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Https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/content/b00ba786-09c9-45fb-bb1f-378f5dd692b3

That was what was holding the price back.

As soon as it went through the price started rising.

Shore Capital has initiated with a buy rating on the shares today and a 240p target

https://x.com/proactive_x/status/1962522846388715721

Further deals possibly to come in the near term given what VM said in her recent presentation: “we’re doing some acquisitions”.

Singer upgrading to a 200p TP today.

No doubt they will keep upgrading as the story unfolds with improving results and further earnings-enhancing acquisitions.

(1/10) $ADVT.L UK software firm, £200M market cap. Critical software for large/mid-sized firms, public & private. Not just a consolidator.

(2/10) Led by Vin Murria (13% stake), serial and very successful UK software entrepreneur. Sold 2 prior firms to PE, huge returns. Same playbook, same team.

(3/10) £110M war chest (£85M cash, £25M M&C Saatchi shares) for inorganic growth. Originally coming from £130M capital raise in Mar 2021, which are now ready to scale.

(4/10) Failed £250M M&C Saatchi bid in 2022, kept 10% stake. They bought 4 Capita software firms in 2023 for £27M, £5.5M EBITDA.

(5/10) In May 2024 acquired Celaton for £5M, £1.2M EBITDA. Slow M&A so far, but next years should be active, foundations are set.

(6/10) 2023 acquisitions’ EBITDA up 300% in 1.5 yrs. Shows team’s ability to unlock value. More bolt-ons (~5x EBITDA) & bigger deals ahead.

(7/10) Eyes on US, where its HR software has strong positioning. Expected transformational acquisitions, possibly at higher multiples.

(8/10) Trades at ~10x EBITDA, below sector & Vin’s prior exits. Undervalues £110M cash potential. Huge upside possible.

(9/10) Making some napkin math, with £110M & 2x EBITDA leverage, could buy £25-30M EBITDA. Efficiencies could yield £50M EBITDA at 15x, ~3x current valuation.

(10/10) In summary AdvancedADVT $ADVT.L: Proven team, cash-rich, ready for M&A spree. Undervalued with big potential.

Particularly interesting at 2:35:30 which suggests that further acquisitions may already be being worked on.

Vin Murria presenting earlier this week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e-UMLGT2qM&t=8200s

Very pleasing to see the company trading materially ahead. Onwards and upwards.

Yes, the big upside will come with a larger acquisition. The ambition is certainly there given the attempted purchase of Capita One last year for £170 million.

In the meantime the existing business seems to be growing strongly. Some decent buying volume today.

Yes, large volume the past couple of days. One insti selling and another buying perhaps.

Hopefully once the large transactions are complete the share price can start moving up again.

Strong growth and a positive outlook. Onwards and upwards.

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Pre-tax profit increased by 147% to £8.3m

Reported EPS up 150% to 5.89p

"In the short time since we acquired the Capita businesses, their operational performance has improved markedly with, a number of multi-year million pound contracts secured"

"AdvT made significantly good progress in the six months to 31 August 2024."

"We remain optimistic about the opportunities for organic and acquisitive growth ahead."

Only a matter of time before the next acquisition. Would be great if it was as significant as the one just bid for.

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"We recently made a bid for a business that just got bought by another player...and we bid a very substantial amount of money, upwards of 160, 170 million and it got taken out for 210."

"The next one is...and we're already talking to other parties. There's a combination of larger scale organisations which will be transformational plus there are smaller opportunities that will continue to be bolt-ons, so happy to do both."

"At the moment there are still some really interesting opportunities and hopefully we'll bring some of them to fruition."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45u2Z-mrpMY&t=4853s

"Tech titan Vin Murria OBE, founder of Advanced Computer Software plc, has been named Top Asian in UK Tech 2024 by Diversity UK.

Vin Murria has had an outstanding career in the tech sector and is one of the original tech pioneers of this country.

