AT Communications Share Discussion Threads

[nilip] 09/4/2008 07:48

Commenting on results, Alex Tupman, Chief Executive, said:

"We have achieved tremendous progress during 2007, which has transformed our
business. We now have the structures, scale, financing and management in place
to continue to grow our business successfully in 2008 and beyond. Contract wins
both during the period and after with companies including De La Rue and Avaya
reflect the success of our end-to-end capability and will underpin our future
growth as we secure larger and higher margin business. We are very confident of
future prospects and I look forward to updating shareholders with further news
in due course."

[stegrego] 09/4/2008 07:45

Seems to tick all the boxes, so i expect it to tank 10% today for no good reason...

Looks good to me anyway

[masurenguy] 09/4/2008 07:07

Sales close to £89m and debt down to £15m !
EBITDA up by 40% to £8.3m compared to £5.9m
*Adjusted pretax lower due to £3.2m in restructuring and amortisation costs.
Market reaction to that will be interesting in the current climate.
Outlook statement very bullish.
Need to see a broker forecast for 2008 to get a real handle on that !

*NB: This is the first year for which the Group is required to report under IFRS, the
main effects of which are to alter the treatment of goodwill and intangibles and
related amortisation / impairment, and the treatment of share based payments.
.......................................................................................

AT Communications Group plc
Preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2007

ATC reports strong operating performance and a positive outlook

AT Communications Group plc is an award-winning supplier of Information and
Communication Technology ("ICT") solutions and today announces preliminary
results for the year to 31 December 2007. These are reported under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), with 2006 comparisons restated accordingly.

Financial highlights:

* Group revenue up 63% to £88.4 m (2006: £54.1 m) with 11% underlying
organic growth.

* Operating profit before amortisation, non-recurring expenses and share
based payments increased by 43% to £7.7m (2006: £5.4m).

* Pre-tax profit, before amortisation, non-recurring expenses and share
based payments up 35% to £6.2m (2006: £4.6m).

* Strong cash generation in the 4th quarter resulting in a reduction of
net debt to £15.0m at 31 Dec 2007 compared to £18.0m at 31 Dec 2006.

* Adjusted EPS increased to 8.1p (2006: 7.4p).

* Recommended final dividend of 1.0p.

Operational highlights:

* Completed debt and equity refinancing of the Group with £6.8m of new
equity finance raised and a new five year committed loan facility secured
in January 2008. Injected £10.3m in the working capital of the business.

* 2006 acquisitions fully integrated with the Group reorganised into three
operating divisions providing complete non-competing market coverage.

* Success of this strategy evidenced by period contract wins with BT,
Cable & Wireless, Dixons, HMV and Somerfield.

* Contracted & recurring revenues increased to approx 70% (2006: 60%).

* Contracts post period end include Amazon plc and the significant new
business wins with De La Rue as well as Avaya, reflecting ATC's success of
targeting larger business and associated higher margins.

* Board strengthened with the appointment of Ian Crawley as Group Finance
Director and Andrew Parsliffe as Commercial Director. Fred Hallsworth
joining the Group as Non-Executive Director post period end.

Commenting on results, Alex Tupman, CEO: "We have achieved tremendous progress during 2007, which has transformed our business. We now have the structures, scale, financing and management in place to continue to grow our business successfully in 2008 and beyond. Contract wins both during the period and after with companies including De La Rue and Avaya reflect the success of our end-to-end capability and will underpin our future growth as we secure larger and higher margin business. We are very confident of future prospects and I look forward to updating shareholders with further news in due course."

Extract from Chairmans statement: "I believe that ATC now possesses the critical mass, best-of-breed industry partners, and in-house service capabilities to lead the UK industry for next generation ICT solutions through both direct and indirect routes to market. I am also very pleased to report that the business has started the new financial year well with recent contract wins across all three business divisions including contracts secured with large global companies such as De La Rue and Avaya. These wins in particular highlight the successes of restructuring and investment in sales in order to secure more complex and higher margin business. On an annualised basis, over 70% of the Group's turnover is now contracted and recurring."

