Porta Communications Share Discussion Threads

[pelliot] 01/6/2016 10:18

Last line of the results:


18. Availability of Annual Report and Accounts

Copies of the full set of Report and Accounts will be posted to shareholders on 3 June 2016 and will be available for download on the Group's website hxxp://portacomms.com /investor-relations.

[davidosh] 31/5/2016 20:52

Pelliot....Just out of interest how are you so confident the Annual report will be out on Friday ? I do find it very poor that it is into the sixth month after the year end in December to get the finalised accounts and AR out and available to shareholders. At this rate the AGM will be held in the second half of the year and 90% of companies have already had theirs. A Communications company and Financial PR should surely be setting a good example to its clients and investors !

[pelliot] 31/5/2016 15:41

Don't be too hasty in recommending that there are changes at the top until we see the whole annual report on Friday!I guess all focus will be on the Directors Remuneration page which will make interesting reading. Though bear in mind this won't include a full twelve months of new MD Steffan Williams and new COO Gavin Devine but we should be able to do our own maths on these as I can't believe either would join for less than the FD. This is the biggest factor institutions are now focusing on.

[adamb1978] 28/5/2016 11:08

Yet more smoke and mirrors from PTCM. I sold out of these a year or so though keep them on my watch-list given one or two of the brands (eg Newgate) are strong.

However in the management cannot be trusted IMO for various reasons such as the spin which they put on their results (e.g. the 'EPS on EBITDA' rubbish which they used to come up with, the way they strip out chunks of clearly operational costs from their figures etc) plus the outrageous salary increases and the repeated attempts by the Chairman to try to limit the share price falls by buying small numbers of shares whenever they put out poor results etc.

There really needs to be changes at the top of this co for it to become investible again in my view.

[guildedge] 26/5/2016 23:30

Just looking at the accounts again.

There is a figure of 352,577 for costs relating to closing TTMV in the accounts for 2015. I don't believe they have included this in the restructuring costs. Unclear how the 756k figure was arrived at. I can't find a breakdown for this.

Capital Access group is reporting a 128k loss.
Team Darwin has gone from a 29k loss to 23k profit. Mixed kettle of fish but Porta only own 29% and 24% respectively.

Redleaf made a clear profit of 456k on year. (Plus 300k compared to 2014.)

Newgate Communication PTY limited. (Aus business? Registered in Melbourne.) They actually show a clear profit of 993k for the year. 190K up from last year. Albeit Porta only own 51% of this business. So albeit Aus Gross profit flat in presentation the actual profit is up by 190k.

Newgate HK - Profit for period - £457,145. Again Porta only own 51%. No idea on the figures for last year.

Of course these figures are likely before tax, exclude currency exchange costs. Also exclude out going payments to other controlling interests. Would certainly help reduce loses if they owned all these businesses. They are paying out close to 900k for this? Have I got this right?

So where does this leave Newsgate UK/PPS/Publicasity and the marketing elements. These need to start generating cash and reach critical mass. I fear these elements of the business are dragging down the numbers. 1.8m actual profit from 3-4 parts of firm yet a 4.4m loss. Removing the 2.7 DA and exceptionals of maybe 1m might show an overall better picture. Too much clouds in the picture to make things clear.

The more I look at this the more I wonder if the underlying businesses do actually show some good promise in places. It's just the big up front costs knocking these results for 6. So there are some good figures in the accounts. Just certain parts of the group not actually firing all cyclinders yet.

[guildedge] 26/5/2016 22:06

@ QS99. The figures this year after you account for full year of revenue from PPS/Publicasity and Redleaf are pretty flat given presentation. They have not really dropped either and do include closed offices for Newgate UK/Europe. The 4.4M loss is not a true show of how the firm has actually done due to the large one offs. (2.7 D and A (non cash) Plus 1M exceptionals mostly due to closures. 3.7M. Plus 1M cost savings too.) The cash in bank is down 200k on the years so this tells a story. You can't expect all the start ups just to click. Hopefully now the acquisitions are bedded in we can start to see some traction and critical mass in parts of the business. CAG clearly needs time to develop too.

I was suprised BM only bought 1.5M shares. He gets a lot more from the loans than the £90k or so he bought. I still don't see why the share is only valued at 5.5-5.75p. Seems undervalued. Least the sells somewhat dried up today.

Of course I want to see the firm in profit. First they have to break even. As all the parts of the group grow this should happen if things go well for Porta. The issue is the gross profit and margins needing to be improved. 1M savings should help here. Strong 1st quarter too. Should be a good TU in June.

I think we all want to see the loans reduced or replaced with more favourable loans in long term. Getting these down to 6% adds 600k to the bottom line.

See where this goes. I hope this was balanced.

[davidosh] 26/5/2016 21:51

Does anyone know detailed client numbers for each of the constituent divisions of Porta and year on year comps over last three years ? It would be good to see what is actually happening as they will not mention client losses of course.

[kimboy2] 26/5/2016 17:13

While us humble shareholders seem to be full of doubts our Chairman doesn't. He has spent another £86k on shares.

Either he is an idiot, or he knows something that the rest of us don't or he is just wrong.

