Member Info for JohnLewis79

Part of the "pass the parcel"of shares is Hemmings reducing from c.28% to under 3% as the old guard sell out of long held stakes. It's always been a mystery to me what Hemmings actually brought to the party once his brokering of the Rodime deal was completed. Whatever Spo is a completely different co now and looks headed to subsumed as a division of a larger outfit which would not want Hemmings as a substantial holder.

Seems those 3 lumpy sells have spooked pis ahead of the AGM on Monday. Don't expect bad news.

As part of the "offer" Spo has been granted a waiver on disclosure of naming any interested parties or prices offered for the company. Can't see any compelling reason for them to do this as the city would be pretty sure to know who is throwing their 'hat' into the ring.

A final div of 0.142 (Total 0.21) will be paid subject to approval at the AGM on 30/10 at the offices of Finn Cap at 60, New Broad St, London. Payment will be made to those holders on the register at 3/11 on the 22/11.

Changes to the register on a daily basis....RG adds. Noone as yet has made an offer. Might be 4 companies interested. Of the majors I'd think WH over Sads, Betfred with the Tote connection, RG and private equity could be others.....outsiders could be some US leisure/gaming interests. If you clamber aboard at c.105 you'd be hoping for an offer of 120+. If no offers reach the consensus price this could retrace very quickly. Holders are best advised to wait and see what transpires. I wouldn't be betting on 140 because the interest/vat case yet to be determined could be a longtime in getting paid. Spo can afford to wait. Can any of the bidders? I don't rule out a knockout bid to care off the others.....

Spot copper at $7000 a tonne up 27% ytd.

You could look at it this way our current mrkt cap is c. £191m less cash on hand of c. £76 m leaves a £115m valuation for the R&D/Venues divisions. If they produce £3m that's c.1.60pps....check the p/e on that! The vat interest could be worth anywhere between £40-100m ( figs I have seen bandied about) so working on the lowest no that could mean c.20 pps more giving a total c.22 pps for Spo and a more realistic 8x net earnings. For sure lots has to go right so it's possible this is priced about right given the take out earnings multiple of the pools. A bidder would have to be fairly confident of receiving cash from the overpayment of vat interest and Spo of not giving the Co away to a low ball bid a la the one from those Canadians. Richard Griffiths might put his hat into the ring taking Spo private and Betfred will be interested as they are unquoted. Adding Spo's spread of businesses and licences to their bookmaking operations would make them a force if they wanted to list. The iis now own over 90% of Spo so there could be fun and games ahead. Tops would be 120-140 with the vat imo but you never know should a bidding war break out.

We netted £83m post pools sale giving up £12-15m in p/tax profits. Our mrkt cap has barely budged. Ask yourself why anyone would want to pay in excess of £200m for c £3m in profits and £76m of cash? Best way that equates to c.45pps. Granted there are other attractions, we are dominant in race course technology, an expanding venues business and a worldwide spread of interests, all to the good. However is that worth c.55pps a share? A larger outfit might use Spo as a cash cow but some of the larger UK outfits carry large lumps of debt so hardly a consideration. A US bidder would be preferable imo so we shall have to wait and see.

Be interesting to see who makes the first move for a Co currently valued at c £188m with forecast profits of £3m! That's a crazy 60+x earnings even being debt free and a healthy bank balance it's too sweet for me but family holding pending further moves. Market was pretty underwhelmed. I doubt there's much left in the price, perhaps 110 could be a take out blow. Be ready to sell quick if no interest is shown....

Inspiration Healthcare Group adopts Ideagen's flagship Q-Pulse software.

Like a good few nos of stocks I have held over the years, the more you buy the cheaper they get. Sure defies the economics of supply & demand unfortunately we have a middle man to screw things up.

Just realised LVOs new job coincided with the ftse at a new record high..(oh dear). Glad it wasn't today being Friday the 13th! ....last time this occured was back in January, Sphere at 9p! I'm staying in bed all day....

Will it be third time lucky for Sphere with yesterdays news of LVO's appointment as CEO? Not sure how internal appointments to the top job turn out, there are probably stats on these but hopefully we will soon be calling him ....Lucky Lucien. I'm not superstitious but try, try and try again comes to mind you will be successful on the third attempt or perhaps two is not enough, four too many....three is perfect. The Holy Trinity....the first prime no in mathematics or we're the third planet from the sun? Lots more I'm sure but he'll I'm beginning to feel lucky myself.

