Elevator PitchAt the beginning of June 2020, Luby’s announced that post its strategic review, the Board had decided to sell off its operating divisions and assets and distribute the net proceeds to shareholders.Upon first glance, Luby’s does not look like an attractive investment proposition, however, it has a substantial Real Estate Portfolio that was recently … Continue reading Luby’s (NYSE:LUB) →

Situation overview On September 13th, 2019 Tencent made a non-binding "take-private" offer for Bitauto at US$16 per share/ADS. This deal looks to have a high probability of closing given Tencent already owns 7.8% of Bitauto and has secured votes from the largest shareholders adding a further 48.5% (JD.com, Li Bin, Cox). As Bitauto is incorporated … Continue reading Yixin Group Limited (SEHK:2858) →

First a hat tip to @aceglobalvalue and @backoftheenvelo for their extensive notes on BP. I will summarise my thoughts on the situation, but props should go to them for doing the groundwork.   Situation Summary Boustead Projects is an OpCo/PropCo idea, with a high probability of the hidden Real Estate value being realised within a year, through … Continue reading Boustead Projects (SGX:AVM) →

Connect Group plc Ticker:                         LSE:CNCT Price:                            30p Shares:                        247m      Market cap:         £74m   Net debt:                    £70m     EV:                           £145m   Core EBIT:                  £41m      EV/EBIT:                3.5X   Core FCF:                    £28m      FCF yield:              35%     Thesis Summary Connect Group is a classic GoodCo/BadCo. The GoodCo in this case is Smiths News, the … Continue reading Connect Group plc (LSE:CNCT) →

Ticker:                                 LSE:HSW Market cap:                        £110m EV:                                        £90m Normalised EV/FCF:          5X (pre-tax)   Summary & Disclosure I own … Continue reading Hostelworld Group plc (LSE:HSW) →

Overview Staffline has had a tumultuous twelve months to say the least. It all began with an ominous trading update in early January of this year, where they mentioned net debt had spiked to £63m from £37m in the preceding half due to acquisition costs and "exceptional items". Then on the 30th of January, they … Continue reading Staffline (AIM:STAF) →

Note: this is an extremely illiquid situation. I purchased a few hundred shares over the week following the announcement, but have been unable to acquire any more at a price I consider safe. Therefore, this may not be an overly actionable idea, but is still interesting nonetheless.   Business overview Friends Bank (FRIE) is an … Continue reading Friends Bank (OTC:FRIE) →

Disclosure - my firm and I have a substantial investment in Realm Therapeutics. The following should not be viewed as financial advice or a recommendation.   Summary Realm Therapeutics, is a broken bio-tech, currently trading at a substantial discount to our estimated cash backing of 16p per share. We believe this opportunity exists for two … Continue reading Realm Therapeutics (AIM:RLM) →

Recap Last month I posted a short summary describing why I thought LSR represented an interesting short term, arbitrage bet. The short version was: LSR traded at a substantial discount to its NAV and the largest shareholder had announced they may make a bid for the remaining shares. At the time, the stock was trading around 27p … Continue reading The Local Shopping REIT – Part 2 →