Atlantic Global Share Discussion Threads

[philjeans] 19/9/2007 07:52

Interesting; a reverse takeover of another specialist IT business has been flagged.

With plenty of cash, consistent profits and dividends, this looks an excellent investment as their plans unfold.

[explorer88] 19/9/2007 07:46

Morning all

24% rise in turnover and return to profitability.

Adrian Bradshaw appointed as non-exec chairman to oversee substantial acquisition strategy

£1.7million cash

News on SaaS, confirming my post 99:

"Whilst we have experience hosting several customer implementations using our
current technology, the next generation of our software is specifically focussed
on providing a hosted or Software as a Service (SaaS) solution.

We believe that these developments scheduled for release in the first half of
2008 will address many of the issues and challenges faced during our sales cycle
and will also improve the ease with which we implement our products. The new
technology along with multi-lingual and multi-currency support will help expand
our potential market which at present is mainly focussed in the UK"

[explorer88] 23/7/2007 22:21

ATL PPM masterclass on 16th August now fully booked - pretty good going bearing in mind that it's in the middle of the holidays

down 1.5p today, but only 2500 shares traded - mm treeshake ahead of trading update?

[explorer88] 16/7/2007 09:10

ATL has announced plans for 2007 Annual User Group meeting:



venue is 5 star Landmark Hotel - a bit more upmarket than the place we went to last year (an indication that the company is doing well?)

GSK (Glaxo) are chairing the day, as a long standing client, with presentations from Kingston Communications, Oxford Pharmaceuticl Sciences and Welsh Assembly about how they've implemented Corporate Vision.

Wonder whether we'll get a trading update next week? ...

[explorer88] 13/7/2007 14:43

trading update in last week of July?

[explorer88] 01/7/2007 23:03

ATL are planning standard release of SaaS in the middle of Q2 08

[explorer88] 26/6/2007 17:21

From ATL web blog today:

The key advantages of using the SaaS (Software as a Service) model are that:

• It provides a low cost of entry to build a business case and gain executive-level buy-in.
• It allows the business to build a Project Portfolio Management (PPM) process and embed competency without being bogged down in protracted software installation cycles.
• It allows the business to work around IT resource and budget constraints.
• The vendor's application can be tested in a proof-of-concept or pilot.
• The SaaS provider owns, operates and maintains the software application.
• The SaaS provider owns, operates and maintains the servers that run the application.
• The SaaS provider employs the people needed to maintain the application

[explorer88] 22/6/2007 16:53

From ATL company blog this week:


"The SaaS (Software as a Services) model levers the developments in Web 2.0 to deliver the same features and functions as desktop programmes, including rich user interfaces and fast feedback via a web-only infrastructure. The current jostling and market competition between the software giants Google and Microsoft is very typical of developments within the SaaS space. Both Google and Microsoft are pioneering the latest developments (Google Office and Microsoft Office Live) to migrate into online, web based environments with the next generation of more dynamic, business responsive applications. Compared with the desktop environment, the SaaS model provides many compelling benefits, the most significant being the ability to have truly 'stateless' computing. In other words, wherever the user goes their data goes with them. This means there is no need to synchronise data, and the application runs on practically any computer, as long as the operating system supports a standard web browser.

According to IT analysts Gartner, SaaS applications present a cost effective alternative to in-house software licensing options – especially for small to medium sized enterprises. SaaS allows small companies to get 'good enough' enterprise application functionality such as a PPM tool, in a model that works for them, leaving the IT skills and capital investment burdens to the service provider.

SaaS offerings allow an organisation to spend more of its software investment money in critical areas, such as services, process definition, and support, as opposed to spending the bulk of the investment money merely on implementing technology. SaaS allows an organisation to focus on automating proven processes in shorter periods of time (compared to in-house deployments), without committing to a long term (multi-year, multi-phased implementation) relationship with one vendor.

SaaS as a network of web based business services is now becoming widely used within the Project Portfolio Management (PPM) market as a quick, low cost, low risk method of deploying software across the enterprise. In its simplest form SaaS manages and distributes services and solutions to customers across a secure internet connection or a private network from a remote, central data centre. The core feature of SaaS is that users do not need to purchase, install and maintain the software themselves; instead they rent the applications they need from their SaaS provider as part of consultation driven Project Portfolio Management initiative. SaaS providers offer companies services that would otherwise have to be provided in-house, or on site. The need for SaaS has evolved from the increasing costs of specialised software, which have far exceeded the price range of small to medium sized businesses. Also, the growing complexities of software have led to huge costs in distributing the software to end users. In essence, through SaaS, the complexities and costs of such software can be cut down."

[explorer88] 18/6/2007 08:01

What is a fair value for ATL? - a question i was asked recently, well...

a software business like ATL, with prospective high margins, returning to growth and profitability normally has a fair value market cap. of about three times turnover. ATL is now in the process of being re-rated back to this valuation (n.b. that two PPM companies were bought last year at 4.5 and 5 times turnover)

At three times historic (FY06) turnover, ATL's m/c is £5.88m, share price of 25p

At three times prospective (FY07) turnover (£2.5m), ATL's m/c is £7.5m, share price of 33p

It is interesting to note that ATL's share price fell from 33p to 15p in the three months July - Sept. 2005.

