Tag Archives: Premier Exhibitions

Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Premier Exhibitions Announces Shareholder Approval of Merger

PremierExhibitionslogoThe expected approval of the Dinoking merger with Premier Exhibitions took place on 29 Oct 2015. According to the press release, the merger transaction will take place in the next few days. Upon merger completion, Daoping Bao will be appointed the president and chief executive officer of the company. Some shareholders have expressed the hope that Bao will fix the problems caused by poor management of the company.

Source: Premier Exhibitions, Inc. Announces Shareholder Approval of Merger With Dinoking Tech Inc (Globe Newswire-Press Release,30 Oct 2015)


Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Premier Exhibitions Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2016 Earnings

PremierExhibitionslogoPremier Exhibitions, which owns RMS TItanic Inc and Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition,  has reported its second quarter 2016 results. Here is some information from that statement:

  • Gross profit decreased to $1.1 million from $3.0 million in last year’s second fiscal quarter while gross margins fell to 16.1% from 36.5% in the prior year period. The decrease in gross profit is primarily due to the decrease in revenues and an increase in production and marketing expenses related to our New York City location.
  • Total exhibition days decreased 28.4% to 1,076 as compared to 1,503 in the second fiscal quarter of 2015.
  • Average attendance per exhibition day decreased 26.7% to 366 compared to 499 in last year’s second fiscal quarter. Average ticket prices for semi-permanent and partner presented exhibitions decreased 4.1% to $16.10 from $16.79 in the second quarter of fiscal 2015.
  • Average attendance per exhibition day for semi-permanent exhibitions was 319 compared to 344 in the prior year period. Average ticket prices for semi-permanent exhibitions increased 3.7% to $22.20 from $21.40 in the second quarter of fiscal 2015.

Company president Michael Little stated that they need additional financing to keep going. “We have a working capital deficit of $1.4 million excluding the convertible debt of $13.5 million, which is included in the short term portion of note payable on the balance sheet.” Which is why they desperately want to merge with Dinoking (proxies have been mailed out for the special 29 Oct 15 meeting).

Little argues the merger will allow them to get additional capital ($5m) to fund ongoing operations and to have the company “break-even” in its operations. Otherwise he warns:

If we are unable to obtain additional financing, we will likely not be able to continue operations as they are currently anticipated or at all.

Of course there is that lawsuit out there by Mark Sellers to enforce the previous merger agreement, which could throw all plans out the window if it survives early judicial review.

Source:Premier Exhibitions Reports Second Quarter Fiscal 2016 Results(Press Release-14 Oct 2015, Global Newswire)

Titanic Exhibitions

Titanic Exhibition at National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium Drew 154,065

 

From thonline.com (otherwise known as Telegraph Herald):

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” drew 154,065 people to the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium during its 20-week run, which ended  Oct. 11. At 5,000 square-feet, “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” was  the largest exhibit ever hosted at the river museum.

Source:’Titanic’ exhibit drew 154,065 to river museum (13 Oct
2015, thonline.com)

Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Premier Exhibitions Will Have Haunted Ghost Tours at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition in Las Vegas

Every year when the calendar turns to autumn, I always look for the
first Titanic themed Halloween story. Sometimes it is stories of ghosts at Titanic exhibits or other such things. Well Premier Exhibitions has decided to capitalize on this interest by offering their own Haunted Ghost Tours at the Luxor Hotel exhibition in Las Vegas this Halloween season. According to the press release:

One of the most interesting spirit stories told is the “Lady in Black”
who is often seen on the Grand Staircase crying for her famous friend, Margaret Brown. Visitors will also get the chance to feel the presence of Frederick Fleet, Titanic’s look-out on the ill-fated night, who watches over the Exhibition’s Promenade Deck as he attempts to make up for his unfortunate late sighting of the iceberg. Additionally, guests will learn about the passenger who prophesied the sinking of the Ship of Dreams by writing to a friend just a few days before perishing in the North Atlantic, “Right now I wish the ‘Titanic’ were lying at the bottom of the ocean.

These special tours are only on Saturday nights at 8pm in October. I am surprised they will not have a special midnight tour on Halloween itself since it will be a Saturday (they will have the 8pm one though). Perhaps those ghost hunter guys will show up with those gizmos that detect ghosts to add an air of authority and perhaps a special on the History Channel (real Ghosts of Titanic!). Or just send in that poor sidekick from Muppet Labs. The last time he visited a haunted house, it was quite memorable.

Source: Experience R.M.S. Titanic’s Haunted Legacy this October with Haunted Ghost Tours at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition (Press
release-Premiere Exhibitions, 21 Sep 2015)

Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Update on Premier Exhibitions and Dinoking

PremierExhibitionslogoThe South China Morning Post is reporting that Linda Ching, the daughter of Ching Mo Yeung who is accused of financial crimes by China, is no longer part of the Dinoking deal and replaced by another investor. Her investment was revealed in documents filed with the British Columbia Securities Commission and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. However Dinoking has informed Premier that the funding note involved was replaced by another investor on 6 Jul 2015.

