Vigilant Share Discussion Threads

[loosing] 24/9/2008 09:02

has anybody got any info hear.merger was to be complete by the 22 sept.i have 600k in an etrade acc.so its 600k@1.3 or roughly 21k bvc.contacted etrade they know zilch.tnx

[orinocor] 21/7/2008 15:17

Voller will probably end in a similar way

[gogoneko] 08/7/2008 08:33

I suppose 1.3p - 1.6p looks good when the shares are at 0.54p, that'll make it a good investment for 0.001% of VGT shareholders.

Noted was the absence of management showing humility or acknowledgement of their abject failure to deliver any value whatsoever to shareholders since 2005 and drive the company to the very edge of existence for it to be rescued in a charitable act (as BATM don't do CCTV as far as I'm aware) from another Israeli company. How very embarrassing! I see BATM shareholders have rightly dumped shares at the arrival of their new lossmaking acquisition. What a farce.

As expected they managed to have 52% in favour from Vigilant shareholders. Wasn't it lucky that they managed to get those recent placings away which gave the company worthless capital injections!?!?

Anyway. Cheerio all. Better luck elsewhere.

[cyberpost] 08/7/2008 07:34

Offer for Vigilant Technology


RNS Number : 5109Y
BATM Advanced Communications Ld
08 July 2008


BATM Advanced Communications Limited
("BATM" or the "Company")

Recommended Offer for Vigilant Technology Limited

The boards of BATM and Vigilant Technology Limited ("Vigilant") are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer to be made by BATM for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Vigilant (the "Offer"), to be effected by way of a merger of a BATM subsidiary and Vigilant (the "Merger").

Vigilant, which was admitted to trading on AIM on 20 December 2005, is a developer and manufacturer of intelligent video recording and surveillance solutions for mission-critical applications. Vigilant has a worldwide customer base supporting cameras in airports, government sites, financial institutions,
correction facilities, casinos and city centres amongst others. Vigilant reported a loss before tax of $7.36m and had gross assets of $6.82m for the year ended 31 December 2007.

Dr Zvi Marom, CEO of BATM commented:

"The acquisition is in line with our stated strategy of extending our intellectual
property and technological expertise into new, niche areas of opportunity in vertical markets, through modest investments. Vigilant's expected new IP releases fit with BATM's expertise in dealing with triple play traffic."

Under the terms of the Offer, Vigilant Shareholders will receive 1.3 pence per Ordinary Share (the "Cash Offer") or, if they elect before 13 August 2008, approximately 1.6 pence per share payable in new BATM Shares (the "Share Offer").

The terms of the Cash Offer value the existing issued share capital of Vigilant at
approximately £845,000 assuming that all Vigilant Shareholders accept the Cash Offer or, up to approximately £1,040,000 if all Vigilant Shareholders elect to receive the Share Offer, based on a BATM share price of approximately 46.4 pence, being the average share price of BATM between 4 April 2008 and 4 July
2008. BATM will fund the cash element of the Offer from its existing cash resources.

[gogoneko] 03/7/2008 09:51

PP,

As you're not posting I assume you've been approached by the company.


From what I can make of the information given they're still some way from profitability and are desperate for cash (unless further loans are drawn down). Their revenues and backlog is ahead of last year but during H1 '07 to H2 '07 their margins decreased, which is a worrying sign that they're now having to chase lower-value business. They've burnt through a previously unmentioned bank loan of $3m and a $0.5m insurance payment and $0.25m fundraising to keep the company going until now.

It's hard to see how $1.5m to $2m will keep them afloat long if they're only generating $2.3m gross profit a year and operating expenses are $9m a year as per '07. Assuming that they've almost run out of existing money I reckon that over the next 12 months they could generate $4m gross profit (at 123% half-yearly revenue growth and static margins) and at best will have $7m of operating expenses - so a $3m operating loss. I'd say $2m will get them to the end of the year and no more.

[gogoneko] 27/6/2008 20:26

Presumably Monday will bring an RNS of some sort as they're obliged under AIM rules to publish results by end-June as far as I'm aware.

[gogoneko] 20/6/2008 11:40

No results announced and no events planned beyond the end of next week. Urgh!

I've changed my mind and decided that I'd rather have a couple of quid (almost literally! :) ) to invest in some other dodgy stock than risk losing it all here. I'll stay watching, and if VGT do pull a rabbit out of the hat then I may return.

[gogoneko] 14/6/2008 20:15

As you're probably aware some company management have used the AIM market as simply a means to tap investors (private and institutional) for cash to build up a company and profile without ever making a profit, and then taking it private again and/or buying the business on the cheap from administrators. Whether that happens here remains to be seen, I commented recently about the consequences of the recent, possibly coincidental, changes in shareholding because of the small funding to give major shareholders a majority so any decisions may very well be a formality.

I'm still hoping (as there's no point selling my remaining small investment) that in the current environment Vigilant survives as they appear to have a good product and there's a growing market - although from the website I noticed that they don't publicise a brand recognition capability (i.e. ability to recognise logos on clothing) which was a market desirable. From a previous recent RNS they appear to be gaining business - albeit not enough it's obvious, but they seem to have overexpanded or been overambitious through bad management (unless they find some way of blaming the credit crunch), hence I expect jobs to go unless they themselves dig deep and find some money to inject. I'm also surprised that there hasn't been any consolidation in the sector as at the current price I'm surprised nobody's taken an interest in Vigilant's business and IP - perhaps they're waiting for the administrators (so if management were planning to take the business into administration to pick it up on the cheap it represents a risky strategy).

There is the potential for prelims to arrive at the end of next week and they're going to be very interesting reading.

