Entertainment Rights Share Discussion Threads

[53tom] 31/10/2008 08:03

Well the interims are a mixed bag of good and bad and downright ugly.
But still we are in the dark about what exactly the Lone Ranger rights were that were clawed back from Genius and any real information about the Disney deal!

[toptrump] 30/10/2008 16:50

Will never be replaced - he owns to many shares! To be fair although he lost direction, he initially did drive the co. forward quite well, and is known as a good businessman - has a lot of dosh in the bank from what I understand!

[highnote] 30/10/2008 16:37

It is now two months since Elizabeth Gaines the Chief Finance and Operations Officer resigned and despite the company announcing in it's RNS dated 24th July that they were currently in the process of recruiting a CFO and an announcement would be made in due course, there has been complete silence since then. Hopefully there will be some news on this with the results.

One of the main issues is whether the banking covenants have or have not been breached. Without a CFO at this critical time to negotiate with the bank, presumably this has fallen on the shoulders of the Chief Executive.

In addition, the resignations of the Non-execitives Julian Paul and Irvin Fishman take effect tomorrow, their replacements having been appointed in July.

Hopefully some new faces on the board will drive this company forward. Only leaves the Chairman Bransgrove to be replaced.

[rochford6] 30/10/2008 14:19

maybe old news now but i have had a response from ER regarding the rights to Lone Ranger, they confirm that ER owns the Lone Ranger Brand through its aquisition of Classic Media.No confirmation was given to me about any fees recieved from Disney but i was told that The movie has the potential to drive business for both the new and classic The Lone Ranger across all categories including DVD, Consumer Products, Publishing, Live Events, Video Games, Digital and TV.

DYOR etc etc

[rochford6] 30/10/2008 09:51

torquayturk - Unfortunately the place i read the above article have not dated when it was writen but i presume by reading articles eather side that it would have been around July/August 2008.

regarding the notice of Interims, in the Trading update on the 26th September it still mentioned that an update would come along with the results at the end of October so they only have a day or so to go. ERT have a habit of issuing RNS's after close so it may come today, If there are leeks in the company then i would expect some trades later today.

[torquayturk] 30/10/2008 09:41

Rochford6.
I have read that article also although from memory it was several months ago. Do you have a date for it or do you know where it was reported?
Maybe its my imagination but I get the feeling that something is afoot here. Usually the company advises a date that the results are due to be published, we've had no such notice and I have been told by the company that the interim figures will be published tomorrow.
There is the following article published in C21 the media trade mag-- 'The UK's Entertainment Rights has said it will reveal future options in its interim results next week after its shares fell to an all-time low - prompting speculation that it is struggling to survive.'
I can't see this thing going bust for the reasons I have previously posted (no;2635). I can't believe that Hemmings/Bransgrove and say SVG haven't considered taking this thing private at these prices. Its just a case of what the other major shareholders would take for their holdings.
Interestingly there are absolutely no leaks on any big news at all. No purchases/sales of any size in recent weeks. This contrasts with the past whereby I feel ERT have seen sizeable movements over the years prior to any official announcements. Maybe there is nothing to report?

Mind you If I was a fund manager the current crisis would be a very good time to bury bad news and get rid of a problem holding in your portfolio.
We will see what the morning brings.
TT

[rochford6] 30/10/2008 07:50

Just found this snippet, it says that Disney has paid ER already for the rights to use the lone ranger name. paying more than 10 times the amount they sold the rights to ER for. Has ER had the Money? How much did ER pay for the rights originally. I would guess that this money coming in will make a big dent in the debt situation.This does confirm that ER hold all rights to the Lone Ranger

"You know what's kind of ironic about this whole situation? In order to acquire the rights
to use the Long Ranger characters in a movie, Walt Disney Studios first had to pay
Entertainment Rights PLC an enormous amount of money. "And what's so ironic about
that?" you ask. Well, back in March of 1988, in order to finally gain control of the
Disneyland Hotel, the Walt Disney Company first had to buy the Wrather Corporation.
Which, in addition to owning that Anaheim resort, also owned all of the rights to The
Lone Ranger. But because Mouse House officials were so eager to recover the $85
million that they'd just spent to acquire Wrather, they quickly turned around and sold off
all of those old television and radio shows to the highest bidder, which is how
Entertainment Rights PLC eventually wound up with control of the Lone Ranger
characters.
And from what I've been hearing, Disney then had to agree to pay this UK-based
media company more than 10 times what the company originally made off of the sale of
all of those old Lone Ranger TV shows and radio broadcasts in order to be able to use
these characters in this new Jerry Bruckheimer film.
And then - when you factor in that this ambitious new Western will probably cost just
as much as "The Curse of the Black Pearl" did to produce (I.E. $120 - $135 million) -
well, Mouse House officials are really hoping that millions of people worldwide will be
willing to part with a little silver in order to see the Lone Ranger and Silver up on the big
screen again."

[toptrump] 28/10/2008 17:16

Good work. Some clarification at least.

[rochford6] 28/10/2008 13:06

I have done a bit of digging around trying to find who owns the rights to the lone ranger, It appears that the rights were owned by a company called "The Wrather Corp", In 1989 Disney aquired the Wrather Corp but sold off most assets to Classic Media, Keeping the Disney Hotel for themselves.

So it would appear that ER through Classic Media hold full rights to The Lone Ranger.

I have e-mailed both Classic Media and ER for clarification but have not had a response(no surprise)

[phillis] 27/10/2008 09:53

Got to make some disposals to keep the banks away.
If any disposal is made this could jump

[highnote] 26/10/2008 17:05

ER mentioned in today's Times.

"Entertainment Rights has drawn up a list of disposals as part of a plan to pay down its £127m debt.

