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This share has only had excellent results and excellent RNS's. unfortunately, this is the AIM market and we are all being duped!
Does anybody know when the results are due and hopefully they are good ones , because i feel its the only thing that is going to get this share moving. Starting to get really peed off now having been in this for quite some time.
Is as dead as a nit!
Latest comment (not mine) on ADVFN:
"You have to question why their long in the tooth marketing manager with a TV background couldn't get them exposure on prime time TV tonight with the apprentice running an escape room task."
Some drop... well, running a company and wiping out 95% of the shareholder value doesn't look to me like 7 years of successful work but again, if you feel that is, let's agree to differ. As for comms, I think you're the only person to think their comms is good; many many people don't understand why XP / EH or Boom are so hidden, but again, I respect your view. Are we to wait another 7 years for the market to nap? If so, I'll sell now and cut my losses!
You keep banging on about the 90-95% drop but some drop was always inevitable and to grow a company needs to raise funds and the big investors know that and would have participated in the raises
The comms are fine, very comprehensive RNS and decent, plentiful interviews. I know what I need to know here. The number will speak for themselves and if the market is caught napping, then so be it.
I respect your opinion too but I think you missed a few key points:
- different business it may be and successful in the UK, but the rest of the world has been abandoned as a result. What happened to franchising in the US or anywhere else for that matter. I think there were around 57 locations worldwide in 2017 (I'm talking EH of course), now outside the UK only 20 odd. That in itself is fine IF the SP goes up to reflect the success of the very narrow UK focus. It has instead dropped 90-95%. The issue is any strategy is only as good as the SP reflects.
- SIPS - in total there seem to be around 5m SIPS shares. That's not tiny and the big issue here is one buys shares like this cheap. As long as this continues, the SP won't rise as they want to continue buying very cheap. The original SIPS was awarded for a far higher price, now it's so low it will contribute considerable upside for the buyers BUT not as long as they keep wanting to buy.
- most of all, you haven't addressed the lack of comms. Why would you seems to actively hide the business and not make more of the positive news? That's all part of the extremely hands off management style I see. Looking at the credentials of the board, is that the best they can do to promote the business? I'm not convinced they are trying very hard! Question is why?
I repeat I'm in with a big chunk and want the business to grow but things don't stack up to me at present and I wonder how much longer we linger around 15p?
Have to agree with you there. Also a large proportion of the shares ARE held by institutions, cannacord own a lot . I think earnings will be ok ,
Yet the SP fails to agree with that.
The SIPs is tiny and absolutely normal for employees to participate in this sort of scheme. I see no issue with it whatsoever.
The business is completely different to te one that was floated in 2017 - the SP may have been over £1 but the mCAP was less than half of what it is today. I don't what happened pre-pandemic as relevent here at all.
The business is completely different to the one back then. Its growing rapidly and profitably , its establishing great brand credentials, popular with customers and employees.
I respect your opinion - but for me I remain confident that there are no gremlins here.
A little more digging into public domain info reveals an interesting story.
The positive is the recent growth, demand, locations on good terms and brand extension into Boom from EH. If this continues, then it's a good long term bet and has shown itself to be reasonably recession-proof.
However, the share price is 90% down on the initial placing in 2017. Why? From what I can glean, it's a combination maybe of several issues which have stopped institutions jumping in: Being burned from the initial SP, share dilution is huge, SIPS scheme has been rather overused, management style is marmite and v.v.highly remunerated and caused some to jump and fin comms is woeful (one has to assume intentionally given the connections and expertise of the team)..
I am in for the long term and waiting for around 120p before considering a sell. The issue is how much longer until the SIPS is played out, proper news is reported to get interest, no more shares issued and the price truly reflects the achievement and potential. In my experience, even in AIM, prices are there for a reason not arbitrary, so the fact the SP doiesnt rise is because investors see the whole picture (way more than I can) and are wary.
DYOR and DYOC bit for me after some digging, there are gremlins and I can only hope the company gets the SP growth it deserves soon.
