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Last post: unhooked, 14 Jun 2024 10:08
18/6/24, to answer my own question. We need to hear something positive because the corporate story here has been a car-crash.
All-time lows? When are they reporting to the market?
Am I right in saying that at 38p / share this is yielding about 9%?!? If they maintain the divi and the banks start trimming interest rates this will look even more impressive…
On 28th November I said :
"Wow - the CFO and the CEO gone. This one is done for, I reckon the share price will halve again over the next few months."
The share price then was 80p.
The share price is now 36p !
Now we can see the total shambles that is AGFX. Alpha Group are the top dog and were onto alternative banking a few years ago now and infinitely better than this. Equals looks okay, and certainly far better than this too.
If the CEO and CFO go in short order like that the flag is HUGE and very very red.
If it holds above 83 looks like 90s could be on!
Started: realturbo, 17 May 2024 15:42
Last post: Dartron, 4 Jun 2024 23:48
Was looking at last years AGM, to see if we might get a trading update. New board, so its possible. But what caught my eye was that RE- ELECT HENRY BECKWITH had 25% votes against. He is the representative from Pacific (family member too), I tried to see how many shares the original founders had, HA had about 11%. I cant see why anyone else with 25% of the stock would vote against this motion, so it is possible that there was a difference of opinion between Pacific and Harry Adams and others. The AGM was in June, and by November they had left.
I still maintain this placing and recent developments could have been over egged to help stake build here for Pacific and Jim Ormond. Beckwith (senior) literally bought as much as he could at 45p - read this thread to see all the buys he made. To be fair to Jim Ormand, he did buy up at 77p prior to the raise.
Not sure if / how original founders have sold stock. I seriously doubt anybody would shoot themselves in the foot and sell under 45p even if they had a major disagreement. Probably sold the stock to Rockwood in November / December time.
I am really pleased to see the Australian license granted. Lets hope the office gets up and running quickly, I believe it was already ready to go. Hopefully the AGM throws some more light on the progress being made.
Some good digging there!
Back in 2012:
The businessman, who has made an estimated £400m from his serial backing of fund management groups, is today launching Argentex from the Chelsea headquarters of his main vehicle, Pacific Investments. Argentex is the 28th company founded by Sir John.
Back in 2019
Founded in 2012, Argentex is majority-owned by property tycoon Sir John Beckwith’s Pacific Investments Group although its stake will be substantially reduced by a fund raise and share sale ahead of the placing.
Now 2024, buying some back. Pacific investments have a lot of PE on the books. Never know, they could take it back private. If they did, it would give his personal funds a nice boost wouldn't it!
https://www.pacificinvestments.com/what-we-do/private-equity/
Pacific maintains an active involvement in the businesses it invests in, shaping strategy, overseeing operations and business development.
I wasn't aware of the connection, but I find this strengthens the investment case here some what for me.
I think Pacific took the 5,347,732 shares and went from 15,442,694 to 20,790,426.
JB increased by a further 1,853,567 which are split across his other holdings. Seems all of these he got on the 13th, so I would assume that they are from the placing. The other holdings add back to the extra amount, and added to the pacific holding total the headline figure 22,643,993.
Interesting that we have not seen any other RNS, so no II has reduced as far as we can tell.
Sir John Beckwith Under
(i) Pacific Investments Management Ltd
(ii) Children's Trust
(iii) Personal Pension
(iv) Charitable Trust
has increased his holding Argentex from 15% to 18.8%
Started: NickRubens, 9 May 2024 10:05
Last post: smallcapper2, 16 May 2024 10:41
Spot on, sadly. With a heavy heart - sold everything this morning! Their story simply makes no sense to me anymore.
Seems like they've had their shot at growth and blew it, without much explanation. The future isn't encouraging.
They now seem undercapitalized will have to fight for survival against competitors who already have the diverse product suite they're hoping to launch in 2025.