Interestingly the three members of the finance group that Dinoking put together are difficult to verify. The Post was unable to confirm one identity and two are firms in the British Virgin Islands making it impossible to learn the owners due to secrecy laws.

Okay so we have investors whose names and identities are deliberately being kept secret. And a connection to a figure seeking refugee status in Canada who the Chinese say committed financial crimes (and also being sought by Interpol as well). Does make one wonder if the motive behind the Seller’s lawsuit is buyers remorse. And this is a way to scuttle the deal. Well just a thought.

Source:Linda Ching, Daughter Of Chinese Corruption Suspect Michael Ching, Is Replaced As Investor In Titanic Firm’s Merger(11 Sep 2015,South China Morning Post)


Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Premier Exhibitions News:Lawsuit Could Impact Pending Merger With Dinoking

explosv2A lawsuit by Mark Sellers, former chairman of Premier Exhibitions and through Sellers Capital owns 15.4 million shares in the company, is suing George Wight Jr. and his companies, Armada Enterprises and Armada Group of Florida. In 2014, Sellers agreed to sell his majority stake in Premier for $16.2 million. Sellers alleges Wight reneged on the deal. And he also alleges Wight misled the Premier board and shareholders about the money available to complete the deal. Sellers is requesting that a federal judge force Wight to follow through with original deal terms, seeks more than $12.5 million in damages. Currently Premier is the process of merging with Dinoking Tech. Dinoking exhibits animatronic dinosaurs. The deal is yet to be approved by the shareholders (to be voted on in October) and would allow Premier to acquire all shares of Dinoking for $6.4 million and its principal shareholder, Daoping Bao, will take control of the company.

Needless to say, this is going to cause some problems for the Dinoking merger. If the lawsuit succeeds, it would force Wight to consummate the original deal with Sellers. Not that everyone is entirely convinced of the Dinoking deal. There are nagging questions about Dinoking and its capital sourcing. And Andrew Shapiro who is president of Lawndale Capital Management with a five percent stake is quoted as saying:

Similarly, if new, more skilled board and management were assembled, Lawndale might be willing to participate in a rights offering to all shareholders to raise additional equity supporting a debt refinancing that together might prove to be a superior bid to that of Dinoking and its questionable capital sourcing.

Source: HopCat owner files $12.5M lawsuit over Titanic shipwreck deal(9 Sep 2015,mlive.com)

Additional articles on Premier of note:
‘Titanic’ shareholders cast doubt over merger, stunned that Chinese corruption suspect’s teenage daughter, Linda Ching, is financier(4 Sept 2015,South China Morning Post)
Premier Exhibitions – Shareholders Stunned Over Suspected Graft(4 Sep 2015, Valuewalk)
Premier Exhibitions : releases the following response regarding a potential financier linked to Michael Ching Mo Yeung(9 Sep 2015,4-traders.com)

Hat tip to Bill Willard on alerting me to this news.

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Titanic

Titanic News: Dubuque Exhibition Sets Records;Thomas Andrews Home Up For Sale

1. The Dubuque Times Herald reports that 5,677 visitors attended the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium over the Memorial Day weekend. Normal attendance is around 3,000. Once again proving Titanic still brings them in. Pity that Premiere Exhibitions seems not to be making much money these days.
Source:River Museum Sets Memorial Day Weekend Record As ‘Titanic’ Exhibit Opens(27 May 2015,Dubuque Times Herald)

2. Andara House in Comber,Northern Ireland was once the family home of Thomas Andrews. Built in 1872 for the Andrews family, it is steeped in history. The large manor was converted into luxury apartments a few years back and one,specifically Apartment 3, is up for sale. The asking price is £189,950 (about $291,218). Its connection to Titanic naturally draws attention of the curious and serious. According to the Belfast Telegraph:

A key feature of the apartment is beautiful original mahogany panelling in the living room – formerly the billiards room -which it is believed was installed by craftsmen who worked on the Titanic.

If the pictures at Belfast Telegraph are any indication, it really is quite a nice place but the upkeep is likely not cheap.

Source:Ardara House: Apartment With Strong Titanic Links Could Be Yours For £190k(22 May 2015,Belfast Telegraph)

3. Premier Exibitions:Sorry Folks, We Are Still Not Making Great Profits
Premier Exhibitions, which owns Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition,released its fourth quarter and year 2015 results. Here is what Michael Little, the current Interim president and CEO, says about the results:

Our overall results remain disappointing, however our total revenue increased for the third consecutive quarter due to contributions from our Pompeii and King Tut exhibitions which continue to offset our lower revenue from our Titanic and Bodies brands. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, we performed a detailed analysis of our general and administrative expenses and through reductions in headcount and other expenses reduced our normalized general and administrative expense from approximately $1.0 million per month to $750,000 per month. It should be noted this does not include the additional expenses related to the merger transaction that will continue through the third quarter of fiscal 2016. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 we performed our annual intangible impairment testing and based upon updated projections of future projects related to our AEG acquisition in the first quarter of fiscal 2013 determined that a non-cash charge of $2.9 million was required in order to reflect the change in our assumptions. In addition, we revalued our AEG royalty which resulted in a gain of $338 thousand and wrote-off $104 thousand in development cost for projects that were cancelled during the quarter.

