Alea Share Discussion Threads

[adeyberry] 10/10/2006 21:53

Just to let you know MT that I am reading your posts!! lol

Surely this has got to collapse at some point, but at present I am finding it hard to believe!!! lol

Keep up your informed posts please, there are no doubt many reading them in silence!!

[m.t.glass] 10/10/2006 18:48

businesswire.com


October 10, 2006 09:00 AM Eastern Time
Alea Contracts with Cambridge for Finance and Accounting Services
New Deal Signals Expansion of Capabilities and Services

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cambridge Integrated Services, the leader in innovative claims and risk management services, announced today that it has entered into a three-year contract with Alea North America, a global specialty insurance and reinsurance company, (London Stock Exchange listing ALEA) to provide finance and accounting (F&A) services, information management, and internal and external reporting services for its insurance and reinsurance businesses. This means that in addition to traditional claims management services, companies can now have their insurance/reinsurance accounting, financial reporting and state filings managed by Cambridge as well. In addition to Cambridge's own onshore and offshore F&A team, the company will assume responsibility for certain Alea employees to ensure continuity on the Alea account.

"We believe this arrangement is both creative and very unique in that it provides a great deal of synergies and 'wins' for both Alea and Cambridge," said Mark Jones, SVP and Head of Alea's US Operations.

Commenting on the expanded services, Wesley O'Brien, President, Cambridge Integrated Services, said, "We are pleased to have been selected by Alea and believe the opportunity to provide F&A services to them and the insurance/reinsurance industry as a whole is a real breakthrough. By applying our business process management approach to finance and accounting, we can offer high quality specialized services to this critical market."

About Cambridge Integrated Services

Headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States, Cambridge Integrated Services, a subsidiary of Cambridge Solutions Ltd., is one of the largest independently owned property and casualty claims and risk management services providers. Cambridge serves Fortune 500 self-insured employers, insurance carriers and public entities in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Claims services span workers' compensation; general, auto, professional and product liability; as well as property, personal lines and assumed/ceded reinsurance. Cambridge also offers a wide array of specialty risk management services including outcomes management and audit consulting, managed care, special investigations, structured settlements, and subrogation/recovery services. For more information, visit: www.cambridgeworldwide.com.

About Cambridge Solutions Ltd.

Cambridge Solutions Ltd. (HQ: Bangalore, India; USHQ: Greenwich, CT) is a strategic global outsourcing firm with deep expertise in:

IT business consulting, application implementation, software engineering, maintenance and support services
Business process outsourcing (BPO) for insurance, banking and financial services companies; process consulting; transaction processing, finance and accounting back office support; claims and risk management services; inbound and outbound contact centers to support all of these activities; and other processes that require knowledge-based decision making.
The Company employs over 4,000 professionals serving customers on 4 continents through over 80 locations worldwide.

With offices in the USA, Europe, India, Singapore, and Australia, Cambridge serves Fortune 500 firms, insurance and financial services companies, and public entities around the world. The company's BPO subsidiary was named one of the top three performing BPO companies by Global Services media and neoIT in 2006, and was recently ranked as the 28th leading outsourcing company in the world in the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP)'s "2006 Global Outsourcing 100" list, that appeared in a special advertising section in Fortune Magazine.

The Company is listed on the major stock exchanges of India (BSE, NSE, MSE & ASE) under the ticker "CAMBRIDGE". For more information, visit: www.cambridgeworldwide.com.

About Alea

Alea is a global specialty insurance and reinsurance company with expertise in a wide range of property and casualty products and services. Alea is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the ticker 'ALEA'. For more information on Alea, visit www.aleagroup.com

Safe Harbor

Certain statements in this release are forward looking statements which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to risks and uncertainties regarding fluctuations in earnings, our ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services, including those factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns in fixed price, fixed time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, our ability to manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks, our ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages on our service contracts, etc. The company does not undertake to update any forward looking statement that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company.

Contacts
Cambridge Integrated Services
Tracy Mock, 847-543-1681

[m.t.glass] 05/10/2006 12:41

ALEA would presumably argue they are already achieving the best return they safely can, on the monies set aside for meeting all obligations. That KPMG report is presumably meant to point out that there are others who might do better - and to whom the ALEA board might be tempted to sell on their obligations in exchange for cash.

Were ALEA to do so, is the cash they might obtain and pay off the shareholders with, likely to be at a discount or a premium to the current share price??

[m.t.glass] 05/10/2006 11:25

Third of a million quidsworth in those two trades just now..

[m.t.glass] 21/9/2006 11:20

That Numis 'SELL' note (post 647) includes a 65p price target in some reports of it.

[m.t.glass] 20/9/2006 09:58

"..The key elements of the plan are to preserve net assets through effective management of the run-off of the Group's balance sheet, manage other operating expenses and finance costs to levels less than or equal to investment income by year end 2007, and ultimately return capital to shareholders..."


Ultimately return capital to shareholders?

