gretel
03 Sep 2015
News - Disney and ETO Big news just out - Disney to broadcast ETO's new superhero animation series, PJ Masks....[link] "Disney to debut eOne's new kids' show PJ Masks Robert Hutchins September 3rd 2015 at 10
6AMeOne Family has a robust licensing programme waiting in the wings for the new children's series.Entertainment One Family’s new CGI animated series, PJ Masks is gearing up to make its international debut on Disney Channels this autumn.The new series will air on Disney Channel and Disney Junior in the US on Firday, September 18th before making its way to France 5 in France later in they year. Produced by eOne and Frog Box and in collaboration with the award-winnig French animation studio TeamTO, the series is inspired by the popular children’s book series Les Pyjamasques. The series of published titles have enjoyed notoriety in France, where the books debuted in 2008 and have seen 15 titles published to date. There are now plans to release two further titles each year.“Our new landmark property, PJ Masks, brings popular superhero themes to a pre-school audience and we are incredibly excited about the upcoming premiere on Disney Junior and France 5,” said Oliver Dumont, managing director of eOne Family.“PJ Masks is a winning combination – both pre-school boys and girls will love and be empowered by the show’s heroic and fantasy based storylines while being able to relate to the central themes of friendship and teamwork.”Dumont has stated that the planned licensing programme for PJ Masks will ‘skew slightly more towards boys,’ which will provide the firm with ‘perfect counterbalance’ to the girls’ focused licensing programme for Peppa Pig.“Our long term strategy is to build a robust portfolio with exciting marketing prospects for boys and girls in each key age group and strong digital and ancillary avenues to maximise our already prolific licensing infrastructure,” he said."
Brimach1
30 Aug 2015
ETO no longer looking for a Buy-Out... ETO no longer looking for a Buy-Out[link]
dont shoot u dont score
25 Aug 2015
Re: ETO film doing well update[link] can only help.Great share for the medium term. One for the pension also.GLA
janebolacha
20 Aug 2015
One of the most anticipated shows in the world [link]
gretel
17 Aug 2015
Peppa still top of the kids charts Peppa continues to outpace the rest of the kids market:[link] ABC results: Don't rule out the kids' press just yet... Ellie Start August 14th 2015 at 11:27AMGeneration Media's Ellie Start takes a look at the latest ABC findings, with Peppa Pig emerging as one of the strongest in the static children's market..... ....Peppa Pig remains one of the top rating pre-school shows on TV, and its popularity is reflected in the press market with it accounting for two of the top three circulating pre-school titles."
gretel
17 Aug 2015
ETO film doing well ETO's film Southpaw continues to do very well:[link] continued its strong UK run, dropping just 18% on its way to a $977,000 (£625,464) fourth weekend.Entertainment’s boxing drama is now up to $11m (£7.03m) and will very soon become director Antoine Fuqua’s best-ever UK performer, surpassing King Arthur’s $11.04m (£7.07m)."
