Member Info for Adastra

Discussion means that it's fulfilling its function and I accept that by your defininition we both fall into the category ;)) Unlike a lot of boards, Porta doesn't have many contributors eg GoTrader Drew50 etc, but the level of discussion and comment is of a relatively high standard. We have been spared the trolls to date, and the company appears to be making good head roads into profitability. The buy and build strategy has its advocates and detractors, but DW does have strong credibility having built Citygate and Incepta. Recruits to Porta and Newgate here and in the Far East are extremely talented and seasoned in their own areas leading to some excellent business wins. At £20m, it is still way below the £50m primary target set by DW, but fee income is rising strongly now we have critical mass in London. The organic business and start ups should also be able to increase margin as additional services are offered. Porta 2015 is a different animal than 2014; bigger but leaner and more adaptive. The breadth of services has grown markedly and we should start to see benefits arising from January this year. We are looking for a rolling, sustained growth rather than a series of stertorous hops in valuation and, after a slower than predicted start, we appear to be on track for strong growth over the coming 3 years or so.

Yep; been away on business. Nice to see news that Bob Huxford has joined Newgate. Porta is continuing to assemble a team of very capable and experienced players. The fact that team leading entrepreneurs like Steve Byfield and others are happy to climb aboard DW's vehicle bodes really well and lends weight to the argument that the company is being seriously undervalued on its growth prospects. We have now had PPS and Publicasity firmly in place at HQ for 3 months and DW's recent sharebuying confidence [along with Brian Blasdale] seems to reflect growing confidence in the expanded team. I'm pretty sure that April marks the start of the closed period for buying so DW's purchase could be very well timed. The 2014 results will be pretty achedemic but the current 3 months and outlook should make excellent reading imo.

Interesting that you mention Paul Scott, as he actually has declared holding a position in Porta! Discussion boards have a place in investment strategy just as much as the various financial mags etc. I agree that it is wise to hold a balanced view on such comments but to call all contributors morons is a markedly philistine view. The boards are merely platforms to air views and put forward constructive criticism. Many small shares are going to be subject to the P+D fraternity but they tend to be illiquid one-trick ponies where there is little available concrete evidence on progress allowing room for speculation.Porta has a broad business base with many components making it a more stable (and international) business. Business briefs and wins are available to researchers on various websites so can be posted to indicate what is happening on the ground. I totally disagree that Porta has been ramped - quite the opposite. Both the BoD and Sanlam have admitted erring on the conservative given the multi fold increases in fee income. The business is growing organically and by integration. There has been much discussion of a stale seller ( I have contrubuted reasoned argument on the subject, and have my own idea of who it may be as it fits in well with observed facts and no holdings lines being crossed). Do the research, check directors from 2011 and see if their current, but unrelated, positions are perhaps more demanding than they had thought. It would be logical to assume that they may then wish to gain cash from their smaller holding here. All speculation, yes, but if and when he clears, should allow for upside. Porta seems a well balanced share with very seasoned and competent management in a growing arena. Time should vindicate those who decide to invest at this depressed level. Perhaps you would care to state your own validated research that prompts your sell opinion, as without reasoning, you fall into the category that your last sentence indicates.

For the first time in a considerable time I am being offered a straight purchase price of 6.55p for 'a considerable amount' - interesting as this has usually gone to NT with 'the seller' in the wings - were the 2x50k bac-to-back sales at 16.13 the rump of his holding allowing him to concentrate on his unrelated listed business??? Time will tell.

Nice to see Porta's Newgate team got the £200m VPC float successfully away this morning. Nice little bit of kudos and strong medicine for institutional consideration of a PTCM place in their portfolios.

