Dicom Share Discussion Threads

[mdrans1] 27/10/2004 15:06

Hi there WJ

"Kofax Information Capture Technology Speeds Processing of Insurance Records and Related Healthcare Documents"



First Quarter Results and AGM on 9 Nov.

[wjccghcc] 25/10/2004 17:12

Yup. Nice to see they're deploying the cash the business is churning out to maintain their technological lead.

[mdrans1] 25/10/2004 15:59

More news :-


LONDON (AFX) - Dicom Group PLC, the information handling software group, said it has agreed to acquire Cambridge-based information capture software specialist Neurascript for up to 8.3 mln stg.

Dicom said 2.4 mln stg will be payable on completion, 0.6 mln payable on the first anniversary and then a further 5.3 mln depending on performance.

Neurascript develops software that automates the recognition, extraction and indexing of information from business documents and forms.

'The acquisition of Neurascript is a natural and strategic extension of a long-standing relationship,' said Dicom chief executive Arnold von Buren.

For the financial year to 31 March, Neurascript posted sales of 1.3 mln stg and made a net profit of 43,000 stg. At the end of March, the company had net assets of 376,000 stg, including net cash of 433,000 stg.

[e-mail]


Is there anybody out there ?

[mdrans1] 16/9/2004 16:14

More good news ! :-

Press Release

DICOM Group plc:
US Subsidiary Kofax Expands Reach of Capio Document Capture Solution
through demo Deal with Kodak

Addition of Professional-Strength Solution for Desktop Information
Management with KODAK i30 and i40 Document Scanners Addresses Needs of
Individual Users and Small Offices

Basingstoke, 16 September 2004 – DICOM Group plc ("DICOM Group"), the
global leader in the Information Capture market, announced today that its
wholly owned US subsidiary Kofax has entered into an agreement with Eastman
Kodak Company to include a demo version of the Kofax Capio professional
strength document capture solution for desktop information management with
KODAK i30 and i40 Scanners, which are geared for customers in small offices
or small-group applications within large organisations. Capio software
enables individuals to better manage paper documents that can clutter their
desks by quickly and easily scanning, storing, searching and retrieving
them.

"Being included with Kodak's desktop scanners represents a terrific
business opportunity to expand the worldwide reach for Capio software, said
Arnold von Büren, Chief Executive Officer, DICOM Group. "The coupling of
Capio software with Kodak's new document scanners offers advanced imaging
capabilities to a mostly untapped small-office audience."

"Our commitment to our customers is to provide best-in-class scanning
solutions to fit their unique needs, and Capio software enables us to
fulfil that objective for the desktop-scanning market," said Nancy Sherman,
US&C Marketing Manager at Eastman Kodak Company. "This agreement further
demonstrates the expanded integration of both companies' products as well
as the leadership role that Kodak and Kofax share in the document imaging
industry."

Capio software uses Kofax's patented VRS technology to deliver superior
image quality and eliminate the need to rescan documents. This exclusive
feature automatically checks and adjusts alignment, brightness, contrast
and image clarity, delivering near-perfect images and ensuring the maximum
usability of the scanned documents. Capio software is designed to be easy
for individual business users and small-office environments to set up "out
of the box," without the IT resources that might otherwise be needed to
install, train or support a larger document capture product.

Capio software will be available as a free demo-version download from a
Kofax-hosted Web portal, named www.capioshop.com, to enable users to
evaluate the product. When a user is ready to buy Capio software or when
the evaluation period times out, a "Buy Now" button in the Capio software
enables the user to access the capioshop.com portal to purchase the
product.


and some more at

[kjoco] 09/9/2004 15:34

gd150772,

Bridgewell has a target of £9.00. Williams de Broe and Cazenove also have Buy ratings on Dicom.

[gd150772] 09/9/2004 13:56

Nice one Kjoco....I like the fact Topcall adds instantaneous earnings....950p sounds good. I think bridgewell securities have a similar target @925p.

