Datong Electronics Share Discussion Threads

[eagle eye] 15/1/2010 10:28

It doesn't take much buying to move the share price.

[longshanks] 15/1/2010 09:28

Looking a bit perky today... 5 trades in the first 90 minutes of trading...more than we normally get in a few weeks.

Is there some rumour/news out there?

Or is it just good plain value.

Nice to see the 200d m.a. has now clearly turned - looking good for a rise to 60/70p over the next few months.

[eagle eye] 31/12/2009 17:52

Lots of value here. Very low PSR and PRR. Good cash position of around 1/3rd market cap. Chart breakout too. BB nice and quiet, just the way I like it.
Happy New Year to all DTE shareholders.
Hope we might have more to post about in 2010!
Eagle Eye

[longshanks] 29/12/2009 23:36

always.... I am my own best friend.

[andre] 28/12/2009 20:28

Ever thought that you are talking to yourself longshanks? ;o)

[longshanks] 15/10/2009 20:30

Company took a v.long time to report this:


DATONG plc (AIM: DTE) announces that it was notified on 2 October 2009 that,
following an acquisition of shares on 1 October 2009, Gartmore Investment
Limited now holds 1,526,068 ordinary shares of 0.5 pence each in the Group
representing approximately 11.031% of the issued share capital of the Group.


No obvious purchases on LSE/PLUS indicating the 829193 shares that Gartmore have acquired since August. Must have been a private transfer of ownership; presumably from Hazel Carr Edwards who held 830000 in August. I guess we can expect another RNS to that effect.

Gartmore have a habit of hedging their holdings - which unfortunately can work against the interests of PI's over the short term. However, once this returns to the dividend list (perhaps at the interims), and is seen to be paying a well covered 7-10% annual income, this will surely soar.

[longshanks] 01/10/2009 07:47

Excellent trading update - this is so undervalued.

Interim highlights:
* Record orders of £5m (£6.5m whole of last year).
* ROW sales of £1.3m [£0.3m whole of last year).
* Third party products now unaffected by patent conflict - sales in all areas resumed.
* Actively pursuing acquisitions

Looks like we still have someone reducing their holdings: good slug (42500) offloaded today - but this overhang must be close to being dried up - after which, IMO, we should see a sustained recovery back to 80p.

Just need some Director buying now to round this off nicely and get it going.

[longshanks] 19/9/2009 08:15

Thread remaining nice and quiet - just as I like them. AGM in two weeks time and I fully expect there will be a trading update with it for the last interim period.

Given the bullish tone of recent RNS announcements - I expect this update to reflect a significant turnaround from the gloom that greeted last years results. Proforma statements are notoriously unreliable - but I think this update will be well received.

Two years ago, capital employed was £5.6m and they were earning a return on this of 29%; the current market cap is £4.5m. A lot has happened since, yes, but given their strong niche position, strong cash flow and strong balance sheet, the fact that the legal issues appear to have been settled relatively painlessly would suggest that this share is overdue a rapid re-rating.

Personally I expect the Interims in November to come with a return of the company to the dividend list. If figures are as strong as I expect, they may well also pay a special dividend in lieu of the non-payment last year.

The market won't ignore a 25% discount to NAV, 29% ROCE and 8% yield for long.

The only possible risk that I can see is that the Directors have been lying to us about the impact of the legal dispute. But, with them having bought bucket loads of shares themselves over the last year - I doubt this is likely.

[longshanks] 28/8/2009 16:49

Nice quiet thread. I've been monitoring a while and took the plunge today - company looks ludicrously undervalued. Gartmore seems to have cleared the overhang caused by Norwich Union (Aviva)...so there seems little in the way of resistance to a recovery.

With a prospective P/E of 3 for the year and a likely dividend of some 8% - this has to be a reasonable bet. Defence is a bit out of favour with the market - but people who normally eat apples will always eat pears if the price is right ;)

[investinggarden] 11/8/2009 11:10

Buy recommendation from Growth Company Investor

[garth] 01/5/2009 10:44

Heading up the last few days..... less than £4m market cap. 11p eps last year. Should be good recovery prospect through the other side of legal action and recession?

G.

[garth] 20/3/2009 12:10

So, costs of £1m, damages yest to be settled....

Datong trading statement:

"No financial provision for damages has been made, which reflects the Directors' views on the strength of the Company's case. The case is expected to be heard in December 2007."

Interims:

"* Strong balance sheet incorporating net funds of #1.2m"

Would be interesting to know how much of the £1m costs will fall to Datong....

March court procedings statement from Datong:
"Subject to the outcome of the appeal process, the amount of damages and costs
payable by the Defendants will be quantified at further court proceedings. These proceedings are likely to extend throughout 2009.


