African Pioneer Share Discussion Threads

[currypasty] 08/3/2007 10:49

51p BID, 51p ASK

interesting !

[currypasty] 08/3/2007 07:50

4.5 million shares swapped about yesterday, including one 2 mil at 50.15p

[currypasty] 07/3/2007 12:12

from trading statement

"Stephen Critchlow, Executive Chairman of Ascribe, said: "Having broadened the
solutions that we offer using our integrated platform, I am pleased to report
that this has been our best half-year so far for new orders. In December alone, we took orders for over #3.3 million."

[currypasty] 07/3/2007 12:07

another penny today !

[nomad70] 06/3/2007 17:09

Yes -- up 5.5% today. Just one published trade all day. Lovely jubbly.

[currypasty] 06/3/2007 13:41

heading for another run at that 50p !

[c91nfy] 06/3/2007 10:19

see penultimate paragraph - exciting times ahead.....


NHS seeks rival IT firms as trusts lose faith in iSoft



Simon Bowers
Monday March 5, 2007
The Guardian

The NHS will start recruiting alternative software suppliers to its troubled £6.2bn IT upgrade project this month, in a move which could see the government's vision for a single IT system for the health service in England unravelling.

The move is a tacit admission that a fully integrated IT system may never be completed. NHS bosses had until recently discouraged hospital trusts from deserting the scheme. But disaffection is now so widespread and delays so long that officials are working on a list of accredited alternative suppliers, which is widely seen as a move to appease hospital trusts.

Under the government's National Programme for IT (NPfIT), trusts were promised centrally bought software to be installed from mid-2004 - all free of charge to them or heavily subsidised. As a result, hospital trusts held back from buying new systems, content to get by with their old software in the belief that NPfIT would soon deliver replacements. But these have now been delayed for so long that trusts are seeking alternatives.

New plans to introduce alternative suppliers with proven products that are ready to install is likely to prove a particular blow for the financially stretched iSoft, which relies on its NHS systems for income.

Under the NPfIT, iSoft is set to secure 60% of the market in England for its next-generation Lorenzo software, which is being developed in India. But a series of setbacks have raised concerns at the NHS's over-reliance on iSoft and another software partner, the US firm Cerner.

Trusts installing Cerner's basic patient administration system (PAS) have struggled to adapt it for British clinicians. Meanwhile, a series of delays to iSoft's development has forced it to repackage older products as an interim measure.

Repeated setbacks to both Cerner and iSoft PAS installations have delayed most aspects of the NPfIT by years and industry sources believe it could be at least another four years before some of the promised departmental and clinical functionality is delivered. Trusts saddled with inherited systems that have been starved of investment are increasingly disillusioned.

Alternative suppliers will have to make their systems compatible with the NPfIT. This principle of "interoperability" has been creeping back into the programme for some time - particularly in GP surgery systems - but runs counter to the initial vision of a single, fully integrated system for the NHS in England.

Last October the NHS IT boss, Richard Granger, played down the significance of an alternative supplier list, suggesting it was "in the event of things going wrong".

Some industry insiders see the introduction of alternative suppliers as a step towards a more radical "interoperability" model, similar to that proposed by senior members of the Commons public accounts committee - the Conservative MP Richard Bacon and the Liberal Democrat John Pugh - last year.

Mr Bacon cautiously welcomed NHS plans for an alternative supplier yesterday: "This may be an important step towards building an IT programme for the NHS that could actually work but it will only be effective if local trusts are given real freedom of choice quickly. The [alternative supplier] catalogue needs to include all key systems - including PASs as well as clinical and departmental systems - and it needs to make them available within months rather than years."

Other suppliers such as EuroKing, Clinisys, Ascribe and System C are likely to make significant inroads into iSoft's user base as these companies have already been winning several contracts with trusts that have lost patience with NPfIT promises.

ISoft is still in talks with a much smaller Australian firm, IBA Health, which is considering an all-share takeover offer. ISoft said last summer it needed two years of "significant additional working capital", having previously won upfront cash for work it is now carrying out.

[currypasty] 23/2/2007 09:46

hefty re-bound today !

[nomad70] 22/2/2007 11:45

Going better now. Results soon:

[nomad70] 20/2/2007 14:24

Bought more earlier @ 42.8p.

[currypasty] 20/2/2007 09:13

blue today, recovering after 'director blip'

interims in one months time

[nomad70] 14/2/2007 13:24

Bought back in today @ 40.75p. Look decent value at this level.

[currypasty] 09/2/2007 09:52

RNS Number:0023R
Ascribe plc
09 February 2007




Ascribe plc (the "Company")

Holding in Company


The Company was informed on 7 February 2007 by Morgan Stanley Securities Limited
("MSSL") that on 6 February 2007 MSSL acquired an interest that resulted in a
total holding of 8,456,599 ordinary shares of 1p each in the Company ("Ordinary
Shares"), representing 7.39 per cent. of the Company's current issued ordinary
share capital.

[gac100] 06/2/2007 13:26

Mark Woodbridge has now resigned from the ASP Board:

Ascribe plc
06 February 2007
Press Release 06 February 2007
Ascribe plc
('Ascribe' or the 'Company')
Directorate
Mark Woodbridge, a non-executive director of Ascribe, has informed the Company
that in view of recent press comment he considers it to be in the best interests of the Company for him to leave the Board. Accordingly he has, today, tendered his resignation. The Board of Ascribe would like to thank Mark for his valuable contribution since his appointment in May 2005.

