Digital Learning Share Discussion Threads

[fugwit] 02/5/2012 20:56

Anyone going to the presentation on the 10th? I cannot make it as will be on hols but would be interested in any feedback that can be provided.

[wilburylover1] 02/5/2012 18:10

Although this company seems to be doing well with selling its products its share price doesn't seem to reflect this.

[ceohunter] 01/5/2012 11:01

The directors of Silence Therapeutics (AIM: SLN), Digital Learning Marketplace (AIM: DLM) and Plethora Solutions (AIM: PLE) will be presenting in London on:

Thursday 10th May 2012

Venue: Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel, 35 Charles Street, Mayfair, W1J 5EB (Charles Suite)

The presentations will start at 6:00pm and finish at approx 8:00pm. After the presentations are complete the directors will also be available to take questions during a free canapé and wine reception.

REGISTER YOUR ATTENDANCE HERE FOR FREE:

[faz147] 26/4/2012 18:11

ant15 - you say not to worry if the acquisitions are "reasonably" acquired, but we already know that the number of shares to be issued for the acquisition of Accredit will be determined by the mid-market price of DLM on the date of completion.
I am not a holder here yet so I may be wrong, but I get the impression that existing shareholders, some of whom may have been holding since the share price was 0.3p or more, will not consider the deal reasonable if the share price fails to improve markedly before the date of completion. If we take the current mid-price of 0.13p per share as the price on completion, then the dilution will be for c.307 million shares, or approx 37% of the current issued shares.

Also Mark Savinson appears to have taken more than £130,000 in dividend payments over the year to 30 June 2011, it will be interesting to see if he has got away wwith taking a similarly large amount again this year, especially as he has managed to attract a T/O bid from a listed company during the year!

[ant15] 26/4/2012 12:14

Matty I wouldnt worry about further dilution if the acquisitions are "reasonably" acquired. The bottm line here is it will add significantly to the profits and further acquisitions are likely to do the same. The question one shoul;d ask is Is this company under valued and what sort of growth in my shareprice can I expect if they pull off 3 or 4 successful acquisitions within the current year. I would like to be able to put a target down with certainty but I believe we could see this more than quadruple in the short to medium term Which for people coming in n ow would be a very good deal.One to watch I believe!

[matty28] 25/4/2012 11:35

so not the time to buy then? possible should wait until Mark Savinson gets his shares given to him, hence further dilution?

[acta_topup] 25/4/2012 08:23

While the acquisition of a profitable company that is already working closely with DLM is welcome, the transaction should ABSOLUTELY NOT be determined by the "mid-market price on the date of completion".

The price must be an agreed transaction price that is at a premium to the current market price. It should be no less than the price paid by private investors in the recent placing i.e. 0.2p but in my view should be at a premium to this i.e. at least 0.3-0.35p to demonstrate confidence in the company by the BoD and Mark Savinson. There is no way that I am going to be diluted out at the current market price and I will express this strongly to Andy Hasoon.

[mike_f] 25/4/2012 07:31

Initial impression is that it looks good, will have a proper look this evening. One of many acquisitions over the course of the year I suspect, good to see they are not hanging about!

[fugwit] 24/4/2012 11:47

Some further background to AH:





The first one is particularly interesting as it shows previous experience of creating a network of resellers etc. The Soundbridge experience is encouraging.

Mike, I can see 50 lessons was sold but I have not been able to find details of price etc so handsome profit isn't a given for me. It does look like a good product and it features highly as part of skillsofts product suite.

An industry roll up usually occurs at a fair pace, we know there are currently 4 targets for this year. The skills required to integrate and grow are quite different from taking a single or small number of products and growing revenue organically. Keep in mind they are developing a "platform" that has to be clean and easy to navigate in order to be useable to multiple organizations across multiple sectors with multiple requirements. That is no easy task technologically. Personnel issues, sales training as product suite expand rapidly etc etc, and the rest of that good corporate stuff. The skills required to manage a start up are quite different to managing a sector consolidation. As the target acquisitions become larger so increases the complexity.

I will give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise (otherwise I would never invest in anything), hopefully they will announce key hires as they go and I shall keep an eye on their job ads and hope to see experienced hires moving into the business. Acquiring well. integrating, and growing the business organically are differing disciplines. I am happy with first, reasonably so for now with the last and will be happy to be convinced on integrating.

On the strategic investor front Mike, that would give someone 37% of the firm, a least one seat on the BOD. What would the ramifications be when it came time to sell the firm? Flipside would provide credence, current partner Pearsons is front of mind for me already for potential acquirer way way way down the line, skillsoft as well of course. I haven't had a good look at competitors yet, skillsoft will be the first to look at. Should really have done all this before posting I suppose.

The Milamber holding will probably explain AH current holding, will take a look.

