I have started a new thread with a more formal thread title for ease so that everyone gets a chance to get in on this one.

I have copied the last few day's postings from the 'no hobby mags' thread.

If Kelvin MacKenzie is going to make a killing so am I! It's about time I did.


FONTY - 28 Aug 2005 22:33 - 22 of 35
We don't want McKenzie going in through the back door - we want him to make a take over please!
lizard - 29 Aug 2005 09:13 - 23 of 35
only a matter of time imo!- i am sure he has the necessary people around him to make this happen.
FONTY - 30 Aug 2005 08:27 - 24 of 35
I think this is going to be my 2005 Iomart and I am going to enjoy Christmas - fingers crossed anyway. I am surprised this thread is so quiet. But then Kelvin McK has been clever acquiring stock at the most quiet time of year - the week before August Bank Holiday when every man and their dog Spot and kids are in the South of France. Clever stuff.

I spent the weekend with a publisher friend and we went through the mags that HHO have - they have a few which can be really built up and sold for a fortune and the rest are dogs which need to be binned.

We can see what Kelvin is going to do and it is not difficult. HHO's websites are terrible and their subscriptions website is a disgrace - you have to work really hard to part with your money.

Look forward to this and wonder when others will join us Lizard and John50.
belisce6 - 30 Aug 2005 17:00 - 25 of 35
Fonty......i have been trying to work out their market cap, but can't find much on their website.......any idea what it is ?? (post restructure).

I assume that the final part of the current restructuring is the Board changes which are supposed to take effect at end of next month....
WOODIE - 30 Aug 2005 18:05 - 26 of 35
fonty what will you think he will do ,a full take over or a place on the board?
NielsJensen - 30 Aug 2005 18:11 - 27 of 35
Belisce6: I calculate they have around 317,330,979 shares so you can work it out from that.
FONTY - 31 Aug 2005 00:53 - 28 of 35
Woodie - I think he will really develop the lad mag Front and develop some of the prosperous titles - anything to do with boats etc and dump non lucrative titles like Old Steam Engines!

If I was him and I had the opportunity I would take the whole sad affair over completely and make a killing. Get a brilliant team together, marketing team, attractive leggy blonds with brains on board to develop the 'sexy and powerful' mags and hand it over to my friend. He would turn it around in a couple of years and make a few million.

Alternatively, he could try and get a place on the board but let's face it - a man like Kelvin McKenzie - would he really settle for that? If I was him I would want to get rid of the existing board and be the Chairman and create my own Board. I can't see him playing 2nd fiddle - he's not the sort.


FONTY - 31 Aug 2005 09:11 - 29 of 35
B6 - Market Cap is 9 mil - all the best
WOODIE - 31 Aug 2005 10:48 - 30 of 35
fonty what do you think the take out price would be as the last rns has not moved the s/price much.
FONTY - 31 Aug 2005 13:11 - 31 of 35
I wouldn't like to say but I bought in yesterday and I would like to see myself doubling my money at least but wouldn't we all.
FONTY - 31 Aug 2005 16:23 - 32 of 35
17% up from this morning - just made 1K so hope this is just the beginning.
Snip - 31 Aug 2005 16:28 - 33 of 35
I bought this morning on the basis of this chart. The p+f target is so high that it is off my screen


lizard - 31 Aug 2005 19:10 - 34 of 35
didn't they recently reject a 10pps offer?- the company is now better positioned with game win.
ateeq180 - 31 Aug 2005 20:48 - 35 of 35
If thats the case we might hit 5p tomorrow,or not.
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Just back from the magazine rack of W H Smith at Victoria Train Station with my publisher friend looking at Front Magazine and comparing it to Maxim, and all the good male glossies - we can see where it's going to go - loads of advertising revenue to grab and improve quality. Front is crap at the moment but there is a fab market out there to grab.

KM will dumb the rubbish management and he has the people to bring in - Just watch this chap get this up and running - he has the time, enthusiasm and cash to do it.

My target is to really multi bag my money - now a long term 12 month investment for me and sit back and enjoy. Now I know he is Chairman I can relax.

All the best

Quiet on here today. It strikes me that the only reason that the SP rose was due to the possibility that KM would mount a takeover for the company. Now that would not appear to be the case, is there any reason why the SP will maintain its current level. My guess is no, particularly when bearing in mind that the Co is in crap order, they have substantial debts and even if KM can walk on water it will take some time for him to turn things around. I will be very surprised if investors see any return over the next year, never mind six months, particularly those who have bought recently at the higher levels. I don't generally short, but this would appear to be begging for it, unless of course anyone can persuade me otherwise.

In the meantime, good luck to the longer term guys (john, woodie, fonty et al) I think you are gonna need it.

pth

i think the mkt could act positively to a statement confirming km intentions and future direction.

Thanks ptholden thing ill hold and see what develops.

Lizard

You may well be right. However, one thing that has stuck in my mind is exactly how HHO intend to repay their debt. I don't believe that the company is generating sufficient profit to keep the banks happy and apart from selling off more titles the only other option would be to call a rights issue. While this may suit the prospects of the company in the longer term it will destroy shareholder value in the short term, both by the negativity such a course of action creates and the obvious dilution. From a read of the Final Results I am not sure that their bank would be willing to extend additional loan facilities, especially as they have just recovered a chunk of debt following the Future deal.

