Berkeley Technology Share Discussion Threads

[adam] 04/4/2010 13:03

The Group leases office space under operating leases. Total rents under
these operating leases were $235,000 (net of sublease income of $68,000) ... Our Jersey and San Francisco office space leases expire in September 2010 and October 2010


on January 14, 2010, the JFSC approved LPAL's Cessation Of Business Plan ("COBP") and cancelled its insurance permit. As of December 31, 2009, the JFSC had not yet approved LPAL's COBP, and accordingly, as of December 31, 2009, the cash balances of $2.8 million and private equity investments of $844,000 held by LPAL were restricted as disclosed in the footnote to the balance sheet.


Cost Containment and Cash Preservation Measures

We have implemented and are realizing significant cost savings due to a
wide range of expense reduction measures. Staffing levels were reduced in 2008,
and again in 2009, and all contractual employment obligations were fully paid by
June 30, 2009. Our San Francisco office lease was successfully negotiated at a
significantly reduced rent. We were able to obtain insurance coverage at
substantially reduced rates. We have reduced our legal and other professional
expenses.




We have focused our resources and have decided to close our Jersey insurance business. This insurance business was regulated which required audit fees and expenses, actuary fees, independent director fees, administrative expenses and other related costs. We are also closing several dormant subsidiaries, all which will reduce our auditing and administrative costs.

We are also reducing costs by eliminating our ADR program. These costs include additional auditing fees and expenses, staffing costs (reduction of an additional employee), other professional and administrative fees and related costs.

These cost containment measures are expected to significantly reduce the use of cash for operating activities.




Net book value of over $12m with 52m shares (exc Trust held shares) = 15p. Most of which is cash.

[hugepants] 25/2/2010 08:20

Just made a few notes based on exchange rate of $1.6 = £1 and shares in issue = 51M

At end of Q1 (March) 2010 (projecting Q3 loss forward)

Net cash = 13p per share
Xtera investment worth 1.25p per share (at cost)
The rest of the private equity valued in books at $350K or 0.4p per share.

Cash burn should be down to about 2p per annum now based on the $150K Q3 sales.

May be better than that since costs are forecast to contnue to fall in this years Q4 (from SEC filing) as LPAL is wound up. I think this will save another $300K per annum since LPAL costs are $75,000 per quarter. Also possibility Xtera stake is worth 2-3 times book value if press reports of an imminent floatation are true. Also delisting from the US will cut costs further. But I hope they just wind-up this awful business.

[ben value] 24/2/2010 15:58

Two trades of 75,000 on plus today. The biggest trades we have had for some time.

[adam] 24/2/2010 12:45

More hope than expectation.

Some good news from one of the last remaining private equity holdings

[hugepants] 23/2/2010 12:48

I hope you're right adam re: possible winding up. This stock is almost becoming interesting. We were also due a final cash payment in 2009 from the Enron debacle.

[adam] 22/2/2010 17:41

For some reason I couldn't find this on the SEC website in this form, but it appears the ADRS are being terminated. The largest ADR holder is S.C Fundamental who have over 20% i believe. Importantly this will free the company from making S.E.C filings. Let's hope it means we will get a winding up of the company.


"You are hereby further notified that, at the instruction of the Issuer, the Deposit Agreement, as amended, will terminate on April 20, 2010, which is 90 days after the date of this notice.
As a result of the amendment and termination of the Deposit Agreement described above, you have until at least May 20, 2010 to decide if you would like to retain your interest in shares of the Issuer. If you wish to retain your interests in shares of the Issuer, you must surrender your ADRs and request delivery of the underlying Issuer shares by May 20, 2010.
"

[hugepants] 27/1/2010 14:28

This b@st@rd is up 50% on £240 worth buys.

[adam] 27/1/2010 09:52

Three was a form F-6 filing in the states




It may be that this is a prelude to de-registering from the ADRs. It makes sense to do so as there is no market for the stock. Fortunately Trueger can't delist here as it is fully listed and would require a 75% vote now.

[stewjames] 27/1/2010 05:36

Somebody trying to sell? I think this may now be the sharpest discount to cash I've ever seen, but it's also amongst the least traded. Illiquidity is so ridiculous I suspect even trying to offload 1Ks worth could cause this drop.

Amongst all the other mysteries regarding costs, I have to ask why in the hell Trueger is keeping this listed, and given that it *is* listed, why he's doing absolutely jack for the shareprice.

[double6] 26/1/2010 20:47

Big fall - what's the crack ??

[adam] 20/1/2010 10:34

Guess who bought into Xtera when it had a private valuation of $1b?

Sales now about $80-$100m per annum. If they value it at 5x sales, and we had 1% (for arguments sake), it would be worth $5m. So plausibly in relation to market cap might be of some significance.

Notably the last round was under-subscribed. Perhaps VCs will see an exit from a trade sale as the article suggests.

[stewjames] 22/12/2009 21:17

Nice digging, but where's it going? We all know the costs are ridiculous. Have you asked the board to justify them?

