What are you buying today?

[Spekulatius]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

[DooDiligence]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

 

This is just anecdotal, but may add a little more color to anyone wanting to understand the industry.

 

I've been to VicenzaOro many times & if you want quality, Italy is a great place to go (bring a very large wallet with you though).

 

Hong Kong manufacturers (and Thai jewelers to a lesser extent) will copy just about anything & do a very good job of it, but will frequently use inferior quality gemstones (in particular, diamond melee). TBF they offer significantly lower prices, and something has to give, but even if you offer to pay a bit more for better melee, you'll be hard pressed to get the reliability of an Italian manufacturer.

 

That plus the established haute couture names, make for an interesting segment of the market.

 

Basically, there are 2 types of jewelers, those who sell branded (haute couture) merchandise with higher margins & slightly lower turns, and those who sell lesser brands & commoditized products at slightly lower margins & higher turns.

 

Branded jewelers tend to have higher spend on required coop adds in order to promote brands.

 

Commoditized jewelers will have more optionality with regards to participating in coop ads which become more requisite if they are members of buying groups and depending on the stroke of the brands they carry.

 

---

 

Disclaimer: My hiatus from the offshore industry, into wholsale jewelery, was an abysmal failure. I'd have difficulty selling air conditioners on the equator.

[Spekulatius]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

 

This is just anecdotal, but may add a little more color to anyone wanting to understand the industry.

 

I've been to VicenzaOro many times & if you want quality, Italy is a great place to go (bring a very large wallet with you though).

 

Hong Kong manufacturers (and Thai jewelers to a lesser extent) will copy just about anything & do a very good job of it, but will frequently use inferior quality gemstones (in particular, diamond melee). TBF they offer significantly lower prices, and something has to give, but even if you offer to pay a bit more for better melee, you'll be hard pressed to get the reliability of an Italian manufacturer.

 

That plus the established haute couture names, make for an interesting segment of the market.

 

Basically, there are 2 types of jewelers, those who sell branded (haute couture) merchandise with higher margins & slightly lower turns, and those who sell lesser brands & commoditized products at slightly lower margins & higher turns.

 

Branded jewelers tend to have higher spend on required coop adds in order to promote brands.

 

Commoditized jewelers will have more optionality with regards to participating in coop ads which become more requisite if they are members of buying groups and depending on the stroke of the brands they carry.

 

---

 

Disclaimer: My hiatus from the offshore industry, into wholsale jewelery, was an abysmal failure. I'd have difficulty selling air conditioners on the equator.

 

I think in this case, brand name, status attached to country of origin matter just as much a the quality of the merchandise. Northern Italy is well known for fine jewelers and Fope is a niche business with a global reach (85% of their revenues are foreign) that can exploit this, I think. Based on the price I paid 7 Euro and change), it trades at 7x EBIT. It’s too small for LVMH, but the new 59% owners have an investment banking background and saw value here. I hope they don‘t screw it up. I see a good chance they they follow up with a buyout when this COVID thing is over.

[kab60]

More Lion Rock Group in HK

[DooDiligence]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

 

This is just anecdotal, but may add a little more color to anyone wanting to understand the industry.

 

I've been to VicenzaOro many times & if you want quality, Italy is a great place to go (bring a very large wallet with you though).

 

Hong Kong manufacturers (and Thai jewelers to a lesser extent) will copy just about anything & do a very good job of it, but will frequently use inferior quality gemstones (in particular, diamond melee). TBF they offer significantly lower prices, and something has to give, but even if you offer to pay a bit more for better melee, you'll be hard pressed to get the reliability of an Italian manufacturer.

 

That plus the established haute couture names, make for an interesting segment of the market.

 

Basically, there are 2 types of jewelers, those who sell branded (haute couture) merchandise with higher margins & slightly lower turns, and those who sell lesser brands & commoditized products at slightly lower margins & higher turns.

 

Branded jewelers tend to have higher spend on required coop adds in order to promote brands.

 

Commoditized jewelers will have more optionality with regards to participating in coop ads which become more requisite if they are members of buying groups and depending on the stroke of the brands they carry.

