Eurovestech Share Discussion Threads

[rambutan2] 20/10/2005 10:01

perhaps will get a hint next week's agm.

[lord orphan] 20/10/2005 10:00

Given the contract and hirings news it look like its being readied for sale. Anybody offering odds on news before the year's out.

[kenmitch] 19/10/2005 17:13

Well spotted!

Also noticed this KSS news (link below) when looking at the new revamped EVT website. Haven't looked at it in detail yet, but at first glance it looks more user friendly with loads of information.



Every little helps.

[rambutan2] 19/10/2005 11:15

just spotted this on rns...

[kenmitch] 05/10/2005 10:42

Up 0.75p late on yesterday. Another largish trade today - 500,000. Looks like a buy. Just 0.25p down today. Healthy enough.

Think Toluna maiden results, presumably to the end of Sept, should be out by end of November at the latest. Very positive recent trading statement suggests these should be very good.

btw the recent T and G "strong buy" note has raised the PBT target for KSS to £2.5 million, pointing out that that figure could prove very conservative if the short term prospect pipeline converts to revenue in the timeframe expected. T and G also point out the multiples being paid for similar businesses to guage the valuation upside potential.

e.g Oracle recently paid reputedly 10X sales to acquire retail profit optimization softtware developer Profitlogic.

So what price would a buyer pay for KSS? Possibly way ahead of the T and G conservative enterprise valuation of £23.3 million.

[rambutan2] 30/9/2005 22:52

yes, received and read my report.

evt is a very tightly run ship.

[jambo172] 29/9/2005 14:20

Guys /

Apologies for not coming back quicker - I do have a day job.
The post of 20 Sept was from T & G note - first page summary.
I understand that the recent price fall was to clear out a couple of sellers.
Think now that there is strong demand with few sellers.
KSS will probably be recapitalised and returning cash to EVT.
Toluna apparently going like a train - possible sale in early 2006?
Magenta possible IPO - T & G have problems valuing as there is no comparable companies (hence the £8 - 100m valuation)
Only cloud on horizon is succession - new investments in the pipeline ...

[kenmitch] 29/9/2005 14:11

Just in case anyone doesn't know this. The 0.25p fall in the EVT share price two days running last Friday and Monday could have been because of "take profits" advice from the Midas tipping column in The Mail on Sunday.

I don't normally read this paper, and the advice struck me as odd, both because Midas had only tipped the shares on July 28th, and because when advising readers to take profits he said that EVT had done nothing wrong, but he didn't like this sort of Company. Which begged the question why tip it in the first place? Simple answer. The person who tipped EVT was Patrick Tooher who has now left The Mail on Sunday. His replacement is Ben Laurence - so it is he who doesn't like EVT. And from memory - was it Money Observer? - Ben Laurence nearly always tips traditional old economy type shares.

Again fans here probably know this but in case anyone doesn't do keep a close watch on the Toluna share price. A rising Toluna share price - and recent news has been very positive - MUST be good for EVT with EVT holding that 60%+ stake. I see Toluna shares are up 5p today and the EVT share price (with some sizeable buys and sells) up 0.5p.

Could be the start of a decent and overdue run for the EVT share price?

[lord orphan] 23/9/2005 13:31

It looks from Jambo's post that KSS is up for sale. Was that an extract from a broker's note. It wasn't clear.

[r33skyline] 21/9/2005 02:35

ram are you coming back to support Saints?

[rambutan2] 21/9/2005 02:34

yes, many thanks for that jambo.

there is no doubt that evt is a quality outfit, as evidenced by the quality of the instit holders - svg and cgt are of partic note, but ive also spotted it in a number of other shrewd managers ports. it's a bit of a mystery why it's been stuck around the 11-13p level for so long. no doubt at some stage it will suddenly sprint up 5p+ as it captures the market's imagination.

[kenmitch] 20/9/2005 17:39

Superb Jambo172. Many thanks for posting that.

What HAS EVT to do to get the share price up?

14p is the high for the last couple of years (the share price was higher during the bubble) so just maybe a rise to 14p and a new 12 month high will bring in the buyers?

Some like to wait until the shares have reached a new high and have obvious momentum before buying. Wishful thinking? We'll see.

The last very bullish T and G strong buy note didn't lead to much buying, nor did it get any coverage in Shares Mag or Investors Chronicle. Maybe there will be some positive coverage in those magazines this week. Shares Mag tipped EVT last November but haven't updated on them since - despite twice publishing letters I wrote suggesting that they did! Third time lucky?

I'm still convinced that it is only a matter of time before the shares rise significantly - for the sort of reasons T and G have just outlined.

[jambo172] 20/9/2005 17:31

PS Having spoken to T & G, they believe asset value may be as high as 23 pence. They think Magenta could be worth up to £100m. Current valuation £8m. Big difference ...

