Sefton Resources thread for all ADVFN users

Gondola - Thank you for your response, my "status" is something I pay little mind to since I neither know or am likely to get further acquainted with anyone on boards such as these - besides, such elevation may cause giddiness until I am more accustomed to flying at that altitude!

To address your interest in BGT in a nutshell -

They are involved in a number of activities, all mainly geared around the toy/games industry.

Their first product called Bubble, an interactive toy for the toddler market, had limited success although they did very well to secure Distribution of said product through Bandai - this was ultimately their downfall imo as Bandai set the rrp too high and stifled buying, this Christmas the rrp was slashed and 10's of 1000's of units (80k if memory serves) were shifted in a matter of a couple of months. Bandai are no longer the distribution partner for this product although software titles (4) are still unreleased so I expect them to come back to the table with a new deal or a new face to appear in order to distribute these titles to the substantial number of people that have purchased a Bubble console and are looking for new software. I was not invested in BGT at this stage since I do not particularly like the toddler market - very competitive and difficult to nail (selling products for toddlers to adults is never easy - how many times have you bought a kid a toy you think they will love and they hardly ever play with it?? I have a few times...)

Next we have iDVD (interactive video games). These games are not quizzes, they are more like interactive stories where the "player" decides what action is to be taken and the story unfolds accordingly - If you are familiar with the story books from back in the 80's where if you fight the dragon you turn to page 20, run away; turn to page 25 etc, you get the idea. The current game is Tomb Raider and this has been available on line and also in most major high street shops - it is available in a number of countries including a number of European destinations, OZ, Canada and the USA. BGT have had to secure the license for this game from Eidos, develop the game in order for it to be incorporated onto an interactive DVD and then find distribution. Indicators look as though it is selling well - Amazon.co.uk have been struggling for stock since before Christmas - a real shame since they were listed as a place to purchase on the Christmas TV ads that were placed in the X Factor advert breaks. The most recent news in this sector was yesterday when they announced that they has "signed a worldwide licensing agreement with a major video
game company for the right to develop, reproduce and distribute an Interactive
DVD game based on a major sports franchise". This RNS came as an explanation to a surge in the share price and I do not think that they were totally ready to release the news hence specifics are to follow shortly once the "brand clearances have been obtained". This in my opinion strengthens the case for this new genre of game (for which there is at present no direct competition) since there are now two major companies putting their valuable brands to its name. I was given a copy of the Tomb Raider game by the company and it is very good - not a substitute for a console game but does serve a purpose and all you need to play it is a DVD player so this is available to the majority of the UK etc at no added hardware cost.

Finally there is the ASIC Chip side of the business. Although ASIC is universal, this chip has unique features to BGT and as a result, they own a number of patents. Radica have entered an agreement to purchase a quantity of these chips which will be incorporated in a new line of toys that they are developing. In a bid to help them take a hold in the electronic toy market, struggling giant Mattel have since purchased Radica and back in October, Dominic Wheatley, the CEO of BGT was over in America in discussion with Mattel directly discussing this aspect of the business. A new line of toy incorporating BGT's ASIC chip is due for release towards the middle of next year. As well as Radica/Mattel, this technology is available to any that wish to buy it and BGT are actively talking to toy and game developers to educate them on the possibilities of their chip. Following the release of Mattels toy next year, this will no doubt be easier since there will be some proof in the pudding...

So in summation of activities - bubble legacy product with potential to continue to contribute to the bottom line (The ASIC chip by the way slashes the production cost of these toys)

- iDVD, they take an existing title and develop an interactive game from it which broadly follows the original story line with decision sections at certain times along the way. Current game seems to be doing well and further titles are planned. They pay the license fee, develop the game, get it distributed and take the profits accordingly.

- ASIC, there is currently an agreement with Radica for a quantity of these chips. The RNS was not specific regarding the quantity and the payment is spread over 12 months - only 2 payments hit the interim statement. There are no guarantees with this side of the business since it is largely dependant on the success of the products that Mattel and others develop - I will therefore not speculate.

As for company info -

As I write Mkt Cap is £4.3Mln - It was £4mln at close yesterday and prior to that is was sitting at 2.something with a share price of 8.25p - current price is 14p.

Net Assets £1.4Mln and cash in bank as of the interim last month is £765,000...

Operating loss reduced by 52% to £1.3Mln

There is no debt.

The company was recently successful in securing an institutional placing of £1.1Mln @11p per share in order to further develop iDVD titles, the CEO used £100k of his own money in said placing.

A tiddler company with fingers in some tasty pies. Whether they can obtain slices of these pies is the question - if they can I smell a multibagger...sorry for the rather brisk overview, I am occupied on other matters this morning...