Sigma Capital Share Discussion Threads

[red ninja] 14/12/2005 16:10

Sigma Technology Group PLC
14 December 2005


Immediate Release 14 December 2005

SIGMA TECHNOLOGY GROUP PLC
('Sigma' or the 'Company')

New Investments

Sigma Technology Group plc, the UK venture capital investment management and
advisory group that specialises in two sectors technology and property, today
announces four new investments:


• Plenoptics Limited - investment of £300,000
• i-design multi media Limited - lead investor in total investment round of
£1,000,000
• Visual Science Limited - investment of £300,000
• Micap plc - participation of £50,000 in total funding round of £825,000


All of the investments are made through funds managed by the technology arm of
Sigma, Sigma Technology Management Ltd.


Plenoptics Limited ('Plenoptics')


The Sigma Innovation Fund (East of Scotland) ('SIF') has completed an investment
of £300,000 in Plenoptics.


Plenoptics has developed a software tool called PhotoGenesis that allows for the
rapid creation of accurate 3D models of buildings (interior and exterior) from
photographs. The product has two key competitive advantages: the speed of model
development and the realism of the end result. The company achieved its first
sales this year and the majority of customers to date have come from the defence
sector, but other application areas include security, urban planning and the
creative industries.


This round of funding will be used to support further expansion of the company's
commercial activities in the US and Europe.


i-design multimedia Limited ('i-design')
The Sigma Technology Venture Fund ('STVF') has led a total investment round in
i-design of £1,000,000. STVF invested £443,000 as lead investor alongside the
Scottish Co-investment Fund, which invested £443,000, the non-executive
Chairman, Jim Faulds, who invested £79,000 and management, who invested £35,000.


i-design provides ATM advertising solutions and user-interface design to the
financial self-service market. i-design's flagship product is ATM:ad which is an
end-to-end, integrated business and technical solution that enables ATM network
owners to generate significant new revenue from third party advertising. In
addition, the company established the first specialist ATM media sales agency in
the UK and has been delivering revenue to clients since June 2004. The company
generated turnover of over £600,000 in its last financial year.


This round of funding will be used to support further expansion of the company's
ATM media sales agency and software sales business in both the UK and Europe.


This investment in i-design follows a previous investment led by Sigma in
November 2004 and takes the total funding arranged by Sigma to £1.25 million.
Mark Hogarth, Investment Director of Sigma, joined the Board as a non-executive
director at the time of Sigma's first investment and will continue in this role.


Visual Sciences Limited ('Visual Sciences')
The SIF has completed an investment of £300,000 in Visual Sciences.


Established in 1993, Visual Sciences is Scotland's largest independent game
developer. Specialising in the creation of Triple A video games based on
original or licensed properties, Visual Sciences offers a full in-house
development solution on PC, Playstation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Sony PSP.
Projects worked on by the company include Medal of Honour, Formula 1 and Harry
Potter World of Quidditch. For the year ended 31 December 2004, the company
generated turnover of over £3.6 million on which it made a small loss.


This round of funding will be used for further development of
tools and technologies to support development for next
generation console projects.


Micap plc ('Micap')
Micap, an AIM_listed company, has issued an RNS announcement detailing a funding
round of £825,000 in which the STVF has invested £50,000.


Micap develops and commercially exploits microencapsulation solutions and other
technologies for a range of industries.

[red ninja] 02/12/2005 09:54

SIGMA TECHNOLOGY GROUP PLC
('Sigma' or the 'Company')

Investment Update

Sigma Technology Group plc, the UK venture capital investment management and
advisory group that specialises in two sectors technology and property, today
announces a new funding partnership with Scottish Enterprise and provides an
investment update.

Highlights

• Co-investment partnership in Scottish Enterprise's £3.5m Digital Media
Project Investment Fund agreed
• Completion of third round investment of £500,000 into SFX Technologies
• DEM Solutions launches particle mechanics simulation platform
• 9 investments made in the year to date totalling £2.8m

Co-investment Partnership with Scottish Enterprise ('SE')

Sigma today announces that it has become a partner in Scottish Enterprise's
£3.5m Digital Media Project Investment Fund ('DMPF'). This partnership will
enable Sigma to have access to matched funding of up to £500,000 per investment
in Scottish technology companies in the digital media sector.

