Dowgate Capital Share Discussion Threads

[bartonski] 11/9/2008 10:28

hi, thanks for youre replies, not enough to make it worth selling really. Ive chipped away since i bought in 6 years ago and now its looking very small.
thanks again

[saddembinladen] 08/9/2008 19:12

How many shares do you hold Bartonski. If you need off loading and have a high number of shares, with the current spread, you're get ripped off and could be difficult to sell with many small batches. Maybe some lookers on here after results might be willing to buy them off you. Just a thought.

[donaferentes] 08/9/2008 07:27

I don't think anyone can seriously answer you. We may get a good result and we may, or may not, get a good response in the market to it - or it may disappoint and the share price drifts lower, or stays where it is. I have no idea what the market is expecting as a result, or what forward looking statements will be offered by TR.

I guess, if you need the money elsewhere, it is not really money you have free to invest in risk investments. So it shouldn't be invested, certainly not in a penny share anyway. So you should sell on that basis alone. But don't let me stop you taking a punt on a small tick up as we approach/on results due tomorrow week latest. However, I do not believe that even good news would add more than 1p to the share price at this stage.

But, as I said, at the beginning, no one knows.

[bartonski] 08/9/2008 02:39

i need to sell now. is it worth waiting a few more days? can anyone seriously anwser me?

[donaferentes] 05/9/2008 08:58

Any guesses on EPS for this year?

Last year was diluted down to 1.71p. Par value for me this year would be 1.85p which gives a PEG value of 0.67p - a good hold if the dividend yield keeps up at around 10%. Hoping for 2.0p EPS for PE of 5 and PEG of 0.30. That would need a PBT of about 1.18m v. 1.01m last year. With interest charges (£32k last time)now be down to zero and spare balances earning more interest this would normally be easily achievable. But the recent interview by TR suggests he has added to operating costs (new salaries for the London brokerage operation) in advance of generating the additional revenues anticipated therefrom in a consolidation phase as far as earnings are concerned in readiness for the revival of the market in due course. What does ". . . is not expected to disappoint with its interim results this month as it starts to benefit from bringing in its corporate broking business. Management remains confident . . ." from the Times mean. Are we going to stand still or move forward modestly?

Not long till September 16 - the latest date for publication of interims. Still everyone sitting on their hands - very low volume. Who's gonna blink first - buyers or sellers?

[kimboy2] 05/9/2008 08:33

Bit of a mention in the times;

[chelwood01] 02/9/2008 09:16

mugs , keep hanging around for another 2/3 years and listening to idiots like saddam who couldn't pick a winner and is sadly one of life's losers , fair enough , he can type a post but so can a clerk , limbo limbo limbo , while you pathetic bunch have been hanging around whimpering , professionals like myself have been coining it in.

co1

[pomfrat] 01/9/2008 20:24

"I've been doing this for twenty five years and I've done every sort of transaction, big and small," he says. "So we do a hell of a lot here and frankly the share price is cheap at the moment and other people can see that, which is why they come in to us. They say, 'well actually if we merge with you and we get some shares it's a damn good platform for us to build on or if we come in and we get share options, the share options are actually very cheap at the moment and we can see a lot of upside'.

[donaferentes] 29/8/2008 19:31

Great article - let's us know to expect some higher costs without the higher income this year. Reads well and shows TR in a good light and I am inclined to believe him. Let's hope de can still increase the dividend by 15% or so to show willing in hard times.

Results due 16th September latest as previously advised by company - interesting times!

[scoobydoo99] 29/8/2008 14:38

Well someone needs to tells up what's happening as the company are a bit RNS shy.

[qpfc] 29/8/2008 14:36

What I get grief about is the fact that the www.smallcapnews.co.uk site loses potential visitors and as it is free to air the editor feels it is a bit rich to rip the whole article out. I think thats fair enough as the above is a breach of copyright as I understand it.

[saddembinladen] 29/8/2008 14:19

I'll remove the post if you want qpfc. But I can't see the harm as I've quoted the source of where it's from. I'm sure plenty of investors in DGT would be really interested in the read.

