Better Capital Pcc Share Discussion Threads

[jaws6] 28/2/2013 16:19

rns on EGM OUT

[jaws6] 15/2/2013 09:11

first divi and RNS ?

[masurenguy] 05/1/2013 01:30

Reader's Digest UK facing administration
Reader's Digest UK is facing administration less than three years after being rescued by private equity veteran Jon Moulton.

Nick Sanders, head of portfolio at Better Capital, said......that since Better Capital bought Reader's Digest for £14m, the firm had invested £23m into the company. In 2010, Better Capital bought the UK division out of administration after its US parent refused to support the £120m pension fund liability.

[jimbo55] 16/4/2012 17:23

I've started selling as I think the price has probably gotten ahead of itself. The last reported NAV was nowhere near this share price level. From the last interim report in February:


The unaudited net asset value of Better Capital Limited as at 31 December 2011 was GBP229.1 million, representing a net asset value per share of 110.79 pence. Upon Conversion on 12 January 2012 this net asset value was attributed to Better Capital 2009 Cell. In accordance with the guidance set out in the Prospectus dated 10 June 2010, fair market valuations of BECAP Fund's investments are carried out on a six-monthly basis as at 31 March and 30 September.


True, the holdings seem to be valued around every six months, and there would have been a revaluation on 31st March (not yet reported). However, I can't see a 30 - 40% increase in NAV being likely in such a timescale. Possibly I'm wrong. If I'm right though, I'll get to buy back in a little cheaper the next time a sell-off hits the markets. Interesting to note the Blackrock Absolute Alpha Fund looks to have taken the opportunity to book a little profit and reduce their holding to below 3%.

[masurenguy] 16/4/2012 09:51

Moulton has not lost his entrepreneurial spirit or dealmaking nous !

Jon Moulton's Better Capital buys fashion brand Jaeger
Jon Moulton's Better Capital has paid £19.5m for a majority stake in Jaeger, the luxury retailer owned by fashion entrepreneur Harold Tillman.

Better Capital said in a statement it had bought the secured debt and a 90pc of the high-end fashion brand, which saw it profits fall by two-thirds last year as the downturn on the British high street took its toll. The British chain, which operates from 50 standalone shops and 70 concessions within department stores, made a profit before tax of £772,000 in the year to February 2011, down from £2.22m in the previous year. Revenue fell 10pc to £94m. Trading was hit by provisions for the retailer's five loss-making shops, as well as the impact of bad weather in the UK in December 2010.

Jaeger was established in 1884 and today designs and sells menswear in addition to its traditional womenswear ranges. Mr Tillman made his fortune in the rag trade. He took a majority investment in Jaeger in 2002, recruiting former Debenhams chief executive Belinda Earl to run the business 2 years later. The pair bought the Aquascutum brand in 2009. Ms Earl stepped down as chief executive of Jaeger for health reasons last month. The acquisition is the second for Better Capital's BECAP12 Fund.

[wexboy] 23/2/2012 03:06

TVC Holdings - an interesting potential Irish acquisition for Moulton?:

[huttonr] 21/2/2012 13:35

There didn't seem to be a huge amount of information in the statement but the price is rising - is it getting a bit ahead of itself or is there something happening?

[huttonr] 13/1/2012 09:07

The fund raising seems to be OK but a little disappointing (£168m after expenses when they were hoping for £200m) - so lets see how the money is spent.

[ccnp] 30/12/2011 08:32

No idea what this will do but I always delight in listening to the interviews with John Moulton (and with David Buik).

Does Moulton's performance match his sagacious commentary ? He seems to have fallen out with many of the financial rapists in his industry and while that makes him a hero to me, it may not make him a leader to follow for my investments.

Every year, I pick 2 or 3 stocks to squander a £1,000 investment bet for the long term. This strikes me as one for 2012

[huttonr] 23/12/2011 08:18

I've just been looking at the fundraising offer - the current progress of Better Capital seems promising - no huge gains yet but the companies bought look sensible and should provide a good future over say 5 years or so.

I'm inclined to put in a bit more money into the expansion - what do other people think?

[huttonr] 08/7/2011 08:28

Good signs of activity on the investment front - I hope this will translate into share price movement - I've been a little disappointed on the share price progress so far even tho' it is in start-up mode.

