Managed Support Services Share Discussion Threads

[risk1] 01/2/2012 22:16

awesome sir

worth a punt?

[risk1] 26/1/2012 17:55

down to another all time low


Excellent work

[iiinvester] 19/1/2012 15:49

Im waiting for the ''Ex-MSS CEO, Simon Beart, being investigated!!''

[sheila16] 19/1/2012 10:39

wrong person being investigated.

[philw2009] 16/1/2012 22:21

"Ex-Worthington Nicholls finance chief probed"

[risk1] 29/12/2011 17:06

excellent sub 1p

Well done Sir

[parsons] 24/12/2011 14:51

richmond9 with due respect you could not be more wrong !.The net asset value at 31st March was £9.34m agreed? The loss for the 6 months was £1.378m agreed?. The balance after other small adjustments is therefore £8m. I hope you are not short !!!!you are suggesting that the great management team have somehow lost another £7m between 30th September and now IMPOSSIBLE it would be pure fraud. The interim accounts reflect the sale of all businesses and the company will therefore end up with £8m less of course any ongoing overheads. The shares can now be bought for 25% of the cash value , a fairly unique opportunity I would say . Happy Christmas anyway.

[richmond9] 24/12/2011 12:26

Parsons

I have studied it and would point out the following. SB has been clever with his balance sheet so that he dosnt look like a complete fool in this half year statement and you have invested without checking the details.

From the half year statement Balance sheet

The Group's balance sheet is presented with the net assets of the trading subsidiaries shown as assets held for sale. Completion of the Initial transaction took place in the second half.

They are showing the net assets held for sale at 30th September @ 14,190 million. This included @ 30th September, MSS Interiors and MSS installation division, both of which were closed not sold in October/November.

As we know they didnt achieve 14.190m in the actual disposal of the building services division in December they received 4m with a further 2.5m if they are very lucky. That completed the sale of ALL trading assets.

Again from the half year statement Balance Sheet

At year end, it is anticipated that the balance sheet will merely show cash balances and a small level of trade creditors.

If we give SB the benefit of the doubt and show the full 6.5m coming in from Initial then the balance sheet @ 31st March 2012 will show cash of 6.5m received which will clear the liabilities of (5,798m) and the assets held for sale of 14.190m will be removed. This is a decrease in current assets of 7.6m which will leave a balance of nett assets of 500k, although SB and Piers Wilson will have to receive their remuneration over this 6 month period so im guessing that will be halved to 250k.

and just to complete the round up, if Ian Woods decides to stick to his guns and move to Canada and the Bruntwood contract dosnt novate over to initial then SB wont get the 2.5m and the company will be wound up with balance sheet net assets of (2.25m)

does that make sense now Parsons? Sorry i didnt explain it fully before you put your money where your mouth is

[parsons] 23/12/2011 18:08

richmond9 I am afraid you are wrong .They have £8m in near cash at the present time , you obviously cannot read a balance sheet. The words and I quote "NET ASSETS " show a figure of £8,050.000 .You must read the report and STUDY the figures before you give totally misleading and WRONG figures. I have put my money where my mouth is yesterday and today and have bought over one million shares.I cant believe no one else can back me up on this.These are a stonking BUY at these levels.

[richmond9] 23/12/2011 11:40

Parsons

They have no assets. They have sold off all of the trading assets of the company in the past 3 months and have not retained any trading contracts or business.

The nett cash positon at todays date is between £0 & £400k. This will improve if they secure any of the contingent payments from Rentokil, but as SB said at the AGM Rentokil are a tough company to do business with!

[parsons] 23/12/2011 09:19

PUGUGLY the assets held for sale must be the assets sold after the accounts date, at the sale price value.I am contacting the company to get them to confirm a net asset value of £8m

[pugugly] 22/12/2011 15:20

Parsons:> I Have not done a current market value (or likely fire sale price of the assets) but so far as I can see the "Assets held for sale" are listed at their book cost - No idea what they would fetch but any potentail buyer knows that SB is a forced seller - Draw your own conclusions.

