Project Telecom Share Discussion Threads

[wholden] 09/4/2002 09:50

this is a little known gem, just ready to be cut and faceted this is making money and no debt....

[tony979] 09/4/2002 09:38

LONDON (AFX) - Project Telecom PLC said it has bought Manchester-based TW
Telecom Limited for an undisclosed sum.
TW Telecom is a telecom service provider to the Greater Manchester business
market and has about 15,000 subscribers under management.
Turnover for the year ended Dec 31 2001 was 7.8 mln stg.
Tim Radford, Project Telecom's Chief Executive, said: "The purchase of TW
Telecom follows the successful integration of the Hutchison and Netnet
acquisitions in 2001. It is in line with our strategy of expanding our corporate
customer base and extending our geographic reach through organic growth and
selected acquisitions. Greater Manchester, with its thriving business
community, represents a significant opportunity for Project Telecom. The
integration of TW Telecom will enable us to accelerate our growth in this
important market."
The acquisition was completed for cash.
Following completion, TW Telecom's office will become Project Telecom's
sales and customer service base for the Greater Manchester area, with the
administration and billing functions being transferred to Project Telecom's head
office in Newark, it added.
Up 8% on the back of this today. Looks like a good aquisition

[umhlanga] 27/3/2002 21:51

Any news on this one anybody.....

[tony979] 14/3/2002 17:14

That huge deal was announced yesterday when stock was sold to institutional investors at 75p

[cockneyrebel] 11/3/2002 19:15

40m shares sold at the close @ 75p

The only person holding that many, from what I can see, is the Chief Exec.

CR

[advisory] 11/3/2002 18:08

Massive trades in PJT today - all around the 75p mark, showing time of 16:45.
NEWS????

[blondviking] 04/3/2002 00:54

Good article in Mail on Sunday, Recommended as a buy

[isitsafe] 01/3/2002 00:26

lw look at post 91, written to counter bearishness on this thread - an apology would be nice

the point about the "telecoms" issue - and i'm amazed to have to spell this one out - is that if PJT did not have Telecom in their name, their share price would be much higher, because in the world i live in at least the word telecom has evry broker reaching for their sell order papers

in a nutshell that also explains why the january gains were lost - and if you look at my earlier postings around that time you might see my caution about the telecoms fallout on PJT shareprice

OK lecture over, now the good stuff, from todays FT:
"Cazenove, the group's broker, lifted itsforecast for profits before goodwill from £15m to £15.8. Forecasts for earnings per share were raised from 4.5 to 5.1

Comment

At first glance, PJT looks like a throwback to the halcyon days before the dotcom bubble burst - it is a technology company recording explosive growth in clientele and profits. But the group is actually a beneficiary of the new austerity in the telecoms industry: mobile operators are increasingly keen to outsource smaller projects. It is also cash flow positive, a rarity in the industry';s earlier days. With only 2% of the market for corporate mobile phone contracts, PJT has plenty of room to grow. That makes the forward p/e of 14-15 times on the upgraded profit forecast seem too cheap. "

cant say fairer than that

[littlewillie] 28/2/2002 16:05

isitsafe, no hard feelings whatsoever, agree to differ...

I'm holding for the long term and expect continued performance.

Taurus...understand what you're saying in last para; these days even the written word 'aint neccessarily the truth, and thats the truth.

Enron, Anderson and smaller comps. creative accounting do breed sceptism...lw
woftm

[taurusthebear] 28/2/2002 15:44

lw,

With all respect, I think you are over-reacting. I don't hold PJT, but that doesn't mean I am necessarily bearish on the company. It means, in my case, that I am not particularly optimistic on the sentiment surrounding the whole tech market which, whether you like it or not, is eventually reflected in the share prices of companies like PJT. And so comments like:-

"why so negative, are you a shorter? do you really want this to succeed?"

are really quite pointless. There is a whole WORLD of difference between what you think about a company and what you think about it's share price! For me, these days, any doubt and it's out....

Taurus

[isitsafe] 28/2/2002 15:37

i disagree but no hard feelings eh

[littlewillie] 28/2/2002 13:01

If an article is issued where in the first para a supercillious comment suggests 'an apology would be nice' the chances of that apology being forthcoming is nil.

If however a reasonable article was submitted putting out an argument in a rational way without recourse to " I'm amazed if I have to spell this one out"
then,in the event of my regretting my article I would be more than happy to
issue an abject apology. As things lie I won't.

PJT is what it is, a Telecoms Company and your point is irellevant and wasted.

Company's like PJT need projecting in a positive light to enlighten the market that not all of the section is wasted. The other choice is to take it out of the sector, invent an alias banner and leave the sector with the last one out putting out the light....positivety, thats whats needed....lw

[littlewillie] 28/2/2002 10:31

isitsafe...why so negative, are you a shorter? do you really want this to succeed? Your name suggests doubt and in the light of what we knew was coming
from PJT,I cannot understand your negativety at these results.
Make no bones about, they are excellent results, achieved in the worst world economic climate for 40 yrs, in a sector where values have depleted by 95% in many cases with profit warning following profit warning.
You, throw doom and gloom at them and even a cheap aside re their sector being 'in name only'.
That matey is what and where they are, fact, TELECOMS SECTOR.

