Praesepe Share Discussion Threads

[abbey8] 01/2/2010 09:35

any one here?

[abbey8] 29/1/2010 11:08

news and up date needed here?

[brownie69] 21/1/2010 21:09

Good Times article.

I would not mind either UK or European deals as long as the terms are right!

[plunge] 17/1/2010 11:51

I feel the recent demise of Agora and Caesar's World's gaming centres has given Praesepe a wonderful opportunity to 'cherry pick' key sites from the administrators and further consolidate their presence in the UK.

This, together with their express desire to expand into Europe, should make 2010 very interesting.

[5dally] 12/1/2010 11:39

Some buyer's in now on this,,,expected it yesterday but better late then never :-)

[ukinvestor220] 11/1/2010 07:49

full article, nice read.

[5dally] 10/1/2010 13:44

jpjp100 Article yesterday very positive indeed :-)

[jpjp100] 09/1/2010 20:49

5dally

Doing something with the remnants fo Agora / Caesar's World is a shoe in imo. I would really like to see them do a deal overseas. As I said over on the lse board...

'I'd really like to see Praesepe do a deal in Europe (maybe Netherlands, Spain or Germany I suppose) next. It would be a good thing for Praesepe and its shareholders, imo, for a number of reasons (including but not limited to) 1. No one else seems to be trying to consolidate outside the UK to any extent 2. It could put PRA on the radar of a much broader investment community across the continent. A few continental fund managers showing some interest would do no harm. 3. I suspect the UK AGC market is a little ahead of the European market and that some catch up changes could really add to the earnings of the acquired sites quickly and easily 4. Euro income could, imo, be worth more pounds in future than it is now as currency movements continue 5. The first few European acquisitions might just open the floodgates to many more opportunities. 6. It helps with the exit: Surely a pan European business would be a tastier morsel for (for example) one of the big US operators than just another collection of sites in the (more competitive, less fragmented) UK?'

This is mentioned by Nick Harding in the piece in today's paper. Of more interest he himself mentions in the article that a pan-european group would be inevitably interesting to a US buyer - I hope he has already started the courtship process!

All things considered, this is one of my most favourite shares right now.

[5dally] 09/1/2010 18:20

Glad I've been topping up while under the radar :-)

[jpjp100] 09/1/2010 18:15

See The Times today (Sat 9th)

A nice two page feature / interview with Nick Harding (CEO)

A prelude to some imminent corporate activity?

[5dally] 08/1/2010 11:08

Previous post imcomplete as the rest just would not copy and paste :-(

[5dally] 08/1/2010 11:06

Bulletin Box

The big news for us over the past couple of weeks has been the granting of a Bingo Licence for our Crystal Rooms venue. Already this has meant that we are able to provide Bingo (by popular request) for our regular customers and our staff have taken to the task with gusto! Luisa, our Promotions Manager has been leading the training and doing some Bingo calling herself, along with her other key responsibility which is to market the venue to the huge numbers of passers by. So far we are very pleased with the reaction to the various changes at the venue and this has also been reflected in the top line, which is always encouraging! The Bingo licence will also allow us to operate Class (II) Bingo machines which is an integral part of any cash bingo offer in the UK. We have also been able to remove one of the partition walls at the venue and this has also made a big difference to the ambience and the way that we are able to manage the venue. In Wales and Somerset we have started to rebadge the Stardust venues which we acquired in October. Staff are being trained in the Cashino approach to Gaming Machine management and are clearly highly enthusiastic, which of course tends to rub off on the clientele, all round a great result. This new approach to customer service is underpinned by a tranche of new machines which have been delivered to each venue, just in time for the Christmas rush. Our trade association, BACTA, is now pushing the government hard to allow the use of a £2 stake on Category B3 gaming machines. Our argument is that as a £1 stake is now in place for Category C machines there has to be some differentiation between the two products. Clearly if we can get government support for this then it should be seen as a positive situation for the Company. It is very important to us that BACTA robustly represents our views to government and the regulator. Clearly an broad based association like BACTA is only effective up to a point and we are also quite prepared to represent ourselves if we feel that that will be a more effective way of achieving our corporate objectives. Recently we were very pleased to hear, at our annual trade association conference, the Conservative spokesman say that, assuming that they are the next elected government in the UK, they will introduce a £2 stake on B3 machines and also allow a ratio of 4 Category C gaming machines to 1 B3 machine. This will be enormously helpful and is a much more pragmatic approach to what has been a thorny issue since the introduction of the 2005 Gambling Act in the UK. The move to Seebeck House, in Milton Keynes will be completed when we have finished relocating our accounting function from Nuneaton to Milton Keynes. This means that all our field support team and administration/finance teams will be under one roof and this will not only create efficiencies and cost savings but will also provide a firm base that is scaleable and thereby very capable of providing additional administration services for acquired businesses. We expect to be fully operational at Seebeck House by the end of January and this new admin team will be augmented by a new Gaming Machine Manager who should be joining us in early January, and taking responsibility for all aspects of machine management, administration and income protection systems. We remain very busy, on a number of fronts and I am personally looking forward to 2010 which I believe will be an exciting one for this Company! Nick Harding. Praesepe is seeking to develop both organically and through acquisition into a major force in the low stake high volume gaming sector. The group has a proven management team lead by Nick Harding, CEO, who has extensive experience in the sector and was previously CEO of Talarius, the market leader in Adult Gaming Centres (AGC's) in the UK. Talarius was sold for £140m in 2006 creating substantial returns for shareholders.

To date the group has acquired four AGC businesses for a total of £36m and currently operates 54 gaming centres including the Crystal Rooms in London's Leicester Square. The AGC market is very fragmented and Praesepe is the only listed operator, which makes it uniquely placed to expand through the acquisition of private operators on favourable terms. In addition the group will consider acquisitions in other areas of the sector including family entertainment centres, bingo clubs, and AGC's in Europe.

Praesepe has an unusually experienced management team for an AIM company. Led by Nick Harding its management team have previous experience at senior levels in major groups and a high reputation in a sector which is dominated by family owned companies. As a result the group is being approached with a series of interesting acquisition opportunities.

In June 2009 the maximum stake and prize regime for Category C machines was increased from 50p and £35 to £1 and £70 respectively. These changes represent the single largest change for Category C machines in thirty years and are expected to provide a significant boost for revenues

[jpjp100] 07/1/2010 13:15

brownie69

I went there and asked the guy working there (with a cup of tea and a biscuit) how things had been recently.

He said that since it had been taken over and the new machines brought in, there was a lot more money being played than before - a lot more

[brownie69] 07/1/2010 12:24

Good post JP. I'm in as well and for much the same reasons, and for the long haul.

However you say that Cuystal Room revs are up considerably. How do you know that? By how much?

Thanks for any more info you can share.

B

[5dally] 07/1/2010 08:21

Strated to move yesterday and again up this morning,,,time to get in ?

[5dally] 03/1/2010 10:39

Would be nice to see a return to the 25p level in 2010 :-)

[abbey8] 23/12/2009 11:52

do you know WHY?

[5dally] 23/11/2009 11:07

Plenty of buying here this morning and a move north :-)

[brownie69] 19/11/2009 17:23

220 million shares issued I think

[abbey8] 18/11/2009 11:14

hi,this holding company, does any one knows how many shares they holding?

[5dally] 17/11/2009 09:20

Yes ideed UK, these are worth tucking away IMO