[parsons] 22/12/2011 11:11

I seem to be the only buyer today . Surely with a net asset value of £8m even if the crooked mob steal another £1-2m or so for costs they have got to be cheap . I also dont think BOB would let them take too much which is why he probably increased his stake.

[richmond9] 22/12/2011 09:38

Again SB has lied in his statement. I really do not understand the motivation of the man.

Classic Interiors made a profit of over £1m in the first full year after it was acquired from a T/O of £6m. It was acquired in May 2007 with a T/O of 3m and a profit of 500k, so doubled both. It was managed by the original vendor, who knew what he was doing, as a stand alone business during the first year to ensure it was able to achieve its earn out, and only started to struggle when SB imposed his management rules and group charges on it in 2008/09. This included SB turning down the Premier Inn work, negotiated by the previous management, which was worth in excess of £10m in 2008/09 (£3m 2007/08)

The acquisition was made to keep profits in house and to give the Group control of its Principal Contractor offering, which included hotel fit outs. The fact that SB turned down or lost all of this Hotel business within 18 months of taking control says everything about him and his ability

Despite SB's lies, it is clear to anyone who looks beyond them that the previous board made a very good purchase. In the first year the profits were higher than the cash consideration paid for the company. The vendor remained with the business for 3 years, making a profit every year and only left when he was unable to work with SB and his bipolar mood swings any longer.

SB didnt manage to earn more than he paid in cash with any of his acquisitions and wasted £30m pounds during his tenure. I dont see how he is able to keep a straight face when he tells us he has made a small profit on the two disposals.

THE TRUTH IS BELOW:-

Classic Interiors Contractors Limited ("Classic Interiors") The Group has conditional upon payment of the initial consideration acquired the entire issued share capital of one of its key subcontractors, Classic Interiors. The initial consideration payable is £500,000 in cash and £1,200,000 to be satisfied through the issue of 705,882 new Ordinary Shares at £1.70 per share. If certain 2007 turnover performance criteria are satisfied, further deferred consideration payments will be due, payable in cash £500,000.

FROM TODAYS STATEMENT

Losses in these units accumulated very rapidly, despite an almost instant reaction to reduce headcount and activity. As losses continued, the decision to close MSS Interiors was ultimately taken and the unit ceased trading in earlyNovember, but not before incurring trading losses in the first half of GBP211,000. MSS Interiors was a business acquired by the previous management team for in excess of GBP5 million, despite being a vendor dependent, low value added shop fitting business, with no likely disposal value. However, the unit had generated modest profits until this year.

[pugugly] 22/12/2011 08:09

RICHMOND9:. Suggest you are careful following BM - Very much a question of timing - I know for sure that he bought into Tenon and Clarity at substantially above the current prices So he should have taken a significant loss onhis Clarity holding at 25p

[w1ndjammer] 22/12/2011 08:05

don`t think so .

WJ.

[parsons] 22/12/2011 07:29

It seems they have a value of £8m .with a market cap of just under £2m is this correct ?

[richmond9] 14/12/2011 17:27

Word is he dosnt like the current board and is close to one of the old board members

Maybe the plan is to force an EGM and we can let the SFO look at the books

[heffermj] 14/12/2011 16:12

Thanks Rich9 - I have (like many others) watched my investment made in June 2007 slip away to be virtually worthless today - despite all he warnings by some on the thread I believed the turnaround story and have paid the price so I may as well sit tight in the hope that Hawk Investments have a plan! It's unfortunate the name is Hawk that's another AIM stock that was a total loss for me so my track record needs to improve or the poor house beckons!

[richmond9] 13/12/2011 22:25

Bob Morton is an activist investor worth following.

Here are 12 companies he's put money into.

Arthur Leonard 'Bob' Morton, aged 67, is a well-known serial entrepreneur, reputed to be worth around £100m.

Unfortunately, this former Chartered Accountant (who used to offer clients tax advice) can be rather media shy and was unwilling to comment on his business interests -- despite my efforts to contact him. What is known about him is that he has a string of investments in private and quoted companies. He is also the Chairman of quite a few of them.

