Telspec Share Discussion Threads

[made1686] 15/3/2005 11:19

tsp top of the vol 29% and break out we are flying on a rocket milionare this time next year

[goldengoose] 15/3/2005 07:58

A few more feathers on this one and it will fly.... imvho. All things considered, and a positive result or two from present equipment trials, 5/6M cash in hand, targeted product development with well managed cost structures & vastly reduced overheads, with strategic purpose and vision to complete the turnaround. I'm suitably impressed and will be, at worst, holding throughout this year to reap some of the rewards of their success.

TSP vs MLB which phoenix will rise first & more importantly furthest - might it even yet be SCOTTY!

The race is on for best gains 2005/6... $>) GG

[goldengoose] 15/3/2005 07:20

Telspec PLC
15 March 2005

15 March 2005


Telspec plc - final results

Preliminary announcement for the year ended 31 December 2004

Telspec plc, the telecommunication equipment company, announces preliminary
results for the year ended 31 December 2004

Summary

• Operating loss of £1.4m.

• Improved 2nd half outcome.

• New Broadband and VoIP products introduced.

• More efficient manufacturing strategy is being implemented

• Net funds increased from £2.8m to £5.5m.

• Headcount reduced by 35% to 135; Operating costs decreased from an
average of £680k per month at January 2004 to £450k per month at
December 2004, a reduction of 34%.

• Stocks reduced by a further £0.4m.


Commenting on the results, Mark Skilbeck, Non-executive Chairman said:

'These results indicate a strong cash position of Telspec, whilst the resource
and cost structure of the business has been vigorously managed. This enables the
group to progress expeditiously its Access product portfolio and activities in
the Broadband and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) arenas'.

Enquiries:

Shiv Rakkar
CEO
Telspec
Tel: [phone]

Seb Hoyle
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: [phone]

Chairman's statement

The loss before taxation for the year ended 31 December 2004 was £1.0m, compared
with a profit of £0.03m for the previous year. Turnover in the second half was
substantially affected by the fire at our manufacturing plant in Scotland in
September 2004. Compensation was received from our insurers to cover costs
incurred and the write down of asset values. This led to a significant recovery
in the second half compared to the mid year announcement of a £1.8m loss.

Sales were £10.0m in 2004 (2003: £24.8m). The lower sales were due to four main
factors: the absence of switch sales (this being a consequence of the sale of
the switching business in September 2003); the erosion in the market prices; the
fire at the manufacturing plant; and a lower demand for pair gain products.

Gross profit reduced from £8.0m to £2.7m (due to lower sales) and as a
percentage of sales reduced from 32.2% to 27.3% (primarily due to the immediate
consequences of the fire).

Included within the administrative expenses is an exceptional amount of £478,000
- £304,000 of which relates to restructuring costs and £174,000 to the write
down of plant and machinery before the fire.

The basic loss per share was 2.50p, compared with 0.07p earnings per share in
the previous year.

The net current assets in the balance sheet increased from £6.63m in 2003 to
£6.89m at the end of 2004. Net cash funds were £5.5m at the year end, up from
£2.8m at 31 December 2003.

The Directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend in respect of 2004
(2003:£nil)

Board

On 18 March 2004 Michael Lacey resigned as Chairman of the Group and was
replaced by Mark Skilbeck. On the same date Shiv Rakkar was appointed Chief
Executive Officer and John Thomas joined the Board as a Non-executive Director.

Jeff May resigned from the Board on18 March 2004 and following a management
restructure, was reappointed to the Board on 6 September 2004.

Martin Parmenter, the Group's Finance Director, resigned from the Board on 31
May 2004.

I would like to thank the Directors who left during the year for their
contribution and to welcome Shiv, John and Jeff to the Board.

Staff

Staff have fully understood and have supported the strategy that is being
implemented. The Board very much appreciates their support and extends its
sincere thanks to them.



Chairman's statement (continued)

Outlook and prospects

The new Board and the management who took charge in March 2004 have settled very
well into a committed team. An in-depth analysis has been carried out into the
direction and impetus of the Group and an appropriately aggressive strategy has
been devised to address the opportunities and challenges facing the company.

