Group Nbt Share Discussion Threads

[malkie] 22/9/2008 15:16

JOIN "KILL THE SPREAD" CAMPAIGN FOR A MORE EFFICIENT AIM SMALL CAP MARKET WITH DIRECT MARKET ACCESS.

Over One thousand people have signed our on-line petition and voted in the Poll!!
If you haven't yet done so join us now!!!



If you want tighter spreads on small cap AIM stocks and Direct Market Access, and small cap auctions - then join the campaign!

To be presented to the CEO of the LSE Clara Furse.
The campaign is gaining momentum and the press are now picking up on it.....









Market makers should not be traders as well as there is a clear conflict of interests.

Someone took 20p for 135k GEM when the bid was 26p - over a barrel with Market Makers the only game in town.

On 10th September 450k SOLG sold at 1p when the bid was 3p.
Same stock sold back into the market over next few days for 2.5p-3p

Market Maker system leaves a lot ot be desired. This isn't "making an orderly market", it is profiteering.




and please spread the word!

[serratia] 22/9/2008 15:16

A bit of selling going on today,only 10k as I write.Results out on thursday.I'm ready to be shot down but here's my take for the figures.
Sales £35m up from £22.5m,Operating profit £6m up from £3.6m,OP after tax £3.6m up from £1.5m giving a P/E of 17 down from a range last year of 31-52.Thoughts for the coming year depend to some extent on thursdays figures but in their absence I'm looking for sales around £42m and a PAT of around £7.5m giving a P/E of 12 based on todays price.
Details if interested.I hold and can see no reason to change on a forward view.
Send bullets this way on thursday if necessary !

[d0ubtf1re] 13/9/2008 21:29

Capricorn_1 / Josh excellent observations- chart does has a break-out look to it & NBT seems to rarely follow even heavy days losses on the market. It has largely escaped the scathing de-rating seen elsewhere on AIM & it quitely going about growing it's business, shareholder value usually follows. I wouldn't be surprised if we see this have one really good day either late next week or early the week after it can rise sharply on very little volume.

[joshalexander] 13/9/2008 19:41

This looks like a strong breakout of the recent trading range IMO,
at least £2.70 for results in my view.

[capricorn_1] 13/9/2008 15:02

But even better NBT are clearly demonstrating non-cyclical qualities in an otherwise falling market...happy to hold onto this type of quality stock at least until we reach the top of last year's high:-)

[carneddau] 12/9/2008 16:07

Nice move up in these in the last few days, tends to be very sensitive to any BUYS around results time. Just a few thousand shares bought in the last few days have seen it rise 9.5p so far, should be trading in the 265-275p range around results time on 25th Sept.

[serratia] 21/7/2008 10:05

Positive update this morning.

[wjccghcc] 09/7/2008 08:37

netnames is not a hosting company. Its business is domain name management throughout the world.

[hyper al] 09/7/2008 08:09

Server Name : ns1.advfn.com
IP Address : 212.113.23.135
Registrar : GROUP NBT PLC AKA NETNAMES
Whois Server : whois.netnames.com
Referral URL :

Source

[hyper al] 09/7/2008 08:05

WJCCGHCC

The DNS details for advfn.com suggest Group NBT

[wjccghcc] 09/7/2008 08:00

No, I think they're hosted by Thus.

[hyper al] 09/7/2008 07:52

Does ADVFN use this company for it's website hosting?

Whoever hosted ADVFN through the recent outage has a lot to answer for.

[serratia] 07/7/2008 15:44

We had a trading statement July 10th last year.Wonder if anything will be forthcoming this month ?

[capricorn_1] 07/4/2008 19:29

Back in last week, after a year's break. This stock is a shining star in a market that is short on good news imo. I think the recent results demonstrate solid continued growth potential going forward:-)

[stegrego] 13/3/2008 20:39

13/3/08

Numis has a buy and 325p target for Group NBT

[stegrego] 13/3/2008 18:38

13/03/2008
The popularity of online shopping and ever widening broadband penetration are enabling internet services expert Group NBT to maintain its rapid growth rates.

