AT Communications Share Discussion Threads

[staymour] 25/2/2009 12:24

A bit of offloading this morning.

Price seems to have held up well considering.

Good to see a bit of resilience at last. It's been beaten down enough for me :-)

[staymour] 23/2/2009 13:19

Hi Riv,

Been a long haul so far with this one.

Still hoping that we might still get some positive news pre results.

Either further contract wins (as indicated recently) or news on Rocom.

It would be a massive plus if Rocom is disposed of at a decent price.

Although Rocom contributes to the bottom line, the Solutions and Servasure divisions were more profitable at the interim stage this year.

It would be great for the company if the disposal largely eliminated debt.

Rocom cost £17.6m back in Aug 2006, so let's hope they don't give it away for a fiver.

[rivaldo] 23/2/2009 12:15

It's certainly interesting (and unusual!) to see such strength. Even the chart looks rather comforting.

As you say Staymour, there shouldn't be any more trading updates now - the Notice of Results last year was 18th March - so let's hope this is meaningful.

[staymour] 23/2/2009 10:22

another tick up.

Good to see a 35k seller taken out without a flicker in the price.

Maybe things are on the turn?

[staymour] 22/2/2009 22:48

I sometimes wonder what is going on inside ATCG.

They regularly seem to win great contracts and assure us all how confident they are of the future.

So are the forthcoming results finally going to show us that they can actually run a business, not just generate sales.

Surely any directors of a company that has seen its share price trashed so comprehensively must be working flat out to return some shareholder value.

Perhaps the potential sale of the Rocom division is the first step towards this.

I'm mildly encouraged by the promised debt reduction but there's still a lot to prove.

Let's hope they can do it.

[staymour] 21/2/2009 09:40

Jasper28,

Results were not until 9th April last year.

Haven't seen any announcement that it will be earlier this year

[jasper28] 20/2/2009 21:02

i would imagine it may get done prior to results week 2nd week in March.

[rivaldo] 18/2/2009 15:41

Hello...anyone expecting disposal news or somesuch?

[jasper28] 10/2/2009 09:28

Agreed PENP, i'm thinking of dipping my toe once again.

[penpont] 05/2/2009 23:55

I tested the waters earlier on this morning with an online buy order of 20k - when it came up at 14.5 I felt compelled to take it...

With further contract announcements promised, disposal news likely, and the finals in early April, there just seems too much good near term newsflow to ignore here.

[rivaldo] 05/2/2009 09:58

No probs. The spread's closed a bit now.

Intriguingly online you can only buy 10k shares max, at 14.88p, whereas you can sell quite a few more than that at 13.5p, a premium to the quoted 13p. A shortage of stock or a buyer out there perchance?

EDIT....as evidenced by someone getting 13.5p for a sale of 50k shares today, and with the bid price moving up too.

[penpont] 03/2/2009 12:26

Yes thanks for that, rivaldo. Would add more but not at the current spread.

[masurenguy] 02/2/2009 14:44

Thanks Riv - Some good and interesting research ! :o)

[rivaldo] 02/2/2009 14:16

Looks like things are hotting up - this should speed things up nicely:



"Rocom hits back at uncertainty rumours

Race to buy distributor hots up as rivals claims sale process is unsettling customers and suppliers

Written by Sam Trendall

CRN, 02 Feb 2009
As speculation grows about a possible management buy-out (MBO),
distributor Rocom has hit back at rivals' suggestions that customers have been unsettled by uncertainty over its future.

Rocom parent company AT Communications (ATC) revealed in November that it was in talks to sell one of its subsidiaries, widely believed to be Rocom. ATC announced last week that further enquiries had been received and "significant progress" had been made on a possible deal.

Scott Dobson, managing director of distributor Vcomm, told CRN uncertainty about Rocom's future could fuel "fear and doubt" among customers and suppliers. "They need to sort something out or say that they are no longer considering it, " he said.

"Hundreds of customers may be questioning whether they are going to be dealing with the same company and they do not want to leave them in limbo."

Sources claim there are several interested parties left in the running including Rocom's management team and rival telecoms distributor Nimans.

