Professor Glen Arnold

The calculated net current asset value, NCAV, of Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI) is one-quarter larger than its MCap. However, the NCAV numbers relate to September 2015, and there are many negatives in the current outlook. But do the positives outweigh them? I’ll list the main points here and make a decision on whether to invest. Negative […]

After damaging the business greatly, four months ago Stanley Gibbons’s (LSE:SGI) directors were forced into a placing and open offer. The £12.3m raised was used to repay some debt bringing it down from about £22m to £16m; to “support rationalization”, i.e. somehow get a grip of the mish-mash of businesses now owned, and; to provide […]

In this Newsletter I’ll explain why Stanley Gibbons’s (LSE:SGI) shares fell from over £3 to 10p in a few months. The first stumbles Back in 2012 it had a market capitalization of £50m – £60m. It then spent close to £60m buying companies, and by 2014 it had 250 staff in half a dozen distinct […]

Stanley Gibbons – The decline My last Newsletter described the nice steadily profitable business Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI) had in 2012. It focused on stamps, with a few sales of tangentially related collectibles, such as coins. It played to its strengths, i.e. international brand name recognition for integrity, authenticity and expertise in stamps; large stock of […]

Nostalgia about Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI) is more useful than just sentimental yearning. Looking back to more stable days give us perspective and objectivity. We do not have to go back very far. Here are some numbers for 2010-2012:   2012 2011 2010 Turnover £35.6m £35.7m £26.4m Profit before tax £5.3m £4.9m £4.2m Earnings per share […]

  Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI) has a market capitalisation of only £18.3m with its shares at 10.25p. This is below is net current asset value, NCAV – see below. It had a remarkable fall from grace. Only in February 2014 its shares were £3.80 (MCap of £167m). A year or so before that it was a […]

I’m currently analysing Stanley Gibbons (LSE:SGI) as a potential net current asset value investment. I’ll write a report for you next week. In the meantime, some sage advice/oberservations about investing: You might have to wait a long time before the market agrees with you: “I’m accustomed to hanging around with a stock when the price […]

Don’t start to see dangers everywhere: “If you flip around the radio dial and happen to hear the offhand remark that an overheated Japanese economy will destroy the world, you’ll remember that snippet the next time the market drops 10 percent, and maybe it will scare you into selling your Sony and your Honda, and […]

I think we are all trying to figure out what happened last week. Even Brexit voters seem surprised by their victory, and even more surprised by the market reaction – “why didn’t anybody tell them there would be severe business consequences from exiting?” What I’m about to write is speculative; it also a partial explanation […]

This morning MS International (LSE:MSI) shares moved to 158p – 167p. Thus some of the metrics I listed yesterday have changed: Market capitalisation is now 16.5m shares x £1.67 = £27.6m One-year PER = 167p/9.6p = 17.4 Cyclically adjusted price earnings ratio, CAPE, over 11 years, is 167p/18.9p = 8.8. Dividend yield of 8p/167p = […]