gretel
13 Aug 2015
Possible 500p-600p takeover price Excellent new article about ETO in Shares Magazine (thx to gargleblaster elsewhere):"You’d be foolish to ignore Marwyn Value Investors (MVI) at 240p. Its biggest holding, Entertainment One (ETO), looks a prime takeover target and would likely end up in a bidding war once a first offer is made. The rest of the investment trust’s portfolio is undergoing a significant overhaul, paving the way for the next generation of buy-and-build companies.The fund group has enjoyed considerable success over the years with creating cash shells that go on to consolidate specific sectors and then get takeover themselves.Its fortunes and the pace of change presently revolve around Entertainment One. The £1 billion cap business is best known in the UK for owning 50% of the rights to cartoon character Peppa Pig, scooping up cash from toy, DVD and other merchandise sales. On a grander scale, the group – known to most as eOne – is a big name in TV production and film distribution.We flagged the likelihood of Marwyn selling a big stake in our ‘15 for 2015’ top picks of the year article on eOne (see Shares, 23 Dec ‘14) and this event finally happened on 15 July where it sold 9% of the business for £87.5 million and is now left with a 17.9% stake. Strange executionThe share sale looked a bit odd, with JP Morgan revealing after market hours on 14 July that it was ringing round potential investors to place 26 million eOne shares, which were subsequently sold at a 9% discount to the market price. Why the rush, and why didn’t Marwyn sell out completely?The investor says it was caught by surprise at how quickly acquisition opportunities were found for two of its other investments, meaning it needed cash quickly to participate in new share placings and avoid being diluted. As to why only part of the eOne stake was sold, Marwyn managing partner Mark Watts comments: ‘We still believe the asset has the capacity to deliver something unusual to a number of potential buyers of the business. There were also a number of buyers who weren’t in a position that they could move quickly at that point.’Those comments should certainly grab your attention. Entertainment One was on the verge of being bought in 2012 before its principle competitor Alliance Films came up for sale, so the two groups combined forces. So would want to buy eOne now? Amazon (AMZN:NDQ) or Netflix (NFLX:NDQ)?‘They should be potential buyers, but Amazon has done very little M&A and I suspect Netflix can’t get over the issue of thinking they can buy the underlying content from the company at a cheaper price than they would have to pay to own an operating business.’Watts says eOne’s ‘obvious buyer’ is media group Vivendi (VIV:EPA), owner of film and TV studio and distributor Canal+. ‘They have a stated strategy of buying content businesses and they have lots of cash.’ He says eOne would also fit well with ITV (ITV), Sky (SKY) and RTL; ‘businesses looking to transition from a pure subscription or advertising model into a production model, particularly for TV,’ adds Watts. Price expectationsEntertainment One doesn’t need to put itself up for sale as everything is rosy with the business. Yet if someone did make a takeover approach, Watts believes 400p could be a starting point (versus its current 333.2p share price). Don’t expect a single suitor. ‘It is such an unusual asset so anyone in Europe would say “if eOne was up for sale, we’d have to take a look”; I suspect it would go for 500p or 600p because most of the US competitors are trading at the equivalent north of 450p (now).’Marwyn Value investors are expected to share a £5.3 million cash pot from the recent eOne stake sale, although the distribution mechanism and timing is not yet decided. Watts implies that disposal of the remaining stake will almost certainly see a share buyback than another special dividend as Marwyn would like to close the discount to net asset value gap, currently sitting at 18%."
gretel
05 Aug 2015
Two pieces of good news Very good news - AMC, with whom ETO has an exclusive television output deal whereby eOne handles AMC's international distribution for all original scripted series , is to launch in the UK for the first time on August 28.This is going to premiere the new Walking Dead spin-off series, Fear The Walking Dead - for which ETO is handling the international distribution.Lots of opportunities here for further content income:[link] from BT will showcase other soon to be announced dramas from AMC Networks in addition to series from other leading producers. The channel will also feature acclaimed films from the world’s most popular film libraries.The AMC from BT channel will be available for free to all BT TV customers. Customers do not need to take any action to receive the channel – it will automatically be added.The news follows significant expansion for AMC since the company launched the brand for the first time outside North America late last year. AMC is now seen on subscription television platforms in over 125 countries and territories throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Entertainment One (eOne) handles international distribution for ‘Fear the Walking Dead’ for territories outside of the AMC Global footprint."ETO's film Southpaw is doing extremely well. It only cost $25m after tax credits, but has already raked in around $32m in North America alone and is now up to an excellent £4.04m in the UK:[link]
II Editor
28 Jul 2015
NEW ARTICLE: Gloo Networks IPO targets £1 billion acquisition "A new company set up by two digital media experts is raising £30 million as part of a float on London's AIM next month. Backed by successful tech investor Marwyn, Gloo Networks wants to buy trusted consumer brands in the media sector worth as ..."[link]