I anticipate that we are well into a re-rating back from 15p to about 33p, which will be completed when it becomes apparent that ATL can meet FY07 broker forecast of £2.5m.

Update from company in July about H1, preceded perhaps by coverage at the start of July from Techinvest (ATL is their nap for the year) should help the re-rating / re-valuation back towards 33p.

[philjeans] 15/6/2007 18:17

Another 1p on the price today - chart looking very positive now.

Read the co report recently - very detailed and informative and stress the importance of good relationships with pi's.

I like the look of this one.

[explorer88] 12/6/2007 09:49

hi pj

atl often issue a trading update in mid July, so we might get a bit of movement in the share price in the run up to that, certainly afterwards ...

p.s. both masterclasses next week are now fully booked.

[philjeans] 12/6/2007 09:13

No trades showing yet but some buying in the background it would seem.

Chart looking stronger.

[explorer88] 07/6/2007 15:17

Atlantic Global masterclasses continue to prove popular. June 20th event is now fully booked.

[madasafishman] 21/5/2007 15:01

hope thats all it is
in fact that would make sense following on from your earlier post and my broker saying they want to buy stock

perhaps they do have a large buy order to fill

[explorer88] 21/5/2007 09:05

treeshake to secure stock?

[explorer88] 18/5/2007 11:39

One of ATL's new clients, and one of the 4 companies mentioned in my previous post which have signed three year support agreements with ATL, is GroupM.

For those not familiar with GroupM, its operations last year had:

* billings of £30 billion
* 14,000 staff
* 402 offices in 81 countries

:-)

[explorer88] 18/5/2007 08:10

Support Sales

On 27th March 2007, Rupert Hutton, FD at ATL, said that new three year support agreements had "just been signed" with four companies, including Norwich Union.

Support sales rose by 19% in 2006

House broker is forecasting 27% rise in turnover this year.

[wilmdav] 17/5/2007 22:37

Bakunin

Yes, ATL and PHD are in the same ballpark when it comes to revenue and net assets. Where they differ is in historic and forecast profit.

P/E ratios 2006A 2007E 2008E
PHD 29 17.6 10.6
ATL 91 21.0 ?

The fact that ATL has previously disappointed the market by declining from a once profitable company paying a dividend does not help. But if explorer's seemingly well researched prognostications bear fuit, we could indeed see ATL knock spots off PHD's current market value in the not too distant future.

I have updated both companies on the website. FWIW there is now a valuation page for each.

I agree that PHD's market is currently more competitive (procurement software), although they seem to be making great progress in it. To be honest, I'm still rather ignorant about the precise nature of ATL's product. My rather ill researched impression is that employees are required to make an entry on an online time sheet when commencing and ending a task, every day, so that management know excatly what they are doing! If that's anywhere near the truth, there will not be much barrier to entry for competition. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

[wilmdav] 17/5/2007 15:38

explorer88

Thanks for the info about mm's offer to relieve you of stock. I also topped up on the strength of it - not shown yet either.

Bakunin

Apologies for delay in replying to interesting comparison of ATL with PHD. Hope to have a closer look this evening to do it justice.

[explorer88] 17/5/2007 15:05

mm's are now offering online price to sell up to 75,000 shares - i've never seen that before with ATL ...:-)

they won't be getting any of my ATL shares - i'll be keeping these indefinately

it is perhaps worth re-iterating that unlimited exemption from Inheritance Tax is available to private individuals provided that the investor has held shares in a qualifying company such as ATL for at least two years. After the two year holding period, the shares should be retained throughout life by the investor and will no longer be considered part of the investor's estate for IHT purposes. This represents an inheritance tax saving of 40% under current legislation.

[explorer88] 17/5/2007 13:44

Mad - :-) (you have mail)

[madasafishman] 17/5/2007 13:42

exp88
agree they are short of stock my broker just confirmed this

he also said they could get me a very good price for the stock im holding
and a not so good price for what i wanted to buy

i added a few anyway (although they not showing up anywhere as yet)that should cover me for the 2 bottles of champagne i may have to buy you ;-)

[explorer88] 17/5/2007 11:39

mm's are, for the first time in a very long time, short of ATL stock

they're offering to buy a large part of my holding in ATL (they're not going to get it! :-))

if small but steady buying which we've seen over the last couple of weeks continues, the share price should rise to around the 25p level (level at which shares were placed in June 2001 !)

after which, positive newsflow (trading update mid July?) and coverage (techinvest continued nap for 2007, beginning of July?), could see the share price rise back to the 40p level

my longer term forecasts for ATL (MC of approx. £22m-£32m; share price of 100p-140p)remain unaltered.

Bakunin - i'm making enquiries and may have further info. on ATL PPM SaaS shortly

[explorer88] 16/5/2007 12:09

Hello Bakunin

not sure whether book is available as ebook

i agree that the sooner Corporate Vision is offered on-demand the better