A couple of bits of excitement this Tuesday. First, you may have read from the UK insurance company RSA (RSA) that it was taken over late last month and that the exiting chairman was able to conclude that about three hundred years ‘the acquisition of RSA has delivered attractive, certain value for our shareholders and I wish Intact and Tryg every success for the future’. I wonder what I will be doing with the decent cash return they have paid? Certainly was not a bad buy a year and a bit more ago. It is also nice to see shares in Biffa (BIFF) moving back above three quid each today.
I have had a positive view on the waste management company Biffa (BIFF) for a while now, mentioning last October here that ‘on a similar multiple for its likely earnings for the 2021 or 2022 full years and this is how you get a three quid odd share price target’. Back then the stock was about 220 pence, but today it is almost at my three quid target...and it is nothing to do with its next set of numbers (which are due next week). Earlier today, Biffa announced it would be buying the collections business and ‘certain recycling assets’ from its industry peer Viridor. So why are its shares up nicely this morning?
Biffa plc (BIFF) describes itself as “the UK's leading sustainable waste management business”. This FTSE 250 company has, like many, suffered from the lockdown restrictions but previously not as significantly as it feared and there looks further recovery and growth potential ahead not discounted in the share price...
Corporate deals always provide insight. If you have been around for a while, then you will know that a bunch of deals struck in 1997, 1999 and 2007 typically did not age well. The jury remains out for the last couple of years but, suffice to say, the old mantra of 'price is what you pay and value is what you get' is still hugely relevant. That ramble brings us to my old mucker Biffa (BIFF), which is active in the waste and recycling business...
