Mbl Share Discussion Threads

[kimboy2] 07/11/2010 07:40

Are we sure it is our MBL ?

[someuwin] 06/11/2010 09:07

Great find charliebrown.

Even on the home page it clearly states...


"© 2010 sainsburys.co.uk | powered by MBL"

[shanklin] 06/11/2010 08:56

charliebrown2000

Nice find.

In the conference call, PC confirmed they were working with supermarket chains (not just one chain) other than MRW and stated that one of the reasons for not RNSing this was these chains' wish for confidentiality.

This is fair enough provided such a deal is not material to MUBL's profitability.

However, if such a deal is material to MUBL then, given its disclosure obligations as a listed company, it should be RNS'd anyway, even if the deal is described as being with an "unnamed UK supermarket chain"

I certainly find it difficult to believe that this deal will generate less sales than the Best Buy deal did when Best Buy only had one or two stores open in the UK... ...and the Best Buy deal was RNS'd

Given that this arrangement with SBRY:
- is now in the public domain
- is potentially (probably?) material to profitability
- provides much needed diversification from the over-concentration of sales with MRW, that management has focussed on in recent trading updates and results
IMHO, this has to be RNS'd

Cheers, Martin

[kimboy2] 06/11/2010 06:42

Why not ask Peter Cowgill why it was not RNS'd ?

[fft] 06/11/2010 01:01

dd,

i dont know when the website went up. at the bottom of the faq it says updated 5th nov, so it may be very new. anyone know ? other pages have an update date of 29th oct.

It looks like the negotiations/contract may be lot closer to a conclusion than they were 2-3 weeks ago !

surely this is worthy of an RNS...

[rbcrbc] 05/11/2010 21:08

I guess announcing it it may have raised the share price and made the MBO more expensive!

Is it 20% needed to force a properly independent director on-board ?

[davidosh] 05/11/2010 20:30

CharlieBrown2000...Well spotted. I think we would be amazed at the range of work being undertaken by MBL at present. It is very interesting seeing things at close quarters and made the early start at the AGM worthwhile. It is worth noting that there is a huge offering within hardbacks and annuals ready for Xmas and a new range for MBL. How long before we see the same online offering for Morrisons who do not currently sell via a website ?

The Sainsbury website has this under the FAQ....

Welcome to the Sainsbury's Entertainment website where we hope that you have an enjoyable shopping experience. This section of the site aims to answer any questions you may have about how to buy and receive entertainment products from Sainsbury's.

www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk ("Sainsbury's Entertainment") is a site owned and operated by MBL Entertainment, a cell company of MBL Guernsey PCC Limited, by agreement with Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd.

Through this site, you will be able to purchase:

• Music and Spoken Word CDs.
• Films and TV Programmes – DVDs, Blu-Ray.
• Consoles and Games for Xbox 360, PSP, PS3, DS, Wii as well as PC games and gaming accessories.


It just annoys me that all these positives were not announced as they happened as I am sure this Sainsbury development was worthy of notification and Sainsbury are clearly not hiding it so no commercial confidentiality !!

[charliebrown2000] 05/11/2010 19:59

www.sainsburys.co.uk/entertainment is a site operated by MBL Entertainment a cell company of MBL Guernsey PCC Ltd (we, us, our) registered in Guernsey under company number 52041 and with our registered office and main trading address at Anson Court, La Route des Camps St Martin Guernsey GY4 6AD.

[timesmoney] 04/11/2010 18:50

The Hut model works on the basis of a channel islands vat fiddle. They offer white label for many high street names in entertainment.
The structure in under serious review by the government who will inevitably close this loophole. Vat lost is estimated at between £200 to £500m per annum and the invisible cost of job losses in th UK.
Don't say you were not warned

[supernumerary] 04/11/2010 12:06

The other area it occurred to me they could address is event ticket sales - a near-monopoly just waiting for a bit of aggressive competition.

