Batm Advanced Communicat... Share Discussion Threads

[latifs100] 04/2/2022 16:25

i got in at £1.45, how much cash and debt levels, thanks

[jimmywalkden] 04/2/2022 15:44

I do not think that this is as much of a mess as the current share price would suggest, and if it results the the shareholder base being changed to those that are more understanding of where the company is heading I think it will be a good thing.

If you don't have to sell I would suggest you let the market play out and in a couple of months you will scratch your head wondering how the price went so low. In the podcast I referenced previously Zvi remarked that he expected to be able to sell off parts of one division for a sum more than the full company value now, eventually the market will understand this and realise that the company is worth so much more,
I hope the ride up will be just as eye watering as the current slide.

[jimmywalkden] 04/2/2022 15:20

My reading of this problem is that it arose because the people at Russell Index decided unilaterally to remove the company from their indices despite what the company announced in their RNS the previous day. I don't think Shore Capital can be blamed for it although I do agree with 'fse' that it is difficult to see what value they do provide.

That said I also think that much of this is because the business is poorly understood in the London marketplace, the reason for the dual listing was I believe a hope that there would be better coverage by Israeli analysts as there were more companies locally of a similar nature.

[jimmywalkden] 04/2/2022 14:42

With regard to the illustration posted by '74tom' above,

I agree that there may be a large number of shares held in funds like the one shown but I suspect that companies like Vanguard will transfer shares between funds rather than hit the market with them. MM's will however continue to keep the price depressed and mop-up those that do.

I also disagree that the share buy-back is a desperate measure by the company to deal with this problem, as I stated previously I believe this to be a genuine attempt to award shareholders without the tax implications of dividends.

Clearly the real losers are those that are forced to sell, or are frightened into selling at these low prices.

The main thing to remember is that nothing has changed for the company, it is not in financial difficulty and continues to trade very robustly as before. It has cash reserves sufficient to consider a share buy-back. Having invested in this company for over 20 years I have never been more confident of its future than now and after listening to the excellent podcast posted by 'fse' a few days ago I was struck by how ebullient Zvi was considering how over the years he has never been one for hyperbole.

The upcoming results will i'm sure also clarify how well the company is progressing and I do not think the share price will remain low for long as the opportunity will be taken by others to invest in an excellent growth company.

[fse] 04/2/2022 14:24

Whats likely to happen here and who is to blame fort this monumental screw up ... a few thoughts FWIW.

First off the company still exists and is well funded and the arguments for investing in them has not altered. If this was a new company coming to market with their IP I can only imagine what they would list at, certainly multiples higher than this. So..Its a listing problem and has to be sorted out.



I would have thought it was the domain of Shore Capital the company brokers to deal with the UK side as far as registrations, listings on LSE, share issuance etc. They would be the Go To people for advice. Its seems to me that they have badly advised BATM as to the various criteria. I have had most unpleasant dealings with Shore in the past and have found them arrogant and dismissive. They never return phone calls. I fail to see what possible value they are to BATM so the first port of call IMO would be to ditch them and find another firm that can more competently deal with this side of the business. It seems to me that BATM brokers have landed them in all this mess.
Anyone any ideas on this ?

They can continue to try to plead their case and get an extension but this really does not solve the problem longer term and I cant see this being a preferred option.

To be able to get back into the indices I would assume they would have to list solely on LSE and drop the TASE listing "again". This may be their quickest alternative. They were not under any review for a couple of years after they rejoined TASE but I suspect this was always an issue.

UK shareholders who form a decent size chunk of holders need to be considered. If BATM delist from LSE and list on NASDAQ UK shareholders could continue to hold shares in the ISA etc. This therefore is an inconvenient solution but could be achieved.
There are benefits to Telco systems to be on NASDAQ particularly with a growing protectionist attitude in the US that do not want to see critical infrastructure held by over seas companies.

Israeli shareholders would be OK as no need to give up the dual listing as far as I know so they could list on TASE and NASDAQ. I honestly feel this is a cleaner move as BATM are a US/Israeli company.

I dont see the benefit to them in moving to any other European bourse but this could be a blind option that we have not even considered.

I am not certain if BATM can in the light of whats happened suspend trading in shares until the matter is sorted out. Its hard to quantify what the effect of forced selling for Tracker funds will bring but its not good and in the present situation they will be forced to unload by March 22nd. This point was made above by 74tom and we dont know the full implications as far as numbers held by tracking funds go as they are forced to sell.

