Does anybody know the reason why this stock has fallen over recent months despite encouraging results and consistent growth in turnover? With the results due out next month could this be one to have a look at?

Thanks Kantona, do you hold shares in SOP ? What's your impression, is it good or bad ? What'll happen ?

i only bought few days ago around the 6p mark ..i bought only around 8k for a short term .. i am excited by the suspension as apposed to being concerned.. generally as u have stated reverse tends to drive the price upwards , which i ecpect in this as well ..the outcome is always uncertain until further details are revealed by the company, as the whole takeover is done by allocation of new shares ..alot vll depend on how much the sports network is valued at the present time.. what deal has been struck by messrs warren and co..i could only imagine it would be favourable..and finally hw many new shares vll come into the market ... as u can see too early to predict anything.

however in view of the recent rises ..which attracted me to have a flutter ... and past experiences i am hopeful the shares vll return better priced..

i know not much meat in this post ..but these are my general feelings at the time..

good luck

Thanks for this Kantona. Agree with your overview .. I feel a bit more positive now. Good luck also..

we had a few thous of these after a recommendation in shares magazine back in July 2003, we bought a lot more last week at 5p ( it took a telephone broker most of day to get them buying in 500 lots ) Obviously the company has requested suspension as the price changes would jeapordise payment of the contract, it should highlight attention to SOL and hopefully the market will realise the share is undervalued anyway, after this buy-out a further increase in share price is hoped for.

Fingers crossed - another of our make loads or lose the lot shares- hopefullly this turns out to be the former

Got some news released on SOP yesterday. Poor results for 2003 but trading OK this year.
Surprised no postings on this yet.
Suspension should be lifted with next week or two.
Anyone got any predictions on what price it'll come back at ? higher or lower ?

They have an AGM on the 12th August. Expect an update on the remaining 74% stake of Frank Warran Promotions, likely to be a share placing. Not sure if they will resume trading on that date or soon after.

This one's been getting a lot of good press over the weekend & there's more to come. SP has more to go (IMHO). It's looking good. I'm just about to break even but expect to see substantial returns over the coming weeks & months :) (imho)

Skyhigh
I haven't seen any press news? Can you please paste or add a link?
Thanks

Time to watch this one again. should do well in 2005. very profitable. SP could double/treble. results due soon could be as early as 1st half of Feb. Have gone back in (small time)... on the other hand, aquisitions are on the cards so there could be equity placings/funding issues... who knows ! ... still- would prefer to be in rather than out... (imho, dyor) :)

Any one in SOP ? If so ,,, any views ?

Khan avoids the Audley approach

Olympic star has plenty to learn after joining Warren

John Rawling
Thursday February 24, 2005
The Guardian

Along with Kelly Holmes and Matthew Pinsent, Amir Khan was perhaps the highest-profile British success story of the 2004 Olympics as he stunned hardened pundits and wowed television audiences by winning the lightweight silver medal at the age of 17.

It was always a question of when, rather than if, he would turn professional and the confirmation of his decision to do so is imminent after he pulled out of the English Amateur Boxing Association championships last night.

The precociously talented Khan was due to fight on Saturday in the quarter-finals of the ABAs in Lowestoft and his withdrawal was supposedly because of a row over ticket allocations for his supporters. But in fact a deal is understood to have been signed with Britain's leading promoter Frank Warren.

Neither Warren nor Khan was available for comment last night but they have spent months in negotiations, when Khan was also approached by other British promoters. He is rumoured to have been offered a huge cash advance by Barry Hearn and was courted by the former world featherweight champion Naseem Hamed, and American backers also expressed an interest.

Warren was insistent that he would not give Khan the sort of much-criticised 1m contract granted by the BBC to the 2000 Olympic super-heavyweight champion Audley Harrison. Whereas Harrison was free to choose his opponents, Khan's career will be closely supervised, with decision-making over potential fights taken out of his hands. And, although he has learned the sport under the tutelage of his Bury Amateur Boxing Association coach Mick Jelley, principal responsibility for shaping his progress is likely to be handed to the Manchester trainer Oliver Harrison.

Khan has been hyped as one of the greatest talents to have emerged from the British amateur ranks after he surpassed all logical expectation to reach the Olympic final, where he lost to one of the outstanding performers of recent years, the Cuban Mario Kindel. His mature handling of the media also had him quickly identified as a potential professional star.

Warren said immediately after the Athens games that Khan would be unwise to stay amateur, but the young fighter insisted he wanted to continue in the unpaid ranks for four more years to fulfil his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. Warren's argument was that there was little point in delaying the chance to cash in on commercial opportunities for the sake of medals.

An audience of eight million tuned in on a Sunday lunchtime to watch Khan's Olympic final appearance, and considerable publicity has surrounded his subsequent appearances. As well as the ABAs on Saturday, officials were hoping he would be available to box for Britain in next month's Four Nations international, a competition which would include Cuba and a possible rematch with Kindel.

But it seems likely Khan will now have only one further outing as an amateur when his club, Bury ABC, stages a fund-raising night at Bolton Wanderers' Reebok Stadium next month. Thereafter he will fight as a professional on Sky, assuming the company chooses to renew its contract with Warren when it is renegotiated in the summer.

If Khan is to fulfil his potential his skills need to be tightened up considerably. One of Britain's leading fighters, Ricky Hatton, the World Boxing Union light- welterweight champion, said after watching Khan in Athens: "He has a lot of ability but he jumps in with his head too high. Working in a professional gym will help him to improve defensively, which is absolutely vital."

