London South East prides itself on its community spirit, and in order to keep the chat section problem free, we ask all members to follow these simple rules. In these rules, we refer to ourselves as "we", "us", "our". The user of the website is referred to as "you" and "your".
By posting on our share chat boards you are agreeing to the following:
The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. You agree that we have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic or board at any time should we see fit. You agree that we have the right to remove any post without notice. You agree that we have the right to suspend your account without notice.
Please note some users may not behave properly and may post content that is misleading, untrue or offensive.
It is not possible for us to fully monitor all content all of the time but where we have actually received notice of any content that is potentially misleading, untrue, offensive, unlawful, infringes third party rights or is potentially in breach of these terms and conditions, then we will review such content, decide whether to remove it from this website and act accordingly.
Premium Members are members that have a premium subscription with London South East. You can subscribe here.
London South East does not endorse such members, and posts should not be construed as advice and represent the opinions of the authors, not those of London South East Ltd, or its affiliates.
Started: Gotrader, 22 Aug 2019 17:31
Last post: Gotrader, 22 Aug 2019 17:31
https://www.newgatecomms.com/blog/index.php/2019/08/22/newgate-secures-the-economist-open-future-festival-win/
'Newgate Communications has been appointed by The Economist to lead communications for its Open Future Festival initiative in Manchester.'
They are also up for the Holmes Report Corporate/Financial Consultancies of the Year. Holmes pointing to their Asian operation.
https://www.holmesreport.com/events-awards/agencies-of-the-year/2019-agencies-of-the-year/asia-pacific
Started: Gotrader, 1 Aug 2019 11:01
Last post: Gotrader, 1 Aug 2019 11:01
Sec was 125p in August 2018. It's down 38% today to 40p. I think were getting 0.88p per share. Why is a company supposedly making 2.6m unaudited profit worth so little? Is this due to the losses they have suffered on Porta? What does this mean for the shares we will be offered? Perhaps like Porta most of these profits are going to third party shareholders.
Are they dropping the price deliberately just before the deal? Can anything now be done to stop this deal?
Started: Gotrader, 19 Jul 2019 02:04
Last post: Gotrader, 19 Jul 2019 18:23
Yorkshire energy company acquired in £4m deal
https://www.insidermedia.com/insider/deals/yorkshire-energy-company-acquired-in-4m-deal
Newgate advise John Laing Environmental Assets Group (JLEN).
https://www.prweek.com/article/1590944/newgate-advises-investment-firm-planned-750m-thomas-cook-package
Guessing this is an Asian client of theirs? Fosum.
Started: Pennyholic, 20 Jun 2019 18:15
Last post: Pennyholic, 20 Jun 2019 18:15
Worth noting that this has the same chairman as PTSG which rose 110% today and has been instrumental in the merger. He has a great history of getting things right
What a share price.
Started: Gotrader, 21 May 2019 21:22
Last post: Gotrader, 21 May 2019 21:22
Up to 94 on Newgate staff page now. Ian Morris appears to be a new partner. Among 1-2 new junior staff.
Share price now below the 0.77p it was suggested in the merger deal. Such a shame what is happening here.
Started: val62, 16 May 2019 09:53
Last post: Gotrader, 16 May 2019 23:18
Seems to me like they ran out of money. Debts and fact that their bureaucratic UK operation was churning cash.
Have to wait and see what this Sec merger does. With 10-11m debt we will get heavily diluted, Especially if all turned to equity.
I had hoped another firm might put an offer in here but it seems no one wants to come in here. They would have to pay 15m or so if they wanted to take out the debt. A merger to slash costs would really help here.
Sec released a somewhat strong trading update on 9th May. What cost savings can the 2 firms together really add here? Paying off debt could save 1m a year. Sharing locations could also save a lot. Slashing management costs would be the key here. This board of directors are costing 1m or so a year?
How much do we really trust the Italian accounts here? Their previous results showed many errors. Their full year results are due out soon?
I’ve lost a fortune on this stock
Any news,Anyone
Are the board competent?