[daz] 08/4/2008 16:50

The cash flow statement will also be worth scrutinising, at the interims there was a substantial operating cash outflow but this may have been connected with the build up of the sales team. I'd be worried if this hasn't significantly improved in H2, as it would impair their ability to pay down the debt.

In 2006, there was a cash inflow, so I'm hoping for the best but because of the acquisitions, it's a different company now.

[nilip] 08/4/2008 16:24

Can only buy 15k
Can sell upto 50k

MM's want stock.

Say no more ...

[masurenguy] 08/4/2008 16:18

You're welcome Beaufort1 - 40p tomorrow would be very nice but I'm not holding my breath in the prevailing market climate !

[mikehardman] 08/4/2008 16:11

yup - 40p's where I've got my eye, too

[beaufort1] 08/4/2008 16:07

Maybe MMs are looking to stock up before the results - looking for 40p tomorrow.
Thanks for keeping this thread going Masurenguy. I read it...

[masurenguy] 08/4/2008 15:28

Looks like there could have been a shortage of stock recently as MMs have moved the Bid up from 32p to 35p over the last few days but only increased the Offer from 35.5p to 36p. The spread has consequently narrowed from 3.5p to 1p ahead of tomorrows results.

The last TU indicated sales of circa £89m and a pretax of circa £6.2m and therefore the two major areas of interest will be the level of debt (hopefully at least down to circa £15m) and the outlook statement which could be very positive with the number of contract wins that they've announced recently.

[mikehardman] 08/4/2008 14:24

added 36, last MM on 36p;
a few more buyers turning up ahead of tomorrow's results,
helped by decent trading update 21jan08 of course;
sneaking north of the 35p mark now...

[rivaldo] 07/4/2008 20:39

More coverage:



"Firm scoops £7m contract
By Web Reporter
A HARLOW communications firm has secured a multi-million pound contract with a global telecom giant, it has been announced.

ATC, in Pinnacles, has signed atwo-year deal said to be worth upwards of £7m last week.

Under the contract, the group's Rocom division - which has 20 years of experience in the communications market focusing on finding resellers and dealers as well as retail channels for online services - will distribute Avaya's portfolio of small to medium business products.

Bosses at ATC - one of the UK's largest independent business communications groups - have hailed the move as significant because it marks Avaya's first new UK distributor appointment in four years.

Business chiefs said the key to winning the contract was ATC's full service capability which would provide an installation and maintenance service for Avaya's full product portfolio.

The contract is particularly important because industry and technology experts say Avaya is a leading global provider of business communications applications, systems and services, serving more than one million businesses worldwide.

ATC chief executive officer Alex Tupman said: "I am delighted to announce another significant contract win with Avaya, which will deliver over £7m of revenues to the group over the first two years.

"This is a huge win for ATC as it reflects our ability to work with global multinationals and provide them with a complete service from product distribution through to installation and maintenance.

"This contract reflects the success of our end-to-end capability and will underpin our future growth as we secure larger and higher margin business. I look forward to reporting further success in due course."

Avaya vice president Mark Michell added: "The partnership between Rocom and Avaya represents a key element of our UK growth strategy for 2008 and beyond. Rocom's total distribution capability compliments the Avaya channel model perfectly.""

[mikehardman] 07/4/2008 15:39

long 36; in for a possible move to 40p+ if/when 35p goes;
fingers xxxd re weds' finals;
like the looks of recent newes, CEO +CFO adding, etc.

[masurenguy] 07/4/2008 13:22

Several 20K share Buys this morning ahead of the results on Wednesday.

[tanners] 06/4/2008 21:35

LOL.....don't you mean a 500+ point drop!

Does feel like that at times in today's climate, even good news is met with a derisory response; still as long a sthe contracts are rolling in then the figures should do the talking.

I guess the only downside would be if the new contarcts are causing working capital to become restricted..........but time will tell!

[strangeman] 06/4/2008 21:23

Rather than looking at the charts, I'd say that if the results are out on Weds then we should be betting on a 200+ drop in the Dow on Tues, just to take the shine off any good news (again).

