ATA Share Discussion Threads

[6million dollarman] 30/1/2004 15:29

Looking good for a quid b4 close!

[ix_trader] 26/1/2004 18:43

Over the last couple of months I counted more sells than buys.

It's a very thinly traded stock and all you're seeing is a few people selling because the share price isn't moving.

In just over a months time we'll have the results, with luck they will show a 30% growth in profits.

When that happens the price will move sharply up.

[mjneish] 26/1/2004 01:20

I guess you could be right, as many trades are at mid-price. Could they be sells? Some are just above mid.

[pugugly] 24/1/2004 16:28

mjneish: Have been watching closely but not sure if buys - Most of the volume appears to have been at 86p or 86.5 with the quoted spread of 84/88. The advfn buyS have been lower volume 1.5K -2.5K at 87 to 87.5.

This could be a large seller dribbling stock out and an MM working on a narrow spread but assured of a supplier of stock at a margin to cover his sells.

What do you think? Looking at the volume charts I cannot see the MM's would have had enough stock for all the trades to have been buys at the prices marked- There is therefore imo a large and continuing stock overhang. But all cautions etc and dyor..

Also ongoing worries about British Rail reorganisations, political foul ups and uncertainties...

[mjneish] 24/1/2004 14:57

Am I alone in noticing the recent volume increase in this lightly-traded share? Most of them appear to be buys as well.

[iriedread] 12/12/2003 08:41

iX what are you optimistic about? (if u dont mind me asking)

[ix_trader] 11/12/2003 18:09

I'm not convinced that we'll see any major aquisitions in the short term but I think the company has got good prospects.

Companies are now starting to replacing the systems they bought in 1999 in preparation for "Year 2000 Bug". 2004 will see a boom in IT spending on PC hardware, networks, software and of course training which Epic are sure to benefit from.

[iriedread] 10/12/2003 12:12

iX,

have a look at Epic (EPI). I've just waded in on the p/e and fundamental showing and the basis with such cash in the bank they must make a major aquisition soon.

Your views...

[ix_trader] 09/12/2003 18:48

The surplus shares seem to have been taken up at the 90p level and ATA Group has now moved up a few pence.

Indications are that their business divisions continue to trade well so I'm looking forward to a Happy New Year with this stock.

[iriedread] 03/12/2003 17:03

any news should do it....

just sold SCS (SUY) for £2.05 (bought £1.60 2 days ago) and they looked pretty similar value to me....

When i spoke to SCS director i did suggest a tad more communication with the LSE.

fingers crossed... may spend my SCS gain on some more of these, but i'd be a bit heavy if the wheels fell off... decisions decisions...

[ix_trader] 03/12/2003 14:14

A few more buys yesterday. There's no doubt that due to the low volume of trades patience is required with this share. Currently very profitable, with a P/E of 9.6 it's looking at though it will acheive a 30% profit growth in the current financial year.

In my opinion it's due for a substantial re-rating.

[iriedread] 02/12/2003 12:30

iX... all sounds like good news to me

[ix_trader] 02/12/2003 09:37

The price has now stabilised and should now start to move back up.

The reason for the recent drop is simple, ATA Group is a very thinly traded stock, days can go by without a single trade. During October and November there was hardly a single buy, there was just the occasional small sell, 500 - 5000 shares at a time. In that period the MM's accumulated around 60000 shares which no one was buying. What has been happening is that the price has been gradually falling to find the "market clearing level" - the level at which there are buyers. This point was reached last Friday when we finally got some buys.

Sharp falls for "no reason" are a downside of thinly traded stocks but they represent good buying opportunities. The upside is that even a small number of buys can send the price rocketing up. The purchase of just £50000 of stock would clear the surplus held by the MM's and create a stock shortage situation.

[iriedread] 28/11/2003 14:55

no uncertainty over Railtrack, whoever takes over will need to retrain staff in huge numbers and ATA group are the market leaders in training railway maintenance staff..

[iriedread] 28/11/2003 14:53

Just spoken to director who bought at £1.30 a few weeks ago and he's still bullish. "nothing has changed since last results"

A huge opportunity for those (like me) who can only spot the most obvious of bargains. High yield, low p/e, very low peg, cash, low debt, solid orders, director buys, etc...

:-)

[dmcdmcd] 28/11/2003 14:49

Quite a high yield on this one so there may have been some selling of the stock ex iv for those who were in for div only - that combined with teh fact that it is ex div. Maybe it'll rise when ex div period ends. I'm in anyway at 90p - fundamentals look pretty solid. Only threat seems to be all teh uncertainty over Railtrack. IMHO etc D

[iriedread] 28/11/2003 14:04

All the numbers are good (as far as my inexpert eye can tell)... reports are ok...and looks like plenty of work on the horizon.. I'm in at 90p. hoping for £1.20p plus and soon.

[sojourno] 28/11/2003 12:08

No idea... just found them on with a stock screener, now on my monitor. Could be a good entry point.

[iriedread] 27/11/2003 12:53

huge price drop for a share touted as cheap and a good buy at £1.20

can't find any reasons why..

anyone have any ideas???

[ix_trader] 10/10/2003 10:32

As had been rumoured Jarvis have pulled out of its Rail Maintenance contracts.

This should give good news for the Railway Training Division of ATA Group since the 3500 people Network Rail will be taking on are bound to need some training.