She has smashed the glass ceiling for women in FTSE companies, the AIM market and within entrepreneurship. Vin has remained focused in her drive to create better-performing companies, driven by technological advancement, and she has truly mastered the art of deal-making.

Her determination, razor-sharp intelligence and keen eye for an opportunity has brought her success and prosperity."

https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/vin-murria-obe-named-top-asian-in-uk-tech-2024/

JMUK26 - worth watching the Mello interview with VM in February to get a much better flavour of the value on offer than you can see just from looking at the numbers alone. For instance, there have already been several approaches made by PE to buy the acquired businesses at a multiple of the original cost.

"From everything that we've seen and what we've heard to date, ignoring the cash element, we'd probably get 3 to 4x what we paid for the businesses we've got immediately. Certainly 3x - without question."

https://youtu.be/G257dlrOBXg?feature=shared&t=2820

That was back in February and much work will have been done since then to optimise these businesses thus adding yet further value.

So any numbers you see might only value the acquired businesses at the cost of acquisition, yet here's VM confirming that several approaches by PE houses indicate that they could be sold off for 3x that price right now.

Agreed. Great to see Barbara Firth buying here. Maybe further director buying to follow, who knows. As you say, a chunky purchase so a clear vote of confidence for the value in the shares at the current level.

Looking good from a technical standpoint as well with a breakout to new highs on good volume after a sideways consolidation. Onwards and upwards.

Recent interview with Vin Murria well worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G257dlrOBXg

Excellent potential with Vin Murria and team at the helm for sure.

80%+ held by instis since IPO, many of whom will have made significant profits on VM’s previous vehicles.

The share price is quiet for now and holding firm, but there are plenty possible future catalysts which might drive it higher.

Further acquisitions are highly likely. VM is well known for these and her prior successes with Kewill, CSG and ASW were in part down to a focussed acquisition strategy. According to the trading update on Jan 8th:

“M&A is a core part of AdvT's strategy and there has been a notable increase in inbound opportunities. The Board will continue to evaluate these against its acquisition criteria.”

so it’s only a matter of time before a further acquisition is announced imo.

The existing businesses are bedding in as planned:

“AdvT's performance for the six months ended 31 December 2023 aligned with the Board's expectations.”

but VM will be looking to improve performance in each of them:

“Avenues for deploying financial and operational resources and investments to enhance the organic growth of AdvT have been identified.”

so there is scope here for future news releases pertaining to improved performance.

Lastly, the shares are very much under the radar at the moment. Increased coverage will come in time I’m sure as investors pick up on the growth and acquisition story. However there is also the possibility that a well-known tipster / tipsheet will cover ADVT. The editor of SCSW for example states that he “has known Vin Murria for many years”, and the tipsheet covered CSG and ASW historically fairly frequently.

https://www.scsw.co.uk/search/?query=vin%20murria&page=1

The share price is still only just above where VM bought in 3 years ago, so it continues to present a great long term buying opportunity imo. I have confidence that in the months and years ahead that ADVT will be a different beast entirely with a much larger market cap and share price. Watch this space!

Yes, you’d think they’d pick up that the shares are no longer suspended from the fact that they’ve been trading again since the 10th.

Yes, just a Barclays error. The shares have been available to trade again on AIM since the 10th on both Hargreaves Lansdown and IG platforms.

Cancellation of the shares on the main market and re-admission of them simultaneously on AIM took place as was suggested in the RNS on Dec 5th.

“‘Proposed cancellation of the Company's Ordinary Shares from the Official List and proposed admission to trading on AIM

AdvancedAdvT Limited (LSE: ADVT, the "Company") intends to request the Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") to cancel the standard listing of the ordinary shares of the Company (the "Shares") on the Official List and to request the London Stock Exchange to cancel the admission to trading of the Shares on the main market (the "Cancellation").

The Company will apply for the admission of the Shares to trading on the AIM market ("AIM") of the London Stock Exchange ("Admission"), such that Cancellation and Admission will take place simultaneously.”