MC Payment (formerly: Artivision Technologies)

[Musicwhiz]

One of those inexplicable cases when a company can trade at such high valuations when it is loss-making.

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...C001A0CCA/$file/FullYear_31Mar2011.pdf?openelement

Losses, negative working capital and -ve operating cash flows. What's there to like?

(Not Vested)

[Nick]

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...1003B6228/$file/Artivision_Release_of_New_Application_Advision-.pdf?openelement - New Social Media Patent

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/V...20036C94C/$file/Announcement_on_Clarification_on_BT_Article_on_16_5_11_.pdf?openelement - Clarification

This two announcements drove its price upwards.

(Not Vested)

[Musicwhiz]

So far a lot of hot air but no substance yet. The clarification was good but since no definitive contract or MOU was signed, I think investors may have been overly optimistic on Artivision's prospects!

[Musicwhiz]

The title is "HOT STOCKS". But why is this one so hot?

Business Times - 28 May 2011

HOT STOCKS
SGX queries Artivision after its share plunges

Six-cent drop comes after the firm, whose stock price rose five-fold in the past six weeks, reports Q4 earnings

By VEN SREENIVASAN

SHARES of Artivision Technologies, which had risen five-fold in the past six weeks, plummeted some 22 per cent yesterday after the company reported its fourth-quarter earnings.

By the close of trading, the Catalist-listed stock had given up six cents to close at 21 cents, prompting a query from the Singapore Exchange.

But this is a counter which had risen five-fold from around 4.5 cents a month ago to a recent high of 29 cents after it unveiled a new application (App), called Advision, which it claims will enable online social network users to monetise their videos and pictures via advertisement inserts.

Artivision said it was not aware of any unannounced information which, if known, would have explained the trading.

Brokers said the stock fell yesterday following the release of the company's fourth-quarter results.

For the three months ended March 31, 2011, Artivision narrowed its net loss to $1.37 million. Full year net loss also fell to $5.7 million.

But more worrisome was its balance sheet, which showed a negative equity of almost $1 million - effectively meaning accumulated losses had exceeded shareholders' funds.

Yet, even after yesterday's close, its 477 million shares and another 39 million options give Artivision - whose sponsor is Collins Stewart Pte Ltd - a market capitalisation of some $100 million.

Some observers reckon the market is judging Artivision too harshly, arguing that this is a tech start-up which is a concept play. And now it has this potentially game-changing product in Advision.

Indeed, it all looks good in theory.

The company has already obtained tacit approval from Facebook to place its Advision App on its pages. And by clicking on the App on their Facebook page, users give Artivision permission to solicit advertisements from third parties and media-buying houses. These ads can then be displayed on the users' contents, thus generating ad revenue. The ad revenue will be split between the company and the Facebook page member.

The potential appears huge: The global market for online advertising is estimated at some US$4 billion annually.

In a posting on SGXnet late on Thursday night, Artivision said there are some 600 million Facebook-registered members. Each member has on average 345 friends and, together, they upload about 100 million new self-created and third-party videos every month. There are also about 100 billion photographs on Facebook.

'Based on market feedback, the current price for online advertisement in video is between US$0.50 to US$2.80 per 1,000 impressions whilst for advertisements in still photographs, the price can be even higher,' Artivision said. 'With this Advision application, the company wishes to capture revenue from online advertisements.'

At present, the company says it is still doing 'test runs' of Advision on Facebook. But when it releases the final platform, which it expects soon, Artivision will likely have to ink a formal commercial arrangement with Facebook itself. It will also have to invest in more hardware and servers around the world (it currently has servers only at its technical development base outside Tel Aviv, Israel).

To do all this, Artivision will need funds - which seem to be in short supply, judging by its balance sheet.

Many market watchers expect it to raise funds via placement or borrowings. But some analysts reckon that if the Advision product is really as hot as it is made out to be, Artivision itself could become an acquisition target.

[Musicwhiz]

May 31, 2011
Is Artivision roller coaster a tech bubble?
Great potential seen by some; others stumped by rush for loss-maker
By Goh Eng Yeow, Senior Correspondent

WALL Street's latest frenzy over technology stocks, reminiscent of the late 1990s dot.com bubble, seems to be gripping Singapore investors as well.