The £3.5m fund now has four private sector investment partners - Ingenious
Media, Fund4Games, Glasgow Film Finance Limited and Sigma.

Since its inception in April 2005, the fund has made two investments - one in
'On a Clear Day', the film starring Peter Mullen which recently won the BAFTA
Scotland award for best film and a television documentary for ITV made by
Caledonia TV. It is currently working on a third deal which will come to
fruition next month, and has others in the pipeline.

Completion of third round funding for SFX Technologies Limited

In November Sigma completed a total investment round in SFX Technologies Limited
('SFX') of £710,000. Sigma invested £500,000 as lead investor alongside the
Scottish Co-investment Fund, which invested £150,000 and the management team who
invested £60,000.

SFX designs, develops and markets a unique speaker technology for use in
applications ranging from consumer electronics, laptops and mobile phones to
hi-fi and home cinema. The technology is also suitable for architectural
applications.

This investment in SFX follows two previous investments led by Sigma and takes
the total funding arranged by Sigma to £1.7m. Graham Barnet, Managing Director
of Sigma, is a non-executive director.

DEM Solutions launches particle mechanics simulation platform

DEM Solutions ('DEM'), the global leader in particle mechanics simulation, has
announced the launch of EDEM, the world's first complete particle mechanics
simulation platform. EDEM enables customers in industries ranging from
pharmaceuticals to mineral handling to design, develop and test products,
processes and equipment more quickly and accurately than was previously
possible. For example, it is used in coating and mixing processes in the
pharmaceutical industry. In doing so, EDEM delivers a tangible return on
investment by allowing customers to dramatically reduce development costs and
time to market. DEM's customers include Deere & Co, Astec Inc and De Beers Pty
Ltd.

Sigma led a total investment round in DEM of £1,000,000 in July this year. It
invested £550,000 as lead investor while the Scottish Co-investment Fund
invested £450,000.

Other Investment Activity

In the year to date Sigma has made 9 investments totalling £2.8m, out of a total
funding round of £5.6m. Sigma remains very active and is continuing to work on a
significant number of other investments.

[tuffbet] 02/10/2005 22:10

Scottish paper Sunday Herald carry a regular feature called the Phelps Portfolio which is actually 3 portfolios they have chosen (1 each year from 03 to 05 . The 03 portfoio is up 142.95% over the period today they added Sigma to it saying ......
"we look for a boost from news of asset sales ,including at least one possible AIM flotation by Christmas

[red ninja] 29/9/2005 15:25

SGM has a options over shares in Vividas, Citywire appears to fancy them :-



Tip Update: Vividas promise grows
Published: 12:43 Thursday 29 September 2005
By: Graeme Davies, Investment Correspondent

Related Articles
Shrewd Tip: AAA-rated duo alight on new technology float:
08:57 Thu 21 April 2005 read

Shrewdly-backed Citywire tip Vividas is making rapid progress in building a blue chip customer base for its bespoke video streaming technology, its just a shame the share price has not followed suit just yet.

The company (), backed by AAA-rated Bob Brown and AA-rated Patrick Evershed of New Star, floated less than a year ago as a primarily Australian business producing high quality videos on CD discs to be shown on personal computers for advertising or training purposes.

However it was also busy developing its proprietary streaming technology for use over the internet and has more than trebled its customer numbers since its float including blue chip companies such as BMW, IBM and Unilever, who have been signed up since the year end in June.

Chief executive Geoff Hamilton-Jones said: 'The contribution from streaming really only came through in the final quarter. Also when we get a streaming contract it gives us an opportunity to cross sell products. We are acquiring a lot of customers and the quality of those customers is fantastic. The consensus is people are spending more and more online.'

Vividas says the streaming technology is unique in that is does not require installation or downloading on the users' computer. The Vividas server detects the operating systems being used and applies the appropriate technology for the video to be shown.

At this moment it can show adverts, film trailers and recorded events of reports but Vividas is also working on live streaming which would open up the news, sports and entertainment markets for live broadcast.

Vividas has expanded into the UK and Europe and is now building a presence in the US where it is in the process of interviewing for a chief executive. With the rapid growth of broadband usage and online advertising Vividas' products are beginning to create significant demand.

