Report by Betaville

On the morning of 8th Feb 2024 Betaville published a paywall protected UNCOOKED Alert re. the renewed takeover rumours circulating about SMDS and highlighted one of the rumoured acquirers as MNDI. An hour and a half later SMDS confirmed it had received an approach from MNDI to create a £10bn packaging giant. SMDS shares initially rose 16% on confirmation of the Alert. Other Betaville Intelligence Alerts that have recently been confirmed include Italy-listed oil refiner Saras and Germany / US-listed pharmaceutical company MorphoSys.

Industrials

Report by Smart Insider

Angela Strank (Non-Executive since 2020) buys £70,000 of stock at £2.69, increasing her stake by 60%. She has made a series of purchases into rising prices since her first buy at £1.44 in Oct 2021 and it's notable to see her now make her largest purchase post strength. It is also her largest purchase across her Director roles at Mondi, Severn Trent and SSE. Stuart Bradie (Non-Executive since May 2023) recently bought £248,000 of stock in his first purchase since joining in 2023. Smart Insider ranks the stock +1 (highest rating).

Materials

Report by TT Equity Research

Following a review of the company’s FY results Teun Teeuwisse's short thesis remains firmly intact - FCF beat was driven by stretched payables and was not reflected in lower net debt. Management like to apply all sorts of definitions to prove the company’s quality, but in reality the quality of results remains weak and SMDS has hidden debt which is at least the size of its reported debt. Recent share price strength has been driven by rumours of a takeover by Mondi, but Teun continues to regard any bid as highly unlikely.