Touch Group Share Discussion Threads

[cir] 31/10/2006 12:51

just launched:



others are:







plus

[haydock] 31/10/2006 10:25

At least we are looking up these days , & the charts look better.
RSI very promising, & the volume was good yesterday, 200 day MA now breached.
The news is not on the street yet either.

Just to further my long-term sub -plot.
Touch & the pension fund have between them 24.8% of Mediazest.
It does not take much buying to trigger a bid someday.
Very Interesting, but still waiting for MDZ , another dead share, to show signs of progress.

[patviera] 31/10/2006 09:48

whose bidding and whose offering?

[the big fella] 31/10/2006 09:31

On line spread is actuallt:

Bid 75K 6.25
Offer 80K 6.27

I haven't seen a spread this narrow on TOU before. Should encourage more volume and further rises!!

[patviera] 31/10/2006 09:03

wow...6 bid!!

[rossstar3] 30/10/2006 22:49

bargain hunters moving in now.i think hammerhead is right breifings could easilly turn over 10million plus and its early days they can really move the buiseness at speed now .

[patviera] 30/10/2006 15:27

WOW....500 bought at 6.5p!! someones bullish!!

[haydock] 30/10/2006 08:50

My point of view was that the Briefings is now in a position to resume normal fiancial dealings,it no longer has to borrow & repay the Chairman & his companies.

They must still owe some of the borrowings to start verticles, but it should be repaying monthly.
I had the feeling that MDZ could be a long term target, & if they wanted they could go for that with gearing now.
They own quite a sizable part already & the sp,has sunk.

Its only a hunch, but it illustrates the new changed position of the company.

I agree with all Masurengay has said & many thanks for the clarification. We have come a long way on here since the days of the crypt, & its a good quiet bb now.

The problem is it will take shares mag. or a tip sheet to quantify all this for the wider public, hence the slow share price

[masurenguy] 30/10/2006 08:39

patviera - well I hope that no further funding is necessary unless it is to finance a particular requirement to support the development of new business that has already been gained. The reduction in cash flow from Touch Local should hopefully help to conserve working capital while they develop Briefings. However I do not know how these latest developments impact future cashflow so I cannot really make a qualified judgement

[patviera] 30/10/2006 08:19

invisage...i know the company needed to do it...costs went out of control and balance sheet never strong enough.

[invisage] 29/10/2006 19:10

pat

isaacs needed to do what he did with local or the group would go bust. Its no longer a group surely with just one company?

Isaacs was doomed for failure....he has been shrewd to this point...but another failure like this will send him to the poor house and at his age he wont have a very good pension to live off.

[patviera] 29/10/2006 19:03

masurenguy...thx v much..you sum it up v well...best post on here.some wrongly thought touch were receiving 7mil...Do you agree with haydock re funding? what is balance sheet like after this anncmt?the only thing i disagree with is that you are bullish re v.isaacs s.holding...he has been incentivised for a while yet has needed to raise money a few times and has been wrongfully bullish and hasnt delivered.This isnt to say he wont make money on his 10p purchases but the upside is now capped having sold 75 pct of local...the balance sheet has been v v weak for a while and touch has constantly lost much money...infrastructure problems not helping.ANY THOUGHTS ON THE ABOVE PLEASE AS YOU HAVE DEFINITELY GOT TO GRIPS WITH THE SITUATION.

[masurenguy] 29/10/2006 10:20

"who are benchmark?"

Benchmark are a 'new wave' VC that was established in Silicon Valleu during the tech boom of the mid 90's. The deal that really made them, both in terms of reputation and financial success, was their early stage investment in Ebay when it was just a fledgling business.

They now have some $3 billion invested in more than 150 companies and offices in London and Israel. Their £7m investment in Touch Local is at the higher end of their typical early stage investment size and therefore this can be viewed as a significant vote of confidence in the potential of this business. Basically they are backing Tamer Ozman in what is effectively an MBO from the parent company. Instead of realizing any cash value now Touch Group have taken a 27.5% shareholding, worth circa £2.65m based on the agreed Benchmark £7m investment, and therefore are looking to realize future value from the subsequent performance achieved by Ozmans entreprenurial skills and Benchmarks finance and management backing. I met their senior partner in London, George Coelho, about 5 years ago and he is a switched on guy.

Going forward the notional asset value of the shareholding in Touch Local is the equivalent of 3.75p a share. At 6p this values the residual Touch Briefings business (including the Mediazest shareholding) at circa 2.25p a share or circa £1.75m. The Touch Briefings operation is effectively valued at just £1.5m if you allocate a value of £250K to the Mediazest shareholding. This does appear to be derisory in relation to its future potential, providing this is subsequently realized.

In essence this looks like a good deal for Touch Group amd their shareholders. Vincent Isaacs still has a significant shareholding in this company and is therefore incentivised to see it succeed. I think that this company has excellent prospects in the future but investors may have to be patient to see this reflected in terms of market sentiment and, consequently, the share price

[haydock] 29/10/2006 09:22

Touch Briefings is now a
profitable company of real substance, content driven with a clear focus on
delivery. We are on course to publish 60 journals in 2006, realising record
published revenues for the year.

After the analysis provided by Masurenguy, the opinion is that this is what we now have to concentrate on as a company.It sounds as if its going forwards fast as well.
The share price will be decided by the performance of the Briefings & the Local will be a balence sheet addition to the value, as will the MDZ shares.

At one point I imagined that they had the £7m in the bag, but it goes into Local.

If they had the £7m, I have a sneaking feeling they would be after MDZ as they have the holding & for some unknown reason the pension-fund recently grabbed a stake in what is a risky tiddler for a pension-fund.

Watch this space for funding & a move ???

