A football chant comes to mind

A trading statement from Ten Alps (TAL) brought a football chant to my mind yesterday. I'm not a holder of shares in TAL, never have been and never will be, but all I could think of was "Are you DCD Media in disguise, are you DCD Media in disguise etc."

Doesn't really roll off the tongue very easily perhaps, but regular readers will understand why I'd avoid Ten Alps like the plague following my experiences with DCD Media.

Both companies operate in virtually the same highly precarious sector. Neither company appears capable of making a profit. Both have undergone a name change, DCD Media was formerly Digital Classics and Ten Alps is soon to be Zinc Media. Their respective balance sheets are stuffed full of worthless goodwill and intangibles and they're both full of hot air and bluster when it comes to future predictions. You can rely on both companies to disappoint investors on a regular basis.

Let me illustrate. From the March interims, TAL's outlook statement was short, sharp and straight to the point:-

"The Company remains on track to generate a full year profit for the first time in a number of years and to continue momentum into the medium term."

Wow!!  Fill your boots boys and girls. A micro-cap company about to become profitable with momentum behind it. Sounds exciting and also suggests good visibility.

Two months later we have:-

"Whilst the Company does not yet have total visibility on its full year results, the Directors believe that the Company will fall materially behind market expectations for the year ending June 2016."

and

"These continued losses are likely to result in the Group not being profitable for the year as a whole, albeit the Directors do expect some improvement on the losses recorded in FY15."

I do like the phrase "not being profitable" though, so much more palatable than "making losses".

Anyway, enough said. "Are you DCD Media in disguise......."