The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode with London Stock Exchange Group's Chris Mayo has just been released. Listen here.
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what a bunch of cry-babies.
where were all the “avid believers” in darktrace before it was sold to new us owners last week?
when it was being relentlessly targeted by a well-organised network of rogues, not one of them stood up in defence of what’s being a hailed as a “national tech treasure”. now we must endure the obligatory floods of crocodile tears from those distracting us from their role in the whole saga 🙄
you can be sure many will be quietly deleting articles from their archives, erasing all traces of their role in a blistering campaign of abuse against darktrace, its board and staff. but we have long memories.
darktrace’s treatment since joining the lse in 2021 is yet another example of london’s toxicity towards founders daring to list growth companies in the uk. the queue of “journalists”, eager to partner with shady, offshore hedge funds in their efforts to destroy darktrace and its share price, paints an ugly truth.
such is london’s fear of founders and tech businesses, those daft enough to join the lse are painted as using witchery, smoke and mirrors. in a recent city am interview, even the founder of notorious short-attacker, muddy waters, said uk listed tech companies are easy targets.
it seems a well-rehe****d playbook that works every time. it starts with carefully seeded rumours of wrongdoing at a company, involving hedge funds, bankers, journalists, and online share chat forums.
everyone knew of the darktrace rumours months before the short attacks started. so, when they did arrive, supported by nonsense reports of wrongdoing, fraud, and even organised crime, a smash-up of darktrace’s share price was guaranteed. kerching! big profits for those involved, while the uk’s investors were once again robbed.
it’s sooo easy, with no fear of action from the lse or the onlooking financial conduct authority. but the lse is now a barren wasteland - a poorly managed, unsafe ”market”. naturally, investors and companies have taken flight in record numbers. it's a basic consequence of decades of foul play.
15 years ago, there were 3,305 companies on the lse. today the number is half! at the same time, all other global markets have exploded in size.
year after year, investors have demanded their cash back from uk fund managers, tired of being subjected to uk market abuse. these record withdrawals force fund managers to sell most lse companies, only able to hold those paying dividends.
companies re-investing profits instead of paying dividends are now tricky investments for most uk fund managers, who need dividend cash to help fund the investor exodus.
the impact is stark. last week, google, meta and microsoft confirmed that in 2024 alone they will invest a combined $140bn in tech/ai, while nasdaq companies as a whole will invest up to c$1 trillion!
by contrast, all the lse’s remaining tech businesses together will likely invest no more than $5bn in 2024, of whi
Part 2:
THG is c$125m.
Enough said.
hashtag#WildWest
hashtag#London
hashtag#Exits
Ben Harrington is reposting the LinkedIn post…..
Not seen him do that before…..but I may be wrong…
"online share chat forums" we're famous boys!
"what a bunch of cry-babies.".....oh the irony of this comment...he has caused a flood in Northwich since the calamitous CMD in Sept 21 and frequent outburts, whilst dismissing 95% of advice he is given....someone give him a mirror..lol
"you can be sure many will be quietly deleting articles from their archives, erasing all traces of their role in a blistering campaign of abuse against darktrace, its board and staff. but we have long memories."....lol...MM should focus on getting his house in order rather than trying to act like some Charles Bronson vigilante
"such is london’s fear of founders and tech businesses, those daft enough to join the lse are painted as using witchery, smoke and mirrors." well MM was clever enough to IPO and use it as a trigger for his LTIP and get Softbank money....think of those poor investors who have taken big losses....sure he has a big paper loss but he got an extra c10% of the company back...cannot be that paid....lol
I would sympathise more with MM if he walked the walked....he has got as much guff as those he berates...hence nobody new backing him him over 2yrs and the 65% probably accept they need to show outward support given how much they are underwater too...
Enjoy the sunshine!
Cantona. He already set the irony to max when he made his LI profile and put his down in his "About" section ...
"People will throw stones at you. Don’t throw them back. Collect them all and build an Empire."
He doesn't even listen to his own advice let alone others
@Ihavenoclue....makes sense why he went to Dubai a while back....He has collected so many stones he is forced to ship some there and is building a tower twice the size of Burj Khalifa...lol
#THGMoralityOfficer
#5%adviceguy
#95%valuedestroyer
#firingblanks
His LI post unfortunately will fuel a lot of jokes....he has hit his ceiling....
OhhAhhCantona think you summed that up perfectly. The vigilante saviour role would be fine as an activist, influencer or commentator, or if he was a plain old majority shareholder, but while running a plc at the same time it's pretty bananas.
The LSE has lacked tech companies for a long time, was the case in 2020 when he chose to list here too. Same goes for any non-US exchange. Pretty big structural reasons for that but I'm pretty sure it's not because of what someone says on a forum. He can't genuinely be this angry when he personally banked hundreds of millions from LSE.
His LinkedIn posts are nearly comical.
Actually referencing that funds not buying into growth stocks being a major problem whilst refusing to go into the premium listing so they can actually buy THG shares. It’s like he’s pointing out his own flaws in management but can’t see it.
I can’t get my head around why someone would keep posting this nonsense.
*He can't genuinely be this angry when he personally banked hundreds of millions from LSE.*
He never sold the shares though did he? So, the holding is worth many times less I believe.
Happy for someone to set me straight on this - as I prefer facts to emotion hard as that is sometimes.
"He never sold the shares though did he?"
