Sportsworld Media Share Discussion Threads

[astircs609] 24/10/2002 11:07

That's that then.

[go han] 21/10/2002 15:26

Thanks porky.

[pork belly] 21/10/2002 15:18

PricewaterhouseCoopers
Plumtree Court London EC4A 4HT
Telephone [phone]
Facsimile [phone]
Direct Phone [phone]
Direct Fax [phone]

TO ALL SHAREHOLDERS

Sportsworld Media Group Plc (In Administrative Receivership) –
(the “Company”;)

I confirm that I was appointed Joint Administrative Receiver of the above company on 10 April 2002, together with my colleague AV Lomas.
The Company was the holding company for a group of companies based principally in the UK and Australia. Its principal assets are its shareholdings in subsidiary companies. We are in discussions with various interested parties to dispose of the assets of the subsidiary businesses.

While the eventual outcome of this exercise is still uncertain, shareholders should recognise that the creditors must first be satisfied in full and in order of priority, as set down in the Insolvency Act 1986, before a return can be made to shareholders.

In view of this statutory requirement and expected realisation proceeds, it is already clear that there will be no return to shareholders.

I must stress that no statutory obligation exists to require the Receivers to provide information to shareholders and any dividend payable to unsecured creditors will be administered by a liquidator if so appointed.

The share register of Sportsworld Media Group Plc will not be maintained following the receivership and no funds will be made available to the Company’s Registrars to enable them to respond to queries from individual shareholders.
You should also make enquiries directly of the Inland Revenue as to whether it has declared the shares in Sportsworld Media Group Plc (In Administrative Receivership) to be of negligible value, should you require this information for your tax return.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is the successor partnership to the UK firms of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. The principal place of business of PricewaterhouseCoopers and its associate partnerships, and of Coopers & Lybrand, is 1 Embankment Place, London WC2N 6RH. The principal place of business of Price Waterhouse is Southwark Towers, 32 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9SY. Lists of the partners' names are available for inspection at those places. All partners in the associate partnerships are authorised to conduct business as agents of, and all contracts for services to clients are with, PricewaterhouseCoopers. PricewaterhouseCoopers is authorised by the Financial Services Authority for investment business activities.
(2)
I trust this information satisfies your requirements but should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact my colleague Reena Bhatia for further assistance.
Yours faithfully
For and on behalf of Sportsworld Media Group Plc
M S Sim
For SA Pearson
Joint Administrative Receiver
Sportsworld Media Group Plc
SA Pearson and AV Lomas were appointed as joint administrative receivers of Sportsworld Media Group Plc on 10 April 2002 and they contract as agents of the company without personal liability. SA Pearson and AV Lomas are licensed to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales.

[pork belly] 21/10/2002 15:17

Its official.

SWD is DEAD.(as if we didn't already know!)

"In short, there is no prospect of a return to shareholders."

I have just received an e-mail + attachment from SWD's receivers.
The text of the e-mail is below and,for ease of reading, the attachment is in the next post after..

R.I.P.

Cheers,Porky.



-------------------- Start of message text --------------------

21 OCT 02

Sportsworld Media Group Plc (In Administrative Receivership) ("SMG")

As Receivers, we act only for certain classes of creditors and are not
required to write to the shareholders. However, I attach an adobe format
copy of a letter that has been prepared for shareholders who write to us
with queries.

In short, there is no prospect of a return to shareholders. You will
appreciate that all creditors of SMG would require to be repaid in full
before any surplus funds existing thereafter could be returned to the
shareholders of SMG. The principal asset of SMG was its shareholdings in
its subsidiary companies. In the majority of cases, attempts to sell the
shares in these subsidiaries
were unsuccessful, and most of the subsidiaries were themselves subject to
formal insolvency proceedings in the months following the receivership of
SMG.

Regrettably, the funds realised from the insolvency proceedings of these
subsidiaries were insufficient to allow the repayment of the amounts owed
to the creditors of those subsidiaries. As a result, no funds will be
available to SMG in its capacity as shareholder of those subsidiaries.
Accordingly, there is no prospect of sufficient funds being realised within
the Receivership of SMG to allow the creditors of SMG to be repaid in full.
Consequently, no funds will be available to the shareholders of SMG.

The Receivership will continue for some time whilst we deal with various
ongoing matters and legal requirements. Once the Receivers resign from
office, it is likely that SMG will be 'struck-off' by the registrar of
companies. However, the outcome for shareholders is not expected to change
during the remainder of the receivership. You should contact the Inland
Revenue to clarify whether the shares are agreed as being of "neglible
value" for capital gains tax purposes.


Regards
M Scollay
[e-mail]
PricewaterhouseCoopers

[homewell] 19/10/2002 22:46

yep - but she was hopeless tonight!!! Didn't vote for HER!!! Thought though that Chris Akers may have been on as one of the Crankies singing a Britney number.

