Prelude Trust Share Discussion Threads

[hvs] 16/1/2008 14:24

I is laughing , AT YOU .

[timtom2] 16/1/2008 14:23

Yes - not very funny is it?

[flyinghog] 16/1/2008 12:46

better to buy shares in the market to reduce the discount and run down the portfolio in a gentle way, with the management fee falling in proportion to the remaining value of the portfolio. clearly this would increase the net assets per share and it would be a virtuous circle. and unfortunately the fee would decrease, and this is probably not attractive to the managers!

[timtom2] 15/1/2008 22:53

Any purchaser worth their salt can play hard ball with the management.

1) The portfolio NAV may fall further - need for a quick sale
2) Management failure
3) Further portflio cash injections may be needed
4) Realisations a problem for whomever owns the portfolio

Any purchaser may be best to take their time unless they get a very attractive price offered to them soon.

For a decent return I suspect it will be in shares of the new owner. Say 90 to 97p of 3i stock for every 81p of PDT stock given 3i have more capable management and financial structure able to support the portfolio. Can anyone see them realising £1 or more - I very much doubt it - and the longer it takes the lower the return.

Cash is king on this market so I don't see a cash purchase much above the current share price

Finally, I wonder if this is a ploy to help pep up the share price for a short while before it goes sub 80p?

[timtom2] 15/1/2008 21:53

Admission of complete failure - can easily be taken to the cleaners and no doubt if they run down the portfolio they can take as long as they like and still claim the management fee.

121p NAV - can anyone realistically expect > £1 for any sale when a sale may involve further investment in the portfolio by the purchaser?

This is not a good market for such a transaction.

A very great shame for all involved.

[jtjh] 15/1/2008 09:03

Given the track record of management to date what odds they succeed in producing a better price for the shares than the 82.5p at the time of the announcement?
I assume they couldn't get any support for raising new monies and hence the change of strategic direction. I'll certainly vote for the quickest realisation or simply sell into the market.

[hvs] 15/1/2008 08:22

Where is the fire jtjh ?

Thought its raining outside ?

[hvs] 15/1/2008 08:21

Feel a corporate transaction where an investee company buys the whole company is possible. We are now talking peanuts for a good portfolio of investments for a new investor.

Very cheap entry point.

[jtjh] 15/1/2008 08:20

It really had that feel of inevitability that we would end up with a firesale! Management floundering around, pursuing one strategy after another whilst consuming exorbitant fees for their efforts. It's sad but unfortunately not without precedent!

[tiltonboy] 15/1/2008 08:18

riv,

The danger with i) is that they use that as a mandate to carry on as long as they like, albeit without making any new investments, but will continue to support existing one's.

I would favour i) but with a deadline to meet, say 12/18 months.

I thought they may be slightly better on that news.

tiltonboy

[rivaldo] 15/1/2008 08:11

We have action! Finally...surprised about Siconnect if not the others, but if this is as bad as it gets then PDT still has a 121p NAV.

Tiltonboy, in voting for (iii) do you think decent valuations would be achieved given what might be seen as a "firesale" opportunity for acquirors? I suppose the other side of the equation is that PDT don't "need" to sell so would only consider decent offers for their investments.

[hvs] 15/1/2008 08:05

Any views on possible sale value ? Is £ 1.20p a possibility ?

[orange1] 15/1/2008 07:38

That statement in full:



and the highlights (lowlights):
- NAV 121p - writedowns on DeNovo, m-spatial and Si-Connect.
- realisation opportunities are not expected to be material in the near term.
- After consultation with the major shareholders, the Board now announces that it has asked the Trust's manager and corporate advisers to investigate, in more detail and as a matter of priority,certain options in relation to the Trust's investment strategy.

These include:

(i) adopting a "run-off" strategy. This would involve: investing in no new
portfolio companies, whilst retaining enough cash now and from future
realisations to support the portfolio; realising the portfolio over time; and
returning capital to shareholders in due course;

(ii) a corporate transaction; and

(iii) the sale of the existing portfolio and the prompt return of the net
proceeds to shareholders.