The key elements of the strategy are the acceleration of the in-house Broadband
product developments as well as sourcing of third party Broadband and VoIP
products, and maximising cost savings.

Whilst aware of the difficulties and challenges in remedying the weak
performance of the company in the past few years, the above mentioned strategy
has already secured significant benefits from reduced recurrent costs: the
Directors (the Non-Executives as well as the Executives) and senior staff all
voluntarily offered salary reductions, while staff numbers were reduced from 208
in December 2003 to 135 at the year end, representing a reduction of 35%.
Further reductions in staff and other costs are planned for 2005.

The product portfolio now offers Broadband and VoIP solutions based on which
proposals have been made to two major customers. A trial is about to commence in one case; customer approval testing is underway in the other.

An analysis of the manufacturing costs has led to the decision to move from
in-house manufacturing to third party manufacture, principally in the UK and
China. This has moved our manufacturing costs from a fixed to a variable basis
which will allow us to align costs more closely with sales orders. Some
manufacturing is already taking place in China to Telspec's high quality
standards under the oversight of our Telspec China office.

As a result of our outsourcing strategy, the Company has negotiated the sale of
its manufacturing premises in Perth, Scotland. Contracts for this sale were
exchanged on 4 March 2005 with completion (fixed for 31 May 2005) being subject
to certain conditions in relation to the transfer of the leases and planning
approvals. The consideration is £995,000 in cash.

Whilst the unfortunate fire in our Perth factory in late September 2004
obviously had an adverse impact on our stock holdings and production deliveries, the insurance claim was settled by Insurers efficiently and enabled us to ensure that ongoing contracts were outsourced in order to keep commitments to our customers. The early insurance claim settlement has placed the Company in a healthy financial position in cash terms, and gives a positive impetus to the Group to accelerate the development of its product portfolio.

[goldengoose] 14/3/2005 07:32

Thanks Failsafe - much appreciated looking at your views it's one I'd agree with taking into account you've not been following the story. The fisherman within me believes there's a good fish in the river just waiting to be caught, and I'm not put off by the 'fishy stories' of others.

Here, I think, we'll see that 20+, long-term value might well have had a few shakes over the last 18 months, but it is turning I believe, and we'll hopefully get a more promising picture with the results as to where we can expect these to go.

I can't say as I blame investors' waiting for confirmation, after all that's gone, but I'm also aware that if things are better with Telspec than the price argues, the climb will be rapid. Good risk/reward for me & one I'm happy to stick with.

Trust you enjoyed my précis of the SCO AGM. GG

[failsafe] 13/3/2005 17:12

GG from SCO board: "Hi failsafe, could you give me a charting view for TSP please. I know 'TSP' here asked about SCO triangles, but think we all know what's required for this to lift-off. Post on TSP or email it to me, so as not to upset the purist among us. Kind thanks GG"

Hmm, well I don't follow TSP and don't want to upset purists either, but since you ask, I'll offer a personal charting overview, not that anyone should read much into that I'm afraid. Please note that I don't know anything about the newsflow of TSP so I don't know what is expected just around the corner, and haven't read what has just happened to make the price jump up. :-)

I see this past year TSP has been range bound between 16p top and 8p bottom, with a significant alternating support and resistance line at about 12p (there are other less important lines at about 9p and 14p). The the most recent 3 months have had 12p acting as resistance again. This was 'blasted' though on Wednesday on good volume, so should once again now form a reasonable support. On Friday, 16p was briefly tested before falling back to 14p.

Looking at what's happened the past couple of times 16p has been tested, the price then falls back to 12p over say 3 weeks, then ticks around 12-13p for a further 2-3 weeks. From just the chart, that's what I'd expect to happen again. But if 16p does get breached during the next week, then I think you could all enjoy another rapid ride up to about 20p. This is equivalent to this week's rapid 4p rise from 12p to 16p and moreover, 20p can be seen as another resistance line (as seen from Oct03 and again in Nov03 where 20p was brief resistance and then Mar04 where it was brief support on the way down).