[orange1] 05/7/2011 21:35

Better Capital acquires DigiPoS assets
Article Date: Jul 05 2011 Todd Cardy

Jon Moulton's private equity firm Better Capital has acquired some of the assets held by global electronic point of sale hardware and software provider DigiPoS Store Solutions.

Better Capital has committed £21 million to the 'special purpose vehicle' that will purchase certain bank facilities and related rights owned by DigiPos. The firm will fully own and control the 'special' vehicle, according to a statement from the turnaround specialist.

DigiPoS, headquartered in the UK with subsidiaries across the world including the US, supplies electronic point of sale hardware and software and provides related installation services. The audited accounts for the year to 2 March 2010 show that the group achieved sales of £57 million and generated an EBITDA of £2 million. The total net assets at that year-end amounted to £10 million.

DigiPoS managing director (EMEA) Ian Patterson recently commented that the business would focus more on mobile technology in point of sales. He predicted that mobile technology could have a similar impact on retail that ATM machines had years ago.

'It was predicted that 2011 would be the year that m-commerce achieved scale: consumers will use their mobile device on a substantial scale to engage with retailers and brands for selecting purchases and completing transactions,' Patterson wrote in a recent article.

'As I have said before, mobile will be a game changer for the retail sector. I believe it will have the same impact as the ATM once had.'

In other news, Better Capital has committed a further £3 million to the UK subsidiary of the Reader's Digest magazine to fund continuing business and systems improvements.

The firm purchased the stricken publisher last year, announcing that it anticipated committing a total of £13 million to finance the buy-out and fund future growth. The original investment backed the business's management team, who have taken 35 per cent of the equity in the new company.

In recent months, the publisher, which is currently led by its third chief executive in a year, Thierry Bouzac, has begun distributing the magazine for free at London Underground stations.

[masurenguy] 26/5/2011 12:00

Tipped in Shares Magazine today.

[masurenguy] 13/3/2011 11:20

Jon Moulton builds £200m green energy fund
Jon Moulton is to launch a £200m investment fund to focus on sustainable energy and infrastructure.

Mr Moulton, best known for founding and running Alchemy Partners for 12 years until his surprise exit in 2009, will chair the fund, Greensphere Capital. It will be run on a day-to-day basis by two principals. One, Divya Seshamani, is a former Goldman Sachs banker who most recently worked at the infrastructure arm of the GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. The name of the second principal is not known but he is male and used to work at BP. Registration and approval documents for the fund are believed to have been lodged with the Financial Services Authority earlier this week, and fund-raising will not be able to begin until approvals have been received. Greensphere has however taken office space on St James's Square in London's Mayfair. The company's fledgling website says only that the company is a "specialist investment firm focused on sustainable energy and infrastructure". The fund will be seen as something of a departure for Mr Moulton, better known in the Square Mile for his venture capital activities. His more recent ventures include Better Capital, which backed the £13m management buy-out of the UK edition of Reader's Digest, and the £15m purchase of some of the assets of collapsed support services group Connaught.

[masurenguy] 11/2/2011 07:48

11 February 2011
Better Capital Limited
Interim Management Statement

To date Better Capital Limited has committed an aggregate of £203.8 million to BECAP. BECAP has made four investments and one of its investments has made a further two acquisitions, details on each are provided in the following section.

Investments

New and further investments

From 1 October 2010 to 11 February 2011, BECAP has made two follow-on investments related to the existing portfolio and one new investment.

· October 2010 - An additional £5.5 million was committed and invested in the existing Calyx business in order to fund additional working capital requirements, taking the funds committed and invested in Calyx to £22.5 million and £21.8 million respectively as at 11 February 2011;

· January 2011 - The trade and assets of Blade Tooling Company Limited (in administration) and Blade Technology (a partnership, in administration) (together "Blade") were acquired by Gardner. The acquisition was funded in part by Gardner together with £2.5 million of additional funding in Gardner from BECAP, taking the funds committed and invested in Gardner Group Limited to £21.0 million as at 11 February 2011; and

· February 2011 - The trade and assets of the Santia group of companies (wholly owned subsidiaries of Connaught plc, in administration) and related subsidiaries ("Santia"); £15.0 million was committed and invested as at 11 February 2011.

Current trading

Gardner

Gardner, which now includes RD Precision, is a supplier to the aerospace industry and provides a range of components to aero structure and engine manufacturers. Since the last Interim Management Statement, the company has bolstered its service offering with the acquisition of Blade (together the "Gardner Group of Companies"). The Gardner Group of Companies continues to trade on plan, with the change programmes progressing well and delivering value. A new CEO (Phil Lewis) was recently appointed who is well-placed to drive growth.

Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest is a publishing and direct marketing business selling magazines, books, music CDs, DVDs and other products to its customer base of over 500,000 individuals. In the period from acquisition to December 2010, the company has traded marginally ahead of expectations. Audited circulation of the magazine has grown by 8% over the last six months which is the first increase in 17 years. The operational restructuring for Reader's Digest is on-track to deliver savings in the current year.

Calyx

Calyx is a provider of IT services, software and hardware, which was acquired from insolvency processes in the UK and Ireland in September 2010. In the period following acquisition, management's key priority has been to stabilise the business, in particular the customers, suppliers and employees. This is now essentially completed and revenues have remained largely unaffected by the insolvency processes. Whilst still early days, the Calyx change programme is progressing well with significant benefits envisaged in the current year.

Santia

Santia provides health and safety consultancy, training services, occupational health, asbestos management, food safety, information services and supplier and vendor accreditation, predominantly to the private sector. At the date of this Interim Management Statement, Santia's management is focused on stabilising its core business activities and working on the separation issues arising from its disposal from the enlarged Connaught Plc (in administration).

Financial

The unaudited net asset value of Better Capital as at 31 December 2010 was £208.6 million, representing a net asset value per share of 100.9 pence. In accordance with the guidance set out in the Prospectus, fair market valuations of BECAP's investments are carried out on a six-monthly basis as at 31 March and 30 September. Consequently, the above net asset value has not been subject to a revaluation of the underlying carrying value of investments from those reported in the Interim Results. At 11 February 2011, BECAP had cash balances of £130.4 million, placed with maturity dates ranging from instant access to four months. At market close on 10 February 2011, Better Capital's shares had a mid-market price on the London Stock Exchange of 118.5 pence.

[masurenguy] 01/2/2011 20:55

An interesting aquisition !

RNS Number : 4805A
01 February 2011
BETTER CAPITAL LIMITED 1 February 2011

ACQUISITION

Better Capital Limited (the "Company") is pleased to announce that BECAP Fund LP (the "Better Capital Fund") has acquired certain trade and assets of the Santia group of companies (wholly owned subsidiaries of Connaught plc, in administration) and related subsidiaries (the "Group"). The investment has been effected through acquisition vehicles owned and controlled by the Better Capital Fund.

The Group is a leading provider of health and safety risk management services, including; health and safety consultancy, training services, occupational health, asbestos management, food safety, information services and supplier and vendor accreditation. The Group will continue to serve both private and public sector organisations. Latest unaudited revenues of the acquired Group for the year to 31 August 2010 were £40.9 million, with an operating profit (pre-exceptional items and Connaught central recharge) of £3.3 million. At 31 August 2010 the Group had unaudited gross assets of £24.0 million, of which intangibles represented £0.5 million.

The Better Capital Fund has committed £15.0 million to finance the acquisition and to fund the restructuring and working capital requirements. Sean Cooper, a member of Better Capital LLP (which provides consultancy services to Better Capital Fund's general partner), will join the boards of the acquisition vehicles.

[masurenguy] 24/12/2010 08:20

Price slowly creeping up from the 100p AIM IPO in December 2009, the further placing at 105p June, the 110p main market debut in July to 115p on December 24th. Current share price is equivalent to a 14% premium against the NAV calculated at the end of H1 on September 30th.

Some H1 Report extracts

Portfolio

The Fund's portfolio is performing broadly in line with expectations, which is pleasing.

The rate at which Gardner is securing new custom highlights how attractive unleveraged, well-invested businesses are to customers. It is entrenching itself as a strong player in the UK aerospace market and deepening relationships with the key industry participants.

The management of Reader's Digest has undertaken a transformational restructuring of its cost base and the team is now working hard to regain momentum lost during the administration process and to organically increase its readership. The company is looking at a number of ways in which it can supplement its product and service offering and best utilise its key strengths; its brand and loyal customer base.

It remains early days for the Calyx turnaround, but its new management team is excited about the possibilities and clear about the way in which the business needs to be repositioned.

