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That's an interesting spot from the website update, and explains a lot since Hargreaves holdings reflect individual private shareholders nominee and discretionary accounts. This is more a reflection of individuals than a change of institutional view. It also explains why I got no reply from Ruffers when I inquired about their portfolio reshuffle! 0.8% is neither here nor there in the big picture. Other than HH reducing and directors continual buying, there has been little overall change. It is very interesting to speculate that the Hargreaves overhang may well stabilize at around the 5% exposure level as resilience of holders to sell increases. That being the case, there is room for ample upside if buyers continue to require stock and sellers have all but dried up at these depressed prices. I must stress that this is only theory, but Porta has gap-jumped on three instances in the past where stock shortage became acute. I find it quite refreshing that we were all watching Ruffers! It also makes it more interesting for a new II to come on board as II shareholdings are currently well balanced. A good t/u, renegotiation of loan notes from 12% [or even retirement of part], and/or improving cash-generation could easily stimulate renewed interest. This could then be amplified by Capital Access who share our workspace and seem to be on a roll at the moment [great as Porta own 30% and can acquire CA from 2017 if they wish]. Interesting times.

A lot of patience has been required here due to the acquisition of PPS and Publicasity in close succession in December 2014. DW had been eyeing both companies from March 2014 but it took 9 months of keen negotiation to strike deals at the right price. This prompted an early trading statement to be released prior to formal process in October 2014. The market then [mistakenly] interpreted the non-release of a t/u in October 2015 as negative when it was never the intention to provide one. The interims were very positive and the next t/u should be in February following the Dec 15 year end and start of Q1/16. The purchase and integration of the two businesses was integral to the comprehensive communications agency strategy, which should now be bearing fruit. The agreement with Capital Access in July to share office space in return for a stake in CA was good,sound business which should be very beneficial to all. 2016 should be the year that everything falls into place and the patient investors start to see the long-awaited returns on their holdings. I anticipate the share price will rise accordingly as cash generation scales and hope that dividend payments will begin in 2017 in order to attract income investors alongside existing growth investors. Thats the theory anyway. We'd have been cash-positive a lot earlier barring the PPS and Publicasity purchases, but their acquisition gives Porta a far stronger and broader range of services to attract bigger contracts.

The appointment of Grant Thornton to accommodate expansion makes sense as a logical upgrade.

Great to see Capital Access growing apace as Porta own almost a third of the shares with option to buy more: 06 JANUARY 2016 CAPITAL ACCESS GROUP APPOINTED BY AVATION AND ECO ANIMAL HEALTH

http://www.capitalaccessgroup.co.uk/our-clients

Capital Access has Porta smack in the middle of its Client list so I think we can expect increasing exposure from this quarter. Just the medicine to raise Porta profile and a very keen move by DW to take a near 30% stake in exchange for shared offices at Skylight Tower in the heart of London - inspired.

Too cheap given multiple factors that could raise the profile of Falanx quickly due to small number of shares in public hands. Namely: appointment of a good fit new chairman to take over from KB in March; significant contract win[s] in cyber, intelligence or resilience; positive news on Principia cyber-protection insurance roll-out; inclusion of BYOD mobiles into the Falanx/Assuria umbrella. The market is rightly focused on the cash-burn element, but seems to be totally discounting all other aspects. The £6m price tag looks markedly low for a fully accredited and operational cyber security platform alone, given its recent government department contract.

Ruffers have been rebalancing their holdings across the market so it's not Porta specific imo. Steffan Williams has now had 3 months as MD to assess and evaluate the group and the choice of Grant Thornton should be viewed as an upgrade since they probably provide the best fit for Porta at this stage of growth. PPS and Publicasity have now had a year trading under the company umbrella and should have fully centralised in London. DW has built an impressive portfolio of companies from start-ups and acquisition. Porta now have all the capabilities to offer a multitude of complimentary services to all sizes of client. Steffan was brought in to specifically promote this unique offering in order to attract larger accounts. Glencore, was the first win in October. The volume of shares being traded is relatively small and the shareprice has fallen along with the market. I anticipate it will tread water or begin to rise as the finals approach; a trading statement in February would certainly help exposure to a wider audience. Having Capital Access 'in-house' should certainly be helping to encourage wider interest in the group, and I expect their involvement in aiding greater institutional support to kick in this quarter. Pivotal to any re-rate will be continued strong EBITDA growth and renegotiation of the 12% loan notes, the latter of which would markedly and positively shift cash-generation. I cant see us visiting 6p again, but then again, I didn't think we'd retrace from 9p after the continued and sizable director buying. Sanlam have been singularly lacking imo in promoting Porta for the past 6 months - personally, I wish they'd go for a far more proactive and 'engaged' nomad and broker! [ironically Grant Thornton would have been just the ticket!]. As for BM picking up Rutter's holding; I don't think so. Once we are able to show that our organic growth is achieving constant, increasing and sustainable cash-generation the shareprice will start to reflect it. Start-up costs and overheads drop significantly this year and legacy LLC costs have now gone; this should now reflect the underlying value of the whole communications business and we should start to hit the institutional radar.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/gama-aviation-plc--gmaa-/rns/acquisition-and-banking-facility/201601080700062210L/ Looks a good strategic acquisition for Gama and immediately earnings enhancing.

