Betair share price all time low ahead of annual results announcement on Wednesday

K.C. , very slim chance he ever will read the forum.
  I think that's Betfair's biggest problem , that the "decision makers" don't use the site activly and therefore they do not understand how the site works, they do not understand or acknowledge that active users have problems using the site and they do not understand what changes that active users wants.

hard to see any further UK expansion as current liquidity demonstrates, and the share price of c£7.30 reflects a considerable degree of hope for significant expansion abroad - and that is something that is unlikely to happen.

As many other fast growing companies they have also taken on to many large expenses, like to many overpaid executives, to large staff in general and far to much money spent on customers "treatment"
   If you have a good IT staff, this company would almost run itself, no need to pick management staff from the top shelf here.

these UK issues whilst important for the company to get right will only have a marginal effect on the share price as Clydebank29 suggests - it is the bigger picture of expansion abroad, market conditions etc that is paramount so far as the share price is concerned.

Can't argue with much of that K.C.

I thought that their quarterly forcasts at the time of floatation included a reasonable element of expansion overseas that has not materialised - but I could be wrong. I must admit when I saw the floatation price of £13 - £15 I lost interest pretty quickly and did not follow it all as closely as I intended.

I really thought that a £50m profit company (or whatever it is) would not have been floated at anything like the figure it was - something else that I called wrongly.

Any mug who bought at the original price of £15 should give up any form of investing full stop tbh, other than to get out now and thank his lucky stars that the price is still about 50% higher than it should be!

Btw turtle are you now sticking your head out and predicting BF shares to fall to circa 3.50 ?
Be clear if you are, and we will watch with interest and, of course, applaud you loudly if you turn out to be right.
An overall market crash of all shares not being part of the equation though. That wouldn't be fair.

Shares in Betfair, the embattled FTSE 250 gambling group, touched a new low in trading amid mounting speculation that the company is hatching plans to find a new chief executive.

The news comes as the group prepares for next week's crucial full-year results statement, which follows a turbulent first eight months as a public company in which the shares have lost 43% and a string of middle managers have left.

Sources close to Betfair say it has begun sounding out headhunters about potential successors to boss David Yu, who is believed to have told friends that he would like to return to his native America. When asked if the company is looking for a new chief executive, one shareholder said: "The City will demand it."

Betfair declined to "comment on speculation". However, while sources close to the board insisted that no headhunting firm had been appointed, they would not deny the rumours swirling around the industry and the City that Yu would be leaving, possibly as soon as this autumn.

This month's arrival of former William Hill director, Ian Chuter, as group operations director is seen by many in the industry as an attempt by Betfair to address some of the weaknesses that have emerged since its flotation in October. One headhunter said: "Chuter is a strong operations guy. What Betfair will now be looking for is somebody who is City-facing."

Yu, who was absent from work in March 2010 with a cardiological complaint, has suffered a torrid induction to life as a public company boss. Betfair's shares listed at £13, implying a valuation which observers warned meant the company had been "priced for perfection".

After a decent early run, the shares were soon savaged, with investors particularly disappointed by the group's interim results in December. At the time, analysts at Panmure Gordon described the numbers as revealing "anaemic revenue growth".

The group has also suffered from a string of resignations including Mathias Entenmann, chief product and services officer; Charlie Palmer, head of mobile; Robin Osmond, chief executive of financial betting exchange LMAX; Matt Carter, director of architecture, research and prototyping; and Lee Cowles, director of UK sports and gaming. It also ran its own private polling of employees, which revealed staff believe their company is lacking direction.

Betfair shares touch 715.79p in trading on Friday, a new low, but recovered later in the day to close up 8p at 743p.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley predict that the company will announce a 9% rise in full-year revenues next week to £373m and a 15% rise in profit before tax to £31m.

E dead
As opposed to Cheltenham or Emirates stadium etc etc ?.
Maybe you're right if that's what you mean.

turtle
I think you have just answered my question. Thank you.

fairfield
I'm no apologist for the BF share price.
In hindsight they were not a good buy at the float price, that's indisputable, but to then say that means they were grossly overvalued is not the way things work.
Many, many factors have contributed to the share price decline.
They were priced into the mkt conditions existing at the time they were floated.
If the float price had been "grossly" wrong at that time, then all sorts of alarm bells would have started to ring.
As it was, the float got away quite normally and satisfactorily.
2nd guessing these types of things is quite common, particularly amongst those not really close to the action.
I wasn't close in this case but I have been at certain times in other cases and, believe, all bases are covered as far as possible at the time.

The only part of that that I'd disagree with is the second last sentence.

Without Betfair somebody else would have to fill the gap. They're lined up ready and waiting.

Shareholders are understood to have expressed their dismay at the leadership of the company after a gruelling nine months that have seen shares floated at £13 last October hit a recent 715.79p low.
They closed at 743p on Friday, up 8p, valuing the business at £802m.
The American-born Mr Yu, who is in his early forties and earns £500,000 a year, joined Betfair as chief technology officer in 2001 and played a pivotal role in developing the systems that underpin the exchange. He became chief executive in January 2007.
His departure is not thought to be imminent and he is expected to present Betfair’s full-year results on Wednesday when analysts expect core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of about £73m.
Brought to market at a racy multiple by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays Capital and Numis Securities, Betfair has struggled to grow revenues and been hit by a range of regulatory problems, executive departures and the poor performance of its start-up LMAX financial exchange.

In a recent note, Vaughan Lewis, a Morgan Stanley analyst, said: “Betfair has faced what we see as a perfect storm since listing.” He highlighted “adverse regulatory changes”, including an attempt by Italy to revoke Betfair’s licence and a draconian approach from Germany.
Having seen quarterly sales growth of 22pc at the time of the float, Betfair had also “effectively stopped growing”, while losing market share to rivals such as William Hill and Paddy Power.
Mr Yu briefly suffered from a “cardiological complaint” in March 2010 but his looming departure is not linked to any health problems. There are rumours that his wife is keen for them to return to America.
The leading internal candidate to replace Mr Yu is thought to be finance director Stephen Morana.
Betfair declined to comment.

For your average mug though BF prices are rarely better on fancied outcomes so their is little incentive to come over here rather than sticking with bookie accounts.

FAFH - you may have overlooked the fact that a relatively small number of shares were offered for sale at the time (at least that was my understanding) and consequently the economics of supply and demand came into play. There were plenty of people on here who thought they were well overpriced at the time and indeed said so.

Personally I think the shares will go down to £5 or perhaps less (assuming the FT index remains roughly where it is now) and perhaps I may then pick up a few shares. I do not think their expansion plans overseas are realistic - hence my view on the current share price. A solid enough small company making very modest profits, but that is all it is imo.

FAFH you are still talking tripe, the shares were valued at something like 20x earnings...that is grossly overvalued imo.

Clydebank is correct in what he says - which was the aim of this exercise...

The share were actually valued at 30x profits (£1.5bn based on profits of £50m)

It's hardly speaking with hindsight to say that anyone who thought that was good value is a total mug.

Clydebank is spot on, the outcome of cashing in was fulfilled, and god help anyone stupid enough to be sucked in by the hype....

turtleshead, on 30X....

if anyone walked into a bank and asked for an injection based on 30 times returned, they would be shown the door in a blink.

Duncan Ballantyne would have had the Dragon Den's first recorded heart attack.