1spatial Share Discussion Threads

[412069] 24/5/2013 09:23

Its looking like people fancy the SPA rns this morning.
All that insto buying a few months back now makes sence.

[mmelody] 24/5/2013 09:12

getting Dave Richards involved will be massive for spa.

[solarno lopez] 24/5/2013 08:40

Positive move up as recognition bites about the future of the company

[yump] 24/5/2013 08:28

The guessing game imo, is now what target price the placees will sell for... bearing in mind that there is no way in a month of Sundays that:

(a) the company will make any meaningful earnings in the foreseeable future to justify its share price
(b) even if it was doing, we won't be able to tell, because the accounts will be littered with all sorts (I was hoping for something 'clean' this year).

However, I'm still holding on the basis that SPA does actually have a special, essential gem at its core. (I don't know if the acquisition is yet). If someone wants the gem, they'll have to have the whole lot.

[tsmith2] 24/5/2013 08:17

Explain rather than expect..

[yump] 24/5/2013 08:17

The problem is that anyone can BUY other businesses at any price, regardless of whether any of them ever make a profit, if they can raise funds to do it.

This acquisition looks good to me, despite current lack of profit, because they've paid 5mln for 5mln of recurring revenue. If the businesses they buy are essential to their markets, you'd expect good margins and the likelihood of extracting good profit from them.

However, it takes a different animal to actually grow businesses that are profitable. That might not really be the intention.

With the former "look at the size of our revenue" type BOD's, shareholders are ultimately dependent on the company either getting hyped big time, or getting taken out because a much larger player wants it.

I now think this is deliberately being built up to make it attractive to a predator, by bolting on essential niche players at whatever cost it takes, there's valley connections now as well.

[tsmith2] 24/5/2013 08:12

Would probably expect delay in getting results out!Would have waited to get results out, stronger share price less shares..but I suspect institution wanted their beefMust have had a fairly compelling story for Institutions to stump up so much given state of AIM and no interest in small caps!

[412069] 24/5/2013 08:09

Yump..leave them to do what they do.
Just added a few.

[yump] 24/5/2013 08:08

Not sure what to make of it. I'd like to know how the existing business is doing.

[412069] 24/5/2013 08:08

Hey lads, i thought most were in this for the long run.. big data will make people rich its which companys now pull away from the wana be's that will make the money.
Bigger the group the better for me.

[yump] 24/5/2013 07:44

I get the impression that these guys are big time opportunists who play around with companies in the same way that property developers play around with assets.

Given the push behind big data generally, it may work to advantage though. If you accumulate a set of companies that are essential to the market, then you've got something much larger players want.

o/t
another leaky-before-placing AIM share then by the look of it.

At least they're building in a hot market sector, not just buying up mundane printing businesses (not sure why I thought of that example)

[solarno lopez] 24/5/2013 07:43

they are building a business quite clearly

[iroquoi] 24/5/2013 07:42

They do mention "further potential acquisition opportunities."

[solarno lopez] 24/5/2013 07:40

more acquistions !

[yump] 24/5/2013 07:38

So, raised 18mln GBP

Only 4.3mln spent on the acquisition.

Which leaves 13.7mln. That's around the whole expected turnover for the existing business, sloshing about in cash.

I assume they're not going to spend all that on opening in the Middle East, marketing and product development.

Those are all costs. If you spend 13.7mln in costs, you're going to need to get a multiple of that in annual revenue to get any sort of decent looking set of accounts and that sort of revenue cannot come quickly.

So I'm assuming they are off on a big data acquisition spree land grab of some sort to build scale quickly. Possibly with the intention of making themselves very attractive to a very large predator.

One thing is for certain, the accounts will be unfathomable for quite a long time to come, unless they are very, very specific about how the different areas of the business are growing.

?????

[fgump] 24/5/2013 07:24

On a roll to dillution...£18m to acquire a company for £4m. I suspect we will see yet another annual report that says jam tomorrow with a follow on explanation about how exciting teh future is. This board and co have yet to demonstrate any profit from anything they have ever done and have said the same in every single annual report...It's the "big data" Emperors robes...

[solarno lopez] 24/5/2013 07:21

we certainly are, this is good news for the future development of the company

[412069] 24/5/2013 07:11

Wakey wakey lads we are on a roll.

[mwaller] 22/5/2013 10:55

Sign of things moving in SPA with the board change?