As always, time will tell. Best wishes to all those on board this share, and enjoy the ride.

Failsafe

[goldengoose] 10/3/2005 10:40

Thanks Sb, look forward to your update - though someone appears a little more confident of the situation, and presumably considers the move a good one & good for the overall valuation as do I.

Besides, who says the Insurance monies have gone? I doubt it's been frittered away as you suggest. R&D remains part of the ongoing budget & while it has a right to dip into insurance funds, don't agree they've fallen down a black hole.

Significantly good news here in the next few weeks or months, before or with the results, will greatly please those of us willing to give TSP Board the benefit of the doubt. It's never good to see jobs go, but preservation of cash and business must always come first. GG

[mi££ions] 07/3/2005 20:33

Don't expect results out soon. My broker tells me they're due in May. Why a two month delay over last year, I wonder?

[goldengoose] 07/3/2005 16:37

Coming along nicely I'd say....

[goldengoose] 07/3/2005 16:35

Telspec PLC
07 March 2005


The following replaces the announcement released on the 7 March 2005 at 14:30
(No: 4167J). The second paragraph of the announcement should read: 'As a result
of this review, the Company confirms that it is in the process of selling the
building used for its manufacturing facility (excluding stock, plant, machinery
and all other manufacturing assets) in Perth, Scotland.' The full amended text
of the announcement appears below.


Telspec plc
Review of Manufacturing Strategy

Telspec plc ('the Company'), which engages in the development, manufacture and
sale of advanced telecommunication equipment, announces that following a review
of the Company's manufacturing facilities, the Board has identified that cost
savings are achievable via subcontracting with Contract Equipment Manufacturers
(CEMs) in the United Kingdom and the Far East.

As a result of this review, the Company confirms that it is in the process of
selling the building used for its manufacturing facility (excluding stock,
plant, machinery and all other manufacturing assets) in Perth, Scotland.

Contracts have been exchanged and the completion is subject to the satisfaction
of certain conditions in relation to the transfer of the Leases and Planning
Consent.

The consideration is £995,000 in cash, against the December 2003 net book value
of £651,000.

This announcement is in accordance with the Company's ongoing restructuring
strategy.

Confirmation of this sale will be made on legal completion.

[strategy and luck] 18/2/2005 11:06

I'm thinking what to do with this year's ISA. Most of my favourites are AIM and after 3 years CGT is only 10%. I could put TSP in the ISA, perhaps move MLB into it or even MRL (ISA'able via the Toronto exchange).


I'll have to do something in the next 4 weeks...hmmm...

[goldengoose] 18/2/2005 10:24

18th March 04 Telspec appointed to the Board; Mark Skilbeck, Shiv Rakkar and John Thomas. As well as Harris earlier. Are about to be weighed, one year into their tenure. Capable men who I believe the major institutional holders have faith in to deliver this time round. Though nothing can be taken for granted, my money's on them to show the market, they've turned and are turning the business around. GG

[strategy and luck] 18/2/2005 09:02

gg,

I'm in SCO and NOP because I'm hopeful and fairly confident that they will have lucrative businesses going forward. I also KNOW (well, 98% certain!) that their prices will spike on the mere expectation of good news. Telspec, on the other hand, has been losing orders on a grand scale. That is a difficult thing to do in a globally expanding telecoms market! They have to prove that their sales team isn't headed by another Garey de Useless*! ;-)

* Followers of MMD/SCO know who I mean...Garey d'ExpenseAccount!!

[goldengoose] 17/2/2005 20:09

They've a lot of cash imo, and by my reckoning, all the right contacts in their chosen area of business. I'd say they were well positioned to make a resurgance, whispers are there's a lot being considered / talked through & expected, but whether there's anything announceable with this next set of results remains to be seen. I hope so, with my calculation it could double overnight on one decent piece of good news especially if it has maintained a half-decent balance sheet. T/0 might well be down for the year, but that ill-fated fire, which may have been a mixed blessing, and good news going forward could have 'another' phoenix written on it. ;0) Fairly well-rated management, keep watching!

