The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
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Looks like the orignal large 630567 trade was cancelled and resubmitted with another 630883 buy trade too. As price has not shifted it suggested someone has a lot of shares to sell here and someone else is mopping up. Stakeholders vs funds? Emma Kane has several million shares she could sell. She would have at least 5-6m shares. See what happens. Getting all the big trades out of way before results?
Looks like the buyer/s and seller/s in background are starting to exchange some serious volumes. Unclear what stock the seller/s have here.
He will likely wait if he does plan to buy in as at least one person/company is currently selling their stock in small amounts on a daily basis. Could have several million stock? The reduction to 8% debt coupon would of frustrated him as he was thinking closer to 4-5%. The dilution too at 3.5p would not of helped. The current directors own little shares here now. Likely still locked out I guess. Not a good indicator. Unless they announce something amazing soon I don't see him buying back here short term.
I mentioned Anna Geffert before in a previous post as a new hire. She has officially been added to the Newgate staff page. She is an associate partner. Over 10 years of experience.
I wonder if Adastra has been tempted back in at these lowly prices seeing as he was constantly flying a kite for Porta. Surprising if he hasn't given his enthusiasm for the new CEO and other appointments.
Yes amazing what can happen to such a big brand PR firm. Investec was one of their clients. They are also one of Newgate's clients. I don't think Newgate are based in Africa. Although the PR networks cover many countries. So maybe this could help Newgate? Newgate team page seems to have a new member. An accountant to their ranks. The new hire I mentioned a few weeks ago is still not on the page. Still down about 5-8 staff from what it used to be. Bigger trades coming in now. 300k buy. Followed by a 148k sell. Still 2-3 medium size investers trading stock here. Unless a small investor bought in today. Should have some news by end of month. (H1 results.) PPS is the big concern here. Brexit has hit the housing market badly. Redleaf, Publicasity and Asian businesses will be the big stars, Note also Hargreaves Hale has been taken over. Hopefully that won't change their position on Porta. See what happens. If anything I think HH is one of the current buyers. Be a few months before we find out what is really happening. I would like to see Ruffers push their position more above 3% too.
Here's hoping the Porta companies are scouting for all the new business that will be out there following the Bell-Pottinger fiasco.
Newgate Communications appoints Craig Harrow as partner http://www.insider.co.uk/news/newgate-communications-appoints-craig-harrow-11075690 Must be slow on the news as I think he has been on webpage of Newgate staff for a while. They do seem to over downsize 5-6 non senior hires. Plus 1-2 senior hires. Then again it is smoke and mirror as they have not added other staff who may have joined lately onto Newgate webpage. At least 1 person missing. Probably more given Gavin Devines comments on that article. 'Commenting on Harrow's appointment, Newgate chief executive Gavin Devine said: “Bringing Craig into the team marks the next stage in our plans to grow our capabilities across the UK.'
'Sanders-Hewett leaves Redleaf for Alma Redleaf Communications has unveiled a new leadership team following a number of appointments, as well as the departure of nine-year veteran Rebecca Sanders-Hewett, who will join financial specialist Alma PR. Sanders-Hewett was head of the firm's capital markets team, which will now be lead by joint heads Elisabeth Cowell, a new joiner from St Brides Partners, and Charlie Geller. Corporate is led by recent hires Guy Smith and Robin Tozer, the latter after a short spell at Thomas Cook. New hire Karen Wragg is one of four leads on the professional and financial services team, and the trio of property team leaders includes another new arrival, Laura Westmacott.' So it looks like someone high up has left but 5 new staff have arrived.
'FX provider Currencies Direct has appointed Redleaf Communications to handle its UK PR, bolstering the agency’s roster of fintech clients.'
Investors webpage updated. SEC S.p.A 23.60% Hawk Investment Holdings Limited 15.29% Retro Grand Limited 6.70% Hargreave Hale 5.88% Fidelity 3.56% Gary Wyatt 3.32% Stephen Byfield 3.29% Ruffer LLP 3.03% Which means all stockholders seem to have retained all their stock. Strange David Wright is still shown as a shareholder. Not posted directors percentages.
Looks liek Newgate have hired another associate partner. Anna Geffert - Recently worked for instinct but now seems to be part of the Newgate Financial team. Not yet announced by Newgate but certainly appearing on RNS feeds for companies they represent. When i find the hire story I will post it.
As far as I can tell the increase in Bob Morton's trust fund and RGL is due to the shares issued from yesterdays RNS. The numbers add up exactly. Bob Morton is not the buyer of shares here. We knew there was some big dilution on the way. They told us 160m shares. So far they have announced 86+18+12+8 = 124m or so. So 36m more shares to go. Redleaf and maybe Singapore or HK? Unless there are more debt deals to follow. They likely delibrately left this to H2 so not to ruin the H1 results. The reality is Porta ran out of cash and now it is having to make deals/share issues at low prices. Still think Hales hargreave or another fund is buyer. Given comments from results about existing shareholders supporting it. They have updated the Porta Investors page to include Sec holding and the picture and description of the new director. They have not updated the holdings of the other firms. Not sure why. FT site is not updated yet either. Redleaf have scored a new contract. http://www.redleafpr.com/media-centre/redleaf-news/2017/august/redleaf-wins-consumer-and-trade-brief-for-london-southend-airport/ 'Guy Smith, Head of Corporate for Redleaf Communications, said: “We’re delighted to be working with such a talented marketing team at London Southend Airport, alongside the other retained agencies. It’s a very exciting time for the airport, which has the capacity to ensure maximum comfort and convenience for its guests. There are significant developments taking place over coming months as new routes to Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin, Malta and Sion are launched in the Autumn.” Redleaf will also work on building relationships with destinations to create future opportunities for the airport and its guests. Over £150 million has been invested in London Southend Airport by owners Stobart Group since it was acquired in 2008. ' .