[saddembinladen] 29/8/2008 13:44

Thanks qpfc good find - that's one of the most informative articles on Dowgate I have ever read. Worth pasting below:

Complete package: Dowgate Capital plc

Friday, August 22, 2008

Tony Rawlinson is a calm figure in a stormy market. For many AIM company chairmen tough conditions and sliding share prices mean shelving plans and taking shelter. But the head of Dowgate Capital plc is taking advantage of the market downturn to prepare his advisory and broking business for brighter times ahead.

City veteran and business advisor Rawlinson left Strand Partners for Dowgate's predecessor firm City Financial Associates in 2001. Since becoming chairman in 2005 he has orchestrated a brand building and expansion programme that has elevated Dowgate several notches above many of its City peers.

During 2007 City Financial was rebranded Dowgate Capital Advisors and the newly acquired Crawley-based broking business, Ellis Stockbrokers was renamed Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers. Rawlinson is now presenting the two business under the Dowgate Capital umbrella as a united advisory and broking offering that he hopes will appeal to new and existing clients –particular those with an AIM flavour.

In his biggest statement of intent yet, Rawlinson last year hired Dru Edmonstone and Philip Dumas to head up a big-hitting City-based broking team. And despite a pronounced market downturn, Rawlinson is confident that the group will ultimately benefit when the markets rebound.

"Things are significantly quieter than last year because of the much lower level of activity on AIM particularly, which is where we have centred ourselves over the last few years," Rawlinson says.

"But if companies go wrong and run into difficulty then that can involve more work for us. Obviously there is a lot of M&A and takeover code work going on at the moment that can benefit us, but it may not always involve fundraising. The two markets are different but generally speaking we work together on most things.

"It's definitely a good time to build the business, which is what we've done this year. We've been saying for the last year that we wanted to have a City-based corporate broking team. We're now looking to bring in private client brokers to complement the operation in Crawley, so we are looking to build the business but not radically and expensively.

According to Edmonstone, despite fundraising for clients proving to be very difficult at the moment, the new team has made strides since it was set up in spring last year.

"We have picked up new mandates as fast as we can - and these clients are hard won," he says. "There is also the matter of retaining the existing client base, getting to know them and taking them around to institutional investors. So we haven't sat on our hands. Dowgate is a new brand so it is a matter of getting out there."

Edmonstone reckons that with banks walking away from deals and cutting off funding options, many companies that need cash are simply left trying to raise cash through the equity markets.

"A lot of them still have the walking wounded attitude of 'we're not going to raise money at this price, it's far too cheap'," he says. "But we're feeling a pick up in the market now, in the sense that certainly the IPO market is beginning to come back.

"We have got two IPOs that we know of in September -they are profitable and as long as the management are realistic in their attitude to the valuations then we'll get them away. It's the ones that aren't realistic that have got a cat in hell's chance. But there is certainly money out there."

On the advisory side, Rawlinson's corporate finance advisory team is also enjoying some healthy work flow. "We are looking at a couple of floats, with broking, a couple of reverses, which are being managed by other brokers and three or four takeover code transactions where we're acting on bid situations," he says.

"We're also doing a whole raft of transactions like related-party deals, disposals, smaller acquisitions, share issues for clients – all of which are fee earning for us, so that's pretty good."

New opportunities

In building the business, Rawlinson has been keen to mitigate against depressed market conditions by bolstering the number of retained clients in an effort to cover as much of Dowgate's fixed costs as possible. And this strategy is paying off.

"We've now got to the stage where we don't need to have many transactions each year to actually breakeven in cash terms," he says. "We've got such a diversified retained client base that even if one or two disappear we'll take on two or three more, so overall we're gradually increasing the numbers.

"We've got 44 AIM clients and probably about 48 in all on the corporate finance side and over 60 on the broking side, but there is some cross-selling."

It was with the introduction on Edmonstone that the cross-selling model really took off and he is now co-ordinating efforts to cross-fertilise brokerships and nomadships between the Crawley and City operations.

"It has been difficult to achieve," Rawlinson admits, as great care was needed not to upset the relationships that were already in place. Nevertheless the efforts secured between 10 and 15 successes over 18 months.