Article from

Jarvis quits rail maintenance

Nobody was hurt in the Kings Cross derailment
The engineering firm Jarvis is to give up all its contracts for carrying out day-to-day maintenance on the rail network.
Jarvis told Network Rail it was worried about its profits and reputation.

It is being investigated for its role in the Potters Bar crash last year and a derailment in London last month.

Jarvis maintains a quarter of the rail network, including the busy East Coast line to Edinburgh and commuter routes in the Midlands, but has been heavily criticised for the standard of its work.

Faulty points

Jarvis is pulling out of routine maintenance, partly because it is worried about its reputation being damaged by accidents caused by poor workmanship.

But the company will continue to be involved in major track replacement projects - including the modernisation of the West Coast line.

Network Rail will take over the maintenance contracts itself and the 3,500 engineers working on them.

Seven people died at Potters Bar when a train derailed because of faulty points.

Jarvis was responsible for their upkeep and has suggested the accident might have been caused by sabotage.

Police are still investigating why a set of bolts was missing.

'Higher standards'

Last month there was a close shave at Kings Cross station, when an intercity train derailed because it was diverted onto a section of track that was missing.


Seven people were killed in the Potters Bar crash

Jarvis admitted it had been doing maintenance work in the area, and something had gone wrong. No one was injured.

Announcing its decision Jarvis chairman, Paris Moayedi said: "The Board of Jarvis has decided to focus the business on delivering its core services to even higher standards of excellence".

It said maintenance accounts for less than 15% of turnover and Jarvis now intends to concentrate on its other core activities.

'Smooth transition

Sources at the Network Rail are describing the news as "fantastic".

We will work closely with Jarvis in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition

John Armitt

Network Rail has already brought three other contracts back in house.

But the more work it takes on, the more pressure it will face if things go wrong, BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said.

The handover is expected to be completed by April 2004.

Network Rail Chief Executive, John Armitt said: "We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Jarvis.

"Jarvis has decided to exit rail maintenance and we have concluded that the best way forward is to bring these contracts in-house.

"We will work closely with Jarvis in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition."

[2magpies] 07/9/2003 08:05

And a v interesting chart formation indeed!!!

[ix_trader] 05/9/2003 06:26

Two Director buys were notified on the 4th September, always an encouraging sign.

iX Trader

[ix_trader] 03/9/2003 17:49

As expected ATA Groups figures show a significant improvement in the Recruitment Division and it looks like the dark days for the Recruitment Sector (2001/2) are now behind them.

The company can look forward to high rates of profit growth and is in my view significantly undervalued.

The dividend was increased as well.

iX Trader

ATA Group PLC - Interim Results
RNS Number:3179P
ATA Group PLC
03 September 2003

ATA GROUP PLC ("ATA Group" or the "Company")

INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTH PERIOD TO 30 JUNE 2003

Highlights

*Turnover £7.5m (2002: £6.2m) an increase of 21 per cent.
*Profit before tax and before exceptional credit £0.45m (2002: £0.38m) an
increase of 18 per cent.
*Profit before tax including exceptional credit £0.50m (2002: £0.64m)
*Earnings per share before exceptional credit 3.71p (2002: 3.28p) an
increase of 13 per cent.
*Dividend per share 2.1p (2002: 2.0p)
*Positive cash generation of £0.4m since 31 December 2002

Bill Douie, Chairman commented:

"In spite of many comments that recovery has commenced, economic conditions
continue to create tough trading conditions, particularly in recruitment.
Nonetheless I am pleased to be able to report another year on year improvement
across the Group as a whole. Group turnover in the six months to 30 June 2003
increased 21% to £7.5m (2002 £6.2m). Profit before tax and before exceptional
credit rose 18% to £0.45m (2002 £0.38m).

ATA Group continues to demonstrate significant underlying strengths and
resilience during trying conditions. We have used the recent period to good
effect in continuing to improve efficiency and to make substantial investments
in IT and other infrastructure for the future.

To this end Andrew Bailey joined the Group Board on 24th April 2003 as
Commercial Director adding further top level skills and providing more time for
both the Chairman and Chief Executive to address Corporate Development matters.
"




Enquiries:

Bill Douie, Chairman

Clive Chapman, Chief Executive


ATA Group Plc

Head Office,

Telephone [phone]

[ix_trader] 31/8/2003 16:59

Currently the part of the ATA Group (ATP) generating the profits is the Rail Training division (what used to be Catalis). They have just over a tenth (£7mil) of this market and are expanding market share.

ATA also supply on-track labour (they recently bought Ganymede Tracklayers). With this and the training side they are in a very strong position to benefit from the vast sums of money being poured into the railways.

The other main division is recruitment, originally they supplied the Automotive industry but that turned down several years ago and they moved into Telecoms, unfortunately at the wrong time! The division has been doing very well over the last 6 months as the figures due out in September will show.

Profits for 2002 showed a 40% increase to £1.4 million but this was a bit of a red herring as it included a 400K exceptional, in reality profits were flat at 1.05 mil. Profits for 2003 were expected to be in the order of 1.36 million (a 36% increase) but the information I have is that they are likely to comfortably exceed that figure.

They currently trade on a historic P/E of about 10. When the figures come out in late September I would expect the price to move up very significantly.

Another good thing about ATA Group is the dividend currently worth 4.5%

iX Trader

[ptgint] 05/3/2003 16:10

alfwilson

Any further thoughts on ATA ?