Ithaca Energy Share Discussion Threads

[lucky punter] 15/2/2008 13:22

Fly
This is the problem at the moment. Itis the company is unlikely to be affected by a recession but the share price is.

[flyfisher] 11/2/2008 20:18

in difficult market conditions , the share price has moved up 40% in the last 3 weeks, with steady buying on most days, itis is unlikely to be affected by any recession and it is set to pay a decent dividend. the recent ft article seems to have brought a wider audience to this company just as it is about to scale up its international sales.

[bearstalker] 11/2/2008 12:09

Nice 25k meaty buy at 49.5p, expect to see the bid rise soon

[bearstalker] 08/2/2008 10:35

market makers seem desperate for stock. 47.65p now being offered and you can't buy any stock online - you need to phone the broker..etc I reckon a quick rise to 50p is on the cards

[bearstalker] 07/2/2008 12:42

Now the ask is 47p. I can sell for 45.29p now but still am unable to buy 1,000 online and am asked to phone up the broker...etc

[bearstalker] 07/2/2008 12:31

They seem to be short of stock today. I'm being offered 45.08 to sell but not being offered a price to buy online even for as low 1,000 shares - says please ring up...etc

[thailand] 05/2/2008 07:17

at last the dividend is in sight,just another 3 weeks to wait 29 feb (xd 15/02/2008)

[russianlinesman] 19/1/2008 14:39

From the FT

When Itis Holdings lost a contract to supply journey time data to the Department for Transport to Trafficmaster, its main rival in the vehicle telematics sector, the shares started falling. Even what looks like a shrewd, earnings enhancing deal last month has failed to attract the interest of investors. Itis is paying up to £16.5m cash for Trafficlink, the UK's leading distributor of traffic incidents and travel information to broadcasters, business and the government. In effect the company has safeguarded the distribution of much of the information it collects precisely as the market for in-car navigation systems is starting to motor. It has also more than replaced the lost revenues from DfT. Pre-tax profits this year are forecast to rise by about £1m to £4.9m on turnover of £16m. The company floated in the tech bubble at 168p nearly seven years ago and has never sought more cash. It became profitable in 2004 and last year started to pay a dividend. The market capitalisation of £36m will keep it below the radar screen of most institutional investors. But the prospective multiple of nine looks cheap for a stock with 20 per cent projected earnings growth.

[russianlinesman] 17/1/2008 20:51

Why is a dividend stupid?

I would have thought the share price is down on the belief they cannot replace revenue from lost contracts and are now ex-growth. (which ignores prospects outside UK for what they are worth)

[dadair] 16/1/2008 12:07

Seems fair considering the 60% drop in share price Gotta love these options packages which aren't connected to performance....
Tis a really good look for potential investors like myself.
Off the radar again.


Good luck chaps.

[bearstalker] 15/1/2008 20:26

Board picked a good time to issue themselves with share options

[lucky punter] 12/1/2008 09:38

Tough call Russian. I was surprise to see Itis investing so heavily in the UK with their acquisition. With the rest of the worlD as their playground I would of thought they would be signing up local partners on a large scale by now but its all gone quiet.
There is clearly much going on in the background.

[russianlinesman] 12/1/2008 08:53

Tried to work out if there was any news on this. Garmin fell in the US as there is a big battle for no.1 between TomTom and Garmin going on.

TomTom's results said that European market doubled to 16m units in 2007 (yes, this is a market which grew by 100%).

The future of information is based on handsets, google are targeting the location space, tomtom is trying to get people to sign up to systems which pass info to other tomtoms and more importantly allow tomtom to know where their devices are, so the future for ITH is hard to call.

Meantime we are about to get a 3-4% dividend, which is always helpful, and Ladyman's appointment will surely assist in road pricing lobbying.

I have a core holding, but have not added recently, and can't decide whether to.

[bearstalker] 11/1/2008 16:36

Well, couldn't resist - I'm in with a few at 38p. Time will tell.

[thailand] 11/1/2008 15:28

even more oversold now @ 37.75p,bargain territory with a decent yield.

[flyfisher] 22/12/2007 10:40

arbuthnot have upgraded their forecasts to reflect the recent aquisition
current year 4.9m pre tax + 0.2m
next year 5.8m pre tax + 0.7m
it seems to be on a prospective p/e of little more than seven
its looking oversold to me, but so do many other aim stocks at the moment.

[bearstalker] 18/12/2007 23:01

Anyone got any idea what the next support level is?

