Internet Business Share Discussion Threads

[harrykewell] 24/6/2007 17:35

Casts a few doubts over my Money Week subscription. Lucky money week doesn't come out on earlier in the week!

[traidemark] 24/6/2007 16:03

"Oh and Maz - CEO's shouldn't have to communicate on BBs to private investors - private investors should be able to actually figure out whats going on from reading RNS'"

well said

been watching here on and off for some time , for a ceo to post an explanation on a bb is ridiculous .

2 hours spent on the wording of the rns wasnt it.

i would have thought that 2 days would have been more appropriate , of course aim rules state you should get that news out asap , but 2 hours , christ i bet they have longer tea breaks at ibg.

profit warnings come in 3's ..... oh sorry this is a "growth warining isnt it" ok growth warnings come in 3's

[tsigoloroh] 24/6/2007 15:53

im holding my bag open for 10.5p

[penbroker] 24/6/2007 13:41

Took a chance and bought in at 16.75p on Friday. Only time will tell if this was a risk too far or the right moment to buy. Was in but sold at a good profit a few weeks ago but tempted back in because of the sector prospects. Expect some turbulence for a while but am happy to hold for the long term, unless my stop-loss comes into effect. Money Week sees sector as high growth and is very positive about the future. Perhaps its comments on IBG were premature given the RNS warning, but the overall message was enlightening.

[68steve] 24/6/2007 13:24

They debated the wording for nearly 2 hours the day before the RNS obviously not long enough to consider the consequence of the statement.Also given the 2 year outlook and no bid forthcoming once the share price finds it`s level i would not expect anymore than 10% return in the next 18 months.The speculation has been taken out of the company...

[tsigoloroh] 24/6/2007 13:13

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Eliza, dear Eliza! There's a hole in the bucket, dear Eliza, A HOLE!

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, FIX IT!

With what shall I fix it, dear Eliza, dear Eliza With what shall I fix it, dear Eliza, WITH WHAT!

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, WITH STRAW!

The straw is too long, dear Eliza, dear Eliza The straw is too long, dear Eliza, TOO LONG!

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, CUT IT!

With what shall I cut it, dear Eliza, dear Eliza With what shall I cut it, dear Eliza, WITH WHAT!

With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, A KNIFE!

.....ad nauseum

[nghomi] 24/6/2007 13:05

Can IBG's business be run without Maziar Darvish? IMO the answer probably would be "no"! This is the reason John Green did not survive even six months and this is perhaps the one of the main reasons that nobody has made a decent offer for IBG. While Maz has put himself in an indispensable position, the shareholders do not have any options but having him in the short term! I think Maz needs to prove to the market that anybody could run his business before he can find a buyer!

[shroder] 24/6/2007 12:56

On reflection, how do we actually know who wrote that post - I took it at face value that Maz had posted here before and therefore his identity had been confirmed, if this is not the case it could be anyone.

[tsigoloroh] 24/6/2007 12:40

ng, dont be too hard on him. He's barely out of short trousers

[polzeath] 24/6/2007 12:38

nghomi - the guys who run £100m divisions got there after running £1m then £5m then £10m divisions. The experience you get from growing a small company into a mid-size company is second-to-none. Maz will certainly have learned something from the past couple of months but that makes him more able to run this kind of operation going forward, not less able.

[nghomi] 24/6/2007 12:33

I find it fascinating that a CEO of a listed company posts on a public BB. To be honest, I cannot comment if it is a good or bad thing. The analogy is if you see the glass is half full or half empty.

I am following IBG since November 06 and I have always been impressed with the phenomenal growth story. However, I have not invested here on a longer-term basis as yet because I felt that the rating was making it too risky. I was worried that any small hiccups would punish the investor very harshly.

My take from the last week RNS is that the company has issued a "growth rate warning" and they have not issued a "profit warning" for 1H.

Of course the "growth rate warning" would certainly justify some sort of price correction. The main question is that at what price a "new" investor (as supposed to "new" traders) would be attracted to IBG.

I am not convinced that the company has been clear on what is the roadmap and it would probably remain uncertain until next set of results are published.

One thing I am inclined to say though is that if the "new" or "old" investors would see Maz being fit for adding value to the shareholders in medium to long term. Remember that IBG needs to transfer from a "too small" company to some not "too small" company. The key question is that if Maz can do this. IMHO, the recent affairs are all indicating that he is not fit to run a mid-cap company. I remember that he appointed a new chairman (or CEO) back in October; the guy did not survived even 6 months! To me, Maz is the "man" who is running IBG. Is this style of management would warrant a much larger company? Has Maz got any experience of managing a company with say £100m revenue in his past life?