[davidosh] 04/11/2010 11:37

Incidentally I flagged up the business model used by The Hut to TA over a year ago and he said they were working on it and wanted to offer a similar service. When I was at the AGM it was very obvious to me that we are doing work for a very large retailer which when I questioned it was told it was early stage trial and I certainly cannot put anything on the boards. The fact is when you are in distribution there will be lots of opportunities and openings so long as you have the contacts and systems in place to cope with quick short term demand and supply. What is to stop MBL being the leading supplier of discounted branded perfumes into supermarkets as a wild example !?

[miamisteve] 04/11/2010 11:26

seems a more obvious area to diversify into than education kiosks.

[tanners] 04/11/2010 11:16

Blimey Miamisteve.....I bloody well wish it was!

One of the fastest growing Companies in it's sector, it is apparently due for an IPO early next year, which will I should imagine will be keenly taken up.

I wonder how much their CEO is paid?!

[miamisteve] 04/11/2010 11:12

Cheers Shanklin. Sent my email, don't think he'll be calling me back anytime soon.

davidosh - do you think The Hut is basically MBL's warehouse? Did they have a mail order system in operation as well?

[devymaster] 04/11/2010 10:17

Best Buy online went live this morning:



However entertainment products are according to the site being provided by The Hut Group and you are re-directed to their site. When trying to look for Play Station 3's though it is evident that the site isn't yet working properly as the site only shows a message saying there is a problem with the site!!


Devymaster

[shanklin] 04/11/2010 08:52

Steve

PC's telephone number is in the RNSes. Its a JD Sports number but on the one occasion I phoned it, he phoned me back the same day.

His e-mail address is [e-mail] and again he responded on the same day to an e-mail I sent him.

HTH. Cheers, Martin

[miamisteve] 04/11/2010 07:56

What was the best email to contact PCowgill on?

Don't know if the person who started the thread is still around but could do with some contact details / numbers.

[timesmoney] 03/11/2010 17:33

Debt ridden suggests bad business or problems. This is simply not the case the debt carried by Air (as was), was structured funding to purchase MBL a sound commercial move by the previous management. The deal was sound and the debt paid off. That was how it was supposed to be, apart from closing the publishing business and loosing all the quality managemnt that created Air in the first place.
The joys of a reverse take over which left the tail wagging the dog.

[davidosh] 03/11/2010 17:32

Spot on miamisteve....yes you can use that email address.

jeffian....I do not think the GE holding has actually been sold to a third party unless I missed something. The new 1.3% holder is not linked to GE.

[miamisteve] 03/11/2010 17:24

From what I heard during the cc, Peter Cowgill might have reasonably good intentions, but he's out of touch with the investors and he needs to feel more accountability. He actually started his monologue stating how when TA came on board we were debt ridden and now we have a cash balance, completing overlooking the fact that all the debt was because of the cash payment to TA.

[miamisteve] 03/11/2010 17:13

jeffian - You'll just get lip service from Cowgill, and some token stooge as another non-exec.

My letter isn't stroppy, the tone is more about let's be fair. Many people lost a lot of money in the credit crisis and when they've stuck with a company for 5 years they deserve better than this. Not to be told we've paid off the debt, we survived, we're expanding and now sod off take it or leave it

[aleman] 03/11/2010 17:12

Only 3% of the AIM top 100 fully comply with the Combined Code, whilst none of the other market segments achieved full compliance.

The results show that board composition is an area where AIM companies are weak...





Would media be interested in complaints about board composition, both here and AIM generally? Been a lot of dodgy goings on through this recession.

[miamisteve] 03/11/2010 17:00

david - I'll have to set up an account first. I still have your email address from the conference call email you sent. Shall I just write to that one?

Timesmoney - It should actually be quite easy to get 10% of people to submit a section 303 request as with the 1% disclosures we are getting contact telephone numbers of significant holders. It may even be possible to get 51%.

If we just wait, we'll get TA best mates as our new independent directors.