George Frangeskides, Exec-Chair at Alba Mineral Resources, discusses grades at the Clogau Gold Mine. Watch the full video here.
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OneNotary Series A and partnership with DocuSign, world's number one electronic signing service ... not bad!!!
hxxps://www.finsmes.com/2024/03/onenotary-raises-5-m-in-series-a-funding.html
hxxps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7178709187961487361
hxxps://x.com/TMT_PLC/status/1772951648152732030?s=20
And second part of article...
Bolt IPO to release hidden balance sheet value
It’s worth noting that TMT’s 1.26 per cent stake in international taxi and food delivery group Bolt is held in the accounts at $72.2mn (230¢) even though it had a read through valuation of $103.3mn following Bolt’s €628mn fundraising round in January 2022, led by Fidelity and Sequoia, that valued the fast-growing company at €7.4bn ($6.8bn). Since then Bolt has delivered double-digit annualised revenue growth, is forecast to move into profit this year and is planning to IPO in 2025.
Bearing this in mind, the stock price of closest comparable, Uber Technologies (US: UBER), a $160bn market capitalisation group, has surged 82 per cent since Bolt’s fundraising two years ago. In the real world, it’s highly unlikely TMT’s stake in Bolt is worth anything less than the $103mn implied valuation at the January 2022 fundraise, implying potential for a $31mn (99¢) revaluation in TMT’s accounts when Bolt launches its IPO. That’s simply not in the price.
Since I included TMT’s shares in my 2023 Bargain Share Portfolio they have risen 28 per cent in value, but they still trade on an unwarranted 45 per cent discount to proforma NAV of 690¢ and that excludes the hidden value in the Bolt stake. Buy.
Nice piece by long tiime follower Simon Thompson at IC today
A smart way to own US tech stocks
A cash-rich venture capital company is priced 45 per cent below book value even though its largest investee company is planning an IPO
March 20, 2024
by Simon Thompson
• Net asset value up from $201.7mn to $208.1mn (662¢)
• Net cash of $11mn in mid-March 2024
• Bolt holding conservatively valued at $72mn
• Backblaze stock price soars 34 per cent post year-end
TMT Investments (TMT: 378¢), a venture capital company with a portfolio of more than 50 high-growth, internet-based companies, reported an annual pre-tax profit of $6.4mn after booking $7.4mn net gains on its investment portfolio last year.
Notable uplifts include a $5.4mn gain on its listed holding in Nasdaq-quoted cloud storage group BackBlaze (US: BLZE) and $14.6mn of cumulative gains on 11 unlisted holdings to reflect higher valuations following equity funding rounds. TMT’s investments in Collectly, a US patient billing platform for medical organisations, and Educate Online, a distance education platform for children and young adults both trebled in value to $6.4mn and $2.85mn, respectively. TMT’s stake in UK-based challenger bank 3S Money Club increased $3mn in value to $17.1mn, too.
Of course there were also negative valuation movements, one of which reduced the carry value of TMT's holding in Pandadoc, a proposal automation and contract management software provider, by $2.8mn to $8mn. It was based on an independent secondary share sale offer received by TMT. However, this should not negate the fact that the portfolio still delivered growth.
Since the period end, BackBlaze’s stock price has risen sharply following earnings upgrades, which has lifted TMT’s proforma NAV per share to 690¢. Management has taken the opportunity to sell down a further $4.2mn of its stake, which boosts the debt free group's cash pile to $11mn to fund follow-on or new investments, and still retains a holding in BackBlaze worth more than $30mn (95¢).
Looking good so far. Should really be getting through 5-5.50 here over the course of the year
TMT is one of the Top 20 ideas for 2024:
https://open.substack.com/pub/theoakbloke/p/happy-christmas-reader
https://open.substack.com/pub/theoakbloke/p/delivered-via-tmt
Market cap is only $80 million
NAV is about $230 million
Bolt is about $100 million
Backblaze is about $30 million
Remaining holdings and cash is about $100 million
So the largest holding Bolt is more than the market cap
Great results for backblaze in Q2 - it’s up 20% today on the news
https://ir.backblaze.com/static-files/ae2a113b-92d3-4ef8-8b3e-fb07f56666a7
ST in the IC comments on the update:
https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/ideas/2023/08/16/despite-write-downs-tmt-is-bargain-way-to-own-start-ups/
Re-iterates points I've set out previously regarding the hidden value from Backblaze and Bolt alone (53 investments effectively for free)
Apologies TMT's holding in BLZE is $25m including a partial cash exit.
