Thirdforce Share Discussion Threads

[charlie11908] 16/11/2006 11:52

Hermie.....
Monybags finally admitted failure!!!
In a manner of speaking!!!

Caveat Emptor!!!

[hermana] 08/10/2006 12:07

it,yawn!!!

[itansey] 08/10/2006 12:03

such a waste of time this company is.

[itansey] 03/6/2006 18:50

I've also held this stock for the last three years and i'm sitting on a big loss. I don't see these shares moving in the future due to:

1. Lack of liquidity
2. Increase in holdings of Pat to 44%

As was stated before, no fund manager will touch the stock with such a small float.

Trading this stock is a waste of time. For me, stocks to look at include: ELN, ENCY, KMR, ALVR.

[anynews] 03/6/2006 10:54

Hi Hermana, Pvr AGM is not on my priority list this year, but am hoping to attend one or two other Agm's. Pvr's agm is attended by gangs of pensioners who still have shrares from the days of Atlantic resources.
I also think the management are stuck up and will quickly excuse themselves to talk to one of their colleagues if you try to get info from them after the meeting. But I do just love asking akward questions and watching them squirm during the meeting itself.
In saying that I did have a good talk to both their brokers last year which was a pleasure, until the afformentioned stuck their noses in.

I personally wouldn't be expecting any major news from the agm, I don't think the spaish point farmout will be signed until this summers seismic is complete. I also don't think we will have any drilling in the Celtic sea until next spring until they run more seismic on some of the prospects.
The only drilling I see is possibly in West Lennox and Nigeria.

I have reduced my holding and diversified a little but will be piling in later on in the year.

Of course the surprise news is what the company will buy with at least some of the 50 million.
Will they farm into other drills or acquire fields, with this???

P.s Could you and some others please cut out some of the idle chit chat on the Pvr thread, there are plenty of messenger programmes for exchanging personal information with each other.


Apologies to THF readers.

[hermana] 03/6/2006 10:11

anynews,excuse off topic but are you attending PVR AGM on June 20?

[anynews] 03/6/2006 09:36

I have previously held this share and luckily got out over a year ago at a small loss.
The key problem with this company is the sheer lack of liquidity in the share. There is only a small float in this stock and given what the Phoenix article has said about Pat Mc Donagh's increased holding, this float has gotten even smaller.
This is not going to encourage too many fund managers to buy in.
I recall an interview in Shares magazine over a year ago where the management said they would address this problem of the lack of liquidity as they raised more funds. Doesn't look like it at the moment if they are funding it themselves.
There is no doubt that there will be good returns here down the line, but that is only if the management don't buy it out first.

[charlie11908] 31/5/2006 08:47

36 THE PHOENIX June 2, 2006


Big potential for
Third Force
THE RELATIVELY LARGE €6.5m acquisition of the British
Creative Learning Media Group (CLM) put considerable
strain on Third Force's finances and would not have been
possible without the full support and financial backing of the
group's executive chairman and largest shareholder, the EEnterprise
company developer, Pat McDonagh. Because it was
a related party transaction, a €7.5m financial package had to
get shareholder approval, which it duly did at last week's
annual general meeting and, accordingly, McDonagh's
shareholding can now go up from its present 30% to just on
40%. If nothing else, this demonstrates McDonagh's
commitment to the company and its future success.

