Bartercard Share Discussion Threads

[davidlloyd] 18/12/2007 09:37

The cheque is in the Royal Mail Christmas post no doubt.....
(1) Either it will be delivered late or
(2) It will be lost in the post (lots of noise about data loss in the press but no real grumbles about an organisation that is so capable of not delivering in all senses......)

DL

[thedustyone] 17/12/2007 17:14

I cannot seem to access the Bartercard website any longer to check out the press release and in as much as I want to be positive with Aporterman's news on the dividend, it is yet to be confirmed from any other source. It also says cheque will be sent out imminently which Aporterman has interpreted as today!
.... hmmm! have I heard that before?

[morr21] 13/12/2007 15:05

Interesting post, you do start to wonder that although the dividend is well received, we would have been better off if the shares had continued trading.

[davidlloyd] 13/12/2007 13:59

Aporterman,

Spot on, thats £29 a share dividend at current rates. A very nice Christmas present indeed. I checked Magnum Communications web site and it was not very communicative (i.e. not working) - not particularly brilliant if you are in the business of disseminating info.....

What is interesting is the 'high rate of profits' reference - the sale an lease back generated something like 7million Aussie dollars free cash - which means some 9million Aussie dollars has been generated from profits (i.e. ~£16.40 a share)....anyone wish to confirm - makes the shares look hugely undervalued based on the last listed prices (i.e. 4p share conolodated 1000 to 1 ~£40)....For the sake of argument, if we assume a divi of around 5% is reasonable it would suggest that the shares should be trading at around £320 each.....valuing BRTR at around £76million :-0

DL

[aporterman] 13/12/2007 12:03

I am away from my pc so I did not think I could get hold of the document ... but I just retrieved it through webmail .. so here it is:



PRESS RELEASE
Bartercard Limited

Interim Dividend

The board of Bartercard has approved the payment of an interim dividend of A$16million, equating to A$67.08 per share. Payments will be made in sterling and it is anticipated that cheques will be sent to shareholders imminently.

Wayne Sharpe, Chairman, commented:
"This is great news for our shareholders. The sale of our Australian headquarters and the high level of profits achieved from our operations this year has resulted in a surplus of capital. It seemed only right that we return it to our shareholders."

10 December 2007

Enquiries:

Bartercard Limited
Wayne Sharpe, Chairman 0845 920 1000
Lee Lochab, Group Finance Director



www.bartercard.com

For Further Press Enquires Please contact:
Dan Ferris / Jenny Mathieson
0203 214 1000
[e-mail]

[aporterman] 13/12/2007 11:57

David, I got it by email from a contact in the company .. it was announced on 10 dec - a short statement from a PR company ... not doing much PR it seems as it can not be found on the web!

I will ask them to post it under Investor Relations.

[morr21] 13/12/2007 10:35

aporterman. at £29 per share I will glady shut up. Once again thanks for the update.

[davidlloyd] 13/12/2007 09:34

aporterman,

Thanks for the continuning updates - very good news indeed. Out of interest, where do you source you info? Cant find anything on the website myself.

DL

[aporterman] 12/12/2007 16:47

Ha Ha ... No problem morr21 ... but I am afraid you will have to shut up!!

A Dividend of 16 Million Aus Dollars - which equals 67.08 Aus Dollars per share.

I make that 29 good old United Kingdom Pounds per share ... and they expect to pay out by next Monday.

[morr21] 12/12/2007 10:47

Certainly not having a go at you aporterman, your information is very valuable. I guess like everyone else Im just frustrated with Bartercard.

I will of course shut up, and glady so if a dividend of 27 or 28 pounds comes through.

Lets hope so.

[aporterman] 11/12/2007 20:15

Yeah morr21 and others -- Sorry, I hope my dividend info is better than my 24 hour to announcement info ... Perhaps they are delaying to finalise the sale of Bartercard UK ...

I am certain that the dividend of 27 or 28 pounds is coming ... without UK sale.

[morr21] 11/12/2007 14:58

aporterman, I realise that you are being positive and company seems to be doing ok, but are we ever going to see any of this. It seems to be they are doing everything they can not give remaining shareholders a penny, or at least taking a very long time.

I hope im wrong, and it would be great to receive something. WS may have lost out, but he still controls the company and money from sales.

[thedustyone] 05/12/2007 10:47

A porter

I'm trying hard to be optimistic and I am in no way saying that things will not turn out OK. It is just that the guy has a big mouth and I think that is the root cause of the problem.

It is always better to "surprise" your investors/markets with positive news, higher dividend etc but the guy seems to have a habit of stoking up undue expectations...announcing stuff even before the details have been worked out. The dividend saga above being a case in point where he led peeps to believe that they will be paid late September/early October. He therefore tends to fall on his own sword.

Accepted that CEOs can make forward looking statements but his has been downright excessive in my view and you only have to look at the frequency and quality of RNS that were released when we were still a listed company. It was almost as though we had an RNS each time the Cleaner farted in broom cupboard!. This was probably one of the main reasons why he fell out with the city.

[aporterman] 03/12/2007 19:02

Dust yourself off there ... South Africa and Indian licences sold and operating early 2008 ... new base to be established in mainland Europe for a good attack at that market ... not bad in my opinion.

He may be no saint, but he lost more than anybody with the collapse ... with over 100 million shares ... I believe he never sold a share.

Anyway, hopefully, you will soon be able to sell your shares on whatever sort of 'internal market' that emerges.