[tsigoloroh] 24/6/2007 12:30

And that was just hargreaves hale who have 3 million, lol

[clocktower] 24/6/2007 11:25

What a breath of fresh air to get the likes of Maz posting in such a manner.

In most cases, directors use AIM regulations to excuse themselves from clarifying RNS etc.

You are a fine example Maz, and I wish you every luck and greater fortune. It is delightfull to hear from a honest man.

As to the sp, companies must accept day traders but if the directors were open and honest as those of IBG, then true investors would not be subjected to the rollercoaster of fear and greed.

I also respect the way Maz, accepts the frustration and offensive remarks made on BB that are caused by frustration, anger etc but without malice, as they are all part of the banter that occurs.

Your a star Maz and made of steel.

[valustar1] 24/6/2007 08:12

Thank you Maz

The power of the internet, you can get a message direct to your shareholders.

We all recognise you did not need to post but have stuck your neck out to do so, how many other people in your position would have done so, very close to nil!!

A shareholder letter would be great. What might be worth doing in addition is having a shareholders meeting after the interims. This works very well with other AIM companies.

Once we have the date with the interims I will contact you to see if it can be arranged and then post details here if you are happy with the idea

Regards

Valuestar

[aleman] 24/6/2007 00:18

Thanks, Maz.

Anyone reading Maz's post should be aware that there are all sorts of potential ramifications if he makes a mistake in his wording so hardly any directors post on bulletin boards and it will not be done lightly. I still have problems with what is going on but I would like to see the interim numbers before I do anything rash, and that was the case for me regardless of the review outcome. Any extra explanation of what is going on with strategy would be helpful whether in results , by letter or whatever.

[old boy returns] 24/6/2007 00:11

Thanks for that Maz. Certainly clears up a lot of issues I was wondering / worrying about. I still hold over 500K IBG shares and will be adding to that on Monday if the price stays where it is. The market cap is close to half of what it was when the strategic review was announced which is clearly nonsense as little has changed for the company or its prospects in the meantime and in some ways the risk has decreased because the company have decided to embark on a period of measured internally funded organic growth rather than take on debt to do it quicker. What has happened is that long term holders sold a fair few shares on announcement of the strategic review and these were bought by short term traders looking for a quick buck from a bid premium. Then when it was announced that the management would not be recommending a bid all those short termers exited in a rush and there have been few buyers due to the uncertainty thrown up by the announcement.

[bonio10000] 23/6/2007 23:06

Thanks Maz

Given the price - I still think that a share repurchase would be the best use of surplus funds.

[68steve] 23/6/2007 22:49

Fair play Maz but you should not need to explain yourself on an ADVFN board.Time and Place for everything AGM/Results,you seem a very genuine and honest guy(too honest for AIM ;-)).Wish you well for the future...
PS;my only gripe when you say you should notify AIM immediately when market expectation will/will not be met does not tie in timing of previous upbeat market expectation ie;2/3 weeks before end of financial year surely you new sometime before but what is done is done.

[omlaysause] 23/6/2007 22:13

Thanks for the detail Maz, exactly what was needed at this time and shows your integrity.
I for one do believe in the board and as I said when all this happened, IBG hasn't suddenly become a bad company overnight and time will tell if the current strategy will work. The majority of choices made in the past 3 years have, so I see no reason why these won't.

[12345th] 23/6/2007 20:56

I was going to write a major whinge about how much money I´ve lost and how damned the share price will now be for ages and ages. The latter may be true and I remain alarmed that IBG has done a DGM in terms of catastrophic and sudden share price fall (look how long it took DGM to begin the climback, ironically just as IBG has hit the skids!) ... but but but ... Maz´s comment above has gone a long way to taking the poison out of my words and I salute his fantastic use of this board (especially now but also in the past) even if his general PR with the City seems dire! So we´re left with a very mixed picture and I for one just can´t get my head round how one minute we were undervalued at 28p and awaiting a nice premium takeover, and the next we are (apparently) holding on to the pathetic 16p level by our fingertips. It makes you want to give up this investing lark. I´ve had too many awful experiences like this and would probably be glad to see Maz take it private at somewhere near the 28p mark.

[lauders] 23/6/2007 19:15

As others have said, thank you for your comments Maz. You above all must be feeling the drop in share-price, so your words are taken with great respect. I hope you can improve your company's PR though and get 'our' company back into the city's good books. Sentiment will be negative for a while no doubt.