Addworth Share Discussion Threads

[topvest] 24/12/2007 09:59

Picked up a few this morning at a very good price. This share has definitely turned the corner in terms of performance. They seem to be in a strong position to benefit from PLUS listings. USP is well hooked up with Lion Capital and other budding entrepeneurs leading to rapid deal flow. Consultancy income comes from managing the back-office of these companies. My only concern remains the cost base and sometimes selling investments too quickly. Overall though, more upside than downside at this price.

[malkie] 27/11/2007 17:02

not very communicative this Company are they.??.

[topvest] 13/10/2007 08:57

It looks like Early Equity plc are close to floating - not sure if Addworth still own this company or not.

[jasper65] 13/10/2007 08:43

just another 10m options for the old boy !

[topvest] 28/9/2007 11:38

You want to see one of their new floats - Three's a Crowd......now that's top heavy for a start-up. About 6/7 directors at the trough!

[targatarga] 06/9/2007 23:11

Another top heavy company, Mr Mitchell still has a lot to prove!!!! Isn't it time they gave themselves some more in the money options? regards

[tom howard] 06/9/2007 23:05

topvest,

I believe Mark Watson-Mitchell is involved here.

Hope that helps.

[topvest] 06/9/2007 20:10

Well, this is dropping off the end of a cliff. Any thoughts why?

[tom howard] 05/9/2007 08:41

It'd be a shame not to imv!


tiredoldbroker - 10 Jun'04 - 13:36 - 492 of 1082


Dear Mr Watson Mitchell,

Since you clearly don't understand why you should apologise for your role in the Wigmore debacle, I will try to explain it to you.

Your website, and your personal publicity over the years, say that you have 40 years experience as a stockbroker, financial journalist and tipster. That "Few tipsters can match [your] knowledge about the world of AIM, OFEX and fully-listed small caps. And few have [your] extensive range of top City contacts established during almost 40 years of successful analysis and trading". You clearly like it to be thought that you are in constant touch with important City figures and the most capable analysts and pundits, and that you have unparallelled access to company directors, which private investors on their own can't achieve.

So you have all this experience, and the most astute contacts. When you use those claims as your "unique selling point", you have to perform up to the expectations which you have chosen to raise. I don't think you have done that.

Now, I don't expect this to mean that you never pick any losers. Nobody has a 100% track record. But it should mean that you have learned a few things over the years, know the questions to ask, and can pick over the dry bones of a Report & Accounts - and that, as a result, you should be able to identify anything shaky and quiz the company management about it.

It's also clear that, from time to time, you've read the WGT Bulletin Boards, so you know that I, and others from time to time, have been critical of WGT. This wasn't a company which no-one had ever voiced criticisms of, and I can give you a list of things which I think should have raised serious doubts in your mind about the wisdom of recommending WGT:

1. WGT was associated with Artisan and Stephen Dean, and I think I'm right in saying that private investors have usually done badly over the last few years if they invested in any Stephen Dean satellite - you may dismiss this as "guilt by association", but in my days in the City, the pedigree of a company was something you thought carefully about. Why didn't it bother you ?

2. Speymill was bought from Artisan - and anyone who has been knocking around the City for a few years should have learned that, when businesses are shunted about between associated parties, it usually ends up costing the private investor a packet. It didn't work for long when Jim Slater tried doing it, and none of his imitators since have really done any better. This should have rung alarm bells. But you seemed to be totally unconcerned about it. Why, given your years of experience ? Weren't you aware that this can be a warning sign to investors ?

3. The WGT management had already put the FNPM business into liquidation once and transferred the assets to another WGT subsidiary - this "phoenix" procedure is generally frowned on, usually not done by reputable companies, and again, should have raised serious doubts in your mind. Why didn't it ?

4. Speymill apparently made less money under WGT's ownership than it had done prior to being acquired - but as a SQC Research note of December 2002 suggested, Speymill plus FNPM should have been 2+2=5 with the benefits of cross-selling services and eliminating overheads. You don't ever seem to have been worried that in fact, 2+2 made rather less than 0, or that overheads don't seem to have been chopped, or that any benefits arose from common ownership. You just blithely went on recommending the shares. Why ?

5. The WGT management kept on issuing vast amounts of shares, and got their friends at Artisan off a potential hook by reducing the conversion price of a loan note Artisan held. This was all against the interests of WGT shareholders, and caused massive dilution of the equity. This again, in City terms, is usually seem as a warning sign. You didn't seem at all concerned. Why not ?

6. Even on your (i.e. SQC's) forecasts of £600,000 pre tax, WGT was looking fully-priced in p/e terms below 3p, given the nature of the business and the low p/e's which the market usually assigns to such businesses, which have no long-term contracts and the possibility of turnover simply drying up. Yet you continued to recommend the stock, claiming to see substantial upside. Why ? What made you think that WGT could command a premium rating ?

7. Two Finance Directors in succession and the boss of Speymill left in a relatively short space of time. Even if the last FD really did leave on health grounds (and I'm assuming 'health' meant more than that every time he had to look at the management accounts he threw up and was getting an ulcer), haven't upheavals like this always been a very bad sign, and shouldn't someone who boasts of his years of experience have read this for what it was ? Shouldn't you be more alert to this sort of thing than the private investors who, when they pay for your tips, are relying on you to pick up on things like this, and warn them ? Yet you didn't seem worried. Why not ?

