Sportech Share Discussion Threads

[nod] 21/4/2017 11:36

The Alliance News headline is not the same as the RNS"Sportech Appoints Non-Executive Director Richard McGuire As Chairman"

[runthejoules] 21/4/2017 07:55

Thinking of getting in here. What do you folks think of the new boss?

[trentendboy] 06/4/2017 16:07

Nice work finkie

[finkie] 06/4/2017 15:16

Stephen i echo Nods sentiment you whinge about them but i bought 100,000 at 60p and sold at 100p average so the management are jolly nice people in my view, even if they arent there was/is money to be made so who cares.

[trentendboy] 06/4/2017 09:40

Could be end of year shuffling on some of the winners

[trentendboy] 06/4/2017 09:39

The sector does appear to have taken a dip this morning - I wonder if there is something kicking off somewhere

[trentendboy] 06/4/2017 07:32

Interesting about Lombard. So why take such a large percentage?Interesting some were not able to sell any. Odd as me would have thought small holders would benefit.Still convinced further US regulation coming and SPO well placed with brands and locations

[nod] 06/4/2017 00:08

I have now spotted the Lombard Odier holding came from Henderson.

[nod] 06/4/2017 00:05

Stephen, I think holders have done very nicely with SPO since your warnings. Success with the VAT Claim; A pending claim for compound interest (a parallel case now with the Supreme Court to be heard in a few months); Sale of the Football Pools in progress.It all looks rather rosy for shareholders.

[trentendboy] 01/4/2017 14:34

Kept all mine. US expansion looms

[nod] 01/4/2017 10:46

The tender offer seems to have had little affect on the share price it's up around 4p from just before the announcement.SPO called it a return of cash to shareholders. I'm sceptical.I can't help but think they could have used the cash to invest wisely.

[nod] 30/3/2017 11:00

I'm steadily reading through the annual report and note the significant asset write-offs across the business. With the sale of Football Pools this is necessary as seemingly all technology investments in these businesses has been grossly over-valued on the books but not by the stock market. "The Group has recognised various non-cash impairments to assets across the business, including £42.5m in the Football Pools, £17.2m in Sportech Racing and Digital and £4.0m in Sportech Venues. "

[nod] 30/3/2017 10:14

Trevor Hemming sold over 4.5 million shares to take his holding below 15%. I think that's another 13% of his holding sold. He has been slowly reducing. He must be getting on in years.

[nod] 24/3/2017 23:59

As I mentioned, Investec didn't explain how any scaling would be calculated, which made it unattractive for small holdings. It was not an attractive offer imho. The good news with the awards is the PDMRs have to wait three years. Again, they don't explain what the performance conditions are. This guarantees the conditions will be achieved in three years time,"The awards will normally become exercisable (or vest as relevant) shortly following the third anniversary of grant, subject to continued employment and to the extent the total shareholder return and financial performance conditions are achieved. Once vested, the awards structured as nil cost options shall ordinarily remain exercisable for a period of 12 months."

[van zandt] 24/3/2017 23:16

Ripoff

Surely this ……. kind of rip-off should be illegal?
Last week some of the a… h…. were only able to offer in the tender a tiny percentage of their shares which were accepted in full while other poor bas’ were razored back also surely it should have been a requirement to have to declare in the tender documents that they were to be given these shares virtually on the day the tender closed.
Where were these ("PDMR") when we were putting our money in to keep the company off the rocks?
I can think of many nouns, verbs and adjectives to elucidate and describe this form of pure directors van….m
On 24 March 2017, awards over ordinary shares of 50 pence each in Sportech PLC (the "Company") were made to certain Directors and other persons discharging managerial responsibilities ("PDMR") as follows.
Name of Director/PDMR No. of Shares under the Award Structure of Award
Ian Penrose 419,552 Nil Cost Option

