Entertainment One Share Discussion Threads

[raffles the gentleman thug] 30/8/2016 14:06

A nice thought but thats hardly going to happen so long as they remain inundated with reinvestment opportunity

[breaktwister] 30/8/2016 13:49

If the market has completely undervalued eto as the board claim then surely they need to immediately begin a significant stock repurchase?

[rivaldo] 30/8/2016 07:35

Thx to tini5 for his post 1786 - here's a direct link, as it's really worth reading for the huge potential for Peppa in China:



Extracts:

"eOne’s ‘Peppa Pig’ Gains Momentum in China

With more than 4.5 billion views in just nine months on IQIY, Youku and Tudou, Entertainment One secures new VOD deals; Peppa products now available from major Chinese retailers."

"LONDON -- Entertainment One (eOne) has announced details of Peppa Pig’s rapidly growing popularity in China. Since launching on-air in Mainland China in 2015, eOne’s Peppa Pig has surpassed 5.4 billion views on its three on demand platforms, IQIY, Youku and Tudou. It is one of the most popular programs for pre-schoolers on state television broadcaster CCTV, where its repeat was the No. 1 animated show in its 7am timeslot.

Peppa Pig also launched on VOD portals Tencent and LeEco in May 2016. To date Peppa episodes have already clocked up 1.7 billion views on Tencent and 850 million views on LeEco, making it the No. 1 animation on both platforms since its launch. In addition, Mango TV has recently acquired the rights to Peppa Pig and the VOD platform debuted the series earlier this month in Mandarin."

"The Peppa Pig apps eOne has released to date have had tremendous download rates, making China the biggest territory for Peppa app downloads worldwide. Following their entrance on the App Store in late 2015, Peppa’s Paintbox and Peppa’s Actvitiy Maker have been hugely popular in China, with over 400,000 and 195,000 downloads respectively."

"Toys are spearheading the brand’s licensing program in China and a newly launched Peppa Pig Ferris Wheel playset was sold exclusively at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide during the country’s Children’s Day celebrations in June 2016. The publishing category also continues to accelerate. A new series of Peppa Pig storybooks launched at retail in April 2016 and over 75k copies have been distributed nationally both online and in-store. Peppa Pig products will also have a presence in China’s first Hamleys toy store that is set to open its doors on October 10th. eOne’s Hong Kong team is developing bespoke Peppa artwork for a branded bay in the store."

[thewheeliedealer] 29/8/2016 21:01

Hi Katie, glad you liked the website - it's not the prettiest (it might well be the ugliest !!) but hopefully I shove some useful words on there !!

I am pretty active on Twitter (@wheeliedealer) and if you are on that thing then you might wanna check out my Tweets. If not, I think you can google 'Tweets by wheeliedealer' or something and you get them. In addition, there is a Twitter Feed on the Homepage of the website,

thanks for the feedback, WD

[katie priceless] 29/8/2016 06:28

Just read it , very good website.

[thewheeliedealer] 29/8/2016 00:33

Hi All,

I topped up on my ETO holding on Friday - if you go to the 'Trades' page on my website I have scribbled a fairly long rationale for upping my exposure and thoughts on target.

Hope it helps, WD

[raffles the gentleman thug] 28/8/2016 20:36

Telegraph article this evening, but not a whole lot we do not already know:

You have to wonder if ITV can remain independent for too much longer
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT

Never wrestle with a pig, they say, as you get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it. It is sage wisdom that has been heeded by Adam Crozier, the chief executive of ITV. He has abandoned a £1bn bid for Peppa Pig maker Entertainment One (eOne) before discussions had even begun formally.

Some big ITV shareholders were concerned that eOne’s unusual structure, linking film distribution and television production, made it a bad fit for their company. There is a long and inglorious history of overpaying for children’s television assets, ITV investors also noted, and eOne’s shareholders were holding out for more than the initial approach reckoned the company was worth.

So Crozier walked away. The incident highlights the dwindling global stock of decent-sized television assets at a time when their services are in higher demand than ever before.

At the Edinburgh International Television Festival last week, Shane Smith, chief executive of the youth brand Vice, gave an incoherent but essentially correct analysis of the state of big media round the world. Consolidation is an inevitability.

Giants like Fox, Disney and Comcast will soon enter the final stages of takeovers in the US and then turn to the international stage. Combinations of television production, broadcast, mobile network, broadband networks and online media will be necessary to make money in a world where people can consume your stuff on any screen, anywhere.

You have to wonder if ITV itself can remain independent for too much longer. Its biggest shareholder, Liberty Global, debated pulling the trigger on a full takeover in the days after the EU referendum, but demurred. The broadcaster might get cheaper as the advertising market comes off its peak, but as time goes on others could come for it too.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 27/8/2016 19:44

Agree with that tini5, and it's hard to argue downside from here when it's barely trading on 11x forward pre referendum earnings, which are only going to be subject to upgrades, and has a content library whose value should equal its market capitalisation.

[tini5] 27/8/2016 14:44

More deals being done:- hxxp://www.awn.com/news/ben-holly-s-little-kingdom-signs-new-licensing-partners-brazil

Whilst I would have liked the short term gains from the sale of ETO, this is looking like a much stronger long term prospect.

[masurenguy] 27/8/2016 10:56

Thumbs down for ITV after Peppa Pig bid withdrawal

Two weeks after ITV revealed that it had made a takeover approach for Entertainment One, the company behind Peppa Pig, the broadcaster has walked away and dropped its proposal. In a move that could raise questions about the strategy of Adam Crozier, chief executive of the UK broadcaster and studio group, ITV said it did not feel that it could agree a takeover price with Entertainment One.

