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Agree GT. It really does appear that HH are determined to divest Porta from their VCT fund. Surely they must be getting concerned that Porta are now getting everything together this year with fresh blood in the driving seat and a lot of experience at senior level being amassed. The positive vibes coming from companies within Porta bodes well this year so hopefully we'll start to get our own communications in order and get new II's on board. 500k shares traded on both exchanges isn't huge but it would be nice to see some chunky buys filtering in to prevent the MM's pulling back the price. I'm not a believer in the theory that MM's are able to hold back the price to allow Directors to buy in as Ray M was happy to buy in at 9.5p. I think we just need confirmation that the business is continuing to grow apace as indicated in the last t/u. All ayes will be on cashflow which should have turned nicely positive and give a good basis for growth this year. Nice to see 13 is getting a few mentions too. Lots of activity on Twitter regarding Porta companies nowadays.
I really love your own reasoned argument df - - - you really have got 'Victor Meldrew Syndrome'.
Not suprised this has dropped a bit. Over 350k sold in 2 days on LSE. Just noticed a 145k sell on ISDX today too. That explains the 7.5% drop. Albeit the price has recovered slightly. I still believe HH is still selling here or small investors are getting nervous. Unclear which. ISDX is likely small investors.
Wrong again!!!
I think this got missed. Dice_tech UK have selected Thirteen Comms as PR and digital agency. (8th March.) https://twitter.com/ThirteenComms Strange trading day. Tried a buy trade and it came in at exactly 7p. Yet 3-4 trades and the price has crept up on all of them from 6.5p-6.65p. Are they all sells?
HH changed is policy on 10th and decided to hold its existing position pending more news. Porta 2016 is evolving at such a pace that HH do not want to be 'wrong footed'. This will allow the rerate that is seeing a buoyant rise and should now be sustained in the absence of a surfeit of shares. If it continues, 10p is the par-value target that provides the next floor and springboard. The long patience game will pay off as business is strong and assets are accretive over time. Worth the wait IMO....
7.25p by end week......and it's a short week :)))
Just noticed it did recognise my old name
This is my first post with this new name I have been a holder for a few years and formerly Ekay yes that far back. I feel the company over the past few years have let its holders down badly.Every time we had a share hike a couple of years ago we ended with a massive dilution through a poor purchase. However now I feel the company is ready to move forward.The company have a reasonable trading reputation and as long as consolidation is their main concern I feel we can hit the dizzy heights of 10p very soon I do hope the directors will release updates as soon as possible. Communication with share holders has not been their strength in the past
Up 3.8% and you say 'lit the share up'??? For goodness sake please get a grip!!
Something's lit this share up. After several false dawns, it is starting to look more and more like sentiment has turned. There is only so long that the market can ignore the disparity between shareprice and performance. Porta has been doing everything right - the turn could be rapid and sustained given the length of negativity.
It is also possible HH stopped at 5.58%. Then someone else started selling stock.
Thanks for all the 'in depth' digging GT, I agree with your observations. From what I can gather, Porta independently updated their website with the HH holding rather than being directly informed by HH, hence the delay. I also believe that the single biggest problem, ironically, was appointing Sanlam as Nomad and broker in October 2014. In my opinion they simply failed to do their job in that they neither promoted Porta to investors nor did they engage and line up prospective new institutions for 'block buys' when they became available. If you look back, Porta engaged Sanlam as a proactive nomad/broker in order to help rectify the disparity between its upbeat performance and downbeat shareprice. The company has grown massively by both organic expansion and acquisition since Oct 2014. Revenues have soared, fee income has increased to a percentage way above its peers, all directors have bought in quantity, and every RNS has indicated positive growth. And yet we have basically flat-lined [with a few minor peaks/troughs] since then. I can fully understand df1976’ frustration. He is not alone. A big weakness of the Nomad system is that the regulator of a company is also a supplier of services – thus providing possible conflict of interest. Sanlam had well-documented problems in 2015. Each Nomad requires four [overpaid!] qualified execs to comply with the law and Sanlam was struggling. Two subsequently migrated to Allanby and Sanlam quickly divested its corporate finance function to Allanby [hence recent change of broker]. During the whole of 2015 therefore, we were basically left to drift with market sentiment rather than being positively promoted with institutional engagement. The result…..poor share-price performance in contrast to a strengthening and diversifying company performance. I suspect that kick up the **** , the appointment of SW and engagement of in-house Capital Access is now paying off. As GT points out, we now appear to be in a watershed where HH has [temporarily?] halted selling down awaiting developments. Time will tell but I think the tide is turning.
http://www.portunusinvestments.co.uk/downloads/taxefficientreview-hargreave-hale-january2016.pdf This site suggests the HH VCT1 still hold their stock in Jan 2016. So maybe they are still holding Porta shares in certain funds?
http://www.marlboroughfunds.com/Uploads/AIR-NO2OEIC.pdf This is interesting. They list a major sale relating to Porta Communications for £484,387 in the period up to July 31st 2015. Could this be who Bob Morton bought out in 2015 when he bought 6.3M shares?? Would be about 40-50k below this transaction cost? Interestingly the fund is linked to Hargreaves Hale. So when Porta updated HH percentage drop of 4% in their company in January 2016 maybe the Porta website was slow to update on their website? We know HH had around 25-27M shares. 4% of Porta's shares would be 11M shares. Add up the recent sells and that large 6M sell we assumed was an ex director and you can make some interesting assumptions. It's no wonder Porta's share has struggled over last year or so. One reason we get no RNS from HH is that all the funds are stored in various funds that HH is a part of. I bet none of them hold more than 3% of Porta's shares. Thoughts???