TMT's half year's results are also due in 2 weeks. Last year it was 18th August.
Of course Cenkos is not alone in positive feelings towards Backblaze. The lowest upside forecast is +60% and the highest is +125%. https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/blze/analyst-research
Q2 Results are out next Tuesday so it'll be interesting to see progress. TMT holds about $20m of BLZE stock which is about 23% of the value of its market cap. In other words the forecast upside in BLZE alone could be worth 12%-30% upside to TMT's share price.
Https://bolt.eu/en/blog/meet-mikko-salovaara-new-cfo/
"we’re now on track to become the first European mobility platform to be fully profitable within the next 12 months."
"Having a great service and attractive prices drive our industry-leading growth, and we’re proud to now serve 150 million customers across 45 countries. This extraordinary scale will allow us to reach profitability over the next 12 months. Bringing Mikko’s expertise on board at this crucial time for the business will be invaluable as we continue our focus on long-term and sustainable growth and begin our preparations for IPO.”
Meanwhile Uber is up 50% in 4 months (March - July 2023) meaning that the December 2022 write downs of TMT's holdings in Bolt now look well below fair value. Once this has IPO'd then it will be mark to market.
Exciting times ahead!
Presenting the Bolt 6 scooter at Move 2023:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Ncun_EJ94
When you look at Bolt's progress in addressing some its biggest challenges (labour cost for delivery and scooter asset longevity and safety) it's extremely impressive. TMT's holding in Bolt will not be diminishing as a result.
https://tech.eu/2023/06/21/the-ship-we-were-all-waiting-for-estonia-s-starship-technologies-and-bolt-have-finally-gotten-it-together/
https://tech.eu/2023/06/21/the-new-bolt-6-scooter-knows-when-you-are-riding-badly-and-prompts-riders-to-practice-safe-parking/
Speaking of the Unicorn Bolt - they've just agreed a $126m framework to roll out car sharing further across Europe. So if you live in a city like Berlin or Tallinn you pay £7 an hour to use a car:
https://bolt.eu/en/blog/bolt-secures-126m-for-bolt-drive-expansion/
https://bolt.eu/en/blog/bolt-launches-car-sharing-service-bolt-drive/
And this major financial backing is a no brainer for the banks because of the ESG merits!
Eero Treumann, Head of Corporate Banking at Swedbank, says, “We are used to seeing Bolt Drive cars on the streets of Tallinn, but it’s still a novel business model on a wider scale. In the future, we can be a part of the solution to save cities from car dependency”.
GLA
Nice article from the A-r-m-c-h-a-i-r-i-n-v-e-s-tor
https://www.thearmchairtrader.com/tmt-investments-on-the-unicorn-hunt/
"On the unicorn hunt, you occasionally find a few donkeys"
"The current jewel in TMT’s crown is Bolt, the Estonia-headquartered competitor to the ubiquitous Uber [NYSE:UBER], which was founded in 2013 by a high-schooler with a EUR5,000 family loan. Bolt now operates in over 500 cities in more than 45 countries with 100 million customers. TMT were early in on the opportunity, having been investors for eight years. The fund’s current stake is worth around USD69.8m with a return on investment of 217x."
cenkos puts a target price of $10.10 which is 250% of its current market price. q1 earnings are out tomorrow.
you can read cenkos' 35 page analyst report here: https://*********************/companies/usa/electronic-products/backblaze-inc-class-a/research/cenkos-securities/cenkos-backblaze-inc-strong-cloud-base/39_cf89c869-23c8-4814-8132-259f72c503eb
gla
Rerunning the numbers based on the Silicon Valley Bank update from 13/03/23:
TMT have generated a net $1.3m in the past 30 days suggesting 1 or more realisations from the portfolio the market believes are "worthless" - based on today's share price.
NAV as at last update 13/22/22 was $218.4m. Market cap currently is at a lowly $88.3m (as at 17/3/23) based on $2.64/share.
So a discount of 59.5% to NAV based on the recent (Dec 22) update. Meanwhile the peers to BOLT (Uber and Lyft) have diverged. LYFT is down 6% compared to June 22. Uber is up 40%. So assuming a half way mark of 17% reversion in valuation would be $74.3m x 17% = $12.6m uplift. So a revised NAV of $231m.