[qs99] 26/5/2016 11:54

GUildedge, me thinks you see too many positives....closing and restructuring mean IMO the plan failed in the first place, hence the hit. If they were profitable they wouldn't call the profits one off exceptional would they?

not sure I get the "loans don't matter" as long as they are break even....at some point in this company's history they need to show i)clean figures, ii) growth at clean EBITDA level iii) growth in clean EBITDA and cash in the UK and iv) de-leveraging IMO....DYOR but until that happens what will justify a share rise?

At the moment as Markie7 says, they are propped up by Australia IMO

GLA

[mikemo2] 26/5/2016 11:37

good point on salaries davidosh. will be interesting to see this year's levels.

I still don't understand why they issued unaudited prelims. with the AGM taking place on 30 June, they'll need to issue the notice of AGM in the annual report at least 21 working days in advance, so the latest day they can issue would be Tuesday next week.

If they've done all the audit work, why not just issue Final Results? what is there to hide?

[markie7] 25/5/2016 20:44

Capital Access Group loss making as well. Those other ones are clearly going backwards. The U.K bit as a whole is hugely loss making. All the profits seem to be in Australia.

[kimboy2] 25/5/2016 20:34

One thing I notice for a start is that PPS was reported to have fee income of £4.6m on acquisition but only did £3.8m last year.

Similarly Publicasity was reported as having fee income of £3m prior to acquisition but only managed £2.6m last year.

Anybody suggest why this is the case ?

[guildedge] 25/5/2016 19:23

I don't know markie. What we saw from yesterday. DW talks about new acquisitions for Europe and North America. So sounds like at least 2 firms. Let's wait and see if any of this happens. I think they wouldn't talk about it unless they wanted to make it happen.

[markie7] 25/5/2016 18:57

What exactly will they buy companies with? Cash ? Not got any. Shares? Below par value. They have the earn out payments to make first. I can't see any acquisitions here for ages.

[guildedge] 25/5/2016 18:45

@ QS99.

The huge loss is mainly due to D and A and 1M (1.5M including all.) exceptionals from closing European offices. Remove these and you break even. Remember they also made cost savings of 1M from these changes for 2016. You read too much into the numbers here. They actually cover up a business close to a cash profit.

This is exactly what happened last year. Results came out. Everyone panicked and the share rose to 9-10p.

The loan figures don't look great. As long as they break even/make a profit it does not matter. Hopefully these can be reduced to 5-6% coupons at a later date.

Still waiting to see if these acqusitions will ever happen. David Wright talks a lot in his interviews but we are still waiting.

[guildedge] 25/5/2016 18:39

1m share trade has shown up from 16.39pm on 24th. Shown as a buy.

[zipstuck] 25/5/2016 07:48

Glass half full or half empty.

Its gaining traction and critical mass.

[davidosh] 25/5/2016 01:29

The 2015 AR will probably not be available for a few weeks but looking back at the 2014 report I was stunned by the award of a 100% increase in salary to David Wright. In 2013 he was paid a reasonable £120k basic plus pension contribs etc...

David Wright £120,000 – 12,000 6,331 Total £138,331
Gene Golembiewski (from 21 July 2013) £125,000 – – – Total £125,000

Then just one year later we see in the year to Dec 2014 they had both doubled up...

David Wright £250,000 – 15,406 6,227 Total £271,633
Gene Golembiewski £250,000 – – 5,084 Total £255,084

Did they really do enough to deserve a 100% pay increase and what has it increased to when the AR reveals all for 2015.....surely not £500k !??

That would show why these expensive loans are required !

Expensive hires are one thing but clearly this is driven from the top and setting the pace...

[qs99] 24/5/2016 22:21

£16m market cap, debt and deferred consideration, still doesn't own 100% of Redleaf (and others?), still no clean figures, new heavy hitters costing more, short-term pain highlighted in RNS, UK loss making, DYOR and IMO but I really cannot see how board are happy with the performance IMO...

[markie7] 24/5/2016 22:09

And re Redleaf, it is a contractual obligation to buy this extra stake, not a choice!

[markie7] 24/5/2016 22:08

The bank clearly is not willing to lend them money, which is why they have had to go cap in hand to Bob M and get charged 12% for the privilege. The weird short term loan also implies things are tight.

[guildedge] 24/5/2016 18:52

Sorry been busy today. Paul Scott has sold his long position today. Concerned about the new loan, way figures are shown. That and the strength of equity in the balance sheet. He does still have faith in CEO, collection of businesses Porta have.

He talks about the big elephants. The 1.2M finance cost that wipes out the ebitda. The 2.7M D and A costs. These 2 figures alone account for alomost all of the losses here. That with exceptionals of close to 1.5M. On this basis the positive cashflow of 1.3M is believable.

Lot of the sells today were more about frustrated investors. When will Porta actually turn this around or find a buyer?

That being said the growth in revenue and clients looks strong. How much of this is due to PPS/Publicasity and other acquisitions I don't know. Certainly most of the revenue growth would of been from PPS and Publicasity figures for the year.

Nice to see them buying a larger stake in Redleaf. This firm is doing really well.

Be interesting to see how they fund these new acquisitions. He is still talking about them. Maybe the bank is finally willing to lend them money? They certainly won't do it with shares or cash. 2m won't buy you Europe and America. See what happens.

[tomps2] 24/5/2016 15:55

CEO, David Wright discusses FY results

www.piworld.co.uk/videos/2016/5/24/porta-communications-full-year-results-2015

[davidosh] 24/5/2016 14:16

Fair comments from Paul Scott in his daily blog...