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... has been used in previous Wimbledon tournaments. This is an upgraded (!?) version. Surely the AELTA and IBM know that even upgrades have to be thoroughly tested before being launched at a top rate event... it's RULE 1 of what absolutely must be done. Or are IBM so arrogant that they have they learned nothing from the London Ambulance Enquiry?
I don't think EVA and Captevate are moribund. FBT is a very small company and the limiting resource is skilled people. The BBC POC has to be the first, overriding priority so all other things get parked unless there is some spare capacity. It's what we did when I was involved in a small, very specialised pharmaceutical company as we really had no other choice. Before you ask it was sold at a very acceptable profit to a major quoted PLC.
Currently, only order book trades are included in the summary statistics, last 5 trades and Prices and Trade tabs, for technical reasons related to a third party data vendor. We are working with the vendor to include off order book trades as soon as possible. In the meantime, a file of intra-day off order book trades, data delayed by at least 15 minutes, is now available. The file will be refreshed every 30 minutes. Please find further information on the data contained in the file. The use of this file is according to our standard terms & conditions. For further information please contact lse-website@lseg.com
continues on the main LSE page for FBT but not at Hargreaves Lansdown. From this one can only assume that all of the trades are "off book". Clearly the lack of transparency, the looser rules about reporting and the timing of those reports is very unsatisfactory. Any potential investor will not know what trades are in the pipeline but undisclosed. In theory even the MM doesn't know. Here we are days on from the problem coming to light and the LSE appears to be doing nothing at all to safeguard investors from the results of its own actions. Are they fit to run a whelk stall?
continues. Given that only "off book" trades are stated to be the subject of the third party problem it seems to imply that for FBT that most of the reported trades hitherto are "off book" though of course it may also be that currently nobody is buying or selling. I have asked the LSE for clarification and what they are going to do about the lack of transparency. They say it may take some time to reply!
https://www.forscene.com/blog/3-post-event-tactics-wow-music-fans
I forgot Rule Number 1. All expenses claims go to the Chairman for approval. If not immediately and obviously generating cash and profits the claimant can explain why to the Chairman. It worked extremely well in Hanson Trust whilst Lord Hanson was in charge and I see no reason why it shouldn't work here. We want staff to be generously and fairly rewarded not feather bedded
The silence is deafening... so we must assume the worst.... that the BOD do not want to know as they take the shareholders for granted. My alternative Agenda starts with the BoD. We need a CEO who has no material interest in the shares except for those he acquires by share options.... ideally he should be poor but extremely motivated to be very, very rich. We need a CFO who makes Attila the Hun and Genghiz Khan look like the type you would employ as a baby sitter. I don't want staff to like him, they should be afraid, very afraid if they don't hit their targets. But they should have very, very generous share options. The Chairman and the non-exec directors have only one function: to make sure that the management team hit their targets. No lame excuses like customers are being slow to convert: that's a sales failure if Forscene is as good as they have said. If they don't have the stomach to become rich and to fight and claw to get there let them go now. I expect all of the management team to be the first in the office in the morning and the last to leave. They are better rewarded so they must put in more effort and more effectively. If they don't like this they can go, now, immediately, don't stop at their desk to collect their possessions the company can send them on.... maybe in three months which seems to be the present acceptable timescale for anything being achieved. I don't expect sloppy service from advisors. No employee will be working for a direct competitor for 3 years minimum if they leave for any reason whatsoever. No employee from Chairman down will go anything but steerage class by air, boat, rail or bus or foot unless it clearly produces more revenuethan alternative means of transport. Nobody stays in anything better than a Travelodge at any time under any excuse or pretext... they offer more than acceptable accommodation at a fair price (if its good enough for my MP it's good enough for everyone else). The message needs to be that we are really serious about BREAKING EVEN AND MOVING ON TO MAKING A PROFIT... leave now if you don't agree. I know it works, I've done it and they loved me when we got results (but not those who didn't have the guts and walked - but they didn't get the financial rewards that those who stayed and worked hard did)
I'm not crying but I am concerned that the BoD has consciously taken the decision to suppress news. It reeks of fear... fear of being found out... fear of shareholders discovering they having no coherent strategy to get to break even let alone the profits we all hope for (I was going to write expect but that would be over the top). I cannot be at the AGM tomorrow but the question I would ask is whether they have any forward projections, other than those done by Allenby, that show the Company will become profitable by say 2020 and if so what reliance can be placed on them: 95% confident, 50% confident, not a hope in hell. For once let them put their salaries and reputations on the line and say something for which they can be held accountable. I'm pretty confident that they won't do so and that will undermine the markets confidence in anything they do say.
.... so the Deltatre contract for £100K over 2 years is the only sign offered to the shareholders by the BoD for the future. It will take some 40 contracts of this size to get to break even. The market clearly doesn't believe they can achieve this though by all objective judgements the product is a winner. So it looks like it's the BoD that's the underlying cause of the price decline and failure to recover. Perhaps they can explain at the AGM why they have failed and what they are doing about it, other than giving themselves lucrative share options. Their inability to publicise any substantial gains since the last results is inexcusable as at the current rate of progress they will be going to the market again to raise cash.. We see lots of money being spent on shows and overseas trips but no tangible results... or at least we did until somebody decided to get them deleted from Twitter. What world do they live in? There's always a way to find out what they are doing and failing to achieve. I'm holding on for the bid that will eventually come and of a certainty the new owners first act will be to give the directors more time to spend with their families. They have earned it.