[gac100] 06/2/2007 10:44

As I say all is probably well at ASP. The bottom line for me is that I'm personally uncomfortable holding a company where a serving director and an ex-director are under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Mark Woodbridge I see has just stepped down from the Board of AT Communications.

RNS Number:7771Q
AT Communications Group Plc
06 February 2007
6 February 2007
AT Communications Group Plc
Board Change
AT Communications Group plc (AIM: ATCG, "ATC"), the business-to-business
communications group, announces that Mark Woodbridge, Finance Director, has
stepped down from the Board.

I should add:
"ATC has already started the recruitment process for a new Finance Director as
the Board and Mark Woodbridge had planned for him to step down before the second anniversary of ATC's listing."

[ltinvestor] 05/2/2007 08:52

Having been involved with this company for over 7 years I am astounded at some of the comments posted on ADVFN!In my opinion this is one of the most ethically run companies on AIM.

[wjccghcc] 04/2/2007 14:08

Fair points regarding Woodbridge but I'm not that concerned here. They haven't made any acquisitions since June last year so it's hardly an acquisition machine. Also, after the last acquisition, net debt was only 0.5mm (although there are some earnouts to come) and in the last year, cashflow from operations was 2.4mm or 170% of operating profit so it doesn't seem like they have aggressive accounting in any way.

Interims out next month so can check on the progress then.

[gac100] 03/2/2007 12:55

Probably nothing in it, and nothing to worry about for Ascribe investors, but I've sold my holding, being uncomfortable with the following:

"the FT established that the three houses in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire searched by the SFO belonged to Chris Moore, who stepped aside as Torex Retail chairman on Wednesday, Rob Loosemore, the company's former executive chairman, and Mark Woodbridge, a close associate of Mr Moore."


Chris Moore and Mark Woodbridge were appointed non-executive directors of Ascribe in May 2005.

Moore resigned in Dec 2005. His resignation was announced in Oct; Ascribe implied that he had a lot on his plate with Torex – "recently appointed executive chairman of Torex Retail plc", although he would "remain a strategic consultant to [Ascribe]." Moore sold his 10,822,771 Ascribe shares in Feb 2006 "in response to institutional investor demand" (Artemis increased its stake in Ascribe at the same time).

Woodbridge, as far as I know, is still a non-executive director of Ascribe and was chairman of the company's Audit Committee for the year ending 6 Jun 2006 (Annual Report).

On the same day that Moore and Woodbridge were appointed to the Ascribe Board (in May 2005), the company was "pleased to announce both the appointment of Evolution Securities Limited as their new nominated adviser, broker and financial adviser and Citigate Dewe Rogerson as their financial public relations adviser with immediate affect." Evolution and Citigate also represent Torex. (although Ascribe later – Aug 2006 – appointed Cenkos Securities its nominated adviser and broker).

On the same day Moore's intention to resign as non-executive director of Ascribe was announced (in Oct 2005), the company appointed Graham Lewis as Chief Executive. Lewis lasted less than a year. Lewis's intention to resign was announced at the end of Jun 2006 and he resigned at the end of July, 6 weeks before Ascribe announced its final results for the year ended 30 Jun. His resignation was "Due to personal circumstances" and passed with very little ceremony (the announcement was made in an "Acquisition" RNS).

Ascribe has made a good number of acquisitions over the past couple of years. There is speculation that Torex's problems may be connected with how the company dealt with acquisitions and contracts in its books (cf. ISoft). Moore and /or Woodbridge – non-exec directors with Ascribe remember – probably had no input at all into how Ascribe did its accounts, but I have no way of knowing.

Finally, as already mentioned Artemis is a major institutional shareholder in Ascribe, and was buying when Moore was selling. It was been alleged that Artemis sold its entire holding in Torex before the sh*t hit the fan there. Artemis's stake in Ascribe was a very marginal factor in my decision, and is probably of more interest to Torex investors than Ascribe investors.

I repeat there may well be nothing to worry about for ASP investors.

I'm very, very cautious by nature.

[v6syncro] 30/1/2007 11:08

gac100

I tend to agree with you about ASP "playing fair". I suspect that it is the Trust that might not be! I will back when I have further info.

Thanks for the link.

[gac100] 29/1/2007 14:29

V6Syncro

This is all I can find:

"Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust
Board of Directors
Minutes of the Meeting held at 9.30am on Monday 27 November 2006
In the Memorial Hall, Northwich"



From the minutes (page 6)

"Pharmacy System: Business case for a replacement
Mrs Donald presented the paper. She stressed that funding was available from within her budget. Ascribe was used extensively elsewhere, and would link with the Trusts own paper administration system. The project was well scoped. After discussion it was resolved to approve the procurement of the ascribe pharmacy system as replacement existing system."

This is 6 weeks before the ASP 10 Jan Trading Statement, which stated : "...Ascribe's Pharmacy Division has won several new health IT contracts in the first half-year. These include the sale of Ascribe's Pharmacy Department and Electronic Prescribing solutions to: ... Mid-Cheshire
Hospitals NHS Trust"

Looks to me like ASP are "playing fair"

[gac100] 25/1/2007 20:38

V6Syncro

You say Mid-Cheshire had not awarded Ascribe the contract at the time of the 10 Jan trading update.

Do you have a source/weblink for this information? I've had a quick search but can't find anything.

Directors integrity/quality, and the clarity of RNS statements/financial reports, I rated highly when I bought in - so I'm a little taken aback by what you're suggesting.