These are excellent results with the prospect of more to come, if there was a sour note it would be 'why did the price fly in early Jan and then lose its gains, I never understood that.....lw
woftm

[taurusthebear] 28/2/2002 09:47

Looks like I should have bought on Tuesday at 65p! :-(

Figures (millions of pounds):-

Turnover in corporate services 87.7m (36.3m in 2000).
Operating profit post goodwill and amortisation up 168% to 6.3m.
Revenues 330m (257m in 2000).

And comments from nothing-ventured:-

"Project Telecom has even higher hopes for the current year as companies start to adopt always-on email connectivity and mobile data services offered by the new GPRS (general packet radio switching) cellular networks.

According to chief executive Tim Radford: "This year we intend to seize the opportunity offered by GPRS to move up the service provider value chain as mobile data becomes more crucial to companies' bottom lines and increasingly need to be integrated with their overall IT network."

Since the year-end, Project has signed an agreement with BT Cellnet to resell BlackBerry, a wireless business information GPRS handset.

Radford said: "What distinguishes us from the big players is that we don't have any big debts or infrastructure costs and we are not dependent on 3G roll-out.

"This means we are free to concentrate on offering companies that may need anywhere between five and 2,500 handsets an entire mobile communications service based on what is available in the here and now."

Last year, Project made the decision to move from its traditional business of selling mobile phone top-up cards to providing mobile services.

In March, it acquired the Cellnet and Vodafone customers of Hutchison Cellular Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orange, for 14m cash. This was followed in July with the 3.2m acquisition of the UK customer base and related debtors of Newgate Communictions, which traded under the NETnet brand.

As a result of organic growth and acquisitions made during the year, the customer base grew by 86,000 to over 138,000 in the 12 months to 31 December 2001. New accounts during 2001 included Sodexho, Northern Foods, Arriva, Dow Chemical and East Riding of Yorkshire Council."

Taurus

[isitsafe] 27/2/2002 21:46

lets hope so

[vonbrokenburger] 27/2/2002 19:51

isitsafe,
Don't take too much notice of my "disappointing " statement I was trying to answer why the price has fallen back at that particular point of the day rather than being up 8p as it finished the day. I guess the market changed its mind.
Vonn.

[isitsafe] 27/2/2002 17:25

just on today's numbers, theres nearly £3m of amortised goodwill in there, which is what brings the pbt figure - and therefore the tax figure - down to the "disappointing" level. My guess is this is the absolute maximum the inland revenue would allow through the p&l - these guys are not wasting a penny more than they have to. I'm guessing also that the goodwill relates to the Hutchinson purchase of around £12m - now looking like an extraordinarily good deal for PBT.

is PBT a telecoms stock? In name only imo

[littlewillie] 27/2/2002 16:06

Has climbed better than at first thought, seems to be strengthening, nice to see a Telecom stock do this and pay an increased div.
Still got some way to go to early Jan price....lw

[wholden] 27/2/2002 09:33

VON:
TAURUS:
as usual thanks for your insights!
cheerz wh

[vonbrokenburger] 27/2/2002 09:27

Taurus, I think your attitude sounds about right. Brokers consensus was about 11.5 mill in profits not operating profits. In the Citywire article when Project said they "would significantly beat analysts expectations" they stood at 9.6 million and earnings per share of 2.86p so I guess theres a bit of disappointment here.
On the plus side though growth was strong and they reported that the year has started well so it would seem a good idea to look for a buying opportunity if it does get sold off because it hasn't jumped straight up.
Von.

[taurusthebear] 27/2/2002 09:01

wholden - bit confused about the eps, quoted at 2.79p, possibly after adjustments, which at share price of 72p would put the PE in the mid-twenties. Prospects look OK though, with growth from the new acquisitions kicking in this year. In this climate I would suspect PJT will, like many other techs, be prey to prevailing sentiment, and I'm still not convinced we are at the bottom for techs. This was sold down to sub-40p in September when the panic was on. It may go up, it may go down. I remain neutral here, but would have to admit to probably scavenging a few if it fell back to 50p. Good luck!

[813061] 27/2/2002 08:42

Results are good and the outlook is healthy. Cash generation is good too. EPS at4.11 p is in line with my expectations and p/e is now 17. It is likely they will make more acquisitions similar to Hutchison Cellular services.

[wholden] 27/2/2002 08:08

taurus: are these results ok or what, on the face of it they seem to br doing well?
maybe with your wealth of exp you can inform me!!!
cheers wh

[wholden] 27/2/2002 00:42

cheers taurus!! nice little tick up late am ok only 3% but what the heck!! come on pjt do the biz!!