Member Info for Auson

Longfell,

Private equity takes a stake in the enlarged business in return for funding the acquisition of MSQ which it already owns. It would mean a re-rate in the shareprice here, but current shareholders would have a smaller stake in the enlarged group.

Longfell,

SFOR would be merged with MSQ Partners as part of this Private Equity groups portfolio.

They had over $10 Billion Assets Under Management back in 2022

https://www.oneequity.com/portfolio/?status=current

https://www.oneequity.com/news/one-equity-partners-closes-1-billion-continuation-fund-co-led-by-alpinvest-partners-and-harbourvest-partners/

Marty130,

Its looking a bit like he might be on someones payroll doesn't it. Qui bono ?

Lse2000,

How do you know he is not a millionaire, I reckon there are probably a few millionaires on here, it ain't what it used to be you know.

Lse2000,

Haven't you got anything better to do ? The more clap trap you spout the more stupid you're making yourself look, something to think about.

Wildtiger,

I don't think he likes you making successful trades here.. wonder why that might be ?

Pokerchips,

As Private Equity have already acquired MSQ they would have to be funding any merger with SFOR, I would have thought a reverse takeover into the SFOR listing ?

Either way it sounds like Private Equity are funding this and would be taking a stake in SFOR MSQ combined group which will most likely be at a premium to current valuation.

WOLFOFLSE,

I don't think there is really any accountability of running a public company, well not in the UK anyway. Lets see what happens with Wood Group for example.

404x,

'clearly from someone with industry insight'

Penri Jones is the founder and CEO ( of 0 employees btw ) of Arloesi

Lets just have a look at this industry heavyweights company

Based in the tech mecca that is Wellingborough Northampton, the company based at the guys home address has 0 employees, just the 1 CEO then

from companies house

Fixed assets £1885

Current assets £191,499

Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year £48,137

NET CURRENT ASSETS £143,362

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES £145,247

NET ASSETS £145,247

CAPITAL AND RESERVES £145,247

Notes

Arloesi Ltd

Balance Sheet

As At 31 January

Average number of employees, including directors, during the period was: NIL

For the period ending 31 January 2025 the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies

Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The member has not required the company to obtain an audit in accordance with section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

'Britain’s biggest oil and gas producer is axing investment in the UK and diverting cash to countries including Norway after Labour’s windfall taxes left it with an 111pc tax rate.

Harbour Energy plans to wind down its North Sea investments and has already announced 250 job losses in Aberdeen, a city once regarded as the oil and gas capital of Europe. On Thursday, a spokesman said the company would consider offering jobs in its overseas operations to suitable workers but most of the Aberdeen staff marked for redundancy would be leaving the company.'

'Harbour made a profit before tax of $1.6bn (£1.2bn) but faced a tax bill of $1.8bn, resulting in a post tax loss of $174m. This was largely down to UK windfall levies plus foreign exchange transactions.

The report said: “The effective tax rate for the six months ending on June 30 2025 was 111pc, compared to 85pc for the same period in 2024.”

The company said the increase was “primarily” down to a deferred tax charge resulting from Labour’s decision to extend windfall taxes to 2030.'

Heres my take , interestingly I notice both of those Linkedin posters are or have been SFOR shareholders despite claiming to despise Sorrell.

'And for a brief, shining moment, it worked. The stock hit 878p, the valuation touched £5.2bn, and traditional holding companies nervously adjusted their ties.'

Seems the Linkedin poster is conflating share price performance/ valuation with company success/ performance.

The stock hitting £5 billion market cap was the market predicting huge future growth, based on the current trajectory of growth which was fueled by acquisitions and tech ad spend.

'Here's what Sorrell diplomatically calls "wider market uncertainty": tech companies, who represent roughly half of S4's revenue, have discovered they can build AI systems that do in minutes what agencies charge millions to do in months. It's not that they're cutting marketing budgets - they're just redirecting them from agencies to Nvidia chips.

This is particularly awkward for S4, whose entire model was built on servicing tech giants with ultra-efficient digital production. Turns out when you make your selling point "we're 40% more efficient than traditional agencies," your clients might start wondering what 100% efficiency looks like. Spoiler: it looks like an AI model that doesn't need vacation days or fly business class to Cannes.

The real kicker? S4's content business - the heart of that "faster, cheaper, better" promise - saw profits crater 70% last year with margins of just 2.6%. That's not a business model; that's a charity with invoicing.'

Poster fails to mention profit margins were worse at the £5 billion valuation but he was ok with that back then as his shares had gone up !

Heres the rub the poster clearly thinks the drop off in tech ad spend is because the tech companies have been using AI to create their own ads. They haven't and the drop off in ad spend is partly because they have been spending so much 'tooling up' and developing AI to get ahead of the competiton.

AIM,Kraken,

I was thinking that, why can't Enquest or even OEUK challenge the 'windfall on extraordinary profits' EPL when there are none. Surely the definition of extraordinary is highly questionable.

It was a bargain at 114p a few years ago just before it shot up to 205 then 240p and its a bargain again right now !

1/3rd less pitches most likely due to Trumps tariffs, and some losses to Publicis can be turned around.

US tariff rate now ‘highest since 1930s’ as new Trump levies kick in; Bank of England and Fed rate cut expected

Decent results for Harbour today, unit operating costs to $12.4/boe (H1 2024: $18.5/boe) Increased free cash flow of $1.36bn (H1 2024: $0.38bn); net debt[1] excluding unamortised fees reduced to $3.8bn (YE 2024: $4.7bn) and leverage reduced to 0.5x (YE 2024: 1.1x)

Well it looks like Jaguar will be looking for a new agency

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/08/jaguar-searches-new-advertising-agency-rebrand-derided/

'Wall Street Journal’s April 2, 2025 article, titled The M&A Boom Wall Street Wanted Is Here, if You Know Where to Look explains that Wall Street’s visions of a deal bonanza under President Trump haven’t yet materialized. However, the article goes on to explain that relatively smaller deals are having their best start to the year since 2021. During the first quarter, the total deal value for transactions in the $1 billion to $10 billion range increased 42% from a year earlier, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, while the number of deals grew by nearly 36%.'

S4Capital plc, is proud to announce the appointment of Danny Lee as Managing Director, Monks Greater China, effective immediately.

Prior to joining Monks, Lee served as Chief Brand Officer at Bosideng, where he helped modernize one of China's most iconic apparel brands through brand transformation and global repositioning. He also held the role of Marketing Director at Nike Greater China, leading multi-category brand management and market-defining campaigns that reinforced Nike's leadership in the region. Earlier in his career, Lee held senior positions at WPP agencies including Ogilvy, Wunderman, and Mindshare, advising Fortune 500 clients on digital transformation and brand innovation.

Srbenjo,

That is not my understanding of it at all. In my view there is no way any big company is going to let AI loose with creative idea as part of a big brand campaign, there is so much bureaucracy, ideas, concept back and forth, legal and ultimately the companies want someone to be responsible. The tech companies might want to portray that they will/ do that because they want to promote their AI ad capabilities to small companies who wouldn't be in the market for a proper ad agency campaign. I have spoken to a few people in the industry who confirm this.