Manx Telecom Share Discussion Threads

[ntv] 20/11/2018 17:47

KCOM news has hurt this one
I hope the clearsound technology will help profits but it is going to take a while
I thought this would hold up against the general market but it hasn't
a bit disappointing really

[santangello] 12/11/2018 23:06

Interesting mid price trades this afternoon.....is there an overhang clearing here ?We'll see.....

[santangello] 31/10/2018 12:05

Looks like a decent price to top up....bouncing ?

[ntv] 28/9/2018 08:45

top up time approaching

[ntv] 25/9/2018 09:25

SANTANGELLO
I think i should have done the same as it has moved far quicker than I thought

[ntv] 25/9/2018 09:23

Thanx turbomouth

[santangello] 24/9/2018 13:00

Happy to have made my maiden purchase last week, and added each day since....looks like traction here is nailed on along with appreciation of the company value/share price in the short to medium term. My prime intention here is income though, which looks like an upward moving provider for the same time period at least.

[turbomouth] 24/9/2018 09:21

In the week that mobile phone giants hit the headlines for making customers pay for their phones twice over, a new product from a small company in the Isle of Man went largely unheeded. Yet MT Clearsound, a medical device from Manx Telecom, could end up transforming the quality of the calls we make and receive.

The innovation, which is due to be launched with the phone company EE in the UK next year, is designed to fine-tune incoming phone calls so that people can hear them better and has been hailed as the “hearing aid in the sky”. We put our ear to the ground to test its parent company’s prospects.

The history
Manx Telecom is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) of the London Stock Exchange and provides fixed-line, broadband and data services to 4,000 businesses and almost all the 85,000 residents on the Isle of Man.

It was set up in January 1987 as a spin-off from British Telecom after the UK giant won a government tender to operate telephone services on the island. BT owned the company until November 2001, when it was bought by the Spanish company Telefonica. In June 2010 it was sold to HG Capital, a UK private equity investor and floated on the Aim in 2014.

The Isle of Man may be remote — nestling in the Irish Sea between the northwest English coast and Northern Ireland, it measures only 33 miles by 13 miles — but its telecommunications are advanced. The island’s telephone exchange began in 1889 (albeit with only four subscribers) and a direct telephone link with the UK was established in 1929.

In 2001 Manx Telecom was one of the first operators in the world to launch fast broadband services and the first in Europe to create a live 3G network.


The Isle of Man government is encouraging technology investment in an attempt to move the island away from a reliance on the financial services sector, which has given it a reputation as a haven for tax avoidance and evasion. Gaming and other high-tech industries now make up almost one third of the economy.

Manx Telecom has a spin-off, Vannin Ventures, which invests in technology start-ups and products. Vannin has a large shareholding in Goshawk Communications, a Cambridge-based company that develops hearing products, and their partnership produced MT Clearsound.

It works by creating a hearing profile on a user’s mobile so that every call they receive is pitched for their level of hearing. The company says the technology has a “huge potential addressable market”, working well for those with good and poor hearing. It says that during clinical trials it worked for 90 per cent of participants.

Analysts say MT Clearsound’s potential for growth is good, but just how good is uncertain. According to Ofcom, the communications regulator, the number of mobile phone calls made last year in the UK fell 1.7 per cent, the first drop since mobiles were invented, and the trend is expected to continue because of the growing popularity of messaging apps.

The performance
Manx Telecom’s first-half results put revenue at £38.1 million (down 0.9 per cent compared with revenue of £38.5 million for the first half of 2017) and profits 1.4 per cent down at £6.6 million. The company said it had suffered a reduction in roaming revenue after EU rules made it cheaper.

Manx Telecom’s dividend was raised from 3 .9p to 4.1p, and shares have risen more than 2 per cent to 173.5p since the launch of the Goshawk hearing device. Graham Spooner, an investment research analyst at the Share Centre, a stockbroker that has placed a “buy” rating on the shares, says they are attractive for those prepared to invest in a company with an unusual niche and a promising technological product.

Gary Lamb, Manx Telecom’s chief executive, said the company had completed a “solid six months” and that its long-term prospects were good.

The verdict
Manx Telecom is at the forefront of the Isle of Man’s fast-growing high-tech sector with its new hearing product, which has strong potential for growth. The company’s shares are near four-year lows, but those willing to take a risk should consider pouncing while the price is cheap. BUY.

[ntv] 23/9/2018 10:21

turbomouth
could you post the article if you can as i don't have access
thanx

[turbomouth] 22/9/2018 09:11

Share of the Week in the Times today. Buy.

[mw8156] 20/9/2018 10:54

looks as though Cambridge is a leading centre for audio technology; wondering how this company will do compared with, say, audiotelligence?

[ntv] 20/9/2018 10:01

Manx Telecom PLC

20 September 2018

Manx Telecom Plc

Isle of Man launch of Goshawk's MT clearSound

Manx Telecom Plc (AIM: MANX; the "Company"), the leading communication solutions provider on the Isle of Man, is delighted to announce the launch of MT clearSound, a hearing loss product developed by Goshawk Communications.

The product was unveiled yesterday on the Isle of Man and the following press release was published.

Manx Telecom launches world first mobile call quality product MT clearSound

-- Mobile telecoms product and registered medical device offering dramatic improvement in call clarity and quality

-- 90% of trialists agreed that speech was clearer and easier to hear when using the service
-- A global first; researched, trialled and developed on the Isle of Man; coming to the UK in 2019

Manx Telecom is delighted to announce the launch today on the Isle of Man of MT clearSound, a new, personal mobile phone product which dramatically improves the clarity of mobile phone calls. The product is available at no additional cost to PayMonthly customers on the Manx Telecom network.

