Avanti Capital Share Discussion Threads

[edcrane] 04/5/2006 07:22

News from Bango (BGO)today which recently announced a partnership deal with mBlox in which Avanti 0holds a 7.9% (£5.6m or 61p per share) holding .....


May 4, 2006 - Bango, the mobile content enabler, has announced a partnership
with Telefonica Moviles Espana ('TME'), Spain's leading mobile operator, that
opens up new and compelling content for consumers to browse and buy outside the
operator portal from their mobile phone.

Bango enables businesses of all sizes to get their content to market quickly and
at low cost and sell their mobile content directly to mobile users on any
network via the mobile internet. Content providers can now target the 19.9
million TME subscribers who are able to pay for mobile content on their phone
bill.

Through Bango's direct connection to the Telefonica Moviles 'Pagos Movistar'
payment service, TME subscribers can now browse mobile content outside the
operator's portal - ranging from ringtones and music tracks to games, pictures,
information services and videos - and pay via their TME phone bill. This gives
Spanish consumers the same mobile internet payment experience which has proved
popular elsewhere in Europe.

Bango has a pre-existing agreement with TME to allow customers fast and easy
access to content outside the Telefonica Moviles portal. This partnership has
been extended to support payments for content hosted outside the portal through
the direct connection to the Telefonica Moviles 'Pagos Movistar' payment
service.

'Telefonica Moviles Espana is the first Spanish operator to partner with Bango
to drive the off-portal mobile content market,' said Ray Anderson, CEO at Bango.
'Up until now, this 'no-surprises' mobile internet payment experience has only
been available to TME subscribers buying content on the operator portal.'

'We are committed to giving our customers the widest choice of content and
enabling more players to enter the market. This will make the pie bigger for all
of us,' said Alicia Calvo, Head of Mobile Commerce at Telefonica Moviles Espana.
'Bango's service makes it easy for content providers to activate mobile services
and build a business on the mobile internet.'

Content providers sign up for the Bango Service by registering on-line at
www.bango.com. They decide how to price and promote their mobile services and
because no integration work is required, within a matter of hours they can be
receiving their first mobile transactions via Pagos Movistar.

'By going direct-to-consumer via Bango, content providers receive the highest
payouts in the industry and can control the whole product proposition,'
continued Anderson. 'This is the fastest growing mobile channel in traffic and
revenue terms and now is exactly the right time for Spanish content providers to
take control.'

Global brands such as News Corporation, Manchester United Football Club, EMI
Music, Discovery Mobile, together with smaller, niche content providers are
already using the Bango Service to create sophisticated browse and buy content
portals marketed directly to their customers.

[lbo] 26/4/2006 12:25

Well it seems the smoking ban is not having much effect!

[growbag] 12/4/2006 13:49

The Board are being true to their word and continuing the share buy back. Encouraging. Is it only Barvest holding this back from getting closer to NAV?

[growbag] 05/4/2006 14:13

goods news. thanks for posting that Adam. MBlox continuing to make solid progress by all accounts.

[growbag] 28/3/2006 18:38

Stated NAV is 216p per share. If the board are serious about continuing the buyback to that level, this should have some decent short term upside. That
NAV though includes 64p for Barvest - so any come back from that would be very welcome. MBlox looks set to reap a huge return for the company.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 28/3/2006 16:46

Well I suppose that´s an up yours to the doubters. I´m going to take some convincing though.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 28/3/2006 10:27

Fellerman and Kleiner should have let PoNaNa fail, not put more money into it IMO. They´d got most of their original investment out and now they´ve put it all back in. The difference is this time the business is clearly struggling. I guess they couldn´t bear their big investment to prove a dud but it has.

My guess is that it will consume more of Avanti´s cash this year and that´s without them even maintaining their venues.

It´s going to be years if ever before they get out of it successfully now.

[Abuse team] 27/3/2006 23:10

Post removed by ADVFN

[jeffian] 27/3/2006 23:10

LBO,

I see we've come full circle!

(LBO - 18 May'05 - 09:29 - 47 of 182


Surely the recent Enterprise Inns results bode well for the Po NA NA sale too

jeffian - 18 May'05 - 10:37 - 48 of 182 edit


Absolutely no comparison. Tenanted community pub estate v. directly managed late night bars/'venues' = chalk v. cheese.