All big names but that means nothing
Just my angry thoughts!!!!!!
Started: Gotrader, 12 Apr 2019 18:27
Last post: Panofscouse, 18 Apr 2019 22:12
...so am I thank God. Worst share I've ever held.
Yes TTMV was a classic case of one big client which if they go the business fails.
Summit never really seemed to make money. Same for their European offices which just seemed to go.
Redleaf/Publicasity have done okay.
Newgate Uk has been like a lost sheep. It just seems like no one was watching what money was being spent.
The large volume of senior hires DW bought in just never seemed to cover their wages. Large bits of work can be very profitable but if they don't come in then you are just left with a large wage bill. These senior hires were on huge wages. Some of their existing staff it seems were not covering their wages either. (How can you run a business like that?)
The fact that they could find 3.6m of costs that could be removed says a lot here. That coupled with crippling loans and large rent costs made Newgate almost unprofitable. These new firms should of been integrated much sooner. Partly delayed by fact they never fully owned Redleaf. It might have been better to offer an all share buy out of Redleaf at start and strip out costs asap.
There is a lot of dividends from Asian firms still leaving Newgate. So 1.5M profit which a 1/3rd+quickly gets paid out to third parties. Even so with 1m or so buffer the UK office needed to make some money. I think the belief of the board was that they would quickly expand and find cost savings this way. It just never seemed to happen as they ran out of cash and the SP dropped. The way this merger with SEC is taking place shows how far Porta has fallen from it's 13-17p grace.
I hate to say this but the board have been led by ego and greed
Look at the salaries!!
Business is simple income must exceed expenditure
Forward earnings come next to build shareholder confidence
Even before DW took over From WFCA/TTMV it was going wrong
The Morton’s have been living off reputations of old and that applies to the current CEO
Such a shame but not unusual on AIM stocks
'In June 2018, Porta ceased payment of the interest on the RGL instrument, and as such started to incur penalty interest on the capital and unpaid interest, resulting in a debt increase of £0.6m. Combined with the £0.3m of accrued interest on the DDB, accounted for an increase of £0.9m of the debt balance, which was marginally offset by decreases in finance lease obligations and the RCF, part of which was re-paid.'
So if they don't make certain debt target they incur rates of 12%. Looks like June 2018 they were running out of cash. I guess this merger will remove the debt? This business needs a 10-12m cash injection. Remove 1.3m of yearly interest and after all the add backs they might make some money. The write off of 0.5m will help 2019 accounts.
Overall the Asian businesses seem to be doing well. China businesses booming. Middle East operations have recovered well. It's just the core costs in the UK causing a financial burden. Same story as last year. They needed to make cut backs in the UK but it seems 0.8-1.4m to do this was too big a burden.
See what the merger brings. How much more cost savings can be made with SEC? 2-3 million if they remove debt completely? If people are going to make money out of this it wont be the Porta Shareholders.
Started: Gotrader, 10 Apr 2019 14:41
Last post: Gotrader, 12 Apr 2019 17:49
Yes the silence had me worried. I knew something was up.
Their annual report says as of 11/03/2019 Hales Hargreaves still had all 25m shares. No idea about Jeremy Wyatt or other holders here below 3%.
This is a reverse merger. Will it not be on the AIM market? Not read all the jargon in full. Overall it does not look good. As we will likely get diluted by parties injecting monies into the firm. They won't want to take on 10m debt at 8%. SEC already has financial duties to pay for ownership of other firms.
Problem with Porta is it went wrong a few years back when TTMV and 1-2 other offices failed. Debt has since spiralled. The share have been heavily diluted with nearly 200m shares since. The minute the share collapsed it stopped them doing any proper mergers.
I think it's only a merger as SEC failed to raise 4-5m in their fund raiser on the open market last year.
Porta has never really been able to afford these 8-12% loans. They have crippled the firms finances. Many investors here are down 10's of thousands here. I know quite a few wanting to sell at these prices fearing they will lose everything. Difficult decision time. Will this new group start making money?
