Venture Life Share Discussion Threads

[apad] 26/2/2017 17:07

Watched the IDOX presentation for 5min. Pressed all my scardycat, buttons so retreated into a glass of FEVR.
apad

[pet lover] 26/2/2017 12:53

Tiny 7dig is MQA"S B2B partner.

Do the sums with up to six MQA HI RES streaming services about to go live this year.

[apad] 26/2/2017 12:00

FEVR/ABC/BVXP/SPX/ROR/AMS/IGG/TRCS/PTSG reporting in March!

apad

[apad] 26/2/2017 11:23

Quality Beddard, as usual:

"Porvair: No margin of safety
Talking of margin of safety, I'd love to add Porvair (PRV) to the Share Sleuth portfolio if only the shares weren't so expensive. All the numbers from its full-year results are impressive.
It's not the smoothest of growth stories. About a third of revenue comes from lower margin filters used in the processing of aluminium and iron, which are cyclical industries. Porvair also has long-term contracts to supply filters to a number of new gasification plants. This provides a surge in revenue and profit while the plants are being constructed, that subsides into a maintenance state thereafter.
Mostly, though, Porvair makes filters that protect often very expensive pieces of machinery. They're critical, for example they prevent contamination in hydraulic, fuel and lubrication systems on aeroplanes.
They're relatively inexpensive compared to the systems they protect. And they're designed in, which means to replace them with filters from a different supplier, a customer would have to go through the expense of sourcing, testing, and accrediting a new component.
Customers are generally more worried about quality than price, and are likely to stick with Porvair, factors which have helped the company lift profitability in recent years.
Since the Brexit vote, Porvair has also been helped by the parlous pound though. Were it not for the crash in the currency, revenues wouldn't have been 14% higher, as reported, they'd have been 8% higher. Porvair earns 85% of revenue abroad, mostly in the USA and Asia.
Its market valuation has risen to exuberant levels. Based on Porvair's performance in 2016, a very good year, the earnings yield is just 4%, equivalent to a price/earnings (PE) ratio of about 28.
I wonder if traders aren't focusing too narrowly on a goldilocks period for British exporters while the pound is low because we're leaving the EU, but before we've actually left it and benefit not just from the single market but all the trade agreements the EU has with the rest of the World."

apad

[redartbmud] 26/2/2017 09:34

Lots of positive comments on Kws on the Zulu 2017 board.

re

[apad] 26/2/2017 08:29

DIS are clearly doing a good job. I suspect the supermarkets will always be able to keep them under the cosh in a way that is more difficult than with FEVR.
But it is good to see a brand on the shelves, and I agree tha this has to have significant value.

apad

[apad] 26/2/2017 08:27

pps
I keep looking at SDX - good job I don't have any money!

[apad] 26/2/2017 08:24

Just 'cos I'm still scared of KWS doesn't mean it isn't a good investment :-)

Looks like the businessman the founders brought in to run it has found a way of delivering. Maybe the "studios" are run as independent entities - seems the only sensible way to deal with the local cultures, and their job is cultural translation after all.

Man founder still on the board but not the woman founder it seems.

I sort of remember that it was the founders passing it on to a businessman to run that put me off (together with being wary of software-only companies)

Anyroadup, well done those riding the risk - interesting company.

apad (aka scardycat-of-Jersey)

ps
comments and analysis on this board aren't "tips", we're much more sophisticated than that :-)

[lauders] 26/2/2017 00:49

Thank you for your replies red (very detailed!) and modform! Much appreciated. KWS certainly seem very keen to acquire companies & I don't know how they can juggle all the balls involved in their integration either. Bit of a concern but on the other hand they must be getting pretty expert at it now. There are a few I am keeping an eye on for any major dips (providing HOC doesn't dip too much with them!). KWS, PVG, BVXP, SIS are the main ones. At this rate I will probably be waiting and waiting and ......!

[petersinthemarket] 25/2/2017 18:28

Many tks mod, keep the ideas coming. Great site this, I am always looking for new ideas, although I have enough trouble sorting out uk ideas so I'm a bit sceptical about looking outside, but i will check them out.

Nobody will care about this, and some will simply not believe it, but what do I care. My pf is up 52% in the last 12mths, largely based on following ladder charts and a few recoveries, so I must be doing something right.

fwiw, I do not give tips, and I am not allowed to give advice, but I truly believe there will be a substantial improvement in tiddler DIS this year when full year (end 31 mar 2017) results are suggested in a TU (end april 2017) and results given (early june 2017). They are very close to profitable which could make an important difference. Up to you. Kindly note that the dis profit level itself may prove to be completely irrelevant. The big issue is the opportunity to sell a major booze brand to a big operator. Rumour already has it that one of the brands is today worth more than the Cy mkt cap. Take my comments or leave them, as you wish. If break even is actually reported at last, as I believe it will, this share will surge. (important: kindly note that I am heavily invested).
pete

[modform] 25/2/2017 17:31

If you don't like FXPO Pete, you can always look over the pond and research some USA stocks, there are , STLD, X, AKS, CLF, VALE. The first 3 steel manufacturers, and the others are miners.I have been long CLF VALE for a while now. No advice is intended

[petersinthemarket] 25/2/2017 17:12

Many tks for response red and DD. Greatly appreciate your opinions. Genuinely, no disrespect, but not too fussed about the precise nature of any response. I go my own way. I mainly follow charts. I strongly believe the current and future share price is already written in the chart. the mkt decides. However, the level of uncertainty is always an important factor so I have dropped out. I wish fxpo well, but I will not be there. When you miss a bus, there is always another following behind and I have plenty of other options. best wishes, pete.