Also sidelining Saucepan, recent down days had a little volume behind them so wondering if it may go lower from here.

Interesting find.

[mike_f] 24/4/2012 10:21

Great post fugwit and I agree with all of your points above bar one. AH has proved that he is capable of growing companies organically and selling them on for a handsome profit. I believe he is the right man to take us forward. I am hoping that the BoD bring in a strategic investor or something similar to help us out with acquisition costs. If they placed 500 million shares at .5p for example it would save any uncertainty of future placing and would give us a very nice platform to work from. .5p may be a little optimistic but I would want to see a significant premium to the current share price if they opted for that route. I believe the long term business model is there and will be holding to see how it unfolds.

[saucepan] 24/4/2012 10:12

Thanks for the very detailed reply, fugwit. I shall follow developments with interest, including what you yourself decide - but I still think that in my case it will be from the sidelines.

[fugwit] 24/4/2012 09:57

Saucepan, got round to it this morning. No doubt the addressable market presents a very large opportunity, as he says it is an extremely fragmented market so ripe for roll up activity. Given the size of the acquisitions they are forced to target at this stage buying at 5-7x ebitda seems reasonable.

They are going to have to grow turnover between 10 and 20 times to get to that 'critical mass' of £20-40m, we have no idea how long this is going to take but they will get there a lot faster if their content and sales capabilities are up to it along side the M&A activity. The rate of conversion of that UK £19.6B of training to online is an unknown however the cost drivers to it doing so are clear.

Buying smaller firms at 1x turnover and then post consolidation selling yourself at 2-3x is plain enough, its interesting but not as simple as is being made out and at this scale the management is unproven. Content quality and Sales capabilities are clearly key here as well and will take time to prove themselves also.

I like not providing the sellers with full value up front, will be interesting to watch the mix of cash and shares they use to acquire targets particularly if profits appear and PE comes into play.

A couple of things I remain unclear/wary on;
The Athol arrangement, will need to take a close look but presume all reasonable.
AH holds a mere 0.96% of the equity in DLM, are we looking at buckets of options etc?
Good on the PI side so far, will watch v.closely.
Time spent on Asia at this stage.
Going forward: Speed of turnover/profit growth vs dilution.
Not sure about the revenue splits from yesterdays rns and how much management an external consultancy and network of resellers will take to DLMs' benefit. Time will tell.
Unproven Management.

At the moment I am still looking into DLM, it is highly speculative in its current state imo, but given all of above, quality of some of the partners, and if management prove themselves to be up to the job then a very interesting time to be getting in.

I have not pulled the trigger yet.

[saucepan] 23/4/2012 21:16

Has anyone else had the time to look at the AH interview and take a view on the plausibility of the bull case made for existing investors?

With AH himself admitting that there will be numerous placings to come, I cannot see how current stakes can be protected and fear price weakness short and medium term - and especially in the current economic climate.

I am not sure I swallow the 'multiplier' argument.

[lucky_punter] 23/4/2012 14:43

Shares in Digital Learning Marketplace (LON:DLM) spiked more than eight per cent in early deals after the company revealed it had acquired the rights to develop an online programme aimed at improving employees' engagement at work.

[saucepan] 23/4/2012 10:40

If I was sufficiently convinced by any 'good news' RNS, I would be open minded to buy back in here.

Today's news does not do it for me, however. With the revenue splitting, very little is going to be added to the bottom line. Will keep watching.

An AH interview is now up on the DLM site, by the way:

[mike_f] 23/4/2012 09:57

I would love to see another fugwit but what makes you think we will see another this week?

[fugwit] 23/4/2012 08:25

I would expect at least one more this week.

[mike_f] 23/4/2012 07:21

Great news:

The first of many I am hoping.

[markt] 20/4/2012 14:45

"markt - 27 Mar'12 - 13:57 - 307 of 328 edit


"and we have embarked on an aggressive but selective programme of mergers and acquisitions to consolidate what is a very fragmented market".

for a company with a cap. value of almost nothing...that is struggling to have enough cash flow to stay alive (and raising cash to do so)...such company statements look very frothy to me....

while wishing them good luck...typical problems for a small company....balancing growth with income/profits and nett cash and...."

0.25p looked a bit frothy to me....not surprised that it didn't manage to stay up there...

[saucepan] 18/4/2012 15:53

ant15: could you cite the source and/or provide a link, please?

[chrisis33] 18/4/2012 12:16

I sold once I read in the results in the summer something along the lines of "funding is ok as we can issue more shares". Don't get me wrong, not those words exactly of course, but that was how I read it and I was worried by the statement. Good luck over the long term to all holders.

edit to add - had a quick look and can't find it now. Maybe I imagined that?

[ant15] 18/4/2012 12:06

In the paper today and looks to have a plan to expand.Perhaps a time to top up.