Praesepe Share Discussion Threads

[jpjp100] 09/1/2011 15:10

freddie01, yes they have plenty to do, but it does seem they are cracking on with it.

I really want to see them do an acquisition outside the UK. I think it would add considerably to the value of the group in the end game.

[freddie01] 09/1/2011 11:26

Much to do then jpjp100.

[jpjp100] 08/1/2011 20:05

286, that is at Brighton

50% increase is nice of course, but from a small base really.

My understanding is that Streatham and Northampton are the biggest sites, each being bigger than the other 4 added together. Something like that anyway.

[freddie01] 08/1/2011 18:17

A snippet from The Praesepe Sentinel....

Beacon Bingo is driving forward with it's marketing campain courtesy of a liveried Mercedes Smart Car. The high profile promo vehicle is being used in leaflet drops and at high traffic venues such as supermarkets and shopping centres.
As a result new member numbers have increased by up to 50 per cent.

[jpjp100] 08/1/2011 09:31

Micro Bingo and Wide Area connected bingo machines (VBTs) are an important element of PRA's plans for the future, you only need to read the interims etc. to know that.

On a recent visit to The Crystal Rooms, I noticed that the number and prominence of VBTs has increased considerably.

A few things about Bingo are exciting from an investor perspective.

1) Bingo is VAT free so a £1 in a VBT is worth more to the operator than a £1 in a B3 for now.
2) Bingo can offer much bigger prizes - jackpots of £4k and even £5k are promoted on the crystal rooms website for instance. Not even casino machines can offer over £4k jackpots, so,VBT's are the biggest jackpot machines in the country and that has to be more attractive to (more) punters
3) Connecting more machines (across the whole estate potentially) means that the progressive jackpots available grow more quickly. Even machines that aren't being played don't go 'stale' - the pots available keep on ticking up as other machines in the network are being played. The closer to being 'full' those pots are, then it becomes more attractive for players to have a go on the machine.

Converting an AGC to a Bingo Hall enables micro bingo to be played and, with the pari mutuel concept, jackpots could be a few grand quite easily. Games could be played pretty much all day pretty frequently and should be a good way of bringing in punters too. Add to that a few VBTs on the network showing £4k+ jackpots and the 8 B3s that a bingo hall can already have on site and you can see why PRA has been keen to convert sites to this format. I am looking forward to the roll out starting and I hope it is soon!

[freddie01] 04/1/2011 22:14

"The one area of concern might come from the B2 gaming machines operated by bookmakers in the UK but we will have to wait and see what the results tell us."

These machines in bookmakers have had a pretty bad press of late,so lets hope this isn't something to be concerned about.

Hoping 2011 will be a good year.

[plunge] 04/1/2011 21:54

I see Nick Harding has updated his bulletin board on PRA's website

[jpjp100] 02/1/2011 10:20

the break option might produce something of a size that PRA could acquire

the whole thing is too big IMO - but I would like to be proved wrong on that and see PRA take the lot on good terms

[freddie01] 01/1/2011 18:44

Bingo operator considers 2011 sale following strategic review

One of the largest bingo operators in the north has announced that it is considering breaking the business up in 2011.

Buckingham Bingo, based in Manchester, operates 10 bingo halls across the north of the country. The leisure specialists called in KPMG's corporate finance specialists earlier this year to offer advice on options for the new year, including possibly putting the firm onto the market.

Some of the bingo halls look likely to be sold off independently, although a sale of the entire business has not been ruled out.

Buckingham Bingo is said to have already received notes of interest from several large investors, including leisure group Praesepe, who has expressed an intent to grow through a series of acquisitions next year.

Following on from KPMG's appointment to carry out a strategic review, sources close to Buckingham Bingo report that there has been 'considerable interest' in the firm since September, when the business first indicated a potential sale.

One source said, "There has been a variety of bidders and January could see one or more deals concluded."

Venture capital firm Alchemy Partners purchased Buckingham Bingo for £90 million in
2005, but lost control of the company three years later when it wrote off its £76.7 million stake in the firm to bankers Barclays as repayment for a debt waiver.

[jpjp100] 30/11/2010 21:18

The other part of the deal that might be of note is that Noble will likely get some rent from PRA on the sites involved. I might be wrong because the ownership of the sites involved isn't disclosed, but I might be right and swapping an agc business for lower risk rental income could make sense to Noble

[jpjp100] 30/11/2010 09:18

another 14 sites in the bag on a 4.6x multiple

Noble is happy enough to take shares at close to the market price. Now the Noble organisation is a lot of things, but it isn't daft - it is very shrewd and a very smart operator in this sector.... You can be sure, imo, of a few things:

i) These aren't the best performing sites in the Noble portfolio - they will be getting a good price for the sites they are selling, even at the headline price

ii) I don't think members of the Noble organisation (if you try to do any research about the organisation, it very soon gets quite complex to follow) are short of a few bob. They are taking a bit of a punt on their expectation that, at some point in the future, their PRA shares will be worth more than they are now.

iii) Its reasonably safe to work on the basis that some members of the Noble organisation believe that Praesepe has the right idea in pursuing European consolidation and are lending some weight to that with this (and the previous) sale.

iv) When the pari-mutuel bingo concept is launched, it wouldn't be too much of a surprise to see a number of the remaining sites in the Noble organisation getting a few bingo VBT's in.