Thank you for your comments Adastra. You are spot on (Not just about me. ) Sure things have not gone as planned here but I believe the company has evolved from a start up company to one that is now growing and pushing towards making a profit. To start a company from scratch is never easy. I hope you are right about HH. I think HH have underestimated this share and were currently selling against the market. Been 211k shares traded on ISDX today. One 100k buy. Others mix of buys and sells. I do think we could push to 7p here if buyers return on positive news feed.
I'm resilient enough to shrug off such a cynical comment. In all your 24 posts df you seem to have formed a very polarised view of Porta which makes you somewhat of an enigma. If you are a shareholder carrying a current loss, which you admit to being, then why did you not go to the last AGM and voice your opinion or send it by proxy. I was there. Have you personally talked at length with each of the directors? Have you corresponded and interacted regularly with new director, Steffan or with PR at Redleaf? Have you actually done the depth of research that vindicates your negativity? I have a shedload of respect for GoTrader. His posts are invariably well researched and he most certainly monitors the PR press, as do I, for background info. Steffan comes with a huge amount of experience which is relevant to Porta. He brings a wealth of new connections which are pivotal to PR and communications. Gavin Devine will do exactly the same when he joins in July. No, I can't cover all angles and there is always the possibility of surprise in either direction, but I have done the research to justify my optimism. Do I think that we have the team to evolve into a £50-100m business in the medium term - yep. All it takes is a change of sentiment here as all the building blocks are well in place and construction increasing at a pace. I also believe that HH have had a strategic rethink on their holding and will now halt their VCT reduction. This should assist in the long-overdue rerate.
The BOD will now have details for first 3 months of 2016 and this package seems to be an indicator of this. Especially for DW who many thought would not be staying on for many more months let alone years. The 3 year plan includes him. It also shows SW will play a big role in Porta for next 3 years. This update also gave the GM date of April 6th. That will mean a TU too on that date? Or is this different to an AGM? My gut is another announcement will be made on this day. Acquisition/Merger?? Why hold a GM for a bonus scheme? is this normal? No doubt an RNS will be announced to show result of vote. I also think this has been timed well too. They left it till HH was well into selling what stock it has left. The last week has seen very few large trades in terms of sells. It could mean HH are close to finishing their selling here or are taking a break. I also still believe they will time the acquisitions before the results so to allow directors to buy in at the end of May. PR firms are great at timing stuff. They may also use 6th to announce a new II? Did anyone reaad the rather sarcastic comment in the Evening Standard today about the share scheme? Suggesting that Porta timed it on budget day and the comment about the share price being down 50-60% compared to 2 years ago? Least Porta got some column inches here. I think df1976 needs to relax. Yes we know he is sitting on a loss like many others. This is not Adastra's fault. I think Adastra is doing no harm here. His commentary is good. I certainly enjoy reading some positive comments on this share. I also believe the Sp is depressed due to II selling rather than poor performance of the company.
maybe he feels its time to send a clear message to the market , 6/7p wont be here for ever. i have no problem with doubling our SP .
have you got a shine to him in our spare room?? Very strange in deed the level of devotion you have for 'steffan' - borderline infatuation some would say ?
I suggest you get in touch with Steffan if you are a current shareholder. I think his enthusiasm for Porta and the not inconsiderable reduction in his remuneration package versus what you would expect is a massive indication of how much he knows can drive the company. He knows what assets he has and he clearly sees how they can work increasingly and strongly together. His vision of a fully integrated and seamless communications and marketing company is now evolving as witnessed by recent wins.
For a start....with all their experience maybe they could try getting share price moving without dangling a carrot...surley they already get rewarded handsomely to deliver the goods!! They have delivered sweet F A so far!! Another corrupt boys club aim stinker I'm afraid.
Everything is moving in a positive direction and has been since 2011. Strong trading has been re-iterated time and again. Directors have bought consistently, and in quantity for over 18 months. We have transitioned from a cash-hungry company growing by start-up and acquisition to a cash-generator in 2016. As DW has repeatedly stated, he is disillusioned that the shareprice has failed, and is failing, to reflect the massive progress made. The answer is to hire the big hitters like Steffan and Gavin to accelerate even more. These guys are no turkeys. They are jumping on board with impressive career histories so they are equally convinced of the outstanding possibilities here. Do I want them on incentivised performance above 13p?? Damn right I do because that doubles exactly the value of the paper in my hand now, this moment in time. Will I vote it through? You bet I will. Porta is going places. Jump on or step off - the choice as always is with the investor but this scheme will certainly sweeten potential II's.
Why do they need to increase directors pay anyway??? As a reward for delivering shareholder value???
Glad to see you have taken your tablets this morning!!