BlackPrince
12 Mar 2018
Bid more likely? The article below is only 4 months old, so with the huge (unjustified IMO) reduction in the share price since, surely a bid is inevitable? Views welcomed as always, even if I disagree with them!"Satellite operator EchoStar, controlled by Charlie Ergen, is sitting on a cash pile of a huge $2.8 billion (€2.36bn), plus another $500 million of marketable securities, and is currently not doing anything with this ‘war chest’.Equity analysts at investment bank Jefferies have carried out a study to examine whether a hypothetical bid for Inmarsat might now make sense. Helping their rationale is a fall in Inmarsat’s share price which the bank says “now outweighs the evident dis-synergies and clunking industrial logic of a bid from EchoStar. The ‘earnings penalty’ from holding so much cash must now also be unbearable for EchoStar shareholders.”“We believe there is merit in doing the merger analysis. We conclude that a £10 per share offer balances all interests (though we estimate EchoStar could bid as high as £15 and still see year 3 Free Cash Flow per share accretion pre-synergies). Our analysis suggests the urge to finally ‘pull the trigger’ on an offer must be becoming overwhelming.”The bank stresses that its discussion is hypothetical and “is not based on non-public information / confirmation from the issuer or another party, and does not otherwise reference an impermissible rumour.”The bank adds that it could see EchoStar paying up to a 30 per cent premium for Inmarsat, or even more in order to secure the business."
evenlongershot
12 Mar 2018
bought in today It seems that any company who wants to invest in it's future and not shell out everything to impatient shareholders is going to get hammered share price wise. The commitment to invest in onboard wifi - brilliant! Millennials cant be without their phones for two seconds and they're the next generation of flyers. We'll look back in a few years and think 'wasn't it funny those days when you couldn't use your phone onboard'. It will be one of those things that one day will be the norm even if it is slow/expensive now. For me it's a buy in and be patient stock. Plus there might even be a boost if the US payment does actually materialise. Or even a takeover at these levels. Sit tight!
dongo
12 Mar 2018
SP Even more like a £4 share.
Boyobach
09 Mar 2018
Re: price Yes - nice one. Today's chart action says it all really: with the open and close prices very close compared to the day's high and low, the market seems somewhat undecided but, on balance, hasn't judged the situation any worse than it did in February, when there was a lot less clarity. There doesn't seem to be much inclination currently to drive the price below 420, which makes sense given that the divi policy looks to be sensibly reset (subject to approval) and the business strategy and opportunities have been spelled out. Not a good day sp-wise (unless you are Ripley) but I guess it could have been worse.
Ripley94
09 Mar 2018
Re: price Glad i forgot about that limit .. lol 10p above in afternoon .
paul1945
09 Mar 2018
Re: Divi cut Yes when i saw fig. & price fall i thought T/O target
elliottsilverman
09 Mar 2018
Short interest in ISAT is down from 8.29% at the end of Nov to about 4.61% as of yesterday. It suggests the falls that happened in the SP have rewarded the short sellers sufficiently at this stage, the motivation for shorting probably in anticipation of a dividend cut. However, the shares reacted before the event leading to the ridiculous yield of 9% etc. In any event, it looks like the shortsellers packed up their stalls and have started to move on to some other target. At the remaining yield of almost 4% dramatic further drops in SP seem unlikely so could see more short covering now and the SP gradually appreciate a bit and find a medium term level in the absence of any significant news. Agree with Boyobach that it doesn't reflect very well on mgmt that they didn't "see this coming" and continued with a disproportionate interim div. but better late than never.
elliottsilverman
09 Mar 2018
Good decision to cut the dividend even if it will cost me a few quid in the short term. The in-flight wifi opportunity is huge and there are significant barriers to entry so if it can get a solid foothold in that by investing more now I'm all for it. It'll still be yielding close to 4% if the stays around here which is fair compensation for having to have patience. It's encouraging to see them talking about hiring people with new technology skills also - if they are going to be leaders in the IOT/M2M they will need talented engineers who are in ever-increasing demand but ISAT has a lot of advantages if it can get the right personnel.
Boyobach
09 Mar 2018
Re: Divi cut Looking like a sub £4 share, day by day....Maybe, but the sp seems to suffer largely in big chunks rather than on day by day accumulations. I do think the volatility of price over the last few years has much to do with the company's financial foresight and management of shareholder expectations. I'd agree about sub £4 if it fails to stay above £4.20. Depending on your view of the long term prospects, it could be tempting to think that it's becoming a serious take-over/ buy-out target.
Ripley94
09 Mar 2018
Re: price Noticed this dropping back had a limit buy on @ 425p ( D ) Forgot about it.... lifted today.News of div cut i now see .. must be the reason .
dongo
09 Mar 2018
Re: Divi cut Looking like a sub £4 share, day by day.
Boyobach
09 Mar 2018
Re: Divi cut So, subject to my maths, the yield has been 'adjusted ' to about 3.25% at today's price? Yes, given where the business is right now, it does seem to be the right move, albeit a bit late. I wonder that they didn't foresee the position and handle it better. The interim now looks inappropriate doesn't it? which implies a lack of foresight and poor management to me.
killermanjarrow
09 Mar 2018
Divi cut Not too surprising and the right move. Wonder where we'll finish today.gla
Gunnergadin
06 Mar 2018
In-flight WiFi battle over Europe takes off FT article worth a read (paywalled)[link]
Norman Barrington
05 Mar 2018
Re: Results on Friday I was a bit perplexed by the recent roller coaster, and the big fall. I emailed IR and got this reply on 13th February 2018.---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---Unfortunately, we have particularly high level of short interest in our stock (current around 6% vs a market average of 3.5%). This level of short interest, combined with the lack of liquidity in our stock, means that any negative noise / news / sentiment has an exaggerated impact on the share price. Today, HSBC published a very short, but negative, note on us (albeit just re-hashing old news and ideas). In the absence of any positive notes, this research seems to have driven the negative share price movement today, which is particularly severe, given that HSBC did not change their recommendation on us. We cannot comment on current trading but it is fair to say that the outlook for the business remains positive and we are well positioned to be able to access future growth opportunities. We will give more information at our 2017 results on 9 March---------- ---------- ---------- --------Decent and polite reply, within the limits of what they can say, which I found encouraging but as always DYOR
