Member Info for JohnLewis79

I don't think so..i and others were hoping for a compound settlement but that's definitely out of the window. So an inflation adjusted payment plus loss of interest (going both ways) I doubt. Let's get this settled once and for all. Whether our costs will be born by HMRC i dont know but for the ridiculous, frivolous appeals they should be severely punished. They would not get away with these endless objections in US courts without the knowledge of severe repurcussions should they get ruled against. But ...heh...this is the UK legal system where the right hand knows not what the backhanders is doing.

You have to go back to Aug 2014 to see the sp at this level (83)...around the interim report. Soon after Spo appeal was rejected and the shares slumped 20 to 58. The following year the stock tracked.sideways with a small spike up on the CG bid which was all hot air. The close for the year was c 55p. Currently running c 50% up on the Pools news and vat yet to be decided there is more in the tank. I had a cheeky buy in the low 40's and only by longevity am i.... 'in the money'. Expect a decision this month. No doubt HMRC lawyers will be exploring every avenue to keep this cash cow filling their coffers!

......"Profits will be materially higher"....always love it when i hear those words from a CEO! Must have stepped in something this morning as 3/4 of my stocks are up!

Morn cov....the stock has been moving sideways since late Aug so your 16 proved a good trade. Selling after the spike on the CDC news was perhaps the correct call but as ever the price today may not be the price tomorrow? I tend to let my masterly inactivity smooth out the daily/monthly ups and downs or so i think! Looking ahead a year I do believe we will be higher. Might be wishful thinking but that's why i'm here.

Is 16 some sort of resistance? This is getting like one of my other "stick in the mud" shares!

Absolutely captain! Of course a knighthood awaits the head honcho of HMRC rewarding him for this incredible piece of folly! You would not expect anything else. Must be in the running for the next CEO of WH.

Of course anything I say re Spo is entirely my opinion and should not be considered as giving advice. I'm sure you know that. I usually say do the opposite of me, as I wouldn't give myself a tip let alone anyone else, that way you'd have half a chance! As your invested I'm sure you had your reasons and unless your of the in and out brigade 5 years down the line this Co will be unrecognisable (assuming we're still independent) of course. That would be my time frame and i hope to see the day! Next year should see some major changes for Spo helping us to build on 5 years of progress in the US and our Far East / India operations. Look at it this way where would you rather be? Here or invested in WH/Sads whose reliance on the crack addiction machines to bolster profits have become a blight to many? They are unsustainable imo as the Govt look to tax and reduce the nos in situ. The mob is making Betting Shops redundant hardly anyone i know goes near the places, hell why bother when you can sit in a warm pub watching the races and betting without leaving your seat. I mean who needs an expensive estate of hundreds of shops that need staffing, upkeep, rent & rates electric & heat it'so old hat. The younger generation of punters don't want to know and the old'uns are dying off. Eventually they will become mausoleums and turned into charity shops. We are in a much better space with little competition, greater opportunity to progress in a licensed regulated set of businesses, which are difficult to obtain in America. I know where I'd rather be!

Morning captbonio. Indeed these have been serial disappointers for at least 10 years, no even more!! I got these back in the Rodime days when Littlewoods reversed into Rodime via a £160m purchase. I had a lot of shares. Over the years i have sold & bequeathed most of my shares so as an early buyer so to speak, i have done well despite the flatlining share price. If you have read my posts on here you will know that i have criticised Penrose & the board for the poor performance of the co while acknowledging the difficulties Spo faced when the Nat Lottery started. It pretty much decimated the customer base immediately and Spo have been fighting an uphill battleever since. To his credit he has turned in steady profits from the Pools which has kept the co afloat and allowed us to invest in the US by buying SG. That's where our immediate future must be when the Pools and vat are concluded. I believe in time Spo will become the leading Leisure & Gaming co in the US given new management where I'm sure we will expand via DraftDay into fantasy sports and off shoots like Bump 50:50. The venues business is at an early stage but 10 new sites are planned and who knows given our healthy bank balance....some acquisitions could be on the cards. I'm holding on a 2-3 year view and consider the current sp undervalues the co......but a lot depends on the vat decision a small matter of c 50 pps!! Win that and I'm sure we'll see 100+ Thereafter our share structure might change to take effect of the Pools sale (we might buy back stock) but that's for a later date. Much will depend on what HG and Hemmings propose doing with their stakes.

That's what my Missus always said!!

Inv Chronicle article. Their call is a Hold. Nothing in it we weren't aware of apart from the deal is for £100m not £97.2m as reported. Next couple of weeks should see the Court of Appeal rule on HMRC's "new" submission for that is what it has to be in order to overturn the last court judgement. The IC seem to think Spo has won this final throw of the dice by HMRC (as do most right minded people) so common sense hopefully will prevail and the Govt will be sent packing! Go chase the multi national co tax dodgers who pollute the City of London.

When the Pools sale is ccompleted Spo will consist of two Divisions, Racing / Digital & Venues. In the year 2015 these two contributed £67m in turnover and £11.4m in pre tax (67% & 44% of rev & ebita) Half year figs saw both on target to achieve on par results with 2015. With Bump 50:50 expected to be in profit this year R&D could exceed last years. Venues will do well to match until the "Striders" bars become fully functional. There will also be no restructuring costs of c £1.4m. As of now a pe of 6.8 is hardly demanding as we look forward to life in the US. Current debt to equity is well supported and could fall to zero if the bod so decides. With near £100m from vat (fingers crossed), £94m from the Pools sale that's c 94pps in cash and the stock trades at a 17% discount! The nos will align once we are free and clear of the vat uncertainty of that I'm sure.

