Mercia Asset Management Share Discussion Threads

[p1nkfish] 23/11/2020 08:55

Can buy 110K at 21.49.
Need to clear some hurdles then upwards.

[semper vigilans] 22/11/2020 20:17

Early thirties?

[redartbmud] 22/11/2020 19:59

At my age I might not live long enough to see the outcome.

[p1nkfish] 22/11/2020 19:49

Around 17/11 there was a Golden Cross on the 1 year chart.
Close above 21.8/22.0 would be telling, especially on volume.

[columbarius] 22/11/2020 17:50

We’re reaching the end of a 6 year downtrend. I expect the uptrend will last at least that long. All the usual moving averages have converged. There will be a breakout and I don’t think it will be down.

[robsy2] 22/11/2020 10:22

I think so as well. I agree with parvey’s post back in october. The share price does not reflect the progress made. That can change quickly.this business is much better now than it was 12 months ago. It is self financing for a start. That is a major plus point.

[p1nkfish] 19/11/2020 11:15

Some time it has to burst upward.

[p1nkfish] 19/11/2020 07:22

Absolutely correct. They need to blow a trumpet but appear happy so long as they get paid.

[its the oxman] 19/11/2020 00:22

Can't get much worse holding this so will wait for the results. They need to do something as market certainly isn't putting any value on what they have been doing so far.

[columbarius] 10/11/2020 22:06

We'll see.

[redartbmud] 10/11/2020 19:45

Mercia held a 4.0% fully diluted direct holding in Clear Review at the date of sale and will receive cash proceeds of £1.0million representing a 2x return on its investment and a 72% IRR. In addition to this direct investment return, the sale will also generate an 8x return on Mercia’s EIS managed fund investment cost and a 122% fund IRR.

Says it all. The bulk of profits always goes to the managed funds and the shareholders get a few pennies. It isn't going to change.

[columbarius] 10/11/2020 18:33

Well done to nDreams, Mercia’s largest holding in the direct portfolio. They won exporter of the year at the National Business Awards, open to any UK-based enterprise that is achieving export growth or an increase in revenues from overseas operations.

nDreams demonstrated:

An increase in sales through exporting
Significant growth overseas
Potential and plan for sustained growth in international markets
Innovation in products, services or processes to enable exporting
International engagement and knowledge of different jurisdictions
Effective leadership and management
An ethical and sustainable approach to business
Strong business results

[p1nkfish] 02/11/2020 19:23

Depending on where the bottom is this time we might just have turned a corner,

[columbarius] 02/11/2020 15:49

I think Mr Johnson has scuppered our hopes of a helpful IPO in the short term Pavey. I noted last week that Sanford pulled the launch of their Smaller Companies investment trust. The markets are too fragile. Hey ho.

[sev22] 02/11/2020 15:27

It was only just over a month ago that 5 Directors bought shares in the company for 20p, including one Non-Exec spending nearly £250,000. I think these are well worth picking up below that price.


25 September 2020

Mercia Asset Management PLC

("Mercia" or the "Company")

Director/PDMR Dealings

Mercia Asset Management PLC (AIM: MERC), the proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager with c.GBP800 million of assets under management, announces that it has received a notification of the following transactions relating to Ordinary shares of GBP0.00001 each in the capital of Mercia ("Ordinary Shares") by Directors and PDMRs of the Company as follows:

-- Ian Metcalfe, Non-Executive Chair of the Company, became beneficially interested in a further 50,000 Ordinary Shares. The Shares were bought yesterday at 20.00p per share.

-- Ray Chamberlain, Non-Executive Director of the company, became beneficially interested in a further 1,200,000 Ordinary Shares. The Shares were bought by the Forward Innovation Fund yesterday at 20.00p per share.

-- Martin Glanfield, Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, became beneficially interested in a further 171,495 Ordinary Shares. The Shares were bought on his behalf yesterday at 20.00p per share by his SIPP.

-- Julian Viggars, Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Company, became beneficially interested in a further 52,910 Ordinary Shares. The Shares were bought on his behalf yesterday at 18.90p per share by his SIPP.