[discodave4] 25/2/2017 16:16

peterThanks! :)Opened a long SB on FXPO yesterday, based purely on the price of iron ore, the chart and prelims coming up (22nd March).The government will step in, steel/iron is vital to their economy they will not sit back. You do realise the CEO has been a Ukrainian parliamentarian (and holds just over 50% of the shares) since 1998.Besides FXPO's production is unlikely to be affected, it wasn't during the Ukraine/Russia crisis in 2014, in fact they increased production.So all in all I have no major concerns and IMO you are throwing the baby out with the bath water!.DD

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 14:14

peter

The added variable of a potentially politically unstable country would be a big turnoff in my book. Putin is his own man and I doubt Europe would do more than blow hot air if he walked into the rest of Ukraine, but even if he doesn't he can seriously disrupt the country should he choose to do so.

Just MHO

red

[petersinthemarket] 25/2/2017 12:16

Not sure if anyone has a particular interest here but based largely on brill chart progress I've been closely following the fortunes of Ferrexpo FXPO for some time but never been quite sure enough to take the plunge. Selling iron pellets seems a very odd business to me. Anyway, if I had any doubts I kicked them into touch this morning, along with the company. I watched a prog on RT tv about current state of Ukraine. Setting aside the stations obvious political bias the situation in eastern Ukraine looks bad. Huge goods yards with more than 1000 full coal trucks covered in snow and plainly going nowhere. Mines temporarily closed and industry in difficulty because of fuel or power shortages and political argument. The cut and thrust between armed official and semi official pressure groups appears to have brought that part of the country at least to something near to a frozen standstill. There is some verbal support for the official gov from western nations but on balance it seems a bit flaky. With this level of uncertainty I have crossed FXPO off my watch list. Have a good weekend, pete

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 11:52

mod

I don't disagree with your comments.
Sometimes I have closed my eyes and bought on conviction, accepting that valuations are stretched. The important point is the quality of the business that you are investing into.
In this case I can understand buying up potential competition and adding expertise.

As ever, your own research is paramount.

red

[modform] 25/2/2017 11:39

Lauders, I highlighted to Apad , KWS as the best of the small caps I owned last year at around £2.30.I recall apad called it scary, I guess it wasn't his type of share. The valuation looks stretched but it's a high growth company in a niche market, so the valuation looks well justified imo. You have to pay for quality i am afraid.The whole of UK small caps are over valued at the moment, but if funds are buying into them, then they will keep rising.The same for G4M SPE BOO, still holding them , but SPE is still cheap, just have to wait for the results.

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 08:54

Lauders

Sorry, this summarizes the position. It was an easy find from the website:
Video games services provider Keywords Studios (LON:KWS) has purchased animation and digital design company Spov for about £1.2mln in cash.

AIM-listed Keywords said the acquisition of Spov will “strengthen our market position” as a provider of digital art services and will contribute to its continuing growth in this area.

Spov, based in London, provides creative development, cinematics, user interface, visual effects and motion graphics services to the video game and film sectors. The company was founded in 2007 by Allen Leitch and has worked on big titles including ‘Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation’, ‘Watch Dogs’, ‘The Division’, ‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’; ‘Batman: Arkham Knigh’t and Marvel's ‘Doctor Strange’.

Shore Captial analysts said: "We believe further small acquisition opportunity arise for Keywords to broaden current offerings, in addition to bigger deals to bring new technical competencies."

In a trading statement earlier this month, Keywords said it expects its full year pre-tax profit to beat analysts’ expectations on the back of recent acquisitions.

The star performer was new addition Synthesis, an audio and localisation business, which was acquired last April for €18mln.

Keywords also acquired six other businesses in 2016 – Ankama, Mindwalk, Volta, Player Research, Enzyme and Sonox – which it said all had a positive impact. It also bought the remaining 50% of Kite Team it didn’t already own.

The company paid out €20.7mln in cash for these acquisitions. At the end of the year, Keywords still had €17mln in the bank and had used €8mln of its €15mln rolling credit facility.

Chief executive Andrew Day said the strong cash generation and the available debt facilities meant the group has the headroom required to make further purchases.

Busy little boys. How can they integrate and control these businesses so quickly?
Agreed, they are tiddlers, but each has it's own culture and methodology.

red

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 08:47

Lauders

It looks like they are buying up competition like crazy. I wonder why?

No more posts for the time being, I will continue to investigate further a la Clouseau, my hero.

red

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 08:41

Lauders

I just googled art creation services, functional testing and localization testing but the results didn't name Keyword Studios as a supplier, which I thought might have come up.

red

[redartbmud] 25/2/2017 08:34

Lauders

It has not been on my radar.
On first glance, the current valuation looks to be a bit toppy, with a re-rating by the tintins between November '16 and February '17.
The share price has more than doubled since mid-2016. Do you have any idea why that is the case?
Their business model is quite specific, if perhaps wide ranging within it's industry. Do you know anything about their competitors, they cannot be a monopoly?

red

[lauders] 25/2/2017 00:47

APAD, Red, modform, Hydrus et al. - Out of interest have you ever looked into KWS? Seems to be a well respected company and popular with a few of the more experienced investors I am familiar with on ADVFN & other places?

[redartbmud] 24/2/2017 17:00

PS

APAD

5.747% hit target - yet again!

red

[pet lover] 24/2/2017 16:27

Look out for MQA from a Sunday onwards.

7dig partner MQA