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

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.

Lets hope all the good news has a positive impact on the SP. It needs to double from here as I'm still hodling from pre split from Urbium days some 2/3 years ago.! :)

Yes Skyhigh, but you must have made a few groats on the URMs which rose sharply I seem to recall. This may be a medium term hold from here IMHO ;).

Citywire recommended Chorion as a good lockaway following yesterday's interim announcement of the good progress made. It said Chorion's performance should be even better in the second half to end-december. Chorion's performance is normally weighted to the last 6 months of the year.

Citywire liked the fact that the company has met all of its objectives with good progress across all of its brands.

With first half turnover up from 4.2 to 7.6 million and the shares still very cheap at a prospective P/E of 12.5, there should be plenty of upside to come

Chorion has broken through to it's highest price since june 2002. Up 11p yesterday, another 4p this morning.

In this weeks Shares mag. Chorion was a "play of the week". Shares pointed out that the Noddy deal with U.S. T.V. channel PBS Kids which is carried on 349 stations plus satellite will take Noddy into 99% of American homes. The real earnings will come once the merchanising deals get signed. This takes time, but is a huge landmark.

Agreed PA, COR may fly like URM or Cairn. Let's wait and see.

big crossing trades going through just now. Any thoughts out there. Options granted yesterday

Noddy goes to japan. Excellent news as japan is the 2nd largest toy market after the U.S. Miss Marple has already gone there ahead of him.

This should keep the price momentum firmly in the uptrend. Its gained about 25% in the past 6 months.

Yes. It's good news and hopefully the price will continue to climb.
For me, it needs to reach about 4.00 before I'm in profit as, and probably like most long term holders, I bought in before they split off Urbium and also the consolidation... still, at least it's going in the right direction at last ! :)

Cant understand why there isnt a load more interest in this stock on here

I'm surprised that the share price hasn't been a bit more lively today, given the glowing write-up in 'Shares' magazine.

Maybe tomorrow when a few more people have read it?

Maybe there's more interest in ERT?