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Post by wetlanding on Oct 17, 2016 9:17:32 GMT
The Times article makes no mention of SEN
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Post by expressflight on Oct 17, 2016 10:47:17 GMT
The Stobart Group half-rear results are due out on 27th October and an analyst at investment bank Stifel has said that " ... there could be room for further surprises when the results are announced."
I wonder if the Cityjet/Stobart Air deal might be announced to coincide with the half-year results with any operational gains for SEN being stated as helping to achieve the already known objective of reaching a £8 million EBITDA annual profit.
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Post by expressflight on Oct 19, 2016 7:47:06 GMT
It's been announced this morning that Stobart Group have bought from Invesco Asset Management their interests in both Propius (the leasing company that owns Stobart Air's ATRs)and Everdeal (the holding company of Stobart Air). This will give Stobart a 66.6% shareholding in Propius (Aer Lingus owns the remainder) and an 80% holding in Everdeal/Stobart Air. The announcement says that this deal will result in giving Stobart greater flexibility in expanding their route network from SEN in order to meet their target of 2.5 million ppa by 2018.
On the face of it Stobart Air could now expand at SEN in their own right as Stobart Group will have a controlling interest in the airline. Alternatively it could be just that Stobart have bought these controlling interests to enable them to complete the merger/takeover expected with Cityjet in a more tidy fashion. In the latter case it seems odd to say that the deal enables expansion at SEN by Stobart Air if it is indeed a Cityjet takeover as Stobart would immediately lose direct control of SEN expansion following the takeover. Maybe there will be a condition in the Cityjet deal that they undertake ops at SEN of a certain magnitude for a certain period of time.
I can say that I believe the planned expansion of services from SEN will be very considerable from what I have heard from a number of reliable sources over the past month or so but whether this will be under the direct control of Stobart Air or through a Stobart/Cityjet deal remains unclear to me at present.
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Post by devonian on Oct 19, 2016 7:57:30 GMT
Sounds encouraging, but also still a bit odd.
If CityJet really are taking over Stobart Air they can swiftly ignore any agreements to open new services from SEN stating "changing market conditions". Or they could adopt the flyBE approach to routes from SEN and allow them to wither on the vine through daft scheduling and inadequate ticketing (allegedly!)......
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Post by expressflight on Oct 19, 2016 8:05:46 GMT
Devonian
There would have to be a binding agreement within the deal that the 'new' merged airline would commence and maintain a certain number of routes for an agreed period of time, otherwise what you suggest would indeed be the case. There is no doubt that any takeover deal could contain such a binding commitment; it's just a matter of whether Cityjet would find such a condition acceptable.
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Post by devonian on Oct 19, 2016 8:37:08 GMT
In my experience binding agreements don't work for long and unless Stobart are prepared to go to court to seek enforcement (with all the associated costs and risks involved) that may be the case here.
I hope not.
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Post by tagron on Oct 19, 2016 8:45:05 GMT
Stobart's purchase of the other shareholdings was identified in one of those Irish press reports as a necessary precursor to the sale of the airline to Cityjet. So it could be a case of due process being worked through. Whether those reports of a complete take over by Cityjet are correct remains to be seen. I could understand if a SEN operation by City Jet was "in the price" of purchase, possibly balanced by discounted operating tariffs.
My other observation is that Stobart's statement seems a tacit admission that the previous structure did not work in terms of generating traffic at SEN. It would seem to me there had been a conflict of agendas at board and management level in Stobart Air, as evidenced by reports of the foiled management buyout plan. It would have been in the potential purchasers interests to frustrate Stobarts hopes of growing SEN. In this way they could have hoped to loosen up Stobarts holdings for them to buy at a good price.
Just my opinion and I have no hard evidence to support this theory but it could explain some of the otherwise incomprehensible events surrounding SEN and Stobart Air in the last two years
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Post by wetlanding on Oct 19, 2016 18:22:08 GMT
Are we sure that Cityjet are still going to take over Stobart Air? I ask this as to why would you spend out money on the two parts of the company you dont own, when the purchase price to Cityjet is known and your returns will be no more than they were prior to you bying a controling intrest? We are still waiting for an announcment from Cityjet on the prospect of them baseing aircraft at SEN? We had heard at the start of the merger talks that they were to operate as seperate companies, which could mean this is how we get an increase in services from Stobart Air at SEN, lets hope what we here is good news on the airport developments.
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Post by expressflight on Oct 19, 2016 19:58:46 GMT
wetlanding
The observations you make do raise questions on this although it could be that it was agreed between Stobart and Cityjet that the former would deal with the purchase of the Invesco holdings prior to the deal being struck for the merger/takeover but no, we don't know for certain that Cityjet will take over Stobart Air only that it is generally expected to happen. I've certainly heard no whispers that it's not going ahead but it is true that Stobart Air would now be in a position to add new routes at SEN without having to deal with other shareholder objections. One problem would be that the ATR72 is not suitable for anything other than short haul destinations whereas the involvement of Cityjet would bring more distant destinations into the frame.
