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'Free' IC d/checked, relax it's a 'monthly' reminder 'thingy' - nothing traceable in the offing IMHO so, 'as long as you're prepared to wait' - the previous non-subs info seems as crystal balled, but I'm A'non Sub, you may know different!
Last two days - 1.5m shares bt - some FTSE profit takers finding a 'safe' home, or 'extra officio portfolio' activity? NB The Giro D'Italia Cycle Race is on ATM, hence the 'latin'; Mark Cavendish - 2 x Stage Wins, "Rule Br....... etc !
Only the intro is available unless you subscribe, but that reiterates known facts - SPK are winding down! IC emphasise the, "guaranteed risk free return 'currently available for 10.25p/share, and pitch the return at 17% over a year!" ..... but as long as you're prepared to wait is probable more accurate! The undisclosed detail to non-subs is probably their contributors assessment of the value of the companies SPK have invested in ie more guess work in today's economic climate!! So sit tight if you have time on your hands, or find something else riskier but with quicker, or no returns!!
Can you summarise the comment please?
Loads of action today but no idea what's behind it! Any thoughts? Doesn't appear to be anything noted in share news.....
7m shares bt Thursday's, absent from listed volume's - 84k sells, and 19k buys! Early buys Fri Circa 335k, sells 42k ! Just the ask falling to 10p, or what .. ?
SPARK Ventures plc ("SPARK" or the "Company") Result of General Meeting The Company is pleased to announce that at the General Meeting of the Company held at 10.00 a.m. today, Resolutions 3 and 4 to approve the proposed Return of Cash, were duly passed on a show of hands. Resolutions 1 and 2 were withdrawn by the directors, as the Company had received £2.58 million from the liquidation of Wycombe AS Realisations Limited (formerly Aspex Semiconductor Limited) by the time of the General Meeting, as announced on 14 January 2013. Accordingly, the Company will proceed with the Enhanced Return of 2.5 pence per Existing Ordinary Share (in aggregate approximately £10.27 million).
A return of 2.5p per share is to be proposed shortly for payment in January. The total value of the portfolio was worth £54.7m on September 30th, up from £49.2m on September 30th 2011. Chairman statement to shareholders In a statement addressed to shareholders, David Potter, Chairman of SPARK Ventures, said: "In addition to the sales made after the year end and referred to in my June statement the situation on Aspex has clarified and an excellent outcome has been achieved. As set out in our announcement of December 5th 2012, if the Aspex liquidator makes payment early in the new year, we intend to approve a payment of 2.5p per share (approximately £10.27m in aggregate). "This means that since we started the process of winding up the portfolio, and returning cash to the shareholders, you will have received over £26m whilst the company still has a significantly higher NAV than when we started in 2009. I think that these results confirm the original wisdom of seeking a five year work out and avoiding any appearance of a fire sale. The board are actively pursuing all avenues for the realisation of investments; trade sale, flotation or secondary and we are hopeful of further substantial realisations during 2013. We are also conscious of the potential value of the ultimate quoted cash shell and the embedded tax losses and will be seeking to maximise the value of these where possible."
AIM-listed SPARK Ventures, the investor in early stage digital information and technology companies, posted its half-yearly results for the period ending September 30th. The results showed that pre-tax profit quadrupled to £1.01m from £237,000 in the corresponding period in 2011. The net asset value (NAV) per ordinary share increased to 16.16p from 15.95p at March 31st. The cash balance at the end of the period was £10m, twice the value at the end of March 2012. Portfolio performance The group, which has a portfolio of 10 companies, reported strong revenue performance from several portfolio companies. The IMI valuation slightly reduced due to foreign exchange differences and share option dilution. Aspex sold its trade and intellectual property for anticipated ultimate proceeds of £8.5m to SPARK. OpenX doubled in value following the conclusion of funding round. Partial disposals of Kobalt & Notonthehighstreet.com raised £4.3m in cash.
SPK confirm in an RNS that they will pay out a minimum of 2p per share (could be 2.5p if conditions are met), for the sale of interests in shares.
