Entertainment One Share Discussion Threads

[raffles the gentleman thug] 16/8/2016 22:53

Yawn as much as you want bared_bones but it doesn't take away the clear and obvious fact this is still a mish-mash of different businesses, which have been cobbled together over the last couple of years, with a disproportionate weight toward low margin, low growth and low value cyclical elements that few would be interested in. And strip out the earnings from current forward sold productions and they are barely making 2% on the much trumpted content library. In short it ain't that exciting, which is precisely why its been trading at a 40% discount to peers for the last year.

And nothing arrogant about my opinion bared_bones - the reality is there was no appetite to take the shares above the ITV offer last week; and no appetite this week to take it anywhere near the rumoured 280p level of interest from ITV.

And just to be clear bared_bones I have no agenda here. I'm an ETO shareholder, and very much have an interest in it being taken over. But I'm also realistic as to the quality of the business and its worth. And unlike you I don't believe that today it deserves a $2bn enterprise value.

[bared_bones] 16/8/2016 22:51

The eOne board said the initial ITV offer under-valued the indie studio, whose board is understood to be eyeing a £3.00 ($3.86) per-share bid. An eOne spokesperson offered no comment on speculation about a KKR bid, and executives at the private equity firm were not available for comment on Monday.

[bared_bones] 16/8/2016 22:25

Yawn.. on so many points esp. the incredibly arrogant last one.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 16/8/2016 22:07

... no hope of that price from ITV and I can't see anyone else buying this business on 16.5x forward earnings either - not when half of revenues and a third of EBITDA come from film and music distribution, which you would struggle to sell on 7x or 8x earnings.

Honestly some of you need to get real here. ITV is the ONLY offer on the table, and an increase in their bid to 260p is more than fair. If Darren Throop chooses to reject that he will be torn to shreds in the years to come. You can only bleat on for so long about your $1.2bn content library when you are barely earning 5% off it; and there will be rights issues down the line because he can't demonstrate any meaningful cash generation - not least to pay for the other 49% of Mark Gordon he doesn't own.

Sorry but realism is needed here, and I doubt many of those calling for £3 or £3.2 are willing to buy here in the market at £2.55

[bared_bones] 16/8/2016 21:01

I think 3.20 will take it out...

[tini5] 16/8/2016 20:56

hxxp://tbivision.com/news/2016/08/eone-poaches-amazon-studios-scripted-exec/635152/

[gilesy911] 16/8/2016 20:38

Well I would be very happy with £3 Good luck lads / girls

[tromso1] 16/8/2016 16:40

"Meanwhile, The Financial Times speculated that Germany's ProSeiben and France's Vivendi could also be throwing their hats into the ring."



A number of parties then that could be interested. Bring on the bidding war.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 16/8/2016 14:41

Latest mention of Vivendi, ProSieben, Disney etc all a bit smacks of wishful thinking and manipulation to get the share price higher. But if ITV don't pay up for it, bearing in mind they can extract synergy, its hard to see anyone else paying up for it. And as for KKR they would extract more value with an ITV bid and break up, than messing around with an ETO bid and trying to convince all their partners to stay on board.

My feeling remains ITV raise their proposal to somewhere between 260p to 280p and its accepted. And if its not then I wouldn't like to be in Throop's shoes since he will come under huge pressure himself to restructure, unlock the value and generate cash.

[gilesy911] 16/8/2016 14:35

£2.80 a share then

[tini5] 16/8/2016 13:53

hxxp://www.fyimusicnews.ca/articles/2016/08/16/entertainment-one-play

[raffles the gentleman thug] 16/8/2016 10:49

Exactly ! When you think after the run up in share price this thing still trades on a discount to peers there is not too much to fear from no bid materialising. But in my view ETO would be mad not to sell out to ITV - I imagine they are just completing due diligence and carving out a role for Throop before proceeding.

Article on carried by the Telegraph on tax credits looks to be nonsense since these are available to all foreign producers of films in Canada in addition to Canadian companies.

[salpara111] 16/8/2016 10:33

I still think there is a good possibility that they will be independent by the end of the year but I am pretty relaxed about that given the renewed interest in the company the share price could well hit 300p by year end without a bid....assuming that the next 2 updates are positive.

[masurenguy] 15/8/2016 23:45

Disney interest? Third parties? Bidding wars? Here's what analysts think will happen to Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One
Analysts have named Walt Disney, Vivendi, Lionsgate and Studio Canal as possible suitors for Peppa Pig owner Entertainment One.

