Main Web Site : http://www.firstartist.com/index.asp

20th June 2007 Broker Note : http://www.esnips.com/web/PPOtherStuff/


Major News/Events :

Trading Update July 2007


First Artist Corporation plc, is one of the worlds leading integrated marketing, sport and entertainment management businesses. Our companies are recognised experts in entertainment and sport representation, wealth and media management, advertising and events, and the complementary nature of their skills makes our offer truly exciting.

Group Web Sites :

MARKETING
http://www.sponsorshipconsulting.co.uk
http://www.newman-displays.com/
http://www.dewynters.com
http://www.theatremerchandise.com/
http://www.firstrights.co.uk/

SPORT
http://www.firstartistsport.com/
http://www.firstartistscandinavia.dk/

WEALTH
http://www.optimalwm.com/

EVENT MANAGEMENT
http://www.finishingtouchevents.co.uk/

ENTERTAINMENT
http://www.firstnci.com/

Broker Forecast 25th June 2007 :

2007 PTP 2.6m
2007 EPS 13.30p

2008 PTP 3.6m
2008 EPS 15.70p

TW comment on 27th June 07

http://www.sharecrazy.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=393393&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Buy First Artist at 113.5p

I tipped this stock at 81p in March. It is now 113.5p but with a target price of 250p it is not too late to buy. AIM traded First Artist has come a long way over the past year. Starting life with just a single string to its bow, the group has been transformed from its days operating as a football agency, and now has financial services, an events business and following the acquisition of Dewynters, also owns the biggest name in theatrical and entertainment marketing. This has not been an exercise in diversification for diversification sake, this is about profit, and lots of it.

First Artist is now well on the way to delivering on its strategy of synergistic acquisitions supported by strong organic growth. Earnings are set to accelerate in the near term following the Dewynters deal. And what a coup that was. Dewynters is an icon in the entertainment and theatre industry representing many of the current hit West End musicals and plays. It owns a successful media signage business in London and a flourishing merchandising operation in New York and Las Vegas. This acquisition was a quantum leap for the First Artist Group. The many cross selling opportunities with other group companies will continue to create value for shareholders whilst the Dewynter's acquisition itself is set to transform the enlarged company into an international media and entertainment organisation, retaining a potent delivery of entertainment, sport, wealth and event management.

CEO Jon Smiths vision has now not only become a reality, but it has also heralded his arrival as a highly effective deal maker and integrator. People and companies like dealing with Smith, and so surely it is only a matter of time before he pulls off another earnings enhancing cracker.

In the meantime, First Artist is throwing off the cash at a rate of knots. On an annualised basis and incorporating a full year from Dewynters, the group should turn over somewhere in the order of 47 million this year, delivering an EBITDA of 3.7 million and earnings certainly into the double figures. Some in the City are talking about an EPS figure of 15p for the year to August 2007, but for the sake of caution, let us assume 12p. The risks with these numbers are most certainly towards the upside. Its the longer term where First Artists true potential resides. I would be very surprised if earnings do not hit 20p within the next 24 months, at which point I do not see how the shares could be trading at under 250p. At 113.5p, there is 120% upside here on a 2 year view. Of course with the summer transfer window now in full swing (Jon, please bring a couple of decent defenders to Upton Park), there is also the speculative possibility of an uplift on the back of a busy and active period. Buy.

What was the Dec '06 spike from 5.5p to 80p due to? Stock consolidation?

Yes, at the time of the acquisition then, a share consolidation too.

Am tempted with this one, but if there is a big market correction, I feel that this sector will not be immune.
On my watch list.

Papal, better header than my page with more research info, same conclusion though, this should be a double-bagger if not more once results are in. so much growth potential and cross-selling opportunities. FAN is on the up.

Bit of interest returning to FAN.

With a chart like this one Andy I would think you are going short.

Not likely, the forecasted earnings have FAN on PE <7. In the current market this is exactly the type of company to invest in. More likely to be adding.

I bought these for growth in the SIPP, but the trend changed to down so I flogged them a few weeks back. ;-(

So did I.

The sp dropped when the overall market wobbled and some people have banked their profits, I will never argue with that however nothing has changed with the company. Forecast earnings and growth are strong, once confirmed with results the share price will respond. IMO Under-rated on forward EPS.

Tomorrow is the last day of the financial year, so hopefully we can have a pre-close trading update soon, which should set the scene for results hopefully around late Oct or early Nov.

Given a trading update to come soon, we hope, I would suggest that FAN is now bottomed and ready to move on upwards.

Well, Footy may only now be 20% of what FAN do, but its nice to read this for the Football side of things :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6976231.stm

Monday, 3 September 2007

TV deal 'fuels transfer spending'

Liverpool paid 20.5m for Fernando Torres this summer.
New owners and a massive television broadcasting deal have helped English football clubs spend more than 530m on players this summer, a survey says.

The study, by Deloitte............

First Artist Corporation PLC
06 September 2007

First Artist Corporation plc
('First Artist' or 'the Group')

The Finishing Touch Signs Major Contract with

The Training and Development Agency for Schools


First Artist Corporation plc, the integrated marketing, sport and entertainment management group, today announces that it has signed a three year contract through its event management subsidiary, The Finishing Touch, with the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Included within the contract is the option to extend for a further two years.

The Finishing Touch will be responsible for delivering the TDA's training events programme aimed at 'securing an effective school workforce that improves
children's life chances'.

