James Crean management has taken a hammering in recent weeks for its stewardship of an industrial holding company whose shares have plummeted from 716p seven years to a low of 120p a few weeks ago.
The shares might have recovered a few pence since then, but most view the upside for the shares as very poor until either the management is changed, or the existing management shows some coherent strategy to extract Crean from the current mire.
Irish funds managers, who deserted the shares as their value plunged in recent years, have little confidence in the Crean management and even at their current level find little attraction.
Some believe that US investors like Tweedy Browne, who have bought into Crean in the past year, are basically in Crean as a potential recovery stock.
Crean as a recovery investment was given some credence by a report this week by Dolmen Investments who say that at 135p, a prospective p/e of 6.4 per cent and a prospective dividend yield of almost 3.9 per cent, most of the negative news is already in the price.
The only thing that can be said about buying Crean at these levels is that the share can hardly fall much further.
Anybody investing in Crean as a recovery play should be aware, however, of the dismal record of Crean management in providing value for shareholders in the past.