[steddieddie] 19/10/2002 22:33

Please see my earlier post 160. The fat lady has sung.

[gedy] 19/10/2002 21:33

Is Sportsworld still involved with Popstars then?

[homewell] 19/10/2002 20:36

porky - good work. Have heard nowt through my own investgations for my 322,125 shares. Prob such have taken the £300 quid on offer from Trafalgar Asset Management.....
Refused to watch Popstars the Rivals tonight, although would have been happy with half the proceeds from one of the voting lines. lol!

[pork belly] 18/10/2002 13:02

>Hi Go Han

As far as i am concerned SWD is totally dead. I expect nothing.

Still worth an e-mail though.

Porky.

[go han] 18/10/2002 11:36

Thanks for trying Porky! Let's hope that if the PwC team are still working on it then there may still be something there? On the other hand, if they've been engaged for this long, any spare cash will have already been used up!

[pork belly] 18/10/2002 11:28

LATEST UPDATE:

I sent the following e-mail to PwC (on 14,17,18 Oct) to:

[e-mail]
PricewaterhouseCoopers (Official SWD receivers)


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

"Hi there,

I have heard no news since SWD went into receivership.

After reading the article below,posted on your website,i have a few questions.

Are any of SWD's subsidiaries still trading ?

Is there still "significant interest" in "numerous subsidiaries" ?Do you believe that us shareholders may ever see any of our money again ?

Are you near the end of the administration period and do you ever envisage them returning to the Market ?

What sort of time scale do you think will be involved before we hear any significant news ?

Can you offer any news whatsoever about the current status of SWD's administration ?

Any news would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any help,C.



"The board has worked hard to try and secure a restructuring of the Group over recent weeks, but the cash needs of the parent company were such that insufficient funds existed to conclude the sale process. The Group has a number of highly attractive subsidiaries that we expect to continue to trade while a longer-term solution is explored. Significant interest has already been expressed in numerous subsidiaries and we are optimistic that many will be preserved for the longer term."

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

This was the reply today, 18 OCT 02:

"Thank you for your note. I have forwarded it to the business recovery team
to respond,

regards

Jon Bunn
[e-mail]
UK Head of Media Relations"

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

I will, of course, post any reply. Sorry it's nothing more definate.

Cheers,Porky.

[gedy] 12/10/2002 16:33

Is there anything worth salvaging from this mess? I have little hope that the 36,000 shares I hold will ever be worth anything, but it would be a pleasent surprise to get something. The thought I have had for some time is that there may be a reverse takeover, does anyone know if this is feasable now or in the future? Has anyone spoken to the administrators recently or are they simply not saying anything to shareholders?

As you may gather I am not putting much effort into searching the press for news on Sportsworld, the Sunday Express report must be one of the few recent articles. I do not have much time or feel competent to take up the mantle of pursuing some kind of justice (not to mention some recompense). My accountant seems quite well connected, it may be worth me speaking to him about this situation. Or maybe someone has already started working towards some kind of justice?

[veneto] 11/10/2002 20:49

The stockbrokers that sponsored this company to market should be sued for damages by the shareholders.

[philwalker36] 08/10/2002 15:16

in my dreams

[homewell] 04/10/2002 17:03

would be nice....eh?

[laney£] 04/10/2002 08:10

Sounds promising perhaps they will see the investors get there hard earned money back , they should of told the Stock exchange of there deminishing business

[pork belly] 03/10/2002 21:27

Sunday Express article,08 SEP 02:

The Sunday Express reports on new information about Sportsworld Media (SWD.L) that reveals that the chief executive of the Company's Australian division, Michael Gower was concerned about the trading situation last October and the Group needed to "take a reality check." An Email sent by Gower at the time is quoted in the newspaper and he is reported to have said, "We burnt over three-quarters of a million pounds in quarter one. Our forecasting (as demonstrated by these results) sucks!" The email showed that in the first quarter of 2001 four of the Group's five subsidiaries were losing money. He also questioned the rationale of keeping the TV production business as it cost more money to make programmes than they were eventually sold for and wondered when the pay back would be. The newspaper adds that the FSA is still investigating the way in which the Company told the market of its deteriorating financial performance in February. The Company is in receivership.

[daithedeath] 26/9/2002 13:16

plumrose has arisen see bgy

[daithedeath] 25/9/2002 16:50

primrose at it on bgy

[km11] 16/9/2002 09:01

I received a reply from Jack Daniels on 14/9
Seems he started to pursue matters regards shareholder action but due to recent work committments he has had to stop.
Can anybody out there afford the time to take over from Jack?
I would be happy to pay into a shareholder action fund and employ an accountant and solicitor. There has been a couple of initiatives recently, JUS action group to name one.
Is there anybody willing to take up the mantle????

[greenrichard] 13/9/2002 00:11

sshhh - don't make too much noise. You might wake Plumnose