[mwaller] 19/5/2013 14:26

Just came across a good contemporary overview of the direction and range of applications of big data - including spatial big data. Particularly interesting for us (SPA) if you envisage the implicit "need" generated by these applications for management and quality assurance of these datasets, as a foundation underpinning their reliability and utility - including in some cases the application of mobile data maintenance...http://abcnews.go.com/International/living-numbers-big-data-future-holds/t/story?id=19208478

[mwaller] 16/5/2013 20:47

412069 good digging on Census research. I am not sure the contract breakdown - looks like its the current R&D expenditure as part of 2020 census buildup? The total cost of the 2010 census was 13B of which 500M was technology related... they are currently going through technology validation and testing in preparation for the build up of the 2020 census infrastructure. I imagine SPA will have a big role to play in this...

Cost breakdown 2010:

The 2010 census cost $13 billion, approximately $42 per capita; by comparison, the 2010 census per-capita cost for China was about US$1 and for India was US$0.40.[13] Operational costs were $5.4 billion, significantly under the $7 billion budget.[14] In December 2010 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that the cost of conducting the census has approximately doubled each decade since 1970.[13] In a detailed 2004 report to Congress, the GAO called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues, and at that time, had estimated the 2010 Census cost to be $11 billion.[15]
In August 2010, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced that the census operational costs came in significantly under budget; of an almost $7 billion operational budget:[14]
$650 million was saved in the budget for the door-to-door questioning (NRFU) phase because 72% of households returned mailed questionnaires;
$150 million was saved because of lower-than-planned costs in areas including Alaska and tribal lands; and
the $800 million emergency fund was not needed.
Locke credited the management practices of Census Bureau director Robert Groves, citing in particular the decision to buy additional advertising in locations where responses lagged, which improved the overall response rate. The agency also has begun to rely more on questioning neighbors or other reliable third parties when a person could not be immediately reached at home, which reduced the cost of follow-up visits. Census data for about 22% of U.S. households that did not reply by mail were based on such outside interviews, Groves said.[14]
Technology [edit]

In 2005, Lockheed Martin won a six-year, $500 million contract to capture and standardize data for the census. The contract includes systems, facilities, and staffing.[citation needed] Information technology was about a quarter of the projected $11.3 billion cost of the decennial census.[16] This was the first census to use hand-held computing devices with GPS capability, although they were only used for the address canvassing operation. The Census Bureau chose to conduct the primary operation, Non-Response Follow Up (NRFU), without using the handheld computing devices.[17][18]

[412069] 16/5/2013 09:10

Yump, ive been digging again and i think i have found the costs for the last US census from 2009/2014 below.
If this is correct its big bucks for SPA.
What do you think or am i on the wrong track!



U.S. Census Bureau (R&D)

Contract Name: Census R&D 2014
Contract Numbers: YA132309CQ0050 and YA132309CQ0051
Contract Period: Sept 22, 2009 to Sept 22, 2014
Contract Ceiling: $140,000,000

Statement of Work

To remain preeminent in its field, the U.S. Census Bureau (Census) must conduct research and analysis continually to support their capability to carry out tasks for surveys and censuses. They must stay abreast of the latest statistical, methodological and technological advances through assessment and conduct research on the use of these methods and technology to improve accuracy and performance. In addition to remaining constantly aware of their customers' and respondents' concerns and willingness to participate, Census must also research methodological and statistical advances that may reduce cost and resources and improve quality. Finally, they must also evaluate programs and practices to determine if they are achieving desired results at a reasonable cost, especially in light of the current environment of cost effective government programs.

The McManis & Monsalve Associates team of partners is positioned to support the Census in carrying out these research and development tasks to support their desire to constantly improve products and service to customers. There are five technical areas in the overall Census R&D 2014. McManis & Monsalve has been awarded Small Business set aside contracts in two of these five areas:
1.Assessment, Planning and Analysis – Contract Nr. YA132309CQ0050

[spcecks] 15/5/2013 09:29

mwaller Would also like to say thanks Good post.

[mwaller] 15/5/2013 09:22

Thanks 412069 - you are right, we should hopefully see a buy side uptick as interest develops and the message spreads. This should also help to invigorate existing sales cycles as well as stimulate new ones. Early days for this to have a big impact but that's the opportunity for speculation. I think the longer term holds good so a pretty safe bet. Cheers.

[412069] 15/5/2013 08:38

mwaller...you put it all into words for me in that post Thanks.

We could see some investers pop in from seeing SPA in Rotterdam these last few day if they like what they see.