Hornby shares soar as boss is derailed

[guest1328]

Courtesy of the BBC website

Shares in Hornby have soared by a third after the toy maker said Richard Ames would step down as chief executive.
His departure comes after shares in the company, whose brands include Scalextric, Airfix and Corgi, crashed last week after a "disappointing" start to the year.
Chairman Roger Canham will now lead the group for the "foreseeable future".
Hornby shares were up 8p to 32.6p in morning trading in London.
However, the company is still worth just £17.2m.
Supply issues
Mr Ames took over in 2014 and during his first 12 months in charge led the company to its first profit in three years.
However, results worsened during 2015 amid a costly IT upgrade, management changes and international supply problems for its model railways.
The Kent-based company last week issued its second profit warning in the space of six months, forecasting pre-tax losses of between £5.5m and £6m this year.
It also revealed a £1m write-off and said it was in talks with its lender, as the scale of losses could result in the firm breaching its banking agreements.

[JasonBz]

It seems to have leveled out, for now, in the 32pps zone....

[maridunian]

Some commentary on the Motley Fool investing site:

http://www.fool.co.uk/investing/2016/02/15/is-now-the-perfect-time-to-buy-hornby-plc-unilever-plc-vodafone-group-plc/?source=uptyholnk3030001

Mike

[MikeDunn]

Shares in Hornby have soared by a third

Woo !  Quick, all on the bandwagon, it's taking off rapidly !!!

Hornby shares were up 8p

Or maybe not    Ya gotta love journalism & headlines

An 8p "recovery" after a 60p slump ?  Hardly earth-shattering ... but at least they're getting rid of the guy who screwed up Ladbrokes and Dixons before joining Hornby, and whose retail career encompasses Consumer Electricals at ASDA Walmart & Phillips ... another pair of companies that struggle ... hmmm, is there anything we can conclude here   

It's gonna take a lot more than ditching someone with little clue about this market, unfortunately ... the remaining Directors, while not as bad, aren't that much better !

[JasonBz]

I bet that 34% recovery has made a lot of people a fair old whack today though - I was tempted but kinda forgot over the weekend

[MikeDunn]

I bet that 34% recovery has made a lot of people a fair old whack today though

What - 8pps ?  On 10,000 shares, that's only £800 ... that same 10,000 shares would have been worth £8,100 last week, this week they're worth £3300 ... so the £800 uplift from Friday is minor in comparison.  Bear in mind you also pay about a tenner for each trade, as well as 0.5% in taxes.  For small buy/sell decisions, that can substantially reduce your profit !  You need to look at the actuals, not the headline ...

This morning saw a pair of sales of 100,000 shares each as well as another of 75,000 ... (the outgoing guy ?  Probably not, but who knows ... it was a holding company that sold)

[njee20]

No capital gains tax under £30k or so is there.

It's not life changing, but if anyone chucked a few grand in when they were at rock bottom they've done ok!

[JasonBz]

No capital gains tax under £30k or so is there.

It's not life changing, but if anyone chucked a few grand in when they were at rock bottom they've done ok!

Thats what I was thinking..
£30k at breakfast would be £35k at lunch....not a bad mornings work really 

[Webbo]

I trust that Mr Ames is getting a suitably massive payout from Hornby when he goes as is due to chief executives when they leave after messing up a company.

Webbo