What is your thoughts?
Not keen on the so called merger and dealing in the new stock may not be easy
4.4m loss after 3rd party payouts. Further loans planned. Revenue circa 35-36m. Conversion rate of Porta shares here is very small. Not worked out the actual value at current market prices. Too much to take in.
Started: Gotrader, 1 Apr 2019 17:42
Last post: Gotrader, 1 Apr 2019 17:42
Foxy Bingo!
https://www.holmesreport.com/latest/article/emea-news-in-brief-(march-25-2019)
LONDON — Foxy Bingo has tasked Publicasity with its digital strategy and Facebook community management along with news creation and media sell-in. Foxy Bingo is home to over 10 online rooms of 75-ball, 90-ball, 80-ball and 30-ball bingo slots. The account is headed up by managing partner Paul McCaffrey.
Publicasity may also be in running for Yakult contract. Albeit there are 2 other firms tendering for this from what I can see. Fingers crossed Google is not making that up.
Started: Gotrader, 1 Apr 2019 16:25
Last post: Gotrader, 1 Apr 2019 16:25
Looks like a decent contract win covering many areas. Hope this is no April fools joke! It's after 12 now.
https://www.prweek.com/article/1580695/brief-air-new-zealand-chooses-agency-ketchum-adds-fitness-client-wins-newgate-agent-42
'Newgate wins account for leading HR and payroll provider
Integrated corporate reputation agency Newgate Communications has won a competitive pitch to provide corporate PR support to Moorepay. The company provides over 10,000 SME businesses with sophisticated software to make their payroll and HR easier and a suite of service solutions to support happy, healthy workplaces and boost wellbeing at work. Newgate will provide corporate communications support, including two significant campaigns for this year, alongside stakeholder and influencer engagement, and media relations.'
Started: Gotrader, 23 Mar 2019 00:52
Last post: Gotrader, 1 Apr 2019 11:16
More chance of good news on IQE right now than here? Didn't know how to remove post below. Someone needs to report the post?
No idea when results will be. End of April? Will they actually tell us before they arrive? Friend thinks there will be no major news till debt restructured. I think they want to get all bad news cleared from 2018. Then they can announce 2019 as the year they are closer to or in profit. 2-3m cost savings and no profit would look bad. Q4 is the key period. They have been announcing a lot of new clients which is hopefully good news.
I still have faith in this share albeit the background sellers keep dumping 500-700k of shares. Really confusing to know who actually owns what shares here. Ruffers and Herlad management sold out? I assume someone else is buying these shares?
In terms of IQE I see a similar pattern to what happened here. They keep promising the world then fail to deliver. Not suprised it fell from 180p to 57p, This is one reason not to keep doing RNS if 1-2 months later the news is actually worse. Albeit the RNS news here has pretty much dried up. Not had any real news in 3-4 months. Albeit their Twitter feeds do give client and other news.
Their European partners SEC are not doing well. Share price peaked around 120p now around 80p. Little or no news apart from changes of advisors, accounting issues and one acquistion. I wonder if like Porta they may run out of cash. Hence why no takeover here from them. In fact their investment here has fallen by 2-3m. When you part buy companies it can cost xm a few years later.
Fingers crossed 2019 is year Porta can turn the corner. No news is normally good news. That or they are just not telling us anything. We will see soon enough.
Hi Gotrader just as well I follow you on IQE board as well as PTCM!
https://www.iqep.com/media/2019/03/ambitious-plans-for-the-world%E2%80%99s-first-compound-semiconductor-cluster-awarded-seed-funding/
'Each of the shortlisted projects from the first wave of UK Research and Innovation’s Strength in Places Fund has been awarded up to £50k in early-stage funding, which will allow applicants to develop full-stage bids. Teams behind these projects will then submit these bids to UK Research and Innovation in late 2019, with four to eight of the strongest set to receive between £10m and £50m each to carry out projects designed to drive substantial economic growth.'
So they could get 10-50m in cash from the government?