Two years ago I never thought that things would end up like this - I believed that BRTR would be a world leader ... and they may still be ... I have been stung badly before - and got Zero ... Just Group and Fisher ... I think this is going to work out very well yet.

[thedustyone] 03/12/2007 17:37

aie.... steady on!

Let's get the promised divi first before we start speculating on whether we are due another!

Wayne loves bartercard shareholders so much as you can see from his report...
No wonder he just can't stop shafting us!

[aporterman] 03/12/2007 13:22

If the UK sale goes ahead - I wonder what the price will be ... Wayne Sharpe's report above indicates a 34% increase in profits in the UK business last year so it should go for a good price ...

I make it that a million profit is worth £4.25 per share so a price of, say, 4 million would be worth another dividend of about £17 per share ... should they decide to pay it out as a special dividend - However, this is just speculation on my part.

[aporterman] 03/12/2007 10:26

Yes David ... it has been a tough couple of years - with some writing us off altogether - but I always had faith in Bartercard.

I now believe that my information is pretty much spot on ... may even squeeze an extra pound out of it ... I think there should be an announcement in the next 24 hours.

[davidlloyd] 03/12/2007 09:19

I hope what you heard is right! £27 a share would make me very happy indeed (and a lot of previous holders pretty angry I suspect).

DL

[aporterman] 03/12/2007 09:10

Was anybody here at the agm?

I was not but I heard that the news was a MBO sale of UK and a dividend of about £27 per share ... I would be very happy with that ... I did not get official confirmation of these though.

[thedustyone] 01/12/2007 21:18

what is the value of the dividend and when is it going to be paid?

Are these not simple enough questions?

Not more of this exponential growth bla bla.. breaking all records... and bartercard being the best company in the world stuff!

[aporterman] 01/12/2007 06:43

23, Nov 2007
Bartercard Financial Statement:
Chairmans Statement for the period ended 30th June 2007
The last year was one of monumental change for the Bartercard Group, the most significant being the delisting and privatisation of Bartercard Plc.

But it is the overall financial performance that has delivered a killer blow to the doom and gloom merchants. Profit after tax was almost A$8.6 million for the period against a loss A$8.1 million for 2006. A spectacular turnaround by any standards, - driven by the actions of our Executive Directors and with commitment and support from Management.

The delisting forced substantial corporate restructuring towards privatising. This included a share consolidation of 1,000 to one, and a "partial buyback" by me of micro shareholders and fractional share portions. The process of our delisting was effectively forced upon us and litigation against our former Nominated Advisor continues, but the Board responded aggressively with across the board restructuring to ensure the future success of Bartercard. Shareholders now total approximately 700 – down from over 4,000 as a public company. More importantly there are less owners of a company that has made substantial improvements to its profitability and balance sheet.

With all these changes going on the decision was made to change the financial year end to June 30, so all companies in the group reported for 15 months for consolidation into these accounts. Of course two major events that took place were the sale of our Company owned Sunbury branch to former CEO David Wright for £360k (A$850k) and the building sale in Australia for A$13.5 million. The latter retired all the long term debt in the group and placed over A$7 million cash in the bank. It also completely squashed rumours and innuendo in relation to the Groups solvency, and reinstalled member and market confidence. Since that sale settled, trading has renewed and inquiries for both International & UK Domestic Franchise Licenses, which had disappeared entirely, have increased. Deposits have already been taken for both India and South Africa with both expected to commence operations early in 2008. Furthermore overall trading finished up by 5% despite a large drop immediately after the delisting.

Of course the event of my lifetime, and our Company's, took place only one month after the end of financial year, so it does not appear in these accounts, - the sale of Bartercard Australia.

After 16 years, our founding operation was sold as a license in a Management Buyout to a team including BCA's Managing Director Trevor Dietz, Plc Main Board Director Murray D'Almeida and Co-founder of Bartercard Brian Hall. The deal was for A$25.5 million, backed by National Australia Bank, of which A$19.5million in cash has been received and the balance is vendor finance by the Bartercard Group over 5 years. I am sure you all join me in wishing them incredible success and growth from what is now our largest international licensee.

Many group subsidiaries were put to the knife with all former Universal companies being wound down and the newly acquired D-isc being 'parked' in order to focus on our core business activities. The result has been an increase in Bartercard UK with revenues increasing by 11%, and profits increasing by 34%. Similarly in Bartercard UAE revenues were up by an incredible 374%, and whilst still loss making, is expected to be profitable by the end of this year.

So today the company has a large cash bank balance, profitable subsidiaries and license and franchises sales and enquiries have started to flow again. On completion of a significant redevelopment of the Bartercard software program, operational costs for Bartercard International are expected to reduce, but will be replaced with the establishment of a BCI headquarters in mainland Europe headed by myself.

So the next great frontier, Europe beckons and Bartercard as a company is now in better shape than it has ever been. An internal market for shares will be created in the near future, and trading of those shares is now done via traditional share transfer.

I am proud to say that we have done exactly what we said we would last year, and more.

I look forward to returning profits to you in the form of dividends this year and I hope, for many years to come.

Wayne Sharpe
Executive Chairman

[davidlloyd] 29/11/2007 17:29

Lets see what tomorrow brings
DL

[yump] 09/11/2007 14:36

"at which time the qantum and date by which an Interim Dividend is to be paid will be announced"

I hope I get more than a q(u)antum - I know its not much but a hypothetical atomic modelling construct would really be taking the p...

It might leave me hoping that Mr. Shafter would go and take a quantum leap.