[jambo172] 20/9/2005 17:28

Eurovestech 13.25p STRONG BUY

Raising the bar

Preliminary results released yesterday highlighted a year of significant
progress for key investee companies, notably Cjudge (now ToLuna) and
KSS. The 63.5% holding in the former, acquired for a £2m investment, is
now worth £18m based on the current stock market value of ToLuna,
while KSS has gained some powerful sales traction in the last twelve
months, resulting in a £950k post-tax profit in the year ended June. In our
view, the clear message that emanates from these results is that the
management of this investment business has established a proven track
record which underpins its growing credibility. We have revised some of
the assumptions used in our theoretical NAV calculation, which now
spins out an NAV per share of 16.1p – a c.22% premium to the current
share price. We reiterate our Strong Buy recommendation.

ToLuna plc.
Since its successful flotation in May, online market research provider
ToLuna (formerly Cjudge) has seen its market capitalisation on float rise from
£25m to just under £29m – valuing Eurovestech's 63.5% stake at £18.3m. This
represents more than a nine-fold increase over the original investment in just over five years. On 8 September, To Luna issued a positive trading statement which showed a 214% increase in revenue, to £1.16m, for the first six months of the year, feeding a pre-tax profit of £0.38m, although these figures are somewhat disingenuous given the fact that Cjudge was only acquired on 10 May 2005. Online panellists have increased from 210,000 to in excess of 550,000 in the first eight months of the year. In our view, the current equity valuation attributed to the business is a clear demonstration of the market's perception of the long term value of the underlying business and, concomitantly, Eurovestech's ability to identify high growth propositions at an early stage.

KSS.
This business has, similarly, made impressive strides over the last year. Last
month, it was announced that KSS had delivered £950k of post-tax profit, having
increased sales more than four-fold to over £5m, in the year to June 2005. We
have consequently raised our calendar 2005 PBT expectation for the business to
£2.5m, from £2.2m, a figure which we believe could be shown as highly
conservative if the short term prospect pipeline converts to revenue in the
timeframe expected. We have, again, applied a conservative multiple (15x) to
notionally taxed profits, which delivers an enterprise valuation of c.£23.3m. We
only have to look at the multiples being paid for similar businesses to gauge the valuation uplift potential – Oracle recently paid, reputedly, 10x sales to acquire retail profit optimization software developer ProfitLogic, to add to its earlier purchase of retail panning and execution software developer Retek. What price then for KSS in the eyes of, say, SAP?

Magenta.
We continue to monitor the progress of intelligent agent software developer Magenta, in which Eurovestech has a 37.7% stake, as we feel strongly that, once sufficient reference contracts are secured, this could show itself to be a real jewel in the Eurovestech portfolio. Encouragingly, the company has recently secured a "proof of concept" contract with one of Europe's largest engineering groups. However, given that sales traction is at a nascent stage, our theoretical NAV calculation conservatively values the business at c.£8.4m – the valuation attributed to the business at the last funding round.

[pensionfund] 19/9/2005 12:25

No but good news if that is the case, there has only been positive news from EVT over the last 6 months and more will only add to the upwards pressure of the SP; a platitude I know.

[kenmitch] 16/9/2005 20:52

Mention today of another "strong buy" note from T and G in a UK Analyst e-mail. Has anyone seen it/got any details?

[kenmitch] 15/9/2005 15:59

Just an aside on charitable donations.

So EVT have gifted another 800,000 of their shares to charitable donations, which added to shares gifted from Richard Bernstein's personal holding in EVT amounts to £1.25 million since flotation.

The list of charities to benefit includes hospices - i.e worthwhile charities.

EVT suggests other Companies look at this way of supporting charities.

Good idea imho.

[lord orphan] 15/9/2005 10:53

No income has been recorded from portfolio investments even though KSS is 100% owned. This will only arise when investments are sold. EVT didn't sell any Toluna shares in the IPO.

[bitterlemontart] 15/9/2005 10:44

Eurovestech FY losses narrow, says current year starts well

LONDON (AFX) - Eurovestech PLC, the internet and technology investment
company, reported narrowing losses for the year to March and said the current
year has started well.
Losses after tax almost halved to around 660,000 stg from 1.15 mln the
previous year. Net assets increased to 13.3 mln stg from 8.6 mln.
The group said its portfolio companies and their management teams made very
good progress during the year.
[e-mail]

[kenmitch] 15/9/2005 10:43

Very cheery stuff indeed -e.g at the year end the EVT holding in CJudge/Toluna was valued at its £2 million cost, whereas the stock market valuation of the EVT stake in Toluna is currently around £18 million. A nine bagger for EVT.

EVT is still trading at a loss though even though these losses are much reduced.

Can someone please explain this for me. I know I SHOULD understand this, but don't. What does EVT have to do to become profitable? i.e do we have to wait for further significant increases in profits from KSS and Toluna, and in time Magenta to feed through to offset the EVT operating costs? I realise of course the significance of a trade sale of KSS or Magenta etc. should that ever happen.

i.e that the value is there is indisputable. Toluna is quoted on AIM and the value of the EVT stake is currently £18 million, and we have the Teather and Greenwood estimate of the far higher value for KSS.