Whew. Did you get that? The higher revenue generating exhibitions are offsetting the lower ones andtthey generally lowered expenses. They were forced to take a non-cash charge of $2.9 million. Revised royalty income resulted in a $338 thousand gain but had to write off $184 thousand in costs. In short, we still have our shirts on but hope to afford something more fancy then beer and pretzels at our next big event.

Source:Premier Exhibitions Reports Fourth Quarter And Full Year 2015 Results(28 May 2015,Global Newswire-Press Release)


Premier Exhibitions

Premier Exhibitions: No Idea Why Stock Fell

Public Domain
Public Domain

Premier Exhibitions, the owner of RMS Titanic Inc and Titanic:The Artifact Exhibition, had a sudden stock drop this week. The company in an official statement says:

With regard to the recent decline in our stock price, Premier Exhibitions, Inc. (Nasdaq:PRXI) knows of no specific reason for the decline. As previously announced, the board is currently exploring all strategic and financing options. The board is currently in advanced discussions with a potential strategic partner and is considering several other financing alternatives. We expect to have more news to report in the near future.

Now it could be just a general drift of the market but this is a niche stock, one that is not traded on the big boards. The big problem the company has is that, aside from monetizing the Titanic artifacts, it has been unable to sell the collection to another buyer. The strict conditions imposed by a federal judge means the entire collection gets sold at one time. It cannot be sold in sets or individual lots. The high sale price means only the most wealthy of investors or institutions can afford to purchase. And even if a bid is finally accepted by Premier, then you head off to federal court to have the judge sign off on it. And that will not be easy. The judge will demand lots of proof you are going to maintain the collection. And the hearing will be public. Expect anti-salvors to show up to protest the sale. Not to mention petitions that seek to reopen the salvage award.

Or another reason could be the decision to have a 1 for 10 reverse stock spilt. Normally a stock split gives you stock (for every ten shares you own we give you two). Reverse stock splits are not unheard of but unusual. It is cheaper than a stock buy-back but means investors loose shares. Say you have 100 shares in Premier. Every 10 shares will be converted to 1 share. So instead of 100 shares, it gets cut to 50. In theory, by reducing the number of shares held by investors it increases the market value. Premier had 49.1 million shares before the deadline of 27 Feb 2015. Now thanks to the reverse stock split, it now has 4.9 million shares thus increasing its market value. And its ability to keep the stock price above a certain threshold ($1.00)to be publicly traded as well perhaps bettering the chances for financing.

Investors ought to be worried. They cannot sell the Titanic collection, a major deal to sell shares to another entity fell through, and there seems to be a sense that something is not going right at Premier. Taking back shares is a desperate gamble to keep the stock from sinking below $1.00. As of today, the stock is trading at $3.02. So it seems to have worked but still the stock is more trending down than up. Investors are right to be wary about this stock and perhaps take their cash out when it gets high enough to make some money. But more likely it is a loss on the tax form.

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Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Tumult at Premier Exhibitions As Deal Goes Bust

Photo:Shutterstock
Photo:Shutterstock

Premier Exhibitions, which owns artifacts salvaged from RMS Titanic and operates a touring artifact exhibition, had a interesting filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commission. It announced in its 25 Nov 13D filing that current chairman Mark Sellers deal to sell his 31% share interest to Armada Group GP Inc has been canceled. The terms of the deal required that changes in the board of directors would have to take place and two would have to be independent. Since the deal is now cancelled, those changes are also voided. No word as to what happened but the filing states Sellers concluded Armada Group would not fulfill the obligations required. The filing also opens the possibility of legal action against Armada for not meeting its obligations.

What does this all mean? Speculation is the deal fell through because of some other deal that was tied to it. But that of course is just speculation. An an early deal to sell the artifacts fell through so they are trying to find ways to either sell the collection or a new way to monetize it. Shares of the company fell to 64 cents on the news.

Source:
Sellers Backs Away from Selling His Premier Stake(3 Dec 2014, The Street)


Premier Exhibitions, Titanic

Titanic News: New Photos of Titanic’s Launch and Titanic Artifact Collection Will Now Cost More To Purchase

RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.
RMS Titanic departing Southampton on April 10, 1912.

1. According to The Guardian, 166 photographs– never seen by the public before–are going on display at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. The photos show Titanic during her launch at Harland & Wolff on 31 May 1911. Images from Olympic are also included.

2. The Atlanta Business Journal is reporting a new appraisal of the Titanic artifact collection held by Premier Exhibitions is now worth $218 million. The appraisal was done by The Alasko Co.  The previous appraisal set the value at $189 million. The appraisal only covers the artifacts and not any of the intellectual or archaeological assets by Premier Exhibitions.