[kjoco] 09/9/2004 08:45

From today's Daily Mail:

"Software group Dicom responded to a Brewin Dolphin strong buy recommendation with a rise of 12p to 728 1/2p. The broker's target price is 950p. The proposed £27m acquisition of Topcall International, a global provider of unified communication solutions, will be earnings enhancing from year one. Dicom's underlying business is performing strongly and the balance sheet is looking very healthy."

[wjccghcc] 08/9/2004 20:35

Don't mention them, just that they have two new product categories to be launched this year.

[vector] 08/9/2004 16:53

WJCCGHCC
Interesting comments of yours. You obviously know more about the business than I do. If Mohamine products are not launched yet why don't they say so? Or did they - i admit I only skimmed the report

[wjccghcc] 08/9/2004 11:48

Don't agree. Service sales are coming thru from Kofax as clients look for a complete package to handle their information capture needs and this requirement will continue. They haven't launched the Mohamine products yet. The sales growth in IC is masked by the fall in scanner sales, SGA and the $ but that stabilised in Q3/4 and they're certainly indicating top line growth will accelerate again this year. There's also the potential for large contracts with US Social Security and UK NHS (although these are likely to take some time and could be lumpy). If they sold SGA (which is less than 8% of profits), then would the global leader in information capture really stay valued at 14x earnings?

Regarding Topcall, we'll have to see at the interims how it's developing, but management certainly are familiar with the business - Topcall has been a reseller/partner of Dicom for 3 years.

[vector] 08/9/2004 10:42

I sold out of these back in March and the current results don't persuade me to get back in. Like Hylas above I think Dicom are purchasing their growth. Service sales have grown but this presumably came from Mohamine. Scanner sales are obviously under pressure. Cardiff was a a great acquisition until they sold at a loss. Not sure about Topcall. Do Dicom have the knowledge and resources to develop communications software? Why did Topcall management sell out so seemingly cheaply? Conclusion -a Wait and see rather than a buy

[hylas] 03/9/2004 10:05

WJCCGHCC
Thanks for the info

[wjccghcc] 03/9/2004 09:56

hylas, have you listened to the webcast? The reason sales stagnated are because of the dollar weakness but also because of declines in 3rd party product sales (mainly scanners). That stabilised in Q4 and they expect stability/growth again in that area going forward. Combined with continued growth in EDC own products, they made it very clear they expected top line sales growth to take off again this year (with the associated increase in working capital).

[hylas] 02/9/2004 23:47

Thing that concerns me is that the top line has stagnated.
I like to see organic growth and not purchased growth.

I am also worried about the dollar.

News coming from the states is not painting a very rosy picture and I fear it may slide further yet.
Seems like they are printing money hand over fist and this has to show sooner or later.

Gerd
With regard to your comment about trading shares.
I've sat there and watched tens of thousands come to me on paper and then slip away again.
I've learnt my lesson - I trade out when I think the valuation is unsustainable and back in when the appropriate time presents itself.
I seem to have stopped losing my money now.

[gerdmuller] 02/9/2004 11:16

Yes, some of the papers were a little more positive this time, those that looked at the underlying trend that is.

Going forward the acquisition will change the picture regarding earnings but one analyst has pencilled in 51p for next year.

Looking at the past 5 year track record is quite impressive with few tech companies showing the same consistent growth in sales, all profit measures and cash flow. Dividend growth is also 15 percent per year in this period.

Many thought they could become traders during the tech boom and when you look at some of these boards you can get the impression that people are actually successful at this. Some are some are not and some are just lucky for a short period.

But investment used to be about finding good companies and holding them until they became excessively overvalued or something fundamental changes. Or you need the money of course.

At Dicom the picture going forward looks healthy with an improved product mix producing better margins and a market position seemingly becoming more established. The company is still modestly rated.

