Minorplanet Systems Share Discussion Threads

[cliley454] 19/9/2009 12:09

MPS
Price: 26.5p
Market cap £1.7m
Judging from the chart one would think that the chance of picking up a MPS bargain had passed, but with a little research the truth is revealed. In fact they completed a 1 for 20 share consolidation at the start of September, which means today's share price of just 26.5p equates to around 1.3p in old money. Along with the consolidation came a fund raising at 1.5p (30p) which raised around £1.8m cash. Prior to announcing the fund raising MPS looked down and out and with the threat of administration or delisting were priced accordingly at 3p (60p). Their problems also included litigation against MPS of EUR1.2m. This has now been resolved.
They now have the necessary funds to take the business through and out of the recession but the share price has more than halved since? Crazy!

Lets look at the business. Firstly they are safe now from the receivers and delisting isn't an option with all of the newly issued stock. They have realigned strategy to focus more on the larger corporate market and licensing of their software to other hardware providers. This is a massive company with over 270 employees and an expected turnover of £20m this year. Last years results showed a profit of £1.5m and a return to anywhere near this would make these a 10 bagger. Here's the company website for further research.
Interestingly their nearest competitor, CYH is valued at over £10m.

Short term price target: 90p
12 month target: £3.00p

[encarter] 16/9/2009 23:04

On the up.

[andre] 16/9/2009 20:18

martin44 - your last post on this board finished -

martin44 - 23 May'09 - 20:54 - 877 of 939

"A new route to allow sales through to completion will 'win' much more business, good news will cause the stock to rise significantly next week!"

A few days later they posted £2.5M losses on £8.8M turnover. The slide continued and the issue of more shares was not exactly a major success.

Today you post - martin44 - 16 Sep'09 - 17:16 - 938 of 939

"Major changes happening at MPS and these will be the saving that this company needs and will bring about the profitability that we all need to see......"

I am not holding my breath. Unless the 'major changes' are the appointment of the administrator, of course. IMHO there is a time to admit defeat and let the shareholders lick their wounds and move on. It is like an arthritic dog that you keep alive with drugs though it has no quality of life. The stock has been too cruel to shareholders and IMHO should be allowed to die with it's last shred of dignity. But then, I might just be being dramatic. ;o)

[quartix2] 16/9/2009 19:05

Martin44: What "Major changes"?

[martin44] 16/9/2009 17:16

Major changes happening at MPS and these will be the saving that this company needs and will bring about the profitability that we all need to see......

[tom306] 16/9/2009 17:05

The current market cap is £1.6m and falling. With its chequered past, I would expect due diligence to be pretty expensive. So why would anyone want to take the chance? Why not just wait to see if the inevitable is, in fact, inevitable and then cherry pick the assets?

[andre] 16/9/2009 07:56

But who would want to buy the company making such losses? Rivals might wait for the administrators to talk deals. IMHO

[davidosh] 15/9/2009 18:05

snowman10.....there is surely not the liquidity to be able to short much stock in MPS ? Plus there needs to be consolidation in this sector big time so always a bid or bid rumour to contend with.

[snowman10] 15/9/2009 18:00

Not sure they will be able to sign them off.

I am short very short, its only a matter of time.
I know of TD and i am sorry but i think he has not lost too much.

snow

[cheshiremoggie] 15/9/2009 15:52

They should make for very interesting reading.

CM.

[davidosh] 15/9/2009 14:51

CM.....We shall soon find out as the next results cannot be too far away.

[cheshiremoggie] 15/9/2009 14:43

It certainly gives them an incentive to make the company profitable.

The big question is : Is the company currently profitable or is it likely to be so before the money runs out?

Anything else is a minor issue compared to that.

CM.

[davidosh] 15/9/2009 14:41

TOM306....Agreed. They also have their salaries and future on the line.

[tom306] 15/9/2009 14:38

At least the directors appear to be sharing in the pain since they agreed to subscribe to just under 1.1m shares in the placing, about 28% of the total. At the current bid price of 23p they are already down £75k+.

[quartix2] 15/9/2009 08:02

Assuming MP get the funds, what is the strategy to make the funds work for them?

I dont hear or see anything radical coming out of MP to give me hope that the money will put to good use.

