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ILX ILX

8.375
0.00 (0.00%)
28 Mar 2024 - Closed
Delayed by 15 minutes
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
ILX LSE:ILX London Ordinary Share GB0033422824 ORD 10P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  0.00 0.00% 8.375 - 0.00 00:00:00
Industry Sector Turnover Profit EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap
0 0 N/A 0

ILX Share Discussion Threads

Showing 4126 to 4148 of 4150 messages
Chat Pages: 166  165  164  163  162  161  160  159  158  157  156  155  Older
DateSubjectAuthorDiscuss
15/10/2013
15:34
btw ...all the RNS news under the ILX tag should/would normally stay available
smithie6
08/10/2013
17:06
We have already lost the share price tables as ilx no longer exists.
poombear
07/10/2013
16:31
poombear...then we will lose all the context of this thread......and anyhow who wants to read about Oz telecomms anyway........if someone does set up a new thread it must incorporate comments from this, certainly recent ones
graham1ty
07/10/2013
13:49
Is someone going to make a PGY thread?
poombear
04/10/2013
13:05
poombear, it is a mishmash of interests. If u looked at the Progility assets on their own, I think u would be pushed to come up with a valuation of £16m. Until they return to profit and display some kind of balance sheet stability, IMHO it is impossible to value the Oz bits. To justify 10p share price, they have to back to making 1p eps.....and that is not forecast until the results for June 2016, to be reported in Oct 2016. You have a wait to see if this is really worth £20m......
graham1ty
04/10/2013
12:54
Graham thanks for taking the time to writeup the EGM, I have no intention of buying back here at the moment, but will continue to monitor. It does appear that the price paid has been less than generous to ILX holders.
But the upside may be the eventual turn around of the enlarged business, and recovery in the share price Once that is proved, I may buy into ILX (is/has the epic changed?) At some point in the future as a recovery stock.

GLA

poombear
04/10/2013
12:03
I am sorry if this is long, but only four shareholders bothered turning up. The following is all just my opinion. DYOR.

I attended the AGM and EGM of ILX on 3 Oct 2013. Price 8.5p, market cap £3.3m
ILX held an EGM to approve the reverse takeover of the new CEO's Australian interests. This will give his Concert Party 86% of the equity and dilutes existing independent ILX holders down to 14% of the equity.

Background. ILX is a training company, quoted on AIM for years. They train via presentations, apps and online, mainly in project management. After some disastrous acquisitions, training stopping dead in the City, a bit of debt and excessive Director Pay ( paid £4.7m over ten years, the former CEO taking £2.4m from 2002-12) this was on its knees and the share price dropped over 90% under the helm of Chair Paul Lever.

In Aug 2012 "white knight", Wayne Bos, an Australian entrepreneur, injected some cash, then more cash, ending up with 29%, some juicy warrants at 10p, cleared out the expensive Board but found more of a mess than he expected. There has been enormous restructuring, a change of Head Office, two new Board members and write offs of £2.4m in the year to 30 June, just reported. WB had undoubtedly saved the Company.

Did ILX have a future ? The Annual Report shows that the turnaround was substantially completed. Costs were down, revenue was steady, debt was under control ( though there were still large net current liabilities) and the Board reported "adjusted Profit before tax of £1.1m" which translate into 3.8p according to new house brokers WHIreland. There had been a couple of bolt on acquisitions for revenue, further cost savings and the Board reported that "the full benefit of the resulting reductions in operating costs are not expected to be reflected until the new financial year" so things looked on the turn for this undervalued business, supposedly on a historic adjusted p/e of under 3x.

The bolt from down under. With the announcement of results came a reverse acquisition of Wayne Bos' Australian telecoms interests into ILX. He ( and a few other co-owners, together the Concert Party) would be issued 159m shares ( above the current 40m) and the Concert Party would own up to 86% of the enlarged business, to be renamed Progility ( henceforth I hope nicknamed Prodigality.....look it up, it means excess. The Prodigal son ( WB?) was so called because of his excess, not because he came home).

The AGM was a formality. I will say here that, due to a family bereavement, the Executive Chairman was not present ( and he missed the last AGM, so I have not met the Prodigal Son).

