Spark Ventures Share Discussion Threads

[oooff] 21/7/2015 19:00

Talk about short notice.
My impression is that after 200 @ 5 pence for 1 consolidation, the new shares should be worth £10. ( £10 is effectively my guess as I cannot see it stated anywhere ).
For every 1200 shares held, you are entitled to purchase 1 new additional share @ 10% discount, which would £9.
You can apply for more shares than your entitlement, but may not get them and you have to pay for them pretty quickly.
Does seem very rushed for any shareholders who may be away on holiday, business etc.

[capt bligh] 21/7/2015 16:55

Hmm.. not sure about this, I guess this is a way of capitising our listing/ losses...

200 for 1 consolidation why??

price for those wishing out??

[wynmck] 20/7/2015 13:00

IC online tip

[super_sub] 12/7/2015 23:58

So the current SPK NAV is about 5.5p per share.
Every 1p on the IMO share price equates to 0.02p on SPK's NAV, taking into account that 20% of all profits on IMO are taken up by the management incentive fee.
I was pleased to see in Friday's results that the £3.1M cash being held up in Escrow for tax reasons is expected to be released in the next couple of weeks.
But I was surprised to see this comment:
"SPARK is not currently looking to sell its (IMO) holding whilst its strategic options are being considered".
Now that the lock-in period has expired, I would have expected them to have started offloading IMO (just like other big shareholders have already done in recent weeks), especially as their investment policy was to seek to realise their remaining investments.
In the previous half yearly report, there was mention of distributing the IMO shares in specie to shareholders, but it seems that they are looking to continue SPK in some form "ensuring that shareholders benefit not only from realisations but also the value of the quotation, reputation and tax losses of the company".
I would have expected them to have hung on to some of those unquoted assets they sold at a discount in April rather than the AIM quoted IMO shares, if they were planning on a Spark II though.
I look forward to hearing some news on future proposals soon.

[capt bligh] 10/7/2015 08:44

someone paid £4000 for a near term £5,400 after results it looks like a good buy...but i guess we are bound to IMI mobile (IMO), they seem to be doing well... but the exit that is the critical factor. Anyway I would be delighted with anything over 5p

[super_sub] 03/6/2015 13:48

Expect some news here very soon.
IMO have announced the lock-in provisions have been dropped (3 weeks early) for a couple of big shareholders and between them they sold 7M IMO shares at 120p yesterday.
There's another couple of 3M sells at the same price a bit later yesterday, but they could just be buys at the same price I suppose.
IMO has shot up to 132p today.
SPK hold 10.8M shares in IMO.

[super_sub] 22/4/2015 21:24

This now appears to be just a very cheap way into IMImobile (IMO) after yesterday's announcement of the sale of all of Spark's other investments.
September's published NAV was £25.6M (5.6p per share).
Taking into account the 20% discount at which the sale was made, and the fall in the IMO share price since September, my calculation for the current NAV is about £23.0M, comprising £10M cash and £13M in IMO (@120p).
That equates to 5.0p per share.
But there is an unresolved Indian tax concern about £3.1M of that cash.
They are locked into IMO until the end of June, but mentioned the possibility of distributing the IMO shares in specie to shareholders.
Spark shares could be bought at 3.1 or 3.2 today - looks like a bargain to me.

[james dean] 22/4/2015 20:40

Spark Ventures PLC Sale of assets


TIDMSPK

RNS Number : 7837K

Spark Ventures PLC

21 April 2015

SPARK Ventures plc

("SPARK" or the "Company")

21 April 2015

Sale of assets

SPARK Ventures plc, the early stage technology investment company, announces that it has signed a definitive agreement to sell all the remaining portfolio investments, excluding IMImobile ("IMI") and the stake in Quester Venture Partnership, to Hollyport Secondary Opportunities IV Unit Trust ("Hollyport") for a minimum aggregate consideration of approximately GBP3.7m (0.9p per ordinary share) which would be increased should certain events happen relating to some of the assets before 31 December 2015. This represents a maximum aggregate discount of approximately 20% to the September 2014 investment values (the last reported valuations). The investments sold that had a September 2014 valuation in excess of GBP0.5m include Compliance Online (formerly Gambling Compliance), DEM Solutions, Academia and my Deco.

Together with the successful flotation of IMI in June 2014, this now means that SPARK has largely concluded the strategy announced at the time of the restructure and MBO in 2009, since when shareholders have already received total returns of GBP54m or 13p per share.

The Board of SPARK anticipate that the completion of various transfer provisions will take several months to complete, and cash proceeds will come in to SPARK over that period.

SPARK's preliminary results for the year to 31 March 2015 are expected to be announced in July 2015. At this time SPARK will provide a further update to shareholders covering the completion of these asset sales, progress made regarding its 17.8% holding in IMI and an update on the future strategic direction of SPARK.

As a consequence of both this transaction with Hollyport and the fact that the listed IMI shares remain subject to the customary 12 month lock-up restrictions until 27 June 2015, the investing policy of SPARK has been changed to remove the date to which the investing policy applied of 31 March 2015. SPARK's revised investing policy is therefore:

-- Make no more investments into new businesses from its own balance sheet resources and seek to realise its Remaining Investments, subject to abiding by the orderly market and lock-up provisions relating to IMI.