For what its worth, I view the appointment of Grant Thornton as a strategic move [probably initiated by Steffan Williams] to position the company for a major re-branding exercise. His appointment as MD from Finsbury [WPP] was specifically to attract larger corporate clients. Porta/Newgate/Redleaf/PPs etc are all now growing well in their own right and now would seem a very appropriate time to bring all these into a centralised brand as Porta-Newgate; Porta-Redleaf etc. The appointment of Steffan Williams as MD to CEO David Wright and now Grant Thornton appears [to me] to be a prelude to this international move. Steffan was also appointed MD at Newgate which bodes well for the direction in which he wishes to lead the company. Newgate Australia in particular, is hugely undervalued on growth since start-up. It needs to be pulled firmly under the Porta corporate umbrella to allow a fair value to be accredited to it. UK investors need to realise that these antipodean assets are a substantial operation in themselves. We now have an international footprint offering good organic growth. We have achieved this a little later than anticipated so it is vitally important that we are maturing at this stage in the economic cycle. New 2016 budgets and contracts are up for grabs and the first quarter of 2016 is pivotal for the future direction of Porta. DW has built a structure that is capable of offering all the services required of a multi-functional communications business; it is now up to Steffan to scale it up. Three months in the job, I suspect he now has a firm hand on the tiller - time, as always, will tell.

Grant Thornton are a far more appropriate fit for Porta as a multinational communications business. Highly respected and an excellent choice at this stage of company growth. http://www.grant-thornton.co.uk/en/about-us/

Taking on Grant Thornton LLC as auditors is a good move and positive for international growth. As the sixth biggest auditors in the world this will help reflect the increasing importance of Newgate Australia to international investors IMO.

Hi GT; the year-end has closed and the last [interim] RNS gave guidance to progress on all fronts. That optimistic outlook has not been dampened by any later news so I'm assuming decent progress in the bag. New Year gives access to 2016 company budgets after the important December networking season so we should start to see good contracts coming in as Steffan has now bedded in. His out-of-the-money options exercisable at 10p are now running and its a powerful incentive to perform. Porta should be in a position to give a positive trading update mid-February like last year hopefully accompanied by news on restructured loan note debt. That would certainly send very positive vibes to the market. Nice to see buying volume on the up today as we are still looking seriously oversold at this level. Ruffer's continued divestment of AIM stocks during its portfolio rebalancing exercise is having a damping effect but that could easily and quickly reverse imo.

A very Merry Christmas to all Porta BB contributors and readers. May 2016 be one of health and happiness and the year that David Wright's £50m communications and marketing dream is realised and starts to fly with Steffan on board.

And a very Merry Christmas, Peaceful and Happy New Year to you Dibs and all on this board.

This is the peak of the networking season so hopefully we should see an increase in contracts, especially as new (possibly maiden) budgets are assigned in the New Year to cyber security. Those companies who are hit because of neglect may not just be answerable to shareholders and could receive financial penalties. That, together with reputational damage, may just be enough to tip the balance onto Falanx' table. The tied Principia product may be just the ticket for auditable evidence. Bear in mind that the Falanx Assuria cyber security product is legally recognised and validated for insurance purposes and subsequent loss of business.

Salient points and I accept them in principle but certainly question the analyst allocation per client. It's a scalable operation where the up-front cost to prime the system has been met and a stream of different size contracts can be managed without further big investment. I admit cash-burn gives visibility to Spring 2016 but as New Year budgets kick in and the pressure shifts on companies to show managed risk we should see more hitting the desk. Yes, that's supposition, but it has to start somewhere. The Principia tie-up went active in September with roll-out underway into 2016. No update is not automatically negative since the underwriting market at Lloyds is big and novelty has a lag-time for adoption. Yes, the BYOD cyber coverage is a carrot, but it must have been raised and included within the Falanx-Principia remit and the proposal date for inclusion has not been backdated. I have no idea of the funding requirements since none has been put forward. Agreed we have had no big repeat resilience contract(s) but volatility in the Middle East has changed markedly into 2015 and Karl A is still involved in ongoing negotiations so, yes, it is the elephant component. Whilst a fundraising can't be ruled out, I really and truly believe that break even is now close enough to call and just depends on timing. Rather than go to the market, I would consider that a contingency plan of allowing a bigger player to take a 10% holding and place on the BoD would be a preferred option as it would underpin the shares on two levels. All conjecture, but the amount of funding required to cash-generation is far from large given the opportunities out there and an operational unit. Yes, it's a calculated risk, but cyber attacks are not going to decrease and it's worth having a foot in the door here IMO.

Hi - feel free to provide the counter-argument. My assumption is that most of the contract negotiations that are under way cannot be disclosed. That would be common sense. This contract shows the operational status of the Reading base and is an indicator of approval by a government department [and must have been won against competition]. We have been taking on former Qinetiq guys over the past year so you have to wonder why they would move were Falanx not a competent and innovative provider. We know that the Falanx-Assuria platform is to be extended to cover BYOD mobiles early in the New Year and we also know that the joint Principia insured product is rolling out to a wider audience. WE don't know of any £multi-million contracts but we know that negotiations are continuing with a major euro finance organisation. Nether do we know the current contract status of either Intelligence or Resilience, either of which could surprise in very short order. With an MCap of just £6.5m and JB having a fair bit of skin in the game, the results are starting to flow with this contract. Shares are tightly held and volatile but well worth holding IMO because if they can pull it off, the future is very bright indeed.

This is one contract that can be disclosed where probably 9 out of 10 cannot. Great visual proof of operational status. Contrary to the nay-sayers, I believe management to be just what the security space demands; quietly competent and getting on with the job in hand NOT loudly promising the impossible. Along with the iceberg principle I think we can now add the snowball effect for a great winter of contract news rolling into 2016. Well done all at FLX.

To pick up that floating Diageo account. This is the peak of the networking season for account wins and contracts - watch this space as we go into 2016 - I think this is where Steffan will really stamp his mark on Porta/Newgate. The future is as bright as the website colour.