If it really isn't out there to be won, I wouldn't expect them to fritter it away and believe they're dynamic enough to ensure their present value isn't punished much, if any, further. This is a company that doesn't dance to the investors' tune, but goes about its business. Fingers crossed, I'm also in for the second time, and I'm not inclined to withdraw. Folks can buy my stock later if I'm right; otherwise, I'll weigh it up post results. Certainly don't expect too much loss from here, then again that's enough reason to leave it eh? :-)).

Good luck GG ;-)

[strategy and luck] 17/2/2005 11:16

gg,

I've been watching these since £10.00 !!

I was in at 15p on good rumours then out at 14p after results!

They have to make inroads into the growing infrastructure of of developing countries or this company has nothing, IMO. I think we may see a dip after results unless there is something phenomenal announced?

[goldengoose] 17/2/2005 07:46

Nice double dip to 10p since I started having another look & posting here - don't think we've anything to be concerned about at this level (good dipping value for the long-investor imo). It's true I'm fairly optimistic that; results, cash in hand, and prospects will cause a jump in the present valuation. But I'm ready to be wrong. Price collapse (as you put it) has mostly been dictated by the continuous dribble of sellers outnumbering buyers, since last years warnings, I'd say they've gone too far, or certainly far enough, and on very little vol the last 6 months or so. It could reverse just as easily with a positive update. Keep watching! GG $>)

[biomax] 16/2/2005 11:13

gg
i read your optimistic posts since november, since priced colapsed to under 10 p,

time for name change browngoose, perhaps

[goldengoose] 11/2/2005 18:20

But SB, unless I'm mistaken, you haven't got a finger on the books, and don't know how much they received from the Ins claim, and how well some parts of the business have been doing. Therefore it is only from your veiw-point you think results won't look good, Telspec aren't just a local company & from what I hear they might be a lot better than what you, or others for that matter by way of the share price, 'suggest'.

Care to qualify your statement at all?

Good w/e & time will tell GG :-)

[superbigal] 11/2/2005 13:56

I suggest the results out next month will put a dampener on this.

[gedy] 10/2/2005 17:56

I still hold a few Telspec shares, I sold most of the 25,000 I bought on the day in September 2001 when they annouced their results and the first page of their annual report caused the share price to dip, offering a nice buying oppertunity, I was in profit by the end of the day. It does seem they have had a bumpy ride recently. I sold most of my holding at a healthy profit, mainly because I wasn't totally convinced that all the plans would come to fruition. I like the company and I was impressed when I visited the Rochester plant a couple of times in the late '80s. The people they had then were competant and experienced. With the right management to cut the deals in a competative world market they could ride high again, I wait with anticipation.

[kwikeffect95] 09/1/2005 22:10

Article in The business re voip and its future potential.
I notice previous posts re Telspec and Intel partnership
Any thoughts anyone on Telspecs positioning for this expected growth?

[goldengoose] 17/12/2004 18:49

Appreciate the update SB, very interesting, wonder in light of the Chinese involvement whether they're looking to find a buyer for lock, stock & barrel. In the right hands it might well attract a fine price & a solid enough return for all concerned. Happy to hear what they've been doing, officially, in the next few months $>) Good w/e to you.

[superbigal] 17/12/2004 13:00

Purchasing Manager has now resigned at Perth.
As he was now one of the main men their, I suspect the Manufacturing plant looks ready for closure.
GG I cannot confirm whether they have bought any surface mount equipment or not. This would probably confirm or conflict with my thoughts.
If they do sub-contract offshore I do not expect them to make ANY savings.
Another nail in the coffin I suspect.

[goldengoose] 03/12/2004 13:20

Thanks for your views Sb - I'm happy holding, as I suspect the payout is better than 4M, which if 4 at least underlines today's price at worst. I'm surprised top management (as I view them) would allow such wayward momentum to continue. I hope it's only because they're focus is on turning things around elsewhere.
$>) GG