Alterian Share Discussion Threads

[restassured] 05/10/2010 13:09

Hi yes no mention this month.However it does not detract from what they said last month.

They pointed out that IBM is paying a multiple of 36 times for Unica.By comparison Alterian is trading low teens.

[matt123d] 04/10/2010 21:19

Nice close today, exhaust this supply in the 210-215p area and we'll be away.

[b1ggles] 04/10/2010 20:46

No mention by Techinvest this month, RA.

[rivaldo] 04/10/2010 16:11

ALN seems to do particularly well at present in the afternoons - American buying given the social media angle and ALN's client base?

[trendfloor] 04/10/2010 12:44

Brokers in the main like the stock.

Forward P/E of just over 13 to 2012 derd cheap for a tech stock.

Alterian PLC

FORECASTS 2011 2012
Date Rec Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Panmure Gordon
01-10-10 BUY 8.28 13.70 9.30 14.40
KBC Peel Hunt Ltd
30-09-10 HOLD 9.16 11.15 10.58 12.58
Investec Securities
29-09-10 BUY 9.02 14.26 12.36 17.77
Canaccord Adams
04-06-10 HOLD 9.20 13.80 10.70 13.80

2011 2012
Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p) Pre-tax (£) EPS (p) DPS (p)

Consensus 8.87 13.14 10.74 14.77
1 Month Change -0.01 -0.12 0.14 0.04
3 Month Change -0.29 0.14 0.38 1.50


GROWTH
2010 (A) 2011 (E) 2012 (E)

Norm. EPS -17.77% 6.91% 12.37%
DPS % % %

INVESTMENT RATIOS
2010 (A) 2011 (E) 2012 (E)

EBITDA £9.94m £9.74m £11.80m
EBIT £6.60m £m £m
Dividend Yield 0.00% % %
Dividend Cover x x x
PER 16.10x 15.06x 13.40x
PEG -0.91f 2.18f 1.08f
Net Asset Value PS 40.02p p p

hemscot premium.

[matt123d] 04/10/2010 12:42

Looking good, added more this morning.

A break of that 215p high and i'd be looking for 250p to be the next area of supply.

[rivaldo] 04/10/2010 12:25

Hello :o))

Thx for that restassured, look forward to seeing your next post. 360p would do me fine....

[restassured] 04/10/2010 12:15

I can't confirm yet, but it feel like this has received another Techinvest write up today.
I will post as soon as I get further details.

Last month they suggested the shares could be worth double the 180p price at the time,to equate to the IBM takeover value of Unica.

[restassured] 04/10/2010 10:47

Looks like we are breaking out above the 196p,if confirmed, the next resistance is around 218p.

[rivaldo] 04/10/2010 10:00

Hi rhuvaal - check your e-mail.

OT : I'm currently out of AYM, sold a while ago. I feel it could be a long winter for AYM & LIM given no production till next year, so with lots of other ISAble resource stocks galloping away as per the above post I'm hoping AYM will drift down to whatever, say 20p-23p, before I am able to buy back in.

[rhuvaal] 04/10/2010 09:47

Rivaldo, thanks SO much. Yes, I do have a toe in at MTT, and bought into MATD @ 15p+ (whilst others couldn't wait all winter for it to kick-off) and shall keep the last parcel until it is floated on HKong. Do you think a similar situation is under way for AYM?

I do have one for you which is off pi's radar (almost altogether)

[rivaldo] 03/10/2010 20:19

Hi Rhuvaal. Congrats, you seem to have had a pretty good year :o)) You should have mentioned MATD earlier (or did you?)!

Not surprisingly, GKP is my current largest holding by value given I bought at 6.2p! As you say, CAR is second largest thanks to consistent topping up and share price rises. Could be an explosive few months to come given prospective news flow.

After that frankly there are a load of stocks, some of which you mention. For ISAble stocks it's absolutely NOT too late for CRE. Assuming trading continues to be good then CRE is imo undervalued by 50% or more on a P/E of 6.9 with net cash, and HVN could see similar upside in the next year given its lack of UK exposure. FSJ also looks pretty solid.

ISAble resource stocks include OMI, a gold stock which looks on the threshold of a major revaluation at 31p or so, as well as AAAM and MML, and AEX and AST are unloved oil stocks which may or may not have major upside if things go well - with hopefully not too much downside given the core asset bases. I also like SMDR and CEO amongst oil stocks, though for their solidity and value given existing production - they won't be ten-baggers!