ITV’s initial 236p-a-share cash offer was unanimously rejected after six hours’ consideration by the board of the group, which is behind a host of hit TV programmes and films such as Naked and Afraid and The BFG. Entertainment One said that the proposal, which valued the global production company at slightly more than £1 billion, “fundamentally undervalued the company and its prospects”. ITV said yesterday that it had a “clear view of the value of the business” but added: “It appears this value is different to the level at which the board of eOne would currently engage in a more formal process.”

Market sources said Entertainment One and its advisers had been left scratching their heads over the abrupt volte face of ITV, which under Mr Crozier has been diversifying to be less dependent on volatile advertising revenue from its UK broadcasting division. “It all adds up to a slightly half-hearted effort by ITV given their first approach was not overly rich,” a source said. “ITV’s share price did not react particularly well to the approach either so I think they had a pretty lukewarm reaction from their own shareholder base, which could have contributed to them wanting to walk away and draw a line under it. I think it was an opportunistic approach and they were flying a kite a bit but it was poorly executed.”

ITV was not under any obligation to make a “withdrawal statement” and even though Entertainment One is listed in the UK it is not subject to the UK Takeover Code because it is a Canadian company. This means that ITV is not “locked out” from making an approach and could come back with a higher offer at any time, leading some to suggest that its statement yesterday was “tactical” and “all a bit cosmetic as the statement really doesn’t mean anything”. However, The Times understands that it is unlikely that ITV will make any higher offer for Entertainment One.

[tsmith2] 27/8/2016 10:37

The Chinese love pigs

[tini5] 27/8/2016 09:35

Looks like China could be a huge market that Entertainment One is developing - would make ITV's bid look very cheap if China took off?

hxxp://www.awn.com/news/eone-s-peppa-pig-gains-momentum-china

[napoleon 14th] 27/8/2016 02:36

I'd favour a dual listing.
Thought I"d do very well out of EROS but their tranfer to NY wasn't a success &
their share price only recovered once I was fed up with holding a US duff, which it was for six months.

[tini5] 26/8/2016 23:35

Thanks raffles, appreciate the response.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 26/8/2016 22:53

The idea tini5 would be to correct the valuation anomaly. Firstly in Europe ETO trades on around a 30% discount to media peers on multiples of EBITDA and earnings. Secondly it's generally considered that US media peers trade at a premium to European companies and that US investors have a greater appreciation and understanding of them sector than European investors.

A US listing would certainly correct the former and I believe allow an immediate re-rating of the shares. It then could also allow the company to use its shares as a currency to grow faster through acquisition than it is currently already doing.

As for the latter I am not convinced that there really is any material valuation difference between US media peers and European.

I can't really speak for the mechanics of the process, whether a change of listing or a dual listing. Either would lift its valuation, but obviously a change of listing would cause some flux in the shareholder base give some investors could not, or would not want to own a US only listed company.

Net net though it would be a positive thing.

[tini5] 26/8/2016 21:24

Pardon my ignorance but would appreciate someone explaining the implications of the listing being moved, if it were to happen?

Thanks

[csmwssk12hu] 26/8/2016 16:53

350 was figure by troop at start of someone was being serious, sorry if you prefer I will post all my buys and sells in future if you wish I'll give you a few for now and you can make your own judgement I'm far from perfect as you can see seem to get in at right time seem to get out to early

Just eat buy 4.10 sell 5.18 rose as high as apx £6
Image technologies buy 3.10 sell 6.25 carried on higher
Transense technologies buy 1.25 still hold 2.375
Anglo American buy 5.99 sell 8.10 went pas £9
Marshal motor holdings buy 1.52 still hold
IMHO DYOR

[raffles the gentleman thug] 26/8/2016 15:48

not quite sure what "rinse and rise" is tsmith2, but I do feel there is more to come in this ETO story. Feels like a relatively painless restructuring for private equity, with ITV waiting in the wings to buy a good slug of the business.

Also I wouldn't be surprised if we hear management start to make noises about losing the distribution business, once restructured. They have serious reinvestment opportunities into television, and also a few years out would want to buy out Mark Gordon minority interests

[tsmith2] 26/8/2016 15:42

Rinse and rise seems to be in play

[raffles the gentleman thug] 26/8/2016 15:37

Good business getting done today ...

[napoleon 14th] 26/8/2016 12:12

I hope there's a TU at the AGM demonstrating a hard boost in ebitda & cash situation,
with debt being attacked Hanson-style.

SP reaction not surprising, & remember, last year really was "transformational".
The negative talk is trying to make hay before the figures are out. The post-expansion policy to create cashflow only started in the last six months or so, & the businesses bought by ETO should prove to be a well-founded move.

Having said that, ETO need to prove they're on track, preferably doing better than
expected & keeping their targets attractive but not over-ambitious, so that they can exceed market expectations. Then a share price of 300p+ is realistic.

Ideally, the AGM will declare "better than expected" figs & a plan to list on NASDAQ asap. Given that, & two years of consolidation, much more than 300p is on the cards IMHO.

Realistically, they MUST deliver to wipe out the understandable question marks.

DYOR, NAI & GLA.

[tsmith2] 26/8/2016 12:01

Rinse and rise?

[1gw] 26/8/2016 11:58

No updated content valuation in the annual report I see, so have to wait for the September TU perhaps. The WACC is hardly changed (8.2% vs 8.3% last year), so that shouldn't have much of an impact on the valuation.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 26/8/2016 11:48

Well the fact they know they have a willing buyer for eOne television straight away in the form of ITV should give them confidence.

[tsmith2] 26/8/2016 11:44

KKR bid sometime next week..me thinks