Henderson European Share Discussion Threads

[sporticus] 24/4/2006 14:03

If they only rise to £1.00 then I will still be well out of pocket. Does anyone have any views on their latest EGM notice to shareholders, especially the bit where "new options for old" only applies to selected employees? That does not seem fair to me.

[mellious] 24/4/2006 13:35

No movement still, the market has no trust in the share. In the long-term they may rise to £1.00 but no higher! As that is a fair value even considering last years mass losses due to obsolete stock that they had to sell cheap as they could only be seen selling mordern items which is a clear weakness along with the investments made into advertising and their TV channel, just hope the refitting has a positive impact!

[cambium] 24/4/2006 12:23

This brings a whole new meaning to a CTF. :o)

[jtcod] 24/4/2006 12:17

cod tracker fund!?;-)

You will have no problem imo MS. That 3 % after me was also a buy I believe.

Seems an institution must be happy to throw the towel in.

Watch for another RNS on notifyable interest soon I think.

[miamisteve] 24/4/2006 11:58

JT - What's your view on the current liquidity of the stock. Seems you managed to buy 1.5% of the company without affecting the sp? Would like to buy 100k here for my cod tracker fund but with amu for example my 10k orders at offer never seem to get filled.

[jtcod] 24/4/2006 11:17

Cheers HB

That scenario will do me fine.

If we both like it, then I'd like to think it's a good sign.

[horneblower] 24/4/2006 10:31

JT,

I really like HET's chart. It is exhibiting a straightforward 'diamond'-shaped bottom pattern that should recover to at least 100p pretty quickly and thereafter is likely to reach 130p within, say, three months. Longer term is not possible, imo, to predict from the chart but I'm happy to go along with your fundamentals.

Two buts...

1/ It is possible (likely, even) that we will visit 60p first (to complete the diamond shape).
2/ Assuming the rise to 130p, there will inevitably be setbacks on the way up (profit-taking and relief selling by historic shareholders). The chart suggests this will occur around 72.5p and 97.5p.

I shall take a small position today but hope to expand considerably at a lower level.

Nice research.
Good luck.

[goonertone] 22/4/2006 10:32

As an aside can anyone explain how 40000 shares purchased can cause a drop in the price?

Bearing in mind it was only the bid that dropped and you could still only buy 150 online I smell something fishy, I'm just not sure what.

GT

[goonertone] 22/4/2006 10:28

Pjetr

I got Andromeda's accounts from Co house for Dec 04. I think it was the old start up problem, to far to fast and cashflow got them. They had cash outflow in the year of £3.5 mill with a £4 mil o/draft. I'm not a games expert but there were also delays with the launching of most of the new consoles.

The logistics business is subject to an MBO so the only things brought would have been the stock and the goodwill from the fulfilment side. Bankside consultants told me that an RNS wasn't needed due to the amount paid being non notifiable. I think therefore that for a cheap amount they will have augmented there fulfilment division.

GT

[pjetr] 22/4/2006 10:03

probably choicesUK got the assets at good prices, so that's good news.
but I'm just wondering what exactly went wrong with Andromeda Entertainment...and if it says anything about the future for other players in this industry (ie HET).
After some googling, I understand that Andromeda was a very succesful company up until 2003-04-...? Fast growing, very decent net profit margin, blue chip clients, top IT systems to deliver.
Did consoles sales drastically decrease? (don't think so) - did game prices fall sharply (don't think so)? what happened with Andromeda and how is HET different?

any ideas?

cheers

[goonertone] 20/4/2006 12:02

I thought MM's had to at least offer the NMS on a share?

Barclays is currently down to a max of 150 @ 67 to buy and 10000 @ 65.6(7500 @ 66)

GT

[goonertone] 20/4/2006 00:33

Have had a look round the Andromeda website and looked at what we might be acquiring.

Andromeda was a former darling of the papers as it was in numerous top private companies lists.

It has also started a logistics business that is not part of the bankrupt business but this was only started in 2004. The turnover in 2003 was £51 million and in 2004 £58 million.

The bit I like is that they are buying the goodwill ie the client base which appears from there website to be blue chip. They are in the fulfilment business which is the profitable part of choicesuk and opens up further opportunites in this area.

They will be it appears transferring the business to Peterborogh which should mean synergies on a large scale.

however it is all conjecture without an RNS to explain exactly what parts of the business they have purchased.

GT

client list


company summary

[scumdog] 19/4/2006 17:40

Well found goonertone.

[goonertone] 19/4/2006 14:35

Why no RNS?

Choices UK has this morning confirmed its acquisition of Andromeda - as predicted yesterday by MCV.
The company, which boasts over 220 stores, more than 7,000 concessions within the convenience sector, and has business interests in e-commerce, mail order and fulfilment, has picked up the games stock and certain assets from the receivers of the troubled distributor.

"As a result of this acquisition, ChoicesUK has significantly strengthened its position in the fulfilment business and will provide suppliers and customers with continuity and the benefits of dealing with a well established operator."

A number of key personnel from Andromeda Entertainment will be employed by ChoicesUK.



GT

[goonertone] 19/4/2006 14:01

On line prices are extremely skewed at the moment

600 @ 67p to buy
5000 @ 66 to sell or 10000 @ 65.4

I've never seen sell quotes for more than 7500 shares before.