[hugepants] 22/12/2009 20:34

Heres the non-execs salaries. I still cant work out where all the money is going unless the handful of employees are on a few hundred grand per annum each.



Non-Exec Director Summary Compensation Table for 2008

Harold E. Hughes, Jr. $16,250
Victor A. Hebert $12,500
Viscount Trenchard $12,500

[hugepants] 22/12/2009 20:31

BEK pay £100,000 in audit fees. Is that normal? It seems an incredible large amount. BEK is a tiny company.




....For the years ended December 31, 2008 and 2007, BDO Stoy Hayward LLP and
BDO Seidman, LLP billed or will bill the Company for the following fees:

2008 2007
Audit Fees $151,967 $146,441
Audit-Related Fees (1) $12,078 $13,970
Tax Fees (2) $2,070 $3,025
All Other Fees $0 $0

(1) Related to the audits of our insurance regulatory reports.
(2) Related to tax compliance services.

[hugepants] 14/12/2009 21:58

by Jeff Bounds Dec 04 2009


"...Credit Suisse is the lead underwriter on the deal, according to sources, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Executives and board members of Xtera could not be reached for comment. Companies that are preparing for IPOs often shun talking to the press out of concern of earning the wrath of the SEC.

Financial data on Xtera wasn't available, though sources put the company's annual sales at $80 million to $100 million...."

[hugepants] 10/12/2009 21:19

Adam
Its a dangerous game trying to second guess the Truegmeister.
I'll believe it when I see it.

[adam] 09/12/2009 23:00

My bet this is a pre-IPO financing.

10th November filing
13. Offering and Sales Amounts
Total Offering Amount $35,000,000 USD or Indefinite
Total Amount Sold $23,394,093 USD
Total Remaining to be Sold $11,605,907 USD or Indefinite


BEK results stated

"During the second quarter of 2009, as approved by the Jersey Financial Services Commission ("JFSC"), LPAL distributed a total of $9.0 million in cash to the Company
"

So I would guess odds-on that BEK caught some of this since money was available at group level to do so. Well I hope so. If not, given their long term support for Xtera and previous incarnations you will have to seriously question Trueger's sanity. Why was it not mentioned in results released 13th Nov as a post balance sheet event then?

[adam] 30/11/2009 21:01

Not them as Agilent are public

Doubt it's important though. All that matters is what will be done with the company or will it drain away into Trueger's pockets? Especially now that they have no insurance business and cash is free at group level.

[hugepants] 30/11/2009 20:28

Agree Alacritech looks doomed (another Clearspeed). For some reason I assumed the 3rd one was Agilent. Cant recall why though.

[adam] 30/11/2009 20:19

Looking at some old notes... Mahi Networks was one of Treugers hopefuls back in the dot com boom days. It got acquired by Meriton and then by Xtera. BEK also separately funded Xtera (in 2001) prior to the acquisition of Meriton by Xtera. Not strictly relevant, but there you are...



The funding for Mahi was also large ($255m in total), so it is possible that BEK have a registrable holding if it was not acquired for cash (less likely). I would assume then given subsequent funding of Xtera by BEK that it is the larger holding (perhaps wrongly) and therefore book cost is $844k last quarter

As of September 30, 2009, the Group's investments consisted of three private corporate equity securities with individual carrying values of less then 10% of the Group's shareholders' equity. One of these investments, with a carrying value of $357,000, is in preferred stock of a technology company that was a consulting client of BICC until February 2009. Another investment, with a carrying value of $140,000, is in preferred stock of another technology company that was a consulting client of the Group in prior years. The third investment has a carrying value of $844,000 and is in preferred stock of a technology company



Certainly another is Alacritech - which looks deceased. I don't know what the 3rd is off the top of my head.

Plausibly then BEK might recover a premium to book value for Xtera.

[stewjames] 29/11/2009 18:35

Xtera has raised over $200M, so any recent investment by BEK will have been for a negligible stake given their reduced circumstances.

They were involved in a $110M placing way back in 2001, so if they have a worthwhile stake, that'll be where it's from. Given prices back then were grossly inflated and there's been at least $80M raised since, I wouldn't expect them to have much.

(This info is all available in the news archives on Xtera's website)

I was thinking about BEK a bit yesterday. They no longer have the cash resources to carry out their strategy and yet there's been no indication given to shareholders of what they actually intend for the long term.

[adam] 29/11/2009 13:05

when/if they file you should be able to find out the holding from the S-1 filing. if it is material it my require a trading statement from BEK once it gets to bookbuild/pricing.

[stewjames] 29/11/2009 01:02

That name rings a bell. Fairly sure BEK were investing in this way back in the heyday as well, when they were London Pacific Group.

[hugepants] 28/11/2009 11:38

Friday, November 27, 2009
Xtera preparing $100M IPO


BEK invested $1M in this company towards the end of 2007. Does anyone know the percentage?