Porta Communications Share Discussion Threads

[dbnout76] 07/12/2016 07:06

Further dilution!!

[guildedge] 06/12/2016 22:08

The eternal gloomy Oldie52. Good to be back! Cup half full or half empty. I prefer the half full version. A full version is even better. I thought Kimboy did a good job on the numbers. I certainly don't buy this doom and gloom story you suggest.

[oldie52] 06/12/2016 20:20

The eternal optimist strikes again. Welcome back guildege.
your sentence could read "Sellers in the background have dumped 24-30m stock this year booking thumping great losses just to get out of this pile of pooh."

[guildedge] 06/12/2016 18:24

Not really been posting here lately. Looks like MM are short of stock hence the 9% surge. Buyers in background have mopped up well over 24-30m stock this year.

Your numbers look really positive Kimboy. The D and A I have no idea why they keep writing down their assets. It is making the figures look worse than they actually are. Closed businesses? H1 figures included a large hit due to cost of closed businesses 389k(?). Do your figures include payments to pod share holders?

Don't forget they closed down the Newgate European offices in 2015. So H215 vs H116 actually shows a nice rise.

24m revenue from H2 this year?? Where did that forecast come from?? Be amazed if they get much more than 17-18m in H2. 24m would be a huge jump of almost 33%

[kimboy2] 06/12/2016 09:08

It would also help if they gave straightforward figure reporting rather than the complete spin we get. My take on the figures is;


H1/16 H2/15 H1/15 H2/14 H1/14 Revenue 17.8 16.74 17.35 13.34 9.93 Attributable -1.93 -2.55 -1.8 -3.41 -0.319 D&A 1.32 1.341 1.377 1.055 0.564 Net -0.61 -1.209 -0.423 -2.355 0.245 Exceptionals 0.244 0.98 0.555 1.15 0.834 Net Net -0.366 -0.229 0.132 -1.205 1.079



They don't have to do that much to get into positive territory, but no real progress for a couple of years. The forecast is for £24m revenue in H2/16 so let's hope for something better.

The share price will certainly rebound if it actually happens. Perhaps that is what they are waiting for to raise some cash.

[kimboy2] 11/11/2016 09:47

What PTCM have to do, that they have been unable to do so far, is make a real profit. Once they start doing that then other things will fall in place, that is assuming they don't decide to dilute us all out of sight before that happens.

The managements exceptionally greedy options are the easiest way for them to make a fortune out of PTCM, and I am sure that is their target.

I suppose the danger is that £8m is converted to equity at 4p and management then rewrite their options. The last RNS suggested that there was going to be some sort of capital restructuring in the next 12 months.

[markie7] 09/11/2016 20:25

Proof, if that was needed, that they can't get proper third party financing from a bank

[davidosh] 09/11/2016 20:02

The loans at such huge interest rates offered by related parties when the interest rates from banks are so low tell you all you need to know. The shares continue to be printed like confetti and if ever this makes money it will be the directors and Mr Morton and family that will be taking massive slices out of the pie first IMO.

[dbnout76] 09/11/2016 20:00

I remember in one of Mr Wrights videos once stating that he wouldn't let share holders down.......well Mr Wright, I feel very let down!!

[dbnout76] 09/11/2016 18:42

This lot stink!!

[speedsgh] 09/11/2016 13:21

Yet more shenanigans...

Conversion of Debt -

At the time Twenty20 went into administration in February 2015, it had loans outstanding due to Hawk which Twenty20 defaulted on by virtue of entering into administration. The following sums are due by Twenty20 to Hawk as at 9 November 2016:

1. £831,149.39, representing a principal balance of £300,000 and all accrued standard interest, additional interest and interest on capital due, being the total sum of !!!! £531,149.39 !!!!; and

2. £242,418.57, representing a principal balance of £87,500 and all accrued standard interest, additional interest and interest on capital due, being the total sum of !!!! £154,918.57 !!!! (the "Twenty20 Loans").

[oldie52] 09/11/2016 13:12

Sneaked out a refinancing RNS very late yesterday. Interest a mere 1% a month! Dont compound that over 12 months - it is too depressing

[guildedge] 21/10/2016 17:00

Twitter is one of many indicators. The latest Twitter post suggests Newgate are still hiring more staff and growing. I would be worried if a PR firm on Twitter was saying nothing.(That's part of what they do.) They do seem to be heavily reinforcing Public Affairs. This can only be a good thing. I follow many PR related sites. Not just Twitter.

End of day if you think this is going nowhere sell up. If you think this is start of a turn around you should be buying. I stand by my projection of this share reaching 6-9p at least in short term after refinance is announced.

Nothing that has been posted here has really swayed me. Porta do have a perception issue to get over on this forum and with the markets.

For now at least the funds have gone very quiet.

