Ducat Ventures Share Discussion Threads

[crosso] 03/10/2004 18:45

Anyone seen the Mail on Sunday article ????

I sold out of this when they were at £1.60 and made a little profit. I was starting to think about coming back in but I'm glad I've read this 'cos it sounds like they've got some way to drop.

Director's attitudes quetioned and major shareholders not happy - watch this space.

[michaeld] 30/9/2004 17:44

Those two 50k mid trades are interesting. I assume that they must be buys and probably some canny person/institution picking up surplus stock from that 250k sale the other day?

[day_dreamer] 28/9/2004 16:27

LOL !!

You dont know what a stop loss is maut too !

Your shares crash one by one yet you always claim to make
a big profit !

You live in a dream world...another very poor tip from you.

Gravy

[maut too] 28/9/2004 16:24

mm's seem especially weak today on relatively low volume - I think it wise to think about a stop loss at this point but they are fully funded

[michaeld] 28/9/2004 16:14

Most of the loss seems to have been incurred in stripping out the loss making parts of the business and the proerty disposal. As maut too says we will need to see the next interim accounts to gauge progress. I hope that we might be pleasantly surprised then and wished that we had bought more at these depressed prices? Time will tell.

[maut too] 28/9/2004 14:10

I think its a question of waiting another 6 months to see if they are makiing any real progress

[troutisout] 28/9/2004 14:01

The figures stated by the company are for last six months( 1.69m loss), add six months before( 4m loss) and the full year loss was 5.7m( much of it was for redundancies, sale of private client business and N-V.com,losses arising from the trading of these before they were sold and property costs).Hence operating losses of 278,000 in last six months (add 2.7m operating loss from previous six months - full year operating loss 3m).

[day_dreamer] 28/9/2004 14:00

Another maut too disaster thread started tip !

How he continues to finds these stocks that go into a
massive downtrend just after he tips them is amazing.

Gravy

[maut too] 28/9/2004 13:43

the change in dates must have created confusion but might be worth phoning the people listed with your queries




23 September 2004

Durlacher Corporation plc ('Durlacher' or the 'Group')

Interim Results for the Twelve Months ended 30 June 2004

Durlacher Corporation Plc provides investment banking services to the UK small
to mid cap listed and unlisted business sectors. As previously announced, the
Group has changed its financial year end from June 30 to December 31 and
therefore the following results incorporate a second set of interim results for
the six month period ended 30 June which, together with the interims to 31
December 2003 previously announced, make up the results for the 12 months ended
30 June 2004. For reasons of direct comparison the text comments primarily on
the six months trading to 30 June 2004.

Highlights

* Significant growth in turnover net of cost of sales over the past six
months (from £1.9m to £4.1m)

* Operating profit achieved in second quarter of 2004

* Operating loss before exceptional items reduced by 90 per cent to £278,000
(6 months to 31 December 2003: £2.7m)

* Pre-tax loss reduced by 58 per cent to £1.7 million including £850,000
exceptional item relating to one-off property costs (6 months to 31
December 2003 : loss of £4.0m)

* Continued growth in corporate client list - now at 44 (December 2003: 32),
together with a significant increase in the average market capitalisation
of clients.

* Strong performance in corporate finance operations - notably in second
quarter of 2004

* Successful fund raising of £10 million strengthened balance sheet

* Solid and expanding pipeline of potential future transactional income

Commenting on today's results, Tony Caplin, Chairman, said:

'This has been a period of solidity for Durlacher with all of our key
performance indicators improving. Our corporate finance operations have made
significant progress and we have led a number of good quality IPOs in our
sector. We remain vigilant as to cost control and following the £10 million
fund raising in January this year, we now have a strong capital base to grow
further and improve the business. We continue to enhance the goodwill in the
business. There has been a significant pick up in market activity in late
August and so far in September. We look forward to the future with confidence.'

For further information, please contact

Christopher Stainforth, Chief Executive

Durlacher Corporation Plc 0207 459 3603

David Rydell/Charlotte Kirkham

Bell Pottinger Corporate & Financial 0207 861 3232

[maut too] 28/9/2004 13:35

the 440k at 65p yesterday does not look promising

I have to admit my own holding is very modest and I am unlikely to sell but it could be worth looking in more detail at the figures

a 10k share sell has just knocked 3p off the bid :-((

[dmhzx] 28/9/2004 13:14

Don't say you weren't warned.

Fine tooth comb and smokescreen------

I just read the post which pasted Mr Caplin's words, highlighting a loss of only 300K, talking of profits in the previous quarter, and just after someone else saying the loss widened to 5.7 million.

