Member Info for genowashington

If ever this Group manage to connect their powerhouse Agency Group with the sheer scale of their Sports offering, which is now 3rd or 4th largest the the World, they will become the model for the the new global marketing group. Easier said than done though, I suspect.

"I am a numbers man far from PR".....Maths teacher perhaps? Certainly not an Investment Banker. The deal has concluded, the price was the right price. The value was taken at 2011 numbers and the management can make their own way. A fully adjusted 8 times is a better multiple than that of the Plc which is fundamentally undervalued, probably due to the actions of the departing companies and WPP's stake which has, historically, held other companies back (they only motored on when WPP sold out). But, Joe, as a supporter of the "Sage of Kinghtsbridge" he may pay you handsomely to do his social and newsgroup media - Sorrell has to be the most unpopular person in the industry, its a tough job but someone has to do it:)

You write in a very similar (actually the same annoying) style to that of Peter Bingle, the 'Johnny no Friends' of the Bell Pottinger Group. In which case you could actually be Peter Bingle and thus a disappointed man with a precarious future. Either that or you don't bother to read the Chime market notices (which would be normal for someone in Public Affairs I suppose). The fully adjusted multiple is 8 times, allowing for the fact that the management are the acquirers and a proportion of any multiple must be allocated to the profit generating abilities of the incumbent management, this would under normal circumstances provide a notional 12 times, far higher than that of the Holding Company. Should WPP launch a bid I suppose they have the senior management to replace the 'leavers' (post contract obligations), the clients, however, are a entirely different proposition - clients go where they want when they want regardless of contract in this industry. And Peter if you are Peter (and I think that you are) WPP wouldn't give you a job either.

Chime is a Group with a Chief Executive (Chief Decision maker) of almost 10 years standing, Christopher Satterthwaite, (he was CEO of BPG) who is entirely responsible fort the Groups diversification into Sports Marketing and Healthcare, a Chief Operating Officer, Mark Smith and a cadre of senior management at division group level - see website it's all there. Bell is 70, he hasn't run this company for over a decade, the clients he services are seen as undesirable to the majority of the other clients and the market. The WPP representative is a NED, one of 7 NEDs I think, he too is on the company's website - Paul Richardson, WPP Group's CFO. I am in the same business in an altogether different Group (larger) and I have many friends at a senior level within Chime, if WPP move to a hostile (and it would be a hostile) most of the senior management would walk taking clients with them which is always the case in the MarComms industry - on the whole client relationships are personal not corporate. The recent share price retraction is, in my view, a result of the loss of a $100m contract with the US Govt for Iraq (lots of press commentary and an entirely undesirable end-user client) and the European situation.

Sir Martin has not landed he has, from my memory of this Group's original share structure, topped back up to 20% a figure that has been diluted over the past months as Chime built its Sports Marketing capabilities. There has always been one or, occasionally two, WPP NEDs on the Chime Board. No change there either. Bell & Pottinger want to remove the Bell Pottinger companies as they no longer fit with the company. BP serves, as most Independent readers will know, a bevy of Heads of State for places such as Bahrain, Belarus etc and also has one of the largest lobbying firms in Europe. Chime, post an MBO always assuming it gets shareholder approval, will consist primarily of the fourth or perhaps even the third largest sports marketing group in the world, the tenth largest advertising agency group in the UK, its Research group and a sizable PR group with no connection to politics. The Board have already stated in several press releases that, post a successful conclusion to an MBO, the group will become more acquisitive. Death of 7 cuts - idiot Joe plainly knows nothing about this company - all his queries are clearly answerable by the group's own website - who are the Directors? pretty dim shareholder our Joe all those Directors have been listed there since the website went up over a decade ago and those Directors have already announced plans for the group post an MBO Joe, back in February. I've held Chime shares, bought at 11p consolidated into 55p, sold at £2.31 and repurchased at £1.85 for years. I've made a great deal of money from this share over those years and its PE is low, it's low because the group is currently too close to issues that engender adverse news commentary which stops Institutions investing.

Well done Chime, bought at 54.4, let's see what I can sell at :)

I did have to do a double take to check that I hadn't lost it prior to the previous post so thanks. Some brokers are looking for £2.20 by the end of the year, I think, and that would be a very nice Christmas present.

You wrote: "Huntsworth another PR company are also interested in acquiring Chime" as I said in my previous post this is fundamentally incorrect. The acquisition of Essentially Group Plc will add geography to the highly successful Fast Track offering and give the Group the 3rd largest Sports Marketing, Management and Sponsorship offering in the World (excluding TV rights sales). The mooted acquisition of Pelham (PR Week 2/10/09) will strengthen the corporate and financial offering although I assume that the group will still avoid 'deal PR' as it is highly sensitive to market conditions. All in all a very satisfactory showing this year thus far.

The rise is, I think, a result of the company being debt free with cash in the Bank and a £30M Bank Line extended until 2012 which remains undrawn and a strong indication that it will meet analysts expectations this year. The company cannot be the subject of a takeover attempt as Silverfoxter indicated below (Huntsworth and Chime were both in talks with Next Fifteen). The company is approximately 20% owned by WPP Group which show it as an associated company on the Group's website and this would most certainly constitute a blocking vote. There was a stock consolidation some months ago on a 1:5 basis, based on highs of some two years ago the upper price should be £4 or so, the share is simply finding a proper value in its marketplace I suspect. The Group have also lost some significant clients in the past 8 or 9 months but have, in all cases, replaced these clients with either similar or larger clients. In comparison with its peers this company is performing strongly with good management and is a buy and hold in my opinion.

The Brokers are agreed this is a strong buy and hold, the company seems positive in its note some weeks ago and the Group doesn't appear to have too much/any client exposure to either retail or consumer PR or Banks. Looking forward to a great set of results tomorrow and an upward share price.

Share consolidation 1 for 5 agreed by AGM to try and stop small day traders, £100 or less, shorting the stock. The company cannot be subject to a takeover - WPP hold 20+% of the issued capital and have done for over 20 years (since management buyout). It is a friendly stake and Chime is shown as an associated company on the WPP website - it is unlikely that WPP would acquire as the companies have significant conflicts of interest.

The shares are difficult to buy, not many on offer, and I heard that an institution is trying to build a stake based on year end 2007 and Q1 announcement that the Group has had its best ever first quarter meeting 25% of its annual profits target rather than the 20% that it has managed over the past years. If you look at trades over the past 5 weeks some are quite big - 250K, 500K, 1M.

Hmmm - don't think that £2.20 is the issue at the present time. The real question is when will it see £0.60 - £0.70p. On a 7.5 multiple its a steal for its sector and its major niche stance should see it through most of the troubled waters many marketing services groups will experience. I think that we'll see this stock back at £0.60p by late summer a 100% percent gain hence the strong buy that echo's most of the better quality newspapers and city analysts in this sector.

Dragged down by the recent notice from Media Square, general market antipathy to this sector and day traders selling silly parcels of shares with transactions around £100 - £200. The company seems to have a balanced organic and acquisitive growth plan and its prelims released on Tuesday are excellent. Much of its work appears to be political and public sector across borders which would insulate it from the current depressed economic conditions.

Lord Bell's crew - someone is going to make an absolute killing including me. Just waiting for a trading statement - they bought some really useful companies in the past two years including one of the biggest Sports Marketing Co's in Europe, the group is the biggest PR co in the UK and probably Europe and PR is cooking on gas all around the World. Expect significant profits increase which will make today's PE (10.13) look very silly. At this price (£0.32p) its a no risk steal.