Porta Communications Share Discussion Threads

[guildedge] 03/8/2017 17:14

Need to digest the RNS in full. Looks like this firm will either look to takeover Porta or merge. Sec turnover is 22m. Porta's is circa 37m. SEC have been doing a lot of acquisitions lately. A lot of Porta's losses come from write down of assets and bad debts from closed businesses. Hopefully this deal will offer some cost saving and opportunities for cross selling products across the 2 networks. It sounds like Steffan has been planning this for months.

8% loans still seems high to me but it is better than 13%. Should save Porta circa 500k a year based on a 10m loan.

The dilution at 3.5p is a worry. I was expecting over 4p. At present it would not take a very high offer for the Italian firm to take over here.

At present the directors seem mostly locked out. Especially with further share issues planned here. They planned 160m share issue. Most of the board now don't own any Porta shares. So they will not be worried about dilution. Porta needed the 3m. They have a further 20% of Redleaf to buy and a 33% stake in capital access group at end of the year. Not sure it's currect value. Plus loan costs of CAG to pay off. Plus further stakes in Aus/HK and singapore?

Yeah it does not sound like they are planning to report a profit in September if still talking ebitda. I think we all knew that revenue and ebitda would be ahead of last years given upbeat trading statement with the results.

Still appears to be sellers in background here.

[kimboy2] 03/8/2017 16:27

Patience might be but I don't think time is.

We knew a fundraising was in the offing. They look to have done a good job of it by tying in with someone who may actually help the trading performance. I presume a merger is on the cards at some stage.

[go_baby_go] 03/8/2017 09:57

Time is running out for PORTA

[qs99] 03/8/2017 08:39

well they talk of "adjusted headline" etc so looks like PTCM is still some way off showing clean figures,....again DYOR

[go_baby_go] 03/8/2017 08:31

They have to show profit this time round. Otherwise it will be a sinking titanic

[oldie52] 03/8/2017 07:29

Deck chairs on the Titanic or good news?
Lots of dilution but not sure what the upside is.

[kimboy2] 21/7/2017 20:31

Yes looks good. The CEO did say that H1/17 was 'substantially ahead' of last year and internal expectations. What that meant is anyone's guess.

They haven't rushed ahead with the fundraising they were given authority for at the AGM. Perhaps that indicates they expect the share price to rise.

I would expect some sort of TU soon, so perhaps we will find out.

[guildedge] 21/7/2017 17:59

hxxp://www.odwyerpr.com/site_images/Mergermarket-Rankings.pdf

Worth a read. Look at the Asian league tables and values for Newgate. Also have a look at Releaf deal count. Also Global league tables.

Strong H1 2017?

[jefftwo] 19/7/2017 17:39

I am starting to feel positive about ptcmDon't shout me down it could be my mid life crisis

[stav5001] 14/7/2017 19:24

More like just battered and weary.

[guildedge] 27/6/2017 17:12

I still look here but no one is posting. I guess they got bored or found another share to follow.

[stav5001] 27/6/2017 07:56

Even the poor disgruntled PI's have stopped communicating.

[guildedge] 08/6/2017 17:50

Porta look likely to secure a loan facility with a bank for 2.3m. At rates circa 3.85%+ libor. So maybe banks will lend to Porta? Hmmm.

[shareho1der] 26/5/2017 16:02

Surprised the sharks are not yet here

[guildedge] 20/5/2017 12:58

Interestingly on the FT site the Ruffers holding of 5.71m shares was pretty much the same time that Emma Kane notified the market a day later she had sold out. At time I estimated she had sold around 6m shares with her partner. So I think Ruffers bought out EK. With GW buying out another major stakeholder at same time. Why else update Ruffers holdings on FT site for 15th of Sept. That is no random date.

So HH likely bought out the major investor that sold around May. At time I had commented someone had been buying shares in the background.

