Last bought these at 3.75p a few months ago ...... talk of bid interest and recent change of management

Currently 4.25/4.5p

Just announced that the MD has bought another 2 million shares @ 4.375p on the 7th Feb which takes his holding to 7.1 million or 1.4% ..... I do like it when management put their own money in


ains

agree - there seems to be constatnt selling but if it sniffs 3.5p then up it goes again

the problem with COR is its too predictable

the min guarantees ane good but all they mean is that the cash is received up front and not over the course of the year. In themselves they mean nothing as to the total amount that will accrue in a year

positives are that the management has at least got a clear strategy and that Poirot is on for 4 new programmes a year for 4 years which underpins turnover at around 9.5m a year when book sales are factored in, imho

any outperform will come from

1. french penetration
2. UK Merchandising on back of new Noddy deals and increasing awareness
3. move of noddy into US
4. development of famous five

sale of "Make Way for Noddy" to France will aid part 1 - France is traditionally Noddy's second largest market
Part 2 is already underway - needs the rest of the video range to be released and then hopefully a master deal to be signed before christmas
Part 3 - the big ???????? - who knows - interesting to see the new bloke from Mattel though - sure he has good connections
imho the last is ripe for UK childrens serialisation and seems next on the list of developments

was bearish on this but for some reason COR appeals and drags me back

good luck to all who may sail upon her

they have disapointed - mostly because of the demerger and the lack of management focus. The mooted sale of Noddy didn't help and pleased to see this has been abandoned. Noddy is always one of the first childrens charactors you think of and still a lot of mileage to exploit imho.

this from sharecast a week or so ago - talking about brands


Chorion

Noddys comeback has sparked off a success story for publishing and TV production group Chorion, albeit a late one. The group said that delays in launching the childrens character had hit profits for the year, but that it was set to reap rewards in 2003. In fact, Noddy has proved so successful for Chorion that it has decided to keep the Enid Blyton portfolio, and develop a full childrens division on the basis of it.


I am happy starting from here and currently breaking evens but looking forward to more overseas sales

this if from the sun last wk





Get your free Noddy book



Kids' fave ... Noddy and friends



ENJOY a Toy Town treat with a fab FREE Noddy book from your No1 Sun.

We are giving every reader a copy of Hold On To Your Hat, Noddy worth 2.99.

To claim your fab freebie simply collect the tokens we will be printing in The Sun newspaper starting with Token 1 tomorrow.



Free for every reader ... book


Dont miss it!

looks like it is about to crack

more mm to mm deals have taken someone else off the bid and looking a little fragile at this time ..... I might decide to add a few more if it dips. This kind of mm activity should be curbed



ains

There we go ..... big picture of Noddy in the Telegraph business section - shaking hands with the NYSE Chairman after ringing the opening bell

Shares have ticked up a little over the last few days


ains

up we go

the trading at cor is its usual bizarre self

yes ..... did you buy after all?


looks like a mm sell @ 4p


ains

still waiting for it to go down but may have missed the boat

unless there is some news on which this is based i reckon it will fall back on some profit taken from the 3.5p levels

but i could be wrong

;-)

up 6.45% this morning - all 7 mm's are blue and 4 on the bid .....

it was a choice between EVS and COr and imho EVS represents the greater level of under valuation and hence the greater scope

i do note though that the dirs bought a shed load at higher prices

and those Noddy Videos - well they would appear to be selling very well - ;-)

what did you pay for EVS - they are quiet today

2.25p

nice one :-)

makes a change - and the directors themselves bought some in Jan at 3.64p so they must know something

if the price does not fall back i think i'll get some COR anyhow

valuations of certain companies are just too low at the moment

Chorion buys Mr Men for 28 million pounds
Fri 30 April, 2004 07:27

LONDON (Reuters) - Chorion, home to children's character Noddy, says it has bought Mister Films and the rights to the Mr Men characters for 28 million pounds.

The media firm COR.L also said on Friday it would raise 16.5 million pounds through the placing of 8.1 million new shares to fund the production of an Enid Blyton pre-school character and the development of more of its children's properties such as Blyton's The Famous Five.