[haydock] 29/10/2006 09:21

Touch Briefings is now a
profitable company of real substance, content driven with a clear focus on
delivery. We are on course to publish 60 journals in 2006, realising record
published revenues for the year.

After the analysis provided by Masurenguy, the opinion is that this is what we now have to concentrate on as a company.It sounds as if its going forwards fast as well.
The share price will be decided by the performance of the Briefings & the Local will be a balence sheet addition to the value, as will the MDZ shares.

At one point I imagined that they had the £7m in the bag, but it goes into Local.

If they had the £7m, I have a sneaking feeling they would be after MDZ as they have the holding & for some unknown reason the pension-fund recently grabbed a stake in what is a risky tiddler for a pension-fund.

Watch this space for funding & a move ???

[patviera] 27/10/2006 21:40

bigthink,hamidaha.....u both still bullish..who are benchmark?

[hamidahamida] 27/10/2006 18:36

all in all good day and future looks even better

its nice to see a lot of people have changed there mind on touch after todays news

[masurenguy] 27/10/2006 17:09

TBF - Well I hope so to !

I'm invested here at 9.5p from almost a year ago and would like to see this into profit. They have now disposed of Touch Vision and Touch Local so the residual business is Publishing. They have to make this a success if the company is to move forward and the share price is to rise.

They have effectively given Touch Local away to Benchmark in return for a £7m investment injection by the latter to develop this business. The only benefit of this to Touch today is the valuation of £2.65m that is conferred by the Benchmark deal. They are now dependant upon Benchmark building this business and thereby increasing the value of their minority shareholding over a period of time. Benchmark have a good investment record and whilst they are not infallible this looks like a good deal for both parties.

[jailbird] 27/10/2006 16:55

from interims...all speculative yet!

TOUCH BRIEFINGS

The period has seen continued focus on the (d1) major realignment and
restructuring programme which commenced some 18 months ago and which has seen
the division make significant enhancements to its international publications. As
such it now boasts a client base, which includes 130 of the Fortune 500
companies.

The Touch Briefings business produced revenues of #2,801,000 for the period
(2005 - #2,372,000) up 18% on prior year. This increase is due to the fact that
we published 25 books in the six months compared to 14 in the prior period.
Lower margins reflect the fact that there were a significant number of new
titles with a lower revenue per publication, which will be improved as
additional marketing budget is allocated to this task.

All of the initiatives that I mentioned in my statement of 30 June 2006 are
progressing well as explained below.

In addition to www.touchoilandgas.com, our established online platform for the
oil and gas industry, we have launched twelve clinical vertical sites, three of
which are now ready for use: www.touchneurology.com, www.touchcardiology.com and
www.touchoncologicaldisease.com. All have been carefully enriched with content,
providing the breadth and depth necessary to make each an essential place to
visit for every therapeutic professional. We are on track to complete the
further nine clinical vertical sites before the end of 2006.

We have recently received verification from BPA that our Touch Cardiology
journal achieved a certified distribution of 21,000. This is a demonstration of
value to our clients. Our other key clinical titles will be BPA verified before
the end of 2006.

We have increased our number of publications by adding new titles to the
schedule and by increasing the number of editions of existing titles. We have
upgraded many of our clinical titles from annual to biannual frequency. We will
publish 11 new titles in 2006, 10 of which launched in the first half of the
year. Many are natural extensions into other clinical and pharmaceutical areas.

Two new revenue streams have been created in Q3 of 2006. The Special Projects
division was formed to extend the Touch Briefings brand to blue chip companies
in sectors with which we have no business history, through the offering of a
bespoke publishing service that leverages our content and production
competencies. We have scored significant early successes with a range of
clients. We have secured repeat business within the quarter, and are rapidly
growing our pipeline.

We have also established a Reprints division to capitalise on our existing
high-quality content by selling it on to companies for whom specific articles
represent an invaluable arm to their marketing strategy. This division is
achieving early success.

In July we launched our Key Accounts Division, which offers sponsorship and
advertising deals across our entire publication portfolio to 20 of the world's
largest healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. The team has made great strides
and with the 2007 publication schedule in hand, we are obtaining significant
2006 orders and forward bookings for 2007. In addition we have restructured the
entire business: sales floor, production, distribution and editorial.

Our new management under the direction of our publishing director Dr Theresa
Saklatvala is taking the company to new heights. Touch Briefings is now a
profitable company of real substance, content driven with a clear focus on
delivery. We are on course to publish 60 journals in 2006, realising record
published revenues for the year.

During the last few months of this year a clarity within the Group has emerged
which will enable us to enter 2007 with the best possible opportunities.

[the big fella] 27/10/2006 16:53

Masurenguy

I know you have been around this thread a fare will, so I value your input. Six months ago I thought TOU was a dead duck. After todays announcement I believe the risk / reward ratio has even out somewhat. 6 months ago this was extremely high risk but potential high rewards. Now I believe the risk has fallen well below the medium but potential rewards still look pretty good.
Unlikely to be a 5 bagger near term but I can sure see these doubling over the next few months.

[masurenguy] 27/10/2006 16:40

Have you got actual figures from the company detailing the current and/or projected P & L after Touch Local is excluded !

[rossstar3] 27/10/2006 16:33

if thats the case we now have a profitable buiseness turning over 4 to 6 milion and a profit ,cant be 6p long

[masurenguy] 27/10/2006 16:07

That is another matter altogether. If Touch Local losses are eliminated than the publishing side won't be encumbered by them in the future. Therefore future growth and hopefully profit will emanate entirely from this area. Be interested to see the new financials with Touch Local sales and overheads stripped out.

[the big fella] 27/10/2006 15:54

Masurenguy

However there is a contrarian view in that Touch Local has been the reason these have been reporting losses. Strip that out and makes the next set of numbers interesting!!