We wish the good Dr well and congratulate LVO on his new appointment as CEO. It's a great opportunity for an incoming man to make his mark on the Co which to be fair is in far better shape than when Dr R took over the reins in early 2014. LVO might turn out to be one of Napoleon's lucky generals. I know one thing for sure, I'd rather be joining Sphere as CEO now than in '14.

I take your points on notice, changes down the line and r & d. I've never been convinced we will see any benefit from the sensor being applied elsewhere, not that it's use is limited to our field but that Sphere has never shown any interest in a) licensing Proxima or b) hinted it's usefulness in other industries. Let's face it we are not exactly excelling in our preferred field, are we? If after all these years or since P3 anyway nobody but nobody as far as we know has said "blimey I want to buy that sensor its just what we need for xyz"..... Even assuming it has applicability in other areas I doubt we will see any benefits as that's way down the road from here. I mean the whole sensor would have to be reconfigured and we just dumped the guy who specialised in this field. It's a nice idea but an impractical one methinks. If we started making some serious money that might be a different matter or at least see if others were willing to co develop the sensor. Woodford will I hope keep it simple until lactate and auto are completed we should stay determined in getting P4+(5) into hospitals and earning it's keep. 510k in a couple of years and if others are interested in the sensor technology no doubt that will be reflected in an increased value for Sphere. Interested parties will be watching our progress with much interest heading towards 2020.

I can't be the only one who thinks the Brexit negotiations are no less than a 'dogs dinner', whether us or the Euro team it's in disarray. The supply teacher, an ex gofer from the B of E and now chief waffler for the Brexiters steers a perilous course of indecisive action. No one believes her bluff of no deal is better than a bad deal and she'll walk she's far too risk averse for that! Half the cabinet are opposed to her and her top aides Green, Hammond, Johnson & Davis are in disagreement, a bunch of mishmashers! Love him or loathe him Bojo should be at the table to stiffen Maybots resolve for was not 'self rule' enshrined in the Atlantic Charter and Statute of Westminster? Two referendums and one in Scotland overwhelmingly backed self rule here and abroad. Catalonia and Kurdistan following on. A bit more table banging is required at the talks and less chatter in Westminster.

Good morning all..& Rufiji whom I take it lives in Zambia? Good to have a pis on the ground so to speak......who will be able to ferret out the latest info much better than us UK domiciles. OP margins or cost of sales denotes how well a Co is run, we certainly don't want the economics of football clubs where a 90p of 100p at the gate disappears into the players pockets! Rule of thumb gross margin across food & retail is c.30-40% given average trading conditions. This would be a UK number so may not apply in Zam though I'd expect the % to be broadly the same. Good to have you on board...

I think most of us are in agreement the Co needs new blood! From near 100p to less than 1/2p needs explaining although Rencken can only be held responsible for the last downward leg from c.30p. If this has been stage managed by you know who surely the first thing you would do is have a CEO ready to take over? Hell W has had enough time to sort this out. ...if he's bothered of course! With a lot less at stake here than in some of his others, NW BIO for example, perhaps he won't be giving Sphere his full attention. It's a chunk of change but not in the hundreds of millions! As Napoleon said "I would rather have a General who was lucky than good." The 'good' doctor may have been well qualified but he sure wasn't lucky and unless business has taken off since the H/Y he should walk the plank. Now that we have reverted back to a research and development Co even if for the short term, do we need a highly paid CEO costing us a small fortune? W needs to get us into the beauty parade. We have done Miss UK now it's Miss World. We know what happens to runners up....we never hear of them again.

Dr Troughton was a co founder of Sphere along with Dr Hendry so whether he jumped ship or took the can as VP business development (mainly chemical sensors) for the CEO we can only guess. He may have course profoundly disagreed with leaving the quoted markets and saw the writing on the wall. Incidentally the three NAD's are costing us in excess of £100k a year or were in 2016....

How sure are you WB that those responsible for this debacle still retain their positions? A necessary 30% reduction in the wage bill won't be achieved by making redundant low to mid level employees. If you are correct this adds to my belief that our move to the private sector was orchestrated by those in the know, for if not surely the old bod would be long gone by now if for no other reason than rewarding failure. Of course were not party to bod discussions or Woodford's intentions but it sure doesn't look or smell right to me! Mind you if they announce 25 hospitals have signed up/placed orders for P I might change my mind......