GT

[pjetr] 06/4/2006 16:49

interesting article on cueentertainment.com


Don’t be diverted by download

Music Zone’s Darryl Gaskin is still a big fan of the plastic disc when it comes to delivering home entertainment

Downloading may be being positioned by the public prints as the death knell for packaged media â€" but for Music Zone’s Head of Visual Buying Darryl Gaskin the threat is much exaggerated.
During the last four years Gaskin has seen the demise of VHS more than compensated for by the life affirming surge of DVD, but for the time being online sales and piracy are more likely to provide the challenge â€" not downloads.
Gaskin believes press enthusiasm to push downloading as the death of retail is out of kilter with public feeling: “A vast majority of people want to go out and buy product and own the official release,” he says. “As super fast broadband becomes more commonplace perhaps it will be more of a threat but at the moment very few people actually download movies.
“The growth of online retailing is a bigger threat to us and something we would consider more seriously than downloading at the moment â€" and piracy as well, which is a much more readily available way of accessing movies very cheaply.”

New formats

On the plus side, Gaskin sees the emerging formats of Blu-ray and HD DVD breathing new life into the physical format.
“We’ll be watching the States,” he says. “The big question is what will happen in the battle between the formats? For me the key element is PlayStation 3. If there’s one factor that will define what happens it will be how people buy into the PS3, which will incorporate a Blu-ray system.” He has less faith in the bolt-on HD DVD drive, which will be made available for the Xbox 360.
Speaking of Sony, Music Zone is supporting selected UMD new releases and looking at moving into certain campaigns in a limited way to see how it performs.
“Although Sony talked it up I don’t think UMD has been anywhere near the success that people predicted,” he confides. “People were quite wrong about the content that would be most successful. The best selling UMD so far has been “250 Greatest Premiership Goals”. I don’t know if that many people are really interested in watching movies on UMD.
“If you look at percentage sales on any new release of UMD in relation to DVD, it’s tiny. We can achieve the same market share as we do on a DVD title on UMD by selling 20 copies. It’s not a resounding success so far but there’ll be a hell of a lot more PSPs in circulation when we hit Christmas this year.”

... continues


Cheers
P

[nick] 06/4/2006 12:08

real-time online bid 64.5p

[nick] 05/4/2006 17:56

Thanks goonertone.

Interesting delayed trade just appeared somebody buying at 67p.

[goonertone] 04/4/2006 11:40

Nick

Nip back to post 131 for my previous comments.

Not sure about rental I suppose it depends on the cost. I would be more looking to the sales side as I really don't think that the rental side of the business is where Choicesuk are trying to position themselves.

GT

[nick] 04/4/2006 11:12

Anybody got any views on the new Toshiba's HD-DVD standard and Sony's Blu-ray and its impact on HET's business? In terms of technology this could be a similar to the leap from video. With the trend towards HD plasma screens this will probably provide a boost to the rental market.

[goonertone] 04/4/2006 08:57

Scumdog/Bletherer

This has been niggling me for a few weeks now.

How about if you add the 47500 trade yesterday to the 850000 you get 897500. Which is about 4.99% which is chase nominees holding per the website figures that bletherer posted the other day.

However this doesn't explain why previous purchases haven't been accompanied by a second disposal RNS each time.

Was reading up about Gylenhammer and his associates the other day. They go for mainly asset plays and undervalued turnaround companies. Hence why it doesn't always work as anyone who invests in turnarounds knows that it doesn't always play out as you hope and they are cheap for a reason.

He usually spends a few months building up a small percentage stake until he has to issue an RNS then approaches management/major shareholders and tries to up stake to max 29.9% giving him enough clout to have a say in the running of the company.

I still have reservations about parts of the company ie tv which appears to have stopped but at what cost and whether the high st is breaking even. The other two parts are what interests me ie the management and distribution parts for third parties. As for Mosaic I would sell it off as it is completely peripheral to the other parts.

I will continue to hold for the time being to see how the PG saga plays out and also see if a trading statement can shed more light on the current situation.


GT

[bletherer] 04/4/2006 08:22

Scumdog - this is what I am wondering. There was another 850,000 trade that went through at the same time yesterday. I feel it must be one of the other major holders offloading as the maths just doesn't add up otherwise. Yet there have been no other holdings RNSs - why not?? Prior to Gyllenhammar's acquisitions the HET website gave major holders as totalling about 78%. If no-one has sold then that would currently mean 95% held by major holders, and a free float of fewer than a million shares. This I just don't believe...

[scumdog] 03/4/2006 17:26

From whom is Mr Gyllenhammar acquiring all these shares?

[nick] 03/4/2006 16:55

SAR 3 - Home Entertainment

RNS Number:8948A
Union Discount Co. of London Ltd
03 April 2006

FORM SAR 3


DISCLOSURE OF ACQUISITIONS
(Rule 3 of The Rules Governing Substantial Acquisitions of Shares)


Name of acquirer THE UNION DISCOUNT COMPANY OF LONDON
LIMITED

Beneficial owner, if different from above PETER GYLLENHAMMAR



Names of any other persons acting by agreement
or understanding (see SAR 5)

Company dealt in HOME ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION PLC

Class of voting shares (eg ordinary shares) ORDINARY SHARES

Date of acquisition 3RD APRIL 2006



Number of shares acquired 850,000

Number of rights over shares acquired #

Nature of rights over shares




Total holding of voting shares (and percentage of 3,127,000 (17.33%) THIS
total voting shares in issue) INCLUDES THE COMBINED HOLDING OF THE UNION
DISCOUNT COMPANY OF LONDON LIMITED AND
FORVALTNINGS AB BRONSSTADET

Total holding of rights over shares (and
percentage of total voting shares in issue)

Combined total holding (and percentage) of
voting shares and rights over shares




Date of disclosure 3RD APRIL 2006

Contact name LYNNE JEFFREY ON BEHALF OF UNION INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT LTD

Telephone number 0207 256 3954


# See the definition of "rights over shares" in the Definitions Section
of the SARs.

For details of the SARs disclosure requirements, see SARs 3 and 5 and their
Notes which can be viewed on the Takeover Panel's website at
www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.