Huveaux Share Discussion Threads

[jamesclives] 22/10/2007 10:22

40p is taking the mick.

6-7 mill guidance on profit, valuation less than £50m.

maybe 55p ish, dont forget there are a 'number' of approaches, not just one.

[thepinkpanther] 22/10/2007 10:18

40p..........

[elmfield] 22/10/2007 08:22

Hope you get that but in these markets who knows?

[jlabrey] 22/10/2007 08:19

40p I would guess.

[jamesclives] 22/10/2007 07:36

Here it is !

A BID for HVX.

How much ?

[haroldthegreat] 12/10/2007 18:18

not a lot of trades in this share

[cerrito] 07/10/2007 20:03

Not sure what is going on
Too early in the academic year to get a feeling about their school text books..perhaps people are concerned about public sector tightening up on money available for training and adverts...a short general election campaign would have been ideal for them..ie not much disruption in their underlying conference/training business and then new need for all their parliamentary guides.

[broomsticks] 05/10/2007 14:49

Chairman John van Kuffeler predicted a recovery in the second half for Huveaux after its figures slumped in the six months to June. Then he backed his prediction up with a purchase of 300,000 shares @ 32p and Director Gerry Murray purchased 350,000 shares @ 32.50p.

That caused a rally in the shares but since then I have lost faith in Huveaux, finally a couple of days ago I decided to sell my few remaining shares in the company. Then the alarm bells really began to ring when a dummy trade through Selftrade resulted in a referral to a broker.

What now?

[elmfield] 05/10/2007 13:27

Be a while till we are in 100 share index...

[sruk77] 05/10/2007 13:20

seems like it's struggling to cope with it's troubles :^)

[jonathanlabrey] 05/10/2007 10:29

Crikey - what's going on??!!

[pujababy] 03/8/2007 13:29

welcome, Cerrito.

i think the headline to the story is misleading.
some interesting points though half way down.

x

[cerrito] 03/8/2007 13:11

PujaBaby
Thanks for that..I was about to post it
I thought a well balanced article
I did send a detailed email to Murray asking for clarification on some of the figures but I guess no surprise have not received a reply

[pujababy] 03/8/2007 12:31

Huveaux's steady struggle to outgrow its troubles
By David Blackwell

Published: August 3 2007 03:00 | Last updated: August 3 2007 03:00

Huveaux has run into trouble in France - a little ironic considering its Gallic monicker.

The Aim-listed publishing group is not the first UK company to find that particular market a tough nut to crack but the French escapade is also not the first time its shares have been knocked back by a profits warning. Its troubles are as good an illustration as any of just how difficult it is to turn a small company into a large one.

The shares were priced at 33p when the company came to market as a cash shell at the end of 2001. Last week John van Kuffeler, the founder and executive chairman, was able to buy 300,000 shares at 32p.

This must be galling after more than five years of hard slog. Mr van Kuffeler's stated ambition two years ago was to take the company into the FTSE 100 in 10 years. That now looks like hubris.

The promises of expansion and the acquisition of Dod's, the parliamentary directory, took the shares to more than 70p in early 2004. However, the company warned in February 2005 that profits would be 30 per cent below expectations, sending the shares into a steep decline and, in spite of a couple of good acquisitions since, they were rarely above 50p before the latest warning in June sent them down again.

The interim results reflected the outcome of the two issues featured in the warning, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation almost halving to £960,000. The main culprit was a sharp fall in pharmaceutical advertising in the French medical publishing business and a slowdown in UK public sector spending on training.

Huveaux, which is expecting a much stronger second half, has many advantages over other companies seeking to grow. It has always paid a dividend and it has attracted plenty of attention from analysts. It also has Dresdner Kleinwort as one of its advisers, thanks to the high profile of Mr van Kuffeler, who is chairman of Provident Financial. Many other companies in its position would be glad enough to have retained a prospective multiple in double digits.

But none of the above have helped. The company is now caught between a rock and a hard place. Its paper is weak and possible acquisitions are fetching high prices now that others have latched on to the value of business-to-business publishing.