It's amazing how they've failed quite so spectacularly relative to Alpha, Equals etc - given AGFX seemingly a better brand and growth trajectory originally.
I think ALPH is worth a buy even at these elevated levels though now they're on the main market
It is certainly hard to be bullish when we are in the dark on so many things. Having listened to the vox interviews again, Judith McKenzie in January and Staveley in November, they both rate this guy Jim. Staveley picks his words very carefully but I think Harry Adams got this in a mess, and the results are poor due to his strategy. Also 2022 was a tough comparator, as there was much higher volatility in fx markets. This could be the basis of the strategy mistake.
Item 3 in their list is geographic expansion, which sounds achievable on the money they have. I thought this paragraph was encouraging:
During the year a new entity and office was set up in Dubai. It is expected that both Australia and Dubai will receive licences to operate during 2024. Revenues generated in the Netherlands for the year totalled £3.9m (9 months to December 2022: £1.6m). The Netherlands will be the central hub for our European operations and the licences granted in the Netherlands will allow the Group to open branches in the EU countries in the coming years.
What ever the previous strategy was, the admin expenses have grossly eaten in to the profit, and this needs to be un done ASAP (which is essentially item 1). Both fund managers had spoken to Jim, so AGFX is not secretive to everybody. Staveley says that these guys are not public markets guys - stating the obvious!.
I already had some of these prior to the drop, and it isnt an ideal situation, but this now has all the makings of a recovery stock. Problem removed (HA), new team in place, perhaps made a poor first impression, but so I will continue to hold.
Is a 1 bagger from here possible? I think so, that would put it back in historic PE multiple more aligned to sector peers. If nothing else I think this can recover somewhat, as it is technically and fundamentally over sold. A further update would make it much easier to buy a few more, ideally spend some cash on a broker note FFS.
The 36.8p buy today is very telling of the real supply and demand situation here.
Would this be worth it if the sp goes much lower than the offer price please those who are familar with this matter
Indeed they weren't explicit in the RNS about the Retail Offer take-up... this is Argentex after all!
But to get to the amount of 4333 shares sold in the Retail Offer, one just has to subtract the figure in the RNS of 3/5/24 from the figure in the RNS of 9/5/24. They're not kidding anyone!
Unhooked, Yes I've just been trying to work out if the 'retail' offer was taken up? The RNS didn't say expressly if it was successful or not and just looking at the shares to be admitted it seemingly wasn't, so no surprise there. Not much director buying to convince me here either. Wishing the best to holders though.
Started: realturbo, 13 May 2024 19:16
Last post: realturbo, 13 May 2024 19:16
Argentex Group PLC (AIM: AGFX), the provider of currency management and payment solutions to international institutions and corporates, confirms the participation of certain Directors in the Placing announced on 2 May 2024 as shown below:
Nigel Railton, Non-Executive Chair, 111,111
Jim Ormonde, Chief Executive Officer, 111,111
Jonathan Gray, Non-Executive Director, 25,000
Digby Jones, Non-Executive Director, 22,222
Tim Haldenby, Non-Executive Director, 22,222
Last post: Troajan, 11 May 2024 09:46
Disappointed (but not surprised) that management have ducked out of facing any questioning on the Investor Meet Company site. They did a presentation on 12/04/23 for the 9 months ending 31/12/22, but not this year it seems. They really aren't treating us very well, are they?
They only got 7.2m shares off in the Placing, so that leaves a possible 4.1m shares available in the Retail Offer at 45p. It will be interesting to see how many of those get taken up. Assuming, for a moment, nobody subscribes in the Retail Offer (and why would they?), then management will have trashed the share price for the sake of raising a mere £3.25m.... an amount of capital which will take them precisely.... nowhere.
