Company Profile

YooMedia plc is one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment companies in the UK.
Since 1997 we have been developing and launching leading B2C consumer brands in the gaming and community sectors. We also work in a B2B capacity with leading brand owners, agencies, content developers and broadcasters to design and develop their interactive content strategies.

Led by Executive Chairman Dr. Michael Sinclair and Group Managing Director Neil MacDonald, YooMedia has assembled a highly experienced management team that possesses a unique blend of skills and experience in the areas of Digital TV, Internet and mobile phone services and technology.

With main office locations in London, Exeter and Maidstone, YooMedia manages core assets including:

Over 30 office locations throughout the UK alone

State-of-the-art studio, production and post-production facilities at our Wapping location.

UK broadcast return path & bandwidth owner

Fully fledged UK Bookmaker License

Database with over 350K UK singles

SMS Engine access with international reach

Fully staffed 50 seat Customer Contact Centre in Maidstone, Kent

YooMedia Dating & Chat - Our dating subsidiary company manages the oldest and largest UK-owned dating brands including Dateline, Club Sirius and Avenues. YooMedia Dating has over 20 office locations throughout the UK and also manages YooChat, our world-leading interactive chat service found on UK digital cable on the Telewest platform (platform extensions planned for 2005).

YooMedia Gambling & Games - Combining the brands of Avago and Channel 425 (in partnership with William Hill) YooMedia is on the leading-edge of interactive fixed odds, casino and poker gambling services for digital TV, the web and 3G mobile phones. Our gaming business also manages YooPlay, the only interactive just for fun games channel found on all four Digital TV platforms in the United Kingdom.

YooMedia Enhanced Solutions (YES) - YES works with brand owners, agencies, content owners and broadcasters to clarify the options, define the strategies and deliver the interactive content that enhances consumer and audience experiences. YES customers include the BBC, Nestle, Celador, William Hill, Channel 4, ZipTV, The Cartoon Network and HR Owen.

Iturama

"Every way you look it has huge hurdles to climb"

Please enlighten us. What are these huge hurdles?

Yoo are now the only company, capable of mounting a serious challenge to SKY's interactive dominance. This is a fact, not a ramp.

"and I doubt that the management structure that came with the merger is the best for the difficult decisions that have to be made in the future."

Why is wrong with the management structure?

What are these difficult decision to be made in the future?

The enlarged board have already proved they can successfully integrate aquisitions. They have already proved very capable of launching new televsion channels, Avago and the William Hill branded channel 425, which launched in October.

Please elaborate so your concerns can be discussed.

iturama

I think its a good way to look at share acquisition to rate a share as to whether it should be in your portfolio at the beginning of the year. I work on the basis that, if I don't feel the share should be average weight, typically 10%, it shouldn't be there at all. I have 8 different stocks: 2 overweight, 2 average, 4 underweight (i.e. 5%), including YOO. However, I am happy it is there (I have put the past behind me) and propose to build the holding up before 21st Feb. Its fourth in the list of significant dates so I am hoping it doesn't move over the next couple of weeks or so. Expectation? Very little downside to double on upside; good ratio. Management well proven over last couple of years. Lead position in strongly emerging market. So, don't accept the logic of your argument.

Eric

Freeview reaches 5m home milestone

Freeview, the UK's free-to-view digital terrestrial television platform, has reached its 5m household milestone, thanks to record Christmas sales of receiver devices.

According to the BBC, which operates the platform with partners Crown Castle and BSkyB, 1.5m digital terrestrial set-top boxes and integrated digital television sets were sold in the three months up to Christmas Day.

In each of the two weeks before Christmas, a record 190,000 receivers were sold, beating Christmas 2003's best of 140,000 sales in one week.

The rapid take-up of Freeview appears to be making the Government's aim of switching off analogue television by 2012 more attainable. According to research by the BBC, over the past two years the proportion of viewers who say they will not get digital television in the next year has fallen from 35% to 21%.

Ilse Howling, BBC head of digital marketing and communications, said: "It's fantastic news that so many people are now switching on to digital television and the BBC's six extra channels through Freeview and other platforms. Free digital television has a huge appeal and shows no signs of slowing down."

