Wrider, in answer to your query.
Debt
A large element of the 46 million raised from the placing will go to paying off debt - fantastic - because that was one of the reasons why they went into a loss situation - the exhorbitant interest on the Mezzanine debt (i.e venture capital debt etc) of 48%. Now what they did was pretty stupid, but they are now out of that situation, and have an opportunity to move forward. They also have no crippling interest payments and a guaranteed expense reduction in the p&l!
A Scenario
Multi-bagger - potentially - but lets talks single-bagger -in the next week - zero chance, in the next month - 20% chance because it is high on the radar of investors , 6 months - 50%, 1 year - possibly. Even if it was a 10% bagger that would be twice as good as putting it in the bank - and the possibility is not that remote, given the technicals - very strong support at 3.5 ish, and given the recent spate of buying I would say very strong support at 4/.25-4.5.
Political
The government wants to expand the airport base in the Uk in order to compete. Manston fulfills part of that requirement. Any referral higher up the planning chain to central government is likely to be met with a Yes, as opposed to an application in Central London and the like - which would take a long long time.
Economic
The airport has room for expansion (car parks, runways, food preparation buildings etc etc) and plenty of slots available. It has landbanks that can be sold off or leased to raise additional cash.
It is set to expand the terminal building by the end of 2004 to cater for larger throughput. It should be noted that it can expand relatively cheapy onto its own land compared to Heathrow etc etc i.e its competitor airports.
Tour operators are now taking an interest. And it serves the expanding South East - remember - there are plenty of plans to provide zillions of extra housing in that part of the world.
Social
It has links to other cheaper airports worldwide. It has modern clean terminals complete with the duty free lounges and all the other stuff people care for in a modern airport terminal building. i.e relative convenience, and over time they will make this aspect stronger - via the proposed new Rail link from Central London straight out to Manston. The housing point mentioned above also applies.
Technical
Manston can take the large planes - longer haul if need be = Greater potential customer base - short haul to long haul, tourist and Cargo.
Legal & Environmental
Expansion is more likely to get planning permission in this part of the world than in Heathrow, Stansted or Gatwick, and as stated earlier less noise pollution.
Summary
Compare this to a new start-up? Sure it has an associated risk which will be perceived differently by different people depending on their investment timescales etc, but I would argue that the risk is a lot less than many Aim shares (for instance) with no profits, huge cash burns, and no 'hard assets' like Land and buildings and real existing customers etc. i.e They have something concrete and tangible to work with.
It is a 'real company' that has got itself out of real problems and is a survivor. Persistence overcomes failure in the end.
Interestingly
An article I have just read stated that the best UK fund last year was a fund that specialised in recovery stocks...when no one else was interested they provided the finance via placings and, well, now they have relatively large shareholdings in solvent companies with good futures. Now you have to admit at the very least they are in a situation of trying to recover!
Planestation is a recovery play:
Experience counts for a lot. They will have had to do a lot of 'explaining' to those who put up shed loads of cash in the placing. Common sense really, and those involved will have had access to accountng records, sales forecasts, future contract information etc i.e much more information than you or I are likely to get our hands on - and the result - 46 million quid.
Institutional ownership has come on board - just below the threshold for disclosure in some cases - remember the debacle a few days back where a bank bought 3.9% approx of the equity, announced it via RNS and then realised they did not have to disclose it and withdrew the RNS announcement - well too late -we now know about it.
A quote from shares magazine two weeks ago:
"In conclusion ...The companies covered in this article (Planestation) are just a fraction of those which have received financial transfusions. The important point is to overcome past impressions and watch where the professional money is going."
And another quote from the Daily Mail about the same time:
"With heavyweight fund manager Prudential sitting in 14pc following the recent 47m refinancing and UBS Investment Bank recently buying 39m shares or 3.78pc the shares, at 4 1/4p, could soon take off."
And from the Lemings
http://www.lemminginvestor.com/PlaneStation0601.html
The past is not the future. The professional money is going into planestation.
Planestation is also getting a lot of talk and focus on several bulletin boards - i.e lots of chatter by the masses who buy these things.
And finally,Geoffrey Ambrose the new non-exec, previously General Manager at Stansted,and Planning Director at Heath Row, who was formally elected at the EGM in Jan 2004 with extensive knowledge of the airport business such that he knows exactly what each airline needs, and how to position the company's services to make it attractive; and knowing why each one does not use Manston, is well placed to make an impact so that they do. Oh, and a new passenger facility is to be built at Manston later this year - on the basis that ..........go figure - if for example Cosmos sign, then that opens the door to low cost airlines getting involved..a good, solid macroeconomic play ...imho. Good Luck Folks