In terms of SP. The short website was not updated on Friday. It looks like 2 brokers have reduced SP target. 70p and 120p. Debt is not a huge issue right now as they have the credit facility. I don't know how much funds they need to set up the current facilities over next 12-24 month. If they can match their prfot forcares some debt should be acceptable if they are making money.
Is current SP fall due to new shorts under 0.5% or funds just getting out. Sadly we can't see those below 0.5%. I think the major shareholder here is likely still buying. They were happily buying at prices 10-15p above this. Maybe even arranged?
This is the issue with IQE. It's become a day trading share. You buy at the low points and sell at 20p higher before the next fall. Could be H2 before we see some real pressure on price here.
Started: Gotrader, 29 Mar 2019 17:04
Last post: Gotrader, 29 Mar 2019 17:04
New client Koovs PLC. Clothing firm getting help from all areas of Newgate it seems. Including the CEO.
https://www.newgatecomms.com/blog/index.php/2019/03/29/koovs-plc-appoints-newgate-as-its-financial-comms-adviser/
Started: Gotrader, 28 Mar 2019 17:01
Last post: Gotrader, 28 Mar 2019 17:01
Newgate Communications has appointed Nina Dowell, chief operating officer (COO), to the board, resulting in the most senior managerial roles, executive chair, chief executive and COO, being held by women. Nina is responsible for all administrative functions supporting the effectiveness of client-facing teams in the UK and is a member of the UK’s senior leadership team. She is responsible for finance, IT and facilities and talent acquisition. Deborah Saw, executive chair of Newgate, said: “We are very proud of the fact that the three most senior roles in our agency are held by women. Nina brings a wealth of experience, expertise and insight to the board. She is a key member of the team.”
Some big sells going through but share price not really moving. Unclear what holdings all the major shareholders have now. FT and other sites no longer show HH and Ruffers full holding. Same for Herald Investment Management. The shares must be going somewhere?
Started: Gotrader, 19 Mar 2019 16:45
Last post: Gotrader, 19 Mar 2019 16:45
https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/fogchain-appoints-newgate-communications-as-its-pr-adviser-2019-03-19
Fogchain appointed Newgate as PR advisor. Small company but a new client none the less. They are based in Canada.
Started: Gotrader, 25 Jan 2019 13:50
Last post: Gotrader, 12 Mar 2019 16:47
PR Weekly showing Newgate Communications have hired Dan Clay from WPP. He has been on there website since end of January. Not sure why some PR news is so slow to come out. PR timing.
Also not had an RNS from Porta for 3 months now. No news is good news?
Staff page up to 93 now. Could be part of the UK research arm or new clients
They were financial PR for Digitalbox IPO. Small fry but least they are still getting them.
Looks like Newgate Research now has a managing Parter called Dan Clay in the UK. He joined in January. Be interesting to see what this research arm adds to the UK operations.
https://www.cision.co.uk/2019/01/60-seconds-with-newgate-communications-emma-kane/
Worth a read. She is actually talking about profitability and Newgate in the same sentence. Also interesting that they are rolling out the research element in UK which has been key to the Australian success. See what results or TU bring. Lot of the bad news and costs has been placed in 2018. Along with 1-2m cost saving.
Last post: ismalia, 22 Feb 2019 08:21
From last year I note we can expect the results in April and the good news so far is that there has been no profit or trading warning of bad figures. Also and importantly candidates and clients have confidence in the company as they continue to place work or join the company. It is also fair to say that there is high operational gearing and once costs can be covered further revenues will fall to the bottom line. I have only been here for a few weeks but feel that the company with its new management has tremendous potential from the current £4m or so MC
Started: Gotrader, 19 Feb 2019 16:50
Last post: Gotrader, 19 Feb 2019 16:50
https://www.newgatecomms.com/blog/index.php/2019/02/19/newgate-teams-up-with-london-stock-exchange-groups-elite/
More work coming Newgate's way. Seems to be a constant flow of new clients recently.