Deal Flow

The volume of new deal opportunities being investigated continues to be consistently high. The high number of introductions is a result of significant time spent meeting members of the referrer community and building awareness of the brand. During the period a total of 311 introductions were reviewed by the Consultant in conjunction with the General Partner of the Better Capital Fund. The Board continues to believe that this deal flow should mean that the proceeds of the placings can be substantially invested or committed within the period set out in the prospectus.The near term outlook for the future is promising for Better Capital Limited - being an investor which can capitalise on corporate underperformance, of which there is an abundance.

Market Summary

In the wake of the global economic turmoil caused by the collapse of the credit markets, the M&A industry has significantly contracted - and is now in weak recovery. Fortunately for Better Capital, the lack of availability of leverage is actually of benefit, given the reliance upon gearing that a number of its competitors have. In either prosperous times or those of recession, there remain businesses which are poorly run and hence require an operational turnaround.

The factor which is affecting the marketplace most noticeably is the attitude of the clearing banks. It is extremely common for lenders to refrain from crystallising losses, even though the worth of the underlying businesses is far below the level of the debt. The longer this situation remains, the greater the need for investment in those companies. A rise in interest rates or a change of attitude in the banking community is likely to prompt a wave of investment opportunities.

Better Capital is now a strong brand in its market with a full set of resources to maximise the return from the turnaround arena. We have considerable confidence that the Better Capital Fund can find further rewarding investments over the months ahead.

Jon Moulton

[masurenguy] 08/11/2010 15:58

Inevitably slow but gradual progress here with the share price creeping up by 3p since their migration to the main market 4 months ago. The interim report, covering the 6 month period to September 30th, is due to be published at the end of this month and this should also provide some further insight into both the restructuring and performance of the existing portfolio of acquisitions.

[fjp73] 15/10/2010 18:36

Slowly Slowly :-)...cannot believe I'm barely up 1% but patience :-). Took a few out Wednesday purely to SIPP some RUR (Rurelec). MeasurenGuy, perhaps you should have a look. ATB Fraser

[fjp73] 11/9/2010 16:35

So very quickly back to your comment about Eggs and Baskets UKInvestor, all the directors are in the same boat as I :-)...

Many thanks though, off out now, but have marked the page.

ATB Fraser

[fjp73] 11/9/2010 16:32

Something I wrote in December 2009

For those not aware, Jon Moulton founded Alchemy Partners a private equity group; this was some time in the late 90's. He left in September this year after a clash over strategy because he wanted to focus more specifically on distressed and financially needy companies where as other partners wanted old school investments. That is my version of it not the PR spin or his.

Anyway, roll forward 3 months and from what I have heard Jon was having serious amounts of cash thrown at him to do this and do that, for which I can only assume he declined. Preferring instead to create a company that wants to focus on distressed UK and Irish Business, where they can turn the company round by looking at the management (bad) and need for cash. I love the model. "

"From what I have read, the company will limit investments so that all the eggs aren't in one basket. I think the tiered investment ratios are no more than 20% of cash in any investment and no more than 10% is listed companies. BCAP has about £140M cash and is valued around £150M. It is certainly one to watch, or even just keep an eye on who they are invested in if listed!

I am a great believer in the people behind companies and Jon Moulton has showed confidence by investing £13M of his own cash in this. Other Directors had to commit to a collective minimum of £350K, which if I am correct is equivalent to one year's combined salary for all of them. I have great faith in the company, yes, the price could dip but my broker says that all the "initial" offering investors have signed a "no shorting clause". So the company's at a 6% premium to the current cash value, but with the brains of Jon behind the company, I don't think it's unreasonable to see £5 in 3 years, this is based on the Alchemy performance and only 25% of it, I opted for this figure as the 100% would mean a £20 a share....which I think would be unrealistic.

Overall, someone who I have a lot of faith in and I would go as far to say, better than a savings bank in terms of safety and returns! You can't get better than Jon Moulton, Mark Aldridge (accountancy supremo) and Nick Sanders (Company management and a damn good name) and that's just the consultants and with the shrewd and avid Richard Crowder (Chairman and well known for shareholder value), Richard Battey (the man should have his own church, came from Schroders and is on the board at Juridica Capital Management Limited) and Philip Bowman (from Smiths Group Plc) and Mark Huntley (I don't know anything about).

TC A Jon Moulton Worshipper.

www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=quote&symbol=L%5eBCAP&cb=1261223308

[fjp73] 11/9/2010 16:32

Sorry duplicated by ADVFN so I removed it...