As regards AIM, GNG's valuation is just bizarrely low imo, and it's only the (perceived) overhang which is holding it back. If you don't mind putting up your e-mail address for a little while I'd like to get in touch re GNG. You could also let me know of anything you're keen on.

PIM is very much ground floor, whilst LOQ and VLE are (I think) very undervalued for obvious reasons, despite their long-term uptrends. PMHL is also silly at less than cash and should come through over time.

Finally, MTT is completely and utterly ground floor - if there's any good news at all re their re-starting molybdenum production if moly prices rise, or if they get a settlement on their Uzbek court case which is before the UN, they will fly and could make GKP's rise look like nothing - imo this may be worth a small fun punt if nothing else as the downside is maybe 30% short-term, whilst the upside....

[rhuvaal] 02/10/2010 19:43

Rivaldo please, and completely OT = I followed you in here quite a while back @ ~ 80p and intend staying for the end game.... I know CAR is your second largest holding: can you tell tell us your top three?? already in PIM LOQ VLE and of course GNG. Maybe peeps are now a bit late for HVN HYC & CRE. Any ground floor sits ? TIA and fully understand should you wish to stay stum ! (am optimistic and into oilers IAE + GKP, also 11-bagged with MATD)

[rivaldo] 02/10/2010 17:57

Excellent finish - looks like new recent highs and ready for a break above 200p.

Paleje, yep, Robbie Burns seems to be quite a supporter of ALN and has held for a while now (and topped up from memory).

[paleje] 01/10/2010 14:49

Cheers rivaldo, weekend reading. Just noticed someone on iii said NT bought into ALN too.

[rivaldo] 01/10/2010 12:24

Hi paleje, good to see you here. ALN's obviously not cheap in pure P/E terms.

But look at the cash flows - last year ALN made £10.2m operating cash flows due to the high amortisation/depreciation. Given the release of their new products I'm assuming that at some point headline profits will take a jump as the amortisation and depreciation charges reduce.

Though sophisticated investors will realise that the combination of terrific cash flows and high recurring income, in a fast-expanding (social media) space, is an alluring proposition.

Which is why I'm certain that ALN will be taken over sooner rather than later. From memory, recent prices paid would indicate a 300p per share price (I worked this out earlier in the thread).

Hope this helps.

OT : have you looked at CRE, HYC and FSJ? All are also ISAble and solid and undervalued companies imo as well as ALN and HVN.

[paleje] 01/10/2010 11:45

Rivaldo I recognise you from hvn board, see you find good articles here too. Only recently read an article in Growth Co mag rating these a buy at 190, interims in about 5 weeks. You been here long, still some upside left in your opinion?

[rivaldo] 01/10/2010 11:32

Nice 10k buy at 195p today.

[restassured] 30/9/2010 08:58

I like the comment from last month's Techinvest re IBM's purchase of Unica..


"Either IBM is daft or Alterian is dramatically undervalued."


Seems to be a very hot sector at the moment.

[rivaldo] 29/9/2010 13:51

Nice article:



"Alterian looks for growth
September 28 2010

David Eldridge, chief executive officer of specialist marketing technology group Alterian, is not worried about any potential 'double-dip' recession.

After a 67 per cent annual profits hike to £6.7 million, he says the acquisitive fully listed company's new engagement management software will maintain its momentum.

Eldridge argues that the new product will provide marketing people and organisations with a 'centralised control area' to hear and watch interactions between client companies and consumers and among consumers 'in real time'.

Alterian, which increased turnover a more modest 14 per cent to £38 million in the year to March, boasts a range of technology – including fast-growing social media monitoring, analysis and content management – and recently launched a new product, 'WebJourney' web behaviour analytics, to help client companies respond to changes in how consumers want to hear their messages.

With customers ranging from Jaguar Land Rover to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the company charges anything from £1,000 to £500,000 a month for its services. Eldridge points out that Alterian has a 60 per cent rate of annual recurring revenues, with nearly two-thirds of revenue now related to digital communications.

Alterian maintains a social media 'warehouse', containing conversations between members of the public, which can be sold to brand managers, explains Eldridge, who comments that 'this is the fastest-growing part of the business'. The group, which spent £5.5 million last year on research and development, is determinedly acquisitive, but, insists Eldridge, has sufficient resources to pursue this route without going back to shareholders.

He says Alterian is now tapping into opportunities in the USA and South America, after a financial year in which 'strong growth from a small base' in the Asia-Pacific region offset 'difficult trading conditions' in the UK and Europe. The company has increased its sales force in Singapore and Australia.

