Saturday 5 July 2008

INVESTMENT NEWS


Having lost out on his £1,000 invested in Wiggins (cos it was good for Thanet), Bertie is always interested in share prices and who buys whose shares.
Digging around the internet I was interested to see that Laxey Partners Ltd ( a hedge fund operator based in the Isle of Man) bought 21.28% of Commercial Group Properties at about 120p per share in March 2008 and Google Finance shows those shares were down to 110p on Friday. They would appear to own a fifth of CGP.
I also found this little snippet from The Swiss Federal Banking Commission about Laxey Partners Ltd:

"10 March 2008 – The Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) ruled on 7
March 2008 that Laxey Partners Ltd et alii (Laxey) infringed their disclosure obligations
under Art. 20 of the Stock Exchange Act when building their stake in Implenia
AG by using contracts for difference with underlying Implenia AG shares
mainly during the first quarter of 2007. The SFBC will, as a result, file a criminal
complaint with the Federal Department of Finance as required by law."
Looking again at CGP's Directors, I see no set up to actually develop and run a site like the proposed China Gateway. Then of course I remember that CGP's Managing Director's particular forte is to maximise a return to investors by obtaining planning consents.
No wonder Thanet's water supply, farmland and rural country-side between Manston and Acol is irrelevant to them.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some Thanet residents want to campaign for a referendum giving the Isle's people the chance to decide whether they want an elected mayor.

Does it appear that the council leadership favours keeping the current council leader system, under which they were selected, and has no plans to give the public a say?

A petition of five per cent of the electorate triggers a mayoral referendum. That means 36,249 signatures are needed from the people of Thanet.

Anonymous said...

I want that Jerry chap of Ramsgate First to be a candidate

Nemesis said...

Morning Gerry

The consonant change didn't fool anyone

Nemesis said...

Gerry Mandarin ?

Anonymous said...

There is a poll running on ECR re CGP so get over there and vote.

Anonymous said...

www.savethelabourparty.org

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Bertie,

I am interested by your comments: "Looking again at CGP's Directors, I see no set up to actually develop and run a site like the proposed China Gateway. Then of course I remember that CGP's Managing Director's particular forte is to maximise a return to investors by obtaining planning consents."

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what sort of set up would you expect to see?

I would agree that, even given the necessarily long time frame for projects like this, there doesn't seem to be a lot happening. I could be wrong (I don't live in Thanet).

The share price over the last year made me wonder how many shares the directors still have. As so often with these things, anyone getting out just after the float (at say £3) would have done well.

Anonymous said...

14:01


if you don't live in Thanet we don't care what you think

Bertie Biggles said...

13.42&13.44, I don't mind 'off topic' items if you don't push your luck! I will leave the direction to the info you posted at 13.42.

15.13,I can understand your feelings but lets be polite to all visitors please.

14.01. I am just a simple aviator and do not really understand how speculative developers work but my understanding is that Chris Seymour-Prosser (MD)particular attributes to CGP are gaining planning permission and then realising the asset gain by allowing others to develop. If we discount Chairman of Board, Robin Bolton (non-exec director; 70 yr old Brian Moritz (Finance Director)and non-exec Julie Wing who is personally linked to another Director, that leaves Ken Wills, whose Summit Aviation sits on the Manston site as Chief Exec. As a recently listed AIM Company they do not appear to have the collective experience or structure to actually develop. This is a personal view but this announcement in June 2007 indicates where their 'return' to shareholders is based and it does not appear to be by organising and running Thanets largest proposed Industrial Estate.

"Commercial Group Properties PLC, the recently AIM-listed property development company, announces that it has signed a ten year agreement with Beijing Association of SME to lease between 900,000 sq ft and 1,100,000 sq ft of business accommodation at the Manston International Business Park on 49.53 acres of the site which is allocated employment land, and is also subject to and with
the benefit of such agreement in respect of 1,000,000 sq ft.

The potential income from this development has substantially increased the value of the Manston site, and CGP has received from Savills (L&P) Ltd a revaluation of land at its Manston Business Park site, reporting an increase in the value of the original 105.79 acre site from #16.7 million to #37.4 million.

Taking into account not only the valuation referred to above, the valuations of all the other CGP's sites, as set out in the AIM Admission Document, and also a valuation of #8,000,000 for an additional 73 acres east of Manston Business Park prepared at the time of the acquisition in March of this year, the total Market Value of CGP's sites is #56,500,000.

Anonymous said...

BERTIE

If we want an elected Mayor/leader for Thanet we have no time to waste... we need to get things moving..

My name is Martin and I am one of a group of people supporting TEMC (Thanet Elected Mayoral Campaign) At the moment we are an online oganisation and we rely totally on blogs like this to get support. Anyone can support us by writting TEMC SUPPORTER in the left hand corner of any posts they put on blogs. The second you/anyone adds(TEMC supporter) to their post they become a member of the campaign.

our HQ is online/everywhere ..

Martin

(TEMC supporter)

Anonymous said...

We have no Chairman all members can run their own part of the campaign, but you will need to read this. Then get going..

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND
The Local Authorities (Elected Mayor)

www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/uksi_20020975_en.pdf


Martin






(TEMC supporter)

Anonymous said...

where do we sign up?

Anonymous said...

Martin

its the right site but I think you might of got the page wrong, but we can read all about it here www.opsi.gov.uk

I'm supporting the campaign now and so is my husband Ian


Sue


'temc campainer'

Anonymous said...

People won't support it, they like things as they are.

Anonymous said...

Things work fine as they are

Anonymous said...

No they don't! The current administration at TDC isn't fit to run a paper round!

Anonymous said...

20:52
don't just talk about, support Thanet Elected Mayoral Campaign

Anonymous said...

only problem about it is it is even higher rates to run a separate elected mayor - more money for useless politians, we want better representation from those we have - more listening to their elected representatives not their cronies!

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I think all they listen to is their own pockets.

Bertie Biggles said...

Martin, as I have said on a previous strand, I am too busy and so should you be, trying to stop China Gateway blighting Thanet's water supply and vital agricultural land. I will think about the Mayor issue when this is resolved either way.

I am happy to let the discussion go on 'off-topic' this time but please be aware that if you continue to use 'Strife' to 'promote' this cause, I will albeit reluctantly, send your post to the 'ether'. We have one 'IB' who on the whole behaves himself; don't be IB2 please.

Anonymous said...

I never knew how hostile that Bertie bloke is to anyway that don't let him have his own way.


Sue

Anonymous said...

Control freak?

Anonymous said...

Bertie is rude is people like Martin for 3 reasons.

1, Bertie does not like it when others have a better idea than him.

2, Bertie has no real power in his own life, so gets a childish kick out of telling people like Martin that he must behave himself just for having his own mind.

3, Bertie is a nobody and likes to try and put down those that help others to make himself feel important.


Simon

Anonymous said...

Bertie is not a control freak stick to the point - lets get TDC sorted out first we dont want any more bureaucracy!

Bertie Biggles said...

Thankyou 19.50. In one respect, I am pleased that 'Strife' is attracting its very own 'lunatic fringe' but I just wish they would make a decent point or two in argument; at least 'Simon' has one thing correct; Bertie, is of course, a 'nobody'.

Anonymous said...

bertie, if you look on Laxeys website, you will see they are an 'activist' fund, looking out for 'undervalued' companies.

ie, a building firm in an economic downturn who has the potential benefit of lots of taxpayers money helping it build what will be a very profitable industrial estate - even more profitable seeing that our council doesn't want them to build into the mains sewerage.