S&D Railway Trust

Agreed.......

 

I think that may be a possibility.

 

Have you reported it to the mods then?

Keith

 

The Queen has seen it !!

 

Has to be kept closed / secured often when trains are running & passenger access is by the stairs & obtain permission at times to go over sheds & maybe buy a platform ticket ?...or a £10 donation ??

 

Things have changed then since my days there

 

There was an item on the BBC regional news (Points West) this evening, discussing the difficulties faced by heritage sites during the lock-down. Special mention was made of the SS Great Britain, Bristol Aerospace Museum and WSR.

During a brief interview, the WSR PLC Chairman indicated that crunch point for the WSR would come around July/ August if the lock-down remained in place. I leave others to judge whether that date would impact on the S&DRT eviction and other matters at the WSR.

 

Interesting. I doubt lockdown will continue that long but I also doubt doubt heritage railways will be open by then either - expect them to open in line with pubs and clubs i.e. last of all. I guess that's the time to keep a sharp eye out for a management buyout in line with the worrying plan outlined by @Andy Norman , although of course, hopefully any responsible charitable support organisation having been made aware of such a plan would already be making arrangements such that that didn't occur....

 

I watched this - it was almost a case of "blink and you'll miss it".

One thing which occurred to me was that usually any news items re the WSR used to involve an interview with the GM, but now it appears to be the Plc Chairman instead. Anyone seen/heard the GM recently or has he been furloughed too...?

 

"Le chemin de fer, c'est moi".

 

Wasn't the linked quote "Après moi, le déluge"?

 

Inter alia the key requirements for an MBO to be feasible are a strong management team ( who ideally
will personally invest ) and a healthy earnings stream ( particularly cash generation )

Leaving aside all the other likely obstacles, it is clear an MBO for the WSR Plc is not an option,

Therefore if there is a threat it will require a straightforward acquisition. Assuming this would be
effectively hostile then 29.9% of the shares would be required..

The reality is the WSRA and WSSRT have. a >20% holding. The SCC, DEPG plus a handful of
individuals hold another 10%.

The remaining c 70% is held by c.6000 different shareholders ( of which a significant percentage
are believed to no longer be traceable ie lost certificates, death etc. )

Providing the holders of the 30% rejected any advance by a hostile buyer then I fail to see how
said buyer could obtain 29.9 % ( unless he/she offered very generous cash rewards )

In effect a "white knight". The chances of a knight riding in to save the WSR Plc seemed
unlikely in the past, post the effects of the pandemic infinitesimal .

Alex, because Mr Norman writes volumes you should not think he actually knows what he
is talking about.

( By the way if a benevolent individual (s) materialised ready to invest in the Railway and
in return purchase/acquire a controlling interest in the Plc I think this might be an offer
difficult to resist, but I think this unfortunately is equally unrealistic )

There are only two options available AFAIK for the next 12 months. Either support the
existing Plc Board or the WSRA/WSSRT must unite, assemble a viable management
team and use their combined strengths to replace/modify the Board.

Unfortunately I cannot see amongst the WSR diasporas where a credible management
team might come from. So we are where my good friend Rodders has stated before. The
current Plc Chair is the "only game in town" . And the new General Manager deserves
our support when he assumes the reigns shortly.

Michael Rowe.

 

There is a third option: WSRA/WSSRT /S&DRT ......

 

I do not see that it would be within the remit of the S&DRT's charitable objectives to be involved in the running of the WSR.
IMHO it would be hard for them to justify declining the original 'begging bowl' request from the Plc on the basis of their legal obligations, only then to run around and become actively involved in WSR politics and boardroom struggles.

 

Why not read that which I posted . Would have saved you posting ?

Michael Rowe

 

The risk would be that a malevolent individual would try to acquire a controlling interest. That same individual would logically have also approached SCC with a view to buying the freehold. More of a magpie than a cuckoo.

 

I guess its going to be a wait and see situation, time will tell who is actually telling it based on fact, if there is a hostile takeover, then Jullian will be shown to be correct and then the question will be put to the other trustees, because if it goes through, will there be any need for any official groups, the PLC might decide to launch its own charity arm .

 

I note that you only insinuate that Mr. Norman does not know what he is talking about. My money says that he does know what he is talking about. <BJ>

 

Taking just the bit I have quoted, I don't think your numbers are right.

From the 2018 confirmation statement, the numbers were:

WSRA - 9.00%
WSSRT - 8.44%
SCC - 2.21%
DEPG - 0.81%

Collectively, that came (as at 2018) to 20.46%. Since then a few more shares have been sold and assuming that those four bodies have not increased their stake, that collective stake is now at 19.91%.

I can't see any other single shareholder with more than 0.2%.

So I don't believe that those four shareholders together could collectively defeat a new person holding 29.9% of the shares. (In fact, for such an individual to exist, the very act of buying that shareholding would seem to further dilute the stake of the "big four").

Not a comment on the likelihood or otherwise, but the numbers don't seem to be there in the way you suggest.

Tom

 

My view might be that given the current situation there is no need for those currently at the help of the PLC to buy shares to obtain control

Failing that a large National Lottery jackpot has to be won tonight