[cerrito] 26/7/2007 22:03

Good to see healthy director buying today.
I guess that has given me more confidence than the figures have.
For all the song and dance of the problems of healthcare in France the decline in learning's ebitda from £926K in the same semester last year to £ 209K was more important in the fall of overall corporate EBITDA from £1780K to £963k.
Also note that Political EBITDA was £195k compared to £603k in the first half of 2005.
I am comfortable with the top ups I have made in the thirties in the last couple of weeks.

That having been said share price progress will be slow. There presumably will be no major acquisitions this year given their share price although they do have a modest borrowing capacity.
For them to reach the consensus forecast of £4.22m they will need to make £5.3m in the second half which will be quite a stretch, especially as there are no signals given of an imminent turn around in healthcare's fortunes. If the Tories' woes continue that will be a downer for Politics especially for the party conference publications but I am hopeful that they will be able to beat the £2m EBITDA of the second half of last year. Education will be key.

[elmfield] 06/7/2007 13:54

VERY LOATH to buy after profit warning, SMC will tell you why, But 30p will tempt but then again it does go against my rules! Well rules, they are there to be broken, however Verdict : wait. Where Fools rush in ETC ETC.

[broomsticks] 05/7/2007 13:09

I hate to admit this but whilst Huveaux claims in its Trading Update of 26 June 2007, RNS Number:04212 that its present problem is "Our Healthcare Division in France has seen a significant drop in sales revenue as compared to the first half of 2006." that is not the reason for my decision to sell some of my shares. I disposed of them when there was a lack of feedback from the MediaFinance 2007 conference. That omission added to what was and still is my unease about the axing of BBC Jam. Not the axing per se because nobody can be pleased that 200 people lost their jobs, it just struck me as odd that the commercial sector had complained about the impact BBC Jam had on their business when the website was perceived by professionals as having basic design errors both technical and educational, as a consequence of which its traffic was minimal. This £150m website was in fact struggling to meet the licence conditions set by the BBC Trust. Further to that it had been criticised by the Content Advisory Board as not complying with its remit. It was from this setup that Andy Ware joined Huveaux.

Another worrying point is that Fenman twice extended its sale.

Letts partnership with TutorVista should prove to be a positive move by Huveaux but I am mindful of the fact that TutorVista is a young company backed by a venture capitalist awash with funds.

Having said all that I intend to hold on to my remaining shares. The present share price makes it tempting to buy back some shares, but..................hmmmm

aimo,dyor

[cerrito] 03/7/2007 18:56

I think as of this evening the drop may have been overdone..I see that the updated eps forecast for 07 is 3p putting this at 13x.
What does spook me somewhat is that last week I went on a UK Shareholders visit to Martin Sorrell at WPP and I asked him about his reading of the advertising being done by big Pharma in France.
What HVX said surprised him for while Sanofi have been having problems and big pharma ad spending is down abit it is not on the scale that HVX suggests.
Furthermore the tak of a recovery programme suggests the problems may be more deep seated.
The good thing is that they do have well diversified earnings and have been able to bounce back from the hiccup in school text/revision books they had last year

[elmfield] 29/6/2007 13:38

I hope you are right.

[jlabrey] 29/6/2007 13:36

We have got too caught up, I think, in assuming everything is about becoming a £1bn company of FTSE 100, or whatever. I know that is the stated ambition of management (why not?) but if you look at the intrinsic value of the brands, the growth achieved since acquisition and the price paid for the acquisitions there is significant value here. It is also a company with excellent cash generation capabilities which should support the yield in the short to medium term.

[elmfield] 29/6/2007 12:43

Reckon most will stand back until things are clearer, bad luck for hvx, that had been doing pretty well, to have negative vibes when things are looking toppy, your last posts just about sum it up.

[networker] 29/6/2007 09:17

The HVX business plan is more or less dependent on acquisitions funded by share placings. In current circumstances could the position reverse with HVX itself becoming an acquisition target for another larger group. Anyone got any views on possible predators?