The EGM. Paul Lever, the sole survivor ( £39,000, pretty good for a non-Exec) chaired the meeting in the absence of Wayne Bos.

First, and most objectionably, the Chair tried to stop questions before the vote. One of the (rather wet) Directors stated that "all information for shareholders was in the Offer Document" but within minutes, and a few questions, it was quite clear there were many unanswered questions. There followed c30 minutes of questioning before the voting began.

Valuation methodology. There is nothing in the Offer Document to justify the valuation given to the Oz businesses. On questioning, it turned out the SOLE non-Exec Paul Lever ( representing us shareholders, remember) had not even been to see the potential acquisition !!! The Board stonewalled, relying on valuations done by outside advisers. And were these advisers independent of the Company ? No, ILX' own advisers SPARK. There was no attempt in the document, or in the meeting, to justify the valuation of £16m placed on those interests. Apparently Grant Thornton had looked at the numbers. There was no indication whether they had just checked the numbers or whether they had been asked to give an opinion on the quantum: I assume the former.

Value of Progility. Progility lost A$2.2m last year on revenue of $41m. The previous year there were losses of $100,000. The Balance Sheet looks no better with cash outflows in the last three years of $400k, $3m then $2.5m in 2013. They borrowed another net $3.5m in 2012 and another $3.2m in 2013. Net assets in the balance sheet are $600,000, yes £370,000. Net tangible assets are NEGATIVE $3.7m. They have loans of $7.5m from their shareholders. I asked the question whether they were only solvent because of related party borrowing and got a non-answer about "private companies". I asked about Bearcom, which provides $19m out of $41m turnover. This appears from Note 23 to have been bought in March 2012 for $2.3m, or £1.33m. I asked about the valuation of Bearcom and there was stony and embarrassed silence. I am not sure the Board were being deceitful, I just had no confidence they knew intimately what they were buying. Paul Lever tripped himself up at one point when saying that he had extensive discussions with Wayne Bos about the valuation of the business.....but, er, the document states quite clearly, that as a related party, "Wayne Bos has not taken part in any of the Board's deliberations".

Another shareholder asked about potential profits. ILX had in the past, he stated being making operating margins of 10%. From the limited information on the Australian businesses, operating margin had never been higher than 3.5%.

So, a business that will contribute c 60% of the enlarged groups turnover of £40m, and has made losses of each of the last two years is valued at £16m. ILX, making an adjusted £1.1m is valued in the market at £3.3m. ILX had net assets of £6.6m.....it gets 20% of the equity. Prodigality had net assets of £370,000 and gets 80% of the equity.

Eps, brokers and undisclosed material. It was stated ( as a stone walling technique by the Board) that all relevant information is in the Offer Document. There was therefore a very important disclosue made in answer to a different question. I asked how the market was possibly going to value a hodge-podge of interests, much in Australia. Was there a plan for a dual listing ? : No. Who would follow ? "WHIreland our new brokers have already put out new forecasts". I WAS NOT ALLOWED TO SEE THIS AS A RETAIL INVESTOR, PRECLUDED FROM SEEING INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH. I have a copy in front of me now. First WHI have no clue what the new business is and there is no description of it and no indication they have visited it. However they must have been fed some numbers as their representative was perfectly willing verbally to reveal their forecasts: adjusted pretax of £1.7m to June 2014 and £2.5m to 2015, giving eps of 0.82p and 0.98p. So, inadvertently, they had disclosed that Prodigality would add little to ILX proforma of £1.1m for this last year AND that eps would be diluted four fold by the massive equity issue. WHERE DID IT SAY IN THE OFFER DOCUMENT THAT THIS ACQUISITION WOULD BE MASSIVELY DILUTIVE AND REDUCE EPS BY 75%.

The value of ILX shares without the takeover ? While there were no forecasts on the existing ILX business available, we were certainly being told that progress was being made, that the bulk of the cost savings were done, and that the ship was stable. Would ILX have traded on just 3x earnings ? Without the Prodigality acquisition ( and the 20% drop in the ILX price on the announcement) one would have hope the Board would have considered the shares undervalued at 10p ? The Prodigal Son had made his investment at 10p, and either he is a bad investor, or presumably he wanted to make a return on his investment and thought ILX was worth more than 10p ? I asked the SOLE non-Exec, the sweaty Paul Lever, whether all options had been considered and whether there was greater value to shareholders in other routes, such as a trade sale. I got a straight bat answer that everything had been considered, which I personally did not believe.

