Research Now Share Discussion Threads

[diogenesj] 12/7/2007 22:03

Spam again.

[pre] 12/7/2007 21:23

Yep, with the down up nearly 300 points....i'm expecting further rises here....this will be back up imo...way too cheap at current levels and it wouldn't surprise me if there are predators lurking around to bid for this company..all imo,dyor:-)))

[dosullivan] 12/7/2007 16:32

Keep going

[nurdin] 12/7/2007 16:01

Thats more like it :o)

[nurdin] 12/7/2007 11:41

well this is looking promising...:o)

[dosullivan] 11/7/2007 16:09

I hope so too.

[opportunity] 11/7/2007 15:54

Research Now must be even more ripe for a takeover by one of the big boys such as WPP after the recent price fall.

For example, WPP's market research group (Kantar & Millward Brown) could gain enormous strategic value from acquiring an online market research outfit such as Toluna or Research Now. They will never re-engineer themselves into a slick operation without grafting on one of these new media type of companies to give them the blue print on how it should be done. As with all large companies they are bogged down in processes and systems, and strangled by their associated costs to be nimble and competitive.

These online companies are cherry picking the most lucrative work from under their nose in Asia, Europe, UK and USA. They appear to be focusing on developing a strategic advantage in the automotive and medical sectors with their focused panels to easily serve these clients now and in the future.

Although RNOW should have had tighter financial control on its expenditure, you cannot deny that this recent accounting problem is masking a real jewel in the crown with its focused research panels. This strategy will have a substantial payback in future years with higher margins on repeat business.

[nurdin] 09/7/2007 12:05

Had a long chat with Canaccord about half an hour ago.Looks to me they have upped their pretax forecasts for 08 to £5m.
Now whether he was talking from memory or not I am not sure but the firm impression I got is that the forecasts will be revised upwards rather than downwards for the coming year.
If true RNOW look even cheaper than I thought ...:o)

[markie7] 08/7/2007 17:25

just come back from holiday - going through these threads. can't believe I was short here at 430, and got stopped out at 480. I'm pleased I was right, but gutted I didn't profit!

[diogenesj] 08/7/2007 14:35

Canccord Adams have apparently cut their forecast for the current year by 'up to' 30%. I just added a bit more for safety, and made the assumption that it will probably not be just a one off. Remember how the news about SMC trickled out, and ACE? The correct thing with AIM growth companies is usually to sell at once, expect the worst, and wait for things to settle down, imo. :-)

[nurdin] 08/7/2007 14:00

Why stop at 40% Diogenes? :o)

This statement suggests you can afford to make deeper cuts:

'We ended the first half of the year with record sales months in March and again
in April. The second half has started very strongly with further record sales
months in May and June. The market for online fieldwork continues to grow
strongly in Europe, North America and Asia, and Research Now is well positioned
to become one of the leading global players. I expect to see continued strong
growth in the second half of this year and in 2008.'

[diogenesj] 08/7/2007 13:23

Personally I have mentally cut the forecasts for this year and next by 40%, giving forward PEs of 30 for 2007 and 21 for 2008. Can't find any current ones for TOL, but I guess they are about the same. YOU seems to be even more expensive. I've done very well out of all of these, but I'm not holding any of them now. My feeling is that they are pretty risky on these ratings in the current jittery market.

In the case of RNOW, there is a further risk that we have not yet heard all the bad news. Directors are usually slow to acquaint shareholders with the full horror of the situation. Charles Fairbairn's sale of his entire holding for about £1m in February suggests, however, that he may have had some sort of (shall I say?) premonition of it.

[wjccghcc] 08/7/2007 12:15

Yup, be interesting to see what action they take.

[nurdin] 08/7/2007 10:33

WJC...oops sorry, TOL trading on a PE of 30 for the current year.I misread earnigs forecasts of 7.5p as that for 08.Wasnt trying to knock TOL by the way..:o)

YOU would have beeen a better example....although not quite the same business.PE of 34x for this year dropping to 30x for 08

RNOW year end is October by the way..just 4 months away.Consensus forecast is for earnings of 13.4p which put the shares on 19x.I do believe the brokers are being cautious which is quite understandable imo.The rating drops to 12x for 08.

I expect some action from Schroder in not too distant a future.

[wjccghcc] 08/7/2007 09:49

Actually nurdin, the PE is 21 for the current year vs TOL's 30 so not half the rating. Your PE of 12 is for 2008 and I wouldn't say that's on brokers very cautious estimates, since it hasn't been revised down. The problem is with a situation like this, the brokers are just going to forecast what the company tells them and management may still have their head in the sand here, patricularly as regards profits.

I've done very well out of RNOW and TOL - sold most of my RNOW after the initial problems 3 months ago and not currently a holder but still happy with TOL so may well be biased, but at least with TOL I know there's a sustainable business (organic growth in profits as well as sales, sustained margins, cashflow exceeding profits etc.) whereas with RNOW I'm no longer as certain.

You're right the risk/reward has shifted but I'm not sure it's far enough yet.

Good luck with it though.

[pre] 08/7/2007 09:07

Agree nurdin....back to business....i'm expecting this to climb back higher over the coming weeks...enormous potential here imo,dyor and all that:-))

[papalpower] 08/7/2007 04:15

Post on TMF ref events :




.

[diogenesj] 07/7/2007 18:08

Of course, he may well have honestly supposed that informing ThisisLocalLondon was fully equivalent to an RNS, and that Charles Fairbairn was therefore free to unload his entire holding at twice the current price.

[typo56] 06/7/2007 16:45

These articles are dated on the morning of the first trading day after the death of the Finance Manager. Chris Havemann seems to have had the time to talk to the press about this, but not thought it a material matter worth reporting to the shareholders.

[diogenesj] 06/7/2007 10:44

Agreed, typo: there's a bit of a bad smell there. NfA (normal for Aim), I suppose - but if you can't trust the management, why buy the shares?

[wjccghcc] 06/7/2007 10:35

I think the jury's still out here. Yes they have the sales growth but at what cost? Strip out the 0.4mm cost of the office relocation and H1 operating profits are flat if you ignore the acquisition and significantly down on H2 despite 30% half on half sales growth. Add in the catalogue of banana skins (FD, director sale, unreported costs) and the weak cashflow and it gives the impression of not really being in control of the business.

Compare that with Toluna where sales growth is also high, but where the margins are much better and stable, cashflow actually exceeds profits, directors are buying and who generally give the impression of knowing where they're going. Of course, after the RNOW selloff, TOL's mkt cap is twice the size.

It would be interesting to hear from someone in the industry how they view RNOW.

[cr4zyness] 06/7/2007 10:23

TYPO,

He got £4.60 for his holding!!



Director deals

Research Now, a market research company, was unchanged at 520p despite news that a non-executive director had sold his entire holding. Charles Fairbairn, an accountant who sits on the boards of Statpro and Bright Things, disposed of 187,695 shares, equivalent to 1.3 per cent of the total.