 

---

 

Disclaimer: My hiatus from the offshore industry, into wholsale jewelery, was an abysmal failure. I'd have difficulty selling air conditioners on the equator.

 

I think in this case, brand name, status attached to country of origin matter just as much a the quality of the merchandise. Northern Italy is well known for fine jewelers and Fope is a niche business with a global reach (85% of their revenues are foreign) that can exploit this, I think. Based on the price I paid 7 Euro and change), it trades at 7x EBIT. It’s too small for LVMH, but the new 59% owners have an investment banking background and saw value here. I hope they do t screw it up. I see a good chance they they follow up with a buyout when this COVID thing is over.

 

I know this is a very different business than Fope & it's not intended as a comparison but Swatch bought Harry Winston around 2013. They don't break out the results in reports but they do say "Harry Winston will continue its dynamic growth trend in 2019". In recent reports they attribute slightly higher inventories to gold & gemstone purchases related to Harry Winston.

 

They own the swinging luxury watch brands Breguet, Blancpain, Glashutte, Jaquet Droz & the more pedestrian Omega. Their lesser brands include Tissot, Longines, Hamilton, Rado & of course, Swatch.

 

If you believe that the watch industry won't be decimated over time ;)  (I've never been able to get comfortable with this possibility) these guys product the vast majority of the worlds mechanical movements & escarpments. If you claim to be a luxury timepiece manufacturer & you don't produce everything down to the tiniest little spring & screw, you're not as cherished by aficionados.

 

Very clean balance sheet, possibly offset by high insider ownership which may or may not be aligned with the little people. The father built this company & the children could fritter it away.

 

Annual reports are front loaded with society page fluff & the actual numbers are buried in the back.

[LC]

bought a little livenation

[sleepydragon]

Bought a bit SLG

[sleepydragon]

MTB and Brkb

[Mephistopheles]

BRKB calls

[TrashIsCash]

SRL, GIGM, FRD (microcap net nets)

[CorpRaider]

MTB and Brkb

 

My man.

[Spekulatius]

Starter in WSBC, a cheap regional bank with a decent track record.

[sleepydragon]

MTB and Brkb

 

My man.

 

High Five!  :D

[jasonchin]

HDS. Quality business at a fair price. Expecting a spin-off towards the end of 2020 and early 2021 which should result in multiple expansion. It is in a fairly fragmented industry that provides the opportunity for consolidation. HDS has invested in technology with SAP and its online platform which places it in a good position moving out of COVID. One to keep for the long term.

[Spekulatius]

HDS. Quality business at a fair price. Expecting a spin-off towards the end of 2020 and early 2021 which should result in multiple expansion. It is in a fairly fragmented industry that provides the opportunity for consolidation. HDS has invested in technology with SAP and its online platform which places it in a good position moving out of COVID. One to keep for the long term.

 

I agree on HDS being a quality outfit. I have owned it recently for a very short time but regret selling it. They have handled COVID-19 well and the business is more resilient than I thought. They are really getting ahead of their competition too (mostly small outfits).

 

Bought starters in NOC  and GMED today. I also added to MRK bit. GMED skews toward the growth side (at least I hope so if their robotics tech works out) and NOC and MRK are quality outfits with a reasonable valuation and resilient business.

[Spekulatius]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

 

This is just anecdotal, but may add a little more color to anyone wanting to understand the industry.

 

I've been to VicenzaOro many times & if you want quality, Italy is a great place to go (bring a very large wallet with you though).

 

Hong Kong manufacturers (and Thai jewelers to a lesser extent) will copy just about anything & do a very good job of it, but will frequently use inferior quality gemstones (in particular, diamond melee). TBF they offer significantly lower prices, and something has to give, but even if you offer to pay a bit more for better melee, you'll be hard pressed to get the reliability of an Italian manufacturer.

 

That plus the established haute couture names, make for an interesting segment of the market.

 

Basically, there are 2 types of jewelers, those who sell branded (haute couture) merchandise with higher margins & slightly lower turns, and those who sell lesser brands & commoditized products at slightly lower margins & higher turns.

 

Branded jewelers tend to have higher spend on required coop adds in order to promote brands.

