Vantis Share Discussion Threads

[egoi] 12/5/2008 09:52

No idea dinger, but I'd guess a fair bit higher than here, as has been discussed.

Moving up again today, if it takes out 120p resistance in next few sessions pretty much fresh air to 170p imho then 210p, on the chart, which would be far more realistic share price I reckon. Agree with you targatarga, no future left for shorters here.

[dinger74] 09/5/2008 12:12

anyone got any info etc on what the takeover offer was priced at?

[targatarga] 08/5/2008 22:04

chart looking good... wouldn't want to be short!

[egoi] 08/5/2008 07:26

Oh 'e's orff again!

My position remains as it always was, but then agreeable I rather think (long since) knows that.................

agreeable - 9 Jan'07 - 09:27 - 302 of 471 (premium)

egoi
could you confirm you are independent from the company, your repeated listings shriek of management supporting its position.....'

egoi - 9 Jan'07 - 09:39 - 303 of 471 edit

Thank you for your comment.
I have held these shares on and off since I spotted them not long after flotation. I have no assocaition with Vantis except as a shareholder.

agreeable - 2 Jul'07 - 11:56 - 381 of 471 (premium)

ah, egoi our voice from the factory floor......'

agreeable - 7 May'08 - 22:50 - 471 of 471 (premium)

egoi
time to name names....are you in any way connected to VTS, other than as a shareholder...'

"Name Names?" Dear oh dear. Language of the playground imho!

Time for you at last to accept others might not 'agree' with you, agreeable, and they have just as much right to their view as you to your's?

[agreeable] 07/5/2008 21:50

egoi
time to name names....are you in any way connected to VTS, other than as a shareholder

[egoi] 07/5/2008 15:21

Lapiteau excellent assessment imho. Good comparison. VTS I feel has a far too low p/e and manageable debt thanks to rising profits and strong business with IVA (and other business areas) providing substantial growth potential over the next 12-24 months.

Management at VTS have clearly it seems to me got their act together now. (For the last couple of years or so agreeable has been wrongly saying they'd be getting out - never happened of course; just more scaremongering imho).

Not sure I quite buy your 3-4 pound valuation but on reflection mine was probably mean; 220-250p might be nearer the fair mark. If the bidder stays out there's little argument imho they will have to come back and pay a lot more in say a year's time. Indeed VTS might well pick up more acquisitions and see allcomers such as Tenon into touch.

The successfully acquisitive VTS might even buy Tenon one day - you heard it here first! -:)

Great time I feel to be investing in undervalued stocks - in my view VTS is a perfect opportunity.

[agreeable] 07/5/2008 14:59

you make comparisons to Tenon which is a properly managed company(Now), generated net cash of over £13m in first half, net debt of £8.5m, receivables standing at about 100 days, contrast with VTS, debt £40m, cash generation £3m, receivables nearer 200 days.
I see VTS slip back to where it came from, they puffed the price and it failed. Change of management has to happen like Tenon

[targatarga] 07/5/2008 10:26

lapiteau - well said...

[lapiteau] 07/5/2008 09:36

For me the only fair comparison is with tenon.

They have a market capitalisation nearer £100m on profits of £8/9 million. Furthermore they are operating on a P/E of 19. Compare that to vantis?

I believe the Vantis share price should be nearer £3-£4.

That said, the company has been slated in the press following the charity scheme debacle and does have a large debt burden (this is not in dispute).

My only slight concern is whether the dividend re-investment is to ease the cash flow. If that is the case, why are the banks reluctant to lend and where are the institutional investors?

I, like some on the iii board, agree that the story will unfold further over the next few weeks. There will be further consolidation in the sector I am sure (particularly with such uncertainty in the financial sector), and either the bidder will return or there will be offers from other areas.

The share is CHEAP!

[egoi] 07/5/2008 08:54

Tend to agree Mike. On reflection I think VTS is now hereon to be considered 'in play'. 160-200p would be my fair value guess at the moment, obviously a bit below what it probably could have fetched maybe a year ago given the way financials have been hit in the credit squeeze.

I'm sure that's the City view too or the shares would have been off a lot more this morning after the recent 30% gain.

Also I just have to note that the Directors reinvesting their dividends into shares. If they thought the company's debt was a major issue then that is the stupidest thing they could possibly have done - risk the cash!.