However its preliminary results today are reflective of a company in the early stages of growth with a 24% increase in turnover to £559,000 mitigated by a loss of £1.25 million, although this is 21% less than the previous year. Net cash at the year end was £3.75 million and chief executive Geoff Hamilton-Jones does not envisage having to raise any more in the foreseeable future.

The current year has started well with trading significantly ahead of the same period last year. At the end of September it had more than 100 streaming customers and the disc business remains the stable underpinning element.

Vividas shares have added 1p to 63p following its results, well down on the 84p level it floated at and the 82.5p level Citywire recommended it at. However our tip was a long term bet and we remain fans of Vividas' technology and its ability to continue to gain traction in a growing market.

Teather & Greenwood's Adam Lawson has issued a buy note on Vividas saying: 'Underlying trading suggests that this business is beginning to deliver on early promise.' He also says the tripling in the customer base 'gives us confidence that the underlying technology offering supports a serious commercial proposition'.

[red ninja] 26/9/2005 10:11

All in all the interims look positive with increasing revenues, property capital gains countered by investment write downs. However, looks like an improving situation with the hope of a deals with the Scottish universities.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

26 September 2005

Sigma Technology Group plc
('Sigma' or the 'Group')
Interim Results for the Six Months to 30 June 2005


Sigma, the UK venture capital investment management and advisory group that
specialises in two sectors, technology and property, announces its interim
results for the six months ended 30 June 2005.


FINANCIALS

• Turnover increased to £2.2m (2004: £0.6m) +266%

• Net profit before write down of investments £0.3m (2004: £0.1m) +200%

• Investment write downs £0.5m (2004: £0.4m)

• Cash balances increased to £1.9m (2004: £1.5m)


OPERATIONS

• Continued high investment activity : 7 investments in the period - 3
new; 4 follow on

• Successful flotation of a further investee company on AIM

• Strategic relationship with IP2IPO together with share placing raising
£0.4m

• Completed £8.6m equity fund raising for third property limited
partnership

• Sold property held by first property limited partnership and agreed
sale of property held by second limited partnership which will generate
profit in property subsidiary of over £0.6m


Brian Hadfield, Chairman, said:

'We are pleased to report improved results over the same period last year. Our
discussions with Scottish Universities are progressing well and we believe that
there are a number of opportunities for investment realisations in the coming
twelve months.'


ENQUIRIES

Sigma Technology Group plc
Neil Crabb, Joint Managing Director Tel: [phone]

Buchanan Communications
Diane Stewart/Isabel Podda/Amy Rajendran Tel: [phone]



CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

Results

I am pleased to report a continued improvement in our performance in these
results for the six months ended 30 June 2005. The figures show a significant
increase in turnover to £2,172,000 (2004: £607,000) due primarily to the
consolidation of Sigma's property subsidiary, Strategic Investment Management
Ltd ('Si Management'), for the full six months but also due to an enhanced
performance in the underlying businesses.

Before taking into account the write down of investments of £527,000 (2004:
£365,000), the Group generated an increased net profit of £323,000 (2004:
£125,000). The loss for the period reduced to £204,000 (2004: (£240,000).
Overheads have remained in line with the growth in revenue and continue to be
closely monitored as part of the prudent management of the business. The
Group's cash balances increased to £1,885,000 (2004: £1,514,000).

The net assets of the Group have been restated in line with the new accounting
standard Financial Reporting Standard 25 Financial Instruments: Disclosure and
Presentation. Under this standard, the preference shares in the holding
company, which total £750,000, and the preference shares in Si Management not
held by Sigma have to be included as liabilities rather than as share capital
and reserves. Consequently, restated net assets at 30 June 2005 were
£2,786,000. Although included as current liabilities, the preference shares in
Sigma cannot be repaid until the holding company generates profits in excess of
£9m.


Investment activity

Investment activity continued in the first half of the year with three new
investments being made by the Sigma Innovation Fund (East of Scotland) whilst
the Sigma Technology Venture Fund ('Venture Fund') (together 'the Funds')
invested further monies in four of its existing investments. A summary of these
investments is included in the notes accompanying this statement. Sigma
continues to review its investment portfolio for companies that would benefit
from flotation on the Stock Market and one such company, Vividas Group plc, was
floated on AIM on 31 March 2005 raising £5.5m before expenses.

At 30 June 2005 the Funds held investments in 16 technology companies. We are
pleased with the overall performance of the Funds to date with certain of the
companies now moving into profitability. Over the last six months, there have
been a number of unsolicited approaches to investee companies by potential trade
buyers which it is hoped will translate into some successful exits over the next
twelve months.