janebolacha
27 Jul 2015
This is why This is why Marwyn are selling their stake in ETO. Zegona is their new investment vehicle.[link]
sage in the hills
20 Jul 2015
Any news on iii Trades graphs ? Still nothing on my window ......Any news on this previously discussed story ??SAGE
gretel
17 Jul 2015
Moving up, and tipped today ETO is one of the main tips in today's IC - it's been posted in full elsewhere, so here it is:"Bull points Global reach and vast content library Peppa Pig's prolific rise Strong sales and profit growth The shares are cheaply ratedBear points Investments weighing on cash flows Volatile box office revenue Great films are often snubbed at the Oscars. Similarly, we feel investors aren't giving Entertainment One (ETO) the credit it deserves. The group, which licenses out distribution rights for films and television shows to more than 500 broadcasters worldwide, is supplementing strong TV sales with international acquisitions and higher-margin production. Meanwhile, its film division looks poised to benefit from a strong slate of cinema releases this year. Yet, despite the company's growth prospects, its shares trade at just 11 times forecast earnings for the year to March 2017. Entertainment One's main growth engine is its TV business. The division's underlying sales leapt nearly a third last year, driving adjusted cash profit up 41 per cent to over £51m. It benefited from a 27 per cent rise in production and sales revenue, as shows such as and attracted droves of viewers. But the real star was the TV division's smaller 'family' segment, which licenses out broadcasting and merchandising rights to branded properties. Sales soared 71 per cent and cash profit more than doubled, to about £24m, as pre-school brand Peppa Pig generated over $1bn (£640m) in retail sales worldwide and secured more than 600 licensing deals. The animated piglet has also won space on the shelves of US retail giants Walmart and Target, and management is rolling out the character in Brazil, China and elsewhere. Growth is coming from acquisitions, too. Entertainment One bought reality-TV producers Force Four and Paperny last year. It also took a majority stake in producer The Mark Gordon Company. That marked its first direct step into the enormous US market, bolstered its higher-margin production business and strengthened its ties to Hollywood. The studio already has two new shows in the works: for ABC and for CBS. Management expects the deal to help it increase TV programming output by around half to over 850 half hours. Television production can be hit or miss, but Entertainment One minimises its risk by only approving shows that have 85 per cent of their production costs covered by tax credits, broadcaster pre-sales and the Canada Media Fund - a not-for-profit organisation. It also has a large content library to fall back on, which was independently valued at $801m in March 2014 and contains more than 40,000 films and TV shows, 4,500 hours of television programming and over 45,000 music tracks. At the risk of alienating partners such as Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, we believe it could realise some of that value by launching its own streaming service. Entertainment One's film division offers recovery potential after suffering last year from a weak global box office, fewer theatrical releases and lower home entertainment sales, as consumers ditched DVDs in favour of streaming services such as Netflix. Management expects to benefit from a stronger film slate this year, new distribution deals with digital partners such as Amazon and an increase in film releases from 227 to about 250. Broker Numis expects film revenues to rebound by 14 per cent to £674m and the division's margins should continue to widen as broadcast and digital sales overtake home entertainment revenues. Numis forecasts annual sales growth of at least 15 per cent in the main TV subdivisions - production and family - over the next three years. Yet shares in Entertainment One trade at just 13 times full-year forecast earnings, falling to 11 times in the following year, which we think is an unjustified discount to film and TV peers. Critics may point to Entertainment One's sizeable debt pile. Strip out £89m of short-term production financing an
nk1999
16 Jul 2015
Peel Hunt From Citywire:"Marwyn sells 9% stake in Entertainment OneInvestment trust Marwyn Value Investors has sold part of its stake in Entertainment One (ETO), the media rights business behind the Peppa Pig children’s TV show.Peel Hunt analyst Malcolm Morgan retained his ‘hold’ recommendation and target price of 375p on the company, which also distributes films The Hunger Games and 12 Years a Slave. Shares in Entertainment One fell 9.1% to 330p yesterday.‘Marwyn has placed through JPMorgan 26.5 million shares - 9% - at 330p. It has relinquished its seat on the board of Entertainment One. It has agreed a 90-day lock in,’ he said.‘The placing price is an 11% discount to our target price. Investors should now anticipate a good trading update at the end of July or early August. Further placing may also be anticipated, given the short lock-in period, the recent appointment of a new broker and Marwyn’s surrender of board position.’ "
janebolacha
16 Jul 2015
Also the view of Citywire [link]
janebolacha
16 Jul 2015
Marwyn This research note from Cantor Fitzgerald mentions that Marwyn are investing in two new ventures, BCA Marketplace and Zegona Communications. It may well be that they are simply redeploying their assets.[link]
