Kingsmen Creatives

[FFNow]

I did a post on this: http://financiallyfreenow.wordpress.com/...-in-china/ Feel free to comment on it. Thanks!

[Musicwhiz]

Thanks taka666,

I don't really share Andrew's optimism. He is the General Manager so naturally he will be confident and assured of the Company's prospects as he is an employee. But the reality may be vastly different. Kingsmen has been in China for more than 10 years but have barely scratched the surface? So what has become of their business development efforts? All this time there and they let Pico gain such a strong foothold?

Also, I feel that Kingsmen ought to focus more on scenic/thematic designs and exhibitions/museums rather than Interiors in China, as many local players may be able to replicate the quality of work and scale.

Overall, I do not see much potential for this and hope Kingsmen do not over-commit resources to an ultimately fruitless venture.

Vested.

[FFNow]

Maybe the management were merely focusing on Singapore for the past years and only recently, they wanted to gain a better footing in China since China is rising even though they were in China for past 10 years? They might have realised the potential in China at recent times only.

[Musicwhiz]

Maybe the management were merely focusing on Singapore for the past years and only recently, they wanted to gain a better footing in China since China is rising even though they were in China for past 10 years? They might have realised the potential in China at recent times only.

It's possible though I would think there's a lot more to it than what they allude to. Methinks that even if there was "bad" news, they may not be very willing to disclose it to shareholders. Institutional imperative, maybe?

[FFNow]

Maybe, maybe not. We can only know for sure 2 to 3 years down the road if Kingsmen is keeping to their promise...

[Musicwhiz]

Maybe, maybe not. We can only know for sure 2 to 3 years down the road if Kingsmen is keeping to their promise...

Haha yes, anyway, it is only in the long-term that we know whether a Company has what it takes to grow its revenues, cash and profits steadily.

[FFNow]

Haha yes, anyway, it is only in the long-term that we know whether a Company has what it takes to grow its revenues, cash and profits steadily.

Yeah. Absolutely agree with that.

[mikh]

I recall that the mgmt intended to acquire greater ownership of its overseas associates/subsidiaries since at least a few years ago. This might have taken time to execute based on willing party basis and resource priorities. Any key designers or business persons cannot be simply "purchased"; ideally it has to be a win-win deal. Indeed progress seems a bit slow, albeit still positive.

If a company is unable to offer its services to luxury brands internationally/globally in a network of countries, they risk losing its local business to others who can. Opportunity for "Winner takes all" - we've seen it many times in the global economy.

It would be interesting to know more about other players in the company's key segments or if the rest are fragmented smallies? Am ignorant about whether Kingsmen is a key regional player already. In Sg, we can "see" other players and gauge its size. Elsewhere? If Kingsmen + Pico only has 10% Asian market share, some of us could interpret that as either opportunity or lack of clout. Food for thoughts.

[yeokiwi]

On contrary, I thought Kingsmen did quite well for the current year. The previous year revenue was boosted by Resort World that contributed a revenue of 70 million which is about 29% of the 2009 revenue.
So basically, kingsmen was able to source enough contracts to fill in the gap left by RWS.
At 9th Nov, the contract recognition for 2010 is 215 millions and is only 4 million less than the same period in 2009.

Kingsmen has been growing at an rapid rate since 2004 and I would expect the revenue growth to slow for a year or two due to manpower limitations.

A steady growth without resorting to debts and rapid acquisition is still a preferred path.

For those who are interested in PICO, there are analyst reports at their website.
http://www.pico.com/eng/investor/analystreport.php

PICO generates roughly 2 times the turnover of Kingsmen.

[SLC81]

I have very fond memory of Kingsmen in 2006 when i had it at 24 cents p but locked in profit before the bonus issues and have been on the sideline watching the company ever since.

This is a well managed company no doubt but I still have a little concern this year on the profit margin which i think could be due to the Universal Studio Project.

The project is big and Kingsmen IMHO, night not have sufficient experience managing this type of project at first. There could be cost overrun (high material cost and manpower) and there was already a lawsuit going with one of its subcontractors so in the end, they probably will not make good profit or any profit at all for the Universal Studio Project, nevertheless, this opens doors for them to sign on Hong Kong Disney Land contracts and who know what may come along the way (we are talking about other Theme Parks in region)

The associates are loss making and while reading through its Singapore competitors's business prospect (Cityneon and Communication Design) i am afraid that competition will be tough going forward.

Kingsmen is also very thinly traded so it will go up or down a lot, either way.

For that reasons i stay out for now but this could be my big mistake, say if in Feb/2011, Kingmen collects lot of cash and decide to distribute out, most of it LOL.