Top Ten Share Discussion Threads

[balcee] 23/1/2006 12:35

WOW!!! What a day! Up 15p and could still go further.

Rise down to weekend recs?? Views anyone?

[balcee] 22/1/2006 18:37

Good press in the Telegraph today.

Top Ten Holdings

Bingo may not be the most fashionable of pastimes but it remains popular, and recent promotional activity has encouraged younger players to get involved.

Top Ten Holdings (108.5p) has been using its shares to buy smaller rivals and now has a chain of 41 Bingo clubs, making it the third largest player in the UK behind Gala and Rank.

In December the company issued encouraging interim results showing turnover up by 46 per cent to £10.1m, earnings before interest and tax up by 57 per cent to £2.33m, pre-tax profit up by 30 per cent to £1.38m and earnings per share up by 24 per cent to 0.26p.

Last week a shareholders' meeting voted through a share consolidation, crunching the 430m shares previously in issue down to 25.3m. The company has a market value of £27.45m.

Analysts are forecasting earnings per share on the new basis of around 10p, putting the shares on a rough multiple of 10 times earnings, low for a fast-growing company. The management team is led by Graham Kerr, the founder of Gala Bingo, and owns 60 per cent of the shares. The company also promises dividend growth of 20 per cent a year. Buy.

[balcee] 20/1/2006 22:05

This from 'Aim Bulletin' publication yesterday morning

"Snapping up smaller rival Apollo will boost earnings for the bingo clubs operator, and there's scope for further swoops as they still have a banking facility of £14m left"

Sounds good to me!!!

[peterdavis] 04/1/2006 15:57

What price the 20 for 1

[8 ball] 30/12/2005 14:29

Good rise in the last couple of days puts us £1.20 - £1.30 after the 20.1.

[balcee] 30/12/2005 09:36

Trade info this morning (correct at 9:30)

SELL
Bid Price p 6
Offer Price p 6.5
Maximum Size* 112,500

BUY
Bid Price p 5.76
Offer Price p 6.39
Maximum Size* 15,000

Looks like they are VERY short of stock. Could see a further rise before today is done.

[balcee] 29/12/2005 15:41

Nice indeed. We're in the money...la la la la laaaaa

Its about time TTH got the recognition it deserves

[buba] 29/12/2005 15:05

nice rise today

[eburne1960] 28/12/2005 17:39

I like the fact that directors and officers of the company have subscribed for c. £625,000 of shares in the placing........

[8 ball] 23/12/2005 15:53

The group looks to be growing well, this purchase looks to be a good one.
The interims results did not fully reflect the increase in bingo halls, I think the final results will be better.

Then we have these 4 additions to the group which again will take time to reflect in the groups profit.

I think this is a good growth market to be in at this time, and this looks to be a well run outfit.

Can't see the 20-1 consolidation having anything but a possitive on the share price.
Small holders are not loosing any of their investment, spread will improve and it get us out of that Penny share market.

[goliard] 23/12/2005 10:03

Consolidation is definately a good move though, although I agree that the price may drift down a bit. The purchase looks solid enough, unlike the last disaster! Still no reason to buy in the market though, but the 85p placing looks good enough value.

[long and short] 23/12/2005 09:01

Issuing new shares at an effective price of 4.25p. Obiviously, the institutions were not willing to pay more. Bit overpriced even at 4.25p.

Share consolidation of 1:20 will mean a lower, effective, share price because a lot of small shareholders will sell out - always happens.

[buba] 23/12/2005 08:01

But is todays news good?

[guru11] 19/12/2005 23:13

Just looked in as I held these once. However as interim profits have risen it would appear that as eps have hardly risen that they must have issued a lot more shares. In a sound business, but I feel may tread water for some time now.
Also see that the graph is not too good and as tyranosaurus says may not be a reason to buy at present.

[jeff h] 17/12/2005 11:45

yes tyranosaurus I agree... they doing ok but nothing special....I sold
after reflecting on the results and revised Broker Forecasts

[tyranosaurus] 17/12/2005 11:30

I was following these back in March but I have to admit I forgot their name.
Just seen their name so decided to see what`s happened since.