Simon Thompson, Investors Chronicle, 1.11.12 - Tip recommendation: It's not often you come across an investment offering a rock solid 25 per cent potential capital return over the next 15 months, and arguably far more, where the downside risk is virtually non-existent. It’s even rarer still to be given a second chance to invest in such a situation, but that's the enticing opportunity being offered by Spark Ventures (SPK), the Aim-traded investment company focused on technology and new media. ... So not only are management's and shareholders' interests aligned but, with the portfolio performing well and disposals surpassing expectations, a further distribution to shareholders of 14.25p per share, or £58.4m, looks a realistic, if not a conservative possibility over the next 15 months. That's after factoring in wind-up costs, management incentives and property liabilities. Needless to say I rate Spark Ventures' shares, at 11.25p, a medium-term value buy.
I had a brief e-mail exchange, today, with SPK Company Secretary on the distribution of receipts from the sale. This is what he had to say: Aspex has most of the cash – because they sold the IP and assets whereas normally we would sell shares. This cash has to make it to the shareholders of Aspex via a capital route so the other shareholders can qualify for entrepreneurial relief. Therefore there needs to be a liquidation, and this takes longer. Once a liquidator has been appointed, they ought to be able to make an interim distribution. It is our current estimate that Spark would receive a further tranche of cash in mid-November. If so, we would call an EGM for mid-December with a payout pre Xmas. Hope this helps, but as you can see, there are a few “IF”’s in there….. My reservation is that it’s uncertain…and once a liquidator is appointed, timing is out of our hands. However it is fairly safe to say that a distribution won’t be before December. Best Andy
Spark Ventures is to sell the on-going business of Aspex Semiconductor to Ericsson and return the proceeds to Aspex shareholders. When combined with loan repayments to Spark by Aspex, the deal could net Spark over £7m. "The board continues to expect that another substantial return of cash to shareholders will be made during the Autumn, although the exact timing of such a repayment is largely dependent upon the timing of receipts from Aspex," Spark added.
NAV 16p. IC says: "That means over £26m of investments are in the price for nothing, including a £15.9m holding in IMImobile, a highly profitable provider of the technology infrastructure for mobile data, voice and video services to mobile telecom operators and media companies. It's worth pointing out that there is every incentive for the management team carrying out the disposals to get the best possible prices because they are entitled to 15 per cent of future distributions made to Spark shareholders once 11p a share has been paid out, falling to 5 per cent once 14p a share has been returned. That's potentially a £3m payout. It is also reassuring that non-executive director Michael Whitaker, who was previously founding chief executive of Spark, is one of the largest shareholders, with a 5.6 per cent stake. So not only are management's and shareholders' interests aligned, but with the portfolio performing well and disposals surpassing expectations, a further distribution to shareholders of 14.25p share, or £58m, over the next 18 months could prove conservative even after factoring in wind-up costs, management incentives and property liabilities. On a bid-offer spread of 9p-9.5p, I rate Spark Ventures' shares a strong medium-term buy."
I've held Apark for longer than I'd care to remember. Any idea on valuation these days? What's the current thinking on the real NAV? I notice that it's started to move up a little in recent days - anything afoot??
CONT NOTHS has grown significantly over recent years and the finance raised will be used to expand the business further. SPARK originally backed the business as a start-up in 2007 and provided £0.7m of finance in total. Today, SPARK plays an active role on the NOTHS board alongside several more recent venture capital investors. To date, SPARK has received £1.8m as sales proceeds from NOTHS whilst retaining a stake currently worth £10.2m.The IRR on this investment for SPARK is currently 83% - a remarkable performance and one for which we wish to congratulate the founders, Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish. SPARK will provide details of all other valuation changes when it releases its annual results, currently expected to be in the week beginning 18 June 2012.
