Stanley Gibbons - where to start?

Comments

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   Damosin

   25 February 2016, 04:17

   It never ceases to amaze me how share price falls consistently proceed these types of announcements. Not that this then provides much protection once the news is out though. Prawn cocktail or ready salted anyone?

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   Simple Moving Avarice

   25 February 2016, 06:36

   Curiously the share price decline for SGI seems to follow the same path as for mining and oil companies in 2014-2015. Is SGI’s business dependent on big value customers who are struggling themselves at the moment?

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   Elrico

   25 February 2016, 07:00

   Tom, you have called this one wrong and no doubt management information may have played it’s part in your original tip. You have accepted responsibility for the error of judgement which is graceful. That said, PI’s should also accept responsibility for any tip that they chose to act up on because ultimately they are the best judge as to their risk profile and must manage their investment on this basis by stops and limits. You will of course get the usual BBM vilifying you and this will most likely be used as mud to throw your way while all the while ignoring your bear and bull calls that have gone as you would hope.

   I for one have been stopped out on a couple of your calls and held back my disappointment by wagging my finger at you, however, I have had the good grace to thank you in the past for great calls or calls that have supported my initial trade when you have initiated a stance, bear or bull.

   You and your team have done a great job here and some BBM will never accept this because their emotions get in the way. Your morals are in the right place, almost Christian like (as I am) and I know you and the SP team try to protect the PI wherever possible.

   Be warned though…if the Hammers turn Manu in the FA I will turn in to a BBM 

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   bunny

   25 February 2016, 08:14

   Your honesty & humility is commendable .

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   VINES

   25 February 2016, 08:41

   better off buying the real thing and get stamps off a dealer, no exposure to bad management that way

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   PW

   25 February 2016, 09:05

   I don’t know this company so well….But I have followed the story loosely as I also thought they were undervalued. What really stuck in my head and probably stopped me investing was the they seemed to want to develop an internet platform to sell but didn’t really know how to get it it right and seemed to continue to throw money at it…..whilst of course they really needed to get it spot on as they would be competing with the likes of E Bay. This stuck with me as really poor and weak management. And from what I read above is just the start of their problems.

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   wildrides

   25 February 2016, 09:09

   Vines
   better off having a fecking great bonfire as stamps are worth nothing . There are only about 17 collectors left in the UK and they are all over 8o years old . Their dying at one a month . ( okay I made that up, but Whinni does it all the time ………. its called Whinni Facts )
   Thats the reason the Auditor quit I expect ……… they dont want to have to tell Stanley his stock needs a write down to Zero ………. and thats where this is heading ZERO ( unlike LGO of Course ) I know this because when I was train spotting on Temple Meads the other day I got talking to a couple of ex stampies who came over to the light and started on the Ian Allen Combine edition . Wise fellows . Mines a “Warship” in Maroon .

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   PJBCHELSEA

   26 February 2016, 02:20

   Wilds

   You are wrong on several counts, I work in the stamp trade and it is vibrant and has been all through the banking crisis etc.business is very strong.

   The thing about Stanley Gibbons is that they have completely and utterly lost their way. I commented several months ago that they had pissed tens of millions against the wall on their supposed internet offering that has simply not delivered. They are ‘the’ name in the stamp trade worldwide and their catalogue’s are the basis on which most deals are done. They should be the ‘eBay’ for stamps in the UK but they have failed to deliver a decent platform. Look at their results announcements for the past three years and see how they were heralding this as the way forward, having bought ‘bid start’ at great cost they are now silent on the subject!

   What they have tried to do is sell stamps as an investment and they are not, it is a ‘ponzi’ scheme that’s about as solid as a pack of cards. SG should go back to serving ‘collectors’ not seek the big investment deals. Unfortunately to do that they would need a philatelic presence on the board, which is brimful of accountants and bankers rather than those who understand the stamp trade.

   SG have done the boom / bust thing several times in the past and nothing changes.

   Tom I admire your fortitude in marking this as a ‘hold’ but the nature of SG’s stock and the prices they paid for some of it (well documented in the trade, via high profile auctions) means that it needs a particular type of buyer, that they need to ‘mug’ on price. I say this from a point of good knowledge of the stamp trade.

   As with all collectibles ‘price is not value’, something that is true for shares also. In this case the true scenario is I believe ‘at best’ a long haul for any meaningful appreciation but more likely further downside in the short to medium term. The management have monumentally messed this up and should go, they have lost some well regarded people over the past 12 months including the former owner of Baldwins / Apex apparently due to a major disagreement with the board. perhaps we are now seeing why?

   I