Wobble . Where is there news about filing a legal claim please? Would have thoght that would be in an RNS . Many thanks
It’s almost like there are two different stories going on here and litigation with the fired founders is not going to help confidence . Quite a head scratcher. Thoght Harry was long gone on the share front. Maybe using the proceeds for his legal battle. The trouble is how is this in the best interest of shareholders. As far as I can remember this has never been of concern to any of the board
Zebbo, you see what is happening to the share price yes? Or do you not have eyes. It's a train wreck in the making. If my holding was worth selling at this point I would, but as it's only pocket money by now it's more fun to see it getting halved again shortly.
What is the bet Harry Adams is trashing the share price deliberately to make the placing difficult? I would not rule that out as one final goodbye to the board that booted him. I see he has also filed a legal claim against the company which Argentex intend to defend...
Last post: oogleflugal, 5 May 2024 12:00
Thanks Wobble. Indeed buried at the bottom , event after report date. So is it a breach of contact claim, or legality issue? Can’t see how it could be deemed he did anything wrong, even if his strategy was seen as ineffective or negligent. Yet another example of the hush hush secret nature of this company that has confused investors since its inception. It certainly doesn’t help. I wonder what outcome he is hoping for winning back the company or compensation? As with the previous founder that resigned they have a funny way of getting out that is not in the interest of anyone but themselves. I’m more concerned about the competition. Might put off predictors temporarily. The current directors say they believe this to be a going concern for the foreseeable. If they need to catch up on the tech side by splashing out another 5 million leaves a lot of questions
Feel free to thank me later for alerting you to something you overlooked.
and i stand by my bet that Harry hosed out his shares this week. I suspect its personal between him and those now running his old company! will await confirmation next week. Over and out...
Hahaha well you do that then! Perhaps read the report in full next time before jumping up and down. Here is a lesson too you, the juicy stuff is typically at the bottom so make sure you read it. As per the final results announcement:
29 Events after the reporting date
On 14 March 2024, the Group received an Employment Tribunal claim from a former director. The Group will contest the claim
I've reported him too for spreading false info. about legal case against the company
I reported Wobbles post as false or misleading.
I cannot verify this anywhere and if it were true, I believe it is price sensitive information.
Far too cheap. I'm in.
Started: Dartron, 2 May 2024 08:56
Last post: Hazman, 2 May 2024 14:53
Yes, from "certain" large shareholders, not all. To be clear, i'm a buyer here. Either the placing will get underwritten at about this level so their will be a relief rally once announced. Or, it will be pulled and management will find a way to push it as a positive somehow...
From the RNS: "The Company has received indicative support for the Fundraising from certain of its largest shareholders. All of the Directors have also indicated they will participate in the Fundraising."
Yes, wouldn't be surprised if a couple of larger shareholders (Rockwood poss) didn't support the placing, hence why the fall today as they are clearly not in agreement with the direction of the company. I think once they clear then this should recover. Might be a little but of volatility until the placing is underwritten
Am invested in alpha, who are doing very well but have has my eye on Argentex for a while and glad I held off.
Zebbo, would you please mind to provide some rationale to your thinking regarding a subscription based model in comparison to a transactional fee. I’m not seeing the methodology behind it.
Thanks
Got to be honest I am 50k down, but have been buying a few more. Having done some due diligence and having parked emotion at the door, I think the odds are in favour of a turn around. So aspects of the strategy I like. Moving away from transactional to a subscription based service, is the way to go
Started: zebbo, 2 May 2024 07:46
Last post: avocet123, 2 May 2024 10:32
The market is speaking. 13% down now and I can see it sinking a lot more. The back story about the fundraising just stinks.
70% share price collapse in 12 months is nothing to be proud of. Who can honestly say this is well managed and the BOD are providing shareholder value?