[masurenguy] 06/4/2008 19:15

Very Interesting review of the ATCG Chart from Fingers, the resident ADVFN TA expert !

[rivaldo] 04/4/2008 12:54

Nice summary Mas. The January trading update told us all we needed about the year end situation, so a word or two about debt haveing been further reduced would go down nicely. And interest rates are coming down too, though having refinanced maybe ATCG won't benefit for a while yet.

Positive article here talking about VOIP implementation and the Avaya/Rocom link up:



"SME uptake of IP telephony gathers pace
Businesses are experiencing the benefits of IP adoption as the technology becomes popular with the masses

Sam Trendall, CRN, 04 Apr 2008

Increased SME uptake has driven the number of IP PBX desktop extensions installed in the UK to 40 per cent of all installations in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Research by consultancy firm MZA revealed the figure is up from 33 per cent during the same period last year. In total, almost 750,000 PBX extensions were installed in the UK during 2007's closing quarter, up 16 per cent on 2006.

In businesses with less than 100 extensions, IP implementations now account for 20 per cent of all installations. For companies with upwards of 100 extensions, IP installations represented 65 per cent of all deployments, according to MZA.

Duncan Clark, research analyst at MZA, said: "Although the UK market increased in 2007, the enterprise sector began to flatten out, so much of the growth came from the below-100 extensions market."

But Clark added there could still be barriers to SMEs adopting IP telephony. "A major obstacle is still the cost for smaller organisations. It is much harder to demonstrate the return on investment and business benefits to these firms," he said.

The UK's leading PBX manufacturer is Cisco, MZA claimed, followed by Nortel, then Avaya, which slipped from the second spot in the third quarter. Panasonic led the less than 100 extensions category, with Nortel a close second. Cisco remained on top in the more than 100 extensions category.

John Howard, channel sales director at Avaya, said: "Vendors are very close when comparing quarter by quarter results. You have to look across 12 months to get a real idea."

Howard also hailed his company's recent addition of Rocom to its stable of SME distributors. "The move will give us additional penetration in the SME market," he said. "The market will revolve around IP. A lot of the resellers are traditional telecoms resellers but the data systems resellers are moving into that environment and it is all starting to come together."

Dave Millett, operations director for voice over IP specialist Inclarity, agreed with the research: "The adoption of IP is starting to cascade down from the large corporations.""

[masurenguy] 04/4/2008 09:51

During the past 6 month ATCG have gained four major multi-million pound contracts with blue chip customers like Amazon, Avaya, Cable & Wireless and De La Rue, which are collectively probably worth circa £10m in 2008. They have also obtained formal OGC ratification as an approved government contract supplier which opens up a new and important distribution channel to them. These developments have not yet been reflected in the share price which has remained firmly rooted in the 30p - 35p range for the past 6 months, following the 30% fall from 48p in September to November.

Results are due next Wednesday and the two key factors will be the outlook statement and the level of debt reduction. If there is positive news regarding these two issues then we could be on the cusp of a rerating of the share price.

[stegrego] 31/3/2008 12:35

Taking the mick here.

Very hard for even good news to move shares at the moment...

Just sit on hands or buy more at this discount. Wont last forever and could look very tasty in a couple of years time.

[rivaldo] 31/3/2008 12:25

Up another 0.5p jwe :o)) People finally cottoning on...seems a pretty convincing announcement to me.

[daz] 31/3/2008 12:11

Yes total lack of reaction, they look well capable of paying down the £19m debt, with a few contracts like that. Could conceivably be 90p in a years time on 12 * 7.7p in earnings.

[jwe] 31/3/2008 08:27

Yes,and from Tupman`s comments there appears to be more to come.2008 looks set to be a very good year for ATCG.If only the market would agree,so far we`ve been marked up a stellar 0.5p!!

[masurenguy] 31/3/2008 08:14

Good progress being made here with two multi million contract deals, with international blue chip companies like De La Rue and Avaya, being announced over the past 4 weeks.