That gets us to a discount to NAV of 61.7% - as the recent "excitement" dwindled through inclusion in Investor Chronicle ST's Bargain Shares of the Year 2023.
Further realisations above their holding price at the next update (due soon) should send this on its way, with ST penning excited updates to his IC readers. We see evidence of realisations in the cash balance..... whether they were above holding price remains to be seen but TMT's track record would suggest it to be so.
I dare say we'll see an IPO of BOLT at some point in 2023, or they'll get taken out by Uber, Lyft or someone else. They are quite well established in 45 countries in growing markets in Africa, Middle East, Central America and Eastern Europe etc so an interesting play that's not dependent on the current "western world" economic cycle. (The world economy is overall still growing - and those markets more so)
Backblaze is growing fast, and addressing a growing market (albeit lots of big companies Azure, AWS etc in this space). But lots of people like using the little guy. Backblaze seem to offer a professional and straight forward service and the key point is because this is publicly listed really one should consider it "liquid". Its shares have dropped recently. So current value to TMT is $17.2m. ($4.58 x 3.745m). We also know that TMT had $11.5m cash at 13/03/23.
So we therefore can calculate ex-cash and publicly listed shares the net market price discount to NAV is $88.3m-$11.5m-$17.2m / $231m-$11.5m-$17.2m = $59.6m i.e. a 70.6% discount to NAV. Or assuming BOLT is fairly valued at +17% so $86.9m (given that there are read acrosses from Lyft and Uber) and could be liquidated at that price today, and handed back to shareholders... that's a discount to NAV of 132.88%.... in other words, if the above is true each TMT share you buy would give you back your buy price THEN hand you $0.87 of cash per share ($86.9m-$59.6m/31.45 shares in issue) ****AND*** give you $3.45 per share worth of the $109m of other investments!!!!!!
My rhetorical question remains as before...
GLA
The spread (+6%) on TMT is too big for me at the moment. Also looking at the 1Y chart, TMT has been in a falling wedge since last August. Late Feb hit 52W low (2.5p). Anyone with the nerve to buy then would be sitting on around +60% profit as it rose rapidly. Since then it has formed a pennant and the BBs are tighter, normally a pre-cursor of a move. We can see concurrance of this on 6m, 3m and 1m charts. Finally, the share price in the last 2 days has crossed the lower BB line (Usually a strong buy signal as it is a double sell rejection). If it were to go above 4p, recent high, you would be looking at +30% profit. All points good, but that +6% spread leaves a bitter taste and is putting me off. Good Luck me marras. As ever do your own research. TT
Today's update from BLZE on top of 13/12/22 update is portfolio change is net $5.2m (3.745m shares and 30/6/22 valuation was $5.23, BLZE is a $6.63 ask so $1.4 x 3.745m). Plus $3.1m (+$2m Hugo + $1.6m Muncher - $0.5m Usual Wines). On June's NAV of $210.1m that's an uplift to $218.4m. Market cap is $113m today (16/2/23).
So a discount of 48% to NAV based on a recent (Dec 22) update. Meanwhile the peers to BOLT (Uber and Lyft) have diverged. LYFT is down 6% compared to June 22. Uber is up 40%. So assuming a half way mark of 17% reversion in valuation would be $74.3m x 17% = $12.6m uplift. So a revised NAV of $231m.
That gets us to a discount to NAV of 51% - even after the recent "excitement" and price recovery driven by ST's Bargain Shares of the Year inclusion.
Moreover, a couple of realisations above their holding price at the next update (due soon) should send this on its way, with ST penning excited updates to his IC readers.
I dare say we'll see an IPO of BOLT at some point in 2023, or they'll get taken out by Uber, Lyft or someone else. They are quite well established in 45 countries in growing markets in Africa, Middle East, Central America and Eastern Europe etc so an interesting play that's not dependent on the current "western world" economic cycle. (The world economy is overall growing nicely)
Backblaze is growing fast, and addressing a growing market (albeit lots of big companies Azure, AWS etc in this space). But lots of people like using the little guy. Backblaze seem to offer a professional and straight forward service and the key point is because this is publicly listed really one should consider it "liquid". This is $25.3m. ($6.75 x 3.745m). We also know that TMT had $10m cash in Dec 22.