Si Management

Si Management had a productive first half, completing the equity fund raising of
£8.6m for its third property limited partnership which had acquired an office
building in Cheltenham in December 2004, let to Eagle Star. It also disposed of
the property held by the Si Chalfont Park Limited Partnership in March 2005
generating an annual return for investors of 9%. Si Management has now
established three limited partnerships to date, raising total funds of £16
million, £24 million and £36 million respectively.

Since 30 June 2005, Si Management's second limited partnership exchanged
contracts for the sale of its B&Q retail warehouse to one of the UK's leading
financial services companies. Completion is scheduled to take place on 29
September 2005 and it is anticipated that the partnership will generate an
annual return in excess of 25% for its investors. As a result of this disposal,
Si Management expects to earn a fee of approximately £600,000 which will be
reflected in Sigma's consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2005.
Si Management continues to actively seek properties suitable for further limited
partnership transactions.


Strategic alliance

As previously announced, in March 2005 Sigma entered into an agreement with
IP2IPO Ltd ('IP2IPO') whereby IP2IPO agreed to support Sigma in the development
of strategic relationships with Scottish Universities. Discussions are ongoing
with several Scottish Universities as a result. As part of the agreement, 5% of
the Company's shares were placed with IP2IPO at 20p per share raising £361,000.


Investment performance

Once again, Sigma's results have been adversely affected by the write down of
investments. The Group's direct investment in Micap Group plc ('Micap'), an AIM
listed company, accounted for £305,000 of the total write down of £527,000. At
30 June 2005, the investment in Micap after this write down was included in the
consolidated balance sheet at £426,000. The balance of the investment write
down is principally due to the fall in the net asset value of the Venture Fund.
This is a result of the underperformance of three investments, the winding up of
a fourth and the conservative valuation approach. Both of the Funds are at an
early stage which means that any poor performance of investments has an
immediate impact whereas good performance of investments takes longer to flow
through to net asset value. In addition, listed investments are valued at bid
price and subject to marketability discounts of up to 25%. If the listed
investments held by the Venture Fund were included at mid market price then the
write down due to the Venture Fund of £189,000 would have been reduced by
£104,000.


Outlook

We continue to make progress in the development of the business with Si
Management reporting a particularly strong half. Sigma also retains direct
holdings in certain listed investments including Micap and Adventis Group plc
and an option over shares in Vividas Group plc. These holdings afford the
possibility of gains on realisation albeit the timing is uncertain. Our
strategy remains to grow funds under management and to broaden our business
model as in the development of relationships with the Scottish Universities.


Brian Hadfield
Chairman


26th September 2005


Sigma Technology Group plc

CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT

For the six months ended 30 June 2005


Six months Six months Year
ended ended ended 31
30 June 30 June December
2005 2004 2004
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Notes £'000 £'000 £'000

Turnover 2,172 607 2,230
Other income 78 10 177
2,250 617 2,407


Cost of sales (848) - (589)
Gross profit 1,402 617 1,818


Operating expenses (net)

Operating expenses (net) before write down of investments and
loans and before transfer to work in progress (1,107) (774) (1,668)
Write down of investments and loans (527) (365) (996)
Transfer to work in progress - 172 -

(1,634) (967) (2,664)

Operating loss (232) (350) (846)


Share of associates' operating profit - 76 47
Loss on ordinary activities before finance charges (232) (274) (799)

Interest receivable - Group 28 32 58
Interest (net) - Associate - 2 4
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation (204) (240) (737)


Taxation 2 - - -
Loss for the period after taxation (204) (240) (737)


Minority interests (232) - (92)
Retained loss for the period (436) (240) (829)


Basic loss per share (1.17)p (0.66)p (2.30)p
Diluted loss per share 3 (1.17)p (0.66)p (2.30)p



There are no recognised gains or losses other than those stated in the above
profit and loss accounts.

All of the operations of the Group are continuing.