Maybe so but after residing over a 60% fall in the share price the trust isn't there anymore, why should we believe the reasoning
If you read the full results you will understand what the funding is for :-)
For me this is a solid reset. If anyone has done any research you will see Jim's got a good track record of realising value. In addition the move away from transactional work is a good news IMO
O Prosecco. Perhaps the other one is the Spanish version
Neither do they! A new banking platform? I thought they already spent a shareholder fortune upgrading. Looks like they are chasing a train that left the station 2 years ago. The original founder leaving with Covid and selling all his shares on the open market told me everything I didnt want to know about this company. An utter disgrace. Champaign Charlie will definitely be on Preseco for the rest of his natural. Thoroughly deserves it
Started: unhooked, 29 Apr 2024 09:27
Last post: unhooked, 2 May 2024 08:55
A placing?? The last thing expected. We've been told how profitable and cash-generative AGFX is and the full year results, also released today, say the company has £18m in the bank as at 31/12/23. If that isn't enough to "spend on growth" then I'm seriously doubting AGFX's business model. Damn, I keep picking lemon companies.
Is this a joke? The sp is 60% down in a year and they want to do a placing? Very poor show here.
Poorly run business. Not sure what to do with my loss here.
Thank you for your enquiry.
The results will be released on Thursday 2 May.
With best wishes,
The Argentex Team
Thanks @petrencf
Some more large buys way above ask..
Little bit of fwd selling, hence the stake reduction the other week. Can now buy back at 45. Nice if you get the inside track
Started: zebbo, 27 Mar 2024 11:20
Last post: zebbo, 25 Apr 2024 17:23
Lol, ive ended up with way more than planned. But its a turnaround story for me. Lets see what the latest results are and if we also get any output from the strategic review
Fair chance the sale board will be raised IMHO. I dont read to much into Rockwood, as they are an active fund its year end and have also kept hold of 5m
Wonder if Rockwood, knew that there was going to be forced seller. e.g. one of the founders or something. So they sliced a bit to trade it lower? There has been a few buys as well, I took a few at 46 and been watching it carefully. Though admittedly its a failing trade now.
No news and scrappy bot sells, not doing us any favours
I wish the seller was cleared but it looks unlikely as the share price keeps dropping to new all time lows.
Results for the year to 31/12/23 a bit delayed? Last year's came out on 12/04/23.
Let’s hope Richard Staveley just needs the funds for another investment opportunity! This is a great company, my father used them to handle the funds from a large property sale in France a few months back and was very impressed with the service!
Started: zebbo, 17 Apr 2024 16:20
Last post: petrencf, 17 Apr 2024 16:43
Are results due next week?
Looks like there is a naughty bot at work today
Started: Dartron, 23 Feb 2024 11:25
Last post: realturbo, 14 Mar 2024 14:22
"1500 sticky clients, business is profitable, huge growth potential over long term, how many companies do you know who's have 110 employees and make £15m EBITDAR?"
Https://youtu.be/3_N2JucuT48?t=1098
Way more detail than you normally get from these fund manager interviews.
Agree with him, one to tuck away.
Note he is talking about comparing this to ALPH (Not AFM as was suggested in a previous thread here - different business).
Started: unhooked, 7 Feb 2024 09:12
Last post: Scarfell, 21 Feb 2024 13:28
CAB Payments down 13% as well (with no RNS). Forex companies should benefit from volatility in this election year (US and likely here).
Weakness these last few days. I wonder if old Harry (ex-CEO) is selling down?
Its is definitely a punt. Very chequered history. I dont know if we will ever get the full story on this company. The risk reward seems very stretched. This is a crowded sector with Hsbc muscling back in with Zing at the beginning of the year. Too much infighting for my liking. It doesnt seem to bode well with investors and it looks like it doesnt bode well with clients. Why would you with plenty of competition to choose from. Champagne Charlie’s going to have to get used to Prosecco at best.
Sold out at 66p. I've bought back today. I'm looking for the rejiggled management to turn the it around.
It's a punt for me.
Nasty drop this morning presumably caused by Alpha Financial Markets reporting negatively to the market. I'm taking a fair amount of stock-specific risk here, but I've added again.