Rocom managing director Richard Carter remained tight-lipped on the MBO rumours and maintained it was business as usual for the West Yorkshire-based company.

"There is no update beyond that which has been made by the group," he said.

"There is not any uncertainty which has had any effect on suppliers or customers."

Jess Thompson-Hughes, managing director of wireless specialist React Distribution, claimed Rocom was an attractive acquisition target. "It has a good run rate and relationships with suppliers," he said.

"But these things must be done quickly as doing them slowly over a period of time can kill business."

Nimans declined to comment"

[rivaldo] 02/2/2009 10:23

And this which I failed to spot first time round:

"Further new contract wins are expected to be announced shortly and we estimate that combined, new contract wins could generate £30m to £50m of additional group revenues over the next three years."

[rivaldo] 02/2/2009 08:18

Thx penpont. I particularly like this titbit from the conclusion:

"At under 2.5x 2009e earnings, the shares do not reflect that 70% of group revenues are contracted and recurring due to the transition towards managed services revenue."

Let's hope for disposal news soon. In the meantime, this is news re Servassure - all sounds very bullish:



"Peter Orr, Servassure's Sales Director introduced the "Do More, with Less" theme by reviewing a successful performance in 2008 in the context of the economic downturn, saying "Our Channel Business has grown exponentially with 45 new partners signing up during the course of the year". Orr explained, "In the current climate, resellers need more than ever to broaden their portfolios while managing overheads just to survive – that's why Servassure will be an integral part of many resellers' businesses in 2009.""

"Servassure expects significant growth within its Channel Business in 2009 and Massingham explained how the business had geared up to meet this opportunity"

[daz] 27/1/2009 20:47

Thanks Penpont, worth looking at.

[penpont] 27/1/2009 20:12

2 page note from Edison with some interesting points:

[rivaldo] 27/1/2009 11:13

From the Independent today - probably about right. Hopefully a re-rating will be kickstarted, though in this market....news on a disposal is key. If it's of any size at all then that re-rating could be sizeable:



"AT Communications Group

Our view: Hold

Share price: 14.25p (+1.75p)

AT Communications (ATC) describes itself as an "ICT company focused on the delivery of IP-based solutions and services to small, medium, and large enterprises". Translation: It provides IT and telecoms systems for businesses, with the chief executive, Alex Tupman, calling it a "small BT". The most lucrative bit is servicing these contracts, and the group has been expanding further into the managed service business to help boost margins.

The shares have taken a bit of a hammering since the summer; disappointing for a company in a sector that tends to be relatively resilient to a downturn. The shares were up 14 per cent yesterday, however, after a trading update forecast turnover and earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation would hit expectations for the full year. The market had feared ATC would miss its targets.

There was good news related to the company's worrying level of debt. The group announced it had paid down £4m since June, cutting borrowings to £18m. The group is also working on a disposal "which will go a long way to reducing debt levels".

ATC also revealed interest in one of its subsidiaries, and a new three-year contract with BT to provide sales services. The house broker, Cenkos, said that trading on 1.5 times this year's earnings prices the company as a distressed asset, but yesterday's announcement should help to kick-start a re-rating. There might well be some upside, but that debt has to come down further, and we want a bit more clarity over the future. Hold."

[harrogate] 26/1/2009 20:45

I am perfectly aware of how to manage cash thanks - These guys have been taking it beyond normal limits - That's all i would say

[davidosh] 26/1/2009 20:20

Harrogate...I think every company has tightened up on supplier payments and no doubt ATCG are feeling it on the collection side too...No matter how you look at it overall that was a good positive update today.

[jasper28] 26/1/2009 20:16

Harrogate, im in corporate finance and guess what?
We dont either, its about keeping money in the bank.

[harrogate] 26/1/2009 19:01

We are a supplier to Rocom and i can tell you very well how they reduced debt - they don't pay anyone !!! It would be worth really looking at the creditors figure before commenting on the debt reduction - don't hold but though i would pass that on

[schlemiel] 26/1/2009 08:36

is the mcap £11.5M ie 77M Shares*.15p?

tia