[ihavenoclue] 14/6/2008 10:26

gogoneko - 11 Jun'08 - 11:05 - 128 of 129


I think a sensible business plan is the key

===================================

Within 2 minutes of reading RNS's it is obvious the management is not capable of any kind of business. It actually looks like they are actively trying to destroy the business.

[amar007] 14/6/2008 01:14

I heard this stock is going up

[amar007] 14/6/2008 01:11

Is anything going on with this company

[amar007] 14/6/2008 01:10

Any one know about this company ?

[gogoneko] 12/6/2008 22:47

When the last big share dump happened (on the 2nd June) we had bad news the day after.... anybody else expecting a bad news RNS at 7am tomorrow morning?!? ;)

[gogoneko] 11/6/2008 11:05

I think a sensible business plan is the key and unless there are quantifiable guarantees that the funding will see them through to profitability I'd wouldn't expect much funding from new investors, particularly not in the current environment and with their past record, and not without someone losing their job. I still expect management to come up with the lion's share of the new funding by some means or another.

[paulypilot] 10/6/2008 22:03

Hi,

I agree that such a tiny amount of funding should be fairly easy to secure.
Trouble is, it's likely to be at a low price, hence dilutive for existing holders.

Agreed also that it's a great sector to be in, and reference sites are very good, that's what attracted me, as I thought it could be another bite of the IndigoVision cake (my most successful investment ever).

Let's hope they can get things back on track with some new funding & a more sensible business plan (i.e. NOT just spend the money as fast as you can & hope for the best, which seems to have been the previous business plan).

Good luck to all at Vigilant, let's see you create some shareholder value.

Regards, Paul.

[3celtic] 05/6/2008 14:28

buyers trickling back yesterday and today way overdone.imho.plenty contracts and a vibrant sector at the minute.funding wont be a problem.

[gogoneko] 04/6/2008 12:16

I think that it's time for the company to do something right and suspend the shares.

The MMs can drop the price all they want but who at this point is going buy VGT? You'd have to be bonkers! :)

[paulypilot] 03/6/2008 15:32

Hi,

Think I'd prefer a quick trade sale, rather than a dilutive fund-raising. With the mkt cap this low, they should be able to sell the company quickly for a premium to the current share price.

Regards, Paul.

[gogoneko] 03/6/2008 11:46

I agree, very disappointing, particularly so given what the chairman said barely a month ago about growing market share and making great progress whilst asking for a couple of '000. That amount raised certainly wasn't to tide them over as I'd hoped. It really appears that this lot are not suitable for the job as they don't have their eyes on the tasks in hand - the primary one being to operate profitability in the short term. I was supportive of their focus on sales and marketing but not to the point of losing sight of the dwindling cash reserves in the expectation that they'll be able to tap investors for more.

I've thrown back (with difficulty, because unsurprisingly the MMs don't want them!) the shares I picked up yesterday because I see very little progress and have little hope, although the company has effectively put the "For Sale" sign up as far as I'm concerned. If an external single entity were to come in with an offer which is effectively more than the current market cap then they're going to lose control of the company - and it'll be very interesting to see how that develops. I would be very disappointed (and suspicious) to see the current management not coming in with new equity as part of the refinancing as that would indicate that they expect others to bail them out. Someone would need to fall on their sword because of what's happened. At this point I'm very much hoping that a third party will make an offer in shares or cash for whole of the company at somewhere near the current level as I expect the business without the overheads would be very valuable. I wouldn't like to see VGT try to stay afloat by attempting to downsize if no money comes forward.

[paulypilot] 03/6/2008 10:33

Hi gogo,

Well at least we know what's going on now anyway - we suspected they needed to raise more cash, and now they've confirmed that.

I agree that the flurry of sells just before the announcement look highly suspicious. Insider dealing is alive & well, by the looks of it. I'm tempted to flag it up to the FSA, but what's the point ? Nothing will be done.

Let's hope Shore Capital are able to raise the fresh funding, it's not exactly a lot of money - they probably have plenty of discretionary clients that they could put into it. So there is hope yet. But significant dilution of course.

New funding likely to be at or around 1p/share I would say, as anyone putting in new funds would be justified in asking for a discount to current share price.

Very disappointing overall, but it's not over yet.
It's still astonishing how management here managed to burn their way so rapidly through a cash pile that should have been more than adequate. That said, they can't be far off cashflow breakeven by now, but as you say, would have been nice to get some info on that.

Regards, Paul.

[gogoneko] 03/6/2008 08:24

At least we know now that they need another £2m and, based on that amount, I was wrong to assume that they're close to breakeven although it would suggest things are much better than a year ago. What is still so frustrating is that they haven't said something like ".. to see them through to profitability". If they'd said that I'd be far more optimistic. Perhaps they did have the compensation paid by the fire insurance claim and have survived on that in recent months.

Perhaps it's time to give them another call with an offer of some money PP! This time they might be humble and show some gratitude.

Also noted: someone sells 500k the day before this announcement! Hmm!?

[gogoneko] 02/6/2008 10:10

I'm afraid that I'm more inclined to express views for the attention of private investors who may be making investment decisions than concern myself about the whether it reflects badly on the company. I think that what I've commented so far has been a reasoned and fair criticism. I had also sent a short, polite email to investor relations a while ago politely asking a straightforward question about clarifying what had been said in an announcement and regrettably heard nothing, not even and acknowledgement.

For the record; I have reasonable praise for the way the company is being run, i.e. it's in a very competitive market and has made the right choices regarding business relationships, improving the products, and working hard in marketing/sales. I therefore picked up a few more this morning to lower my average as I'm quite optimistic about what's going to be in the prelims hopefully later this month.

edit: 500k sold - someone's jumped overboard! ;)