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Porta have updated their website page for Major shareholders today. Hawk Investment Holdings Limited 16.53% Retro Grand Limited 5.69% Hargreave Hale 5.39% Gary Wyatt 5.22% Stephen Byfield 5.18% Fidelity 4.99% Ruffer LLP 4.78% No update from Ruffers, Stephen Byfield, Gary Wyatt or Hargreaves Hale yet. Ruffers could well still be above 4%. HH, GW and SB would certainly be below 5% unless they had been buying. I think it's possible Gary bought more shares after his RNS a few months back. (2.4m buys after his RNS) Suprising we did not get more notifications from the others. This update only tells us what we already know.

https://newgatecommunications.wordpress.com/2017/02/20/we-are-looking-for-consultants-who-are-not-satisfied-with-just-a-job/ Not sure if these are new roles or a case of Newgate now advertising their own roles. The list on the left has 7-8 roles including public affairs. It also shows that the new head of HR had started at least a week ago. They are either short of staff or expanding! Their public affairs division has had 4 announced hires in last 6 months.

http://www.recruiter.co.uk/news/2017/02/newgate-brings-in-thomas-to-head-internal-recruitment/ Looks like they are bringing in hiring new staff in house. So maybe save on agency costs?? Hmmmm

http://www.gorkana.com/2017/02/newgate-appoints-head-of-recruitment/ 'Corporate communications agency Newgate has appointed Angela Thomas as its first head of recruitment. She will work across Newgate and its parent company AIM-listed Porta Communications plc.' 'Gavin Devine, chief executive of Newgate and chief operating officer of Porta, said: “Bringing Angela into our team means that we have constant access to a highly experienced recruiter. Having her in-house will allow us to promote Newgate’s employer brand, and ensure that we attract talented candidates who best fit our company culture. This is a step change in our approach to on-boarding staff; Angela will make a huge impact on Newgate and on Porta.” Thomas added: “I am delighted to be joining Newgate at an exciting time of strong growth, and I am looking forward to helping to augment what is already an impressive and committed team.” Note the wording at the end. 'At a time of strong growth'. Is this the sign of a struggling company?? I think not! Fact they have created this role is a positive sign. However at present there seem to be sellers in background here keeping SP low. Albeit the sell volumes at present are small. The buyers could be waiting for TU RNS?? Who knows?? Hmmm.

Yes all we can do is hope things are going well. Fingers crossed.

Not really. They now announce contract wins in the results. H1 results announced several new contracts. The new hires have too. Remember not all firms want Porta to announce they have moved. Cello do very few RNS for clients. Someone on ADVFN thinks they may be timing news with something else. Share price is what it is. Seems pretty stable here. Usual horse trading of stock from buyers and sellers in background.

Not this week it appears. Perhaps we are not getting a TU?

Buys out numbered sells 3 to 1 today and Sp is still down? Same for yeaterday. 400-500k of buys and little sells. Has someone put in a sell order here??

Fact they did positive TU RNS would suggest very encouraging. Strange that about 500k of buys today and the SP is apparently down! I included 38k of buys on NEXchange in that figure. I counted about 5.8k in sells? Which suggests more late trades or level 2 activity with funds finding 43p a good price to sell at in background? I don't have access to level 2. Long term you would think this share should rise if things are turning around here. As ever I am always wary of PR firms and how they tell their stories. One interesting point here is Huntsworth only does trading updates if figures are ahead or below market expectations. I wonder if some of these 25k trades today were directors?? Many of the trades were 1 minute apart suggesting they are linked. (Especially as mostly 25k trades.) Otherwise perhaps more horse trading here of funds. As ever the funds will control this share and it's share price.

I think we have more trades to come here. No way the share can shoot up 10-11% with 10-11 million sells. Unless they are merely late reported and actual buys? Or 2 funds swapping shares at a set price? It could be some funds maybe just want to move their money on here. Would be very bizarre given strong statement. The 10-11m would almost have to come from one major investor. So close together.

Yes very positive statement in many respects. No mention of Citigate or Red. This also explains all the director buys here. I think we could of guessed about the exchange rate. I don't think they are bound to a single date for trading updates. Being a pr firm it is all about timing. Those large trades a few days ago look supicious in their timing. Wonder what they knew?

RNS more shares issued due to icas.178k of 1p shares. Perhaps why they delayed it? Also Huntsworth have released a strong trading update citing trading ahead of consensus, strong q4 and currency gains. Could be good news for Porta if they match this.

Not so imminent. Unlikely to be done on a Friday or Monday. So if they are doing one it will be at least next week. It is really late this year.