I do believe that the outcome either way will produce substantial increases in SEN traffic for S2017 but the correct destination choices will be essential for that growth to be sustained.
P.S. 07:30 20/10/16
This morning's Irish Independent newspaper carries the story of Invesco's sale of it's interests in Propius and Everdeal to Stobart Group and states "These latest changes pave the way for Stobart Air ...... to be sold to Cityjet." I think we can assume therefore that the sale to Cityjet will go ahead and an announcement be made soon.
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Post by Thames Gateway on Dec 14, 2016 8:09:08 GMT
News this AM, not just to the airline:
Deputy Group CEO Appointment
Stobart Group is pleased to announce that Warwick Brady will join the Group on 3 January 2017 as Deputy Group CEO. It is intended that Warwick will join the Board following the Group's Annual General Meeting in June 2017. Warwick was Chief Operating Officer of easyJet plc until 30 September 2016 and has extensive commercial and management experience which will be extremely valuable to the Group, as a whole, and its Aviation division, in particular.
As Chief Operating Officer at easyJet, Warwick was instrumental in developing a highly efficient, low-cost, customer-focused operation and delivering significant value for shareholders. Warwick has extensive Aviation and broad business experience at senior level and has managed high growth, low cost airlines and start-up businesses. He was CEO at Mandala Airlines in Asia and spent two years as Chief Operating Officer of Air Deccan/Kingfisher in India. Prior to that, Warwick was Deputy Operations Director at Ryanair from 2002 to 2005, where he held various senior executive roles including Deputy CEO of Buzz, following its acquisition from KLM. Warwick is also a non-executive Director of FirstGroup plc, a GBP5bn train and bus business which operates in the UK and USA.
Andrew Tinkler, Group CEO of Stobart said, "I am delighted that Warwick has agreed to join us and I look forward to working with him. His commercial and operational experience will benefit the whole Group and his proven aviation industry expertise will provide added impetus as we build on the platform we have created in our Aviation Division."
Warwick Brady, Deputy Group CEO of Stobart commented, "I have known Andrew for several years through the relationship between easyJet and Stobart at London Southend Airport and l am excited to be joining the team. I have followed the Group's progress as it has built valuable platforms in Aviation, Energy, Infrastructure and Rail on the back of its logistics and customer service expertise and I hope to be able to help all of the divisions to create value. With the increasing pressure on the limited capacity at London's other airports, I see London Southend Airport as very well placed and I look forward to helping to unlock the potential of the airports and the regional airline business."
There are no further disclosures to be made in connection with Warwick Brady's appointment pursuant to paragraph 9.6.13 of the Financial Conduct Authority's Listing Rules. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014
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Post by viscount3 on Jan 11, 2017 15:57:48 GMT
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Post by Thames Gateway on Feb 24, 2017 12:47:50 GMT
RNS Number : 8106X
Stobart Group Limited
24 February 2017
Stobart Group Limited ("Stobart" or the "Group")
Acquisition of remaining interests in Propius Holdings Limited and Stobart Air
Stobart Group, the infrastructure and support services group, today announces the completion of the acquisition of the remaining interest in its aircraft leasing business, Propius Holdings Limited ("Propius").
This follows the announcement on 18 November 2016 that the Group had agreed in principle to acquire the remaining 33% interest in Propius from Aer Lingus, taking the Group's interest in Propius to 100%. The consideration for the transaction was $14.7 million in cash funded from the sale from treasury on 18 November 2016 of 10,081,778 ordinary shares of 10p each of the Company, at 155 pence per share. As part of the transaction, Aer Lingus has released security over certain cash balances of Propius and other group companies in exchange for a guarantee from other Stobart Group companies for an initial €18m which is expected to reduce to €8m in due course.
Propius recorded profit before tax of $2.8 million for the year ended 31 December 2016 and had gross assets at that date of $153.3 million.
In addition, the Group has also completed the acquisition of the remaining 19% interest in Everdeal Holdings Limited ("Everdeal"), the holding company of Stobart Air, taking its interest in Everdeal to 100%.
Warwick Brady, Deputy CEO of Stobart commented "The Aviation Division is a key growth focus for the Group over the next few years. The completion of the acquisitions of Propius and Stobart Air give us more control over our ability to continue to grow and develop our operations across the UK, Ireland and Europe, and to deliver our target of welcoming 2.5 million passengers at London Southend Airport annually by 2018. We are now operating Stobart Air's regional services under franchise agreements with Aer Lingus and Flybe and aim to continue to grow with our partners whilst also attracting an increased share of London's 160 million passenger, capacity constrained market to London Southend."
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Post by Thames Gateway on Feb 25, 2017 18:00:25 GMT
Now that the original question from the title of the thread is proven to be way off the mark, could Air Humberside amend the thread title to just 'Stobart Air' now?
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Post by Humberside on Feb 25, 2017 19:11:15 GMT
I've amended the thread title as requested
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Post by Thames Gateway on Feb 25, 2017 23:39:28 GMT
Many thanks Humberside. I'm sure there will be some further interesting posts on this thread during the year.
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