FT Comment
* Analysts at house broker Bridgewell Securities say Topcall has been valued at an undemanding historic p/e of 12 and the acquisition will enhance Dicom's technology platform. With a forward p/e of about 14 for 2005, Bridge-well says Dicom continues to trade at a substantial discount to its closest peers, Captiva and Readsoft. The shares have performed well since the beginning of last year and should continue to do so.

[welsheagle] 02/9/2004 08:05

From Yesterday's Express:=
'Record annual figures revealing operating profits up 15% to £11.8 million sent the information capture specialist Dicom 25.5p higher to 699p.'

[wjccghcc] 01/9/2004 11:03

Good webcast and presentation available on www.dicomgroup.com

[wjccghcc] 31/8/2004 08:10

Also, they're now trading at below 8x free cashflow.

[welsheagle] 31/8/2004 08:03

LONDON (AFX) - Dicom Group PLC posted a slight rise in profits for the year
and said it remains optimistic on its outlook.
For the year to end June, Dicom's pretax profit before a loss on disposal
and goodwill amortisation was 13.3 mln stg compared to 11.7 mln a year earlier
on a 4 pct rise in sales to 119.5 mln.
The final dividend is 3.7 pence per share, making a total of 5.55 pence,
against 4.83 last year.
Dicom also said its wholly-owned subsidiary EDC Investment Ltd is making a
4.00 eur per share tender offer for TOPCALL International AG, valuing the
company at 40.5 mln eur.

[wjccghcc] 31/8/2004 08:00

They're actually buying TOPCALL for 10x operating profit if you strip out the 11.6mm cash so the earnings enhancing bit is likely to be true. I'm not particularly fussed about the dividend - it's more of a Swiss thing to pay low dividends.

[jeffian] 31/8/2004 07:56

I agree with you absolutely about the divi, Little Beaker, as discussed earlier up this thread.

I was all primed to dive in an buy more 1st thing on the results but now I've had a look I think I'll wait and see how the market reacts. Personally, I'm quite happy with what I see, but if the market looks only at the headline figures they will see only PBT, EPS etc. down, currency translation losses, stingy divi and the worry about the Topcall takeover which they say is earnings-enhancing, but which is currently producing operating profits around 6% of the purchase price. On a headline PER of 45 and 'best' PER of 15 with all the nasties stripped out, the market may form the view that this is not especially 'cheap' (although good growth companies, never are, are they?!). I think I'll wait and watch how things pan out during the day before adding.

Regards, Ian

[little beaker] 31/8/2004 07:44

Although DCM is marked up now to go higher today. Guess results outweighed acquisition.

[little beaker] 31/8/2004 07:23

Good results, on slightly reduced turnover due to the well-flagged decline in the US $. However, the acquisition could make this go lower today. Here is a 1-year chart for topcall:



Anyone know about the fit of these companies?

I personally believe that DCM should be looking to hike its dividend at this point rather than making frequent acquisitions. A yield of less than 1% is looking stingy in a maturing industry.

[mdrans1] 25/8/2004 15:21

I received this via email. There is more. Try their web site for the full text. :-

Press Release

DICOM Group plc:
Capio Document Capture Solution chosen by FUJITSU España Services for its
Workgroup Scanners

Bundled with Fujitsu's 4000 Series Workgroup Scanners as a Specialised
"Document Station" Offering, Spanish-Language Version of Capio Provides
Professional-Strength Solution for Desktop Information Management

Basingstoke, 25 August 2004 – DICOM Group plc ("DICOM Group"), the global
leader in the Information Capture market, announces that its wholly owned
US subsidiary, Kofax, has entered into a bundling agreement for the
company's Capio professional-strength document capture solution for desktop
information management with Fujitsu España Services, the regional arm of
Fujitsu that serves the country of Spain. A Spanish-language version of
Capio will be bundled as a complementary document capture solution with
Fujitsu's 4000 Series workgroup scanners for a specialised product offering
called "Document Station," which is designed as an all-in-one document
scanning solution for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).