Wrong. He sold shares, acquired all the property as part of a reorganisation just pre-IPO, and then was given additional shares for hitting targets.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hut-group-chief-matt-moulding-to-sell-54m-shares-mjz0k3wv9
https://www.ft.com/content/63668713-c1b1-49e9-9108-800bd9c79e97
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/830m-payday-for-hut-group-founder-matthew-moulding-vmd92wlxr
@knowbody you are correct he didn’t sell any shares..
MM sold 50million worth of shares at the float which I believe acted as his deposit to buy the buildings from Thg with moulding capital . I could be wrong . So I truth he received very little cash from the float except was able to buy the buildings at a discount so will of made a decent amount on them but most of mm wealth is in thg all my opinion
OhhAhh I have to say I'm in agreement with you that MM has hit his development ceiling, him and Gallemore for me, and unfortunately they imvho have to bear the brunt of the responsibility for the sp being where it is.
Who decided to carry out a rebranding of THG Nutrition when its sales were firing on all cylinders and expanding well into Europe? Was meant to take it to the next level + supposedly well received. Reality: Revenue / Sales now down 9% and say goodbye to its seperate listing "in the not too distant"
£50M spent on keeping prices low to retain customers. Repeatedly mention that this was the right thing to do strategy wise. Reality: Nutrition numbers down 9% as above.
Treating shareholders with complete disregard. No public facing IR department for starters,an in absentia Chairman, and don't get mestarted on that Iain Mac debacle from the 2nd Jan that cost shareholders a 33% fall in the share price by ignoring rightful shareholder concerns. Then he steps aside and into a role working even more hours and I presume getting paid even more.
£15M spent on a seperation agenda about 2 years back - where's the seperate listings?
Closed the door on 4 Bids - the Apollo one abruptly and prematurely, because they "significantly undervalued" the company. Reality - Today its sat at about 1/3 of that and the strategy doesn't seem to be working.
95% of advice binned. Virtually all of Kelso's advice is in that bin. That's advice from a seasoned collective of ex CEO's, CFO's, Chairpersons and experienced City figures and High Net Worths - and all of which was sp enhancing stuff. Seperate listing of Nutrition, More RNS, Strategy update, Share buy backs and Premium listing all advised - most recently though the desire for a shareholder vote to see how they the shareholders would like the company run.
Huge Capex spent on THG Ingenuity growing and hunting whales. Reality - that strategy hasn't worked out in 2years as none have arrived. Now switched rhetoric to trying to grow off existing client base.
£30 Million share awards just past and key performance indicators clearly not linked to the share price.
Routinely berates the city and its actors for the share price and is putting people off investing.
I expect he's feeling the heat as its not too long before the AGM is upon us and he can meet his shareholders face to face and they can cast their votes. Share price 65p.
No point trying to use Darktrace as an example as THG has had 4 Bids itself and with the door abruptly closed on each. 2 for Nutrition we didn't even get to hear about until an off the cuff remark and the Bid prices don't get published either so the sp never reaches anywhere near its potential.
Feel free to add.
And well done Kelso for a very good set of results and a further investment in the cybersecurity outfit NCC. Maybe a bot of trading in THG also as I have them as holding 1 million more THG at time of report. But their silence on @TH
Moulding's comparison of THG with Darktrace is revealing. An AI driven cyber-security company versus an online retailer with white elephant called Ingenuity attached. Who is he kidding when he continues to insist that THG is some sort of tech pioneer? Nobody believes it anymore.
Unhooked, he has compared it to Dakrtrace a few times now ..it backs up a point he has been making
@unhooked, you are right that MM has it all to prove with Ingenuity as sales currently disappoint. But I think he deserves credit for highlighting some big issues with the LSE, and the smear campaign that Darktrace has been subjected to.
Speaking of smear campaigns, has anyone heard from Ste today? :D
Posted a few negative comments this morning. I think he may be on his lunch break.
You might see him pop up seeing as the sp has dropped 0.5p
Afternoon all,
I jumped out in the New Year, leaving a nominal amount of shares. Is it worth getting back in with a larger stake at this time? Just taken a luke warm bath over at PFC, not enjoyable at all, you take your chance though.
Looking to start increasing again here, looks like Matt is up to his usual antics, may jump back in to a much larger scale, being a local lad an all.
GLA....still put up or shut up Matt (although he does have valid opinions regarding DARK)
Yesimabeliever, I quite agree that Darktrace has been subject to a smear campaign which does not reflect well on the LSE, but this has little to do with THG. It's obvious why Moulding would want to make the association (THG down 85% since IPO and Darktrace up 150% since IPO), but it stretches credibility in every way.
Many times he's said things along the lines of "we'll just keep our heads down and concentrate on operations and performance", but in reality he rarely sticks to that maxim. Hypocracy, disingenuity and ego - they follow Moulding wherever he goes.
MM is clearly not a stable CEO in charge of a public listed company. Ranting on LinkedIn instead of doing the best for shareholders is not the credentials you want in your CEO. A premium listing would be a good start as Kelso have suggested, then sacking the Chairman would be a good second choice. Kelso may only have a small interest in THG but they are fully aligned with private investors interests, unlike MM who treats this company like a personal play thing it appears. The only possibility for a decent return for private investors in the near term would be another approach from someone like Apollo, but it would have to be near 300p to be taken seriously by the THG BOD. JMO Adyor!!!!
@Moniman, if you have not read the Chairman’s statement in the latest annual report, then I suggest you have a read. Basically, it says he and non execs are unequivocally behind strategy and operational actions of Exec Directors and Senior Mgmt….
Basically, I read this as ….yes we know we are going to get a bloody nose at the AGM from the majority of of 35% club, but we will take it and move on as we have the 65% club.
Miss the days when you were spreading FUD about THG, Moniman!