Overall the only fund not to buy up more stock here seems to be Fil. All the 3 other major investors have been buying up. Assuming Ruffer didn't always have those 5.71m additional shares. Interesting how the jigsaw here is fitting together. Especially if Ruffers had been buying again?

So most of the trades we have seen here in last 10-12 months have been funds/ major investors trading shares. A lot of assumptions in the above but it all adds up.

[guildedge] 19/5/2017 23:22

Well we knew someone had been buying large volumes of shares. I have speculated in past we had at least 2-3+ buyers in the background due to over 30m shares being sold/bought here. It appears GW and HH have bought the bulk of the sold shares. Unclear if HH are still buying or not. An RNS from them would of helped the shareprice here. Why would Porta hold back on this? Bizarre.

Even more encouraging as HH were the biggest shareholder selling 1-2 years back. I remember many commenting on this. What has HH seen that we all missed here??

Edit -


FT seem to suggest HH held 8.15% since 02/06/2016. So 2-3m before EK sold her shares.

Note also Ruffer LLP listed on this site with 5.71m shares. On top of Ruffer (Asia) Ltd. with 13.71m shares. Again unclear if Ruffers have also been topping up or just held shares in 2 funds?

Although this site suggest FIL have sold some shares. The RNS from end of Jan disputes this. The results do too.

It's unclear how the FT update the time stamps for holdings here. Strange no one mentioned HH before increasing their holdings. Yet FT seemed to know almost a year ago?

[jefftwo] 19/5/2017 23:10

Interesting and Thank you GuildNo secrecy to the chosen fewWish I was one!!!

[guildedge] 19/5/2017 22:32

Note on major shareholding update from the released results on 15th May.
Hawk Investment Holdings Limited 60,157,648 - 18.45%.
Hargreave Hale 26,577,514 - 8.15%
Fidelity 16,071,539 - 4.93%
Retro Grand 18,326,389 -5.62%
Ruffer LLP 13,714,413 - 4.21%
Stephen Byfield 14,871,230 - 4.56%
Gary Wyatt 15,000,000 - 4.60%
List updated 03/05/2017 on their accounts. Not yet updated on the webpage.

The only mover here is Hales Hargreave. They used to have 5.39% according to the website. Really this stake was closer to 4.6%. Now it's 8.15%!

So HH are likely one of the big buyers in the background. Adding around 11.5m shares this accounting year. As they don't do RNS it's hard to tell if they are the buyer snapping up the 250k chunks here.

What do HH and Gary Wyatt know?? So much for all the major shareholders selling up here. Far from it many are almost doubling up.

The main accounts is available from the Porta website. Happy reading all.

[go_baby_go] 15/5/2017 15:26

Maybe be this will rise above 5p

[jefftwo] 15/5/2017 14:43

Looking brighter!!! Thankfully

[go_baby_go] 15/5/2017 11:30

short of stock.. Thus the rise..There is a 644K late buy just gone through

[qs99] 15/5/2017 09:23

someone buying it would seem...

[qs99] 13/5/2017 15:27

can't see that happening, but would be amazing if they issued them at 5p or even higher....you can live in hope gbg....! DYOR...

[go_baby_go] 13/5/2017 15:23

Hopefully the extra shares will be issued at a higher price. Only when needed.

[kimboy2] 13/5/2017 08:49

The announcement says that there is £3m for working capital to fund growth, 4.43% of Newgate Australia and 15% more of Redleaf. I expect someone can probably work out what price they are expecting.

I agree with much of what Paul Scott has to say. David Wright has been useless. The exceptionals do seem to have gotten unexceptional. The balance sheet isn't great.

However I do think that they have some good people. They just have to get themselves into a genuine profitable situation and the world will seem different.

If you allow for 'exceptionals', D&A and impairment then they were profitable in H2/16, which frankly doesn't mean much.

I think the only thing that is allowable is amortization. Hopefully the rest won't recurr and hopefully the 'substantial' increase in business will drop down to the bottom line.

Perhaps we may find out with an AGM statement in a month.