The technology behind the MT clearSound registered medical device is located within the network and requires no purchase or installation of specialist equipment by the user. A user completes a short online registration and a hearing assessment using any mobile phone on the Manx network, enabling MT clearSound to create a tailored individual hearing profile. This fine tunes all incoming and outgoing telephone calls to meet the user's personal hearing needs. The profile can be changed at any time by the user if their requirements change, for example with the adoption of a new hearing aid or purchase of a new mobile phone.

MT clearSound will help people suffering from moderate to severe hearing loss to communicate and to maintain the art of conversation, enabling and empowering them to use their mobile phone with more confidence. During the clinical trial, 80% of respondents said they felt stress-free while using the service. According to 89% of the trialists, the product should be available to everyone who has a hearing need.

MT clearSound is the first such product worldwide and has a huge potential addressable market, being suitable for both people with varying levels of hearing loss and those wanting to enhance the quality of their mobile phone conversations in general. The introduction of the product on the Isle of Man, where it was researched, trialled and developed by Vannin Ventures, Manx Telecom's business incubator, with Goshawk Communications, the lead investment in its portfolio, is just the latest example of the island serving as a test-bed for innovation; but the technology will also be made available off island as soon as 2019, when BT will leverage its EE mobile network to launch the technology, targeting the eleven million UK consumers who experience hearing loss.

MT clearSound was inspired by Goshawk founder Matthew Turner's own experiences with hearing loss. Deaf since the age of four, his determination to create a solution lead to the creation of MT clearSound, which is based on the algorithms of Professor Brian Moore of the University of Cambridge, one of the world's leading authorities on auditory perception. The product is backed by further medical and audiology professionals in the UK and on the Isle of Man, including Doctor Charles Stone, Senior Research Fellow in Audiology / Hearing Sciences at University of Manchester, who have worked closely with Goshawk and Manx Telecom on the ground-breaking mobile phone technology.

Gary Lamb, CEO of Manx Telecom, said: "MT clearSound will empower people suffering from a moderate to severe hearing loss, and every mobile user seeking greater call clarity, to use their mobile phones with greater confidence. The launch of MT clearSound in the UK next year in partnership with BT has the potential to change the lives of millions of people and is further evidence of Manx Telecom's investment in innovation and technology."

Matthew Turner, CEO and Founder of Goshawk Communications, said: "I created a 'hearing aid in the sky' because of my frustration with telecoms companies who did not understand people with hearing loss. Engaging with Manx Telecom was very different - it was easy to reach the decision-makers and the work environment was very open. We know MT clearSound can make a huge difference to people's lives. Ideally this should set the Global Standard - that for me would be a wonderful achievement."

[ntv] 15/9/2018 07:21

Whether it is possible to use the technology in such things as TV's and radio's I guess this is a different story and would need a large amount of funding from a partner/JV

[ntv] 15/9/2018 07:18

Essentiallinvestor
Yes getting a return from this investment could be a problem
From my own point of view I appear to have a hearing that means I have to have the volume at a high point on my phone and i still have difficulty hearing what is being said. I would be very happy to pay extra per month to able to hear what is being said.
You would have hope they would get a very good deal as there doesn't appear to be anything quite like it on the market. It sounds like it caters for an individual so could have many personal uses for the technology.
Hearing aids can be annoying as you have to take them out or put them back in or switch them on to answer a phone call. Though have to admit I don't personally use one currently and i am just going on what people have said

As no commercial terms have been stated then we just have to wait and see. Happy to wit and see with the current yield

[coolen] 14/9/2018 21:43

Anyone here monitoring the institutional holdings ? Miton was an early big fan and they have, I believe. just launched a new "Income" fund.

[essentialinvestor] 14/9/2018 09:26

Agree it may be very useful, however earning adequate returns on
their investment is another matter.

Net debt keeps creeping up here, while MANX continue to increase the payout.

[ntv] 14/9/2018 09:23

Goshawk is an interesting product. Being able to hear on the telephone clearly will make life much better for a lot of older people. I don't if they would be able to make the product also available for the radio and TV users with hearing problems
I did some work in a small village once and an old old boy had to have his TV so loud i could hear it outside his bungalow. Laughed about it then but now i am going slightly deaf it isn't so funny.
It will make a lot of difference to mobile phone users who are partially deaf and if BT are going to use it and maybe make it industry standard then it could be a company maker

[mw8156] 12/9/2018 11:18

might be some growth in the data centres and global divisions also but competition is stronger on the IoM by the looks of it.

[stevegrass777] 12/9/2018 09:28

Robsy,yes agreed.Solid results lacking in growth but stability and reliability on the dividend is high.
They seem to have a incubator possibility for growth in goshawk.
Cash flow conversion was higher.
All in all good to keep for the dividend and some possibilities from growth from goshawk in the future.

[robsy2] 12/9/2018 08:30

Results at the manx. Calm down everybody!solid results. Hard to see how this company can grow much but the godhawk looks like an interesting development. Brexit may help the IOM in general so it looks like a hold for me.
R2

[macthepak] 20/7/2018 16:13

I guess the drift downwards has stopped. Temporary or permanent? Who knows? Good share to hold for income and uncertain times regarding Brexit.

[stevegrass777] 12/7/2018 09:00

It's hard to see why the drift down in share price over the last few months. Although fixed line telecoms are out of favour, a solid company like Manx paying a solid dividend should hold its share price up.