Acquired Walkers in June.
Profits up.
Share price stuck in a rut between 4.5p and 5.5p.

They appear to have taken on lots of debt to acquire Walkers so it looks like further acquisitions will have to wait.

They appear to be good value but I can`t see any compelling reason to buy.

[dogdays] 09/12/2005 15:31

Re:-city wire

This has been said before and look what happened!
As for "Three other clubs suffered from increased local competition. Action is being taken to tackle the problem." I wonder what sort of action? Perhaps they will "send the boys round late at night to persuade them that they should move the business elsewhere"

[jeff h] 09/11/2005 19:05

Bingo club operator Top Ten Holdings unveiled a solid set of interim numbers, but the stock finsihed the session unchanged at 5.125p. Pre-tax profits climbed an impressive "three-and-one" 31% to 1.38 million pounds for the six-month period to September "Dirty Gertie" 30th from 1.06 million pounds a year earlier as turnover came in 47% the better at 10.16 million pounds. An accompanying statement prompted further cause for optimism as the company said it would look to expand further with an online offering.

[jeff h] 09/11/2005 18:15

Bingo has been around since long before computer games and other electronic forms of entertainment were invented and, judging by Top Ten Holdings' results, still attracts the punters.

Top Ten Holdings (TTH), which runs the country's third largest chain of bingo clubs, raised pre-tax profits by over 30% to £1.38 million in the six months to end September. Turnover grew 46% to £10 million and earnings per share increased 23% to 0.26p.

The name of the game at Top Ten is expansion. It may be the third largest chain behind Gala and Rank, but it still owns only 38 clubs so there is plenty of scope to grow by picking up smaller groups.

'We have the infrastructure and the management capability to run a larger company and we continue to see further acquisitions in a fragmented market,' said chairman Sir Aubrey Brocklebank.

The 13 strong Walkers clubs were acquired for £5.4 million in July, adding around £2.5 million to turnover and helping to improve the group's presence in England and Wales.

Tarting up three existing clubs at Silksworth, Billingham and Darlington was rewarded by an increase in the amount spent by punters, although inevitably there is short-term disruption caused by the refurbishment work. Three other clubs suffered from increased local competition. Action is being taken to tackle the problem.

There are some issues that could prove troublesome. A smoking ban, although unlikely to come into force before 2007, could hit takings, although Brocklebank says it could be resolved by 'changing some of the ways in which we operate.'

The shares rose 2% to 5.25p valuing the business at £20 million.

Broker Charles Stanley says the shares 'have yet to reflect the significant growth undertaken by the group as well as the opportunities for further consolidation in the sector.'

Citywire Verdict:

Running bingo clubs is a good cash generative business while there are signs that the game is beginning to draw audiences from wider social groups. Top Ten has the management strength to run a bigger business, so further acquisitions should be on the cards fairly soon. The shares are unlikely to offer any wild excitement but hold out the prospect for steady growth. Worth a punt.

[guru11] 09/11/2005 08:43

I was in these at one time, but I believe now that the price represents good value on a pe of 10, which should go lower in the future. The BS is now stronger and they are making higher profits. A sound company.

[din007] 02/10/2005 05:35

I got out of this stock last week as I needed the funds for another venture.

But this should help...


Major overhaul for gambling laws

New rules on gambling have come into force in the industry's biggest overhaul since the 1960s.

[mpm] 12/9/2005 22:15

Lets face it this lot dont give a monkeys for the shareholders. Why could the 20,000,000 shares not been traded from the existing in issue? That would have helped the share price rather that put almost £1 million in the Directors pockets. Bye bye to this Investment ( investment???? misnoma I fear! )

[goliard] 09/9/2005 12:01

And now they have diluted everyones holding by another 4-5%. Still a sell for me.

[kenny] 17/8/2005 13:54

Fail value for this company is probably 2p to 2.5p.