Started: Scarfell, 14 Feb 2024 14:50
Last post: Scarfell, 14 Feb 2024 14:50
Now showing 4.5% interest - interesting!
Sorry, keep thinking of something else to add. RNS are issued at 7 a.m and throughout the day, Monday - Friday. Companies are obliged to report certain types of information, particularly if it is price sensitive. You can read them on the News/RNS link at the top of the screen
There are sites such as Morningstar that also collate company information including the largest shareholders.
Example: https://tools.morningstar.co.uk/uk/stockreport/default.aspx?tab=5&vw=own&SecurityToken=0P0001HUYW%5D3%5D0%5DE0WWE%24%24ALL&Id=0P0001HUYW&ClientFund=0&CurrencyId=BAS
You have to read the past Regulatory News Statements (RNS) issued, there is a link above called AGFX Live RNS that contains the past RNS. In this case there was one issued on 1st Feb. called a TR-1: Standard form for notification of major holdings and it stated that Rockwood Strategic had bought 3.53% of the company and previously held zero. RNS are a mine of information on the company.
May I ask where you find this information? How can I track when a fund is dipping in?
That was the trigger for me. They know what they are doing.
Started: DN2024, 30 Jan 2024 08:40
Last post: unhooked, 30 Jan 2024 10:01
No actually, buy below 60 is correct. The market giveth.... and I've taken!
Company is still profitable, still generates cash, and is likely to be a takeover target in 2024. It was a target yesterday and is even more so today, imo.
Meant buy below 70
Just topped up my position to take it to 12K total - huge potential - just need a god leadership team to fall in place Growth
● New products
● New geographies - Australia
● More transactions per customer
Board expects revenues for the twelve months to 31 December 2023 of approximately £49.8m, compared to £50.4m for the twelve months to 31 December 2022*, and operating profit of not less than £8.0m, compared with £11.3m for the same period in 2022.
Started: Howardzzz, 11 Jan 2024 17:15
Last post: Howardzzz, 11 Jan 2024 17:15
I wonder why the sudden fall today?
Maybe ripe for a Takeover - as per Simon Thompson's IC tip ?
Started: ragnarlothbrok, 10 Nov 2023 08:53
Last post: AndyAMG, 10 Nov 2023 16:16
Having done the math it would seem second half revenues will be about £25 mil so I'm not sure I see a cliff !
Yet some are still buying.
Looks like everyone saw that coming. Haven’t done the maths yet but H2 falling off a cliff. Given performance changes were required. Comms some of the worst I have ever seen treating shareholders with utter disregard
Started: rotto, 9 Nov 2023 15:40
Last post: oogleflugal, 9 Nov 2023 20:00
Gresham always are relaxed about their stock falls. Saw you coming! First there was the Jani fire sale mopped up by? The board. The guy got a bad case of covid it eventually transpired. So he had to take a 40 per cent drop! Seems a little bizarre. Is health care that expensive? Presumably these guys have health insurance plans. So is history about to repeat. The board generously mop up cheap shares again with no plausible and I mean plausible explanation.
Those purchases were made before today's RNS and share price drop. Therefore appears to have been unfortunate timing on the part of Gresham.
I timed this just right in selling yesterday for a lovely profit.
GLA
Well, Gresham seem to be certain that it's not so serious!
That's 3 large purchases in a few days.
Can't wait to see the next news release!
Started: rotto, 9 Nov 2023 09:54
Last post: unhooked, 9 Nov 2023 10:28
Couldn't agree more rotto. Sadly , 'deserve' doesn't come into it. No way can they sweep this under the carpet - if they don't publish a specific explanation now, they're going to have to explain what happened at the next scheduled reporting date.
Surely, good governance, even on AIM, demands that a market statement is provided today.
Investors deserve nothing less.