A case in point: money-losing Artivision whose price quadrupled to a high of 30 cents over the past four weeks.

Why? The firm said it had developed an application allowing advertisements to be inserted seamlessly into videos on popular websites such as Facebook.

But last Friday, its price collapsed by 22.2 per cent, to 21 cents, as punters stampeded for the exit after the firm reported a full-year loss of $5.72 million, leaving it with negative equity of $965,000.

Punters placed huge wagers. In the past month, average daily volume hit a staggering 37.7 million shares, from just 100,000 traded daily in the first quarter.

Artivision recovered 2.4 per cent to 21.5 cents on 23.4 million shares traded yesterday. However, the roller coaster its stock price has been riding has left dealers and analysts divided over its prospects.

The explosion of interest in Artivision follows frenzied trading on Wall Street in Internet stocks such as professional networking site Linkedln. It soared 49 per cent on its trading debut just over a week ago to a huge market value of US$9 billion (S$11 billion), despite revenue of just US$243 million.

Of Artivision, one dealer said: 'Am I missing something? The latest financial results showed continued losses and a negative net worth of about $1 million. Yet the company is valued at $102 million. I am confused.'

But some analysts say using Artivision's lacklustre past performance to assess its potential may be wrong, as its Advision application may become a world-beater.

Artivision may be losing money but they believe Internet giants such as Facebook and Google may be willing to pay top dollar for Advision, to buy a product that will boost their online revenues.

Artivision last week said the application 'is well placed to provide video monetisation to Facebook members'. The social media site has about 596 million members in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Kim Eng Research analyst James Koh said: 'Artivision has an interesting idea and how the company pulls it off will depend on the relationship it can develop with Facebook. Online video advertising is the next frontier in advertising.'

While online advertising on Internet video is not new, he said Artivision claims it can embed advertisements on videos uploaded on websites such as Facebook in a non-intrusive manner.

In doing so, it hopes to get a slice of any advertising revenue Facebook users would get from the contents they upload.

But Mr Koh said Artivision has only loaded its application onto Facebook. It has yet to ink any commercial deal with the site.

And it remains to be seen whether Advision takes off among Facebook users.

'During a demonstration of Advision, some of my colleagues were impressed but some were not,' said Mr Koh.

More cautious dealers are following Artivision's advice 'to exercise caution' when trading its shares. 'During the dot.com frenzy a decade ago, investors were cluelessly chasing after firms with eyeball counts. It may be better to be safe than sorry when it comes to concept plays like Artivision,'' said trader Peter Ong.

engyeow@sph.com.sg

[Musicwhiz]

Business Times - 01 Jun 2011

Artivision takes another hit

IN what could be a reality check, the stock of Catalist-listed Artivision Technologies took another hard knock yesterday, the second time in the past three trading days.

The counter plunged almost 28 per cent in price, shedding 6 cents to close at 15 cents. This was a further drop from last Friday's 6-cent or 22 per cent dive to 21 cents.

The technology start-up's stock price had earlier risen five-fold over the course of a month, from 4.5 cents to a high of 29 cent, following its unveiling of a new product. Called Advision, the product is an online advertising application aimed at allowing social networking users to monetise online content via embedded advertisements.

The big price retreat last Friday had prompted a query from the Singapore Exchange. Artivision replied that it was unaware of any unannounced information that, if known, could explain the trading.

The share fall followed the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter results, which resulted in a full-year net loss of $5.7 million and a negative equity of $965,000. The year before, the net loss was $7.46 million.

Artivision's new Advision product is a departure from the company's mainstay in computer vision technologies. It has attributed the fall in group revenue to strong competition in the video management industry.

---

Straits Times
Jun 1, 2011
Companies
Artivision plunges 27.9% to 15.5 cents
Investors flee in wake of firm's $5.72 million loss and clarification about lack of Facebook deal
By Goh Eng Yeow, Senior Correspondent

LOSS-MAKING Artivision Technologies shed more than one-quarter of its market value yesterday as the stampede by investors for the exit gathered pace.

A staggering 73.3 million shares changed hands, making it the most heavily traded stock yesterday. This is almost twice the average daily volume of 37.7 million traded in the past four weeks, as the counter plunged 27.9 per cent to 15.5 cents.