Sigma Technology Group plc

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET

At 30 June 2005


As at As at As at
30 June 30 June 31 December
2005 2004 2004
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
Notes £'000 £'000 £'000
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 62 - -
Tangible assets 79 123 103
Unquoted investments 4 1,884 1,987 2,003
2,025 2,110 2,106
Current assets
Work in progress - 172 -
Debtors 679 565 1,644
Investments 4 682 1,142 923
Loans due after more than one year - 50 -
Cash at bank and in hand 1,885 1,514 858
3,246 3,443 3,425
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Minority interests - non-equity (837) - (837)
Preference share capital (750) (750) (750)
Other creditors (480) (870) (959)
(2,067) (1,620) (2,546)

Net current assets 1,179 1,823 879
Total assets less current liabilities 3,204 3,933 2,985

Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Minority interests - non-equity (418) - (418)

Share of Associates' net liabilities - (173) -
Net assets 2,786 3,760 2,567

Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital 379 361 361
Share premium account 14,035 13,673 13,673
Merger reserve (249) (249) (249)
Capital reserve (7) (7) (7)
Profit and loss account (11,043) (10,018) (10,607)
Shareholders' funds 3,115 3,760 3, 171

Minority interest - equity interests (329) - (604)

2,786 3,760 2,567




Sigma Technology Group plc

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

For the six months ended 30 June 2005


Six months Six months Year
ended ended ended
30 June 30 June 31 December
2005 2004 2004
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
£'000 £'000 £'000

Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities 809 269 (638)
Return on investments and servicing of finance 28 32 58
Capital expenditure and financial investment (121) (579) (785)
Acquisitions and disposals - cash acquired with reclassification of
associate to subsidiary - - 433
Cash inflow/(outflow) before financing and management of liquid
resources 716 (278) (932)
Management of liquid resources (50) 12 10
Financing - issue of equity 361 - -
Increase/(decrease) in cash in the period 1,027 (266) (922)

Reconciliation of operating loss to operating cash flows
Operating loss (232) (350) (846)
Depreciation and amortisation charges 31 39 73
Transfer of costs to work in progress - (172) -
Decrease/(increase) in debtors 965 (154) (1,157)
(Decrease)/ increase in creditors (479) 541 468
Profit on disposal of fixed asset investments (3) - -
Transfer to investments - - (172)
Write off of investments and loans 527 365 996
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities 809 269 (638)




Analysis of changes in net funds
As at As at As at
30 June 2005 30 June 31 December
2004 2004
(unaudited) (unaudited) (audited)
£'000 £'000 £'000

Increase/(decrease) in cash in the period 1,027 (266) (922)
Cash outflow/(inflow) from change in liquid resources 50 (12) (10)
Change in net funds resulting from cash flows 1,077 (278) (932)
Transfer to investments - - 172
Reclassification of investments from fixed assets to current assets 20 - -
Debt arising on reclassification of associate as subsidiary - - (1,255)
Current asset loans and investments written down (311) (44) (487)
Movement in net funds in the period 786 (322) (2,502)
Opening net (debt)/funds (224) 3,028 3,028
Adjustment to opening net funds as a result of implementation of
FRS 25 - (750) (750)
Closing net funds/(net debt) 562 1,956 (224)




Sigma Technology Group plc

Interim Results for the Six Months to 30 June 2005


NOTES


1. Basis of presentation

The interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with
applicable Accounting Standards and on the basis of the accounting policies set
out in the annual report and accounts of Sigma Technology Group plc ('Sigma')
for the year ended 31 December 2004, which have remained unchanged except for
the adoption of FRS 21, FRS 22 and FRS 25.

FRS 21 requires account to be taken of events occurring after the balance sheet
date. This standard has had no impact on Sigma's reported results. FRS 22
relates to the calculation of earnings per share but this has had no impact on
Sigma's reported results. FRS 25 results in a change to the presentation of
non-equity interests. Preference share capital and non-equity minority
interests have been reclassified as creditors on the balance sheet and as debt
for the purposes of the cash flow statement. Comparative amounts have been
adjusted to reflect this change.

The interim financial statements do not comprise statutory accounts for the
purpose of s240 of the Companies Act 1985. The comparatives for the full year
ended 31 December 2004 are not the Company's full statutory accounts for that
year. A copy of the statutory accounts for the year has been delivered to the
Registrar of Companies. The auditor's report on these accounts was unqualified
and did not contain a statement under section 237(2) or 237(3) of the Companies
Act 1985.

The interim financial statements have not been audited or reviewed by the
Company's auditors.