Regards, Ian)

If the purpose of posting the Merrill Lynch "buy" recommendation on ETI/PUB is to suggest that their comments equally apply to managed late-night bars such as Po Na Na, they don't. The smoking ban WILL have a short term impact, as will competition from the new extended licences granted to pubs, which negates much of the reason drinkers moved on to late-night bars after normal pub closing time. Yes, these things may sort themselves out over time, but how much time have Po Na Na got? This is not some successful chain such as Wetherspoons which has the profitability and assets to weather (excuse the pun) a downturn in trade, it is the 'best' of a bust company which has consistently failed to meet the targets set for it by its new owners (remember the projected EBITDA when they bought it was £2m and it's gone downhill ever since to the point of current breakeven - or £0, as we say). It isn't in any position to deal with any "short-term negative impact on bar trade"; it's hardly generating enough sales to pay its bills never mind any investment that may be required to revive tired venues.

I'm a huge fan of both ETI and, to a lesser extent, PUB in both of which I hold shares, largely because their business model (rent and wholesale beer) buffers them from the issues referred to above which impact directly on the directly-managed retail businesses such as Po Na Na.

Regards, Ian

[lbo] 27/3/2006 18:52

UK Analyst

Merrill Lynch dismissed concerns over the implications of a smoking ban on the pubs and bars sector and said that it was maintaining an "overweight" stance on UK pub operators. The broker reiterated its "buy" recommendations on shares in Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns, and increased its price target on Enterprise Inns to 1,000p. Shares in Enterprise Inns rose 8p to 929.5p and Punch Tavern stock lost 1.5p to 840p. Even if there is a drop in trade, the broker said that the tenanted business model offered a natural defence. The broker thought that any short-term weakness caused by negative comment from Scotland was a buying opportunity. The broker said it saw no need to downgrade any of its earnings estimates. Merrill's analysis of other bans suggested the worst-case scenario was a short-term negative impact on bar trade, which fully recovered by the second year at the latest.

[adam] 22/3/2006 16:32

The student market is probably a slightly different scenario, though equally tough. There is little doubt that Barvest is a drag at the moment. The risk is it gets worse. In which case there ought to be a move to liquidate or change management. Most of that should be in the price I would argue. If it succeeds then management will be vindicated and shareprice will bounce strongly. I spoke to management after results and they were guarded. New Barvest management highly regarded apparently, and have large carrot. mblox seems to be going gangbusters. I think bull/bear case fascinating and respect jeffians correct call. I am a buyer for choice.

[arthur_lame_stocks] 22/3/2006 10:32

Pre-close statement from Luminar



A bit of a mixed bag but trading dificult.

Avanti shareholders should be grateful this mob were caught before they could do any harm, it´s worried me for a time that pubs an nightclubs would be prime targets for these people.



They should have let Barvest go under and not started chucking more cash at it IMO. It is going to be years now before they get their money back, if ever IMO.

[lbo] 18/3/2006 14:32

The group said it received a number of offers for Barvest, which owns the Po Na Na and Fez bar and club brands, but "none of these offers materialised into a proposal considered by the board to be likely to realise an acceptable value."

[Abuse team] 18/3/2006 14:23

Post removed by ADVFN

[lbo] 18/3/2006 14:22

Well I am convinced they did but they think they will get more very soon under the new managment. Yes they are not trading great but thats a reflection on consumer spending and the buy out activity in the sector is usually a sign of the bottom and a tiny increase in turnover in the Barvest business can cause a big increase in profits. You seem jeff to want to talk this down the whole time and I really wonder why your posting and following it so closely. As for the smoking ban in Ireland. Yes it had a small short term effect but its recovered well since as people will always want to go to bars/Clubs for many other reasons besides drinking/smoking and causes no long term problems for trade. I am with growbag and expect more good news soon.