'So fast, the game is over. Artivision experiences the equivalent of a dot.com boom and then bust in the space of one month,' said one dismayed trader, caught with shares bought last week at a much higher price.

Interest in Artivision exploded early last month, after it said it had developed an application allowing advertisements to be inserted seamlessly into videos on popular websites such as Facebook.

Within days, its share price quadrupled to a high of 30 cents, fuelled by speculation that it had inked a deal with Facebook to enable millions of Internet users to use its advertising software to get revenues on their online video postings.

But Artivision clarified about two weeks ago that while it had loaded the application known as Advision on Facebook, it 'had not entered into any commercial contract with Facebook nor any other social website'.

Dealer Bernie Lee said the sellers were a potent combination of short-sellers and buyers who decided to cut their losses after scaling down their purchases when Artivision shares fell sharply last Friday.

'There was no support when the price fell below 20 cents this morning and the vicious selling cycle starts from there. It was all the way downhill, as buyers get mowed down along the way,' Mr Lee said yesterday.

Until late last week, Artivision's share price hovered at about 27 to 28 cents, despite its clarification to investors about the lack of any commercial deal.

But last Friday, its share price plunged 22.2 per cent after the company reported a full-year loss of $5.72 million which left it with negative equity of $965,000.

Its share price then stabilised on Monday before resuming its plunge yesterday. In all, Artivision has lost 42.6 per cent, or $55 million, of its market value in the space of three trading days.

'The punters chasing Artivision probably thought that it had a deal with Facebook in the bag. It was only after the plunge in share price last Friday that they took a closer look and realised they were mistaken,' said trader Peter Ong.

Yesterday's plunge was a double whammy for the traders who had to pay up for purchases transacted last Thursday when Artivision closed at 27 cents.

Even as they tried to cut losses by clearing their outstanding positions, rather than picking up their purchases, they found the price being depressed by a flood of short-sellers who were eager to capitalise on their misfortune by selling shares they did not own in the hope of making a profit when they buy them back at a cheaper price later on.

'Unless Artivision can cut a deal with Facebook soon, the company may find it tough to make a come-back,' said one dealer.

engyeow@sph.com.sg

[Drizzt]

i wonder got people get caught in this

[corydorus]

There will always be People who is willing to Gamble on the Wrong side of the coin. Greed has no bound.

[Nick]

Surged 46.1% (or 6 cents) and is trading at 19.0 cents today ! Looks like the bulls are fighting back.

[Musicwhiz]

Ah, the truth? There's usually a reason why the share price is played up before a major placement......

Business Times - 09 Jun 2011

HOT STOCK
Artivision trading halt sparks talk of fund raising

Company says move is in anticipation of an announcement

By VICTORIA HO

TRADING in Artivision, one of the more volatile stocks over the past few weeks, was suspended yesterday.

It requested a trading halt from 9am yesterday, in anticipation of an announcement to be made, prompting market talk of a fund-raising exercise.

The Catalist-listed firm has been in the spotlight recently for its volatile stock price.

Last month, its price shot up five-fold to a high of 29 cents after its unveiling of an online advertising application for Facebook.

However, shortly after it revealed a loss of $5.7 million in its annual financial report, its stock price crashed some 50 per cent over five days to a low of 11 cents last week as investors bailed.

The company's plummeting stock price prompted an SGX query, as various news reports swirled around its weak financials.

The company later released a statement on Thursday last week, assuring the market of its financial viability.

The next day, its stock price recovered 69 per cent to close at 22 cents.

Artivision's main sponsor, Algotech Holdings, has granted it interest-free loans of $2 million and $750,000 in April last year and this year, repayable at Artivision's discretion.

Algotech belongs to Artivision's main directors: its non-executive chairman Philip Soh, its chief technical officer Ofer Miller and CEO Leong Kwek Choon.

The statement was released to calm the market after its financial report also showed negative equity of $965,000.

The Facebook product that initially sparked investor interest, called Advision, promised a way to monetise user-generated content like videos and photos on the popular social networking site.

Promising to be one of the first globally to offer this ability, the app garnered a wave of attention for its link with Facebook, which boasts a base of more than 500 million active users.

The app has since attracted a user base of several thousand Facebook subscribers, although Artivision does not have a commercial agreement with Facebook.

Artivision's stock closed on Wednesday at 19.5 cents.