"Since Dru has been here the synergies have been much more in evidence," he says. "They talk to Crawley a lot more, they are coming up with ideas all the time, they are looking at new client opportunities and it really has put some meat in the sandwich, if you like. Even though it has been difficult to do fundraisings this year, from that point of view it has been very successful so far.

"Obviously we've invested a lot in terms of bringing in the City broking team. I'm viewing those as exceptional costs this year until the market improves and Dru and his team are bedded down. Next year obviously all three divisions – corporate finance, the old Ellis business and the new City broking offering – have got to perform as strongly as possible and carry their weight. But this year the existing two divisions are supporting the new division, as you'd expect them to do. So that's really what this year's results will show."

But despite it being early days, Rawlinson says the integrated offering is already finding favour in the City, with indications that the firm is beginning to be regarded as a step ahead of some mainstream advisory firms.

"We're in a middle layer in the market and there are not that many people actually occupying the space that we're in," he says. "We are also one of very few quoted, small-cap brokers and nomads. We've got no regulatory issues, we haven't been slated by the FSA or by AIM, we're a good quality business and believe in quality of service."

And with the corporate finance and broking operations now beginning to work together, the Dowgate team is now considering its options for developing the business. Rawlinson says the firm will readily consider ideas which complement the firm's core offering, including fund management and possibly research.

"I've been doing this for twenty five years and I've done every sort of transaction, big and small," he says. "So we do a hell of a lot here and frankly the share price is cheap at the moment and other people can see that, which is why they come in to us. They say, 'well actually if we merge with you and we get some shares it's a damn good platform for us to build on or if we come in and we get share options, the share options are actually very cheap at the moment and we can see a lot of upside'.

"We're looking at all these different ideas but we're not going to rush into anything," he says. "The main thing is to get our heads down at the moment and do some deals and bring in some cash, which we're pretty good at. It's a very experienced team on the corporate finance and broking side. We know exactly what we've got to do to get deals done and rather than spending my life on group stuff, I'm on corporate finance making sure deals happen and bringing in cash."

But while Rawlinson's team continues to build on its offering, he concedes that despite building a "very solid" business, the firm's share price isn't reflecting what he'd call a fair value. It is currently trading at around 10.25p, valuing the company at around £4.1 million.

But while general market confidence has played a part, the Dowgate team is also making moves to tighten things up. That includes paying dividends and initiating a share buy-back programme in an effort to reduce the dizzying 1,200 shareholders down to a more manageable number.

He continues: "We've now got to a stage where we're not distracted by a lot of stuff and we can concentrate on the work and given that we know the markets are difficult, even when we get a mandate there is no certainty that it's going to complete, so it's very important that all the experience that we've got is placed into making sure it happens.

"In terms of developing the business we've got one or two things that we are looking at; if they come together in a way that's acceptable to us then we'll pursue them. There is no issue with that at all. In this downtime, if you like, there are people being made available and businesses looking for new homes, so it's a good time for us to be exploring and trying to get those people on board.

Ben Hobson, SmallCapNews.co.uk

[qpfc] 29/8/2008 13:29

Interesting interview.

[saddembinladen] 29/8/2008 13:22

I will soon be coming out of Tora Bora if they don't announce their results soon. They are much later than usual. I wonder if it's because they are close to signing a few big ones?

[saddembinladen] 25/8/2008 23:42

Maybe so BUT WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET PAID OUR DIVI?

[davidosh] 19/8/2008 12:33

New brokerage and a placing hot on the heels...





In addition, the Company will issue a further 10,000,000 new Ordinary Shares to Dowgate pursuant to Dowgate's commission arrangements in respect of the Placing.

[davidosh] 30/7/2008 14:01

Another fundraising completed..

[saddembinladen] 29/7/2008 19:28

Sounds like our chairman is confident.

Mr. Edmonstone joined Dowgate Capital in March 2008 as joint head of corporate
broking and has since been building a City broking team and extending the
Group's base of corporate clients.