[jefftwo] 20/10/2016 15:09

I don't mind huge salaries if we get huge returns.I feel confident about the returnsIt's just the debt that still concerns me.I need convincing BOD if your reading this!!!!!

[pelliot] 20/10/2016 13:32

Well, if they've been active on Twitter then they must be a Buy! Now I understand the need for HUGE salaries.

[guildedge] 19/10/2016 22:42

I already explained your first point. COO has been very hands on with Public affairs rebuilding. Guessing his role will develop when Porta start to expand again in 2017. I have no doubt that will happen after a refinace is announced.

The point is that Porta's strategy is to hire the best in the industry globally. To me it looks like they are picking up many high profile clients now because of this. They have some very profitable parts of the business. The profit on Asian operations and Redleaf was over 2.1m last year. Many parts of the business are now starting to do joint pitches. Lots of cross selling of products. This can only be good for 2017. The Asian business were 11% in H1.

What were you expecting to happen in last 3 weeks?? How many PR firms are actively announcing everything they do?? That is not how business works. However the feed on Twitter, Gorkana and their website has been pretty heavy lately. There has been a steady flow of client news too. Many of which have not been posted on ADVFN.

They also appear to be hiring more staff. Publicasity is taking on new staff due to new clients. Public Affairs with 3 new hires. Also a lot of these new hires approached Porta first. Not Porta chasing them. Why would so many be so eager to join a company not doing well?? With clients following them too?

I am very positive about my position here. I won't be selling any time soon as I think this share will likely double in next few months.

[oldie52] 19/10/2016 19:32

You have always been a bull Guildedge all the way down to 4p and below. Why is Porta so special that it needs an Executive Chairman, a CEO and a COO? How hard is it to run a PR business? With all the fat salaries no wonder they are miles off making real money.
There is nothing that has happened in the last few weeks, other than rearranging the deck chairs, that changes this screaming sell.

[guildedge] 19/10/2016 18:53

I think the directors are all locked out here. That is why non are buying. My guess is a refinance deal that will happen at some point in next month or so. Now Bob is out of the equation this becomes much more likely. They do like to leave 2-3 weeks between RNS news. PR timing.

Gary Wyatt has just purchased nearly 7m shares here. He must be very close to the board. GW was investing from day 1 into Porta and is still here. From what I can see Ruffers and HH have stopped selling too.

My figures this year suggest various funds have snapped up over 24m Porta shares. The sold shares are being mopped up in large volumes. The majority of shares bought and sold here are by funds or large investors. I still expect 1-2 of these funds/investors to reveal their hand sooner or later with a holding RNS. Unless they decide to stay below 3%.

Porta is also starting to win more contracts.Publicasity and Thirteen helping in the one below. Publicasity has won 4 briefs since April. (They only had 7-8 clients from start.)
hxxp://www.gorkana.com/2016/10/feather-black-hires-porta-agencies/

We know the current work figure in the 6M accounts is almost 60% higher than last year. That is a huge jump.

Think about the DW Exec Chairmain thing more. If they have to pay off DW how much would that cost?? He is probably heavily involved with a lot of current discussions. Remove him now and you have to start from scratch. Also Steffan is still deeply involved with many clients too. They may want to replace him before he fully takes on all aspects of the CEO role. Also consider the logisitics of hiring a new Chairman here.

That Public Affairs article didn't really mention anything new but it shows progress is being made reinforcing the Public Affairs part of the business. Are more hires still to follow?

I rate this a strong buy. I think come 2017 this will be a turnaround story. 4p is way too low. Even today there were more buys coming in. PI or funds throwing small trades in? Can't decide yet. Mix of both?

[karm] 18/10/2016 14:13

Dilution yes, and yet another desperate attempted to boost the share price. They obviously don't get it. Its the bottom line which is always on the horizon. They give no hope to share holder they will ever get there. Even directors aren't purchasing at this price. Is it so hard for them to work it out.

[go_baby_go] 17/10/2016 12:31

..and SW need to buy bucket loads of shares to show he has confidence going forwards. Otherwise he is just milking the salary until the next job comes along.

[qs99] 17/10/2016 12:27

will be interesting to see what happens with this Exec Chair / CEO relationship / pay etc, but also whether Steffan will stump up to buy shares or not as you say, or indeed any of the board at this price...let's see. if you have lots of free options you probably don't need to but then that doesn't help sentiment! need to sort old chairman's loan out as a priority IMO..

[go_baby_go] 17/10/2016 12:25

Surely DW can not be being paid 300k+ now that SW is running the show. They need to get DW out.

[mikemo2] 17/10/2016 11:04

Given his vast experience, I wonder how many times Steffan Williams has advised a listed CEO that holding zero shares in your own company is a sign of confidence to the city!!