2. Taxation

An estimate has been made of the effective rate of taxation for the full year.
On this basis, no charge to taxation has been made in the six months to 30 June
2005. There was no charge for taxation in the prior year period due to the
Group reporting a trading loss.


3. Loss per share

The calculation of loss per share is based on a loss on ordinary activities
after taxation for the six months ended 30 June 2005 of £436,000 (2004: loss of
£240,000) and on the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding
during the six months ended 30 June 2005 of 37,113,615 (2004: 36,093,540). The
calculation of diluted loss per share is based on the same loss figure and on
the weighted average number of diluted ordinary shares outstanding during the
six months ended 30 June 2005 of 37,408,020 (2004: 36,431,834).


4. Investments

The principal investments held at 30 June 2005 together with an update as to
progress are set out below. Adventis Group plc is a direct investment, the
others are held by the Funds.


Adventis Group plc

Adventis floated on AIM in July 2004 as a specialist multi-media marketing and
advertising agency.

In its first year as a public company, Adventis acquired Affiniti (UK) Ltd, a UK
healthcare advertising agency and also set up Adgenda Media, a specialist media
planning and buying company. Both have performed well and this is reflected in
the group's results to 30 June 2005 which show a significant increase in both
turnover and profit.


i-Design Multimedia Limited

i-Design provides user-interface design and ATM advertising solutions to the
financial self-service market. The company has established the first ATM media
sales specialist agency in the UK.

In May 2005, the company extended its exclusive deal with Nationwide Building
Society. Through this agreement, all of the available ATMs in the society's
off-premise network will be released to i-Design for third-party advertising,
taking the total number of third party sites available to the company to over
1,000.


McLaren Software Limited

McLaren has developed products that manage key document centric business
processes with a focus on high risk areas of cost and compliance within large
programmes of work. The company has achieved sales across a range of sectors
including pharmaceutical, engineering and construction, utilities and oil and
gas.

Mclaren's software is now selling on multiple platforms and the company
continues to grow its blue chip customer base.


PhotoTheraputics Limited

The company is engaged in the research, development and manufacture of non-laser
light sources that offer solutions for use in both the medical and cosmetic
markets.

In May 2005, PhotoTheraputics raised £1.5m and during the course of the year has
further broadened its product range including the launch of a new
skin-rejuvenation treatment branded Lumiere. In March 2005 PhotoTherapeutics
received FDA clearance for a combination light therapy treatment, in addition to
the clearances previously received by the company for the treatment of mild to
moderate acne.


Tenison Technology EDA Limited

Tenison provides technology for faster integration and verification of hardware
and software in system-on-chip designs.

The company continues to make significant progress and in February 2005 ARM
announced that it was to use VTOCTM to support modelling for next-generation
processor core designs. Other high profile customers include ST
Microelectronics, Conexant and Seaway Networks.

The investments made by the two funds in the six months ended 30 June 2005 are
as follows:

Total amount % holding (fully
invested diluted)
£'000 %
Sigma Technology Venture Fund
Madge Ltd 1,167 19.3

Global supplier of advanced local area networking product solutions to
enterprises and is the market leader in Token Ring networking. Follow on
investment of £167,000.
PetroData Ltd 481 See note (a)

Development of products enabling real time remote access to critical data
from well sites.

Follow on investment of £38,000.
Tenison Technology EDA Ltd 975 20.1

Electronic design automation tools company. See note (b)

Follow on investment of £80,000 by means of a secured convertible loan.
Vividas Group plc 1,127 15.2

Provides high quality interactive video to PCs without needing prior software See note (c)
installation.

Follow on investment of £63,000


Sigma Innovation Fund (East of Scotland)
Trisent Communications Ltd 300 37.5

Develops low cost mobile telephone location tracking and alert technology.
Attribute Ltd 250 43.3

Developed a data rationalisation tool which it sells along with supporting
training and consultancy.
Logicalware Ltd 250 35.6

Developed an email response management product that is a commercial open
source application offered as a hosted service on a subscription basis.



Note:

(a) A winding up order was granted on PetroData on 22 August 2005. The
investment was written down to nil at 30 June 2005.

(b) The total amount invested in Tenison at 30 June 2005 was £975,000 of which
£400,000 had been invested by means of a secured convertible loan. A
further £300,000 was invested in July 2005 at which time the loan stock,
accrued interest and accrued preference dividends were converted into
shares resulting in a holding of 24.7% on a fully diluted basis.