I hope they do have some rabbits in the hat or else the industry will suffer even more bad news and then the opportunities for the main players like, Cybit, Masternaut, tomtom, Navman, etc will become even more of a test.

Just my thoughts but I hope MP can pull it off.

[encarter] 15/9/2009 07:38

They lost £2.5m in the first 6 months of the year. Without the offer take up and even with cost cutting they don't have the cash to survive the next 6 months.

[davidosh] 15/9/2009 01:49

encarter.....The £1.15m placing was completed in full and it was just the open offer that fell short. They did raise about half of the maximum they were looking to raise overall it seems...

The key terms of the Refinancing are as follows:



A share capital consolidation whereby Shareholders will have their existing Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each held on the Record Date consolidated and replaced by New Ordinary Shares of 20 pence each, so, for example, a Shareholder with 40 Ordinary Shares of 1 pence each will have these shares replaced by 2 New Ordinary Shares of 20 pence each;



A £1.15m Placing of 3,836,091 New Ordinary Shares at 30p per share;



An Open Offer of up to approximately £2.1m of New Ordinary Shares open to all existing Shareholders pro rata to their existing shareholdings at a subscription price of 30p per New Ordinary Share; and



Qualifying Shareholders wishing to apply for New Ordinary Shares under the Open Offer in excess of their pro rata entitlements will be able to apply for additional shares to the extent that other existing Shareholders do not take up their entitlements.



In addition as part of the Refinancing the Company has reached agreements with the following key creditors and suppliers:



The Company has agreed new block discounting facilities with Siemens Financial Services Limited and ING Lease (UK) Limited in the sum of £400,000 for the purposes of providing additional working capital for the Group;



The Company has entered into an agreement with the Bank to convert the existing £750,000 overdraft facility provided to Minorplanet Limited to an Enterprise Finance Guarantee Loan (''EFGL''); and



The Company has reached an arrangement with HMRC in respect of the payment of sums currently due and owing to HMRC by the Group.

[encarter] 14/9/2009 23:19

News is all bad. They needed to raise £2.1m from the open offer and ended up getting less than £300k. It seems like they don't have the funds to carry on and will be calling in the receivers.

"As part of the Refinancing the Company announced an Open Offer. The Open Offer closed at 11.00 a.m. on 27 August 2009. Applications under the Open Offer were received for 988,328 New Ordinary Shares. The New Ordinary Shares available under the Open Offer were not placed subject to clawback nor were they underwritten. Consequently, the balance of 6,047,168 New Ordinary Shares that were available will not be issued."

[quartix2] 14/9/2009 22:12

This just keeps falling, is there any good news?

[cheshiremoggie] 14/9/2009 00:15

aha....Indeed, I would be very surprised if they were able to raise more cash.

but... not surprised if they needed to.

CM.

[roofer2] 13/9/2009 21:43

MPS have not been honest enough with them selfs never mind investors
They ignored advice to close down Germany an sell off Ozz years ago, only
Now there in trouble do they act.
Once Ozz has been sold and Germany ect been settled can mps start to move
Forward with what's left being there strongest assets to build upon. IMO all
Depends on what they get for Ozz to help rebuild with ( on blackburry not p/c )

[davidosh] 13/9/2009 12:55

CM.....Shares can trade and do at whatever price the market gives them. However if a company needs to raise funds it cannot be done at a price below the nominal value of each share. I really do not see MPS as being able to raise funds again though in any event. It is all or nothing time from here.

[cheshiremoggie] 13/9/2009 11:23

On the 1st sept RNS you find the words "Ordinary Shares of 20 pence", ie the new shares have a nominal value of 20p.

I thought shares are not supposed to trade below their nominal value so if the share price falls below 20p then the company has to mess around with a share split!, costing money, time and basically showing incompetence.

Or is that wrong?

CM.

[red imp] 11/9/2009 15:48

And as expected the erosion of the share price continues post-refinancing with a further 10% fall today.

With several share consolidations over the past few years, a £100K holding at the beginning of 2000 would now be worth . . . £165.

[tom306] 03/9/2009 16:23

Surely the market cap is overstated? ADVFN appears to be using the consolidated price but the pre-consolidated number of shares?