Berkeley Technology Share Discussion Threads

[hugepants] 03/5/2009 20:30

Anyone know when and where the AGM is this year?

[hugepants] 03/5/2009 20:29

In fact his pension contribution has just increased to over $300k. He has made a salary waiver to match it but i bet it is a contingent liability.

Wouldnt this liability have to declared in the accounts?

[hugepants] 19/4/2009 20:53

"...Trueger holds A.B., M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of California. He has a variety of interests and is a patron of the San Francisco Ballet, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the Japan Society of Northern California, and the Asian Art Museum. Arthur Trueger is also an avid flyer and bicyclist and is a member of the Jersey (Channel Islands, UK) Aero Club..."

Being a patron of the arts and flying aeroplanes isn't going to cost buttons.

[baner] 19/4/2009 18:24

what is needed here is other shareholders suing treuger and his board colleagues for clearly breaching their fiduciary duties as directors. these parasites must be removed from the board and the company should distribute its net funds to all shareholders on a pro rata basis. it may be good to invite a respectable journalist to pick this one up as an "excellent" example of plundring of "other peoples money"!should not the FSA/LSE take action on this type of scumbags?

[hotter] 15/4/2009 08:16

I do believe I argued that Truegar was just milking this for own ends about 5 years ago.....they should delist or do something to grown business.....am surprised the main other shareholders havent piped up by now

[stewjames] 03/4/2009 07:24

It's certainly going to be interesting to see how they attempt to justify continuing to operate once those policies mature. Probably they won't even bother, just trot out that BS line:

"Our intention is to continue managing the Company to create value for all of our shareholders regardless of their different interests in the
Company's shares."

[hugepants] 02/4/2009 17:58

Didn't the other shareholders force a U-turn as regards stock options last year? Peter Gyllenhammar and a couple of Value funds own around 20% I think. Perhaps they arent completely toothless.

[adam] 02/4/2009 10:23

They state in the 10-K

During 2008, 71% of consulting fee revenues were generated from one
client. Our consulting arrangement with this client expired on December 31,
2008, and a new arrangement has not yet been agreed.

---

LPAL's policyholder liabilities fell during 2008 from $141,000 to
$106,000 primarily due to exchange rate changes. As of December 31, 2008, LPAL
has three policies remaining which are scheduled to mature in the first half of
2009. There are currently no plans to write new policies.

-----



In other words they are doing zip apart from drawing salaries and paying expenses. Whitehead, Trueger and the other principals should be sued IMO.

[hugepants] 31/3/2009 21:01

But I think it would make more financial sense if he bought out remaining shareholders at a big discount to NAV. Lets say a 50% discount, thats about 10p. Then he could continue doing whatever it is he thinks he is doing.

I also think adam is probably correct in his posts above. It will be interesting to see if BEK keep investing in private equity this year given that stock markets have fallen off a cliff and are awash with bargains.

[stewjames] 31/3/2009 20:45

He seems to have decided it's a no brainer to suck the cash out via wages and bonuses instead.

[hugepants] 31/3/2009 20:21

adam

Do you see any way out of this nightmare for shareholders? It doesnt look like Treuger is interested in creating value for shareholders. I thought ages ago it was a no brainer for him to buy out the rest of the shareholders at a sizeable discount to cash in bank. But its not materialised and it doesn't look like it will.

[adam] 31/3/2009 09:55

It might also be worth noting that the "consultancy fees" seem to come predominantly from companies they "invest" in.... and then write off the investment.


As of December 31, 2008, the Group's investments consisted of three private corporate equity securities with individual carrying values of less then 10% of the Group's shareholders' equity. One of these investments, with a carrying value of $500,000, is in preferred stock of a technology company that is a consulting client of BICC. Another investment, with a carrying value of $140,000, is in preferred stock of another technology company that was a consulting client of BICC in prior years. The third investment has a carrying value of $844,000 and is in preferred stock of a technology company.


Are they consulting or are they investing cash for stock and getting a commission? In any event the more important factor is that all the investments in these private loss making companies turn bad.

[adam] 31/3/2009 09:40

Apart from receipt for bankrupt investments they made before in Enron and WorldComm they consumed some $2.5m in cash, not including the full $1m pay-off to Whitehead. Nice work if you can get it. The fact is they also wrote down one of their private equity investments - still they are good at that, and they seem to have only one client. The V.C unit made a whopping loss with almost no income but the expenses keep rolling in. Also note that Treuger had a $20m bonus payout for "gains" in one of the bubble years. I don't see him handing any of that back for the $1b loss he has made since. In fact his pension contribution has just increased to over $300k. He has made a salary waiver to match it but i bet it is a contingent liability. You can also bet he has a very generous employment term with a rolling contract. Snouts in the trough.

Net realized investment gains (1,143)
Net cash used in operating activities (2,474)
Proceeds from WorldCom, Inc. and Enron securities litigation settlements 1,643


You have to ask yourself, what the company is doing with $13m cash paying $2.5m a year to keep going? No revenue, More bad investments and huge salaries, pension schemes and pay-offs.

[hugepants] 31/3/2009 08:59

Final results out for this perenial dog


17p net cash
2p worth of private equity

Sitting on cash and doing nothing has been a good strategy the last 12 months.

[hugepants] 19/2/2009 19:39

Come on Arthur, make us an offer.

[hugepants] 28/1/2009 18:46

A nice 33.3% drop for this dog. Day traders shorting again.

[petersmith6] 17/1/2009 13:35

found my old paper stikyfuts for this donky...forgot i still held them...my did i realy buy at 50p and 20p...well a bit more waiting...see you all in another two years then

[lord santafe] 16/1/2009 15:37

Hugepants,

Remember Financial Payment (FPS) ?. It is now January and we should hear by the end of this month. I just wonder if you have heard anything recently about how much per share we will recieve?.

[philut] 16/1/2009 12:50

Had a look earlier on Selftrade, online bid was 5p but max online size was 1.5k!

[stewjames] 16/1/2009 12:49

How can the mms get away with that? Aren't there any restrictions?

[ben value] 16/1/2009 11:27

Just out of interest does anyone know what you can currently sell them for?