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Microcap & Penny Stocks : XSNI - X-Stream Network -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wlcnyc who wrote (1973)	7/12/1999 7:02:00 AM
From: Glenn Petersen	Respond to of 3519

Full text of Freeserve announcement: Monday July 12, 6:19 am Eastern Time FOCUS-Freeserve to be valued at up to 1.5 bln stg (Adds analysts' comment, share price) By Jane Merriman LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - British retailer Dixons Group Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: DXNS.L) on Monday tempted investors to take a gamble on Europe's first major Internet float, putting a hefty discount on the price for its online access provider Freeserve. Dixons set a price range of 130 to 150 pence a share, valuing Freeserve at 1.31 billion pounds to 1.51 billion pounds ($2.03-$2.34 billion). The valuation was at the lower end of expectations, which ranged from around 1.3 billion to 2.4 billion pounds. The pricing takes into account investor caution over Europe's first major Internet flotation. Some analysts say the figure is 30 percent below the 2.0 billion pounds price tag estimated for the business once its shares start trading in London and the U.S., in two weeks time. The flotation of 18.25 percent of Freeserve is expected to raise between 229 million and 264 million pounds, which will be split equally between Freeserve and Dixons, the UK's biggest electricals retailer. A further 1.75 percent is being sold to Energis Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: EGS.L), which provides Freeserve's telecoms support. Analysts said the offer had been pitched at the lower end of the range to try and get it away successfully and propel the shares to a premium. Freeserve's advisers have had to accommodate expectations in the U.S. -- where a 30 percent premium on the first day of trading is bottom of the range -- with a more conservative approach in Britain. Analysts said the pricing looked prudent enough to ensure a successful float, which would be helped by its scarcity value. ''In the UK there are not many Internet stocks and only 20 percent is being floated,'' said Paul Sharma, telecoms analyst at Investec Henderson Crosthwaite. ''They've got 10 banks behind them so you would expect it to go off fairly well.'' But there is a lot of scepticism about the value of loss-making Freeserve, which has no monthly subscription fee to rely on like other major Internet access providers. The business, launched last September, swiftly became the UK's top online firm by scrapping the subscription. Freeserve, instead, relies on a share of connection charges, plus e-commerce and advertising. It is still the UK market leader with 1.3 million users, but now faces rivalry from 70 to 100 ''free'' competitors, including Tesco Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: TSCO.L), the UK's biggest food retailer, and potentially America Online (NYSE:AOL - news). The valuation has been based largely on value per subscriber, a formula widely used in the U.S. But analysts question whether this is suitable for Freeserve, because of its subscription-free business model. ''The worry is that in the UK subscribers will be more promiscuous than in the U.S., where the subscription tends to lock people in to one provider,'' said one. But with no track record of performance from other revenue streams such as e-commerce and advertising there is no real alternative. ''It might not necessaribly be the right measure to use, but what else can you use?'' he said. And making losses has never been a worry for investors in U.S., valuations are high for Internet stocks such as online bookstore Amazon.COM (Nasdaq:AMZN - news), which is still valued at around $18 billion despite never having made a profit. Dixons shares were 12 pence lower at 12.77 pounds on Monday. Freeserve's offering is open to institutional investors worldwide and to retail investors in the UK. Dixons said more than 114,000 individuals had registered to receive a copy of the mini-prospectus and an application form for the float. Some 24,000 Dixons and Freeserve staff will also be entitled to apply for shares. Retail investors have to invest a minimum of 250 pounds and if demand exceeds shares allocated to small investors, Freeserve subscribers and Dixons staff will get preferential treatment. The number of shares in the offering is likely to be announced on July 26, after the closing of the retail offer on July 22 and the institutional offer on July 23. Conditional trading in the shares is due to begin in London and New York on July 26. Dixons also announced that Freeserve is to launch an Internet credit card with HFC Bank of the U.S., which is a subsidiary of Household International Inc (NYSE:HI - news). ($1=.6442 Pound) ($1 equals .6442 Pound)

To: wlcnyc who wrote (1973)	7/12/1999 9:04:00 AM
From: donkeyman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3519

wlcnyc:- big news this morning on FreeServe. We are getting a feel for the prices and we know the Nasdaq dates. Looks like 18% or 20% of FreeServe is going on the open market. How many FreeServe shares are up for sale this month?? --Looks like if you don't live in the UK and a subscriber of FreeServe or an employee of Dixon's, there's no way to get a low market price, looks like X-Stream is the only cheap way in to the British Internet Portal business. At the end of day #1 of the Nasdaq it will be interesting to compare the market cap of FreeServe with the market cap of X-Stream.!!! I see China.com is offering 4.2 million shares in a range of US$14.00/share (Cdn.$20.72) to US$16.00/share (Cdn.$23.60) through lead underwriter Lehman Brothers. What is meant by penetration rates are about 2.2% of 1.2 billion people in China???Thanks.!!