Existing large institutional holders in BATM are not going to be happy with this situation and they could jump either way. Doubtless they are well briefed and mandates will decide whether they stay or run. Technically the smart move would be for them to pick up the slack as they know they are buying shares at an enormous discount.

At these levels the company could get taken over despite Zvi Maroms large holding if the institutional holders decide to bail. So this is something they are going to have to consider.

They could go to the Banks and raise money and take the company private.

[74tom] 04/2/2022 12:35

When you consider there are 440m shares & just 6m have traded since yesterday mornings RNS you can imagine what could happen if significant selling volume hits here on or before 21st March. I suspect the share buy back is a desperate measure that they've had to put in place to try and offset what is simply a disastrous situation for a company that has been listed for so long.

It took me 5 minutes to find an example of the type of fund this will impact;



It has 0.01% of it's funds under management invested in BATM (P49 of the very unhelpful portfolio breakdown)

The fund had £11.8b of assets under management at 31/12, so 0.01% was equivalent to ~£1,180,000 of BATM shares. At the 84.1p close on 31/12 Vanguard held ~1.4m shares... how many other similar tracker funds are in the same situation?!

[boggy] 04/2/2022 11:21

Pharmawosit - looks like I need to change brokers......thanks for sharing.

I also topped up earlier this week, I'm sure the price will recover soon, if they buy back 10% that for me is really good news and at these prices won't take as much of their cash, then when things start to move up the share will rise quickly as there won't be as many shares in circulation.

[nellyb] 04/2/2022 11:09

crypt - you better join forces with lombard odier and give zvi a right ear bashing.

[the crypt] 04/2/2022 10:56

I only bought 15k more last week and now they are splattered - i am the bringer of doom

[pharmawotsit] 04/2/2022 10:31

 boggy - No, they're only listed on the US exchanges.

 Also, they're held in two different brokerages and not encountered any difficulties.

[car1pet] 04/2/2022 10:16

Lombard odier are the largest shareholder with 27%. I would expect they are having robust conversations with marom.

[boggy] 04/2/2022 09:58

Are the US shares also listed on the LSE if so this is OK to go into ISA, but if they have no LSE listing then according to Hargreaves Landsdown and ii you cannot keep them in an ISA - the shares I had last year were dual listed, when they decided to remove their LSE listing my shares were automatically removed from my ISA into my Trading Account.

[pharmawotsit] 03/2/2022 20:35

 For info, I have several US shares in ISAs, even some listed on the USOTC.

[nellyb] 03/2/2022 19:48

i googled motley fool "Can I buy US shares and put them into an isa/sipp?"
"Yes, you can buy US shares very easily and you can also put them into tax-protected accounts like an ISA or a SIPP".

[boggy] 03/2/2022 19:26

FSE, following on from your earlier comment I am sure that if they are not listed on the LSE they cannot be held in an ISA, however can be held in a trading account. I researched it last year when a dual listed share I had decided to list on NASDAQ only. Fortunately this is currently not the case for BATM and to my knowledge not being included in Index Series won’t affect my ISA holding.

[picsous] 03/2/2022 18:08

I transferred my Barclays ISA to II (interactive investor) for free, so that would be an easy fix if II accept foreign shares.

[steeplejack] 03/2/2022 18:03

Barclays don't do foreign shares but plan to do so sometime soon.However,whilst UK brokers might do virtually every UK listed stock,its not assured that they will do every foreign stock especially if the market cap is only around 200 million quid.

[cumnor] 03/2/2022 17:30

Not sure if Barclay ISA does, unless it has a UK listing as well, which would be a bit of a surprise.

[nellyb] 03/2/2022 17:26

fse, i expect all the main/standard uk brokers will accept foreign shares, however, if I was in any doubt, now would be a good time to ask.

[fse] 03/2/2022 17:13

nelly correct from what I can see... I think its more of an issue as to what individual brokers will handle foreign shares ...might have to change brokers

[nellyb] 03/2/2022 17:09

steeplejack posted earlier: "According to HMRC, you can hold foreign shares in an ISA as long as the shares are in a company listed on “a recognised stock exchange anywhere in the world”.