We have our answer to the exchange of stock......Bob doin his usual wheelin un dealin.....some serious dilution going on here folks......
Note we still have at least 1-2 people/funds exchanging stock here. 225k swap in last few days. There has been no trades on ISDX for almost a week or so now. Pretty much no PI trades for last month or so. Seen it before May 2016 with HH buying 13 million stock in a similar way. They might still be buying? It won't be Gary Wyatt as he buys million blocks. Fidelity has been pretty quiet for years now. Ruffers tend to trade in large chunks. In previous RNS they suggested existing backers were happy to take on more shares. Most market funds at present are not really looking at Porta. Should see a flurry of holding RNS soon. Note also FT site now show Fidelity back at 16m stock. I don't think they ever sold any of their stock. Albeit they have removed the Ruffers second fund that had 5.7m stock. Not sure why. In terms of RNS today. Huge dilution. Loan rate reduce but not by a huge amount. Looks like some sort of merger with Sec in long term. I wonder if they will make an offer for Morton's stock at some point? Least with 3m Porta can deal with some of these future obligations. Be interested to see how the larger network helps Porta and Sec to secure bigger deals. Still talking about ebidta. Albeit revenue and ebitda up. Mixed kettle of fish. Directors 100% locked out. Still buying chunks in other firms. Likely other stuff in background going on as 80m shares yet to issue. Timing!
If the directors really want to see progress on the SP following the welcome news in the RNS today then all they need do is to start buying. Its been a very long time since they have shown the faith.
Really do not know what to make of it......12% to 8%.....in a low interest rate situation not a great reduction.....although we knew of an impending rights issue, all those extra shares equal dilution for existing shareholders.....was the SP massaged lower for all this......I don't know the implications of all these arrangements laid out in the RNS.......anyone else?
Is SECG a better bet than PTCM now?
http://www.gorkana.com/2017/07/redleaf-communications-appoints-capital-markets-director/ This is the fourth director hire for Redleaf in as many months. 'Redleaf Communications has hired Elisabeth Cowell, a former partner at financial PR firm St Brides Partners, as its capital markets director.' I can't believe all these new hires are due to staff turnover. Must be strong demand for Redleaf products. I expect them to be one of the stars in the H1 results.
http://www.odwyerpr.com/site_images/Mergermarket-Rankings.pdf Globally Newgate have climbed 1 place with the value of their deals up 87% compared to H1 2016. Deal count globally is still at 20 for h1 2017. That 87% jump is huge in terms of deal values. The Asia figures are more interesting. Newgate top the table with deals worth US$ 16,209M compared to 1294bn last year. From 17th to 1st. Looks like H1 2017 has been really strong for the Asian businesses. A lot of those figures could be to do with Samsonite. It's still impressive if the figure is up 10 fold on last year. The deal count in Asia is up from 6 to 16. A climb from 9th to 2nd. Note these figures only include transactions above $5m. Couldn't see Newgate on UK deal list. However Redleaf appears on the deal count. 4 in H1 2016 but 9 in H12017. They climbed from 34th to 17th. So this suggest Redleaf, Newgate Aus, Singapore and HK are probably doing very well. I expect to see strong revenue growth in H1 results. Unless PPS has held them back. Publicasity with Tesco deal will also help. Can Newgate turn around a poor 2016 loss? Have a read. Lots of interesting numbers here.
Mean't to post this elsewhere.
https://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/boots-to-shift-1m-uk-consumer-pr-brief-from-red-to-burson-marsteller Red Consultancy have lost £1m Boots consumer Brief. http://www.gorkana.com/2017/07/howden-joinery-hands-citigate-dewe-rogerson-financial-comms-brief/ 'Howdens Joinery, the FTSE 250 UK kitchen supplier, has appointed Citigate Dewe Rogerson to handle its financial communications.'
Looking back at the RNS from Hawk Investment Holdings Limited it had adjusted the percentage figures to account for the share issues. So wait and see if Hales Hargreave follow suit. I doubt they will given previous lack of RNS.
Porta have updated their investors page with todays date but I am still trying to work out what they have updated. Does seem strange that Porta are holding off updating the major shareholders. I suspect one of these shareholders has been snapping up the sold shares here. Maybe they are waiting for the current seller to finish. The FT site now has Hales Hargreave below 8% due to recent share issues. Ruffers just over 4%. There is a difference on holdings of 600k for FIL. Quiet few weeks for Porta trade wise. Too quiet!!.