Level One Maths that surely? Specially for one of 'our number', (who if he really wants to 'help' people avoid companies with genuinely worrying debt concerns, would I'm sure be better spending his helpful hours in threads like LEAD or ACE); this -:)

[mikehigham] 07/5/2008 08:17

A rejected offer this morning confirming notice of rejection last night. There could be more to this story over the coming days perhaps.

[targatarga] 06/5/2008 18:56

egoi - nice announcement. It appears i've arrived just as the train gets a nice jolt. Should improve from here... regards

[egoi] 06/5/2008 18:49

I think you only need to read the persistent anti-Vantis (and in my view increasingly desperate and financially illiterate) maunderings imho of one poster on this thread targatarga to draw your own conclusions!

Anyway:
Vantis plc ('Vantis' or 'the Company')
6 May 2008Share price movement

The board of Vantis notes the recent rise in the Company's share price. It confirms that it has received an unsolicited,
very preliminary all share approach and which the board does not believe is in the best interest of shareholders and
will not be pursuing it.'

Obviously I assume undervalues the company. Wonder who was the chancer and what was the level? Well above here if the share price is anything to go by in recent days, I'd say, but still I assume not remotely enough. A chancer might risk 130-140p but they've no chance of getting away with that on any reality valuation I'd say.

If they'd wanted the share price 'puffed' they'd have said something along the lines of 'might lead to an offer', imho, to attract other bidders.

Up 30% or so in last week, not bad for a company one punter thought was on a 'death spiral'.
I forget who that was but suspect it was the same one who was a client of VTS in the past (for whom I wonder if things didn't go too well, and didn't have the balls to tell us lol?).

[agreeable] 06/5/2008 15:13

PUFF PUFF PUFF went billy goat gruff! Clearly there were a lot of shares in the market that needed tidying up, by my calculations the Directors just reinvested their divis. Had they actually re-invested divis the Company would have had the advantage of the money to cover the down payment on the last deal.
My guess is ramp the shares and then they will try and sneak out a convertible to take some pressure off debt
we will see.....

[targatarga] 06/5/2008 14:39

egoi - mm's were actually very short of stock friday. Perhaps the spike has shook out some weak hol;ders... Do investors actually short these? regards

[egoi] 06/5/2008 14:30

Shorters in utter disarray here? -:)

[1nf3rn0] 03/5/2008 16:31

Vantis boys in bullish form
VTS
Published date:Thursday, May 1, 2008
Accountant's rock bottom share price sends main trio on buying spree

by Simon Keane

Paul Jackson, Paul Ashton and Trevor Applin – the three main players at accountants Vantis – have put their brokers on notice to pick up stock. Chief executive Jackson, finance director Applin, and the company's deal maker Ashton picked up a modest 13,334 shares a piece last week as the stock hit six-year lows.

But Ashton says the trio will keep on buying so long as prices remain at rock-bottom: 'The last note from Landsbanki [Vantis' house broker] had us on April 2008 earnings of 16.5p, with a share price of 90p and PE of 5.5 which, as far as we are concerned is too low. It is an opportunity.'

This is the first time the three directors have purchased shares in at least a year and comes after the company's shares collapsed from their high of 291.6p in December 2006. The directors picked up their stock at 87.8p, which is lower than the float price of 90p in May 2002.

Ashton, 58 and Jackson, 59, go back 30 years. The two met at City accountants Morgan, Brown and Spofforth (MBS). MBS was later to take the lead in a merger with three other accountants, which happened consecutively with the flotation, creating Vantis. Jackson joined MBS in 1970 from school and qualified as an accountant in 1974.

Ashton joined MBS in 1977, already qualified, and the following year he joined Jackson as a partner. Applin came on board following the pair's first acquisition, of R D Neville & Co, in 1985. In charge of mergers and acquisitions, Ashton has been the driving force behind Vantis' buy-and-build strategy taken since the float. A string of smaller deals culminated in the purchase of insolvency specialist Numerica in 2005 which was a reverse acquisition.

'We have adopted a growth strategy over the years and we think over the six years we have done that very well,' says Ashton. 'We have paid a dividend every six months for the last six years. There was a block of shares there on the market, three of us took them up, we would probably do so again.'

Strength in weakness

By themselves, the deals are small beer for the men who collectively own about 20% of Vantis' 51 million shares. Ben Archer, from independent broker Charles Stanley, says: 'The shares are pretty weak and I think this signifies that management is happy with where things are.' Archer says the market is looking for evidence of improved cash flow.