Pat McDonagh is the serial ELearning
entrepreneur who
originally founded the CBT
business e-learning group back in
1983. He floated this on the
American Nasdaq technology
market in 1995 and, as this
matured, handed over the reins
to Bill McCabe, who
subsequently merged CBT into
the new enlarged Skillsoft group.
McDonagh subsequently
founded and floated the junior
schools e-learning group,
Riverdeep, and gradually
reduced his input into
this when it was taken
private.
EXPANSION
POSSIBILITY
In this whole process
McDonagh made a
personal fortune in the
order of €300m, so he
has absolutely no need
to do it a third time around.
However, he is restless and likes
a challenge and as he is still only
55, he clearly intends to prove
that he still has what it takes to
develop another success. In
picking Brendan O'Sullivan as
Third Force's ceo, he has got an
experienced hand with an
international track record as
Apple Computers' European
educational director. And in
picking the adult personal elearning
space for Third Force to
focus on, he has picked a market
for almost infinite expansion
possibility. The company plans to
tap into this market and acquire
or develop a suite of e-learning
software products which capture
the imagination of this market
place.
So far Third Force has been
built up by firstly acquiring Hugh
and Gillian Skinner's Electric
Paper company, which
specialised in developing and
selling courseware for the
European computer driving
licence (ECDL) programme. The
marketing here was mainly
focused on the Irish and UK
market, with this structured
learning programme coming with
built-in assessment checks
designed to promote computer
literacy. Brendan O'Sullivan
widened this courseware and
developed products to tap into
the adult literacy and numeracy
market. He also acquired AV
Edge to broaden its channel to
market as this company
specialises in production and
delivery of educational content
for digital and broadcast
platforms on both tv and dvd.
Late last year the acquisition
of CLM, Britain's leading supplier
of e-learning programmes for
the catering, hospitality, retail
and care market was effected.
CLM provide courseware
covering health and food safety
compliance, in addition to skills
for life programmes covering
adult literacy and numeracy, as
well as El-box products which
provide mobile e-learning
solutions.
Last year CLM provided
training for around 300,000
people in Britain and has signed
up six-figure contracts with the
likes of the giant Whitbread pub
and hotel chain, Premier Foods
and Regent Inns. The pub and
food industry are characterised
by high staff turnover levels, so
this market provides a big
ongoing demand for e-learning
programmes to build and
develop staff skills.
Third Force is currently
focused on Britain, where the
vast bulk of its current €13m
turnover comes from and where
it is focused on the ICT sector,
with product offerings in various
compliance requirements,
literacy, numeracy, online
assessment, performance
management and online surveys.
It has signed up major contracts
with large customers as well as
government agencies,
particularly in the further
education area. In the last
budget, the UK government
provided an additional €800m
over the next two years for
personalised learning in
schools and vocational
education free of charge
for people up to the age
of 25. Third Force is in a
position to thrive in this
market environment.
The problem with
many software and
courseware
development companies
is that a lot of money
has to be poured into
courseware development, which
causes a major accountancy
problem. Some companies
capitalise this development
expenditure, but the better and
more conservative approach is
to fully write it off as it is
incurred, although this inevitably
hits the bottom line in the short
term. However, this is the
approach Third Force takes and
so last year the company spent
€1.2m stepping up the
development of its suite of elearning
products and as this was
all written off, even though the
company actually broke even, it
ended the year showing an
accounting loss of €1.2m,
double the previous year's
outturn. With a turnover of only
€13m, it may take another year
or two for the company to gain
sufficient traction to start
earning some real money. This is
why the €7.5m interest free
convertible loan from Pat
McDonagh is essential to ensure
the company maintains its
momentum. The investment in
new product architecture has in
particular facilitated the
company's much quicker
development and upgrading of
new e-learning programmes, as
each new market is identified
and catered for.
Third Force's best selling
ECDL products have been
upgraded and rebranded "Skills
Suite for ECDL", as have its
"Skills Suite for E-Citizen", the
"ICT Matters Programme", and
the joint venture with the giant
Harcourt Education Group, as
well as the new "Skill Finder for
ICT". On the auto test side, the
group now provides a
programme for online
assessment of Microsoft Office
2003, Clait + and E-Citizen,
while a partnership with the
Reid Elsevier Publishing House is
only beginning to get off the
ground.
RAPIDLY DEVELOPING
Although 75% of the group's
business is focused on Britain,
Third Force has translated its
ECDL programme into Arabic,
Spanish and Chinese, while its
auto test programme is now
used in Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan
and United Arab Emirates, and
has developed a foothold in
China.
Until the company shows
some real bottom line returns,
the shares at 25 cent are not
going to go anywhere overnight.
But on the other side of the
equation, the company is only
capitalised at €34m and is
developing products to feed into
an insatiable worldwide market.
With Pat McDonagh's financial
muscle and e-learning
background and Brendan
O'Sullivan's international
experience, any sign of a real
breakthrough by this company
could see it move forward
rapidly. And because it is in a
rapidly developing productmarket
space, it could well be
seen as a tasty morsel for some
larger groups looking to grow in
this market.

[hitchinhoncho] 26/5/2006 20:32

Charlie, well done and thanks. I'll follow your example with the e-mail and give Nick at Kallinos a call. In these days of internationalisation the Irish Sea should not be an obstacle.

[hitchinhoncho] 16/5/2006 11:15

I knew this share would show its mettle one day, its contra-cyclical but, sadly, only on 2,400 volume.

[itansey] 03/5/2006 22:10

Will this flipping stock ever move. Up .1 cent, down .2 cent, up .3 cent on low volume. Such a waste of time.

[charlie11908] 13/4/2006 15:29

ThirdForce losses widen to over E1m

Thursday, 13th April 2006 08.52am



E-learning firm ThirdForce has reported pre-tax losses of E1.094m during 2005, compared to a loss figure of E324, 000 in 2004.

The company, which is based in Dublin and London, said that revenues had increased by around 5pc to E12.6m in the year ending December 2005.

Operating profit for the group, before goodwill amortisation, also fell to E669,000, down from E1.3m in 2004. The company said this was the result of significant investment in new business divisions and the group's technology suite, which amounted to E1.2m.

The group's net debt increased from E2.0m to E6. 7m.

Earnings per share, adjusted for goodwill amortisation, were 33c for the year compared to 68c in 2004. The loss per share was 90 cent compared to 43 cent in 2004.

Despite the company's losses widening, ThirdForce Chief Executive Brendan O'Sullivan said: "2005 has been another year of progress for us, where we continued our investments in acquisitions, new business divisions, technology and new products."

"We are continuing to successfully implement our strategy of diversification beyond pure IT training into online assessment, adult literacy and numeracy and workplace learning. I believe that the investments we have made position ThirdForce for further growth this year and in the following years".

As well as offices in the UK and Ireland, the group also has bases in North America and Australia.