Bond International Share Discussion Threads

[8rupert] 27/7/2011 16:24

Am I being scammed? An indian sounding chap rang me and asked if I wanted to sell my Bond shares. The company he represented wanted to gain a 51% stake and would be prepared to offer up to £7.50 per share!! I have to sign a non disclosure agreement to go ahead. Its from Barrington Consultancy NY

[napoleon 14th] 16/7/2011 21:24

Shhhhhhhh!

[rivaldo] 08/7/2011 15:50

Hmmmmm :o))

[asagi] 08/7/2011 14:49

"The group has made a good start to the year, seeing an upturn in demand for its products. This has given the board confidence in the group's ability to meet market expectations in 2011."



Asagi (long BDI)

[jonwig] 31/5/2011 18:38

A bit of encouragement, Liontrust up from 3,983,935 shs to 4,033,935 (11.03%).

Napoleon - Constellation can bid, but only with the blessing of the BDI board.

[napoleon 14th] 27/5/2011 14:10

I'm a long-suffering holder & can't see any reason to buy!

Regrets, but if Constellation can't bid for 5 years there's only BDI's performance to move the SP, & that's not exactly exciting.

Still, things could change.

Incidentaly, Constellation have an interest in IDOX & are said to be selling down.....
I like IDOX, tho' haven't bought 'cos 20p looks like a hard resistance after a steep rise, so just watching.
Results were v. good. AGM June 1st, so we'll see.

[asagi] 15/5/2011 12:44

Why didn't we see this on the regulatory newsfeed? A nice new contract in North America.

"Vaco, the nation-wide placement and consulting firm specializing in finance, accounting, technology and administration, will roll out Bond's latest version of flagship software, Adapt, across all of its 26 offices in a contract worth $1.5M."



edit - Asagi (long BDI)

[boadicea] 03/5/2011 11:58

What's up 'ere then?

[boadicea] 28/4/2011 19:45

The increase of 1.15M was acquired on 27th April (= date of acquisition and date on which 10% threshold was crossed) according to the RNS. However, no trades amounting to that has appeared, even including PLUS trades and late (L) postings today.

Presumably there is a corresponding seller who, assuming singular, in UK and previously over 3%, must report.

[jonwig] 28/4/2011 17:25

Well somebody loves us: Liontrust holding up from 2,773,935 to 3,923,935 - that's 10.7%.

[jonwig] 21/4/2011 14:02

spooky - you are not "the only person interested". But I see no point in posting if I've nothing to say. That's not a barb at you.

[spooky] 21/4/2011 13:32

Well i see these keep going down,i have bought some but it would appear that i appear to be the only person interested.There is absolutely no short term catalyst for a rise in the shares but i haven't been able to resist what i see as a significant discount to the true value of the business.There is a limit to my enthusiasm however so i would appreciate it if someone else decided to pick up a few.If you are wondering why you would buy them then ask yourself how many market leading software businesses can be bought for half annual sales ?I am sure i should just take out the seller but my interest in illiquid small caps is not what it was five years ago.

[jonwig] 11/4/2011 11:32

The standstill agreement, dated 21/10/10:

In addition, pursuant to the terms of the Standstill Agreement, Constellation has undertaken to the Company that for a period of five years from the date of the Standstill Agreement it will not, and it will procure that members of its group, its concert parties and Mark Leonard will not, without the prior written consent of the Company acquire any interest in Ordinary Shares if as a result it or such other parties, either alone or in aggregate, would have an interest in 24 per cent. or more of the voting rights of the Company.

So that - to me - suggests any bid would have to be an agreed bid.

[asagi] 11/4/2011 10:39

I echo that spooky. There was certainly a seller around when I picked up mine.

Trouble is - it can be hard to see the real market in AIM shares as now many MMs report trades to PLUS and not AIM. Perhaps someone can post L2 information on BDI

Asagi (long BDI)

[spooky] 11/4/2011 10:32

jonwig - There is a seller around so you should be able to get well inside the price.The research i have done doesn't suggest that the seller knows anything but he is large and Constellation who are the natural buyer are prevented from buying by the stand still agreement.