The Manchester fighter urged Khan to make a speedy transition to the paid ranks so that the youngster's impetuosity and amateurish traits would not become too ingrained.

Hatton also turned professional at 18 and has become the highest-paid fighter in the country - indeed, he will be recognised as the No1 in his division if he can overcome Kostya Tszyu at the MEN Arena on June 4. A possible debut for Khan would be on the Hatton undercard that night but, with the fight already assured of being a 21,000 sell-out, Warren might choose to showcase Khan at an earlier date.

The signing will represent a personal triumph for Warren, who has been under increasing pressure from Sky in recent months to stage marquee fights for the armchair audience. He delivered a world heavyweight title challenge for Danny Williams against Vitali Klitschko in December in addition to staging Hatton-Tszyu, and signing Khan will significantly strengthen his hand as the sport's major player in Britain.

manchester sport
boxing
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Wednesday, 16th February 2005
Hatton bout sells out

RICKY Hatton's summer super-bout against Kostya Tszyu sold out in just two-and-a-half hours.

All 20,000 tickets to see the Manchester ace take on the world number one light-welterweight were snapped up in record time - despite the fact that the fight will take place at 2am on June 5.
That means that the clash has sold out faster than Mike Tyson's appearance at the same venue - the Manchester Evening News Arena - in 2000.

And the speed at which fight fans bought the tickets, which ranged in price from 50 to 300 for ringside seats, even caught promoter Frank Warren unawares.

"It's the fastest-selling event I have ever been involved with, and that includes Mike Tyson, Frank Bruno's world title challenge, Naseem Hamed - all of them," said Warren, head of the Sports Network company, which is putting on the fight.

"But it is quite right that tickets should go so fast, because it is a cracking fight. Remember, we are still five months away, so by the time it comes around, it will be colossal.

"I will have fighters on the undercard asking me for tickets nearer the time, and I simply won't have them.

"But it's great - this is what we have worked so hard to get to, to have Ricky in this position."

Demand was always going to be huge for the unbeaten Hatton's defining fight, and Warren looked into the possibility of putting it on at one of the local football stadiums.

But Sky TV objected, and the City of Manchester Stadium was already booked for the opening game of the Women's European Football Championships.

Misgivings

Originally, there were misgivings about the time of the bout, which had to be shifted back to fit in with American TV schedules - they are major paymasters for the fight. But Warren said that all obstacles have been overcome: "Everything is done - the arena is licensed and we have sorted everything out with the police."

With Tszyu commanding a 2.7m purse for putting his IBF belt on the line, and Hatton also in line to receive his first 1m purse, the fight will be screened as a pay-per-view event.

Hatton received a big boost this week, as legendary trainer Emanuel Steward is backing him to pull off a shock victory over Sydney-based Russian fighter Tszyu.

Steward, head of the Kronk gym in Detroit, has guided fighters such as Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis, Oscar de la Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez and Leon Spinks to greatness.

And he bucks the trend by backing Hatton to beat his older rival.

Steward watched Hatton train at the Phoenix gym in Salford, when he brought the original "Hitman", Hearns, to fight at the Arena in 1999, and now says:

"I'm going with Hatton. I like his activity level. And Hatton is the bigger man. His style can give Tszyu problems.

"It's the right time for Ricky. He's tired of being protected."

One man who begs to differ is Brad Vocale, president of the National Boxing Federation in Australia, where the fight will also be screened.

He has backed Tszyu to beat Hatton and then move up to welterweight to face old foe Zab Judah, who beat Corey Spinks to become undisputed champion last week.

Tszyu's fans wanted their man to challenge Spinks, but Vocale defends his decision to take on Hatton first.

"It really was the fight that shone the brightest in that weight," he said.

"If Kostya beats Hatton then there's no one else around, there's no point in staying. I think Hatton is very good, but he's never fought anyone as hard as Kostya."

So we have a total sell out of 20,000 tickets in a few hours
amir khan turning pro, bringing in higher tv revenue
imo current share price trading pe4
very very profitable company

imo a stonking buy
with results out in may, I think we will see a much much higher stable share price , reflecting the true value of this company

I agree with a forecast PE of 3.5 the only sensible way for it to go is up!!

If Ricky Hatton wins Sunday am will this share finally start to rise ?
This company is so undervalued and making substantial profits !

Brilliant win for Hatton..Can't understand why this share has not gone up already... no trades showing either ! Must be something else going on in the background mms keeping this down. It's only a matter of time untilfor SP lift off ! (imo)

The Independent

The Stephen King Column:
*Weight of debt threatens to crack the foundations of our economic edifice.

The Small Talk Column:
*Sports Network (LSE: SOP.L - news) is real match-winner.

Looks like this may have a sharp rise soon, AGM is on the 14th June!

sidtrix -
Hope you're right... I think this share is way undervalued.. should see shares mag feature SOP as a "buy" also... they were always very positive towards SOP and were mentioned 2/3 times a yr going back 2/3 yrs ago.
We should have news about aquisitions soon as mentioned in their results (they were rumours about them buying a US company (Title) some 6 months ago.

Wouldn't mind betting that there has been/will be a fund raising exercise to help with expansion plans.. maybe that's why mms are keeping this down (large spread also)

The only thing that is a lil putting off is that the margin is quite big, so does not encourage buyers!
Should be some activity coming up this week, maybe I'll top up then....