Drs Data&Rsrch Share Discussion Threads

[pugugly] 22/11/2004 16:33

Could'nt resit it New low for year - Is this now a short or is there value - if so at what level?
The company were buying back at 60p earlier in the year - Suggests management are losing their touch - Views?

[lafiamma] 11/11/2004 14:50

... The Board, having reviewed the level of expenditure on this expanding new area of business and the likely timing of associated major projects, is required to inform the market that the company is likely to incur a loss in both the second half of the current year and the first half of 2005.

[master rsi] 11/11/2004 14:50

Good news out on Current Trading ...

DRS Data & Research Services PLC
11 November 2004

Review of Current Trading and Future Developments

The Board is pleased to announce that DRS has recently been awarded an order for
its e-Marker(R) products & services by the Assessment and Qualifications
Alliance (AQA) in respect of the examinations to be held in May/June 2005. This
order is for a minimum of #1.4m and represents the first significant production
volume in respect of e-Marker(R) research and development on which DRS is
spending over #1m in 2004.

In line with the company's existing accounting policy, the cost of this
development is being written off as incurred. Investment in the UK Education
Examinations and Assessment marketplace is in line with our agreed strategy to
provide a service which is applicable to many Awarding Bodies and other
examination organisations. This will provide increased revenue opportunity for
the company over the next couple of years......

[bunchman] 15/10/2004 13:05

Interesting reading about DRS success in the London European and mayoral elections. Surely an accurate system that can reduce the amount of time to count votes by this much will be introduced nationally? Maybe next years elections. This might explain the extra money being spent on research to make this possible.

[bunchman] 04/10/2004 13:18

Recent news: Oct 4th 2004

DRS strengthens position in China with new Imaging scanners.

Got to be good news for future sales.

[bunchman] 28/9/2004 20:04

I don't think they were involved in the postal vote as I heard no mention of their name in the news coverage, and I'm sure there would have been some mention of it in the interims?!! One would hope so anyway. B

[jadacards] 28/9/2004 18:46

Hi B - I too would hope that they are involved, I may yet buy back into DRS I had a damned good profit last time, just about doubled my stake!

However, I live in the Leeds area and the last combined local election + by-election + MEP election was by postal voting, it turned out to be a complete fiasco, I couldn't find out if DRS had played any part in this so that's where some of my doubts came from!

Imo the future of elections must be through postal and computerised voting and given the inroads DRS have already made into running these forms of voting I think they should have a solid future. As you say it was good to see some blue today, I would certainly be going long on a spread bet if they were included in IGs listings! cheers j

[bunchman] 28/9/2004 18:19

Hi J,

No offense taken. I can only guess myself, but I would have a hunch that there would be some sort of involvement due to their success with the London elections earlier in the year. They seem to have opportunities for growth and I don't see many other companies out there with their expertise.

But looking at the figures, they seem to be undervalued at the moment. Nice to see the share price go up today:0)

Cheers,
B

[jadacards] 28/9/2004 16:58

Apologies bunchman, didn't mean to be rude but I don't visit this thread too often these days.

I was having lots of difficulties with the way this companies shares were being traded and emailed them asking a few questions about their involvement in elections and about their future commitment to shareholder value.

As indicated above I never did get a reply so I would only be guessing about next years potential.

Therefore I can only hope that someone with more knowledge about the companies future potential, picks up your question and answers it .. cheers j

[bunchman] 27/9/2004 16:16

Thanks, but looking at it's eps and growth rate it looks a good buy to me. Any views on possible involvement in next years General Elections.

[jadacards] 27/9/2004 16:06

Never did get a reply from them so I'll not be rushing to put my cash into their company - Good Luck!

[bunchman] 27/9/2004 15:07

A very quiet board. Just bought in to DRS. Seem to be undervalued looking at it's p/e and growth rate. Plus not a bad dividend!

[mrpig] 07/9/2004 21:17

Agreed Stockport,
Future prospects look very interesting, what we want now is a stabilisng of the share Price and a return to a price of early this year.
mr.pig

[stockport] 07/9/2004 16:05

good results posted today.

