Amstrad Share Discussion Threads

[jadeg] 20/2/2007 13:46

Darrin

Why 1 year? Is it because that is about the only period which (if you ignore the 39p divi) the performance isn't great? Well, I haven't held for 1 year, so it doesn't matter to me.

Why not 2 days instead of a year (to align with when you posted)? - in which case, holders have made 5% bid to offer.

Or 2 years, which more aligns with when I bought? in which case I've made lots?

If you also add in the 39p divi, the figures look that much better.

Waffle on!

[darrin1471] 20/2/2007 11:24

CASH

How much cash has AMT made you in the last year?

[jadeg] 19/2/2007 19:33

Darrin

While you're waffling on, we are making a lot of cash. Which do you prefer?

[darrin1471] 19/2/2007 15:24

As an observer of AMT but not a holder I have to admit that AMT achieve an excellent profit for the market they are in. AMT are over reliant on a single customer (BskyB) and their products are not the best. If AMT relied on quality and innovation to retain their contract with BskyB then they would probably lose their customer, but AMT with their lower cost base and quality drive down the unit cost to BskyB and the other suppliers have to follow and therefore supply a valuable service to BskyB.
The new PVR that AMT are making for BskyB is probably for their new DTT service and this stb will probably include VOD and broadband connectivity. In addition to the volumes sold to BskyB this also opens up a whole new market which AMT may be able to service throughout Europe especially with the Telco companies to whom AMT have been talking to about smart phones.
There are a few risks ahead during the next few months. The HD DVR is a premium product for Sky's most profitable customers so quality may be a more important factor than price in the short term. With a 3-5 month lead time for MPEG4 components, AMT could be left waiting for components or already committed to components that are falling in value before AMT have confirmed orders for working boxes.
Sky needs regulatory approval for their new DTT service and that is not certain when Virgin are complaining about Sky's stake in ITV and new products are trying to get off the ground like BT Vision and Tiscali Homechoice. No DTT for Sky would be very bad news for AMT.
In 6-12 months these risks may have passed and AMT may enter a period of very buoyant sales.

[grimshore] 19/2/2007 13:38

DIP STICK,YOU MUST HAVE CIRRHOSIS OF THE LIVER BY NOW,PUT SOME MONEY INTO IT,STOP MOANING,I KNOW THE TYPE OF PERSON YOU ARE,WE NEED MORE AIRPORTS,BUT NOT NEAR ME,HE NEEDS A GOOD SLAPPING,YOU GO AND DO IT,WHILE I WATCH YOUR BACK,MAYBE,DO NOT PUT MONEY IN TO IT,PUT IT IN A BANK,THEN YOU CAN BLAME THE BANK MANAGER FOR MAKING YOU PUT IT IN THERE.

[bearable] 19/2/2007 10:59

Its OKI.I discovered the sport section was un-ticked.Why i dont know.Sorry

[bearable] 19/2/2007 10:58

ADVFN.What you done with the CHELSEA FC THRED?

[Abuse team] 16/2/2007 22:40

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[spob] 16/2/2007 22:35

Amstrad H1 pretax profit falls 16 pct UPDATE


(Adds detail)
LONDON (AFX) - Amstrad PLC, the consumer electronics group chaired by Sir
Alan Sugar, has reported a 16 pct fall in first half pretax profit.
The Brentwood-based group said pretax profit over the six months to Dec 31
2006 was 10.5 mln stg, down from 12.5 mln stg in the previous corresponding
period, on sales down 18 pct to 40.6 mln stg, reflecting lower set top box
volumes.
The group had flagged to the market in September that its current year
results would not be as strong as the prior period due to the ongoing transition
to high definition television (HDTV) products.
Amstrad has continued to focus on driving down the overall cost of
manufacturing set top boxes. This has helped mitigate the impact of the downward
pressure on prices for more mature products.
Its Hong Kong business, which designs, manufactures and sells audio products
to the US and European markets, managed to maintain margins despite lower
volumes in a "very competitive" audio market.
The group noted that in the previous financial year all remaining stocks of
the 'e-mailer' product were sold to retailers and in the first half of the
current financial year a further 14,000 units were purchased and registered by
consumers bringing the total registered since the launch of the product to
507,000.
The installed base of e-mailers continues to generate significant usage
revenue for the group from e-mail, internet access, sms, downloading of
ringtones and advertising. Based on the figures for December 2006 usage, this
equates to an annualised revenue figure of 6.4 mln stg, Amstrad said.
Despite the profit fall Amstrad's dividend was maintained at 2.5 pence,
payable April 13 from earnings per share of 9.0 pence, down from 10.6 pence last
time.
At the end of the period the group had cash of 28.3 mln stg.
Sugar noted that with the broadcasting industry increasingly moving towards
HDTV the group is continuing to work on developing HDTV set top boxes and HDTV
PVR (personal video recorder) boxes.
It started delivering HDTV boxes at the end of June last year and deliveries
of an HDTV PVR box are due to start in the second half of the current financial
year.
"We are in the final stages of developing a new PVR box which should leave
us well placed for the future," said Sugar.
"We continue to research the smart phone market working with leading telcos
and broadband providers," he added.
Prior to today's statement Evolution Securities was forecasting a year to
end-June 2007 pretax profit of 14.9 mln stg, down from 20.2 mln stg in the
previous year.
Amstrad shares closed Wednesday at 155-3/4 pence, valuing the business at
130 mln stg.

