Sagentia Grp Share Discussion Threads

[jonwig] 07/5/2008 19:27

Ken ... they've just announced (02/05) that Harston Mill is fully let now - hitherto it was almost full.

It's valued at £14.1m in the accounts to 31/12/07, and the annual rent was £1.7m (SGA plc gets rent from its operating subsidiary).

That tells me a rental yield of 12% - a modern, well-fitted complex with ample parking and security a few miles from Cambridge.
You'd think a yield of 6 - 7% maybe? Yet they said it wasn't materially mispriced (last valued 2006).
I've asked the company why it's carried at such a low value.

PS. I've asked some more questions, which I'll post about when I get a response.

[kenatbabken] 07/5/2008 19:17

jonwig

I,ve had this one flagged up to me so I,m having a look,Can you pls tell me is
Harston Mill let out to tenants and if so what is the income.I,d appreciate any
other info you can divulge that might be of help. TIA

[elgordo] 07/5/2008 17:10

Jon - thanks for the advice. I'll see what options are available once the relisting goes ahead. I wasn't planning to take to funds outside of the ISA wrapper, but if ade's prediction is anywhere near accurate I'd be kicking myself if I did sell.

[jonwig] 07/5/2008 16:52

Is it on PLUS, ade? (See header.)

12p would be nice, yes!

AIM attracts speculators (in both directions), and there would be the appropriate RNS on the morning: "Admission to AIM".
There would also be a prospectus which would stress the asset backing, amongst other things.

Don't forget that you'll be paying stamp duty from then on ... it's a nice thought for me that I haven't had to.

[adejuk] 07/5/2008 16:39

my buy not showing
good to see some moves on this
12p by Dec?

[jonwig] 07/5/2008 14:31

Hi, ElG ... yes, I remember you mentioning that. Have you a broker/provider who might transfer out at mid-price or something, with a modest fee?

It's certainly possible, as I did that with an investment trust a couple of years ago.

[elgordo] 07/5/2008 14:26

Good spot Jon. There does appear to be a growing sense of positivity about SGA afoot. My problem is I hold most of mine in an ISA, so will have to offload once they move down to AIM.

[jonwig] 07/5/2008 13:53

Sagentia - SPECULATIVE BUY
Companies: SGA
07/05/2008

Currently poised to emigrate from the Full List to AIM, technology consultancy Sagentia looks unfairly unappreciated by the market. At less than £10m, its market value represents only two thirds of its £14.6m of property assets and, if you include its £7.6m investment portfolio, loans and cash, Sagentia's shares trade at a significant discount to its shareholder funds of 8.1p per share.

Understandably there has been a bout of director buying in the past couple of months and new chief executive Dr Alistair Brown, stepping up from sales director, intends to sell off the company's venture portfolio and move to AIM. He says the new focus is 'on earnings rather than equity'.

The previous strategy had been to generate shareholder returns by creating spin-out companies, some of which still sit in the portfolio, such as AIM-listed CMR Fuel Cells. The venture capital subsidiary was sold off last year for £1.5m, leaving a consultancy arm that generated a £500,000 profit from £17.9m of fee income in 2007.

Operations in the UK, the US, Germany, Hong Kong and Sweden engage in business consultancy and product development. Standout projects include a suite of digital products that have helped transform the prospects of toymaker Hornby, the launch of a mobile payment solution for Vodafone and a delivery system for AstraZeneca that generates Sagentia £500,000 of royalties a year.

A move to AIM by the end of June and the appointment of new broker Arbuthnot might help to garner some more attention from small-cap followers. The move might also see 48% shareholder Catella, a sister company of Ikea, reduce its stake. Speculative buy.

[jonwig] 07/5/2008 12:48

The four Director purchases just announced cost a total of around £28,000 ... quite significant for this company, and shows confidence that the good trading will continue.

[jonwig] 03/5/2008 12:00

Hi, ade ... well, Sphere wouldn't be issuing RNSs to the Stock exchange for no reason at all! Two this year:



I understand it won't be too long!

[adejuk] 02/5/2008 20:20

well, well.
looks like you might win the competition this year jon
wait till sphere launches

[jonwig] 02/5/2008 15:05

The director I was talking with (and he paid more than I did, but for a few more shares!) ...

On the 2nd May, 2008 Gordon Edge, a non executive director of Sagentia Group AG,
informed the Company that on the 2nd May 2008 he has purchased an additional
250,000 shares of CHF 0.10 each in Sagentia Group AG at 4.25 pence per share.
His total holding of CHF 0.10 shares now stands at 11,548,070 shares (5.3%).