Must say I'm tempted at these levels but I thinkj genral snetiment is that they overpaid for the acquisition.

[hew] 10/12/2007 08:43

RNS today by UBC - was referenced in Friday's Trafficlink RNS
_______________________________________________________________________

UBC Media Group PLC
10 December 2007

UBC Media extends key contract with ITIS and major radio station groups

Digital radio specialist UBC (UBC.L) today announces an extension of its
commercial relationship with ITIS, the leading provider of traffic information
in the UK, as part of the Network Drive package. Initially due to expire at the
end of 2010, UBC's partnership with ITIS will now run until the end of 2012.

The decision to lengthen current ties with UBC follows ITIS's purchase of
Traffic Link, the current provider of all traffic and travel information across
UBC's Network Drive system, which is the UK's largest syndicated traffic and
travel network. UBC has the exclusive rights to exploit Traffic Link information
on commercial radio.

Welcoming the extension, UBC's Chief Operating Officer John Quinn said:
'We are delighted that ITIS is extending its commercial relationship with UBC.
This will benefit our millions of listeners each week and strengthen Network
Drive's position as the UK's leading syndicated traffic and travel network.'

Stuart Marks, Chief Executive of ITIS said:
'We are very pleased, following our acquisition of Trafficlink, to be working
with UBC Media who are an important part of our business. Our confidence in
UBC's abilities led us to extend the contract until the end of 2012 and we
believe that the long term nature of our partnership will enable both companies
to work more closely together and to identify new areas of business and ways of
enhancing the current offering.'

In addition UBC has secured long term extensions to current contracts with GMG,
Global Radio, UTV and the Local Radio Company to provide syndicated services to
the groups' respective commercial radio stations. These contracts deliver 48 per
cent of UBC's combined audience delivery and ensure that the company continues
to reach 19 million adults per week.

[wjccghcc] 09/12/2007 22:19

malgowland, the traffiklink tax losses can only be carried forward against profits in the same company i.e. only traffiklink future profits, unless ITIS sells its own business to the traffiklink legal entity which it doesn't appear to be doing.

[russianlinesman] 08/12/2007 10:02

hang on malgowland

offsetting the 10.5m against profits saves ITS the tax (say 30%) on the profits, i.e. 4.5m - i.e. the price paid is headline minus 4.5m which is what 6m plus future incentives.

You are right it makes a big difference to the calcs, but they are not getting it entirely for free.

Explains why they didn't increase the dividend since Stuart had plans for the cash already - earnings enhancing is only compared to the interest they are earning on the cash, so my question is whether the margins are better or worse on the new business.

Looks to me like a good fit though, given that ITIS had generally concentrated first on the car makers, and then on satnav makers, with CFVD used for governments, and trafficlink seems to be in the media area, where aside from the AA (admittedly a biggie) Itis has not really concentrated. So, there's no cannibalisation, another competitor gone which should improve margins, and maybe ITIS information will get even better.

Can't see any immediate changes to the share price, as like so many smaller shares, this has been being sold for months for no particular reason.

[tom306] 07/12/2007 14:14

Quickmind
the 2007 results match 2006 for revenue but are below in PBT if you ignore a very large interest adjustment. ITIS is a big customer of Trafficlink so presumably the inter-company revenue and profit will disappear on consolidation? If so does anyone know how much that is?

[malgowland] 07/12/2007 13:18

Thought you would have spotted this one guys.....read the whole statement...Stuart is no dummy :-)

"Trafficlink had tax losses of #10.53 million at 30 June 2007, which can be
utilised against future trading profits."

Great deal...pay £10.5m for the co. then offseet the tax losses of £10.5m v. ITIS future profits = the biz for nowt!

LOL

MG

[quickmind] 07/12/2007 10:38

"The business employs 130 permanent staff and ... For the year to 30 June 2007, Trafficlink generated an audited EBITDA of £0.74 million and profit before taxation of £0.56 million on revenues of £4.7 million."

The above means PBT per head £4.3k and revenue per head £36.2k (In contrast, staff cost at ITH has been above £40k.) Trafficlink appears to be a low margin business.

"immediately earnings enhancing." ?
On £10.5m initial cash consideration, maybe. But the total cost could be as high as £16.5m!

[sdavis] 07/12/2007 09:31

LP: have to agree.... these private equity guys must be laughing all the way to the bank. £10.5m of the £15m current assets spent at a stroke of the pen. Mind you, the business must be performing well or they would not have done the deal. So my view is, bloody expensive but will not put the business in danger.