We have three AFX bulletins with different interpretations of the same figures -
Durlacher reports 1.69 loss vs 4.04 loss
Durlacher increases H1 profit
Durlacher reports narrowing H1 loss
And several postings claiming a 'wider' loss of £5.7 million.

Can these all be about the same company? How hard is it to tell the difference between an increased profit, a 1.69 million loss and a 5.7 million loss?

They raised £10 million in a placing at £1.25 in the last six months, are already down to 8.5 million left, and those placed shares have lost nearly 40% of their value. Is it any wonder some big sells are coming through.


If the city people can't agree how the company is doing, how clear can the company statement be.
Two reasons spring to mind for a statement with so many differing interpretations

a) Deliberate obfuscation
b) Incompetence.

Some of the institutution are now feeling just as shafted as the private shareholders.

And what happens to a company share price if the board merrily shafts ALL its shareholders? Have a look at the graph.

How much confidence are the directors showing with their impressively large share purchaes???

A cynic might suggest that the management are setting things up for low priced buy out.



As for the FSA, they may have been informed about something, it's hard to be 'aware' if you've turned your deaf ear and blind eye to it. The FSA are only interested in easy targets and trivial deviations from hideously complicated anti money laundering procedures.

What did they do recently about a 'nominated advisor' who shorted one of their own AIM clients shares to the tune of 4 times the entire market cap of the company?? They managed to convince themselves that nothing untoward had happened.

[michaeld] 27/9/2004 18:22

Maybe they new about the big seller 250k? I hope we don't get many more of them!

[mautstwo] 27/9/2004 13:44

maut too - 27 Sep'04 - 13:42 - 887 of 887


FSA are aware

[maut too] 27/9/2004 13:41

most of the mm's moved at the same time - could be a 'big' sell will appear in an hour or two

[troutisout] 27/9/2004 13:39

Funny though over 100k buys this morning, 33,000 sell comes in and they drop the bid?

[maut too] 27/9/2004 12:45

right from the off ... looks like a tip somewhere maybe

[michaeld] 27/9/2004 12:42

Quite a bit of support today; nice to see.

[maut too] 24/9/2004 22:31

They do not seem to be generating much newsflow - which does not help

This is the only thing my news service offers




Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- The following stocks may make gains or losses in U.K. and Irish markets today. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from yesterday's close.

The FTSE 100 Index may open 11 lower, according to Cantor Index, a unit of Cantor Fitzgerald LP. The benchmark slipped 16.10, or 0.4 percent, to 4592.30.

The ISEQ Irish Overall Index fell 17.24, or 0.3 percent, to 5686.73.

U.K. Companies:


Durlacher Corp Plc (DUC LN): The London-based investment bank said its net loss widened to 5.7 million pounds, compared with a year-earlier loss of 981,000 pounds, because of costs related to the disposal of its unprofitable stockbroking businesses. The shares have been unchanged at 89 pence since Sept. 10.

[troutisout] 24/9/2004 21:57

Volumes recently have been very low,as have no.of lots traded on many deals.I did wonder whether losing a lot of the small holders who's holdings have been reduced to next to nothing suited the company.Would still like to know if all the larger holders still hold?
Market cap now just over £10m, cash in bank £8.3m and an operational profit achieved 2nd quarter of 2004.

[maut too] 24/9/2004 18:55

inclined to agree with you there on both scores ... vols are relatively high today but have been extremely low

[troutisout] 24/9/2004 18:38

Beats 6000 buy by FD.
I still don't understand why fund raising was oversubscribed at £1.25, then immediately price headed south.

[maut too] 24/9/2004 18:24

there were quite a few buys during the day at that price ... maybe a director

[troutisout] 24/9/2004 18:19

50k buy at 17.05 looks interesting?

[maut too] 24/9/2004 18:06

dreamer - you seem to come on and spam every thread when a share moves down ... you seem to lead a strange and clearly a very lonely life.

I have a few of these and have around 50 times as many EVG ... evg have more than trebled and these have fallen maybe 25% ... this happens when you speculate - no doubt you are pleased that I got the right sort of weighting :-))


afx - Yesterday's poorly received full-year numbers continued to weigh on Durlacher
shares, down 11 pence at 75-1/2, with news the finance group's finance director
has acquired shares failing to provide support.

[day_dreamer] 24/9/2004 15:34

You never ever cease to amaze me mauty on your ability to pick
a stock ready to jump off a cliff.
If you were a shorter you'd have more of a reputation than Evil
yet you go long just as they crash.
How do you survive Keith....you're a legend...for being useless
at picking stocks !!!

Gravy