K100.... QPP, Gkp & Ami were 3 stocks I swerved any one of which could have busted me big time!! So someone was looking over my shoulder..."don't do it... don't do it!" Always trust your gut instinct...I suppose? Sure didn't stop me investing in that dog Genel! Oh well can't win'em all.

Good finds K100. We seem to be on the right track after recent mispriced lows. I might be wrong and my memory is failing daily but we're you not a regular on the QPP BB during the shambles after that US Hedge Fund report? Apologies if Ihave you mixed up with another.

A lumpy trade went through late of 333k at 79.24 (£264k) someone sees value at this low price. Expect all being well and I'm sure Burlywood Cap have vetted the books for this to complete sometime in Nov. By then we should know the vat decision and perhaps in the new year we will find out what direction Spo intends to go, transfer of HO to Connecticut? A NASDQ quote? Acquisitions? Special Dividend? Buy back shares to lower equity base? Management changes & appointment of new CEO? Lots to keep investors on their toes and will be interesting to see if Hendersons cont to support the bod if a NASDQ quote is being considered which is a racing certainty imo. Listing in the US can be a tortuous process so we may go to the OTC market where filings are less arduous. I think that's only an outside bet as with our visibility & US licenses it should be straight forward to list on NASDQ. A US listing might not appeal to UK pis but from what little I know US leisure/gaming stocks are generally rated higher. Of course by this time we won't have the pools earnings but we'll be debt free and a min of £100m net in the bank. Go back a year. Where woul you rather be?

Take out multiple looks miserly with £15.2m ebita at the pre bid price is 4.7x rising to 5.3x at current sp. Sector av is c 19x if you believe the FT nos. I do not. On the face of it that does look cheap, bearing in mind we paid c £160m for Littlewoods in Sept 2000 (operating profits c £23m) customer base c 1M. Realising £94m 16 years later all things considered aint bad if it was the only bid in town? I imagine pressure from Hendersons was a factor and despite the steady profits and great margins we were never going to be offered £120m+. On balance Penrose got the best deal available.

Three of note the FT (poor report) the Torygraph (adequate) and The Times a full and interesting synopsis. The Daily Mail were unaware of the sale. For those worried about SPTB's claim for vat repayment, Burlywood Capital will not benefit in the £93m claim against HMRC. Those monies will stay with the parent co. Punters betting on receiving a special dividend (taxed of course) from the Pools & vat monies may be disappointed. Personally I'd prefer the cash to be used to grow the business not for me to spend down the pub! The decision now one must make is do you stick with a revitalised Spo who will be heading for a NASDQ quote next year or buy into BC when they list on AIM in an accelerated float? The Pools will start a new life with £30m debt. Ian Hogg (ex Spo) will become chairman and Byrne (ex Spo) will be CEO. BC founded by Mark Blandford who knows his onions will take a stake in the new business. I'm reassured by Blandford's prescence and that of Hogg who may have been held back by Penrose but depending on management changes at Spo I shall sit on the sidelines before making any change.

When the vat business is concluded hopefully in our favour, Penrose can depart the stage with his overflowing pension pot and seek pastures new. He has three achievements to his name. First buying SG. Secondly selling the Pools for a fair (ish) amount and thirdly winning against HMRC. I could add a fourth fighting a good rearguard action v the National Lottery. However he never grew the business, our top line was stagnant for years our profits flatlined and we bought a bookie who never turned a profit which must be a first in recorded history. He stuck around too long as a gofer for Hemmings who kept him in his job. Shareholders acquiesed in his under performance and they have a lot to answer for imo. If it hadn't been for the SG purchase I'd have been long gone. We need a new CEO with US experience in the Leisure/Gaming sector who can shake up the divisions and get this Co performing! We are or soon will be cash rich and debt free with a solid set of US businesses with excellent potential and making headway in Asia and maybe the start of great things in India. I'm looking forward to 10 years of expansion which will take away the bitter taste of a lost 10 years under Penrose.

Not bad all in all, even volumes picked up but really pretty dire for a Co that has just sold a business for £94m. I really thought investors and the market would have greeted the news more wholeheartedly. However cannot be sniffy at a near 10% rise in the sp and am glad that Burlywood will be floating the pools as a stand alone business on Aim, keeping alive the near a100 year old institution. I expect they will take over the Liverpool H.O. Be interesting to see if there is any press tomorrow and will they pick up on this being the end of Sportech's history in the UK. To be honest it's hardly been a stellar success since reversing into Rodime, having to cope with the National Lottery which decimated the Pools and others that didn't fullfil early promise... Bet Direct a case in point. Still its all past history now, we have been building a solid set of businesses in the US these last 5 years and with a very healthy bank balance and no debt, unlike other UK operators our future is bright.....to build up our events businesses and buy out Draft Day or others. We must not hang around now our cash cow has gone and management have a great opportunity to show our UK cousins how it's done. We drifted along for too many years just doing enough, that will not do now! A new direction requires new management..I hope Penrose sees that and he has in place managers to make Sportech the leading leisure & gaming business in America.

Shame the bid was for the pools only. Oh well our US businesses don't seem attractive enough for UK players who prefer to be mired in cut throat competition on an ever decreasing pot of punters spare cash than see the roses blooming in front of them. Never said there was any brains in this business! Muted response pending the deal being cemented but the exclusisivity of the deal bars any rival suitor. Well it's not as though others have not had time to approach Spo. Just another example of navel gazing and lack of foresight or any easy £12m pa wasn't worth it! .....FCKU EM!

Net cash position of £36.2m following vat reversal to HMRC plus gross £97.2m pools sale. Equivalent to c 65pps. On going debt c £65m supporting our US business's which is easily manageable given the scope for improvement all round our divisions.