[jonwig] 11/4/2011 10:24

Asagi - thanks. I'm a holder ... though not at your price, alas.

[asagi] 11/4/2011 09:25

jonwig, I got my shares at 43-and-a-bit when the spread was 43p - 48p. That was with a normal internet broker, outside the normal market size.

Give it a go and see what they quote you.

Asagi (long BDI)

[jonwig] 11/4/2011 08:57

boadicea - the 'contingent risk' was my drift. Discounted, the consideration is rather less than £1.75m, too.

Certainly this kind of deal increases the price Constellation would be required to pay.

Spread 43-50 is a bit off-putting.

[boadicea] 11/4/2011 08:44

jonwig
"Payment dates are staggered, which could be a problem."

I don't see it as a conceptual problem if it all works out to plan. However, the balance could be at contingent risk if Abacus gets into problems under its new owners.

As an afterthought, is it part of a clean up before BDI itself is bought by Constellation?

[spooky] 11/4/2011 08:20

The sale makes a lot of sense and is consistent with the development of the business going forward,focussing on Recruitment and HR.

[jonwig] 11/4/2011 08:10

Sale of Abacus Software to reduce net debt. Consideration is £1.75m which is above asset value of Abacus (tangible plus intangible). So, as far as Abacus is concerned, the MBO people are paying for the capitalised software development (ref post #1889.)

BDI's net debt is currently £2.54m so it's quite a chunk off. Payment dates are staggered, which could be a problem.

[jonwig] 06/4/2011 17:00

billf - under IFRS, they should be retained to the extent that they are valid, amortised or written off to the extent that they are outdated.

It's a bit like buying a machine - it's an asset so long as it generates revenue. But it's different in that obsolescence is automatically present in a physical asset.

The main thing with BDI is to ask whether their accounts are consistent, or whether they mess about to present each period in its best light. Quite honestly I haven't done this, but in principle I'm just as comfortable with software development costs as an asset as I am with lathes in a metal basher.

[billf2003] 06/4/2011 15:59

I've had a look at the results, but am put off by the capitalised software development costs of £3.2M (slightly down on the previous year of £3.3M).

If I read the results right, Bond now has £11M of capitalised development and £2.5M of software as intangibles on its balance sheet. The big question is whether or not these valuations are valid....

The good news is that the company appears to have generated cash in the past year and that Constellation holds 24%.

But too much risk for me at the moment.

[jonwig] 06/4/2011 11:52

Hello, Sir L. Thanks for your post.

I must admit that the presence of Constellation on the share register with a significant holding swung it for me. Of course, with a good proportion of sales in the US, these are now international. For some companies, US expansion has been unfortunate, though!

[sirlurkalot] 06/4/2011 11:28

I'm just looking in, prompted to look again at Bond by posts elsewhere. I haven't looked at Bond much in the last few years - I left cyclicals and GARPs in 2007 and 2008 and people may know me better as an oil and gold investor over the last few years, prompted by what I thought the macro environment might be after 2007-08. The oil and gold prices have been pretty good over the last few years, but sadly I've learned that often individual miners don't deliver the production they forecast.

I sold out of Bond in Aug 2007, as disclosed in post 1331 on this thread. I seem to have been reasonably lucky in the share price performance since.

I've read the results yesterday, which strike me more as surviving and clinging on rather than the serious growth you want from cyclicals like Bond. I fear the UK recovery, such as it may be, in 2011-12 will be anaemic and without creating many new jobs soon. I feel it's a little too early for Bond just yet - I understand the game is to buy before momentum builds, but I feel green shoots will be slow to appear. Perhaps I'll look in again in a year's time, but then I've changed in the last four years and am now much more international as an investor and UK-orientated companies like Bond don't really do it for me, perhaps ever again.

Best of luck to all holders. I won't be visiting often, so if you prefer to start a new thread, the header of which can be more actively updated, feel free, I won't be offended.