[jeffian] 17/3/2006 11:41

I'm not convinced they received any offer at all for Barvest. "no offers materialised into a proposal considered by the board to be likely to realise an acceptable value" is not the same as saying that they had a firm bid but it wasn't high enough. On their own admission, they are barely breaking even at trading level and entering a period of extreme uncertainty in their area of operation both from the smoking ban (which WILL, on evidence from Ireland and recent trials by JD Wetherspoon, hit trade in the short term) and extended licences in pubs which takes away the very reason most of their customers go there - to carry on drinking after pub hours. Even if new management do stabilise the business, the unspoken danger here is the continuing investment required to keep the venues 'fresh' and they don't even have the comfort of owning the properties like ULG. A run-down leasehold bar can quickly turn from an asset to a liability.

However well AVA do with mblox and other tech investments, I fear that their venture into the licensed trade is more likely to cost them in the end, rather than enhance NAV, but we shall see.

Regards, Ian

[growbag] 17/3/2006 11:12

If the new management can just begin to show signs of improvement, an acceptable offer is very likely to come forward. Things are looking good (for once!). Look to see that gap on NAV above 200p per share closing over the next six months -- a good chance to captilise on some upside potential IMO up to 33% gain. An revenue from a potential sale of Barvest is also additional to current share price

[lbo] 17/3/2006 10:52

And it seem we did have bids for Barvest but they want more and with all the activity in the sector they may be right. Remember it only cost £6m to buy it back in 2003!



Written by: Iain O'Neil


Avanti Capital has announced management changes at Barvest in a bid to boost fortunes after no-one came forward with an 'acceptable' bid for the 28-strong bar and club operator.

Avanti put the chain, which includes the Po Na Na and Fez brands among others, up for sale in March 2005 for approximately £15m.

Despite reported interest from Soho Clubs and Bars, Ultimate Leisure and CanDu Entertainment Avanti said "no offers materialised into a proposal considered by the board to be likely to realise an acceptable value".

New appointments
The group has appointed Reuben Harley as managing and operations director, John Smith as finance director and Roger Dyer as commercial director.

Jeremy Sturgess, who had led the management team as an interim measure, has stepped down.

Anna Garrod continues as marketing director.

Avanti added: "Barvest continues to trade in a challenging environment with continued uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the new licensing regime and the introduction of a smoking ban.

"Nevertheless, the company remains determined to further enhance the value of this business over the medium term."

Avanti owns 60% of the equity of Barvest, with management holding a 40% stake, following their subscription for new shares in Barvest.

[growbag] 10/3/2006 10:24

Worth mentioning also that although no value is factored into share price for Barvest, the new management team there have put in a lot of their own money, along with Avanti's top-up -- and I doubt would have done so unless they think they can increase profitability. That, along with MBlox, provides quite a bit of upside IMO.

[lbo] 10/3/2006 08:41

Gets a write up in the IC. Says the NAV has risen to £2.16 and trades at a discount of 30% to NAV. Also says Po Na Na is trading profitably at the cash level during tough conditions. The mblox investment should offer considerable potential and the three other smaller investments are making good progress with disposals possible. The discount to NAV is high and expected to narrow when Avanti makes asset disposals.

[currypasty] 06/3/2006 15:17

somebodies buying !

[lbo] 06/3/2006 14:43

I agree with growbag and nothing is factored into the share price for Barvest and we already know that they do already have offers for it but they have not been "acceptable". The question is what is "acceptable" and I would suspect its a waiting game on Barvest and if you cant see the value in Avanti Capital even without Barvest then you need glasses.

PS Barvest was bought for £6m back in 2003 and was rumoured to be up for sale for £15m and also rumoured to have had interest from Soho Clubs and Bars, Ultimate Leisure and CanDu Entertainment.




Barvest will not be sold

The group - which owns Po Na Na and Fez Club in Bristol - was put up for sale in March 2005.

The City expected it to fetch up to £15 million, but private equity owner Avanti Capital, which bought the venture for £6 million in 2003, said no one had met its valuation. Instead of selling Barvest, Avanti announced management changes.

[growbag] 06/3/2006 09:56

jeffian - good points. but nothing factored into current share price for Barvest. So share price already assumes £0 value. Probably wise. Plenty of upside from mBlox seemingly which is encouraging. Some room for improvement in share price I would think, perhaps to £2.00 if the mBlox story develops.