Strategic approach

Morton has been very successful over the past 40 years by investing in business start-ups and turnarounds.

Euro Exhaust Centres was his first big success, which he built up from scratch in the 70s, before it was reversed into Kwik Fit in 1979 for £11m. In the 80s he took the publicly quoted Burgess Group from a market cap of £1m to £100m in three years, eventually selling it for £350m. These are just a couple of his many success stories.

In the quoted sphere he has recently specialised in quoted companies that are in difficulty or he believes are not being managed properly. Certainly, because of the inherent risks involved in such companies, some of these holdings haven't performed that well. However, who is to say that he won't eventually turn a profit on most of these investments.

Criteria for investment

Morton has previously outlined what he looks for in an investment. It can be summarised quite simply as:

The financial position -- he looks at the numbers and decides whether the company is a basket case, incapable of being helped or not.
The management -- is the management any good, as he puts it "at the end of the day people make money, money does not make people."
He tends to see things in pretty black or white terms, people are either 'winners' or 'losers' and, as you'd expect, he is single-minded in protecting his investments. For example, he is currently attempting to oust the chairman of Media Square and has called a General Meeting.

Quoted investments

Aside from buying into a company directly, he also uses two Jersey-based investment vehicles, Southwind and Hawk Investment Holdings, in which to make strategic investments.

I've managed to put together the following list of quoted companies in which he currently has an interest, although it is probably not comprehensive:

Vislink (LSE: VLK) -- A total of 14.9% of the issued share capital through Southwind (11.3%) and Bob Morton (3.6%).

Media Square (LSE: MSQ) -- 7.1% of issued share capital through Hawk Investment Holdings.

St Peter Port Capital (LSE: SPPC) -- 3.7% of issued share capital through Hawk Investment Holdings (0.4%) and Southwind (3.3%). Chairman of the Board.

CustomVis (LSE: CUS) -- 23.8% of issued share capital via Hawk Investment Holdings.

Tenon Group plc (LSE: TNO) -- 7.1% of the issued share capital through Southwind. Southwind 7.12%. He is Chairman of this company too.

Armour Group Plc (LSE: AMR) -- Via Southwind he holds 19.2% of the issued share capital and is also Chairman.

PSG Solutions (LSE: PGS) -- 18.5% via Southwind.

Servoca (LSE: SVCA) -- As Chairman controls 29.9%, 20.6% via Southwind and 9.3% via Hawk Investment Holdings.

WFCA (LSE: WFCA) -- He is Chairman and via Southwind has 16%.

Clarity Commerce (LSE: CCS) -- via Southwind he has 14.9% of the issued share capital.

Adili (LSE: ADIL) -- He owns 48.0% via Hawk Investment Holdings. Special permission was sought from the Takeovers and Mergers Panel to waive Rule 9 of the Takeover Code back in October 2008, so that Hawk didn't have to make a takeover offer to all holders of the shares.

Daniel Stewart Securities (LSE: DAN) -- Owns 3.7% via Hawk Investment Holdings.

Unfortunately, to ascertain the price at which he bought is a piece of detective work that I've been unable to complete in the time at my disposal. However, I reckon it's worth your while if you considering buying one or more of these companies. This is one investor I'm sure is going to continue to make money!

[heffermj] 13/12/2011 16:04

Re today's RNS. Can anyone help me understand why Hawk Investment Holdings would increase their stake in what appears to be a defunct company?? Do they intend to reverse into the shell?

[philw2009] 09/12/2011 13:28

W1NDJAMMER - 30 Oct'11 - 17:27 - 2280 of 2377

yes and the share price continues to head north,
love it when a plan comes together.

WJ.

[sheila16] 09/12/2011 09:29

there isn't any money - the swindle has run dry (all £30m and 300 jobs of it)

[richmond9] 08/12/2011 20:34

the £3.85m for the compliance division paid down the first part of the bank debt which was standing at £5.45m

the £4m received this week will pay off:-

Bank debt £1.5m
Suppliers £1.1m
HMRC & Fees £1.4m

They will not get anything else from Rentokil Initial because they will not hit the novation targets