Xchanging Share Discussion Threads

[ebomber] 25/8/2010 16:23

I agree with the growth concerns in the USA and Asia. This announcement has helped focus on the shortcomings of recovery in keys markets for XCH.

It is unfortunate this has further to fall.................

[salpara111] 25/8/2010 16:19

I guess one of the big problems here is that there is a lot of scope in terms of how a company accounts for a whole range of financial items.

No one is suggesting that CNTs auditors allowed them to break accounting rules. I suspect that it is the house of cards scenario....ie you can get away with agressive accounting as long as things are going well but as soon as things turn down the holes are exposed.

The USA is going back into recession. Current growth is completely accounted for by the stimulus package and when that ends, as it will shortly, growth will disappear.
Given that XCH appears to be counting on growth in the USA and asia to get to their year end, they could easily come back and say "actually we were being a bit too optimistic" and if they do then 25p here we come.

[2magpies] 25/8/2010 15:34

That 'director's son' buy is now a huge overhang.

At some point it may have to be dumped in the market.

The market knows that.

I guess the share price could be pulled lower and lower until he says 'enough' and bails out.

[salpara111] 25/8/2010 15:17

Problem is that the conference call clearly has not placated the market so there is no bottom here yet.

I dont think this is another CNT but they clearly made a major F*&K up in the major acquisition and that will take time and money to sort out.

The question is...where is the entry point?

100? 80?

Just gambling at the moment.

Looking at trading multiples is meaningless. I hold stocks that yield over 8% and trade on p/e of less than 5 but the market considers them fairly valued.

HMV has a well covered divi of over 12% but the market feels that is appropriate at present.

[rathkum] 25/8/2010 15:03

You disappoint the market and the market will punish you severely.

[2magpies] 25/8/2010 14:26

The director's son might decide to cut his losses and dump his shares.

If the share price gets to 80p he would have lost more than £1 million.

Ouch.

Virtues of stop-losses anyone?

[envirovision] 25/8/2010 14:12

Just reading an old IC results review from 5th March, they were praising the smooth integration of Cambridge, just shows how missled the market was. Its still not really clear why the eyewatering costs at cambridge were not evident in the accounts back then, instead it seems to somehow have been unaccounted for with just 17 Million set aside for it.

[dasv] 25/8/2010 13:53

If the rumour is positive, buy the rumour, sell the fact.

If the rumour is negative, sell the rumour, buy the fact?

[salpara111] 25/8/2010 12:02

Well, the share price is underwater so I can only assume that whatever was said, it was not terribly comforting.

Bottom line as I mentioned before is that there is now a total lack of confidence in the management and that will take some time to rebuild.

I am keeping an eye on this but not willing to commit at present....just like plenty of other punters!

[2magpies] 25/8/2010 11:50

"envirovision - 25 Aug'10 - 11:08 - 215 of 221


He came across badly, he sounder very nervouse almost to the point of sounding like he was covering something up. He certainly never sounded open or relaxed in any way."

That sounds horrifying. 'covering something up'????

Does the company know something, and the Board is in denial? Is the CEO totally dominant over the Board? Are people afraid to speak up? Is it 'my way, or the highway'?

He may just have been nervous (it was full moon last night!!)

Anyhow, if the conference call was meant to have bolstered the sp, it sadly hasn't worked -- so far.

Those wishing to hold can only hope there isn't anything seriously wrong.

We just don't know.

[haroldthegreat] 25/8/2010 11:46

ive got in , i still say the sons purchase shows they think its undervalued

[dnfa1975] 25/8/2010 10:55

pe of 7.6x


im rrrready to buy!

[simon gordon] 25/8/2010 10:38

Alphaville:

NH some people have come away from the conference call positive

NH this is frmo one number cruncher

NH overall message of conf call is lower 1h net cash was due to Cambridge acqns and restructuring (which will be completed this this year), all of which was flagged at the beginning of the year. most of the cash side of these exceptionals fall away this year, resuting in historic convesion rates from 2011 onwards. None of this is new, but they have also demonstrated how trade receivables was not impacting underlying cash, and - moer generally - that the P&L is NOT flattered from deferred income prov or capitalisation - points that we have made at various points over the past year. They have provided a very large amount of data to chew over, and as analysts digest this over the week - we expect many more positive comments from analysts, especially when combined with the low (7.6x) valuation this year. CEO reiterated overall 4-7% guidance for the current year.

[dasv] 25/8/2010 10:32

This is a classic case of why mergers and acquisitions are good for city deal-maker firms but often bad for the acquirer. Organic growth is slower but so much less risky.

The exception to this rule has been Autonomy who have made a series of excellent acquisitions and grown EPS on consecutive quarters for at least 7 years.