To the company's target market of corporate marketing chiefs, Eldridge cites one survey suggesting that only 5 per cent of consumers nowadays trust advertising, while 81 per cent see the internet as 'the first port of call' to compare products and services. Last year, Alterian bought New York-based Techrigy in a $5 million (£3.2 million) deal, which brought it a leader in social media monitoring and analytics software, with a successful product, SM2, and a database of conversations from more than 100 million blogs, wikis, microblogs and social networks. More recently, the company bought social media analytics concern Intrepid Consultants for up to $11.5 million.

Alterian is paying an initial $3.5 million in cash and shares at 179.4p for Intrepid, which integrates social media data as 'a core element of mainstream marketing', with offices in Seattle and London and a fast-growing (and inexpensive) analytics team in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Alterian will pay another $7.5 million if Intrepid meets certain revenue targets by 2013, plus $650,000 in bonuses to key people.

John Song, founder and CEO of Intrepid, is among those staying on and suggests that the deal 'will have a positive effect on all Alterian's business lines'. Eldridge agrees, declaring that the current 'explosion of social media' is catching many brands without the in-house skills to use the relevant analytics to their best effect, a gap that analysts believe Alterian is filling by acquiring Intrepid's expertise and resources."

[rivaldo] 24/9/2010 06:55

A good plug for ALN:



"10 tips for fighting a digital crisis
by David Wheal

The sheer power and immediacy of the social Web can seem daunting to the uninitiated. Negative sentiment may be inevitable, but learning to use the right tools at the right times can help organisations minimise the damage

These days a corporate crisis might not necessarily be confined to product contamination or an environmental disaster. On the social Web, many more subtle forces can conspire to damage reputation and the crisis can spring from almost any source, including pressure groups, your customers and even your staff....

....2. Monitor what is being said about you online. Identify key opinion leaders relevant to your business, and track the ways they communicate online. There are numerous free tools available, which can find instances of key words and report back when they are found. Tweetdeck can do this for Twitter. Specialist agencies use more sophisticated monitoring tools such as Alterian's SM2, which allows for complex analysis and reporting."

[rivaldo] 23/9/2010 06:52

News - Genesis sound quite sizeable:



"Alterian and Genesis Direct Partner for Fully Actionable Business Intelligence Database
Alterian and Genesis Direct will collaborate on a turnkey integrated marketing platform, providing actionable business insight.

By partnering with Alterian, we're advancing our platform in an engaging way that allows our clients to think strategically about their acquisition and retention programs. It further extends our reach as facilitators in executing very targeted and successful campaigns, relaying business intelligence like never before. Chicago, IL (Vocus) September 22, 2010

Alterian, the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, today announced a partnership with integrated direct marketing company Genesis Direct.

Genesis Direct builds marketing databases for mid-tier businesses to support its platform of intelligent direct marketing communication for its clients. By partnering with Alterian for the next iteration of products, Genesis Direct will enhance its existing platform and allow its clients to fully participate in the day-to-day data strategy decisions.

"We often see clients needing to turn to their IT department in order to execute campaigns," said David Comar, owner of Genesis Direct. "By partnering with Alterian, we're advancing our platform in an engaging way that allows our clients to think strategically about their acquisition and retention programs. It further extends our reach as facilitators in executing very targeted and successful campaigns, relaying business intelligence like never before."

The new marketing database is fully actionable and structured in a way so that it can be implemented without extensive internal resources. It addresses common marketing pain points, allowing users to recognize event triggers, giving them the ability to prioritize customers that fall in more than one segment category and leveraging behavioral purchase data for repeat customers.

Comar said the platform's modular approach positions the company toward growth into other levels beyond the mid-tier market as well. "We're finding that the enhanced Alterian offering married with our existing integrated solutions platform can be equally as attractive to the larger corporation as well," he adds.

"Genesis Direct provides a great direct mail platform, emphasizing intelligence through execution," says David Eldridge, CEO of Alterian. "By working with Alterian, Genesis Direct now has a more structured, yet flexible, intelligence that allows marketers to be more engaged with the data they gather. It simply increases the value of the existing platform as a whole."

About Genesis Direct
Genesis Direct is an integrated direct mail company providing individual service and strategic solutions while producing more than 120-million mail pieces each year. Genesis Direct serves customers in the areas of marketing, data mining, strategic planning, production management, database development, copywriting and design. For more information, visit

[kimball808] 22/9/2010 14:03

nice stream of buying...

[rivaldo] 22/9/2010 12:44

Having another go today...