I see that MRL's MD Gary Perlstein has increased his holding in MRL from 7.5% to 15.8% in the last few days
following the price drop after last week's profit warning.

A privatisation might be on the cards. I wonder if Perlstein has his eye on the job or if he is distracted by his
MBO.

From:	Chris p
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	19 Jan 2005 15:09:35 -0800

Fitzroy wrote:
> "Tom N" wrote in message
> news:Xns95E3F025165B3ndt601946x@130.133.1.4...
> > I see that MRL's MD Gary Perlstein has increased his holding in MRL
from
> 7.5% to 15.8% in the last few days
> > following the price drop after last week's profit warning.
> >
> > A privatisation might be on the cards. I wonder if Perlstein has
his eye
> on the job or if he is distracted by his
> > MBO.
>
> It would be interesting to find out what has really
> been happening behind closed doors at MRL in the
> past couple of years.
>
> It's looked bad.
> For some reason companies get into a rut, and they
> dont seem to have the energy to fix things.
>
> What really struck me was that one of the reasons
> given for the underperformance of the apparel
> division was that they didnt manage to get enough
> stock into their stores in time for Christmas.
>
> Something had to happen.

the supply chain has previously been an issue for this company, the
board has canecelled all dividends which i would suggest could indicate
they now have some cashflow problems as well as the supply problems. i
wouldnt buy the stock on a fundamental basis however i am also
wondering what is going on when an insider (co founder that is) is
buying. it is possible they will offload the discount variety stores
(otherwise known as crap goods)and focus on the apparel side of things

From:	Tom N
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	20 Jan 2005 13:47:46 GMT

Tom N wrote:

> I see that MRL's MD Gary Perlstein has increased his holding in MRL
> from 7.5% to 15.8% in the last few days following the price drop after
> last week's profit warning.
>
> A privatisation might be on the cards. I wonder if Perlstein has his
> eye on the job or if he is distracted by his MBO.

And today comes the news that former CEO Ian Miller has sold 5.5 M shares taking his holding down to 18.0 M
shares.

From:	Who Me?
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	Fri, 21 Jan 2005 09:54:46 +1100

"Tom N" wrote in message =
news:Xns95E581A962F0ndt601946x@130.133.1.4...
> Tom N wrote:
>=20
> >=20
> > A privatisation might be on the cards. I wonder if Perlstein has =
his
> > eye on the job or if he is distracted by his MBO.
>=20
> And today comes the news that former CEO Ian Miller has sold 5.5 M =
shares taking his holding down to 18.0 M=20
> shares.

To a number of apparently related entities - using off-market transfers, =
presumably to take advantage of the low market price, and allow him to =
transfer taxation liabilities from one pocket to another.

--=20
(1) A sheet of paper is an ink-lined plane.
(2) An inclined plane is a slope up.
(3) A slow pup is a lazy dog.
=20
QED: A sheet of paper is a lazy dog.
-- Willard Espy, "An Almanac of Words at Play"

From:	Fitzroy
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	Wed, 19 Jan 2005 13:19:37 GMT

"Tom N" wrote in message
news:Xns95E3F025165B3ndt601946x@130.133.1.4...
> I see that MRL's MD Gary Perlstein has increased his holding in MRL from
7.5% to 15.8% in the last few days
> following the price drop after last week's profit warning.
>
> A privatisation might be on the cards. I wonder if Perlstein has his eye
on the job or if he is distracted by his
> MBO.

It would be interesting to find out what has really
been happening behind closed doors at MRL in the
past couple of years.

It's looked bad.
For some reason companies get into a rut, and they
dont seem to have the energy to fix things.

What really struck me was that one of the reasons
given for the underperformance of the apparel
division was that they didnt manage to get enough
stock into their stores in time for Christmas.

Something had to happen.

From:	Chris p
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	20 Jan 2005 16:09:52 -0800

the following link refers to structural and board changes. i would have
thought any company that has been heading down hill at a rate of knots
would consider these as a minimum

http://finance.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,12001962%255E462,00.html

From:	Public Image Ltd
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	19 Jan 2005 21:29:18 -0800

Chris p wrote:
>
> the supply chain has previously been an issue for this company, the
> board has canecelled all dividends which i would suggest could
indicate
> they now have some cashflow problems as well as the supply problems.
i
> wouldnt buy the stock on a fundamental basis however i am also
> wondering what is going on when an insider (co founder that is) is
> buying. it is possible they will offload the discount variety stores
> (otherwise known as crap goods)and focus on the apparel side of
things

The two rumours doing the rounds are either a privatisation or a
take-over. Either way, that dividend cancellation does have a certain
fish odour about it. The MRL announcement babbles on about goodwill
write-downs leading to lower retained earnings leading to an inability
to pay-out (sic). OTOH, cash-flow will be down at most 20% and probably
quite a bit less. It is not inconceivable that management were trying
to talk the price down for some reason.

From:	Fitzroy
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	Thu, 20 Jan 2005 10:18:04 GMT

"Public Image Ltd" wrote in message
news:1106198958.598609.275310@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
> Chris p wrote:
> >
> > the supply chain has previously been an issue for this company, the
> > board has canecelled all dividends which i would suggest could
> indicate
> > they now have some cashflow problems as well as the supply problems.
> i
> > wouldnt buy the stock on a fundamental basis however i am also
> > wondering what is going on when an insider (co founder that is) is
> > buying. it is possible they will offload the discount variety stores
> > (otherwise known as crap goods)and focus on the apparel side of
> things
>
> The two rumours doing the rounds are either a privatisation or a
> take-over. Either way, that dividend cancellation does have a certain
> fish odour about it. The MRL announcement babbles on about goodwill
> write-downs leading to lower retained earnings leading to an inability
> to pay-out (sic). OTOH, cash-flow will be down at most 20% and probably
> quite a bit less. It is not inconceivable that management were trying
> to talk the price down for some reason.
>

You are such as cynic mate.
Destined to succeed as an investor.

From:	B J Foster
Subject:	Re: MRL to be privatised?
Date:	Thu, 20 Jan 2005 19:27:19 +1100

Public Image Ltd wrote:
> Chris p wrote:
>
>>the supply chain has previously been an issue for this company, the
>>board has canecelled all dividends which i would suggest could
>
> indicate
>
>>they now have some cashflow problems as well as the supply problems.
>
> i
>
>>wouldnt buy the stock on a fundamental basis however i am also
>>wondering what is going on when an insider (co founder that is) is
>>buying. it is possible they will offload the discount variety stores
>>(otherwise known as crap goods)and focus on the apparel side of
>
> things
>
> The two rumours doing the rounds are either a privatisation or a
> take-over. Either way, that dividend cancellation does have a certain
> fish odour about it. The MRL announcement babbles on about goodwill
> write-downs leading to lower retained earnings leading to an inability
> to pay-out (sic). OTOH, cash-flow will be down at most 20% and probably
> quite a bit less. It is not inconceivable that management were trying
> to talk the price down for some reason.
>

Shucks, whoever would have thought such a thing?