EOne’s share price was trading at 251p on Monday – up more than 25% from below 200p at the beginning of last week. This rise has come after the board rejected a £1bn offer from ITV and private equity house KKR emerged as a potential rival for EOne. “I don’t think ITV would want to get into a bidding war for Entertainment One with KKR or anyone else,” Liberum media analyst Ian Whittaker told City A.M. “I think for KKR it makes sense, because you’ve got Peppa Pig, a valuable franchise.” He suggested ITV would need to improve its 236p-per-share bid by a considerable amount for it to be accepted by EOne. He said the London-listed company’s board would be looking for a bid in the range of 350-400p.

Alex De Groote, of Peel Hunt, said an offer as low as 280p could get board approval. But the analyst said he would be surprised if a KKR offer materialised. And he wasn’t sure it would be the right deal for ITV, either. “At the right price, it could look quite shrewd, but it’s definitely not must-have,” De Groote told City A.M. Both Whittaker and De Groote suggested ITV would not be interested in EOne in its entirety, with the film side of the business not being as attractive as the TV side. “We’d be dubious that they would be long-term owners of that [film] business,” said De Groote. “So any deal to buy Entertainment One probably would involve third parties who would take on the film assets either at the time or at a subsequent date.”

[masurenguy] 15/8/2016 19:08

KKR & Co (KKR) is considering an offer for Entertainment One, a London-listed film and television distributor known for the cartoon character "Peppa Pig," Bloomberg reported Monday citing sources familiar with the matter. The investment firm's potential interest increases the prospects of a bidding war for Entertainment One after the company rejected a takeover proposal made by broadcaster ITV plc on Aug. 10 that valued the business at about £1bn ($1.3bn), the report said. Entertainment One rebuffed ITV's offer saying the bid was too low but added it would be open to a higher offer.

[neilsy] 15/8/2016 17:49

BFG over $30m now and David Brent life on the road starting this week.

"EONE

The BFG continued its strong UK run with a 35% drop in its fourth weekend as it marched to $1.43m (£1.11m) from its 614 sites.

eOne’s Roald Dahl adaptation is now up to $30.4m (£23.5m) after adding $2.8m (£2.2m) midweek. It is currently director Steven Spielberg’s fifth-biggest UK performer and still has time to surpass The Lost World’s $33.3m (£25.8m)."

[raffles the gentleman thug] 15/8/2016 17:27

Assuming those who bought the initial tranche of Marwyn shares still even own the things which is unlikely given what subsequently happened ....

But if they do I can't really see they have too much of a say in the matter. Its all about Throop and the Canada Pension Plan and whats the best future for the company

[masurenguy] 15/8/2016 17:17

Those who bought the initial Marwyn tranche @330p in July 2015 will currently have a diluted average price of 275p if they participated in last Octobers subsequent rights issue @153p on a 4 for 9 basis. After participating in the rights issue their collective holding will be just under 9% - far too few to block any deal even if they acted in unison, which would also be extremely unlikely since some will have added since then at a much lower price, taking their average price down even further.

[trauttrub] 15/8/2016 16:44

The initial tranche of Marwyn shares (Approximately 26 million) was sold, pre rights issue, @ 330p . These holders wouldn't wish to sell @ 260p.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 15/8/2016 16:12

New 'proposal' about to come ..

[psmith1110] 15/8/2016 16:08

Some massive buy orders on L2

[raffles the gentleman thug] 15/8/2016 15:57

exactly and why it needs a business like ITV to nurture it, not a bloody private equity firm to wreck it. And I can see Throop playing a big role in ITV vs no role in KKR.

The question is what price. I assume the tax credit position is unchanged so long as the companies receiving them are based in Canada, and on the current share price, its accretive to ITV without synergies. So I assume they try to find agreement at 260p which would be fair to all.

[napoleon 14th] 15/8/2016 15:10

raffles - IMO you're right. It's a business where the most valuable have two legs
& can use them as competitors would welcome Spielberg & Gordon with open arms.

[raffles the gentleman thug] 15/8/2016 10:31

Sorry I don't mean to be !!!

I just see ETO going ITV's way somewhere between 260p and 280p, and KKR not daring to proceed.

I don't believe that the management will sanction too much of a breakup of this business and also one has to question whether some of the personalities involved like Steven Speilberg and Mark Gordon would be happy working with a Netflix, Amazon or private equity group for that matter.

ITV on the other hand has a history of successfully managing independent production houses, and affording them the creativity and support they need.

In short its not all about the cash !

[tini5] 15/8/2016 10:12

Killjoy ;-)