Two earlier acquisitions that outperformed, allied to organic growth of 17%, were behind a 98% sales surge to £16.5m for the half to December. Flat pre-tax profits of £1.9m reflected restructuring costs and a small loss from last July's Envisional acquisition. However, underlying profits actually rose 43% and good cash generation swelled the coffers to £3.5m and halved debt to £1m.

European domain name manager Ascio, loss-making prior to its purchase last year, is now 'solidly into profits', according to chief executive Geoff Wicks, and contributed to a 39% sales rise in the Netnames division, while Wicks predicts further efficiencies to come from the integration process.

Elsewhere, the Netbenefit managed hosting arm, where broadband proliferation and the growth of online shopping are drivers that should see strong growth continue for some time, advanced 58% with the assistance of 2006 acquisition Exalia's full integration. House broker Numis sees the managed services sector as prime for consolidation due to the increasing costs of data centres driving out the small fry. Wicks adds that current economic conditions, although not conducive to acquisitions, 'might create a few bargains'.

Recommended by Growth Company Investor at 253.5p in February last year, the shares gained over a third to 346p in May before falling back in volatile markets. On full-year forecast earnings of 13.8p from Numis, rising to 17.9p in 2009, the shares are a firm hold.

[wjccghcc] 13/3/2008 09:02

Yup. Progressing nicely. The main benefits from Ascio won't kick in until next year but H1 organic growth of 17% shows the potential.

[serratia] 13/3/2008 08:35

Results look fine to me.

[serratia] 07/3/2008 11:07

Thanks WJCCGHCC

[wjccghcc] 07/3/2008 10:33

13th March.

[serratia] 07/3/2008 09:40

Shouldn't the results be out any time now ? Anyone heard a date ?

[stegrego] 01/1/2008 17:59

Thanks Jonwig

[jonwig] 01/1/2008 17:33

From UK-Analyst's AIM & PLUS Newsletter via e-mail.
(I don't hold, never heard of NBT, just a messenger)

Buy Group NBT at 203.5p

A tip from The AIM & PLUS Newsletter

THE BUSINESS Early in 2005 visitors to the Delyn Conservative Association's official website were surprised to find images of a most unwholesome nature. That is images even more unwholesome than William Hague in a baseball cap or David Cameron pretending to be working class. The organisation forgot to renew its ownership of the site's domain name, which was subsequently bought by another internet user who proceeded to plaster pornographic images all over the site. With many large business having literally thousands of registered domain names in registries around the world it can be hard work for them to keep track of when exactly their ownership is due for renewal and as such, mis-management could cause serious problems, as the Delyn Tories discovered. This is where Group NBT (NBT) comes in.

The company was founded back in 1995, under the name netBenefit, in order to provide services involved with the management of domain names, including the registering and renewal of the names, as well as proving hosting services for websites. It has made a number of acquisitions since then and in 2004 changed its name to Group NBT after it acquired the web hosting business Easily.co.uk. After listing on the full list of the LSE in 1999 the company moved down to AIM in 2004.

Further companies have been acquired since then and as of today NBT has five internet services related brands which each deal with a different part of the market. The company provides its services to companies across the UK, Europe and the US.

The original netBenefit business still exists and continues to provide managed hosting services to customers worldwide. Easily.co.uk and speednames.com provide services for small business with customers typically taking a package which includes a domain name, e-mail services and web hosting. Netnames provides domain name management services and is an icAnn Accredited Registrar with the ability to register domain names in all available suffixes worldwide. Within Netnames the company has a branded "Platinum service" which specifically targets larger companies. Ascio is responsible for the provision of domain name services indirectly through more than 300 partnerships with telecom operators, web hosting companies, internet access providers and IP law firms. Finally, Envisional, provides online brand protection services.

NBT currently has over 250 employees around the world with offices in London, Copenhagen, New York, Nice, Munich, Zurich, Oslo and Madrid. it has a range of customers using its services from small to medium sized organisations to multi-nationals. Around a third of companies in the FTSE 100 including Centrica and British Airways currently use NBT.