Dowgate Chairman Tony Rawlinson said, "Dru has already become an integral part
of the Group as it strengthens its profile in the small cap arena. The markets
are by no means easy, but with the correct team in place, which we now have, we
believe we can continue to add value to both our clients and our shareholders."

[rawli] 29/7/2008 08:04

29 July 2008




THALASSA ENERGY LTD

(AIM: THAL)




FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS ON AIM




£3.1m (US$6.2m) RAISED THROUGH PLACING OF 6,189,073 ORDINARY SHARES AT £0.50163 (US$1) PER SHARE




Thalassa Energy Ltd ('Thalassa' or the 'Company') today announces that it has successfully been admitted to trading on AIM. Thalassa has one subsidiary, Thalassa Energy Services Ltd ('TESL'), which was established to acquire marine seismic equipment, specifically a Portable Modular Source System ('PMSS™'). The PMSS™ will provide the seismic (sound) source to allow exploration and production ('E&P') companies to perform oil reservoir monitoring.




Thalassa's market capitalisation at the placing price of £0.50163 is £4,263,855 (or at US$1 per share, US$8.5 million).




Thalassa's reference currency is the US dollar as the oil industry operates in US dollars; however the Company's shares will be traded in pounds Sterling.




HIGHLIGHTS




TESL's end customers will be upstream E&P companies that have established oilfields which are seeking to monitor reservoir flow, depletion and pay zones.




WGP Projects Limited ('WGP') and TESL have entered into an Agreement under which WGP will provide procurement, assembly and operational management services in relation to the PMSS™.




The PMSS™ will be used in Life of Field Seismic ('LoFS'), a process using ocean bottom cables or fibre optic networks to produce 4-D (3-D time-lapsed) seismic data to define reservoir fluid-flow.




The Company has been admitted to trading on AIM and will have a market capitalisation at the placing price on Admission of £4,263,855 (US$8,500,000). Thalassa has raised £3,104,626 (US$6,189,073) through the issue of 6,189,073 Placing Shares at a price of £0.50163 (US$1) per Ordinary Share.




On Admission, Duncan Soukup, the Chairman and Founding Shareholder will be beneficially interested in a total of 2,839,821 Ordinary Shares, which represents approximately 33.4 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company.




The net Placing proceeds will be used to purchase the remaining equipment required for completion of a PMSS™ unit and for working capital purposes.




Thalassa is headed by Duncan Soukup former founder and Director of Acquisitor Plc, Acquisitor Holdings Ltd. and Baltimore Plc. David Thomas, formerly CEO of MedOil Plc, is a Non Executive Director of Thalassa.




Dowgate Capital Advisers Limited is Nominated Adviser and Ocean Equities Limited is Broker to the Company.




Commenting on the Admission to AIM, Duncan Soukup, Chairman said: 'We are delighted to be joining the market at this time in the Company's development. We anticipate that our admission to the market will help to broaden the Company's investor base and enhance its profile in the oil services industry.'



---ENDS---




Enquiries:




Public Relations

Bishopsgate Communications T: [phone]

Maxine Barnes

[e-mail]

Nick Rome

[e-mail]




Nominated Adviser

Dowgate Capital Advisers Limited T: [phone]

Liam Murray/Aaron Smyth




Broker

Ocean Equities Limited T: [phone]

Will Slack




Thalassa Energy Limited

Duncan Soukup/Chris Langrick

[e-mail]




Further information can be found on the Company's web site




www.thalassaenergyltd.com

[ch131] 27/7/2008 14:28

Thanks for the info, Genulphus. All is now clear!

Kimboy2 and davidosh, I agree. Interims will be later this year then, also giving more opportunity to buy back shares before the results. It looks like the company view the current shareprice as cheap, and are actively taking the opportunity to mop up any sells. Of course this is no guarantee that we'll see a rise after results(especially in the current climate), but is at least a positive indication.

This company has completely gone off the radar of AIM investors since the rollercoaster days of the past, but if as we suspect this is the bottom, then well we have an undervalued, growing business that pays a very respectable divi.

Happy to hold, but I have quite a few minnows at the moment, and will add when more funds become available- it would be nice to pick up a few more at these levels.