[drambui] 29/11/2010 13:58

In the wrong stock then, that's the game plan here before selling it off to a bigger player! All in my humble.

Edit: They have little option but to issue shares - for now.

[sscrabble] 29/11/2010 13:46

another acquisition - you assume NH knows what he is doing - never like having my shares diluted at a discount though !

[divinausa1] 12/11/2010 01:40

nice 450k buy.....reported late

[drambui] 08/11/2010 09:28

10p+ this week then?

[brownie69] 04/11/2010 16:24

Would not be a surprise.

Due to the nature of the model as revenue increaes over a largely fixed cost base should be good upside to bottom line.

[divinausa1] 03/11/2010 22:30

think we have some institutional buying here looking at the biggish trades recently

[brownie69] 03/11/2010 09:05

At last progress! However I note NH's comment that it is likely to be Q2 next year before the B3's can be introduced.

According to the Panmure Gordon note on Rank this morning this could give an uplift of over 9% to EPS.

[jpjp100] 02/11/2010 21:18

Here is a link to the announcement on the DCMS site

[jpjp100] 02/11/2010 17:59

To keep the collection complete so that older ones can still be viewed later, here it is

Bulletin Box

If at first you don't succeed, etc etc... Finally today we received confirmation that the DCMS have initiated a period of consultation leading up to ratification of a stake increase on Category B3 gaming machines and also implementing a new,formulaic approach to the numbers of B3 machines that can be operated in one location. This formula is likely to be on the basis of 4 lower category gaming machines to 1 category B3. The consultation period will last 12 weeks and could then be followed by ratification by the EU, meaning essentially that we would not be installing the new games until April next year, but we will be installing them at last! It has clearly been a slog, and we have worked tirelessly with BISL (Business in Sport and Leisure) lobbying both MPs and regulators over a protracted period of time but I am delighted that we now have clarity on this issue and can see a clear path towards implementation of what will be an important product for us in 2011/12. I also feel that we are now seeing a more common sense approach from government and the regulators towards the UK gaming industry, an industry which provides jobs for over 100'000 people in the UK and pay billions in taxes to the exchequer. John Penrose, the new Gambling Minister has proved himself to be a sensible, pragamatic individual and we must be grateful to him for his intervention in this matter. Our H1 results were released at the beginning of October. Clearly some of our performance targets for 2010 were predicated on the basis of seeing Category B3 deregulation much earlier in the year and as such I was pleased with the H1 numbers. H2 finishes at the end of December and the last three months of the year are traditionally the busiest for both gaming machines and bingo operators. We have now relicensed over 30 of our High street venues as 'Micro Bingo Clubs', with a further 10 venues still be reviewed prior to the grant of a new licence. Not only can we operate Video Bingo Terminals (VBTs) at these venues but we can also offer linked 'Pari-mutuel' products across a wide area of venues. We are excited about the prospects of new games to be provided under a Bingo licence and I anticipate the introduction of some interesting new products as we move into 2011. With the exception of the big 'aircraft carrier' bingo clubs my sense is that smaller clubs may suffer in the face of competition from operators on the High street in towns and cities in the UK that are offering competitive bingo products in more convivial surroundings which are also far more accessible to the bingo playing public. Nick Harding 2nd November 2010

[plunge] 02/11/2010 17:42

Just to let everyone know that Nick Harding has updated the Bulletin Board section on PRA's website. It basically ratifies the last RNS issued.

[drambui] 02/11/2010 12:54

Back up to double figures in no time methinks!

[jpjp100] 28/10/2010 17:33

yes, let local demand and the AMLD dictate how many machines an operator sites, rather than some arbritrary number plucked out of thin air by a civil servant...

the increase in stakes - mooted as being a doubling to £2 - would have a bigger impact than number of machines allowed imo; I have never seen a queue of people waiting to play on a B3 machine in any AGC I have visited, but I have seen people that seemed to 'get bored' before they had used up their credits.

probably the main benefit to an AGC of the stake change is to counter the B2 machines in bookies, the stakes on which are, to all intents and purposes variable, as long as the prize is within the £500 limit. Such machines in a decent venue are a real threat to AGC trade (especially as most of them have B3 content too) and it is this that has driven many AGCs to split premises and get an LBO licence too: so they can have the B2 machines.

PRA has this split at its site in Farnworth if you are ever passing... Its not the best example of such a split you will ever see (mostly down to the way that the book is run imo), but it does get the B2 content into the venue.

Other than that, just having something new to promote is usually helpful

[brownie69] 28/10/2010 17:18

This could make a big difference. Hopefully unlimited number of B3 per unit but even a move up to say a dozen would have a effect IMHO. Topped up a little today..

[jpjp100] 28/10/2010 15:23

'If you say it often enough, it will come true'