Still a big seller in background. You still going to risk more money here? They did a trading update before H1 results in August 2018. Hard to read numbers with so many one off costs. They were trading ahead of expectation on an ebidta basis and that was forecast to be 15% lower. Albeit they had been cutting back on staff and non profitable clients. The key here is q4 performance and impact of new clients and performance of Asian operations.
Only 200k but would like to add next week. Appart from the debt which I think they can sort things seem to be good. Not too sure if they will issue more stock at this low level but there could be a convertable and perhaps a consolidation. But I like the top management as they appear to be professional and know what they are doing. Also and importantly they have put their hands in their pockets to buy in. I see that the results are due in a couple of months and this should show further progress as far as losses are concerned with the new trading year being profitable.
Seems to always be a background seller here. Did you buy 500k of stock? Debt deal is in hand but it's taking them months to announce it. Only other concern if they start issuing more shares at 1p for Asian businesses.
I think the business is trading ahead of expectation judging by the 4-5 hires and new contracts. Albeit they have not done an RNS to say this.
I think there could be a decent upside here if the debt rate is reduced and they can turn a decent profit soon. Lot of bad news has been cleared in 2018.
OK so there is interest at these levels so in I will go.
Can anyone advise please as I am just having a look at PTCM and feel they are somewhat undervalued although I appreciate they have debt. But they also have some strong investor backing. The Directors have bought in at 3p plus and seem to be on the case in brining the company into profit. They are taking on staff and winning work from some very well known businesses. Over the recent months the sp has been going only one way but with a MC of £4m they appear well undervalued. Any thoughts before I take the plunge?
Last post: Toad1957, 14 Feb 2019 08:48
https://www.prweek.com/article/1525605/jurys-inn-hotel-group-books-new-uk-pr-agency
Yes Gotrader life at Publicasity, very welcome....
Publicasity have got a new client. Jury Inns will be taking on their PR services. Second client win for them in a week.
Started: Gotrader, 11 Feb 2019 17:11
Last post: Gotrader, 11 Feb 2019 17:11
Looks like Publicasity are now doing PR for Seiko watches. No time like the present to takeover this brief. Watch this space!
https://www.prweek.com/article/1525198/seiko-hands-brief-new-uk-comms-agency
Started: Gotrader, 8 Feb 2019 16:58
Last post: Gotrader, 8 Feb 2019 16:58
https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/market/6306158/Increased-Recommended-Offer
Earthport being taken over. This is a Newgate client. So Hopefully some money for advising on this. Deal worth 247m.
Started: Panofscouse, 6 Feb 2019 18:48
Last post: Gotrader, 6 Feb 2019 23:52
They really need to issue a TU. Not sure they are even planning one. As most buys and sells here seem pretty planned and mostly existing investors swapping shares.
There was nearly 700k stock traded on Nexexchange today. I assume they were mostly buys. So usual pattern of the buyer and seller here. The Newgate staff page now has 92 people listed. This has gradually been increasing in last few months. They do seem to be winning new clients.
My issue is the SP, debt and fact they are not yet making money. Wonder how many more shares this seller has? Also who it might be? I think this exchange has been going on for nearly a year now. That or someone is just buying up sold shares. Hmmm.
Guess directors are locked out if still discussing debt? That or simply don't want to buy. Results could come sooner here as they have been pushing most bad news into 2018. Setting up 2019 to try and make a profit?
Remember that Status Quo song 'Down, Down' - reminds me of Porta.
Started: Gotrader, 4 Feb 2019 17:48
Last post: Gotrader, 4 Feb 2019 17:49
Seems they are hiring more staff due to new clients and expanding existing customers. There was a similar announcement to this last November. Let's hope this leads to some actual profits and increase in share price.
Started: Gotrader, 23 Jan 2019 15:13
Last post: Gotrader, 23 Jan 2019 15:13
Normally get a trading update about now. Still no news on debt. Any more share issues at 1p would be a nightmare. Or update on how relations with SEC are going. There sp is below 90p now. Peak of 125p.