The company has received approaches for several children's characters as it discusses increasing the headroom on its borrowing covenants with lender HBOS.

ER's shares plunged 31% last Friday on fears that it had breached covenants. It borrowed heavily in late 2006 with the £107m buy of Classic Media which brough Lassie and Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer into its portfolio. Close Bros is advising on its options.

Analysts say ER which has a market value of £13m may write down the value of the Classic acquisition alongside interim results due later this week."

Seems we will have to wait for the interims to see if there was/is any danger of covenants being breached and news of prospects for present and future success of ER.

[hotips] 24/10/2008 10:14

I could see how Hemmings could take the company private, but I doubt he will. He's not gone to all this trouble for so many years just to take the entire burden on himself, nor has Bransgrove. Don't forget that they're both only non-execs. I think, for what it's worth, that the company needs to consolidate and get back on track, which I'm sure it will. Lots and lots of upside. Have faith.

[torquayturk] 23/10/2008 17:23

I wonder if the management are considering taking ERT private with the backing of Trevor Hemmings?
Hemmings has plenty of cash at present and would'nt have any difficulty in raising the cash, even in todays climate.
They could then keep all those lovely future profits for themselves.
Certainly don't believe the insolvency rumours. ERT already owes Hemmings £20/30m and blokes like him always find a way to make it work. I also can't see Bransgrove walking away from a failure. He's not in Hemmings league financially but only division down (as I understand) and he is such a high profile 'celeb' in Hampshire (the county and the cricket club) it would be unthinkable to walk away.

Its either a long haul out of the current position or a management steal at 10/12p. In the current climate even the institutions may accept this level compared to the 20p they wanted ten months ago.
TT

[94alexandra] 23/10/2008 15:04

results due 28.10.08 according to channel 4 text p528

[rich2006] 23/10/2008 14:01

hotips
Agreed ert seem to have taken action to turn things around but until the books have realised the loss of the revenue from the change of contracts i am afraid the markets will not increase ERT's value. having high debts at this moment and time is not good but put that together with lower revenues and lower profits makes it even worse. imo
but like i say come 2010 things should look much better

[shauney2] 23/10/2008 13:49

Any idea what the date is for the interims?

[hotips] 23/10/2008 11:43

Can't say I want to be that negative, rich2006. If the company is going through a period of consolidation, that's no bad thing. Far perferable to the spend, spend, spend days of rubbish Heap. The library has great value, and now that overheads are coming under the control of grownups, the upside is very substantial.

[rich2006] 23/10/2008 11:37

As much as i think ERT has good prospects i think it is unlikely to see any substantial movement in the share price until 2010.
The company have already said it will take a hit in this and next years results.
Until they start to show earnings growing above inflation i can't see the share price doing anything.
IMO

[toptrump] 23/10/2008 10:44

Agree. However need to some hot news re: the lone ranger movie. Big payday for that will see the shares rocket!!

[hotips] 23/10/2008 09:32

Good news! Shows its business as usual for ER and these negative rumours are rubbish. Distribution is good because it allows ER to charge expenses back to the client (underlying rights holder) and bulks up its library without having to actually buy the rights. All good stuff.

[toptrump] 22/10/2008 17:28

ER picks up more Transformers 22 Oct 2008
Kids media group Entertainment Rights has secured distribution rights to the latest 13 episodes of Transformers Animated, bringing the total number available to

[toptrump] 20/10/2008 21:09

Troubled ER considers options 20 Oct 2008
The UK's Entertainment Rights has said it will reveal future options in its interim results next week after its shares fell to an all-time low - prompting speculation that it is struggling to survive.

This was reported on c21media.net today. Lots of discussion on interactive investor. However the co. at present are refuting these allegations - I wait with anticipation to see next weeks results!!!

[hotips] 14/10/2008 09:54

Good news regarding the US broadcaster for Shelldon. Looking forward to some positive results from MIPCOM which the company MUST pass on to the shareholders to alay fears as expressed in rochford6's post. ER really needs to focus on getting the good message across and the PR department really needs to start bringing out regular updates, starting with MIPCOM news.

[rochford6] 14/10/2008 06:55

By Mimi Turner

Oct 12, 2008, 03:14 PM ET

Updated: Oct 13, 2008, 03:42 PM ET
Related
More MIPCOM coverage
CANNES -- Speculation is mounting that U.K.-listed character licensing group Entertainment Rights is struggling to survive after shares collapsed last week. The company strenuously dismissed the speculation, saying that any suggestions it was facing margin calls were "materially misrepresenting the situation."

"The company is certainly neither poised to file for bankruptcy nor is it facing margin calls of any sort. Indeed, there is not even a financial instrument in existence that would trigger a margin call," it said Monday.

Entertainment Rights, which owns rights to the "Lone Ranger" character currently being revisited by Jerry Bruckheimer in a feature that will star Johnny Depp as Tonto, issued a profits warning last week, prompting shares to dive.

Sources close to the company admitted that Entertainment Rights bosses, including chief executive Nick Phillips, who joined in March, have been talking to bankers about how to cut the company's 127 million pounds ($217 million) of debt.

In recent years, Entertainment Rights, which also owns licensing rights to "Basil Brush" and "Postman Pat," has pursued an aggressive growth strategy, focusing on the U.S. as a key market. In January 2007, the company acquired Classic Media and Big Idea, giving it rights to such characters as "She-Ra" and "Casper the Friendly Ghost."

Entertainment Rights shares closed out last week at an all-time low of 1.7 pence (3 cents), valuing the entire company at 12.47 million pounds ($21.3 million), barely more than a tenth of its total debt.

Shares rallied Monday though, jumping 23% to 2.1 pence (3.6 cents) valuing the company at 15.4 million pounds ($26.6 million), but still trading at less than a tenth of its 52-week high of 26.6 pence.