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Maybe Reddit had some influence on driving the SP up last year, they put a lot of focus onto LSE 88E then.
Now we don't hear about them at all.

A very positive article with Hilcorp and CP doing well, making money I assume.
I can't help thinking, if the PANR and 88E regions were showing similar signs of oil flow, then these giants would be interested in some way. Such as financing one or two Farm Outs at Talitha and Icewine.

Their Alkaid and Talitha drill sites just north of 88Es Icewine region.
Why is Talitha sitting idle? Waiting for next and final step of proving out oil resource situation with oil flow testing.
Perhaps 88E are waiting for some PANR completion work on Talitha. In my mind it would be sensible for 88E to wait for PANR to complete oil test drill (maybe farm out). This result would be like 88E doing our own expected North Slope drill only a few dozen miles south of Talitha.
But at no cost to 88E shareholders....
Phrontist

Good?
Admitting to carrying £130 million or so of debt through 2023? (Interest rate is ???)
And possibly still declaring £ losses?
We should learn a better picture at end of March.

Well, all the above descriptions can apply to the H1 2022 Half year accounts.
The good is growing Sales from organic and from adding new companies.
And this seems to produce good margins and happy clients. Great.
The bad is WHEN will S4 stop purchasing companies because it is destroying declaration of PROFIT and DIVIDEND. It is OK for us to believe in S4's future, but Fund Managers wish to see evidence before investing millions.
The ugly is manana (manyana, always tomorrow) on financials.
The ugly is to reduce debt and avoid another Half Year of '£55million reduction in cash position'.
The company is heavily dependant on an outstanding Q3 and Q4 which was promised.
But will we see Q3 results? A good business late Oct to early Nov. This business, not at all.
Based on the 2022 H1 Report of late September 2022, we will not be seeing any more accounts from S4 until late March 2023!
S4 does not seem to produce meaningful separate Q1 and Q3 Reports.
It is a long time to wait for evidence that debt is reducing, cash is rising, growth is being sustained, and bottom line profits are good and positive.
Large investors want to see the good, the good and the good. No bad, no ugly.
So, when?

This will probably completely negate the 2022 H1 report prediction of 2022 full year reduced profit compared to the 2021 prediction of 2022 financials.

It seems to me S4 should have a 15% SP rise just based on currency exchange ?? issues over the last year. Remembering S4 Accounts are in GBP £.

Moving the 40% to/from 45% personal tax level has no real change to the economy.
The world and the UK misunderstand this envy tax.
The £$ exchange rate is back where it was before the Mini Budget.
The Euro has fallen through parity with the $ which is unbelievable.
The difference between Euro and £ has been about 15% for ages.
It is the $ that has risen against most of the G10 currencies.
This is VERY GOOD NEWS for S4 because they bought many subsidiaries at a low $ and now about 70% of S4's revenue is collected in US $
DYOR P

My feelings are, staff are producing on target business, and management will demonstrate paperwork/ computer systems are correct and complete.
Also, these are Half Year interim accounts , not so stressey as Annual Audit.
A key item will be the 2022 Annual Forecast and a 2023 Forecast.
Best wishes to the BoD

15:22
I think each 'company purchase' deal is different, and I believe we have not been advised of the details.
Each is a mixture of share swap, shareholder money, loan capital.

Share price over 5 years:
M&C Saachi - down 48%
WPP - down 48%
S4 Capital - up 12%
Phrontist

Personally I think the SP wil return to £3 to £4 /share sometime this year. They have money and know-how and staff and Whoppers to bang out some substantial 'delivery' . A strong position to be in.
We must remember, the China problem and the Russia problem have caused every Stock Exchange in the world to suffer badly.
But Ukraine with allied support will get Russians out of Ukraine which will give the Western World a big boost on trade and life generally.
Phrontist

...if SMS has stopped spending ?? money on buying more businesses.
The company has good Sales Growth and good Gross Margin, hence making a lot of Cash. But SMS has spent substantial amounts on contributing to purchasing companies across the planet that have yet to show their worth within the expanded group.

The mere presence of SMS heading up S4 is enough to scare off most potential takeover bidders.

Auson perhaps a 2022 H1 Trading Update can be used to put some flesh on an H2 Forecast and Annual 2022 Forecast.
Phrontist

S4 should definitely provide an RNS on this situation.
Auson, there are things we don't know.
When does S4 receive Client Payment from 'Project Start'.
Is the 'loan' based on a form of Invoice Factoring?
Anyone remember Quindell? Invoicing before the work is completed, to mitigate Cash Flow stress.
Certainly increased interest rates (will be higher than Base Rate) will eat into Net Profit.

Medium to long term, the business should be strong IMHO.
But short term, it seems to be one thing after another.
And where in that time difference (Project Start to Project Complete) is the Invoice raised?
Phrontist

Bank of England are having their say:
BoE raise Bank Rate from 1.25% to 1.75%
I would think the S4 SP will struggle until Q3 Trading Update for investors to understand the dual effects of S4 Internal Issues and new Base Rate effect on S4 is understood.
It's one thing after another: Covid, Brexit switchover, Russia War, Chinese trading difficulties / Taiwan, Interest rises, what next???
SMS is an Accountant/Economist, he should steer the ship as best as possible.
But so many continuous challanging National / Global situations during S4 period of acquisitions and growth.
Phrontist

Ooops
2p should be £2
3p should be £3
Etc (small mobile, difficult to review before post)

S4 shares are dirt cheap under 2p
And still a very good Buy under 3p
Investors, as opposed to Dealers, solid Buy under 4p
Etc
There is a strong benefit of owning S4 shares.
The Sales have been consistently growing....
Quarter after quarter, year after year....
It can be a struggle developing business infrastructure to process this.
No one doubt's the company's ability on this, having been successfully delivering to prestigious clients for over 4 years.
Which implies, passing the 8p/share previous peak will happen, likely during 2023.
Phrontist

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