Lots of interesting trades today too. Note 1m and 0.5m late trades from Friday. 1m looks to be a sell. 0.5m trade was probably a buy. 700k trade certainly a buy. Looks like the big overhang here may be finally clearing. Also the 966k and 333k trade from 10th Feb. More late trades to follow? I have no idea what the results here might bring. Impact from Brexit vote? Swedish office closure? Impact of exchange rates. So many variables here.

Toad- In terms of hires, September TU stated: 'We have continued to attract senior, proven staff to our team due to the quality of our platform. These hires help improve the number, quality and conversion rate of our client opportunities.' So I don't think they are hiring as a last resort here. It seems to be a strategy going forward. Many of these hires have come with clients (E.g the one last week and the Public affairs ones in September.) so this is a good thing and will probably help pay for a lot of the wages. If they can attract more clients even better. So I think the currency swing will still have an impact on the bottom line. Even you suggested they had been winning and retaining a lot of good clients. Might be a direct result of the above? I am sure the board and other senior managers are doing PR in the way they run Porta. These are old hands at PR and running businesses. They know exactly what they are doing. Many of the recent announcements have been very much timed in my opinion. A lot of these hires could of been announced 3-4 weeks ago. They are controlling the news flow here. I agree SP has been bumpy over last year or so. Been a lot of small funds, small inverstors and Emma Kane selling here. With many others mopping up the stock too. Does not mean Porta can't turn this around. BM's seems happy to accept 10-20m more shares here at 4.25p. Above current SP. Once they start moving towards a profit I am sure acquisitions will follow as the SP recovers too. At present takeover seems more likely given the finances and exchange rates making the pound cheap. For a US firm wanting entry into UK, Europe and Asia Porta could be a great acquisition. Trading statement this week?

Had another look at story looks like she already has a number of clients and Nova Biotics is one of the new clients she has already added. Also sounds like she has been working for Porta firm a few weeks now. 'Gavin Devine, chief executive at Newgate, said: “Bringing Louise into our senior team is a tremendously exciting development. Not only does she augment our capabilities in respect of employee engagement and internal comms, she is a seasoned strategic advisor to a whole range of clients. She is already making a big impact and I am certain she will play a major role in our on-going fast-paced development as a business.”' To me it seems like things are starting to take shape for Porta. 2 senior hires announced. Plus a new Public Affairs hire too in just over a week. As far as I know no one has actually left. It also appears many of these senior hires bring clients too. Start of H1 may have been slow for Newgate London but you would think H2 2016 and H12017 should be the turning point for Newgate and Porta as a whole. Been a string of news stories in last few days. If they can sort out debt issues and show a decent profit soon then the city will soon start investing here.

http://www.gorkana.com/2017/02/newgate-appoints-bread-prs-louise-nicolson-as-partner/ Another senior hire bringing a client with her. So many new hires here. Language on story very positive from Gavin. RNS on holding too but no actual changes in shares sold.

http://www.prweek.com/article/1423355/kings-college-london-hands-pr-contracts-19-agencies-2m-framework-deal 'The five agencies in Lot 1 - Four Colman Getty, 89Up, Lansons, Newgate Communications, and Anna Arthur PR - will manage and support the university's programme of exhibitions.' There are 4 other lots. So 19 agencies covering this 2m brief over 4 years. Unclear how much of this work will actually go to Newgate. Pends how busy the agency is too. See article.

Missed this last week. New hire for Newgate's Public Affairs team - Alastair Masser. Halfway down page on link. http://publicaffairsnewscom.cmail19.com/t/ViewEmail/t/3CAECD30EE0F78E4/6AF241DA9935730EF6A1C87C670A6B9F 'Newgate tap up Tory special adviser. In previous memos, I may have asked what was going in with Newgate’s lobbying operation and why it had gone a bit quiet in 2016. My question was answered a few months ago when Newgate nabbed Simon Gentry, the top UK lobbyist from rival agency MWW. And now I’m very pleased (but not delighted) to hear that the agency is continuing to boost its lobbying firepower in time-honoured tradition. By hiring a Tory special adviser. Alastair Masser is a former Tory party defence and foreign affairs adviser. More recently he was a special adviser in the Tory whips office from 2015 to 2016.' This is now the 4th Public Affairs hire they have announced since 2016. They must be doing well in Public Affairs now? Even this article seems to think Simon Gentry was a top hire. Have to see if these new hires helps Porta's bottom line.

http://www.gorkana.com/2017/02/purecircle-appoints-redleaf-communications/ 'Redleaf Communications has been appointed by PureCircle, a producer of stevia ingredients for the global food and beverage industry.' See what other news this week brings. We could get the TU any day from now. Still betting next week given recent announcements.