Porta Communications Share Discussion Threads

[guildedge] 22/7/2018 10:55

SEC are Raising 4m Euro. I suspect 2m cash injection into porta too or maybe a takeover? The cash will be raised early August. Already had the RNS to announce this.

I think they will also announce a reduction in loan rates at Porta once they have the cash injection.

These 1m sells could be a new seller. Gary Wyatt or someone else?

If they are sacking staff I doubt they will give big payoffs.

On plus side they have been hiring 4-5 staff lately to replace staff who have left?

Is the equity here worth anything? For 3-4m here you could see a takeover? Not sure SEC have the cash to deal with all the debt and future cash requirements. Now Redleaf takeover is complete should mean less 500k yearly payouts.

See what happens.

[qs99] 20/7/2018 13:52

debt more than market cap now?

[qs99] 16/7/2018 12:48

below 2p....

[guildedge] 22/6/2018 22:28

To be fair they had already announced the 2 firms were merged a few months ago. She did not buy them she was due most of them anyway. She merely called the put call. Debt will be up 500k due to deal.

Thankfully that is the last share issue to Redleaf now. Let's hope she does not sell them in 12 months.

So Aus/HK and Singapore left for share issues.

Many stakeholders here now below 3%. See updated shareholders page. EK now holds over 4% of holding. SEC are fast heading towards 16-17%.

[oldie52] 19/6/2018 21:01

So Porta, CEO Emma Kane, has bought the rest of Redleaf, main beneficiary Emma Kane!
Move along; nothing to see here!

[go_baby_go] 19/6/2018 18:25

more dilution i see.

[jaykaytee] 13/6/2018 11:12

This has been a flea ridden DOG of an investment for me!

[qs99] 13/6/2018 10:52

that is some drop...

[guildedge] 07/6/2018 17:02

hxxps://www.newgatecomms.com/blog/index.php/2018/06/07/newgate-communications-signals-growth-with-new-hires/

3 new clients and hiring more staff.

Plus Blu has also announced a new deal with Publicasity.

[oldie52] 01/6/2018 07:26

They couldn't announce the failed resolutions announcement until after market closed!
Doesn't look like shareholders trust the new management team

[guildedge] 31/5/2018 16:36

Didn't really learn much from the AGM statement. We know Redleaf is not long for this world. We know they are cost cutting in the UK.

It appears joint operations with Sec are going well. I would like to see them share locations to save on costs. Not sure if this is possible without a merger. Overall I think they are holding back on us.

SEC in their reports have apparently talked of updating the markett on in due course on how the partnership is going. They do sight in their report as for one reason why profits are up on the year.

I would rather they cut out loss making clients than just add costs. Huntsworth has been ditching clients who are not gernerating money.

I would anticipate some cost savings from Redleaf/Newgate merger.

[markie7] 31/5/2018 07:07

Another warning

[guildedge] 09/5/2018 19:11

Reverted back to 1.23%

[guildedge] 08/5/2018 18:00

Investor's page has been updated.
John Foley now showing as 2.25% of Porta shares. Meaning he has acquired 4-5m more shares?

Is this a typo or are we due an RNS tomorrow?

[kimboy2] 07/5/2018 06:34

Can't help but feel that the turning point has been reached, at last.

[guildedge] 05/5/2018 18:28

PDF for full years accounts are up.

2112 has gone from 300k ebitda loss to a 300k edbita profit.
Newgate Aus From 8.5m gross profit to 15.3m gross profit in 2 years! Almost doubled.

'The result of this has been a significant reduction in the
companys fixed cost base, which on an annualised basis,
represents a saving of £1.6m.'

'Similarly, a cost review has been undertaken at the Porta
company level, which has resulted in the removal of £0.3m
of annualised costs, as well as the relocation of Redleaf into
Porta£s London premises at 50 Basinghall Street in February
2018, which will save Group rent of £0.2m (annualised).'

So that is 2.1m of annualised savings. This should significantly improve 2018 results! See what H1 results bring. What other savings can be made with Redleaf and Newgate merger?

0.5M saving from reduced loan note and a further 0.1m saving from the new banking facilities. Plus talk of the rates on loans eventually being reduced further. Porta is on a strong recovery here. In fact many parts of the business are doing very well.

They may have posted a 3m loss before tax but all these cost savings should help cashflow considerably. The write downs and write offs will come to an end soon as they gradually fix the UK operation. The 3m also included a lot of costs relating to these restructuring.

I think a cash profit in H2 or 2019 is very possible here. More director buys to follow. In my view just a question of time if things are going well.

[guildedge] 01/5/2018 16:37

Yeah those 2 trades stood out a garden mile. Not usual pattern for Morton or Hales Hargreaves. Still a seller in background here with likely millions of shares still.

Reassured to see Emma Kane buy shares back. Unclear why she sold up before. Investors page has been updated with her holdings.

Waiting for the full accounts as these may show updated holdings for major investors.

[ny boy] 01/5/2018 11:36

Always follow in after a reasonable CEO purchase, she must of heard I have been accumulating 😁

[geraldus] 01/5/2018 11:19

Hope to see some smart money coming in here.GLA.

[speedsgh] 01/5/2018 11:13

Emma Kane (Joint CEO) has bought 1,538,462 shares at 3.25p = £50k

Director Dealing -

[albie two shoes] 01/5/2018 11:13

Good call Guildedge.

[geraldus] 01/5/2018 11:11

You were spot on Guildedge.RNS out wih EK buying.

[guildedge] 30/4/2018 21:19

I never claimed it was a quote from the results. Just the way I worded it from memory. Perhaps a quote would of helped those reading on here.

Savings wise. This is a people business. So this means cutting back on staffing or buildings. We know they reduced 6-7+ senior hires and reduced 10+ other staff.
'Wages and salaries above includes redundancy costs of £344,429 (2016: £247,329).'
'Wages and salaries above includes redundancy costs of £223,601 (2016: £732).'


PPS savings would of been part of the Newgate UK restructuring. The impression I got is when Redleaf and Newgate fully merge perhaps other posts could go. Redleaf moved into the HQ in March 18. Let's see what EK does as she has only just taken over. They will likely cut out any duplications. Another reason Gavin Devine left as EK was chosen to take on that role. One of the reasons they did not replace him.

Regarding taxes to explain this a bit.
They deferred 587,312 tax from 2016. So they took a £341214 credit last year. So this now appears in the 2017 accounts. I assume that is how this works. I suspect last years losses would of been much higher otherwise.

This actually makes these results look better when you consider where these figures come from last year.

So 587k from previous years tax. 300k from banking facility. 600k one off restructure. That's 1.5m in likely one offs. The write downs will also likely be one offs as Porta tidy up the UK operations. They have over 10m of losses that they will be looking to offset against tax.

This is a business that is gradually moving towards a profit. When the share price gets high enough I think a merger with SEC could happen or they issue shares to take it over. It's the next step once they have sorted out the UK business.

[kimboy2] 30/4/2018 19:31

Hi Guild
You say;
They expect 1.9m cost savings once plans are fully done.

What the company said was;
...decisions have been taken and implemented to reduce the cost base of the businesses based at the Group's UK head office in 50 Basinghall Street by approximately £1.9m on an ongoing annual basis at current activity levels.

They say the actions have already been taken and indeed admin was down about £0.4m in the second half compared to the first.

I don't know exactly what they are saving on but presumably some will be on the merging of PPS also I think that Redleaf have just moved into the main office, so that will be further savings.

Presumably people are going as well which is why revenue will be down. However £1.9m is a good saving.

One other thing that damaged these numbers is the huge increase in the tax charge, which I don't understand.