Member Info for shylock

Kamel, good to have your view - and especially good that you are able to vouch for one of the bGlobal products from first hand experience. Tbh, I know very little about their field of business, other than as a consumer of energy. But I too was lured in recently by what seemed like a good gamble, even though the share price had fallen dramatically from its highs. My reasoning was: 1. Part of the business was profitable (Utilsoft) so a re-structuring or sale should be possible 2. The proportion of revenues coming from recurring fees was rising 3. There is no debt 4. They have cash in the bank (approx £3m) 5. The total number of shares in issue is very small 6. The smart meter national roll-out keeps drawing closer, albeit still a few years away 7. Samsung had shown interest in the business by agreeing to a conditional JV. Even if the company down-sized to just a software business by closing - or, if possible, selling - its other divisions, I could easily see it making a profit of £2-3m per annum. And if it could do that, then the business would be worth £15-20m (compared to the current market cap of £5m). I didn't know at the time that major shareholders had come up against a brick wall in their efforts to put in a new chairman and to re-structure or sell the business. Now that this is public knowledge and an EGM has been called to remove the brick wall, I am feeling quite confident that we will have new management who will do the right thing for all shareholders, leading to a sale of the company and a nice return on my bet. But if they should decide to re-structure and retain the business then I would be fairly sure that the share price will rise to a respectable level, ie around 12-15p, in the not-too-distant future. So, good luck to us: I think our timing is perfect.

Nothing there to save Kennedy's bacon. But nothing to justify the MMs marking the SP down 16% either. Looks imho like a good buying opportunity for anyone taking a punt on the changing of the guard and a company sale. Market cap at £4m is only just above the cash at bank and part of the business (Utilsoft) is profitable so a sale price of £10-15m doesn't look ridiculous once the excesses are trimmed by the removal of the chairman - especially with the smart metering roll-out carrot a couple of years down the line. Arguably, with a leaner board, the whole business would have reported a profit this time. Anyway, I've talked myself into it and acquired 100k shares at 3.85. Worth noting that Samsung were recently interested in a JV with bGlobal so could be a possible suitor.

I think the casting votes will be those of the PIs - most of whom I imagine would vote as recommended by the NEDs, especially as they don't have much to be grateful to the old guard for. At least it looks unlikely that the Kennedy's will want to dump their shares if they are ousted.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/martin-evans/9/927/86a

Something is clearly rotten in the state of Denmark when the CEO and the NEDs all elect to oust the chairman and major shareholder. It's a very unusual state of affairs and I suspect we haven't heard the full story yet. Certainly, Kennedy has presided over a period of significant value destruction while rewarding himself handsomely and allegedly using company resources to support a certain lifestyle. Other major shareholders have clearly lost patience and must believe that they have sufficient support to get the resolutions voted through, otherwise they wouldn't be wasting time and money on the EGM. I assume we will next see a circular from Forest or from John Grant, more explicitly setting out the case for the prosecution. It sounds as though they know of a buyer for the company at multiples of the current SP - although they wouldn't be allowed to say so. That would suit some shareholders, but not all - and not Mr Kennedy who clearly doesn't want to sell. Forest Nominees/Hawkwood Capital have been around a while and can be assumed to know what they are doing. They do have a history of successful shareholder activism and would presumably have a vision for the company which is supported by the CEO and NEDs, all of whom are experienced. The clincher for me is that the NEDs are in favour of the resolutions. Their job is solely to look after the interests of shareholders so they must feel strongly that those interests are not being well served by the status quo. I think that Kennedy needs to get out some positive news about contracts quickly if he is to have a chance of surviving. But he can't get very far with a clearly dysfunctional/disunited board.

The BoD must now be dysfunctional if the CEO is supporting the activists. No way back from that so you either vote for the resolutions and hope that the new chairman has some value-enhancing rabbits up his sleeve or vote against and watch the BoD disintegrate. Anyway, not healthy having the chairman's son as FD. Kennedy seems to have run out of ideas but gets paid handsomely anyway as value withers away. Bring on the new blood, a strategic review and Lights-Camera-Action! At least J. Grant will represent Forest Nominees' 10% shareholding so won't be doing anything daft. From memory, their average is around 12-15p so I guess where they are setting their sights initially. We wait to hear how much it will cost to get rid of the incumbents who are presumably on over-generous 6-month contracts.

Any views on the significance of the new £150m+, 7-year British Gas/G4S contract? http://goo.gl/wytpt It appears to be smaller than the previous contract signed in 2010 for £100m+ over 3 years: http://goo.gl/xWpKI Would that be because there will be fewer meters requiring pedestrian access - or because the new contract is for fewer meter installations?