Lo-Q Share Discussion Threads

[rivaldo] 10/12/2012 15:51

Good to see 2k just bought at 347p, 4p above the published 343p offer price. Very keen.

[effortless cool] 10/12/2012 12:20

Thanks, rivaldo.

Edison could usefully learn the distinction between "complimentary" and "complementary".

Hopefully, the acquisition will be the latter, but it certainly was not the former.

[rivaldo] 10/12/2012 12:16

New Edison note out today, with 7.5% earnings upgrades following the Accesso acquisition:



Will read the rest of it later.

[spud] 06/12/2012 15:41

I think Disney are going to have to rethink their policy on in house development. There's simply too much patent protection going on around here.

I'm sure accesso can pin them down ;-)

spud

[jong] 06/12/2012 15:01

Disney also have waterparks too, so it will be interesting to see how their "new tech" works in these without a mobile phone, given LoQ's patents.

[rivaldo] 06/12/2012 13:40

MTG, I seem to remember earlier comments here noting that Disney tended to be pretty introspective and would only use their products internally. Which, even with Disney's global reach, would seem a bit of a waste if their product was any good (unlike their current system) and cost so much to develop.

[m.t.glass] 06/12/2012 12:58

Would you expect Disney to market their own equivalent product outside their own facilities once they've got it fully sorted?

[rivaldo] 06/12/2012 12:17

Cheers Orange1. I think this sentence gives an indication of what's on the agenda here:

"Both companies said they see ample room for growth as more attractions, from municipal zoos to multi-park resorts, look to deploy more sophisticated tools for travelers."

LOQ's patents have already been proven to be very strong. I wonder whether Disney will be able to get around them, or will they have to come to some sort of financial/royalty arrangement with LOQ. The fact that Disney are spending so much signals just how valuable the opportunity is - certainly enough for both Disney and LOQ to thrive.

[orange1] 06/12/2012 10:11

Some interesting information about the deal in the Orlando Sentinel, including:

¨Developing new technologies for everything from crowd-flow control to mobile sales has become a priority across the theme-park business, as companies try to make themselves more relevant to tech-savvy travelers and to wring more attendance and sales out of their existing infrastructure.

For instance, the Walt Disney Co.'s theme-park division is spending $1 billion to develop a suite of technologies it has dubbed Next Generation Experience, or "NextGen." A cornerstone of that project, which is expected to begin rolling out in earnest next year, is an advance-reservations system that will allow travelers to book ride and show times before they leave home on vacation.

"Everyone is looking for ways to reduce hassles, because their guests will then have a better experience," Accesso CEO and owner Steve Brown said. "It's about guest convenience, it's about revenue and it's about providing guests what they want. Guests want to be able to buy their ticket on their phone. Guests want to be able to find ways to avoid waiting in line."

Both companies said they see ample room for growth as more attractions, from municipal zoos to multi-park resorts, look to deploy more sophisticated tools for travelers. Universal Orlando, whose two theme parks drew nearly 14 million visitors last year, recently began using a reservation system developed by Lo-Q.

"We truly see this as a game-changer," Brown said of the merger. "What's out there right now is a very fragmented landscape of providers. There's not a vendor in the technology space that has enough critical mass to really be innovative. When you put these two companies together, it's an enormous opportunity."

[supernumerary] 05/12/2012 12:48

CEV - can't really blame the guy for presenting the deal in the best light - that's his job! Certainly looks an excellent fit from a strategic point of view. Loq must now be the first point of call for anything to do with queuing or ticketing. And a big vote of confidence from Steven Brown - hard to give up sole ownership to become a part of another organisation.

Seems a pretty clear response to those who hanker for dividends ;¬)

[rivaldo] 05/12/2012 12:29

I came across this interview from 2009 with Accesso's CEO - he had 16 years at Disney, latterly in "the first executive role in charge of ticketing as a line of business". Then he was "the head of ticket strategy and sales for all Six Flags parks".