Partial sale and substantial increase in portfolio company valuation The Company is pleased to announce that Notonthehighstreet.com ("NOTHS"), which SPARK backed as the first outside investor as a start-up in 2007, has closed a substantial financing round with a new investor at a significant premium to the previous financing round which closed in June 2010 and from which SPARK's previous valuation was derived. As a consequence, the value attributed to SPARK's stake, which will be included in the Company's results for the year ended 31 March 2012, has increased from £4.5m to £11.0m - a rise of £6.6m or 148% of the previous value. As part of this funding round (having been an investor for 5 years) and in-line with its investing policy, SPARK has taken the opportunity to sell-down a portion of its stake in NOTHS and has received consideration of £0.8m for selling 7.3% of its stake. Following this sell-down and new outside investment in NOTHS, SPARK's shareholding has reduced to 16.2% of NOTHS' equity capital, equivalent to a value of £10.2m at the current valuation.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205180700166254D
Thomas Teichman, Chairman of SPARK Venture Management Ltd (which manages all SPARK's assets) and Director of Mind Candy Inc. said " At start up we backed the brilliantly creative and visionary founder of Mind Candy, Michael Acton Smith, in 2004, and are impressed and delighted by its rapid growth and popularity among children in over 180 countries. Its the second time we have successfully backed the founder in the last 12 years having backed Firebox.com, a successful B to C business, also at start up by Michael in 1999."
SPARK Ventures plc SPARK announces significant uplift and partial sale of Mind Candy. SPARK Ventures plc ('SPARK' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce that it has sold half of its stake in a start-up investment, Mind Candy Inc. (trading as moshimonsters.com), at an enterprise value of US$200m generating a cash receipt of £3.1 million. This represents a 15x return, a 1400% return on cost and an IRR of 71 % since seed investment by a syndicate led by SPARK in 2004. Moshimonsters has continued its very fast growth in the last six months. It now has over 50m registered players worldwide, has successfully launched the sale of physical monster toys in major toy shops and launched the Moshimonsters magazine - quickly becoming the best selling children's magazine in the UK. Moshimonsters has a significant American and international client base. Mind Candy has become one of the world's leading developers of social multi-player children's games, helping children to play skill enhancing games and connect in a social network with each other safely. Mind Candy is headquartered in London and has around 70 staff. It has already agreed licensing deals with many top tier retailers and consumer products businesses in Europe and the USA such as Penguin Books. SPARK has consequently increased its valuation of its stake in Mind Candy from £0.7m at 31 March 2010 to £6.0m now. The previous valuation reported by SPARK in its interim results for the six months to 30 September 2010 was £1.0m reflecting an enterprise value of $35m. This new £6.0m value is derived from an enterprise value of $200m being the price a new investor has paid to buy 50% of SPARK's stake. It therefore represents a third party valuation. Previously the business was valued by SPARK according to a sales multiple.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201106231111599873I
venture capital shares are like timeshares and women==getting em are no problem== but try and get rid!! IMOOC
This early stage venture capital investor, announces that MTN Group, the leading telecom operator in emerging markets, has entered into a partnership with IMImobile to bring mobile and online content to 103 million users across 21 countries. The new partnership is a major commercial milestone for IMImobile. SPARK has been instrumental in helping establish ourselves as a leading market player in the mobile and technology sectors in Europe, Asia and Latin America. They are now taking a further major step towards international expansion by entering Africa and the Middle East. With a leading telecom operator on our side, they are well placed to introduce new services more cost effectively and support the growth in subscribers and value-added services in emerging markets."
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Spark Ventures Plc. said its full-year pretax loss widened on higher goodwill impairment charges and net assets ended the second half broadly unchanged. For year to March 31, the technology venture capital company's pretax loss widened to 10.4 million pounds from 0.9 million the last year, as goodwill impairment charges of 13.2 million pounds consumed other investment gains of 6.6 million. The company said it will continue managing down its risks as far as it is practicable.
I think this outfit was always dodgy. They tried to clamber on the back of the dot com bubble and lost a lot of people a lot of money. IMO you will be grateful in a years time if you dump these now.