Lionheart Share Discussion Threads

[skyship] 08/1/2003 14:39

Sleepy - Can you, or anyone else, confirm that the 10% figure is what is required for an EGM to consider the resolution to wind-up the company?

Hopefully Montanaro & David Taglight will join forces to propose the overdue liquidation as this "Deal" stinks. As others have mentioned, Sigma was grossly overvalued & there is absolutely no reason why it should be trading at a premium to its historic 18.6p NAV. The only reason Peter Pollock, the independent director, - (independent in the loosest terms) - can be proposing this deal is in the light of Clause 7 offering him a "Payment in lieu of Notice". He has done nothing for the Company over the years; so to my mind he should receive the same one month's notice as the sole employee!

I am particularly disappointed that M&G have accepted this deal rather than instigating the wind-up. Can't imagine what they were thinking about, because it really does place them in a very bad light.

This little drama has much to recommend it in terms of an exposure to corporate governance. I suspect that liquidation will be the final outcome for Lionheart, but there could be some fun and lost reputations before we finally get there.....

[sleepy] 08/1/2003 11:42

Montanaro UK Special 4.98%, David Taglight 4.79% are shown as shareholders.

Does anyone know what they think of the deal or how to contact them?

I believe that holders of 10% or more of a company's shares can require an EGM to be held and presumably liquidation could be proposed at that EGM.

[hugepants] 08/1/2003 11:37

Interesting. Maybe the LNT management aren't greedy after all, just very thick.

[sleepy] 08/1/2003 11:31

7. Directors and employees



Lionheart has one employee who is employed as an assistant to the Company
Secretary. It has been agreed that one calendar month following the Offer being
declared wholly unconditional, she will be made redundant.



The Lionheart Directors have agreed to resign upon request after the Offer has
been declared wholly unconditional. In respect of his resignation, the
Independent Director will receive a payment in lieu of notice. The other
director of Lionheart, who is not independent and who is a director of Sigma,
has volunteered to waive any entitlement to compensation.

[hugepants] 08/1/2003 11:23

On fundamentals Sigma looks a real dog frankly and was very overvalued at 30p a share. Without a doubt a better deal for shareholders would have been liquidation of LNT.

Anyone know what the current management of LNT get out of this deal? Do they retain management positions. I assume they must have something.

[currypasty] 08/1/2003 11:17

sigma shares are already down 22% on the news, what will happen to the price when all ex-LNT holders want to sell them, down another 22% ?

The sigma chart doesnt look too rosy, does it ... do LNT shareholders, who have held purely because of the cash pile, want to hold sigma when the cash has gone ?

[asph] 08/1/2003 11:05

Under the terms of the Offer, Lionheart Shareholders will receive 107
pence in cash and 1.48 New Sigma Shares for each Lionheart Share. A Mix and
Match Election will also be available.

1.48 x say 27p = 40p + 1.07 cash =1.47--------AM I RIGHT ?? if so Lionheart are worth buying at 1.32 !!!!!!!

Comments/guidance welcomed

[cg1953] 08/1/2003 10:45

another 'cozy' deal !!! the arrogance of it!!!
we should be given the option of a full cash offer
to relfect the nett cash in lnt. anything less is
unaccaptable.

[skyracer] 08/1/2003 09:54

The Acid Test;

If Lionheart shareholders were given all their cash back today (amounting to around 157p) would they rush out and buy Sigma shares currently at 30p? No! Therefore why should they accept a deal that exchanges part of their cash at the rate of 36.5p per Sigma share ???

[currypasty] 08/1/2003 08:58

Sold my LNT today, I bought at 25p years ago (equivavlent of £6.25 after 25:1).
Huge loss, but useful against my CGT gains I suppose.
Anybody buying (price slipped a bit now), for the new shares ?

[roomey] 08/1/2003 08:54

watched lnt for a long time and have to say glad i did not buy as for current shareholders your dir have well and truely stitched you up

[skyracer] 08/1/2003 07:37

Yikes!

Update 7:47am; actually with Sigma now at bid 30p the Offer is only worth 151p tops so at 145p bid Lionheart is a good SELL.

Update 8:18am; looks like a stitch-up to me, with cashburn of £5m pa Sigma will soon burn through the cash. Still a good SELL at bid 140p. I notice Hamish Grossart has a finger in both pies.

Update 8:34am; Actually if you value Sigma at NAV rather than market value you get their shares worth only 17p which if you add the 107p gives........124p! What a coincidence! Hence Lionheart still a good SELL at 132p bid.

Update 8:45am; Ahh it gets worse. I reckon the Sigma NAV at 31 Dec 2002 will only be around £4.2m in which case the Sigma shares element will only be worth around 12p tops based on NAV. So the offer nows reduces to 119p. Clearly the mix-and-match wont work because all Lionheart shareholders will opt for cash. Why should Lionheart shareholders accept this stinky deal.....

[skyship] 03/11/2002 13:43

My concern is that Peter Pollock is so gagging for an acquisition that keeps him on the gravy-train that he will spend our money on due diligence for totally inappropriate targets.