-- Peter Dines, PDMR and Chief Operating Officer of the Company, became beneficially interested in a further 50,000 Ordinary Shares. The Shares were bought yesterday at 20.00p per share.

[columbarius] 01/11/2020 22:32

Sense Biodetection looks interesting. They hold a patent for rapid molecular testing for viral RNA and they are developing a 10 minute test for Covid-19. This is better technology than the lateral flow antigen tests also being developed.

[p1nkfish] 01/11/2020 10:25

26/7, 6/9 - two most local lows.
Lets see if it drifts lower than 6/9 low.
If it does it's still forming lower lows.
Ignoring March/April as that was certainly not typical.

Bounced off the 50 day SMA last peak and 3 times hit resistance off 22.25-22.5 approx including that bounce off.

Really interested to see where it turns up this time and if can get through the 50 day SMA with some volume reasonably above average.

I hold a fair wadge of these, might even add if the price action changes.

[pavey ark] 01/11/2020 09:37

columbaris, you and I seem to be singing from the same sheet here.

One day (soon ?) there will be an RNS saying that one of their top five portfolio holdings is going to go for an IPO.

I would suspect a substantial lift in the share price would follow this announcement I also suspect that the market makers will be well ahead of private's investors.

[columbarius] 20/10/2020 17:17

Bear in mind the portfolio covid provisions for companies thought to be most affected were made at the start of the spring lockdown and the company thinks they were overly conservative. As provisions are removed up to 3.5p/share would be added back to NAV and further uplift can be expected for companies that have prospered due to covid.

[varies] 19/10/2020 09:54

A good outcome in percentage terms is this sale of MERC's 4% stake in Clear Review but the proceeds of £1 million are not significant against a market cap of £97m.
More significant is that MERC has done well for its managed funds on their holdings.
What we really need to see is some action in nDreams, MERC's largest investment.
Even so, this modest sale helps to justify the NAV claimed in recent accounts.

[columbarius] 06/10/2020 19:31

Abingdon Health may pursue an IPO following today's excellent news of a big UK government contract for rapid covid-19 antibody tests. Abingdon have also developed an app to support the tests. Goodness knows we need one.

[gb904150] 06/10/2020 13:34

you're welcome varies. I think based on the potential and that nDreams are churning out award winning games a £46m valuation seems reasonable.

VR will be huge in the future - people will be wandering around in virtual worlds, built on blockchain and spending cryptocurrency to own chunks of virtual real estate.

I'd say on a 5-year time horizon they will be very successful. But to do so...enough people will need to have the kit.

Watch 'ready player one' the recent film by Stephen Spielberg for a flavour!

[varies] 06/10/2020 10:17

GB904150
Thank you very much for taking the trouble to explain the reality of VR games to me.
I had no idea that the headset required cost £400 + more for the add-on.
MERC tells us little about nDreams and I assume that the £16m attributed to its 36% stake is Book Value. In other words this is the cost and MERC has seen no need to mark it down.

[gb904150] 05/10/2020 19:50

hi varies,

I'm no expert but nDreams and FDEV are at quite different stages i'd say.



The presentation shows them at £76m revs. £16m op profit. £31m EBITDA.

560 people from 32 nationalities. Established 26+ years with sales of multiple millions of units of top games.

nDreams I would hazard a guess are much smaller - perhaps a 10th of that? Probably loss making but with immense potential for the future.

VR gaming and VR experiences in general are going to be massive. nDreams are a specialist in that and their game - Phantom: Covert ops has very impressive reviews from gaming mags.

So, huge growth area....but VR is only as good as how many people out there can afford to shell out for VR headsets. Oculus go helped that a lot - bringing the investment down something more reasonable.

Vive Cosmos costs £699
Oculus Rift S costs £399

Or perhaps when PS5 comes out in November a VR options (VR2) comes out in early 2021 to bring it to the masses.




You're still looking at about £400 for PS5 plus £300 for the VR add-on.

It's not exactly mass market prices...so it's still very top end focused.

So although it might be brilliant (i've not tried it but am tempted) it doesn't have a large addressable market yet.