Foresight Share Discussion Threads

[bigbigdave] 17/11/2010 10:04

Thanks Simon - nice find.

[simon gordon] 17/11/2010 10:02

Money Marketing - 17/11/10:

Standard Life may acquire Focus Solutions

Standard Life and IT firm Mastek are tipped as frontrunners to acquire Focus Solutions after the firm announced it was in acquisition talks.

Money Marketing understands that a deal to buy the technology firm has been under discussion for the last six months.

Focus, whose customers include Prudential, St James's Place and Openwork, announced last week it is holding preliminary takeover talks.

In a statement, Focus said: "The board notes the recent movement in its share price and confirms that it is in preliminary discussions which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the entire issued share capital of the company.

"Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer will be made."

Standard Life is thought to be a likely bidder for Focus as the acquisition would provide the technology to integrate with a point-of-sale system.

Standard Life acquired support services firm Threesixty in March, increasing its original 25 per cent stake in the business.

A Standard Life spokeswoman says: "It is our policy not to comment on market speculation."

A spokeswoman for Focus adds: "We have no further information other than what was included in our statement."

Mastek denies it is in talks to acquire Focus.



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threesixty:

[simon gordon] 16/11/2010 20:33

Mastek have a market cap of c.£90m. They have been struggling in the past two years, turnover and profits have fallen. They are expected to make a loss to year ending June 2011. I don't think they've got the firepower to do a deal in cash and who the hell is going to take shares in an Indian listed IT company?!

"Company Description

Mastek is a mid-tier offshore IT services firm, largely focused on the UK geography. It is one of the oldest IT services firms in India and has consistently ranked among the top 20 Indian IT services exporters. Key verticals include government and the insurance segment. Mastek's strengths are its application development capability for large turnkey projects and successful management of alliances."

PBT - actual & forecast:

2009 = £20m
2010 = £10m
2011 = -£3m loss
2012 = £7m
2013 = £11m

I think, but I'm not sure, that they've got £20m in cash on the balance sheet.

*My figures could be dodgy as I'm reading the numbers in rupees.

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I have heard that there are currently two companies interested in FSG.

[cockneyrebel] 16/11/2010 15:25

If these go back to 90p I'm fillin my boots. A fwd PE of 10 on forecasts that are likely to get upgraded. That's at 130p a share - at 90p they'd be on a fwd PE of 7.5 or less.

I fail to see much downside here - in fact i's all I can do to stop myself buying more having already got very long.

CR

[felix99] 16/11/2010 15:15

agreed Davidosh . Not selling mine down here thats for sure.

Every investor has their own agenda. If I had bought oodles at 40p I might be tempted to sell a few to have a free ride but even then i see little downside to 90p perhaps if no bid and perhaps 180-200 if it comes through

[davidosh] 16/11/2010 12:23

The issue of 32k shares averaging 8k each to four non key employees is not a material event and those employees probably know very little about the bid situation and how it is developing as it is being handled by two external advisors. Those 8k shares were only worth £2500 a year ago so no doubt they may get tempted to cash in for a very happy Christmas but more important to them will be who is in charge of their company and the potential to rapidly increase their earnings with new contracts etc.

If they are not PMDRs or over 1% holders we will never know if any of them want to cash some chips in anyway. It is the long term value of the company or substantial bid premium that interests shareholders more of course.

[felix99] 16/11/2010 12:08

They are exercising to sell now imho.

If they knew the deal was in the bag they would wait and normally all the directors exercise their options after unconditional but before final delisting and takeover.

The CGT is the same either way as it is price when sell that matters unless they are unapproved options and there is tax and NI to pay on the exercise itself based upon the exercise price.

I would doubt if they were unapproved (as they are generally only issued by directors to directors as they can;t have any more tax efficient approved ones!) and they wouldn't normally exercise without selling at least enough to pay tax and NI so they are not out of pocket if deal didn;t happen and price fell. (As tax owed on exercise is based on price say at exercise of 125 and if shares dropped to £1 its tough - of ocurse if they go to £2 your quids in )

[dasv] 16/11/2010 10:30

4 employees are exercising options.

In the event of a takeover wouldn't their options be exercised automatically or must they exercise their options pre-takeover to capitalise?



I.e. if they must exercise to capitalise then this is further evidence that the takeover is going ahead. However if exercising is not necessary then why do it?

[cockneyrebel] 16/11/2010 07:59

OK, yep, misread that WJCC - ta

CR

[dealit] 16/11/2010 07:36

As I see it the listing is just a Sweetner for existing staff and that the price for the takeover is already agreed, IMHO

[bigbigdave] 16/11/2010 07:23

Pah, just an Additional Listing and Total Voting Rights RNS 8-(

Wish they wouldn't do that while I'm half asleep........

[wjccghcc] 15/11/2010 23:29

Don't think so CR. It says the party is the offeree rather than the offeror, so it's simply disclosing the total director's holdings I think.

[badtime] 15/11/2010 21:01

Pass on tht one..havent got time!

[simon gordon] 15/11/2010 19:45

stevemp2000,

Your post is unreadable, can you trim it or post a link to the RNS.

Thanx

[stevemp2000] 15/11/2010 19:44

Apologies for the superfluous text at the bottom of previous post

[nurdin] 15/11/2010 19:44

What the !!!!!

[cockneyrebel] 12/11/2010 17:32

Ah, my dad told me about it, I am too young to remember :-)

CR

[nurdin] 12/11/2010 17:27

Blimey..where did you dig that up from? Brought back memories ...;o)

[davidosh] 12/11/2010 17:22

Will that be that JD Rockliff fella ? lol

[badtime] 12/11/2010 17:15

Mr Rockliffs wife ..possibly :)

[envirovision] 12/11/2010 15:00

right..erm whos she then?