Mickey Kalifa 200,328 Nil Cost Option

Andrew Gaughan 191,387 Nil Cost Option

Luisa Wright 105,773 Nil Cost Option
As always VZ

[nod] 24/3/2017 10:02

123gaming launches £1m funding campaign23 March 2017Gaming technology company 123gaming has announced plans to raise up to £1 million (€1.2 million/$1.2 million) on equity crowdfunding platform Seeders.com.123gaming said it will use the funds to upgrade its betting platform in the US and launch an online horse racing contest and wagering site in the UK later this year.Sportech has kick-started the funding campaign by committing to an investment of £100,000 in 123gaming, which has provided skill-based gaming platforms to US horse tracks for over a decade and also operates US-based horse racing online wagering site 123bet.com.A successful £1 million fundraising for 23% of the firm would value 123gaming at £4.3 million."We are very pleased that Sportech has helped us get this funding underway," 123gaming chief executive Rob Earle said."We have successfully undertaken smaller funding rounds through the Enterprise Investment Scheme."There has been a significant response to our games in the US, with very little marketing spend, and we are now 100% focused on expanding our offering in both the US and UK with Sportech as our partner."Andrew Gaughan, president of the Sportech Racing and Digital arm of Sportech, added: "Based on our experience distributing the 123racing wager in the USA, Sportech continues to be bullish on the appeal of the 123gaming platform in the US gaming marketplace and the opportunity for expansion in the UK."Related article: 123gaming now available for online distribution

[nod] 21/3/2017 21:05

I don't really understand the RNS, other than SPO has acquired (from somewhere) the target 10% of shares in issue. Directors sold around 10% of their holdings to show what a good idea it was. Penrose a bit less.Now that's out of the way we can focus on the company revenues. The most exciting thing on the horizon is the Supreme Court case re Compound Interest on VAT overpayments. Hearing is July but it may be towards the end of the year before a decision is made by the Judges. It was unanimous in the Court of Appeal.I think we will see SPO invest further in the USA once they have the cash from Football Pools.RNS"Under the Tender Offer, Shareholders representing 168,450,227 ordinary shares representing approximately 82% of the Company's issued share capital, validly tendered 128,584,543 Shares. As a result, the Basic Entitlement of all Qualifying Shareholders who have validly tendered their Shares, amounting to 16,584,349 Shares, will be accepted in full and excess tender applications will be satisfied to the extent of approximately 3.6 per cent. of the excess Shares tendered.Accordingly, a total of 20,623,804 Shares will be purchased by the Company at a Tender Price of GBP1.015 representing an aggregate consideration of GBP20.9 million. The Ordinary Shares to be purchased under the Tender Offer for cancellation represent approximately 10.0 per cent. of the Company's issued ordinary share capital."

[van zandt] 20/3/2017 17:19

Hi all,
Thanks to all of you who replied so helpfully.
It was a just as well for me that I was not too keen to tender my shares as whoever is/was responsible for sending me the required documents failed to do so.
Why do I feel the whole charade was aimed at increasing the holding of the Major Shareholders without having to activate a takeover offer under the rules from any of them?
Regards to all,
V.Z.

[nod] 14/3/2017 18:21

The claim for compound interest has not been specified by SPO, preferring to leave it for the courts to calculate.I see some blogs suggesting the compound interest to be around twice the 97 million VAT repayment. This seems high.Just using inflation since 1996, the claim would be another 75 million. Compound Interest would be higher.

[nod] 14/3/2017 00:57

Remember also the claim for Compound Interest is scheduled for Littlewoods Retail in July. SPOs claim submitted in 2009 is on hold pending the outcome of that case. The High Court already ruled in favour of the taxpayer (which makes sense). "This claim is on hold pending the outcome of Littlewoods Retail Ltd and others v HMRC, which is scheduled to be heard in the Supreme Court in July 2017. In that case, the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the High Court's decision that the taxpayer was entitled to interest on a compound basis on the overpayment of VAT."

[nod] 13/3/2017 23:09

SPO has a New Jersey casino licence. Afaik SPO still holds its shares in NYX, which at the time - May 2015 - was 6% of NYX.Unfortunately, NYX share price is very low despite them winning customers.I note NYX won a new OGS casino customer this month. Unfortunately they are a New Jersey company, so SPO does not receive $1 million for that one. The May 2015 SNG sale agreement is $1 million payable to SPO for each new customer outside New Jersey until 2020. Up to a max of $5 m.

[trentendboy] 13/3/2017 21:53

Thinking the same. Will hold off. Given the broker targets and US action possibilities I think holding on can't go that far wrong