The Government is poised to announce a timetable for digital switchover. Culture secretary Tessa Jowell is due to deliver a keynote speech on Thursday at the Oxford Media Convention.

The potential here is mind blowing. I sincerely hope the new board, are making a presenter led, interactive channel on Freeview, a top priority.

5m customers and no other competition, due to no retrun path. It's worth 100m on the market cap alone. This is not a daft claim. Freeview is crying out for a way to allow viewer participation and there is a massive gap in the market.

Imagine all the low income brigade, sitting at home on day, with their benefit to spend.

I don't care what the SP does tomorrow, next week or next month. This is the way it's going and when it does, watch out above!

"Low income brigade" who the f--k do you think you are smart arse,some of us work for a living.
we might not have millions but we pay are dues and we can play the shares game too without twats like you being clever.

955i

Did not mean to cause you any offence. Apologies.

I was refereing to Yoomedia target audience. This consists of many millions of people who fall into the following categories. Housewifes, single mothers at home, unemployed, students, yound people, retired folk sitting at home. All these groups tend to spend much time at home, often spending hours in front of television, as a rule of thumb. Bookmakers actually have a saying for the group of people who provide their daily bread and butter and this is a term called 'the giro boys'.

If you are on a low income, yet at work, then perhaps you will find time to use Yoomedia's products in the evening, when collapsed in front of the television?

Typically, an individual who might be refered to as a 'low income bandit', will spend much of thier small disposable income on gambling and home entertanment, in an ulttimately fruitless attempt to improve their lives. I'm not being disrespectful, simply taking a realistic view of society, as it acutally is.

iPublic.
My main point is that there are several thousand UK listed shares and the typical retail investor holds less than a dozen. Would I rate YOO to outperform the rest before (say) summer? The answer is no. Why wait to make a profit? Is there any real merit in giving up short term gain for long term?
Yoo has been on an acquisition spree, the main acqusition being DITG, a loss maker. The Yoo management has now got to show that it can handle the integration and rationalisation of those companies and come out the other side profitable. However, the merger was so friendly that it has incorporated much of the acquired management and enlarged the board. There are advantages and disadvantages to this. The advantage is the acquired know-how, the disadvantage is the natural resistance to the changes that will have to be made. Those changes affect all facets of the company and the difficulties and costs involved are invariably underestimated.
Not to mention the arbitrary track record of this board with regard to its shareholders, and the huge share overhang.

i Public,thank you for the apology,my abuse was uncalled for,perhaps I was being a little too sensitive,I am a holder of a few so also on your side and hanging on despite the opinions that there is faster money to made else where.

The Enlarged Group Board expects to be able to implement minimum cost savings of
approximately #2 million for the Enlarged Group per annum. Principally this will
be through the removal of duplicated fixed costs and the increase in purchasing
power.

iturama

This deal had to happen, or I fear Yoo were in danger of being left behind. It makes perfect sense and Yoo can now become the company I've always dreamed they would be.

A channel on Freeview would be so profitable, it would more than justify the market cap alone. To the best of my knowledge, no one else, is capable of providing a return path on this platform.

Only my opinion of course and we shall see in good time.

iPublic
Lets hope it lives up to your wishes and expectations. Interestingly, its risk grade in September last year was around 200, now its 322. Not in itself particularly remarkable for a penny stock but a deterioration in rating nevertheless.

iturama

My understanding of the risk grading system is that the score for a stock, is related to it's recent movement.

If a share had been stagnant for several months ie: last September, before the big push North, then the risk rating would fall, the longer the share stays at one price, the lower the risk rating.

If a share has recently moved sharply in one direction, up or down, the risk rating would move sharply. Hence, in September 2003, when we hit 50p for the first time, we were 1500.

The risk rating is not an indication of the fundamentals of any particualar business, merely an indicator of recent movements. Clearly, if a share has sat at 20p for two years the risk is low and if a share has traded between 20p and 60p, several times over three months, the risk is tremendous.

If Yoo stay at 17p, the rating will drop towards 200. If Yoo rise to the mid twenties, then the risk rating will move upwards towards 500. The higher the risk rating the larger the volatility.