As I say I am willing to listen to the other side of the arguement and of course KM has a real vested interest in turning the company around. Question is, can he do it and how long will it take?

pth

hi ptholden SPOT ON /Iwould say/

ALL PURCHASERS OF THESE SHARES ARE PAYING AT LEAST 2 FOR A 1 NOTE

MY GUESS IS THAT OPTIONS WILL BE GRANTED WHICH WILL , IN DUE COURSE . SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCE THE VALUE OF SHARE HOLDINGS

Let's mark our diaries guys for this time next year - all the day traders have been selling so sp plummets and will stablise and then over time KM will bring it around. Then let's see if he does it and who will be spitting nails out of us - hope it's not me. What more can we say until then. Happy Investing - I am looking forward to this one - my publisher friend sees no downside on it so topping up when it has steady growth.

i agree with you Fonty,

i spent about 4 hours last night trying to see what the financials would be with all of the disposals stuff taken out......i was coming up with an overall loss of anything up to about 7mill. (versus the end-2004 95mill)......and the debt should be down to about 23mill........with these sort of figures, the debt/equity ratio would also be in a 'normal' region, and it would simply be "game on" in regards to their Game magazine getting in margins that are better than 10%.....
but as a few others have mentioned, it all depends on whether issues are further diluted.....although i would have thought that with the disposals some of the proceeds have been marked for working capital, and they have reconstructed their loans.........so i am not expecting any further share issues for now.
I do remember seeing somewhere thru the multitude of 2005 RNSs a mention that Interim results would be out in September (some time soon ???).

So i am very interested to see what the financials come up looking like; this is what i had; with a 10% margin (although should be closer to 15%) on about 47mill turnover (ie; with the disposals taken out of the 2004 figures)...which gives about 4.7mill. But then there is the remaining intangible asset impairment and amortisation of about 4mill.......any further restructuring costs (1mill).
Then must take away tax ?? (1mill - nominal figure as couldn't really see the basis of the previous years one), Loss on diposals of at least 2.2mill which has already been stated as such, and then the finance charges/interest of anything up to about 3.5mill. So overall I get a figure of -7mill. but if the margin is actually 15%, then the overall loss would be -4.65mill............bearing in mind that the restructuring costs/tax and finance charges could be lower, but the loss on disposals could be higher.

all is pure speculation; but i am hopeful that they will be very close to breakeven for end 2005, and then back into profit by the end-June06 period. DYOR.
(and based on current issued shares - someone mentioned 333mil; for every 1mill of retained profit is 0.3p eps which at 10pe is sp of 3p......so for 2mill profit - sp of 6p and so on.....)

At the end of the day; it all comes down to whether they are able to extract about a 15% profit margin, and keep those finance charges/interest to a low amount.....then we will be seeing profit !!!!!

Fonty

My opinion is one of the short term view. I expect the spike caused by the takeover talk to be reversed as the current fundamentals do not support the current mkt cap, hence a downward turn in the SP. Personally, I would prefer to put my money into something that is showing an increasing value rather than waiting six months / 1 year / 2 years for a possible turnaround. I would imagine that there are a sugnificant number of punters caught by the recent activity who are now hanging on waiting for the best. If there is not a quick turnaround then eventually some will inevitably sell. I may be wrong, but what quick turnaround could there be?

pth

Looks like the selling has started in earnest today, although the MMs seem to have been trying to hold the price steady for some reason??

pth

i have the same view the reason for buoyancy in sp was potential for a takeover- bit worried about these short term but am still holding will follow closely and bail out if selling continues.

Lizard

The hardest lesson I have had to learn with investing in stocks is to accept a loss and either move on or reverse the position. As far as HHO is concerned I was quite happy to ride the SP wirh the takeover talk and try to make a few bob. Initially I called it right (as far as I was concerned) and if I hadn't chosen to play golf on a particular day would have made a very nice profit. That part of the game now seems to be done and dusted with KM installed on the board rather than a complete takeover. I can now see no reason at all to remain bullish and have turned bearish and my short is already in profit. I have had far too many shares in my portfolio which have failed to perform and have had money tied up for no good purpose except to prevent me investing in something else. I can honestly say that the dogs I have got rid of in the last four months have not recovered to the levels at whcih I originally bought, but the cash has performed elsewhere. If you are willing to leave your money in HHO for six months plus (conservative estimate) great (just to get back to where you were) if you are not, then bite the bullet and move on. It's a tough lesson, because we all believe that it will come good, if it's a dog it probably won't!

If you do stay in, I wish you and the rest of the guys good luck.

pth

Don't forget guys you have been allowd to trade this share daily and then go back in on it as a long term trade like I am. Made a quick profit and just ploughed that profit into buying back in and willing to sit on shares that haven't cost me anything. Then you don't have to wait for the share to go back up to get your money back as you have nothing to lose. Of course KM is going to turn this around - he's not going to invest his time, pride and money in a non-starter.

See you guys in a year.

not sure why a complete takeover was necessary.....KM is in as exec-chairman, and he can sort them out from there......

In the Independent today it suggests that KM is already facing some opposition/disagreements, not sure what the details are though !! Could he go for a complete takeover if he gets too much opposition to his ideas ???

i think i may get out of these tomorrow depending on open - may be one for the long term recovery but short term i am not that optimistic- these levels are due to takeover speculation not km joining the board.

Fonty

Pleased you made a good profit and your recent purchase hasn't cost you anything. My arguement would be that you have now possibly locked funds away into a company with poor potential in at least the short term when you could have used that money to generate more profit in another stock. Main thing though is that you are happy with your investment strategy.

Lizard

Hope you made the right call today. Out of interest, barring an unexpected surge, my short is now running a trailing stop loss and am in a no lose situation.

As always good luck to those holding the faith

pth

It may touch 3p today! imho

Why?

All the buys are small investors. Catch a falling knife?

pth