8. The briefest analysis of the last figures showed that, under WGT's ownership, Speymill had shown no growth in turnover. Shouldn't this have worried you, given that you were recommending WGT as a growth situation ?

9. Other people have posted on here that, at the time of the last results, they looked at the figures, did their sums and got out because they could see that banking arrangements looked exposed. I suspect that WGT has been on a financial tightrope, without proper long-term banking facilities, for quite some time - and maybe this was why they needed the Artisan loan note converted. But shouldn't your analysis of the figures have raised a question in your mind ? Shouldn't you have followed this up, and grilled the Chairman, given that you'd been recommending the stock ?

10. Finally, you made it clear that you were talking to Peter Hewitt of WGT, and I'll assume that, as an experienced City person, you were asking some testing questions, not just having a damn good lunch and writing down what he told you. So how come you didn't seem to pick up on just how shaky the finances were ? Did you ask ? Did they lie to you ? Or didn't they know what the situation was at their own company ?

As you posted earlier on this thread, "That it had hassles with its finances is not my fault". I'll accept that. But you claim all this experience, all these contacts. You said you were talking to the Chairman. You were associated with a "research note" from SQC. You kept recommending the stock.

Yet you appear to have failed to pick up on some major warning signs, and to have completely missed the fragile financial state of the company, in all your conversations and analysis. THAT is what your fault is. That is why you should apologise, in the fullest terms, to anyone who paid for your advice and followed it.

Oh, and one last question. Did you, or SQC Research, or any website, or other business in which you personally have a financial interest, ever take a fee from Wigmore Group or any of its directors for writing a and recommending WGT ?

[targatarga] 04/9/2007 20:59

Tom Howard - yes please.......

[papillon] 04/9/2007 20:04

maxbubble said ADW was about to take off (post 271). It must be in reverse gear!

[tom howard] 30/8/2007 11:41

If its a decent post you are after, I could find the "Tired old broker" special if you like?

[targatarga] 30/8/2007 10:06

ahhh, the insiders again. threwe cheers for the insiders !!!!!! 0.5P OPTIONS I ASK

[argy2] 30/8/2007 10:05

Yes...those that had them pre IPO!

[targatarga] 30/8/2007 09:47

about time someone had a post me thinks. Anyone doubled their money yet?

[malkie] 27/7/2007 08:31

interesting news. notice Bruce Rowan (Sunvest) has taken a near 25% punt!

[topvest] 19/7/2007 21:12

I made a mistake when I bought in the IPO and sold a few weeks later. Been watching ever since. Luckily, I didn't make a loss.

[malkie] 19/7/2007 14:52

topvest - just noticed that you actually started this thread, so I presume you had a different view in Feb 05...
did you hold when you started th ethread? Did you feel the same way regarding valuations on the outset or is it something that became more apparent down the line???

TIA

[malkie] 19/7/2007 08:31

Thanks Topvest, very interesting!

I agree with a lot of what you say and ADW certainly has a very speculative approach to the type of investments it makes.

FWIW Plusmarkets recieved RIE status today, so it should have a long term positive impact on some of its constituents.

max - will take a look at DMR

[topvest] 18/7/2007 21:41

My view on Addworth, for what it's worth, is that it has some interesting investments. MWM seems to be doing ok, compared to his previous efforts. However, Addworth was floated at too high a price with ridiculously high amounts of low priced warrants + the cost base of Addworth plus all other Addworth related companies is too high. They also take a too short term view imo - this will never be a Starvest! Nevertheless, they may hit lucky on the odd investment and MWM seems to be learning as he goes along. Don't hold, but overall I would just about give them the benefit of the doubt. BR and Nigel Wray are no mugs!!

[maxbubble] 18/7/2007 20:37

malkie...lol

ref EC1 - i think a lot of patience required -still think there is a glimmer of hope -valuation is not stretched - should bounce quickly imho. I have recently bought a couple of mil of DMR - you should have a look at them - very high risk and probably a long term hold - not sure how full your bottom drawer is!?!

[malkie] 18/7/2007 15:35

Tom- I have not met MWM yet, but have met & had conversations with some of the other Directors and I am quite comfortable with that aspect, but I am hardly in a position to give an informed opinion at this stage.

If I decide to increase my holding I will make a point of looking into this aspect a bit further, especially in the light of some of the comments flying around here today!

Max - wouldnt dream of it. Any great expectations from our old friends in EC1?? I got quite excited when I saw the rise last week! My share certs are in the bottom draw with the rest of the dross, for now....

[tom.muir] 18/7/2007 14:30

malkie - I agree with all your reasons for investing but I would add a further vital one - the quality of the management.
It may pay you to read the Wigmore thread from which Karl quoted earlier athough its a few years old now.
Its headed 'Wigmore- winning contracts' under epic code WGT.

The posting there from 'tired old broker' won an aclaim from ADVFN as the best posting on these boards for that week. T-o-b is a very shrewd guy - any posting by him is worth taking notice of.

I don't hold this share - indeed I would never invest in anything that MWM is involved in. So I have no axe to grind.

[karl tunparma] 18/7/2007 10:55

A case of taking the free bb too seriously imv.

Free bbs and tipsters.