But is one reason why the EVT share price still stubbornly refuses to recognise this value is because EVT is still loss making? After all KSS alone could be worth the current EVT market cap. And there is big and quality Instituional support. But there must be a reason?

[rambutan2] 15/9/2005 10:15

cheery stuff.

[bitterlemontart] 15/9/2005 09:32

Final Results

To be embargoed: not to be released until 7.00 a.m.
on 15 September 2005

EUROVESTECH PLC ("Eurovestech" or "the Company")

Preliminary Results
for the year ended 31 March 2005

Chairman's Statement

I am pleased to report on a successful year. Our portfolio companies and their
management teams have made very good progress. Eurovestech has entered this
year with a strong portfolio and the proven ability to pursue and positively
impact new opportunities.

In October 2004, we raised £5 million in an institutional placing. This has
allowed us to take advantage of certain targeted investment opportunities and
with the placing price at more than double the IPO price of March 2000; I
regard this as validation of our achievements as well as our perseverance.

Losses for the year, which represent our operating costs, were £0.66 million
against a loss of £1.15 million for the corresponding year. Net assets
increased to £13.3 million from £8.6 million reflecting the issue of shares and
the trading result. However, as I reported to you last year, given what we
consider to be the exceptionally rapid development of our unquoted portfolio,
these carrying values do not reflect `fair values': at the current stage of the
development of our portfolio companies, they are impractical to benchmark
reliably. For example, at the year end, our shareholding in Cjudge Limited
("Cjudge") was valued at its £2 million cost.

Portfolio review

Five years ago, we invested £1.2 million in Cjudge, the Paris-based online
market research company. Subsequently we made follow-on investments of £0.8
million to support the company's further development.

Cjudge's core services comprise access to its online panels of consumers, the
creation of dedicated online panels for or on behalf of clients and the
licensing and hosting of its proprietary data collection technology. Access
panels comprise pools of individuals who have agreed to participate in online
panels. It is these "access panels" that are used to conduct market research.

In May 2005, Cjudge's business was successfully listed on AIM under the name of
ToLuna plc ("ToLuna"), raising £5 million gross from several institutional
investors, following which, Eurovestech holds just under 64 per cent. of
ToLuna's issued share capital. On flotation, the stock market value of our
holding was £16 million and it is currently £18 million.

During the year under review, ToLuna increased the number of its European
panellists to approximately 350,000. Earlier this month ToLuna reported that it
now has 550,000 panellists. ToLuna also announced that trading, in the first
half of its year (to 30 June 2005), has exceeded management's expectations.

Knowledge Support Systems Limited ("KSS"), a leading provider of pricing and
revenue management systems for the retail and petroleum sectors, won several
sizeable contracts during the year. Customers now include BP, Rite Aid,
7-Eleven, Kuwait Petroleum, Conoco Philips, Sheetz and Brookshire Brothers.
Eurovestech acquired 100 per cent. of the share capital of KSS in June 2003 for
£1 million. At that time, KSS was losing £0.5 million per month. Last month, we
announced that KSS produced an after tax profit for its year to 27 June 2005,
of more than £950,000 and had increased sales more than four-fold to over £5
million.

Magenta Corporation Limited ("Magenta") is a leading provider of intelligent
software agent technology, which enables automation of real-time negotiating
and scheduling processes. During the year, Magenta secured a `proof of concept'
contract from one of Europe's largest engineering groups.

The remainder of the portfolio, which includes holdings in MyKindaplace
Limited, Tevet Process Control Technologies Limited, ARKeX Limited, Lynx
Photonic Networks Inc., D-Pharm Limited and Atarim Web Consulting together
account for less than 15 per cent of the portfolio by carrying value.
Nevertheless, the overall performance of these businesses has been encouraging.

Charitable donations

During the year, Eurovestech issued and gifted 800,000 new ordinary shares to
several charitable organisations. These shares had a total market value at the
date of issue of £82,000. Since 2001, the company has created and gifted more
than five million shares to dozens of worthy causes. I am proud that together
with the donations to the same charities from Richard Bernstein's personal
holding, the stock market value of shares gifted to charity now exceeds £1.25
million. The company hopes its policies and actions will encourage other
companies to support charities in this way.

Prospects

The year has started well: ToLuna and KSS, our two most developed companies,
have recently reported very strong increases in both turnover and profits.
Magenta's focus on providing production-level solutions around intelligent
agent technology is translating into new business; with a sizeable contract win
secured earlier this month.

I am pleased that we are utilising our strong cash position to target selected
listed investment opportunities. Overall, I am extremely optimistic about our
prospects.

RICHARD GROGAN

Chairman

[rambutan2] 15/9/2005 01:17

much better than me, i know that svg's managers are big fans and are bemused as to why price hasnt climbed higher in the last few months...

[kenmitch] 14/9/2005 20:06

Interesting trades today. Two large trades - shown as sells - of 1,500,000 and 1,450,000. They could be buys though.

Either way the shares have ticked up. And if they are sells could the rise in the share price hint at a buyer in the wings?

Good Ram2 to learn that I'm not the only EVT enthusiast left.