The shares have de-rated on concerns about cash flow, which has taken a hit as the company rapidly expanded its insolvency business. Insolvency work has long lead times as the administrator only gets paid at the end of the job, so debtor levels have accelerated as insolvency revenues became a larger part of the pie.

Sitting on a net debt of £37.9 million (excluding finance leases and loan stock) the market is looking for improved cash flows to allow these borrowings to be paid down – especially so given the current credit environment.

The other side of the coin is that Vantis' acquisitions leave it well positioned for an expected upturn in corporate insolvencies as credit conditions remain challenging.

Investors are due a year-end trading update in May for the financial year just ended on 30 April 2008. Will this update signal an improvement in cash flow? The market will have to wait and see.

[egoi] 02/5/2008 21:49

Not sure targatarga, but thanks:

A 10k went through at 16:27 at 107.5 and another at 16:31 at 109p. One of em your's? but others seeing the light too - we hope! -:)

Well done, either way, on your purchase. Welcome to VTS.

[targatarga] 02/5/2008 15:58

egoi - could be a typo. i brought 10k on a t15 at 1626hrs paying 108...regards

[egoi] 02/5/2008 15:33

Looks like someone bought 10k at 109p at the close and we are finishing at day's high.

Bit of momentum now, good times over for shorters here imho - gains vanishing from their pockets, faster than Ronnie's blacks entering them. -:)

More to come next week I hope!

[juju43] 02/5/2008 15:26

right place at the right time. good times coming here

[egoi] 02/5/2008 15:16

Excellent news Lapiteau imho, Directors signing up for more shares. -:)

It takes a long time for institutions to reinvest after AIM stocks have hit a sticky patch. Sure this rebound won't be lost on them for much longer. I expect them to start taking a renewed interest now the recovery is established.

[lapiteau] 02/5/2008 15:12

Is this an attempt to address the liquidity problem or a genuine show of commitment I wonder?

Why no institutions interested?



RNS Number:7038T Vantis PLC 02 May 2008

Vantis plc ("Vantis" or "the Company")

2 May 2008

Directors' Dealings, Issue of Equity and Total Voting Rights

Vantis announces that on 30 April 2008, 1,058,045 new ordinary shares of 10p each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares") were issued for cash to Vantis employees and the following directors:


Holding after
Director Shares Acquired Purchase price purchase
P F Jackson* 281,140 91.5p 5,134,797 (9.79%)
P K Ashton* 169,313 91.5p 3,205,697 (6.11%)
T Applin* 124,728 91.5p 2,414,395 (4.60%)
N J Hamilton-Smith 89,824 91.5p 1,640,565 (3.13%)
R W Thornton 85,798 91.5p 1,636,359 (3.12%)
K Dulieu 2,507 91.5p 113,618 (0.22%)
G Cole 1,287 91.5p 23,509 (0.04%)



P F JACKSON, P K ASHTON AND T APPLIN HAVE TOGETHER ALSO SUBSCRIBED FOR 170,947 New Ordinary Shares, at a price of 91.5p each, on behalf of the former equity partners of Morgan Brown & Spofforth. Consequently, P F Jackson, P K Ashton and T Applin are, in addition to their individual holdings detailed above, together interested in 1,234,867 shares held jointly by them on behalf of the former equity partners of Morgan Brown & Spofforth.
Vantis further announces that on 1 May 2008, an additional 7,104 New Ordinary Shares were issued at a price of 91.5p each as payment, in lieu of cash, to an employee.

Application has been made for the aggregate 1,065,149 New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Trading in the New Ordinary Shares is expected to commence on 9 May 2008 and, subsequent to their issue, the total number of ordinary shares in issue is 52,433,653.

The above figure of 52,433,653 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company, under the Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

[juju43] 02/5/2008 14:47

this rise is becoming meaningful.the break over 100 is significant . lots more to go

[egoi] 02/5/2008 10:41

You beat me to it Juju. Nice initial chart gap to 120p with 200p looking good on the 12 month chart. Shorts should close now imho to save themselves losing all their gains pdq!

Writing looks to me on the wall for them. Overdue turnaround especially given recent Director buying. Was understandably trashed in the fallout for financials. Now the value is there imho for all who understood recent excellent strengthening of accounts. Looks to me a great opportunity for true value seekers. -:)

Forward p/e only 6; big positive write up in Shares Mag yesterday apparently.

Edit: Just gone long 99p.