 

Commoditized jewelers will have more optionality with regards to participating in coop ads which become more requisite if they are members of buying groups and depending on the stroke of the brands they carry.

 

---

 

Disclaimer: My hiatus from the offshore industry, into wholsale jewelery, was an abysmal failure. I'd have difficulty selling air conditioners on the equator.

 

I think in this case, brand name, status attached to country of origin matter just as much a the quality of the merchandise. Northern Italy is well known for fine jewelers and Fope is a niche business with a global reach (85% of their revenues are foreign) that can exploit this, I think. Based on the price I paid 7 Euro and change), it trades at 7x EBIT. It’s too small for LVMH, but the new 59% owners have an investment banking background and saw value here. I hope they do t screw it up. I see a good chance they they follow up with a buyout when this COVID thing is over.

 

I know this is a very different business than Fope & it's not intended as a comparison but Swatch bought Harry Winston around 2013. They don't break out the results in reports but they do say "Harry Winston will continue its dynamic growth trend in 2019". In recent reports they attribute slightly higher inventories to gold & gemstone purchases related to Harry Winston.

 

They own the swinging luxury watch brands Breguet, Blancpain, Glashutte, Jaquet Droz & the more pedestrian Omega. Their lesser brands include Tissot, Longines, Hamilton, Rado & of course, Swatch.

 

If you believe that the watch industry won't be decimated over time ;)  (I've never been able to get comfortable with this possibility) these guys product the vast majority of the worlds mechanical movements & escarpments. If you claim to be a luxury timepiece manufacturer & you don't produce everything down to the tiniest little spring & screw, you're not as cherished by aficionados.

 

Very clean balance sheet, possibly offset by high insider ownership which may or may not be aligned with the little people. The father built this company & the children could fritter it away.

 

Annual reports are front loaded with society page fluff & the actual numbers are buried in the back.

 

Some background on the FOPE deal:

https://gioiellis.com/en/why-fope-was-sold-to-costamagna-and-morante/

 

I am familiar with Swatch. It a well run company, but I am a bit concerned that watches will have much less mindshare with future generations that grow up without using them or go straight to a smart watch (similar to what happened with stamps)  I could imagine that there will be a market to build jewelers cases for smart watches, but Swatch wouldn’t have much of an edge here.

[TwoCitiesCapital]

FPE.MI - Italian artisan jewelry manufacturer. Got a buyout offer, but then the new majority owner decided not to go all the way due to COVID-19. The business will take a hit this year, but I think Italy will recover faster than thought. Seems very cheap for this great little business.

 

Hmm, another buyout another problem. Price for FOPE SPA seems a bit low at nary a premium. I own a few shares recently acquired at 8.4 Euros. It seems like aninvestor has acquired shares from the controlling family for 9.25 Euro and now wants to tender for shares from minority shareholder for the same price. I wonder if I should hold out for more. knowing this is Italy, I shouldn’t get my hopes too high I guess. This is a nice business I think - high end artisan jewelers sold in their own stores., worth 9x EV/EBIT? Where is Arnault?

width=600http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png]http://i.imgur.com/nemNQnJ.png[/img]

 

This is just anecdotal, but may add a little more color to anyone wanting to understand the industry.

 

I've been to VicenzaOro many times & if you want quality, Italy is a great place to go (bring a very large wallet with you though).

 

Hong Kong manufacturers (and Thai jewelers to a lesser extent) will copy just about anything & do a very good job of it, but will frequently use inferior quality gemstones (in particular, diamond melee). TBF they offer significantly lower prices, and something has to give, but even if you offer to pay a bit more for better melee, you'll be hard pressed to get the reliability of an Italian manufacturer.

 

That plus the established haute couture names, make for an interesting segment of the market.

 

Basically, there are 2 types of jewelers, those who sell branded (haute couture) merchandise with higher margins & slightly lower turns, and those who sell lesser brands & commoditized products at slightly lower margins & higher turns.

 

Branded jewelers tend to have higher spend on required coop adds in order to promote brands.

 

Commoditized jewelers will have more optionality with regards to participating in coop ads which become more requisite if they are members of buying groups and depending on the stroke of the brands they carry.

