Member Info for JPJPJP

This is the first day of trading of this (new) financial year. Investors have new ISA allowances to use up. Is it that something to do with the number of trades today?

Same guy. There are two Jonathan Mark Swann with DOB Aug 1960 listings on Companies House. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/Kg37TEIzgCpDZCRatlNSxZulgCQ/appointments

Not clear what his involvement is at CFC since he resigned as a Director

I seem to recall there was a bit of a hoo ha about some posts on the TERN board that might have been him

I think it is this guy https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanswanncfc/ which would make his interest in Acuity more pertinent

I am optimistic that the Alere approach will surface some other interested parties, the share price rise to above the Alere offer price seems to agree Who is there out there? Abbott has been talked about a lot but I am sure some of the other specialist rapid diagnostics players would like to do something with ASD and maybe even some of the other healthcare companies - is JnJ a long shot? I would like ASD to stay independent, but I think it will be hard for a lot of shareholders to resist an offer over 500p The Board has to make a very strong defence if it wants to keep its independence imo

Another deal announced concerning Agora. Not a straightforward acquisition but a step towards one. http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10800104 And a trading update that is very cautious - good to see no downside reaction in the share price: I have seen shares tumble on more positive announcements than that! Does anyone know who is behind Baleday?

Liberum Captial Expecting them to be more proactive than the last one.

Micro Bingo and Wide Area connected bingo machines (VBTs) are an important element of PRA's plans for the future, you only need to read the interims etc. to know that. On a recent visit to The Crystal Rooms, I noticed that the number and prominence of VBTs has increased considerably. A few things about Bingo are exciting from an investor perspective. 1) Bingo is VAT free so a £1 in a VBT is worth more to the operator than a £1 in a B3 for now. 2) Bingo can offer much bigger prizes - jackpots of £4k and even £5k are promoted on the crystal rooms website for instance. Not even casino machines can offer over £4k jackpots, so,VBT's are the biggest jackpot machines in the country and that has to be more attractive to (more) punters 3) Connecting more machines (across the whole estate potentially) means that the progressive jackpots available grow more quickly. Even machines that aren't being played don't go 'stale' - the pots available keep on ticking up as other machines in the network are being played. The closer to being 'full' those pots are, then it becomes more attractive for players to have a go on the machine. Converting an AGC to a Bingo Hall enables micro bingo to be played and, with the pari mutuel concept, jackpots could be a few grand quite easily. Games could be played pretty much all day pretty frequently and should be a good way of bringing in punters too. Add to that a few VBTs on the network showing £4k+ jackpots and the 8 B3s that a bingo hall can already have on site and you can see why PRA has been keen to convert sites to this format. I am looking forward to the roll out starting and I hope it is soon!

so, if genius does exercise the option, it takes the whole of FIF's 'fastest growing area of our business' that the JV is expected to 'drive forward our market leading position for the longer term' what hope the longer term of the fastest growing area of our business if the UCB and Livwell bits are gone for less than 1x current annual sales?

The other part of the deal that might be of note is that Noble will likely get some rent from PRA on the sites involved. I might be wrong because the ownership of the sites involved isn't disclosed, but I might be right and swapping an agc business for lower risk rental income could make sense to Noble

another 14 sites in the bag on a 4.6x multiple comes with a bit of dilution of existing holders, but we were expecting that of course Noble is happy enough to take shares at close to the market price. Now the Noble organisation is a lot of things, but it isn't daft - it is very shrewd and a very smart operator in this sector.... You can be sure, imo, of a few things: i) These aren't the best performing sites in the Noble portfolio - they will be getting a good price for the sites they are selling, even at the headline price ii) I don't think members of the Noble organisation (if you try to do any research about the organisation, it very soon gets quite complex to follow) are short of a few bob. They are taking a bit of a punt on their expectation that, at some point in the future, their PRA shares will be worth more than they are now. iii) Its reasonably safe to work on the basis that some members of the Noble organisation believe that Praesepe has the right idea in pursuing European consolidation and are lending some weight to that with this (and the previous) sale. iv) When the pari-mutuel bingo concept is launched, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to see a number of the remaining sites in the Noble organisation getting a few bingo VBT's in.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/7525.aspx

it will come true http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/market-news/market-news-detail.html?announcementId=10699858

not directly comparable and not bang up to date, but about the most interesting piece I could find. http://www.crainsmanchesterbusiness.co.uk/article/20100107/FREE/100109952/1051/RSS01&rssfeed=RSS01