Hi Gotrader: I'm sure that Porta are weighing up all options. The Publicasity website indicates that the integration of PPS and themselves has gone smoothly. CEO said it was 10x easier than he expected. The combined purchases brought in forward pro-forma profits of £1.25m PLUS £2m cash - so a share buyback would be feasible but I think it better to use it to grow the business. We know that a legacy seller has created an overhang; I'm sure that the BoD (through its brokers) know the identity of that individual. My own research seems to indicate a particular ex-D who is currently involved in another business experiencing growing pains in an unrelated field - hence his need to sell. If my theory is correct, and it is only a theory, he should be very close to closing out. That being the case, the shareprice should automatically elevate, following the prospects. There are no other stale sellers out ere as far as I can see at this price. All the BoD have averages around 10-12p with DW average 9.2p. Brian Blasdale picked up £100k recently at 7.5p. With a host of price-relevant information on board, I think we'll get a good 2014 statement accompanied by excellent outlook and increased margin/strong organic growth. Sanlam admitted they'd taken a very conservative target of 11p - expect lots of room for upside as we clear the overhang. The quality of the business and its managers will always shine through, hence the BoD patience indicative of a seasoned team

We have had a legacy seller in the wings since July last year. I had thought he'd cleared last week but lo-and-behold he comes back with the 100k. The overhang must be nearly cleared and that will allow some upward movement. In the end, quality will win as all the parts are now generating profit with Newgate Australia alone worth more than current MCap. Patience is the key, as we keep saying. This is an excellent business, growing strongly and that will dictate the direction as soon as the seller is out of the way.

Porta keeps winning the briefs - one day the investor market will wake up to the potential being realised here.. http://gorkana.com/news/corporate-and-financial/pitch-wins/newgate-supports-challenger-bank-launch/

Looks like our block-seller may have exited - no sales on Friday after I suspected he cleared on Thursday with a final splurge. If that is the case, the shares are so tightly held that any reasonable buying pressure will squeeze the price. As our CEO stated: "Given that we’re growing probably ten times faster than anybody else in our sector, it amazes me," he told PRWeek. "My Australian subsidiary is so good, I think it’s worth more than the whole of my market cap." I agree!

For Sanlam to step up to the plate and get institutional interest increasing. We have a great story to tell at present since PPS and Publicasity are transforming the breadth of offerings that Newgate can give, Newgate Australia is booming and the Bejing office should be bedding in nicely. We have very competent professionals in place in China. The advertising side should have turned the corner as Summit absorbs TTMV and the combination becomes earnings positive. Also worth noting that not only did the end-year purchases of PPS and Publicasity bring in historic £1.25m profits on board - they also brought in £2m cash. Outlook looks the best it has been for Porta so the sooner the overhang goes.....the better.

I think the overhang 'may' have cleared yesterday. There was a filled sale for 624913 on ISDX which [by my reckoning] should be pretty close to clear, but that is only a projection using 3% max holding and no RNS holdings announcements. If this is the case then we have just passed the tipping point and should start to rerate upwards. This is not an exact science but all the markers are in place for the start of a climb now 'if' the overhang has indeed gone.

Nice to see Newgate got the £200m VPC float smoothly underway: http://www.investegate.co.uk/vpc-specialty/rns/successful-fundraising-of--200-million/201503130700093417H/ Every brief and contract raises the Porta profile to new audiences.

I think we're a lot closer to losing the block seller than you suspect. Assuming he was under 3% in June last year he had maximum 6.8m. It looks like he's been selling around 700k per month in blocks since then that's 5.6m plus the additional 600k in September if his was the 1.3m sale. So, theoretically he has cleared around 6.2m from maximum 6.8m. The price has reflected this constant drip onto the market despite a raft of increasingly positive news BUT, this overhang should now be almost finished and that would give a perfect storm given all the factors I mentioned in my 9.31 post. Nothing is concrete but it certainly fits very concisely with the observed share pattern. A sudden fall in the availability of shares would cause a significant move upwards as the supply/demand balance shifts.

It has been a while since we traded over a million shares in a day so we are just drifting at the moment with the MMs offering 'seller bait'. This will continue to the next RNS (unless some bright insto researches and jumps in). DW is biding time and picking out the aces to play alongside or in preparation for the finals. Watch and wait.

