9:23 12/03/2012 Re: NEW COMPANY
I agree with you that things are begining to move.I would not call this company a clean cash shell because quite simply it is n't.
On the positive side apart from its cash it has in British Polar Engines quite a decent business which although a bit erratic seems to be able to turn in quite good profits £500k+ a year which is not to be sniffed at.Must surely be worth more than this companies market valuation alone before we consider net cash.On the negative side the pension plan will cost £250k a year for as long as we can see ahead to service. By TX2
15:32 09/03/2012 NEW COMPANY
With the directors buying large quantities this week, must mean a new era for this company. This is the cleanest cash shell with a full stock market listing. It''s been a long time coming but good times are ahead I think. By DORSET KNOB
11:37 12/01/2012 Re: Open Offer
Seem reasonable proposals.I have not got a huge holding and will be taking up my allocation.The preference shares are largely by one holder.The Investment Company Plc which is closely connected with stockbrokers Fiske & Company and both of these are connected with Stephen Cockburn.
The company held nearly £4m cash at last balance sheet,although there are long term pension arrears of £1.9m in addittion BPEs freehold Glasgow Works which is reasonably located albeit fairly rundown and old premises must be worth more than £62,000 including machinery attributed to it. By TX2
10:38 12/01/2012 Open Offer
Now this looks very interesting.
4 shares for every 15 held at £1.00 per share. Fully underwritten too. Look at the RNS for details. Seems to me that after this the company will be very well placed to move on, without the millstone.
Any other comments? By Patrick K Murphy
12:36 09/09/2011 Re: Future
I agree the results were good and ABE appear to be sorting out their pref problem. If there is any corporate activity I suspect The Investment Trust would want to exchange their prefs and arreas for equity which could form part of a cap reorg and fund raising. Not too sure if BPE would be sold to leave ABE clean or if it would form the core to build on.
I dont think the main board have any real interest in BPE but I do believe that Pearce Gould who has a 9.2% stake in ABE is the main man at BPE.
I would think the property is well undervalued and there are useful tax losses which makes the quoted asset value substantially less than the real worth of the company. By BOWOOD
16:07 08/09/2011 Re: Future
It is a negotiated trade.I hardly think the one Market Maker(Winterfloods) has this quantity of shares on his books otherwise there would be no problem buying small quantities.

Perhaps it is some sort of transfer to a SIPP but in this case you normally get two transactions at more or less the same price.Time will tell.


Incidently I did n't think the annual results were too bad,at first glance they appeared to be but the fall was due to preference divi costs/arrears been charged to p&l account.

British Polar Engines seems to have a fairly extensive freehold site on Helen St Glasgow.It probably dates from early 1900s,some perhaps a bit later.Part may be let out as some of the building has mosaic BPE logo on it but different occupier.Not exactly high value premises but Helen St is reasonably located for Motorway.Historic book value at last revaluation was about £650,000 but has now been depreciated to almost zero.

I do not know if it has been mentioned but almost all of the two classes of Preference Shares are owned by one holder called The Investment Company PLC this is a quoted,albeit rarely traded Investment Trust.One of its Directors is Stephen Cockburn,who is a Director here.The Investment Company has close links with Fiske & Co Stockbrokers where Cockburn is also a Director and if memory serves a number of ASBE Shares are held in Fiske Nominee name.

Whether we will see any "Corporate Action" in our lifetime remains to be seen!!!!! By TX2
11:19 08/09/2011 Re: Future
TX2- Your post has just beaten mine. I too have trouble buying small lots and cannot think where these have come from a couple of weeks ahead of the AGM. It does not tie up with any director holding but looks to be a very specific amount. Interesting. By BOWOOD
10:57 08/09/2011 Re: Future
39,241 Shares traded!Where did those come from..I have usually had difficulties buying a few hundred at a time........ By TX2
17:24 01/03/2011 Re: Future
All the new exploration activity in the North Sea should be good news for ABE. By BOWOOD
18:44 27/01/2011 Future
Have held these for year but now feel a result is on the way which could see the sp well above current levels of £1.50. If you can buy, then good luck. By BOWOOD
20:57 30/11/2010 Re: Out
OOPS. Major boob. However win some lose some . Good luck to all who have held on. By osammyboy
11:06 19/11/2010 Re: Out
Staying put as my holding is effectively free after that odd dip and spike a while ago in 2008. By Patrick K Murphy
20:46 18/11/2010 Out
Decided to wait no longer for anything to happen. Sold today @115p. Small cash profit butreally aloss if I count years of inflation. There are better options out there notably HER, RRL and SRES By osammyboy
16:33 28/06/2010 Re: Valuations
I think you can also take on board that the properties have been depreciated over the years and are probably worth more than book value. Also there are some huge tax losses to take into account. By BOWOOD
14:43 28/06/2010 Re: Valuations
Thankyou for letting me know about that BOWOOD the adjusted calculations due to the pension deficit are: cash per share 28p, book value per share 42p. This kind of makes the company seem slightly over priced now doesn't it. By mstew10