[jadacards] 28/7/2004 08:47

Still no reply to my simple enquiry which indicates to me that they are not bothered about invester interests so I've put my cash into PIC!

[lafiamma] 27/7/2004 15:57

Morton cashes in ahead of buying opportunity
Published: 08:02 Tue 27 July 2004
By Patrick Sherwen, Deputy & Secret Buying Editor
Email to a friend | Printable Version


Shrewd private investor Bob Morton is cashing in his holdings in preparation for a buying opportunity he expects to come when consumers finally start to feel the pinch from interest rates.

In the last few months Morton has sold out of several companies including DRS Data Services (DRS), Microgen (MCGN) and Northern Recruitment (NRG) and newly floated Amino Technologies and Clearspeed Technology. Morton backed Clearspeed, a £36.5 million designer of microprocessors, before it came to the market on 21 July and has sold his shares already. He has not bought any shares since last year.


He believes the market is supported at the moment by the relative liquidity of the institutional investors but there needs to be an improvement in sentiment before the market will start to rise again.


However, he expects it to get worse before this happens and believes the trigger will be interest rates, which will puncture the consumer bubble. He said: 'I can't think of a good thing that will change sentiment for the better.'


He feels there are areas of the economy, linked to consumer spending, that have yet to suffer a downturn but believes that will not evade their fate altogether. The areas are banking, housing and retail and when these finally get their turn Morton predicts the market will panic, oversell and he wants to be able to take advantage. 'So you can imagine what I'm doing,' he said. 'I'm squirreling away cash. I'm putting my nuts away for a long hard winter.'


One company Morton still holds is Tenon (TNO), the accountancy group that announced the £9 million acquisition of two firms last week. Morton said he was very supportive of the firm in general and approved of two companies acquired. 'They're very complementary and adds to their strengths. They're not going to set the world alight but they look good and should be earnings enhancing.'


He also has stakes in Armour Group, BSoftB, Harrier, IS Solutions, London & Boston Investments and Planit Holdings among others.


©2004 Citywire

Anyone heard of this Bob Morton fella and what warrants him being described as a "shrewd" investor?

Cheers,

laf ;-?

[jadacards] 26/7/2004 08:42

Anyone any experiance of emailing this company - I sent one last week enquiring into if they'd taken part in the recent postal vote excersize but they've not replied?

[lafiamma] 19/7/2004 14:20

MMs clearing out all the 50p stops so they can fill a buy order, IMO!

[ok,yah] 19/7/2004 13:56

Falling like a stone - bad news on the way?

[jadacards] 14/7/2004 17:59

Could be a simple cost saving excersize, the way I understand it is that one can exchange shares without paying the broker fees???

[mark c graham] 14/7/2004 10:08

Southwind going is probably good news. They sold two large tranches in 2003, and would have been regarded as "loose holders".

I'm still troubled by the company continuing to buy shares from directors and ex-directors, but take comfort from the presence of Nigel Turnbull (of corporate governance fame) on the Board.

[lafiamma] 13/7/2004 17:26

The jigsaw is coming together piece by piece...

RNS Number:8136A
DRS Data & Research Services PLC
13 July 2004

DRS Data & Research Services plc

Holding(s) in Company

The Company has today been notified by Southwind Limited that following a sale
of shares today Southwind Limited no longer has a notifiable interest in the
company.

[mr. t] 13/7/2004 17:03

Now they've bought 1,125,000. Any guesses who they bought them off? It could be MacArthur, otherwise we're looking at one of the Brightons, SD Stewart (whoever he is) or HSBC. There was another trade for 1,092,000 at pretty much the same time. Wonder if we'll get an announcement for that, or whether it was just the market maker buying the shares before selling them to DRS.

[mark c graham] 13/7/2004 15:47

Transaction 6 July
Purchase by company announced 6 July

... but ...

Sale by director announced 13 July