.''It looks like UEM havent sold shares yet.SG
sharegardener
18 Mar 2015
Al Kharafi selling again Another 3M shares offloaded by the Kuwaiti conglomerate. Surprisingly little downward movement in the SP so far. Demand appears to be holding up. SG
Green300
04 Mar 2015
Re: results Cracking day - It seems a long time ago the previous time we were comfortably above 3 quid. Just hope that we don't lose it all again tomorrow which too often seems to be the pattern.FWIW, I see this as such a solid, boring and somewhat unspectacular company. But exactly what I like to have in my portfolio! I just wish they could improve their gross margins slightly. The target of winning more higher margin, more profitable work is the strategy and promise that we have all bought into. As ITDYA mentions, that hasn't really been delivered yet and must remain an immediate priority. Then, and perhaps only then, will the SP increase significantly.
peddlar
03 Mar 2015
results Well the brokers like something they have an upgrade from 3.00 to 3.30hence a rise.!!
whatsupnow
03 Mar 2015
Re: Results In addition dividends are being paid a month later this year.
In the dark yet again
03 Mar 2015
Results Hard to get excited about those.Highlights.... not many. T/O and profit up; the T/O number up from £960m to £1.1bn isn't too bad but profits up only 4%. Somehow, despite winning more business, they have actually managed to reduce their margin from it's already pathetic level.Lots of talk about improved cash position but given they raised £70m within the year and done pretty much s0d all with it there should be loads of cash floating around. The fund raising was 1 for 3 so currently 4 shares for every 3 there were.... so EPS adjusted is actually down slightly.Pension deficit up over 10%, now greater than a year's profit.Indeed dividend up on an adjusted basis nothing else here for the shareholder. Even that is being paid for out of the cash they raised - give us our own money back and tell up what a great job they are doing!Slightly surprised the market hasn't spanked it this morning.Regards,ITDYA assuming the market see the 'good' news being the absence of awful news. Nothing much has changed here and, with the market on all time highs, nothing much happening here.
nk1999
10 Jan 2015
Liberum From Citywire (1 day old):"Plenty of positives for ‘unrivalled’ CostainEngineering and construction company Costain (COSG) is moving up the value chain as a pre-close trading update ‘contains plenty of positives’.Liberum analyst William Shirley reiterated his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 300p on the shares, which rose 3% to 284.3p yesterday.‘A brief pre-close contains plenty of positives: reassurance on underlying trading; strong cash; ongoing positive order book momentum; a 17% private finance initiative related upgrade; and progress at the Manchester Waste contract,’ he said.‘While the cash beat is principally timing the private finance initiative upgrade is ‘one-off’ and there is still some residual risk at the Manchester contract, [the] update warrants a positive reaction. We continue to like Costain’s unrivalled customer focus, its UK infrastructure exposure and the gradual move up the value chain.’"
sharegardener
07 Jan 2015
Re: Trading update Al-Kharafi (the Kuwaiti family group) sold 3.36 million shares at 265p on 17th Dec. Now still own 10%. At the time of the placing last march they agreed not sell any shares for 6 months. The price may now steadily creep up if they dont sell off any more.The dividend is progressively rising but distorted by the new share issue last year. I continue to hold but the recent dips to 270-ish look like a good entry/top-up point if repeated.Good luck all SG
Oxtrader
07 Jan 2015
Trading update Well, they've chosen to report on the same set of figures once again! Regardless, overall the small increases each update have resulted in a seizable difference year on year. Net cash up 5-6% as well I believe since the half year report. Along with all the other small incremental increases reported.Holding.
Oxtrader
19 Nov 2014
Re: IMS Statement Sensible move, clearly something not enough of us do, selling when times are good!I've also had a small worry recently about Costain, it's starting to feel like it's following a similar story to Balfour's demise. Obtained some Highway agency, these of which have always seemed to be a break-even venture at any company.So in effect, they've started to spreading themselves quite thinly with paper thin margins. All good and well having lots of contracts like Balfour did, but they were badly managed. But I do have faith in that, with the rising order book, well managed, secured revenues have increased (I suppose this means they were finally paid on some outstanding invoices or whatnot!) and coupled with even a small increase of a few million on post-tax profit in Costain's February results will reward this share into the mid 350s.Although I'd be a fool for hoping shares rise on faith and hope - I'll get back onto some research.. !
Ripley94
18 Nov 2014
Re: re- in the dark yet again. And other... n/c