The value of Prodigality ? Loss making Australian interests ( in transition apparently), no visibility, a broker's note saying eps fall from 3.8p to 0.82p ? And not really any growth the following year ? How would you value that ? 5x ? 8x ? 6p ? 8p ? certainly less than the pre announcement 10p.

The EGM. I suppose I must report that shareholder indifference rules. There were three other shareholders present, only myself and one other asked any questions. The acquisition was steam rollered through. My only, vague, vague hope is that I believe the Board when they say the two other main shareholders Octopus and Peter Ward voted for the deal. Octopus had a big holding of ILX at much higher levels ( 2m at 25p in Jan 2010) . They then took part in a first bail out, taking 5.4m shares at 26p. These have both been disastrous investments. Rather than jumping ship, voting against the Prodigality acquisition and trying to get some value out of ILX, they have jumped on the bandwagon. Maybe someone wants to go and visit the Company during the forthcoming Ashes ?

The Board. Noone from Prodigality is joining the Board. Board meetings will be held in London. I find that very odd. Have to rely on the Prodigal Son providing all the info on his businesses. We were introduced to a new Board Member, about to be appointed ( new information, not in the Offer Document). It turns out he has known the Prodigal Son for three years, so we do NOT have another independent non-Exec.

Share price. A Takeover Panel waiver was granted so that the Prodigal Son did not have to back his investment and actually buy ILX. The Concert Party that will now hold up to 86% of the Company includes a few minority Australian shareholders. I am not sure who will be precluded from buying in the market, but given the waiver I think the main man cannot do anything, in the market, to support the share price. Not sure who else will. A few private shareholders will suddenly realise they own Prodigality and will sell. Who would buy ? Noone know the business now ? Eps are down the pan for a number of years of uncertainty. I believe existing shareholders have been well and truly shafted.

We await the return of the Prodigal Son to see if he is welcomed home

As always I welcome any feedback from the Board. I apologise for any unintentional errors and will immediately correct them on request.

Chambers Dictionary: "Prodigality......state or quality of being prodigal: extravagance; profusion; great liberality"

graham1ty
04/10/2013
08:41
Smithie, am writing up AGM and EGM. Later this morning.....
graham1ty
04/10/2013
08:02
well....imho ....Ive just lost the value of my investment in ILX

by shareholders voting yes to acquire co. from the MD at an excessive price

the part I did own in ILX is now a fraction of what it was yesterday....

shafted imo

hopefully I will be proved wrong....but I doubt it.

smithie6
30/9/2013
09:24
Graham
The EGM will be a waste of time....

often ...directors do not attend

or do not answer difficult questions...

if you want to influence anything...then try to contact any of the large shareholders....
Octopus, Web, KS, JP etc

smithie6
30/9/2013
09:11
Graham
The EGM will be a waste of time....

often ...directors do not attend

or do not answer difficult questions...

if you want to influence anything...then try to contact any of the large shareholders....
Octopus, Web, KS, JP etc

smithie6
30/9/2013
09:09
the general meeting of the Company,
to be held at 2(nd) Floor, Strand House,
138-142 The Strand, London WC2R 1HH


on 3 October 2013 at 10.30 a.m.

smithie6
30/9/2013
08:56
BTW

Be sure to use your vote.

However you vote.

( I have voted no....reasons...see previous posts...
in case of interest.....I started the OCH action group...under other posting name....a subsequent follow on group now has legal representation in co. administration process.....and Cayman Is. court process...

sometimes PIs have to protect themselves against directors....

there is a pot of assets.....dirs. and PIs often fight to get as much of it as possible for themselves

...unpleasant human nature

.....that is the case for WB imo)

smithie6
26/9/2013
13:20
Sad this can sink without trace with so little comment. This is AIM at its worst. Should have Sharesoc and others all over htis generating negative publicity and embarrassing Octopus etc inot voting against it.

