Avi Global Share Discussion Threads

[daisy777] 23/11/2004 18:41

Duran Duran - Is there something I should know?

[snowy42] 23/11/2004 17:51

Take note of the beatles last record,and let it BE.

[rdpounder] 23/11/2004 16:36

Jiggle, I totally agree with 8936, action starts at home, and it's pretty clear that some "members" of the action group are letting others take all the action.

[jiggle] 23/11/2004 13:33

...An action group is a group of individuals, most with jobs, if you are not interested in joining or have made no contribution at all to it; I think you'll find that is your answer to why you have not seen much action.

Investor Apathy - The Sans of the world love it.

Glad your holding is small enough not to lose sleep over, others have lost much more and for them, this is the start.

[daisy777] 23/11/2004 13:12

Don't give in; it is possible to find information.

[rdpounder] 23/11/2004 12:07

Blue, will have to check it later,can't access from my work server

[rossdjsecom] 23/11/2004 10:57

I've only been popping in to this thread from time to time over the last couple of weeks, but I've been keeping an eye on the press. I hate to say it, but it seems that the "action group" hasn't managed to deliver much action! Should I assume that it's going nowhere, and (mentally) write off my loss? (My investment is too small for me to lose sleep about the value, and I'm not too happy with the idea of kicking up a big fuss about the principles involved when most of the "facts" at my disposal are arguably only hearsay from a web forum!)

I do think it's pretty inexcusable that there hasn't been a clear statement from the company or the administrators. Or have I missed something?

[blue tooth] 23/11/2004 07:29

rdpounder - check your yahoo mail

[richtc] 23/11/2004 01:42

The fact is that San has stolen the shareholders investments. He has gained 58% of the shares in effect by buying the best bits of the company for a song, that is parts of the company that had millions of pounds of our money invested into to get them to where they are now and which he will later reap the rewards from.

He has stolen from the shareholders imo and has left us in the mire. It not even stated how much was paid for the two companies or indeed how the price was calculated.

Its outright theft plain and simple, he should not have been able to buy these two companies (the best bits) and leave the rest to sink. It was only a short while ago he was looking into an MBO, now it looks like he got what he wanted without paying the market price for it.

Dam outrage imo - I certainly dont want to roll over having lost 20k on this investment, but frankly i dont think the FSA will do a blinding thing about it, so it looks like the bast@ard has won - may he choke to death on his money!

What goes around comes around

[snowy42] 22/11/2004 22:59

You will be throwing money away,trying to fight this case,move on to better things,and better companys.

[daisy777] 22/11/2004 22:29

Snowy42, people don't want to move on at the moment, put-off tactics won't work.

[snowy42] 22/11/2004 21:10

As i said before,time to move on,so take a LOOK at PROVALIS,sure to trebble by the time of there next results in march...

[ldmachin] 22/11/2004 20:15

rdpouder,

agreed. Jez's 42% holding was beneficially anyway, he never paid for those shares, so playing that card is just one more sickening action.

And Argonaut did mislead investors, by informing EVO that Argonaut were on track for a profitable year next year. 3 months later they run out of money. Argonaut was not high risk when compared to other developers, they were cash rich and had contracts with the likes of EA for Catwoman as well as Morpheme as well as a highly well received game such as Heavely Sword (with the artifically high price tag). Even the Warthog management got some value for shareholders.

I like the way Jez tells his story to a trade mag too, trying to save his battered reputation in the industry, he should have told the story to the FT, it's us investors he should be explaining his actions too as CEO of a fully listed company.

It doesn't matter how much he tries to vindicate himself, he will ultimately have to explain himself to the man upstairs. Good luck to him, he's gonna need it. At least us investors know our loses, Jez will be counting the loses long beyond his mortal time. I hope he has sleepless nights for many years for the poor staff and shareholders that he has financially ruined because of his greed. All this was avoidable, even the press say that the death of Argonaut was premature, that's because Jez performed Euthenasia on Argonaut, if he cared about it as much as he said he had the means to make it survive, instead he chose to benefit himself as much as possible. Good luck to him anyway, but this isn't over yet.

Cheers.

We need to get rid of the board too and pressure the administrators, they are just bleeding dry any residual shareholder value left in argonaut over the next few months.

[rdpounder] 22/11/2004 20:06

San, why don't you do everybody (most of all yourself) a big favour and give us shareholders the pre-suspension value of our shares? Then this horrible saga will be over and you can earn back a bit of respect. It'll only cost you about £1.8m, which'll only move you a few notches down the rich list, but you'll much better, honest!

[rdpounder] 22/11/2004 19:47

Shame that MCVUK didn't see fit to contact the action group (having had previous communications from a number of us) so that a balanced article could be written, instead they got an Oscar winning performance from San, a pure exercise in self-preservation. I will be emailing MCVUK to "make a few points" in relation to this. The thing that really grates is that San keeps trying to make out that he's just a victim of circumstances, really galling, he's probably even convinced himself by now!

By the way, San, some people will get bored and forget about this, but take my word for it that this is far from over. Compared to some people my holding isn't even that big, but some things are worth pursuing on principle!

[targatarga] 22/11/2004 16:40

jiggle - look in your in box. regards

[jiggle] 22/11/2004 16:39

I don't have his number Targa - can you point me in the right direction?

[targatarga] 22/11/2004 14:29

jiggle- just ring him. regards

[trader11] 22/11/2004 14:28

u there cover?

[jiggle] 22/11/2004 13:43

MoscowTrader - are you still reading?

[daisy777] 22/11/2004 12:04

Rawli, thanks for this, your time is very appreciated. It's difficult to be sympathetic with the article though.

Minky Whale, in post number 8665 (12 Nov), from your quote of an article in Nov/Dec's 'Develop Magazine':

"I wanted to save more from redundancies and closure, but events overtook us and a particularly nasty publisher – Argonaut Edgware's only client – did a 'dirty' on us at the last minute, stopping a new investment group from coming in and saving the entire company,"

Is there any chance we could have this article too, or is the following the whole article? (thanks):

From Develop magazine Nov/Dec 2004

"Acting as an investor and non-executive director, San has financed management buy outs of Just Add Monsters and Morpheme, having also paid their salaries when the Argonaut group crashed in late October. The terms of San's financing deal have not been disclosed, but are understood to include an up-front cash payment, the payment of rents and salaries, plus an earnout based on the future success of the on-going business. Both ventures are currently loss-making. Morpheme Ltd will become Morpheme Wireless Ltd, with Jam expected to assume a new name.

Meanwhile, San told Develop he is still actively trying to secure jobs and projects from Argonaut, now in the hands of the receivers. "I wanted to save more from redundancies and closure, but events overtook us and a particularly nasty publisher – Argonaut Edgware's only client – did a 'dirty' on us at the last minute, stopping a new investment group from coming in and saving the entire company," San said."

I'd like to know more about this "particularly nasty publisher", (which is SCi, yes?) facts and dates so that they can be cross-referenced with the MCV article. I think it would be relevant to understand more about what was meant by: "did a 'dirty' on us at the last minute, stopping a new investment group from coming in and saving the entire company,".