Started: unhooked, 26 Oct 2023 08:36
Last post: oogleflugal, 9 Nov 2023 10:22
Expect Yani is thinking he was well out of it assuming his health is ok. I have to admit thinking it was a bit of an excuse using covid as the reason for dumping 12 million shares on the open market. Remains to be seen if ex ceo will do the same. The CFO only had 30k in plus maybe some options. Harry /Henry had warned of a slow down but was already on a low pe and pretty reasonable cash position and net asset values etc. this could be a good opportunity. The trouble is shareholders are treated with utter disdain and the staff are not held in the same regard as for instance Eqls. For that reason I will continue to monitor. I suspect this is the usual meerkat over reaction though unless told otherwise and on previous form don’t get the sp on that.
Mmm, Chairman announced retirement in July, then CEO went and now CFO. It does seem serious and the market obviously doesn't like it. The SP has roughly halved since the recent high in July. On the face of it, the business seems to be doing OK, so what are we not being told?
More board room shenanigans with today's announcement that the CFO has resigned 'with immediate effect'. Unlike Harry, she receives a terse thank you.
What to make of all this? Clearly there's been a board room bust-up. Has something gone wrong with the strategy? Are we about to receive bad operational news? Has someone been a naughty boy (or girl)? As usual, we PIs are left n the dark... left nursing our losses as the share price drops to all-time lows.
Of course it looks like they are hiding something. The share price reaction testifies to that. Has Harry been on the fiddle?
Would be helpful if they explained why he has left with immediate effect. What a thoroughly unhelpful RNS. Looks like they are hiding something.
Started: MartMcM, 13 Sep 2023 13:51
Last post: StraightAIM, 26 Oct 2023 11:00
Haven't been close to this one but wow, interesting RNS given the total lack of additional detail. You'd think that they would at least try to reassure that there are no accounting issues etc.
Seems I got my Henry and Harry muddled up. The Beckwiths , father and son are big backers of Argentex. Not royalty , but titled. This could be another storm in a tea cup, but as last time they dont seem keen to get the story straight yet. As a guy on Stockopedia observed his departure was not thanked. Not great for PR. The big question is will and when will Harry want to cash in his shares?
New chair didn't waste any time here, been in for less than 2 months and already booted the CEO. No thanks or any kind of message from outgoing CEO and a new CEO stepping any straight away suggests a particularly bitter dispute. Must really hurt to be booted out of the company you started. I wonder how quickly he will be disposing of his shares... Hopefully new guy will keep a tighter grip on costs and margins and have a more disciplined attitude to investment
Company is now officially dirt cheap on financials, in line with the rest of the market, starting with £20m of net cash on an £80m market cap
Wow. They say lightning never strikes twice. Not so with this company. The other founder having left with long covid,but rather mysteriously dumping all his shares which were mopped up by the remaining directors at a massive discount which crashed the shares to 80p. Today we see a new low when the ex?spice girl partner even more mysteriously exits with no explanation, although I have a pretty good idea. That is immaterial really because the fundamentals are better than when the other founder left. There is around 27p Asset value per share if that info is correct and up to date. They did warn of a slow down in trade. The question is to hold for recovery or move on. There are better places to invest without the uncertainty and lack of information. This big problem is how damaging will this be to the confidence of clients.on balance, although financially on a stronger ,it doesn’t look like a bargain yet
Argentex Group plc posted interims for the HY ended 30th June this morning. Group revenue increased by 28% to £25.0m, operating profit increased by 16% to £5.2m while Group EBITDA margins were maintained at 29%. There was a £3m increase in net cash and an Interim dividend of 0.75p per share was announced. Valuation looks relatively attractive with forward PE ratio 9.3x top third for the IB&IS sector. Main cloud for the investment case is the lack of positive share price momentum, indeed today’s decent reporting has triggered a 10% slump suggesting that it remains too soon to buy. AGFX has plenty of growth potential and is trading at a reasonable price, but it remains a share to monitor for the time being...
...from WealthOracle
wealthoracle.co.uk/detailed-result-full/AGFX/794