HL are showing the purchase a sale... and given the price it could be that the other transactions which are also shown as sales are buys. The MM knows so why can't they flag it either way or would that give too much transparency to the market? Perhaps JC could devise a cunning way of taxing non-disclosure of the nature of the transaction (not stake building etc. but simply is it a buy or a sell)... it might even win my vote.
with these products the BoD cannot be confident of producing a share price worth at least £1 they should be terminated immediately. I am not interested in EVA snapshots of SS and the employees looking happy... as a long term shareholder I want results.... provided the crucial patents are held by FBT I would even with reluctance countenance the departure of SS. Their performance is dire, any promises are unbelievable, they are not fit to be directors of publicly listed companies. The deletion of Twitter, etc shows how fearful this lot of failures really are. I for one will sell to the first decent bid that comes along.
To be fair to FBT it would be unusual for them to post details of the contract but it appears that Forscene will be usable in almost every area in which Gfinity are actively involved. More immediately significant is the turnkey role that Gfinity offer so potential work flows not just from them but their customers. It is small at the moment but that's to miss the point: this is an entirely new and very fast growing area which could well boost FBT turnover and profitability with little effort and cost on their part.
Forbidden makes debut in new high growth eSports market Forbidden Technologies plc (AIM: FBT) is pleased to announce it has won a contract with Gfinity plc ("Gfinity"), a leading electronic gaming promoter (eSports). Gfinity will use Forscene to help grow their fan base through faster and improved use of video in social media and improved use of archived video content. eSports is a sports category that is going through rapid growth. Newzoo, the leading provider of market intelligence covering the eSports market, predicts that in 2017 eSports will generate global revenues of $696 million, up 41 percent from $493 million in 2016, and is expected to have an audience of regular and occasional viewers of 385 million people. Today, a major eSports event may attract 40,000 people watching live and tens of millions watching over the Web. Beyond its own tournaments, Gfinity provides a full turnkey solution for any brand wanting to create their own eSports tournaments and has staged premium eSports events for leading publishers and brands including 'Call of Duty', 'FIFA', 'Counter-Strike: Global Offensive', 'Rocket League', 'Street Fighter V', and 'Forza Racing Championship'. Gfinity plc Chief Gaming Officer, Paul Kent said: "Gfinity requires a solution that will help us grow our fan base and improve our engagement with them. Faster publishing of live events into social media and better overall use of the video content we produce is vital for us. Forscene fills a gap in capabilities that we have been looking to solve." Forbidden Technologies Chairman, David Main, said: "The eSports market is an exciting new high growth sports category for us. Our Forscene cloud video platform provides a range of core capabilities, including live clipping for social media and exploiting the value of archive content for this innovative and demanding new sector. Our range of applications helps address the range of video requirements for fan engagement."
On May 2, 2017 an as yet undeleted Twitter posting on Forscene @forscenepro informed us that: "12 new TV productions have begun in the last month using Forscene in their workflow! #cloud #tech" This followed on from a similar posting in the previous month disclosing that 17 productions had begun. But this month there appears to be no posting. Embargo or perhaps there were none? Perhaps somebody could ask at the AGM?
I often ask myself that same question, Pokerchips. Hindsight is a beautiful gift. I wonder how many PIs invested in FBT are currently showing a profit? Not a very large group I suspect and IIs are probably doing worse. I'm not depressed just sadly wiser. That's why I won't put more in until the BoD start delivering. A positive cashflow might be one key indicator (without the cash coming from another share issue) or a steady flow of news about new contracts won that don't qualify for an RNS but are nevertheless substantial or important in a new sector of the market. I do still believe that Forscene will deliver good returns provided FBT management focus. Every time a decision is made somebody needs to ask "How is this contributing to our goal for this company" and if it doesn't then it doesn't proceed. Some BoDs don't like this (cat herding was what I called it) but eventually they get the message and it shows in the financials and then they get the point.
Deltatre is now US owned and that makes it US controlled no matter where in the world it is. So it transforms their ability to sell in the US. It does also expose non US employees to all of the US legislation regulating conduct of companies. My first employer, a world leader in its field, took over 20 years to break into the US market and only did so when they incorporated there. Last time I looked only 8% of US citizens had passports - they really are much more insular in their outlook than even the Brits.
No, I haven't sold. With Miton in the background I think the BoD will be forced to come to terms with the reality that investors are not going to put up more cash until they, the BoD, start delivering on set milestones. If Miton are like all the other large investors in small companies they will be looking for a 25x gain on their investment (they need that to make a profit after covering the losses on donkeys) and will be pretty ruthless in keeping noses to the grindstone. Most of my investment pre dated Miton but I have topped up since... but no more until I see real progress. The lack of any news except that which FBT has to report does not help.
when I see real news. The Deltatre decision to push into the USA market is of course welcome but, before it becomes good news for FBT, Deltatre have to win the new business contracts. Part of that will inevitably involve them in convincing the US customers that FBT is better than those companies already used by customer. Deltatre obviously good otherwise they wouldn't have extended earlier this year but even without Donald the US market has a preference for buying American. My own fear is that it will be jam for FBT but could be years away before it becomes substantial. And if FBT still need the good offices of Jim Irving to win the BBC and Deltatre business (welcome though his influence is) they really are in deeper trouble than even I imagined.
Shylock as far as I am concerned you are welcome so long as you confine yourself to facts. Opinions I can make for myself. We probably both agree that the BOD are not functioning properly. I favour a wholesale change of non-execs as so far as I can see they have contributed nothing to shareholder value. Certainly they are not worth the expense. DM is on probation in my book. But what I want from the BoD is hard facts about sales. Not solely RNS sales but sales that add real turnover without which the company is dead in the water no matter how brilliant its product. SS is its star and its major liability unless he focuses on shareholder value as opposed to fantastic innovations... that can come later when cash is in the bank.