Teliti Share Discussion Threads

[blank frank] 06/3/2007 18:06

TEL's Chairman Lord Razzall is apparently the only non-executive director left now. I'm not sure that the others will necessarily be greatly missed though, judging by some of the views below:-

"NON EXECS EARN THIER KEEP - The Guardian reports that a major shareholder group has produced evidence that non-executive directors are more than "the decorations on the Christmas tree" as the late Tiny Rowland of Lonrho famously described them.
Not all are convinced, the paper said Sir Ken Morrison, of the Morrison supermarket chain, once claimed he would rather have a couple of extra checkout operators than a non-executive in the boardroom and ITV chairman Michael Grade once likened them to bidets: 'You're not sure what they're for, but they add a touch of class', he said."

[whynot3] 05/3/2007 09:58

Not many others to leave are there ! CEO has to stay to sort out the mess, Hallett is probably lined up to be the fall guy and Lord Razzle is probably got bigger and better things to get on with !

[kimboy2] 02/3/2007 19:22

One thing that does surprise me is that only Ed Smyth has walked the plank. In a situation which must involve the grossest negligence, at best, I would have expected more action on that front.

[blank frank] 02/3/2007 18:44

Still no news, but in this case I take the view that slow news is good news (hopefully that won't be famous last words!) Putting a company into administration is relatively quick and easy; whereas arranging a sale or a fundraising probably takes a bit more time.

Confidentiality restrictions may well mean that not much can be revealed yet though.

There's probably little point in trying to contact the company for news. Judging from the posts on this board it's not possible to speak to the 'head honchos' at the moment in any case, but even if it was they probably wouldn't be able to reveal much. And even if they were, with the shares suspended an investor wouldn't be able to do much with the news, even if he was willing to take advantage of such information before a public announcement. It would simply mean that he would know what was happening sooner than otherwise, but it wouldn't of course change it. Although it could take up a bit of the company's time.

Having said that, I believe that the market is owed some sort of update shortly ... even if it's just one to say that not much can be said yet.

Any other views? BF2 is very quiet at the moment. Surely a TEL shareholder's state of shock should have worn off a bit by now ...

B.F.

[blank frank] 23/2/2007 19:11

"Hardman & Co
Leaders in Corporate Research

THE MONTHLY
FEBRUARY 2007

TELEPHONE
MAINTENANCE
GROUP
The shares have been
suspended and we have
ceased coverage of this
company."



Apparently Hardman's 'leading research' didn't detect TEL's massive loss in advance, despite communicating with the company. And they have decided not to provide an explanation to investors who may have been acting upon that research.

Credit to Corporate Synergy for arranging an accounting investigation into TEL's position. After four weeks and a day, some news from that should surely be forthcoming soon.

B.F.

[kimboy2] 20/2/2007 17:57

Hardman just used to research them, but seem to have gone off in a huff.

[blank frank] 20/2/2007 17:11

I believe that Corporate Synergy are TEL's NOMAD, since 1.8.06.

I don't believe that Hardman & Co. have ever been TEL's NOMAD.




B.F.

[stemis] 20/2/2007 13:02

Its nearly 4 weeks since PKF were appointed to investigate the position. Plenty of time to get to the bottom of it, I would have thought.

Clearly the banks haven't pulled the plug (otherwise we would know).

My guess would be that they are trying to arrange a sale of the company. I wouldn't have thought there would be much in it for the shareholders though.

[kimboy2] 20/2/2007 10:14

They are obviously in default of AIM rules now because they haven't posted their final results within the six month period. I seem to think companies in this situation are given a one month period to conform and are then de-listed. That is certainly the case if they don't have a Nomad.

I presume that will happen at the end of the month. From then on I expect those unfortunate enough to still hold the shares will be updated directly.

I hope someone will take the trouble to keep those of us who have followed the company informed of the course of events, and an explanation for them, if this scenario does happen.

[jonwig] 20/2/2007 10:08

Hi Kimboy.

I must admit I hadn't looked about recently, and my curiosity is waning. It may be that resignation of NOMAD will be the first (maybe only) indication that something's afoot.

The local press hasn't carried anything, so there can't have been redundancies.
Their ad on the home page of the Bromsgrove Standard has disappeared though.

[kimboy2] 20/2/2007 09:27

Hardman & Co have ceased coverage. They just say it has been suspended and they have ceased coverage.

The website is still up so rather remarkably they appear to be still trading. Perhaps even more remarkably is that Greg Hallet is still in place and Ed Smyth is the only one to walk the plank.

Unless we are just not hearing what is going on.

[blank frank] 13/2/2007 19:16

25/01/2007 10:00 UKREG Statement re. Suspension
" ... the Board has requested an immediate suspension of the quotation on AIM of the Company's shares pending clarification of the Company's financial position. ...
Corporate Synergy Plc has requested accountants PKF to investigate the position and will decide on its course of action in the light of their report."