If you have an alternative explantion, please share it with us.

I hope this isnt turning into another tadpole!!....
The bb's going that way

iturama and iPublic.
I respect u both, as u both seem confident investors and argue strongly and persuasively either way for this stock. I was in WHOG with iturama, partly because of the strength of his commitment to its potential, and we did well. I myself cannot make up my mind. Shares mag still seems to be confident tho - still rates YOO as a buy, albeit a speculative one.

Interesting series of posts - the one I don't understand is that of 016622. My own stance is between iturama and iPublic. Can't agree with Shares because there is not much speculative about a buy in YOO - my own earlier argument is that the downside is very small, being underpinned by the placing price and the number of institutions that have bought the story; my problem was that the upside potential is reduced to say 2 times in the next 6 to 12 months as opposed to being a possible 5-bagger before the acquisition. Iturama's argument seems to be that that is not very good and that there are more attractive opportunities out there. No doubt, that is right - Very confident that SEO will more than double in the next six months, for instance. But doubling is a good result! With the exception of SEO, the rest of my portfolio is in that category. YOO deserves to be there on its merits - it meets my criteria. Not overweight, as with iPublic, but certainly average weight, i.e. 10%. I'm not sure why iturama is arguing the negative point. I could go onto numerous sites and argue the negative case. Perhaps he'll let us know.

Eric

Eric,
I'm sorry if it sounds like I am trying to knock Yoo. (Note not you!). Like most people I have only so much money to go round, and I generally have interests in no more than 10 -12 stocks.
I am actively reducing that to a core of around 5. I have to make a choice out of almost 3000 stocks traded in the UK. I would not include YOO among the core group to give me the best return within the next 6 months. Thats all.
I took the loss on YOO and sold out at 18p. Nothing has really changed since then to persuade me I was wrong. Luckily that money was invested in a stock that has since tripled. As I said at the time, I believe there are better opportunities out there - better in the sense of an earlier return on capital employed. That is not the same as saying a new investor will lose money by investing in YOO shares if he/she is prepared to wait. But does it make a lot of sense to wait for a decent return on stocks that are, by definition, high risk? Is it not better to sit on your money and wait until you spot a stock that has some real forward momentum?
In the end it comes down to personal choice, but the debate is healthy since many people peruse these boards in the hope of finding some guidance.

Anyone heard of these companies?

Tv commerce is a Tv channel operator due to start trading on Aim 31st Jan. It operates two Tv channels and aims to generate most of its revenue through interactive audience participation. I cant find mucs info on it or a web site.

Optimistic Entertainment (OEP) started trading on 19th Jan. They are a media company that is focused on development, ownership and exploitation of interactive content.

Both are in ic on page 69.

Maybe some relevance to yoo?

wilbs

WILBS

"OPTIMISTIC SEEKS AIM LISTING WITH SUPPORT FROM TV COMEDIANS

Media entrepreneur Jasper Smith and Channel Four's former strategy director David Brook will receive stakes valued at over six million pounds from the floatation of their television programming business, Optimistic Entertainment, on Aim. Mr Smith and Mr Brook will be chairman and chief executive of the listed firm, which was set up a year ago. They qualify for the majority of the 4.5 million pounds options package granted to management under the terms of which the firm is reversing into a private shell company."


Optimistic Entertainment, formerly The Optimistic Network, operate Nation 217 on SKY.

They ARE a customer of DITG who provide the return path and other services for Nation 217. So this is more good news for Yoomedia. This is mentioned in the aquisition letter and Nation217 is also listed as a partner on the TGG website. So more business coming Yoo's way.

Tv commerce, not heard of but will research if I find time. Currently snowed under with paperwork!

OEP.

Trading has started with the placement price of 5p. The SP is already 6.5p. At 5p, the market cap was 26.77m, so now well above 30m.

Then consider Yoomedia only paid 28m for DITG, with the two channels, AVAGO and the Willaim Hill branded channel, all the gambling games, third party content agreements and the whole technology package. Sounds like the deal was a bargain.

Could this be the sexy sector of 2005, creeping up on us?

Thanks for that iPublic. I cant find much on Tv commerce but like yourself Ive got alot on but will try and find something on them.