 

---

 

Disclaimer: My hiatus from the offshore industry, into wholsale jewelery, was an abysmal failure. I'd have difficulty selling air conditioners on the equator.

 

I think in this case, brand name, status attached to country of origin matter just as much a the quality of the merchandise. Northern Italy is well known for fine jewelers and Fope is a niche business with a global reach (85% of their revenues are foreign) that can exploit this, I think. Based on the price I paid 7 Euro and change), it trades at 7x EBIT. It’s too small for LVMH, but the new 59% owners have an investment banking background and saw value here. I hope they do t screw it up. I see a good chance they they follow up with a buyout when this COVID thing is over.

 

I know this is a very different business than Fope & it's not intended as a comparison but Swatch bought Harry Winston around 2013. They don't break out the results in reports but they do say "Harry Winston will continue its dynamic growth trend in 2019". In recent reports they attribute slightly higher inventories to gold & gemstone purchases related to Harry Winston.

 

They own the swinging luxury watch brands Breguet, Blancpain, Glashutte, Jaquet Droz & the more pedestrian Omega. Their lesser brands include Tissot, Longines, Hamilton, Rado & of course, Swatch.

 

If you believe that the watch industry won't be decimated over time ;)  (I've never been able to get comfortable with this possibility) these guys product the vast majority of the worlds mechanical movements & escarpments. If you claim to be a luxury timepiece manufacturer & you don't produce everything down to the tiniest little spring & screw, you're not as cherished by aficionados.

 

Very clean balance sheet, possibly offset by high insider ownership which may or may not be aligned with the little people. The father built this company & the children could fritter it away.

 

Annual reports are front loaded with society page fluff & the actual numbers are buried in the back.

 

Some background on the FOPE deal:

https://gioiellis.com/en/why-fope-was-sold-to-costamagna-and-morante/

 

I am familiar with Swatch. It a well run company, but I am a bit concerned that watches will have much less mindshare with future generations that grow up without using them or go straight to a smart watch (similar to what happened with stamps)  I could imagine that there will be a market to build jewelers cases for smart watches, but Swatch wouldn’t have much of an edge here.

 

It's possible - and definitely some market share loss here, but seems to me the type of people buying Apple Watches are not typically the same people whole collect analog watches and that analog watches are more a symbol of status and style while Apple Watches are more functional.

 

For instance, my GF uses an Apple Watch it's primary function is for fitness. I own 3 analog watches and it's primarily for the appreciation of the asthetics, design, and durability. Her Apple watch is on its last leg and will soon be unsupported by additional software updates. My watches will still be ticking in 5 years time with appropriate maintenance.

 

While both are watches, definitely different applications and target markets.

[york]

TSE: MDI

[arcube]

Do you mean TSX:MDI? What are your thoughts there?

 

TSE: MDI

[LC]

Bought a little more Livenation. Curretly sits at about 2.75% of the portfolio.

 

Cloudflare is the other newer addition to the portfolio at about 1.85%. Should've swapped the investments around percentage wise :D

 

My hesitation with Cloudflare is (1) I don't know the industry dynamics as well and (2) I was not sure how their middle-market offerings would be received in comparison to similar offerings to larger customers who may place more reliance on the various security offerings provided.

 

Livenation by contrast I know the market more intimately.

[Gregmal]

MSGE, ESRT, INFO, bought and then sold some MDXG.

[fareastwarriors]

MSGE, ESRT, INFO, bought and then sold some MDXG.

 

I bought some ESRT and BRK.B.

[kab60]

CAST SA. Illiquid French SW company - extremely cheap and hopefully at an inflection point which sets it up for margin expansion.

[york]

Do you mean TSX:MDI? What are your thoughts there?

 

TSE: MDI

 

Yeah, Major Drilling. Great outlook. The have rigs going back to work (that where shutdown do to Covid) and more contract working coming - this should lead to some real pricing premiums on their part. Miners are very antsy to get holes in the ground to increase reserves this summer - especially amongst the group that will be looking at the M&A route in the future. I am not convinced that the writedown at last earnings was really necessary but it has helped to pick up shares below $5 - I think the RBC price target of $6 is on the low side.

[Castanza]

BRK, RTX