CURRENT TRADING: The last set of results that the company released reported on the year to 30th June 2007. Over the 12 month period revenues were up by an impressive 63% to £22.54 million. While acquisitions accounted for the bulk of the growth the core businesses more than managed to hold their own, with organic growth standing at 19%. Operating profits grew by 50% to £4.07 million over the period with 26% of this coming from organic growth. Pre-tax profits adjusted for amortisation and costs associated with restructuring acquisitions grew by 33% to £3.78 million. This growth rate was slower than the operating profit growth due to interest inflows turning into outflows over the year as a result of increased debt used to fund acquisitions and due to accounting for share option costs. Diluted earnings adjusted in the same as pre-tax profits grew by 12% to 12.54p. Earnings growth was dampened by share issues over the year used to pay for acquisitions and the company's effective tax charge rising from 17.6% in the previous year to 24.1%. A total dividend for the year of 1.8p was paid, a 50% increase over 2006.

To the balance sheet and over the period the company's cash in the bank halved from £6 million at the end of 2006 to £3 million mainly due to spending on acquisitions. At the end of the period net debt stood at £1.95 million compared to net cash of just over £6 million at the end of 2006. However, the company is cash generative and over the year net inflow from operations was up by 24% to £4 million. Presuming no further acquisitions are made NBT should have net cash by the end of the current year to 30th June 2008 at the very latest.

Two acquisitions were made during the year which expanded the company's product offerings. In August 2006 NBT bought UK managed hosting provider, Exalia, for £3 million in cash. Exalia has been fully integrated and last year made a useful first time contribution to operating profits of £0.56 million. More significantly, in January 2007 the company acquired Danish company Ascio technology Holdings for £18 million in a mixture of cash, shares and options. At the end of the year the company said that the integration process was on track and that savings and benefits from economies of scale are expected in the second half of the current year. The integration process is expected to last until mid 2008.

In July 2007 NBT acquired Envisional for up to £4 million in cash and shares. The deal added new brand protection services to the company's offerings. Using its artificial intelligence technology Envisional can search the internet for illegal activities concerned with its clients brands', such as fraud, piracy and counterfeiting, which when identified customers can put the means in place to stop them. This deal also provides an excellent opportunity to cross sell these services to NBT's existing clients.

OPPORTUNITIES & THREATS: NBT is ambitious and has stated that it intends to grow its revenues to over £50 million a year and we think that this is an entirely achievable goal. While there are around 130 million domain names registered around the world at present the market is still in the early stages of its development. The number of internet users worldwide continues to grow with the greater availability and lower prices of broadband services. NBT has a good range of products that can capitalise on this growth. Microsoft estimates that the web hosting market will also continue to grow substantially over the next few years.

A new opportunity for the company arose recently as the new .asia domain name has now been opened for registrations. With many companies looking to do and currently doing business in Asian countries this provides the Netnames business with a huge opportunity to manage further websites for its clients. Applications for the new suffix are currently being taken with the first domain names expected to go live in March 2008.

As NBT has a strong history of acquisition-driven growth we would not be surprised to see more bolt-on acquisitions in the future. However, since the company has been busy on the M&A front over the past year or so we would like to see all the recently acquired companies fully bedded down before any more are made. These acquisitions are expected to provide significant additions to earnings in the coming years so integrating them smoothly and on target is a key target for NBT. Of course there is a risk that something may go wrong in this respect but considering that everything looks to be going well so far and that NBT has a good history of integrating acquisitions into the company we are confident of a successful outcome.

RECOMMENDATION: Over the past five years NBT has grown its revenues at a compounded annual rate of 38% and since 2004 pre-tax profits have grown at a compounded annual rate of 78%. Although the company is forecast to continue to grow this year its rate of earnings growth will be reduced by the impact of the acquisitions made and by an increase in the number of shares in issue used in part payment for the deals. In the current year to 30th June 2008 NBT should post revenues in the region of £33.2 million with adjusted pre-tax profits of £4.9 million and adjusted earnings of 13.8p. That is only 10% growth at the earnings level but once the acquired companies have been fully integrated in the year to 30th June 2009, as we expect them to be, earnings growth should be given a boost. In 2009 revenues are expected to reach £37.5 million, with adjusted pre-tax profits of £7 million and adjusted earnings of 19.4p. That's forecast earnings growth of 41% more than expected 2008 earnings and puts the company on a 2009 PEG of just 0.28, which in our book is way too low for a cash generative, rapidly growing company like NBT. BUY.

Key Data

EPIC: NBT
Market: AIM
Spread: 200p - 207p (3.4%)