All you need is one bad acquisition and you are up to your neck. Lloyds taking over HBOS springs to mind, RBS taking over ABN Amro...

[envirovision] 25/8/2010 10:25

OK thanks, its a shame they never took the opportunity to express what a mistake it had been. Jeez whats the point of buying a company then having to close half of it down and have to face and pay a myriad of ongoing law suits. No wonder the CEO sounded nervous, he is trying to hide his incompetence.

It would not be possible for the company to ever command a premium again till he goes i would think.

[simon gordon] 25/8/2010 10:17

Cambridge was an Indo-American company. HQ in India but big operation in America. All those restructuring costs are for the Cambridge deal.

[envirovision] 25/8/2010 10:08

He came across badly, he sounder very nervouse almost to the point of sounding like he was covering something up. He certainly never sounded open or relaxed in any way. Being open was what the call was supposed to be about, strange.

Aside from cambridge it was nice of them to draw attention to horrific restructuring costs in the US.

This seems to be turning into a bit of a basket case.

[simon gordon] 25/8/2010 09:56

XCH have made a rod for their own back:

~Over optimistic forecasts.
~CFO departing.
~Cambridge deal a dud.

They had a conference call but the analsysts were busy with Serco & Aggrekko. It's a pantomime.

They should have kept their head down and got on with running the business, now they have made their back more visible. It looks like the CEO is too emotionally attached to the share price.

[dnfa1975] 25/8/2010 09:49

Porsche and VW share row: how Germany got revenge on the hedge fund 'locusts'
Gordon Rayner discovers how financial predators became the prey in the audacious multi-billion takeover of VW by Porsche





now.....lets see xch shareholder list....

[dnfa1975] 25/8/2010 09:47

So what do you do?

Issue a trading statement?
Shrug your shoulders at the vagaries of the stock market and get on with the day job?
Make barbed comments about evil short-selling hedge funds in Mayfair to a national newspaper?
Or do you take the rare step of summoning investors and analysts to conference call and tell them everything is fine and there really is no need to worry.
Well, Xchanging, which runs back-office activities such as invoice processing for large corporations including BAE Systems (and also sponsors the Cambridge/Oxford boat race) has opted for No. 4.

And it seems to be working in spite of the fact that many analysts haven't been able to make Wednesday's call since it clashed with results presentations from Aggreko and Serco.

At pixel time shares in Xchanging were up 5.3 pence at 128.6p, which will please chief executive David Andrews, who only six weeks ago declared the purchase of 1.1m shares at 178p.

Nonetheless, Xchanging remains a long way from its April 2007 flotation price of 240p.

(Citigroup and UBS were joint book runners for the record).

[simon gordon] 25/8/2010 09:42

Alphaville - 25/8/10:

Here's a tricky corporate dilemma.

You're an outsourcing company whose share price has fallen by almost 40 per cent in the wake of disappointing half-year results, plus news of blow-ups at a couple of smaller outsourcers - Connaught and ROK.

[dnfa1975] 25/8/2010 09:28

good time for capita to bid perhaps

[pre] 25/8/2010 07:58

Xchanging Conference Call



TIDMXCH

RNS Number : 5919R
Xchanging PLC
25 August 2010

The Board of Xchanging plc has noted the recent fall in its share price.
Xchanging will be holding a conference call with analysts and investors at
8.30am (BST) today to ensure that any perceived lack of clarity about the
strength of the company's position is corrected.
Trading remains in line with expectations as confirmed on 2nd August.
The conference call telephone number is [phone], conference ID
873976. For individuals unable to participate in the conference call, a
telephone replay will be available until 8 September 2010. Please telephone +44
(0)20 7031 4064 (conference ID 873976).

The presentation for the call can be downloaded from www.xchanging.com


+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Enquiries | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Xchanging plc | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| David Andrews, Chief | |
| Executive Officer | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Richard Houghton, Chief | Tel: [phone] |
| Financial Officer | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Cardew Group | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| Rupert Pittman | Tel: [phone] |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
| David Roach | |
+-------------------------------+-------------------------------+


About Xchanging
Xchanging is one of the largest and fastest growing business processors. With a
wide range of multinational customers in 42 countries and employing over 8,000
people, we are a truly global company. We deliver mission-critical, high volume
processing to our customers. Our aim is simply to provide business processing
services better, cheaper and faster.

Xchanging provides procurement, accounting, human resources and technology
services across industries. We combine this functional processing expertise with
deep industry domain knowledge to provide industry-specific processing services
across a broad range of industries. These industries include banking, insurance,
manufacturing, retail and real estate among others.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007, the company is in the FTSE250, the
index of mid-capitalised companies traded on the London Stock Exchange.
Xchanging is also a member of the FTSE4Good index which measures the performance
of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.
www.xchanging.com



This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END