THUS SELECTED TO INSTALL AND MANAGE PRIMARY COMMUNICATIONS LINK BETWEEN
ICELAND AND EUROPE
26 July 2004 - THUS Plc today announced that it has been selected by FARICE (the international submarine
cable system connecting Iceland and the Faroe Islands to Scotland) to design, install and maintain an optical
backhaul network between FARICEs landing station in Castletown Northern Scotland and the companys
Point of Presence in Edinburgh. Together with FARICEs submarine cable the connection forms the primary
connection between Iceland, the Faroe Islands and mainland Europe. THUS has been awarded a ten year
contract to provide a managed fibre solution, to supply network management to the customers backhaul
network in Scotland.
The THUS managed fibre solution will deploy Dense Wave Division Multiplexing technology to significantly
enlarge the capacity and capability of the FARICE network to carry advanced voice and data services. This
solution will significantly enhance Icelands credentials as a primary location for global businesses to locate
mission critical back office support systems, including off-shore complex web hosting services.
Gudmundur Gunnarsson, chief executive officer at FARICE said, THUS was chosen in a competitive tender
because of its extensive experience and existing support and management systems in Scotland. This
network forms the primary communications link to Europe for Iceland and the Faroe Islands and THUS is
working closely with us to deliver a cost effective solution that meets our needs on such a critical project. It
made sense for THUS to tie the management of this DWDM system into its existing network management
centre which already manages our fibre in Scotland, giving us simple access to a single management view.
THUS already provides the FARICE fibre connection from Castletown to Edinburgh following a contract
announced in 2002. The submarine cable was operational in January 2004 at an initial cost of 45 million
and DWDM is now being used to maximise fibre capacity. The CIENA Metronet system used in the
backhaul in Scotland will initially deliver 4 x 2.5Gbit/s wavelengths but it is capable of delivering 33 x
2.5Gbit/s wavelengths if bandwidth requirements increase in the future.
Bill Allan, chief executive officer at THUS said, This solution has been specifically tailored to FARICE. We
believe this is the first time that any UK operator has offered a managed fibre solution, supplying dedicated
DWDM on a customers optical fibre network. We are delighted to be involved with FARICE, to support and
enhance the capability of this important international communications network. This new contract
demonstrates the close and successful relationship we have established with FARICE.

Further to Optomistic's scotsmans article, could anyone give me a clue as to what would happen if THUS were to de-list i.e. what would happen to share price?
Ta

it would plummet...

Very reassuring hlyeo98! But would we get any warning? i got two different answers of my brokers. One said they get to hear about 2 or 3 days before the other said they just suspend them at mid day.

Yes bestblinds lots of warning, like when you see it on RNS and would you have to be quick to beat the MM's !!
Lets be positive about this THUS is a company making good progress and when Bill Allen made the comment he was probably quite p****d of like the rest of us with the big price drop. Non of the telcos are the markets favourites right now, KCOM made a very good AGM statement followed by an excellent contract win, result no movement, in better times gains would have been in evidence.
All in all when the market decides the time is right the telcos will have their day again and THUS will not be at the bottom of the 'list'

Regards
opto

just a bit on egde that's all got quite a large holding and dont want to lose the lot, thanks for the advice.

Best blinds, I have also got a 'few' and wouldn't like to lose my pot. As we all know there is always an element of risk in the stock market but IMO the risk here is worth taking. The one thing I did not like was the institutions selling their holdings (Morley Fund Management for one) at a large loss as well! This is a worry, but the stock appears to have been absorbed into the market now.
These are my views of course and I hope to be helpful but each of us must make our own decisions, it is our own cash!

Sure Optomistic, i've pulled out today i think i'd rather sit back and see what happens these next 2 or 3 weeks if it pans out ok ill get back in...i think.

bestblinds, I certainly did not wish to encourage you into selling in a hurry, however as you are now holding cash you now have no worries about THUS. When the market turns you will then be able to repurchase if you wish and perhaps show us LTBH'ers how it should be done.
Good luck in your investments
opto

THUS has gone pear-shaped recently - 16p now. I think it will go down to 10-12p within the next month.