[jonwig] 02/5/2008 13:34

Thanks El G ... and, yes, I'll write up the CMF AGM, though it will be over the weekend.

[elgordo] 02/5/2008 12:48

Jon –

I think my main interest now is to what extent they have been able to change their business model, as previously stated, trading up-front fees for a share of future revenues. As you've said in a previous post, "SGA gets lots of mentions of high profile collaborations... but where's the profit?".

The highest profile example of this, of course, is M-Pesa. It's great that they (presumably) continue to earn consultancy fees as the project expands into new countries, but it would be nicer if they were picking up a share of the revenues.

They also announced a while back that "Actions are also underway to sell a number of our portfolio holdings", but other than the TurfTrax float, there's been no news on this front.

Updates on their other ventures would also be welcome. Things have gone quiet since the new year at Atraverda, whilst HD-LED was going to be available from "early 08".

So, I guess my questions would be – what's your business model now, how do you intend to grow the profitability of the business, how are you getting on with disposing of holdings, and what news is there on progress of those holdings' businesses?


...By the way, will you be posting any comments on the CMF board, from the AGM (please)?

[jonwig] 02/5/2008 09:27

Encouraging Trading Statement this morning tempted me to add ... yet again.

I was down at Harston Mill yesterday for the CMF AGM. Harston Mill is actually a huge and very impressive building - the bit you see in most photos is just the old mill, set apart. It's beautifully maintained, inside and out, and architecturally very well-balanced.

I spoke at some length to one of the SGA directors, who suggested I gather together a list of questions which I could e-mail to him.
I'll do that over the weekend, and welcome any input from others here. [El Gordo - you have my e-mail address, or you can flag anything up on this thread.]

[elgordo] 29/4/2008 15:13

"Sagentia has won the Technology, the Innovation and the coveted overall Best Private Sector Project Awards at the prestigious Management Consulting Awards for its work on M-PESA in Kenya." -



It's a shame that they don't seem to be getting a cut of the revenues, but at least it is good publicity for their consulting services.

[jonwig] 24/4/2008 15:00

He's consistent, and this seems to be moving the price a bit:

On the 24th April 2008, Martin Forster, a non executive director and the Company
Secretary of Sagentia Group AG, informed the Company that he had today purchased
an additional 300,000 shares of CHF 0.10 each in Sagentia Group AG at 3.75 pence
per share. His total holding of CHF 0.10 shares now stands at 2,099,400 shares

[jonwig] 15/4/2008 07:31

Thanks, ElG - it wasn't there last week. I see HK/China office gets a page after lying low for ages.

[elgordo] 14/4/2008 22:14

Spring edition of "The Gen" out today -



Not read it yet though...

[badday] 25/3/2008 07:22

It does look like they're raising their profile doesn't it. These afe far from ideal markets but it looks to me that an IPO is on the cards for 2008. I had always thought a listing of £60m was about right, giving SGA approx £6m for their 10% stake. If markets are still struggling who knows at what price it may list? The market for it's product howeve is huge, needless to say.

[jonwig] 25/3/2008 07:10

Another RNS from Sphere, Hospital Testing of Proxima.
Now why would they RNS ... ?

[jonwig] 10/3/2008 14:35

On the 10th March 2008, Martin Forster, a non executive director and the Company
secretary of Sagentia Group AG, informed the Company that on the 4th March 2008
he purchased an additional 200,000 shares of CHF 0.10 each in Sagentia Group AG
at 4 pence per share. His total holding of CHF 0.10 shares now stands at
1,799,400 shares.

[jonwig] 04/3/2008 08:26

Well, the FY results are actually the complete annual report, by the looks of it. Not is an easily readable form, though.
In two RNSs, which you usually get with FTSE100 companies.
Lots of detail but I can't find the AGM date.

Operating profit looks much as expected, overall loss down to CMR fuel cells holding.
Move to AIM and UK domicile should lead to broker coverage.

Will take a week for me to get through it all!

[jonwig] 27/2/2008 08:19

Thanks - haven't looker at that website for ages.
Anything which can ...

" ... provide a simple and cost effective process that can improve water quality and help provide safe water on both a local and industrial level"

deserves serious investment consideration!

[elgordo] 26/2/2008 21:38

Results should be out in next few weeks (1 March last year, 7 March in 06), so hopefully lots of updates on progress on our wish lists.

In the meantime, I see that Atranova (91% owned by SGA) has started populating the case studies on its web site.



Sewage treatment for pig farms may not be glamorous, but I suspect waste water treatment is a growth area, and it's good to see progress.