So we therefore can calculate ex-cash and publicly listed shares the net market price discount to NAV is $113m-$10m-$25.3m / $231m-$10m-$25.3m = $64.1m i.e. a 60.3% discount to NAV. Or assuming BOLT is fairly valued at +17% so $86.9m (given that there are read acrosses from Lyft and Uber) and could be liquidated at that price today, and handed back to shareholders... then essentially each TMT share you buy would give you back your buy price THEN hand you $0.72 of cash per share ($86.9m-$64.1m/31.45 shares in issue) ****AND*** give you $3.45 per share worth of the $109m of other investments!!!!!!
Can you find me another share which is as cheap as this?
Backblaze's Q4 results:
“We were pleased to finish 2022 with strong Q4 overall revenue growth of 23% driven by an increasing proportion of our B2 Cloud Storage service, which grew 44% in Q4,” said Gleb Budman, CEO of Backblaze. “We are excited as we begin 2023 as we see the opportunity to help more small and large businesses reduce the cost of their cloud infrastructure," continued Mr. Budman. “Given the uncertain macroeconomic environment, businesses have even more reason to seek cost savings with best-of-breed cloud services — and Backblaze provides them a solution with B2 Cloud Storage, which is 1/5th the price of traditional cloud storage providers such as Amazon S3. Further, B2 is very easy to use, saving users up to 90% of the time it takes to manage traditional cloud services.”
“Turning to our own financial picture, as we continue to grow revenue, we’re moderating expense growth and are targeting to approach adjusted EBITDA breakeven in Q4 of this year,” continued Mr. Budman.
Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights:
•Revenue of $22.9 million, an increase of 23% year-over-year (YoY).
?B2 Cloud Storage revenue was $9.5 million, an increase of 44% YoY.
?Computer Backup revenue was $13.3 million, an increase of 11% YoY.
•Gross profit of $11.7 million, or 51% of revenue, compared to $9.8 million or 53% of revenue, in Q4 2021.
•Adjusted gross profit of $17.3 million, or 75% of revenue, compared to $14.1 million or 75% of revenue in Q4 2021.
•Net loss was $14.8 million compared to a net loss of $9.6 million in Q4 2021.
•Net loss per share was $0.45 compared to a net loss per share of $0.38 in Q4 2021.
•Adjusted EBITDA was $(2.5) million, or (11)% of revenue, compared to $(1.3) million or (7)% of revenue in Q4 2021.
•Non-GAAP net loss of $9.0 million compared to non-GAAP net loss of $6.5 million in 2021.
•Non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.27 compared to a non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.26 in 2021.
•Cash, short-term investments and restricted cash, non-current totaled $69.7 million as of December 31, 2022.
For full-year 2023 we expect:
•Revenue between $98 million to $102 million.
•Adjusted EBITDA margin between (10)% to (6)%.
Agricore > For me the pleasing thing to see is that they expect to be operationally EBITDA breakeven from Q4 2023 and cash is $69m and their operational cash burn is $13m in 2022 (for the year) and reducing, so there's plenty of runway left.
As an aside ahead of their Q4 results: Backblaze is impressive how many integrations they have - backup Facebook photos, backup your O365 emails etc etc etc.
https://www.backblaze.com/b2/integrations.html?platform=all
Also interesting to see it's TechRadar's recommended:
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/backblaze
Backblaze has a large user base, and even some fans, and it's easy to see why – if you want to back up everything from one computer and its external drives, simply and securely, without spending too much, then it's hard to beat. We appreciate that there are no limits on file sizes and no limits on the amount of data you can send to the cloud.
Just be certain you know exactly what Backblaze is before you part with any cash: it's not for syncing files between computers or getting easy access to your files through a web browser. It's a comprehensive, set-it-and-forget it backup solution for protecting your data should the worst happen, and at that task it provides a great solution.
As such, BackBlaze is our favorite backup service thanks to its unlimited storage at a reasonable cost, aided by its array of restoration methods and ease of use.
Backblaze brings its results out Wednesday.
Meanwhile it has achieved SOC2 compliance which provides further credentials to its offering and unlocks potentially larger customers where SOC2 is a prerequisite.
https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/backblaze-receives-soc-2-type-2-certification-2023-02-09
A month or so back it also launched it's US East Data Centre (with a further 1 Exabyte or storage) which also provides further data replication options where, for example, a business wants to back up its data across multiple nodes.
https://ih.advfn.com/stock-market/NASDAQ/backblaze-BLZE/stock-news/89768492/backblaze-opens-new-us-east-data-region
Looks like it could be an interesting day
Tipped last night by Simon Thompson (IC) as part of his 2023 bargain shares portfolio.
up 36%. No news that I can see.