(c) Vividas Group plc is listed on AIM and the holding is based on issued
share capital.

[red ninja] 22/9/2005 22:27

Abubryn,

I hope you're not right, but I guess we'll soon see.

The hope is the ordinary business will be doing ok, and
a university tie up will increase capital value.

[abubryn] 22/9/2005 12:34

I was considering getting a few of these recently but on checking what parts of the portfolio that I could ,it looked as if there was a fair bit of downside.If I am correct could be some more write offs in these accounts.The company appears sound , but I dont think I will go In this side of results .

[red ninja] 22/9/2005 10:51

Well the shares are back to around 20p to buy the price that IP2IPO bought in at. Looks like pre-result nerves or does anybody know anything ?

[red ninja] 06/9/2005 09:53

Bought in to the Sigma story today at 21.7p. Tough to buy this stock in any volume though. I'm buying more on a 1 year basis of a university tie up although results out soon.

>>>>>>>>>>

Sigma Technology Group plc (AIM:SGM), the UK venture capital and advisory group,
will be announcing its Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2005 on
Monday 26 September 2005.

[tuffbet] 31/8/2005 09:29

Red Ninja

Thanks - nothing new there but it all helps to awaken interest.

[red ninja] 30/8/2005 23:19

The tip was :-

Sigma Technology woos McProf

Has the market missed something at Sigma Technology Group? Back in March it announced a deal with IP2IPO, the intellectual property (IP) company that specialises in linking up with universities in order to commercialise their technology. The shares had an initial flurry but have since settled back pretty much where they were - at 21p. At this level, Sigma is capitalised at just £8 million. If anything comes of its link-up with IP2IPO, it could be worth several times that.

Sigma came to the market at the top of the dotcom boom with the goal of finding suitable technology investments. It has since mutated into a manager of niche funds - in technology and property - with only a small, residual direct stake in investee companies. But it continues to have a significant involvement in the Scottish market and it is Sigma's presence north of the border that attracted the Sassenach IP2IPO to pick it as its partner there.

Sigma has an operation in Edinburgh and has made investments in 12 Scottish companies in the past two years. The funds it manages have a lot of Scots among the investors. They include Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows and Scottish Enterprise Fife. The company also partners with the Scottish Co-investment Fund.

IP2IPO has developed special commercialisation deals with five English universities. Now it is using Sigma as a stand-in to repeat that in Scotland. It hopes Sigma will open doors. In exchange, IP2IPO will provide a lot of gen on how to structure the relationships - hopefully to develop businesses that can one day be brought to the market.

It is the imbalance in the market capitalisations of the two companies that intrigues. IP2IPO is capitalised at over £250 million. Net off the £50 million of cash in its balance sheet and that effectively values each of its university IP relationships at £40 million. Logically, if Sigma could tie up just one Scottish university, that deal would be worth the same £40 million - or around £1 a share.

It would appear that IP2IPO thinks much the same. As part of the tie-up it invested £361,000 to buy a five per cent stake in Sigma at 20p a share. But it also took an option to subscribe for a further 15 per cent of Sigma at 40p a share at any time up to June next year. By then we should know whether Sigma's blandishments have been heeded by any of the universities. IP2IPO clearly took the view that news of a successful tie-up would at least double Sigma's share price.

There is not a lot of downside to Sigma either. Although net worth is only about half the current capitalisation, the rules relating to the valuation of venture capital stakes mean that is a pretty conservative figure. The property investment business also looks to be going quite well and the company is only selling for around 7.7 times the earnings expected this year by its broker, Oriel Securities. True, there is no guarantee the discussions with McProf will come to anything. But the potential argues strongly for a buy at this level.

[tuffbet] 30/8/2005 23:04

Red Ninja

I don't pay much attention to what tip sheets write but out of interest what did they say which caused the small flurry of interest

[red ninja] 30/8/2005 20:16

Tuffbet,

Your intuition is correct it was tipped by "Peter Shearlock's small company stocks" tipsheet.

Hence the leap in price today.

This is a sleepy stock though so after a short term flurry it will probably fall back unless good news is due.

[tuffbet] 30/8/2005 16:55

anyone know if the stock was written up at the weekend -if not suspect it might be interest flowing from the early success of the property side of the business.