-- Return surplus cash to Shareholders arising from its cash reserves, from the completion of the Hollyport sale process and from the realisation of its Remaining Investments.

However, the following additional policies remain in place:
-- To only make further investments into the Remaining Investments.

-- To actively manage the Remaining Investments where the Directors consider to do so will enhance Shareholder value.
-- Not to leverage any of the Remaining Investments.

As a consequence, as the sales of investments to Hollyport progress the Company's portfolio will become more concentrated. The "Remaining Investments" refers to the Company's 17.8% stake in IMI, its 0.5% stake in Quester Venture Partnership, together with stakes in any other investment that, despite the current agreement to sell them to Hollyport, do not complete for any reason.

To support the completion of these asset sales and other matters, SPARK has agreed terms with SPARK Venture Management Ltd (the "Manager"), to continue to manage the Company.

The Company's existing management arrangements expired on 31st March 2015. Accordingly, the Company has sought and agreed terms to renew such agreement on similar terms and will therefore enter into a new management agreement (the "Management Agreement") pursuant to which the Manager will continue to be responsible, subject to the overall supervision of the Company, for managing SPARK's remaining investments and for completing the Hollyport sale process.

In consideration for its services under the Management Agreement, the Company shall pay:-

-- a Management Fee of GBP100,000 per quarter, for Administration Services and Investment Management Services (as defined in the Management Agreement) subject to a 3 month notice period; and

-- an incentive payment, in the event of the successful disposal of SPARK's investment in IMI of a sum equal to a maximum of 20% of the cash profit realised for such shareholding.

The incentive payment referred to above is not a new incentive but is a re-iteration of the incentive payment arrangements in place for the year to 31 March 2015. The IPO of IMI was the key performance achievement that triggers an incentive payment, but no payment is actually due until the shares in IMI have been sold or distributed. An estimate of the likely liability arising from this incentive scheme was made in the adjusted NAV per share as disclosed in the Interim Report for the six months to 30 September 2014.

The entry into the Management Agreement will constitute a related party transaction for the purpose of the AIM Rules for Companies. The independent Directors of the Company not associated with the Manager, being David Potter, Charles Berry and Helen Sinclair, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, finnCap, consider the terms of the Management Agreement to be fair and reasonable insofar as the Shareholders are concerned.

Hollyport Secondary Opportunities IV Unit Trust is a Jersey based secondary private equity investment vehicle managed by Hollyport Capital. Based in London, Hollyport has been acquiring and managing mature private equity assets since 2006 and has significant experience in transferring and managing direct investments. Hollyport will work closely with SPARK and its manager to achieve the transfer of the investments over the coming months.

For further information please contact:

Andrew Betton
/ 07540 725
SPARK Ventures plc David Potter 100
Matt Goode /
finnCap Christopher Raggett 020 7220 0500
Charles Cook /
Attila Consultants Nita Shah 020 7947 4489


This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

DISPKKDDDBKBAQB

[james dean] 20/1/2015 19:35

Thanks again for the details capt bligh

Regards.

DYOR

[capt bligh] 20/1/2015 17:11

Spark owned 11% of My Deco hence 2.2% of Made so about double latest valuation... actually not much in the scheme of things.

[capt bligh] 19/1/2015 17:14

"However it [my Deco ]owns a 20% stake in Made.com - a successful internet based furniture distributor. It is clear that Made.com may become a valuable asset and therefore we have increased the fair value of our interest in myDeco from GBP100k to GBP576k."


!!!!! Seee todays Telegraph Made.com to float at c 50million

[james dean] 12/12/2014 20:12

Regards.

DYOR

[james dean] 11/11/2014 19:41

capt bligh -

Again thanks.

Regards.

DYOR

[harry rags] 11/11/2014 17:59

Nice rise today, someone know something?

[capt bligh] 10/11/2014 09:00

IMO shooting up again

[james dean] 06/10/2014 11:07

:)

-----------------

Thanks capt bligh

Regards

DYOR

[elbillo] 06/10/2014 09:58

Who was shooting up at the AGM?

[capt bligh] 06/10/2014 09:24

imo shooting up...

[harry rags] 03/10/2014 16:35

Anyone at the AGM?

[james dean] 02/9/2014 22:36

Thanks capt bligh.

Regards.

DYOR

[capt bligh] 02/9/2014 07:22

Very good numbers from IMO today...should be good for spark

[grahamg8] 27/6/2014 08:24

Agree Cap'n the news flow is pretty limited. SPK seem to have disposed of around 3m shares in the IPO presumably at 120p. So assets turned into cash. The launch price gives a NAV for IMO above the book value so we should get a small step up in the NAV of SPK. But probably the most significant part is that now there is a route for disposal of by far the biggest asset of SPK and the chance to return more cash to shareholders. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is a tie in clause but haven't managed to find one. Source www.imimobile.com

[capt bligh] 27/6/2014 08:04

imo floated today dont know what percent we have been diluted to after 30 million injection...none of which, so says the admission doc, is going to spk's coffers. good news though. they might have rns'ed

[fuiseog] 12/6/2014 12:46

This will update SPK's valuation of imimobile which sits at £14.8m at September 2013 or 28% of our portfolio.