It's now more than half a month on from that news ... I wonder how PKF are getting on? They should be doing a reasonably thorough job ... and the fact that TEL doesn't appear to have been placed into administration is good news.

In another recent case, that of DGP, there was only a three day gap between the suspension of the shares and the company going into administration:-

29/01/2007 16:25 UKREG Suspension - Disperse Group
"At the request of the company trading on AIM for the under-mentioned securities
has been temporarily suspended from 29/01/2007 4:25pm pending clarification of
the company's financial position."


01/02/2007 10:55 UKREG Appointment of Administrator


Am I correct in thinking that if a company is going into administration, it usually happens fairly near to the suspension of the shares (as in the DGP case)?

I'm allowing myself a little more hope ... "not a lot", as Paul Daniels would say, but it would be magic if the company survived.


B.F.

[blank frank] 09/2/2007 21:05

I took a generous view of Greg Hallett's past involvement with failed businesses, on the grounds that he should have learnt from them. After all, billionaire Phones4U founder John Caudwell apparently had a brief, unsuccessful stint running a corner shop, which he learnt from to good effect.

One of Mr. Caudwell's business techniques may well be needed in the case of TEL though:-
"Under-performing managers were eliminated, including Phones4u's managing director Anthony Catterson only two years after he'd won the top prize at the company's annual awards ceremony."

[blank frank] 08/2/2007 19:33

Just a reminder that TEL's Chairman Lord Razzall is currently the Liberal Democrat spokesman on trade and industry in the House of Lords.



In this capacity, he recently (2 November 2006) called for the Companies Bill to be strengthened by clear reporting standards. An MP colleague did likewise: "Introducing reporting standards will give ethical investors and customers the information they need to make informed decisions."

[lobb] 08/2/2007 16:59

Hi jonwig,

Thank you for your post.

Like you, I am not sure that the delay was anything to do with the company. I am not sure that it was not though.

I do not feel able to readily attribute any tardiness to the broker as it is the same one I always use and I have not encountered a similar delay previously on any kind of transaction. Moreover, I chased on a (small) number of occasions to see if it was a broker problem, just in case and they were mystified. I have no suggestion the broker is unreliable in any sense.

So it seems likely to be either the registrar or the company. I am not going to suggest I have any idea which, because I do not, but I hope someone does care to think about it.

[Abuse team] 08/2/2007 10:51

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[jonwig] 08/2/2007 10:16

Hi Lobb.

I'm not sure this is anything to do with the company - broker and registrar, yes.

Meanwhile, local Bromsgrove newspapers (it has two!) have no coverage of TMG, at least in the online editions.

[lobb] 08/2/2007 10:09

I like to have some shares held in certificated form.

I bought TEL in August 2006 to be in certificated form but I received no share certificate for TEL until February 2007 (bearing a date in February 2007).

I have not encountered such dilatory behaviour in the provision of share certificates of any public company previously.

I hope investigators into the running of this company will investigate the provision of share certificates in this company and that they will consider whether it is indicative/probative of anything in which they are interested. I have been disquieted by it. Obviously now I appear to have other things to be concerned about for myself.

[renixus1] 06/2/2007 20:42

Hey, their answering machine still works! But they don't seem to want to talk. Seriously tho, has anyone managed to speak to the company? Are they alive? Do they look like they're still in business?

[blank frank] 05/2/2007 20:06

There are some sad parallels between the recent events at TEL and those at Torex Retail ... and coincidentally TRX has a Mr. Hallett (David) on the board:-


It's the recent buyers into TEL that I feel particularly sorry for, who must surely feel that the true situation should have been revealed earlier.

Nearly six months after the year end, and the company was supposedly on course to make a nice profit for that year ... then suddenly it 'realises' that it may actually be a loss of £2.2M.!! Such an apparent failure in financial monitoring and/or reporting is truly staggering. And I personally feel a right idiot for having tipped this share fairly recently.

Maybe though this is a 'Barings Bank' type of situation? I.e. the CEO was mislead by those under him? It would certainly be a tragedy if an otherwise good company is destroyed through such financial deficiencies. However, just maybe there is some hope of survival, if the company can convince people that good financial procedures can be installed to turn the situation around.

B.F.

P.S. Perhaps one other asset TEL might have is the book and film rights to this saga? Rather than "Rogue Trader", maybe it could be "Rogue Accountant"?

[tenapen] 02/2/2007 19:28

Thanks for the update Frank.

Sorry about TEL :-(

[Abuse team] 02/2/2007 11:14

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[blindfaith2] 02/2/2007 11:13

He may have a few more grey hairs by now !