Spot-on again Gotrader. The market has still to wake up to this fact. Porta is being [mistakenly] categorised as a low growth buy-and-build operation. It is a far more complex buy-and-integrate operation that allows global reach for very successful geographically localised businesses. It is effectively a spiders-web strategy that rapidly evolves once critical mass is reached. We are at that inflection point and we have a visionary CEO in DW who realises that both Paris and China are the next steps. Once institutions actually take the time to look at Porta they will realise it is a micro-cap heading rapidly towards the £50-100m MCap stage. Once the penny drops, the scramble for limited shares will be ........ 'interesting'.

Sound logic, Gotrader. I too believe that the Paris acquisition will be made sooner rather than later on the back of visible earnings progression since the integration of PPS and Publicasity. DW is a shrewd and seasoned CEO in applying a maximum 3 year payback policy as has been evident in each of his video interviews. By his own admission, the shareprice is too low and he will not consider dilution at this suppressed level. He has visibility on the very successful Newgate operations in Australia, hence his theory that Newgate Aus is worth current total MCap as a stand alone. With two and a half months of integration of PPS and Publicasity under the umbrella, Gene [FD] will be extrapolating already for H1 2015. Given the recent wins of BLU and VPC I suspect things are progressing well and that PPS is providing real advantage for Newgate in forthcoming election business and PR. The recent rationalisation of TTMV and absorption into Summit has immediately transformed cashflow and streamlined the advertising arm. The 2014 figures to be released in may will show continued growth but are largely achedemic - what we will all be watching is current trading and outlook. David has been much more reserved in his comments given that the market punished the shares on the back of the delay between announcing the last two acquisitions and actually getting them. He has a foothold in China and imo sees Paris as a near-term must have. I believe that he is now in a very strong bargaining position and is biding his time wisely. 2015 is the shaping up to be transformational year where everything comes together and we are approaching the inflection point. Theory: Porta is now post cash-burn and now cash generative on all fronts [organic and acquisition]; increased HQ costs and legacy LLC costs covered by earnings and fee income escalating strongly as margins increase in maturing start-ups. THAT will allow DW to announce a Paris acquisition to further strengthen geographic reach using shares at par value 10p. The real traction will seriously come as more Institutions climb on board for a piece of the action in 2015 and beyond. We have strong institutional support from Hargreave, FIL and Ruffer - expect more to come on board as the year progresses and the story unfolds. The BoD have learned to keep the powder dry having been accused of over-optimistic forecasts in the past.

Get an investor show on the road - tell the story of how we are growing fee income at multiples of the industry norm - relate how we are now out of cash-burn and into organic growth and strong acquisition accretion - that will take-out the seller and allow the shareprice to follow the growth curve of the business ie strongly upward with firm foundations. We have a super business growing apace and cash-generative- we just need to get the message out to the wider investor community; that is the main challenge and I am sure Sanlam are on the case.

Fill yer boots in the 21st Century......... But occasionally; just occasionally.... A share price appears totally disconnected from the fundamentals and the outlook. I firmly now believe that Newgate Australia alone is valued in excess of the current £19.4m MCap of the whole group. DYR.

Example - Since consultation commenced, the programme of community engagement has enabled a 92% reduction in negativity among the community towards development and a move towards realising the benefits of the proposals. Land Securities. [It brings unique Blue-chip clients and a whole raft of reputation management skills into the Porta fold]

£1.50 is easily achievable in the near term with revenue stream and at least one system sale. The sales were scheduled before 2014 close on December 31st but delays are common at this stage of implementation. As the USA and Australia align to enter a regulated market then GameAccount has all the foundatons in place. The fact that it has only ever operated in regulated markets AND that it doesn't compete for customers with its own systems is the game-changer for the decision-makers. It has been a long time in the making, but the attention to detail and adherence to regulated markets only will bring immense rewards to GameAccount as it is a 'squeaky clean' operator. Under-researched and under the radar.....................for now.