[weatherman] 15/2/2007 15:29

Is that a break out?

[joe_soap] 15/2/2007 13:04

Last year's interim wasn't doubled, normally quieter second-half and with non-hdtv boxes becoming old hat I don't think it's on the cards this year. However it doesn't look like full year results should be lower than broker forecasts.

[weatherman] 15/2/2007 12:42

If half year eps = 9p - does this mean full years results will be above expectations at close to 18p?

[netcurtains] 15/2/2007 12:42

You're right Masurenguy, it should really be well over £2 a share.

[masurenguy] 15/2/2007 12:17

Huge volatility on minimal volume.
Beware - MMs playing games here !

[jadeg] 15/2/2007 09:24

p/e sub 10
£28m cash after cash return
maintained interim after cash return (that means increasing yield)
highly cash generative even in hardware transition years
new hdtv pvr about to be released
new hdtv set top boxes just released.
nob.

[netcurtains] 15/2/2007 08:36

Looks good to me.

[Abuse team] 15/2/2007 08:00

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[Abuse team] 15/2/2007 07:40

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[Abuse team] 15/2/2007 07:33

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[Abuse team] 14/2/2007 16:40

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[veg man] 09/2/2007 13:47

Hi Power.I know alittle how you fell,been in since the heady days of 274.Still waiting.

[darrin1471] 09/2/2007 07:12

Heads up for the new AMT BskyB stb:



Sky to launch new service on digital terrestrial television
Sky today announced that it is developing plans for the launch of a subscription television service on digital terrestrial television (DTT) this summer. The new service will allow customers to receive some of Sky's most popular programmes - including sport and movies - through a conventional rooftop aerial and a DTT box for a monthly subscription.
By bringing back some of the UK's most popular pay-TV content to the DTT platform*, Sky aims to create more choice for customers who are interested in upgrading from free-to-air to pay-TV. This represents an attractive commercial opportunity, benefiting from existing investments in programming and infrastructure, and attracting new customers to Sky over and above current plans for the growth of Sky's satellite service.
The line-up of channels on the new service will offer a range of content including sports, movies, entertainment and news. The sports service will include live coverage from the Barclays Premiership and other top events. Full details, including branding, pricing and the complete channel line-up, will be revealed closer to launch.
The new service will make use of existing capacity that Sky currently uses to broadcast Sky Three, Sky News and Sky Sports News. As a result, these channels will cease to be available free-to-air via DTT in advance of the launch of the pay-TV service.
Sky plans to broadcast its pay-TV channels on DTT using the more efficient MPEG4 compression technology, bringing innovation to the platform and enabling Sky to offer four 24-hour video streams in place of the three Sky channels currently available, with further improvements expected in future. The pay-TV service will use a highly secure conditional access (CA) system similar to the one that Sky uses for its satellite television service.
To access the service, customers will buy a new set-top box that includes the relevant CA software and MPEG4 decoder. It is anticipated that once the service launches multiple manufacturers will have the opportunity to produce compatible set-top-boxes and other DTT receivers.
The launch of the new service is subject to approval by Ofcom of the necessary variations to licences held by Sky and National Grid Wireless, which provides DTT transmission and multiplexing services to Sky.
Mike Darcey, Sky's Chief Operating Officer, said: "We look forward to bringing some of Sky's most popular content to digital terrestrial viewers. This will give families more choice and increase the availability of leading content and channel brands."



This BskyB service has been in the planning for years. Amstrad announced in September 05 that they were working on a new box for Sky and the announcement was for "significant volumes". Everybody had assumed the new box was for satellite.
This new box is not going to be a £30 channel flipper. It will be more complicated and expensive than Sky+. An MPEG4 PVR probably with broadband connectivity and possibly a taste of HD via VOD.
Sky+ is the best PVR service in the UK. I have been thinking of moving from cable to BT Vision. This new sky service may also be attractive. BT are Targeting 2m with BT Vision.

[darrin1471] 31/1/2007 13:21

There I was like an idiot watching AMT on the old thread thinking, its all gone quiet.

netcurtains ref post 39:
The Conexant story is a little older than you thought. It dates back to 12/06/06 and is talking about the Sky Italia HD non PVR stb.



Sky 2nd quarter results today show:
432,000 new customers gross (183,000 net)
88,000 new HD customers in qtr, 184,000 since launch. £60m+ turnover for Thomson.
276,000 new SKY+ customers for the qtr.
133,000 new multiroom customers added in qtr.
193,000 broadband customers with a target of 700,000 by June.
"Introducing a new enhancement, 'Sky Anytime', giving over a million Sky
customers at launch the chance to enjoy a selection of the week's best
programmes on-demand."



I have raised my profits/turnover H1 06/07 forcasts for AMT due to recent deliveries to Sky but I don't think AMT will acheive the broker targets.