In evaluating the available options, the Board is seeking to provide
shareholders with a return in excess of the current market price of the Trust's
shares. The Board is not able to give more details at this stage but a further
announcement will be made as soon as possible. It is expected that an EGM will
then be convened, with a view to putting proposals to all shareholders for their
consideration and approval.

[fft] 15/1/2008 07:34

That is an RNS and a half. NAV fallen and finally some strategic thinking on the table.

[tiltonboy] 15/1/2008 07:33

At last, they have seen sense.

Vote for iii)

[orange1] 14/1/2008 11:20

Why Displaylink could be a 'boon to IT departments':

DisplayLink simplifies the multi-monitor optionWhile lots of users are clamoring for small screens with more computing power on the go, other users are looking to work on bigger screens and multiple monitors when they actually sit down at a desk. Unfortunately, using multiple monitors in Windows XP and Windows Vista can be a frustrating experience. The software often forgets your settings and preferences and you need third party applications like UltraMon to get the kind of functionality that you'd expect.

DisplayLink is a company that makes chips and software to greatly simplify the setup and configuration of multiple monitors. It essentially allows you to use USB to connect multiple monitors and eliminates the need to have a bunch of extra graphics cards in the PC. DisplayLink has partnered with Samsung and LG to build this technology into their displays and it has also created dongles that can be used for other displays (including TVs) that don't yet have the technology included. I saw a DisplayLink demo that had six displays connected, including a large LCD TV and a digital picture frame, and the performance across the displays was very good, although it is currently limited to up to 1600×1200 resolution.

Because of all the headaches usually associated with configuring and re-configuring multiple monitors, DisplayLink technology could be a boon to IT departments by making users with multiple monitors easier to manage and opening the door to support more multiple monitor users. DisplayLink is also being built into several USB-based docking stations by vendors such as Kensington and Toshiba. This could be another asset to IT since standard docking stations are typically $300+, have to be special ordered, and have to be replaced when users switch laptops. A USB docking station with multi-monitor capability built-in would be a much more manageable - and potentially more powerful - solution.

[timtom2] 13/1/2008 22:55

hvs - can you explain your post?
Perhaps I'm just thick but I can't make much sense of it except the "Hasta La Vista" part.

[hvs] 11/1/2008 17:36

lol ,

Do not delude yourself rl,

You are just one of the many wanne bees.

Like you say

Hasta la Vista. Nice of you have to have posted , shows how many deluded
people out there.

[rivaldo] 10/1/2008 22:26

Well, well - DisplayLink have Intel, LG, Samsung, Toshiba....and now Sony.

Could we have an Alphamosaic "connect to every PC, notebook, mobile phone, you name it" scenario here? At the least DisplayLink seem to be the clear world leader with a "killer technology" as it's been described at CES 2008.

[orange1] 10/1/2008 21:08

DisplayLink Chosen for Sony VAIO USB-Based Notebook Dock for Japanese Market.

Sony is the latest development partner for DisplayLink, which in the past year has established itself as a preferred network display technology provider to several major consumer electronics brands.

"The universal notebook dock market is rapidly expanding because it delivers terrific convenience to consumers while reducing costs for notebook makers and making deployment much easier for organizations," said Hamid Farzaneh, DisplayLink president and CEO. "With its new dock, Sony has expanded the universality of the products in this market and combined that functionality with the attractive industrial design that is characteristic of the VAIO product line."

[rivaldo] 09/1/2008 23:02

Beat me to it Orange1 :o)) I also like this which shows how Intel is committed to DisplayLink:

"since Intel doesn't have any discrete graphics market to protect they worked with DisplayLink to integrate the necessary code directly into some test GMA X3000 drivers. With the improved performance brought about by this change, they were able to demonstrate 720p content with little if any loss in quality."

And also:


"...if they can achieve this kind of image quality at sub-200, we can't wait to see what they'll do with twice the bandwidth."

[orange1] 09/1/2008 21:07

"Intel has been extremely impressed with [Displaylink's] work so far."