Whilst the implications of this judgement are assessed, the Company intends to
take prudent measures to ensure its exposure is not increased. This will
inevitably have an impact on the results for the year ended 31 March 2009. The
Company had previously expected to make sales of approximately GBP3 million of
the product under dispute into the UK and the Rest of the World between today's date and the year end. Given today's judgement, it is now unlikely that these sales will be achieved. "

[garth] 20/3/2009 11:58

Charles Russell team wins major High Court patent infringement trial
11 March 2009

Charles Russell, acting for MMI Research Limited (a subsidiary of Cobham plc) in their long standing patent litigation with Cellxion Limited, Datong Electronics plc and others, have today won a major High Court patent infringement trial.

This morning Mr. Justice Floyd gave judgement in favour of MMI Research. A hearing will now take place on Monday at which MMI Research will seek an order that Cellxion Limited and the other defendants pay MMI's costs of the proceedings which are estimated to be £1 million.

The damages Cellxion will pay to MMI will be assessed at a separate hearing.

Patrick Gearon, Partner at Charles Russell, said: "MMI and Cobham are delighted with the outcome of this long running litigation. This is one of the biggest patent cases of the last year and the Charles Russell team have done a great job during the course of this three year hearing."

[nonno] 24/11/2008 18:01

just a reminder see article in aimzine mag nov edition

[tole] 24/6/2008 19:57

Datong sets its sights on expansion drive



"Datong, a tracking and location technology specialist, is using the conference to launch a weatherproof "slap on" vehicle tracking device, which, once stuck on a suspect's car, can be tracked online."


Tipped last week in the IC apparently...

Staying with recommendations, 'buy' ratings in the Investors Chronicle boosted Datong 2 to 102-1/2

[tole] 19/6/2008 13:53

Thx mj - quite a nice little site that, well spotted :)

[mjcrockett] 10/6/2008 13:15

Tole, Thanks for the link. There's a new online magazine out later today, which has a feature on Datong in this first edition - register for free at www.aimzine.co.uk.

MJ

[garth] 04/12/2007 07:39

Respectable results. Pre-results spike to continue or fall back?

[tole] 06/9/2007 16:44

Hi Garth - missed your posts from earlier -

Taken off the IC website

Datong set for maiden divi

Created: 4 July 2007 Written by: Nigel Bolitho

Datong joined Aim in October 2005 at 128p and then committed the cardinal sin of issuing a profit warning three months later, causing the shares to fall by nearly a third. Fortunately the problem was delayed rather than cancelled orders. The share price has since perked up, and should go higher because Datong sells the kind of advanced intelligence-gathering equipment that's in demand right now.

Its main market is homeland security in the US. Last year, sales there more than doubled from £2.6m to £6m despite a weak dollar; broker Bridgewell reckons group profits would have been nearly 60 per cent higher but for currency drag.

UK sales were little changed at £2.8m, while delays in launching configured versions of recent products reduced European turnover by a quarter to £700,000 - and there were no sales elsewhere (£1m) mainly because of a lack of third party sales.

The good news should continue in 2007-08 with the company expecting another 12 months of "solid organic growth". The US market should stay buoyant and Datong ought to do better elsewhere with the help of increased research and development spend and new products to sell. They include a Situation Awareness System, two new and smaller radio frequency beacons and a new version of its vehicle tracking beacon. The maiden dividend is another sign of bigger profits this year.

Bridgewell forecasts 2007-08 sales of £11m and profits of £2m which could push earnings up to 10p - so reducing the prospective PE to 10.

DATONG ELECTRONICS (DTE)

ORD PRICE: 105.5p
MARKET VALUE: £ 14.6m
TOUCH: 104-107p
12-MONTH HIGH: 106.75p LOW: 85.5p
DIVIDEND YIELD: 1%
PE RATIO: 12
NET ASSET VALUE: 60p
NET CASH: £2.57m


Year to 31 Mar Turnover(£m) PTP(£m) EPS(p) Dividend(p)
2006 7.31 -0.59 -3.60 nil
2007 9.55 1.66 8.90 1.00
% change +31 – – –
Ex-div: 22 Aug
Payment: 21 Sep


TIP UPDATE
BuyThat's a cheap rating for a company producing must-have products. Buy.

[garth] 09/7/2007 11:02

Responding again to a string of small buys this morning. Are the TAs right that every gap has to be filled? If so, we'd be heading back to floatation price. And why not - that would be 16x earnings. Hardly a demanding rating for this company in this social/political climate, IMO.

G.

[garth] 06/7/2007 09:29

Tole,

Had hoped they would. Any chance of posting up any highlights?

Up again this morning and pressing on towards my short-term target range of 130-150p. I believe that ought to be comfortably achievable considering the low pe and 30% growth rate.

Beyond that - who knows? I'm hoping that they might prove to be another Gooch & Housego(GHH) - small, profitable and in a position to make conservative, niche acquisitions that release value and expand market.

G.

[tole] 06/7/2007 08:17

Write ups in both Shares and IC this week.

[garth] 05/7/2007 19:23

Chunky buy of 109K this afternoon appeared to reduce the availability of stock....