The Finishing Touch has an established relationship within the public sector,
having worked with a division of the TDA over the past four years. In the
Group's audited accounts for the 10 months to August 2006, the contribution to
First Artist revenues from the public sector totalled 1.4 million. Management
expectations are that this new enhanced contract, which will commence
immediately, will be materially larger than this on an annual basis.

The TDA is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for
Children, Schools and Families. It also has a close working relationship with
the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Richard Hughes, Group Managing Director of First Artist, commented:

'We are delighted to be awarded this contract as it represents a considerable
development in the relationship with the TDA and comes at the end of an extended and particularly competitive tendering process. It is a clear endorsement of the quality of work that The Finishing Touch undertakes and we look forward to further developing our successful partnership with the agency'.


- ends -

Look like upgrades will be coming, from the wording by DS this morning, they need to investigate how big this will be....... :)


First Artist - BUY

Price: 93p Target price: 174p Analyst: James Hollins | 020 7776 6571

Contract win

First Artist has announced a significant contract win with the Training & Development Agency (TDA).

The two groups have worked together before, but this contract augments the relationship.

First Artist, via its event management division The Finishing Touch, has signed a three-year deal (option to extend for a further two years) to deliver the TDAs training events in the UK.

Although currently unquantified in terms of scale and scope, the contract is forecast to deliver materially higher annual revenue than the 1.4m historically generated by First Artist from the public sector.

Ahead of clarifying the potential scale of the contract, this underpins our bullish stance on the group and we retain our Buy recommendation and 174p price target.

On existing numbers, the group is trading at 7.0x FY07E.

First Artist Corporation PLC 10 September 2007

First Artist Corporation plc

Director/PDMR Shareholding

First Artist Corporation plc (AIM: FAN) (the 'Company'), the integrated
marketing, sport and entertainment management group, announces that Richard
Hughes, the Group Managing Director, has today notified the Company that on 7
September 2007 he acquired, through his personal pension plan, an interest in
10,000 ordinary shares of 2.5p each in the capital of the Company ('Shares') at
a price of 101.25 pence per share.

Following this transaction, Mr Hughes now holds 136,799 Shares, which represent
1% of the Company's issued share capital.

Looking nice today :)

Sounds good.


RNS Number:7750D
First Artist Corporation PLC
13 September 2007

First Artist Corporation plc
("First Artist" or "the Group")

Final Earn-Out Payment
Optimal Wealth Management Limited

First Artist Corporation plc, the integrated marketing, sport and entertainment
management group, is pleased to announce that its wealth management company,
Optimal Wealth Management Limited ("Optimal") has exceeded the second and final
set of financial performance targets detailed under the terms of the acquisition agreement dated 21st July 2005. As a result the sellers of the company have achieved maximum earn-out payments. Following the earn-out payments, the total consideration paid is #3 million.

Optimal, formerly known as ABG Financial Management Limited, has achieved a 16%
like for like increase in operating profit for the year ended 30th June 2007,
totalling #964,180. The increase resulted from organic growth within the
business and the continued benefits of integration within the First Artist groupof companies.

Fisher Family Office LLP, the joint venture set up last year with financial
services firm H W Fisher & Company, has now started to produce positive income,
with further growth opportunities being generated.

As a result of the agreed performance targets being exceeded, the second and
final tranche of earn-out consideration has become payable to the sellers of
Optimal ("Optimal Sellers"). This consideration is to be satisfied by (in
aggregate):

*The payment by the Company to the Optimal Sellers of #450,000 in cash.

*The allotment by the Company to the Optimal Sellers of 391,700 new
ordinary shares of 2.5 pence each in the capital of the Company ("New
Ordinary Shares") on the basis of an average mid-market price of 96.10 pence per New Ordinary Share. The Optimal Sellers have agreed not to dispose of
any New Ordinary Shares for a period of 12 months following allotment.

Application has therefore been made for the admission of the New Ordinary Shares to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Upon issue, the New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the Company's existing Ordinary Shares. It is expected that admission will become effective and that dealings in the New Ordinary Shares will commence on 19th September 2007 ("Admission"). Following Admission, the Company will have a total issued share capital of 13,503,036 Ordinary Shares.

Jon Smith, Chief Executive of First Artist Corporation plc, said:

"Optimal has proved to be a very profitable and earnings enhancing acquisition
for our shareholders, and with the directors of Optimal agreeing to new
contracts with the company the future prosperity of the business continues to be assured, with further opportunities for growth".

DS comment this morning.


First Artist - BUY
Price: 105p Target price: 174p
Code: FAN.L Analyst: James Hollins | 020 7776 6571

Strong trading in Optimal Wealth

First Artist has announced that its wealth management division, Optimal, has exceeded the terms of its earn-out performance targets.
This will result in the payment of 450k to the vendors, as well as the issue of 391.7k new shares (recipients locked-in for 12 months). These are included in our forecasts and equate to a full acquisition consideration for Optimal of 3.0m.

Optimal is trading well (+16% LFL EBIT growth in FY to June 2007, driven by organic and cross-sell growth) and, critically, the directors have agreed to new contracts to remain within the group.

Elsewhere within the wealth management division, Fisher Family Office (jv with HW Fisher) has started to produce positive income, with strong business generation leads.

Despite the positive newsflow, there is no immediate change to our forecasts and we reiterate our Buy recommendation and 174p price target.