[shirishg] 22/6/2005 15:25

Post removed by ADVFN

[davidhel] 22/6/2005 15:24

Which herd, theirs, or ours? ;-)

[tuffbet] 26/4/2005 23:17

davidhel

as I am sure you appreciate if there was any degree of certainty about how soon out performance would be achieved it would almost certainly be already in the price - my view is simply that this is an under researched ,little noticed or written about stock and the current price reflects that .

One day - I know not when I expect some announcements will be made with regard to major success and this sleeper will suddenly become fashionable with the appropriate adjustment upwards in the price . I've no timescale in mind but I just know ,as I do with Psion that I want to be in ,not out when the herd arrive so, the price I pay now is just opportunity cost ie what I might be missing by investing elsewhere and I am very happy to do that as the news may just as easily come tomorrow as a year or two from now.

[davidhel] 26/4/2005 12:20

tuffbet - 'set very fair' seems to understate things a modicum. Set that though against the circumstances of a trading environment where it appears that folk would rather get numb hands than take the slightest risk, and where they would not recognise value if it bit those self same hands and I'm a little less optimistic.

I would appear that quite a few get spooked by shadows even when it's in the shape of a good performance...

I'm sure this will do well, I'm just not certain in which half of this century such out-performance will occur! ;-)

[tuffbet] 26/4/2005 11:36

For those keeping up with events at SIGMA both here and elsewhere there would have been no surprises in the results announced this morning .

As expected good progress has been made with turnover up 93% and last years loss of £0.56mill turned into a Profit of £0.17 mill .

As always however investors do not focus on the past but the future and in this respect things are looking very good with 10 new investments made in the year and four follow ups.

I suggested in an earlier post that I didn't think the market had yet grasped the profit potential for SGMs stake in Strategic Investment Management Ltd and they might just begin to pick up on this as they read that SI contributed a profit this year of £110,000 against a loss last year of £211,000 and the fact that since the year end Sigma has purchased minority interestsin SI which will increase its holding to 45%.

On that front it is worth noting that with regard to SI' s latest property deal ie the £36.2 million let to Eagle Star they say ......... this transaction is expected to make a significant contribution in the first half of 2005.

Those on this thread are quite capable of reading the report in full and doing their own analysis but in my view two other comments are worthy of note:

1. The progress made by investee companies does not have an immediate ( my emphasis ) impact on Sigma's results because profit is only recognised on realistaion of the investment whereas underperformance is recognised immediately. and

2. The directors expect the Group to be cash flow positive in the first half of the year

The Chairman stated twice that the environment continues to be attractive so on that basis alone I expect to see some positive news announcements throughout the year - what I think will add to that is the news of joint developments with their new partner /shareholder IP2IPO so add the exciting potential for the property side via SI Management , tap the barometer, and it reads set very fair.


Thats's my interpretation but as you would expect I am a biased and contented shareholder so please do your own research and don't be influenced by my thoughts.

[tuffbet] 22/4/2005 09:39

One of Sigma's companies which has been floated but in which it holds a stake ie Vividas (VDS) had a strong showing yesterday rising 10% .

I have had a closer look at this comapny and I believe the technology has got enormous market potential .

If you should be interested in looking at Vividas either because of its valuation impact on Sigma or, as an investment initself you will find that I have started a thread which has a variety of links - hope this is of interest.

[tuffbet] 18/4/2005 22:21

Price mark down on the back of purchases easily exceeding sales suggests MMs trying to pick up stock by shaking out any nervous shareholders - if it didn't succeed today its unlikely they are going to get what they want so prepare to be bid for stock soon if the market calms down

[tuffbet] 14/4/2005 15:48

davidhel

If you look on the NXT thread you will see that I think the Citizen announcement changes the risk/reward ratio quite substantially . Its now a high wire act with a flimsy net but I now think the chances of getting accross are good .

I bought some more immediately on the announcement and topped up today again when the price got to its low point

[davidhel] 14/4/2005 14:58

tuffbet, still here but kept busy - love NXT! - don't care if I'm not supposed to 'fall in love' (blah, blah ;-)...

[tuffbet] 13/4/2005 17:56

not much action today here but NXT provided plenty of excitement so 1 per day is good enough . SGM should pause for breath but with the results due soon my guess is it won't pause for long