"..there can be no certainty as to the timing or amounts of future distributions to shareholders. Any future distributions will be subject to execution of commutations on economic terms acceptable to the Group, appropriate regulatory approvals being obtained to fund intra-group distributions, applicable legal restrictions, repayment of the Group's $150 million term loan and $50 million revolver and the retention of adequate capital to meet other obligations..."

- and meanwhile dividends are cancelled.


Is anyone seriously hanging on for a possible distant payout??


"85p for your shares sir; Deal or no deal?"

[m.t.glass] 20/9/2006 09:50

LONDON (AFX) - Alea PLC was down in early trading today as the Bermudan
reinsurer posted a first half pretax loss of 14.4 mln usd, down from a profit of 25.9 mln usd in the first half of 2005 after the company stopped writing new
business at the end of 2005, after major losses during the 2005 hurricane
season.
At 9.09 am shares were down 2-1/2 to 86.

Numis Securities reiterated its 'sell' recommendation, saying that it
continues to believe that the current share price continues to overvalue the
company given the considerable risks and uncertainties involved.
The UK broker added that there is still the potential for reserves -- the
estimate cost of goods sold -- to adversely develop.
[e-mail]
af/joy

[handycam] 12/9/2006 14:39

Doesn't matter what one thinks, only that which one knows.

[eltigre2] 12/9/2006 08:15

ANY THOUGHTS RE RESULTS ON THE 20TH?

[m.t.glass] 31/8/2006 19:44

Dunno ;o/
Saw no news.
Came to nothing in the end.

[shanksaj] 31/8/2006 14:15

Why the rise?

[paddyfool] 14/8/2006 17:30

Next news on results and NAV

[m.t.glass] 11/7/2006 07:02

Alea has announced that BACP Europe Fund II, L.P. ("BACP") sold 1,050,000 shares. That takes its holding below the 3% at which announcements are required - so we won't necessarily see any further disposals reported.

[m.t.glass] 30/6/2006 06:15

The captain leaves the ship:



...Mark Ricciardelli, CEO of Alea since 25 June 2004, will step down from the Board of Directors with effect from 31 August 2006, to pursue other interests...


"...There can be no guarantee that any transaction will take place or that a sale of the Group would be at a premium to the current market price. The conversion of the organisation from a going concern to run-off is now materially complete. Alea's run-off plan is on track, as commutations, headcount and expenses are running as expected.' (at AGM yesterday)



And still there are punters who see this as a recovery stock..?

[handycam] 01/6/2006 19:58

Speciality proceeds held in the US, not by the holding Co.

[m.t.glass] 26/5/2006 11:38

Numis Securities has come out with a 'reduce' rating and 65p target for Alea

[m.t.glass] 24/5/2006 07:05

Who sold all that stock that MS took onboard i wonder?
If it was KKR they would presumably have had to announce too.

MS can't just have been soaking up small lots or would have to have announced much sooner when it crossed the reporting threshold.

[shanksaj] 23/5/2006 17:35

madmanc,

To go long on this you have to be, well, simply mad man, see?

[handycam] 23/5/2006 13:50

My colleague squared fifty today - margin call, of course.

[madmanc] 23/5/2006 11:49

WASHINGTON(Tyne & Wear)

John Kettley says hurricane forecasts are way off the mark, "this year will see mostly light winds with the occasional small gust".

STOP PRESS AFX;

Beach wind breakers sales slump as hurricane forecasts are slated by JK!

[adeyberry] 23/5/2006 11:43

Brutal string of hurricanes threatens U.S. once again
2006 season likely to hit hard, experts say, as agency predicts 13 to 16 named storms
PAUL KORING

WASHINGTON -- Another worse-than-usual hurricane season threatens, the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned yesterday, as workers in storm-devastated New Orleans work feverishly to rebuild levees destroyed last summer by hurricane Katrina.

In the wake of last year's killer storms -- Katrina's toll now stands at more than 1,800 dead and tens of thousands still homeless -- coastal complacency about hurricane warnings may be a thing of the past.

"One hurricane hitting where you live is enough to make it a bad season," Max Mayfield, the centre's director, said yesterday as he unveiled the predictions for this year.

The Atlantic remains in the middle of a decades-long cycle of intense hurricane activity that follows nearly 20 years of relative quiescence, a period when coastal development surged in Florida and along the Gulf of Mexico. Since 1995, there have been more -- and more powerful -- storms. Between 1995 and 2005, the Atlantic season has averaged 15 named storms, just over eight named hurricanes and four major hurricanes, according to the hurricane centre. Before this latest above-normal cycle, from 1971 to 1994, there were an average of 8.5 named storms, five hurricanes and just over one major hurricane.

Four monster storms hit the United States last year, causing more than $100-billion (U.S.) in damage.

[madmanc] 23/5/2006 11:05

Just spoke to Micheal Fish who says the chance of hurricanes this year are virtually nil, increased my long as a result.

[adeyberry] 23/5/2006 10:32

MT...

Ignore him, he is purely trying to bait me, as he knows I am short here!