He'll certainly know exeactly what the industry needs from LOQ and should have the contacts to make things happen:

[canteatvalue] 05/12/2012 11:06

Strategically this looks like a great fit as an acquisition and the managers they are bringing on have very good experience. In the long run I can see this being a very good move by LoQ. However, I'm still a bit annoyed by the financial sleight-of-hand that companies tend to succumb to with acquisitions and LoQ have done the usual tricks here I hate.

First: They tell us EBITDA but don't tell us earnings. EBITDA is so easily manipulated it's just useless to me as an analyst (to be fair, even earnings are often bad enough - I always have to use the cash flow statement to help me work out what's "real" earnings and what's aggressive accruals)

Second: Boasting that the acquisition will be "earnings enhancing". I hate this because it sounds far more impressive than it actually is. If I take the 0.5% interest I earned last year in my bank account and leave it in there, that increase in capital is also technically "earnings enhancing" as I'll earn interest on my interest next year. All that phrase means is that the acquisition makes more profit than the cash was generating as interest - hardly a brag in a world of rock-bottom interest rates (To get technical: admittedly part of the acquisition here is in shares. If the whole acquisition here was in shares and the acquisition was earnings enhancing it be more impressive, as the target would need to be on a lower P/E than the acquirer for this to occur. As the bulk of this transaction is in cash + loan note this is a relatively small factor here).

Summary: Like the acquisition rationale but can't really tell if they've paid a sensible price. Based on 2012 revs of ~£4.9m (£3.5 x 40% growth) they've paid a little over their own current price to sales revenue so it doesn't seem ridiculous if they have similar growth prospects.

[someuwin] 05/12/2012 09:40

Looks good...

[effortless cool] 05/12/2012 08:48

"Tom has always said that the only way to penetrate Disney was through the back door".

I think that may constitute a libel ...?

[spud] 05/12/2012 08:41

75% of the Board are ex Disney Directors also...Happy days :-))spud

[spud] 05/12/2012 08:22

Links to Disney all over the show inc Steve Brown. Tom has always said that the only way to penetrate Disney was through the back door.A quick Google of the new Company and big D should bring a smile of expectation to all holders. Well done Tom - Inspired!spud

[spud] 05/12/2012 08:04

Plus it adds an immediate 500k to the bottom line growing at 40% last year. Very shrewd Mr Burnet.spud

[bonio10000] 05/12/2012 08:00

They could have done better and returned that cash rather than trying to empire build.

[westcountryboy] 05/12/2012 07:57

It's good, but hardly a cheap acquisition!

[someuwin] 05/12/2012 07:53

Sounds fantastic...

"accesso is recognised as the attractions industry's leading provider of ticketing solutions offering a range of proprietary PCI Level 1, fully-hosted ticketing, ecommerce, mobile and payment processing solutions to more than 100 leading venues across the United States, Canada and Mexico. accesso is on track to process nearly $1 billion in transactions in 2012 and deliver more than 14 million print-at-home and mobile admission tickets for its clients."

[rivaldo] 05/12/2012 07:50

Excellent - and transformational - acquisition.

In particular, it's immediately earnings-enhancing, and it reduces LOQ's seasonality.

The use of the phrase "increasingly successful" as regards LOQ's smartphone solution is intriguing. More news to come about this?

I'd say yesterday's trades emanated from just one source given all those 2.5k's. Should be fairly easy to track down if anyone was so minded.

I wonder if the share price will pop nicely on this news - it does seem a quality and sensible acquisition.

[2breakout] 05/12/2012 07:38

Looks like some people had insider info yesterday. Happening quite a bit at the moment.

[someuwin] 05/12/2012 07:16

Acquisition looks very good to me.

[shanklin] 05/12/2012 07:08

LOL, when the LOQ share price popped up yesterday I nearly posted that there would probably be a good news RNS this morning and anybody who added yesterday afternoon should be referred to the FSA.

Had meant it all to be tongue in cheek.