One interesting thought: what has KS been up to ? Surely he knows all the shareholders. He may have been hated by some, but this will turn his negligible holding into nothing. Scott and Pickles only had 800,000 shares between them, or 2% but will they vote for their company to disappear ?

I hope to attend next week and ask the simple question of the ONLY non-exec "how has he valued WBs business ? Does he think it right that WB has any votes in this process ?

graham1ty
20/9/2013
16:33
...insane acquistion at insanely high price....

I urge shareholders to consider to vote no....as I have.

smithie6
19/9/2013
16:05
u did very well buying at 7p.....
I had a think about it around then.....and then it was too late....

Im in at around 11p av I think.....and dont want to sell for a loss
and nothing especially I want to buy at the moment....
hoping that the deal doesnt go thru or is altered....with a resulting bump up to the ILX sp
----

typical companies like Pearson have been invited to take a look ....in case they are interested in buying ILX...and saving us from this over priced acquistion of the MDs company !!

smithie6
19/9/2013
10:58
I'm out, decided there are better opportunites out there. So taken my profit and moving on. Will keep an eye here, as will recover once the dust settles. I had sold 40% of my holding @10.25p (bought @ 7p) sold the rest ave 8.2p.

I think this will be a company I will buy into again, but for the moment NBU is where I am buying.

poombear
19/9/2013
09:45
btw
imho ...to sell at 8p....imo not a good idea....

ILX is worth much more than 8p

but for the future and reality we have to wait to see what happens...

smithie6
18/9/2013
12:06
Serco learning was bt. by ASW at end of 2012....for 6-7M....
it had turnover of 13M

ILX has 13M turnover....
and the MD is trying to put 50% of it in his pocket ....when the ILX cap. vlaue is 2,6M


1/3rd of the price paid for Serco learning.

ILX shareholders are getting a raw/bad deal imo if they vote yes

smithie6
18/9/2013
10:20
you will see a mass break out of Prince 2 adverts....ILX product
on ADVFN and numerous websites...including in non-English speaking countries (Im in one at the moment)

blanket advertising

imho the MD is using ILX money to push advertising.......to push ILX...and to push acceptance of the acquisition.....to obtain personal benefit....

immoral imo

The warrants attached to the 12% loan from the MD.....also immoral imo.
(if company were to go bust....as a creditor....he can then wangle to own it if wanted to...not done for nothing or casually as may appear)

...imo the MD is too busy with immoral stuff.....and too busy seeking personal benefit for himself ...which I dont agree with

smithie6
18/9/2013
08:34
Anyone interested to contact RM. to invite them to buy ILX ?

to save us from this over priced acquisition...and imo from de-listing

at 20p per share

they have 38.5M of net cash....

part of their product range includes software related products for schools.....

smithie6
17/9/2013
21:08
"He is a very successful businessman"

His Auz business is losing 2M a year.
...that doesnt look very successful imo

he may need access to the profits of ILX to hold it up.....

ILX is generating 0.9M op. profit....and should increase as reduced costs feed into the number.

----

I do agree that the WB has taken good steps at ILX.....cutting staff costs and reducing bod costs was obvious.....making recent acquisition was not so obvious from financially strapped company....but clearly if you have a large stake in a microcap you will look at news of similar microcaps (and their prices !!) and if you see one close to you that reports bad numbers....it is fairly obvious that it is worth taking a look to see if worth buying cheap to join with your own company, if its owner is keen to offload it...

one of ILX -ve factors...as posted by many people on this msg. brd. is that Prince2 sales is too high a part of its sales....so increasing its list of products via an acquisition is fairly obvious possibility

----

any acquisition that gives the MD 85% especially when acquisition is losing 2M is a big no no from this PIs viewpoint. Good for the MD, but bad for me.

----
there are many directors out there that understand strategy and making good directing decisions....no need to do an over priced acquistion of MDs company ..that makes him rich ...and gives him 85% of ILX ....just cause he might be one of them...
---

If he wants 55% more of ILX...he should get his chequebook out imo !
Ill sell him my part of ILX at 20p/share.
...or imo we will see 5p if the acquisition takes place...160M new shares

smithie6
17/9/2013
20:54
Boom and bust in Australia's coal country




15 Sept.

smithie6
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