In my view any acquisition that involves the placing of "Goodwill" on the balance sheet should automatically be discounted. This WRAITH rumour involves a valuation considerably in excess of Net Assets. Surely it must be clear to Pollock and his advisers (Bridgewell Corporate Finance) that such an acquisition will destroy shareholder value. It is to be hoped that non-exec Hamish Grossart will advise against such an acquisition; and will rather pointedly resign if Pollock tries to pursue such a course.

At the end of the day the real power rests with M&G Investment Management; so I recommend writing to Huw Jones, Hd of Corporate Finance, M&G Investment Management, Governor's House, Laurence Poutney Hill, London EC4R 0HH, suggesting that he hasten the Cash payback in the interests of both his fund holders and Lionheart shareholders.

[leslas] 02/11/2002 00:41

I thought there would have been more comment but earlier the week fieldiens i might have got the name wrong but that was a shell and took someone over and they whent up 70%

[tiltonboy] 01/11/2002 11:28

LESLAS

Could be a good spot. The article mentions a market cap of £10m, which is roughly in line.

I wrote to Peter Pollock last week, with my concerns about a "reversal". I am yet to receive a reply.

After the events of the FTHM reversal, I would prefer to have a csh distribution, but I don't think there will be anything we can do about it.

tiltonboy

[leslas] 01/11/2002 10:14

Rumour of the day in the times today says that Wraith Accommodation is understood to be near to reversing into a AIM shell that M&G holds a 30% stake fits LNT like a glove Just a thought???

[skyship] 16/10/2002 00:20

TILTONBOY: As you will see from my report on the AGM (post No. 23 on this thread) i do believe in shareholder pressure! As long as Hamish Grossart hangs in there I think sanity will prevail, but frankly it is so patently obvious that PP is simply out to feather his own nest that I am truly amazed that the PRU hasn't already called time on this one.

Yes, their funds continue to hold a 29.9% stake, inherited when they acquired M&G. They are my next port of call for a letter suggesting immediate CASH return. I'll let you know if I get a PRU name to target.

[tiltonboy] 13/10/2002 18:11

SKYSHIP,

Is it possible we can exert some shareholder pressure. If we all stand back and do nothing, then the board will take it that we are supportive.

Have the Pru still got a big stake? If they have, I am sure they would prefer cash now, rather than the chance of a stake in another company on a reversal.

I am also a shareholder in Firth. They had over 7p per share in cash, and have done what seems to be a decent reversal, but the share price is now 4.5-5.5p. I know I am looking very short term, but this deal has already destroyed shareholder value.

If LNT do a deal, does anyone think the share price will go up? I for one do not. The safety attraction was the 160p of cash. You would now be taking a risk on the prosperity of the target.

I would like to see the board give in, and admit the risks of further undertaking a reversal do not outweigh the rewards of cash back now.

As you mention the track record of PP is not good. When we he spot the patently obvious.

tiltonboy

[skyship] 12/10/2002 16:48

Perhaps not surprisingly, at the June AGM Peter Pollock gave us no indication of the scale of cost incurred in the due diligence. £330,000 is an astronomical figure for the size of business Lionheart might take on; and one does wonder what the constituent parts of that £330,000 might be. A sorry state of affairs and yet another reason for having absolutely zero confidence in Peter Pollock - if you want to see what he does in his day job - click over to LPA: share price down from 170p to 17p over 3 years!!

PP drew £43,000 last year & the two non-execs (David Gawler & Hamish Grossart) drew just £20,000 each - and were likely to have been good value at that. Pity to hear of DG's departure, but pleased HG is likely to see things through to their logical end with a cash payout within a year.

[cg1953] 02/10/2002 00:15

thats just great!!!

in order to justify there management fees and perks."lets spend shareholders funds on due dilligence"
if we had a 'proven' ceo in charge; then maybe one could give him/her the benefit of any doubt.
as it is we do not, and we have 1-60 pence per share dwindling with every due dilligence undertaken in the most deflationary enviroment in living memory. imo.

CASH BACK NOW, PLEASE !!!!

follow 'izo' and 'ahg' example.

[dil] 01/10/2002 20:54

Not much good are they , how much they paying themselves ?

[currypasty] 07/9/2002 08:51

Ive still got some from 25p, years ago before the consolidation, so have a long way to go to be in profit. I keep meaning to get some more, as they seem quite robust, perhaps because they have the cash, but sdont do anything with it.

[8 ball] 06/9/2002 23:00

Same here SKYSHIP, they never get marked down like other stocks on bad days.
Another 10,000 today @132p

[skyship] 04/9/2002 13:10

I keep hoping to pick up some cheap stock on black days; but someone keeps taking chunks ahead of me - 10,000 @ 129p on Aug.30th & another 10,000 @ 130p today. They're quite right of course, so perhaps I'll have to raise my sights.

[8 ball] 31/7/2002 23:06

Interesting reverse takeover just happened with MGM, the share price rose on the new's.
Hence my interest on this board, great info on AGM SKYSHIP.
Providing they take their time, as they appear to be, I am sure they will find a good deal, as did MGM.