Simon Thomas purchased 318,182 Ordinary shares in the Company at 7.5p per share on 14 October 2010. Following this transaction, Simon Thomas is interested in a total of 1,681,793 Ordinary Shares on the back of 500k shares on 11 Oct. £60k in two days by Simon, nice to see. A drop in the ocean from his deep pockets of course, but he isn't someone that one would expect to throw money away. Now, the interesting thing about Simon's involvement as a non-exec at PRA is, imo, that he is also Director of World Bingo Tech which, as I understand it, is closely linked with Metronia - which makes Video Bingo Terminals. You can see such terminals in action in, for instance, The Crystal Rooms or the beacon bingo clubs. Having had a dabble and having watched others playing them, I can tell you that they are pretty effective at taking money off players. You might recall from the interims just a few days ago this paragraph... 'We are excited by the opportunity within the 2005 Gambling Act to operate video bingo terminals ("VBTs") in our venues, and have now converted 30 of our venues from licensed AGC venues to what we are describing as 'Micro-Bingo clubs', operating under cash bingo premises licenses. This will allow us to offer progressive, pari mutuel bingo games across multiple venues. This new high street gaming concept is being developed in conjunction with a small group of gaming operators and we expect the first beta test sites to launch in December.' So, my view is that Simon will have had some involvement in the development of this pari mutuel bingo concept and these purchsaes are an indication that he likes what he has seen.

announced today that two non execs dipped in for £35k+ each to add to existing holdings.

Little article in the Times today suggesting that Buckingham Bingo is about to be sold and that PRA is a likely buyer. coldfeet - the SAYE scheme could make some nice payouts for the staff in due course. If I'd have known about it, I would have applied for a few hours a week at my local cashino and whopped in the full £250 per month :-)

Another update from Nick Harding on the praesepeplc.com website With the last few weeks of the summer season now looming and winter plans being drawn up for venue refurbishments and new equipment to be ordered I think we can say that our first summer season has gone well. Change is never easy for staff and our new emphasis on ticket redemption games, the ‘Funshine centre’ branding and our strong emphasis on customers service was relatively new to our seaside team but they rose to the challenge, embraced our new ideas (in most instances!) and got on with taking the money. Which is what it is all about. On the High street the new combined Cashino/Showboat operational team is coming together nicely under Steve Lawrence’s leadership and work has started on rebranding the Showboat venues as ‘Cashino’. This rebranding will take some time to complete, probably until the first quarter of 2011 and each venue will benefit not only from new signage but also new staff uniforms, new ‘POS’ and a revitalised gaming machine estate so everything will be in place to improve performances irrespective of when we get the promised b3 deregulation. We are of course disappointed that it is taking the new government such a long time to implement what is in reality a minor regulatroy change but for AGC, Bingo Clubs and gaming machine manufacturers across the UK it is tremendously important. Watch this space as I shall ensure that as soon as any announcement is made on deregulation we shall get a note onto this web site. Our Bingo clubs have had a good August (helped undoubtedly by the wet weather) but I do also see that they are benefitting from a new ‘esprit de corps’ amongst the General Managers and their staff with new incentive schemes in place, along with an SAYE scheme that is open to all our staff. All six clubs have seen an increase in capital work and improvements are being aimed at those areas where we can get most ‘bang for our buck’. One such area of the business is the external smoking areas. We have completely revamped the smoking areas at Northampton and Brighton with Cricklewood, Loughborough and Lowestoft following on. In both completed areas we have increased the number and type of gaming machines and bingo counters available for players and if they have their thermals on there is no reason why a committed smoker can’t spend all evening playing bingo and slots outside, being waited on by our floor staff with food and drink as required! Taking a fresh look at the UK bingo product after a number of years spent just focussed on ‘slot gaming’ there is no doubt in my mind that the bingo industry would have fared better after the smoking ban if it had focussed slightly more time and money on providing better facilities for its players. ‘For a ha’porth of tar the ship was lost’ ! Our half year results will be released on October 8th and I shall paste the com

crikey, some sizeable trades going through this morning for this stock - 4.1m before lunch

its 13.3 million shares that are being issued. yes, there is some dilution but it is offset (hopefully more than offset) by the effect of the 8 AGCs acquired on revenue, EBITDA, valuation etc.

So, Noble - one of the biggest operators - swaps 8 AGCs for shares at 7.5p when said shares are trading at 5.5p. I put that down as a massive vote of confidence in PRA's strategy by Noble which, in the medium term, is more valuable than the 8 AGCs! If I was in Milton Keynes I would run round to PRA's offices and shake Nick Harding's hand. http://www.praesepeplc.com/viewdocument.php?id=38