CAS Chorion : Buys THO,Mister Films
30-Apr-2004 07:14

Chorion PLC today said that it has
reached agreement to acquire the entire
issued share capital of each of THO and
Mister Films through its wholly owned
subsidiary, MML.
THO is the owner of the works created
by Roger Hargreaves in the Mr. Men and
Little Miss characters and the rights
and assets relating thereto, save for
the film, television and stage rights
to the Mr. Men and Little Miss
Characters, which are owned by Mister
Films.
The total consideration for the
acquisitions is #28m (plus an amount
equal to any cash left in THO at
completion of the THO acquisition) and
will be satisfied by the issue of
4,500,000 6% cumulative redeemable
non-convertible preference shares of
100p each in the capital of the Company
and the payment of #23.5m in cash (of
which #500,000 is payable with interest
at 6%. per annum by November 2007),
which is being financed by new
facilities which Chorion has negotiated
with Barclays Bank PLC.
The Company also announces a placing,
which is being underwritten by
Evolution Beeson Gregory Ltd, to raise
#16.5m (approximately #15.75m net of
expenses). The net proceeds of the
placing will be used predominantly to:
fund the production of a second Enid
Blyton pre-school character; and fund
the development of more of Chorion's
children's properties such as The
Famous Five and Amelia Jane.

For the purposes of financing the cash
element of the acquisitions and the
associated costs, Chorion has
negotiated new term loan and revolving
credit facilities with Barclays Bank
PLC totalling, in aggregate, #27.5m.
These new facilities replace the
Group's existing revolving credit
facilities of which #5.5m is currently
drawn down (representing a current net
debt position of approximately #3.5m).
These new facilities are separate from
its revolving TV film production
funding facility which will remain in
place.
The Directors currently have
beneficial interests in, in aggregate,
561,831 ordinary shares, representing
approximately 3.3%. of the Company's
existing issued ordinary share capital.
The Directors intend to invest, in
aggregate, a further #1.345m for a
total of 662,562 Placing Shares through
participating in the placing on the
same terms as other new investors.

Noddy - The year has started well
with a deal announced in March whereby
Chorion has awarded mainland Chinese
rights to the computer generated
animated series "Make Way for Noddy"
and associated products to the
Beijing-based academic publisher, the
Foreign Language Teaching and Research
Press.
Noddy's success also continues in its
core territories (the UK and France).
The new Noddy video and DVD in the UK,
"Noddy and the Treasure Map", was the
biggest-selling new pre-school release
in its first week, with 11,527 units
sold. In February and March 2004 the
series was the highest-rated pre-school
show among 3 to 5 year olds.
In France, research conducted by
marketing agency Logistix Baby Track
has found that Noddy is the most
popular TV pre-school character for 2-4
year olds. "Make Way for Noddy"
continues to dominate the lunchtime
slot on the terrestrial network France
5 with an average audience share of
approximately 40% amongst 4 to 10 year
olds. In addition, Chorion has formed
a partnership with Editions Cobra, a
licensee, to produce a monthly Noddy
magazine with DVD or video sold in
newsagents across the country. In its
first two weeks of sale, demand was
such that after initial sales of more
than 300,000 copies, an additional
200,000 had to be printed to satisfy
demand.
The current Poirot series on ITV has
been a success and the new Miss Marple
series, which goes into production this
year, will also be screened on ITV.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
0614 GMT Apr 30 2004

There was a good write up in Sunday Times - apparently lots of experienced investors are puttinmgbthis one away for their kids portfolios!!!!

Back in march, Chorion announced the rollout of Noddy in china. There are 95 million chinese children under the age of 5. Huge potential if they take to it. Chorion's interim announcement is due second week of september.

Noddy goes to America!
Chorion announced today that they have made an agreement with a major U.S. tv channel to launch Noddy in 2005. This is the big breakthrough they have been waiting for.
Excellent interim results also announced today. Pre-tax profits more than doubled. EPS up from 0.4p in H1 2003 to 1.8p.