Anybody got any idea why its going mad on THUS trades today?

If you check back to the 12 July on this thread, I said to lay
a ruler along the chart that I posted and see which way it pointed.
Nothing has changed.

I can't be bothered to check, but this stock must now be getting
close to dropping out of the Ftse350 into the small caps.
If it does you will have the Ftse 350 and 250 trackers selling
their holdings.
Also, all the CFD and Spreadbetters that use companies that only
make markets in the Ftse350 will also be forced to liquidate
their positions as there will no longer be a market in them.

Any THUS fans care to check this out and post their findings?

Melnibone.

Apparently this is because of a possible bid rumour going around of re-newed interest from C&W.....

Rumour has it that C&W are sitting on 1bn cash pile with THUS or CTM as possible target !

Got this from www.iii.co.uk

Rumour has it that C&W are sitting on 1bn cash pile with THUS or CTM as possible target !

Rumour, possible, maybe.... the list goes on.

Quick mental maths says approx 6m changed hands in THUS today.
Peanuts, really.

I dare say that there will be consolidation in this sector at some
point, but that's no reason to go LTBH on a company. You don't
know when, what price, or if like TWT they just let the company
go to the dogs and wipe out the shareholders so that the debt holders
take the company.

THUS and CTM are fond of quoting EBITDA, but they are still loss
making in an increasingly competitive environment.

Melnibone.

Melnibone
Interestingly you compare Thus with TWT a little unfair I would say
On one major point alone , Compare the massive debts of TWT when they went to the dogs. Thus does not suffer from that kind of millstone and unless we are seriously being mislead Thus will be in profit early next year

I'm not saying that THUS will go bust. I'm bringing the possibility
to the attention of folk who are buying purely for the reason
of a takeover bid.

If it can happen to 'biggies' like TWT, Marconi etc... as well as
companies like Redstone and Energis, then you can't rule out the
possibility of a minnow like THUS.

If you make less than you spend then eventually you will go broke.
THUS and CTM are still losing money in a competitive environment.
And it's not getting any easier.

You can only reduce Capex so far. If THUS doesn't get the growth
then it won't make money. By buying THUS, you are putting your
faith in the company continuing to grow at the expense of the
competition.

IMHO, there's got to be less risky areas to invest your money
that will give you a return without the possibility of a total
loss. If you want to take the risk for the possible greater reward
then that's cool. Just be aware of the risk.

Melnibone.

I have taken this statement from a collegue on the www.iii.co.uk site.
Interesting reading ......

From looking at TD Waterhouse the analyst most likely to have upgraded either HSBC or Smith Barney Citigroup who issues notes on Thus in July and August respectively.

I know HSBC had Thus as a hold for a while when it was at 37p so they must be thinking the fundamentals have not changed much and the share price is worth a flutter at the current levels.

Smith Barney's recommendation has a 1S next to it, not sure what this means any ideas?

In terms of analyst estimates for THUS here goes

HSBC buy with 2005 eps estimated at -0.55p and a loss of 10.55 million they are predicting a 2006 profit of 4.93 million and earnins per share of 0.26

Concensus view of 9 analysts is that for the year ending March 2005

Thus will report a loss of 10.78 million

Consensus view of same analysts for year ending 2006 is profits of 6.45 million.

Not sure how accurate this figures will be in light of the sale of the contact centre business and impending sale of the interactive division.

All in all the picture does look quite positive, but like a lot of people have mentioned with the oil price as it is, negative market sentiment etc prices are being depressed, further pressure is added by shorters, but you can't blame them for that.

Hope that helps.

PS A plug for TD Waterhouse they have some great and very easy to understand research on their site.

Two days of enormous volume and today a mere 2 1/2 million, any thoughts?