Simon - I am absolutley perplexed that the shares are still sitting at this value.
Some will see the share price performance - with their glass half empty wondering what they've misses and that there is a reason why the strong operational and growth has not translated to an increase in the share price.
I am as confident as I can be that there are no gremlins here - I no longer try to guess or theorise why the SP is not higher; I'm sticking with my own assessment and will hold as long as I need to hit my 50p target.
I hope to see more bullish holders on here in 2024 and look forward to sharing thoughts and opinions on their 2024/5 plans and performance.
Just watched the directors talk interview from a few weeks ago Richard Harpham saying they will be looking to add new sites this year with free cash flow which can only be a good thing, and as the site number increases that can only benefit economies of scale. The alcohol they purchase per unit cost will be cheaper because they will be able to order more of it.hopefuly the interims will be released early much instead of late March
Not long to go now until we see the full 12mth results for XP.
So far we know the revenue performance and have positive indicators on Gross Margin and EBITDA
XP posted a (£1.5m) loss in H1; this was £2.3m EBITDA less £2.9m depreication and a one off Fair Value adj relating to the final Boom settlement
I expect them to deliver £8-9m EBITDA in H2 - and would not expect depreciation to be any higher than £3.5m.
So i am expecting to see XP announce a profit of £2-£4m.
You would not know it from this forum, but lets not forget they did post a profit in FY22 as well
I expect Profits of c£7.5m in 2024/25 and c£11m in 2025/26 based on Organic Growth only
I beleive they may have acheived >£10m operating cashflow in 2023 and expect this to head towards £20m per annum by 2026
This is why I beleive they will be targeted at such a low share price.
Simon - some of the sells were mine sadly. I was shuffling my portfolio a little to free up cash for one or two other positions where tie was a factor.
I've still got a very nice holding here and hope to add to that when funds allow.
Do we think the selling is mostly done now? For weeks now we have seen big sells every day, 35,000 , 20,000 , 10,000 which would suggest maybe an institution is trying to cut their position , but the last few days, the big sells appear to have slowed, and the sp is creeping up. I hope to see good results at the interims. Does anyone know when are march they are due?
There has been lots of activity on LinkedIn. It really does seem to be a wonderful company with a great morale and big ambitions.
The first time I heard about Escape Hunt was when listening to one of Justin Waite's updates about 4 years ago. He regarded them as market leaders in Escape Rooms and saw the growth potential. I beleive we are now seeing some of that potential and I truly expect them to go on to reach the scale of HollyWood Bowl through organic growth and acquiistion; as mentioned in my previous post, there is a venue in Reading that is similar called Spinners. It's a nice place and the owners have added two further venues in Plymouth and Solihull. But they don't have the 'wow factor' of Boom. So I can see Boom acquiring them at some point and I'm sure their are examples of other similar ones. They would have similar opportuniyt in the Escape Room space.
Howvere, the strength of XP is that they have managed to grow at a great time where they have secured some great locations at great prices - that opportunity remains open to them, so I would not expect them to acquire competitors where the leases are not in the right ballpark.
No reason not to expect this company withh have 150+ venues within 3-5 years.
(and I still think that due to the combination of 'strange share price activity' and the wonderful growth opportunity that they will get snapped up by Private Equity this yeat)
Last Saturday I was trying to book an activity in Reading (and surrounding areas) for myself and my friends.
I was looking online at 10am
Interactive Darts and Shuffleboard FULLY BOOKED all day at SPinners (Something similar to Boom in Reading)
Superbowl in Wokingham was fully booked for Tenpin Bowling until at least 930pm
The Kareoke room and Shuffleboard was fully booked all day in "The Market House" in Reading which is a pub with 1 or 2 activities
I would say that demand is very strong
Compared to other activities - Boom's offerings afre very reasonable and affordable
Besides - it's been discussed a lot on here; Corporate spend is very important to XPF.
Oxford Street Boom have applied to increase the closing time from 11.30pm to 2:00am on Thursdays , Fridays and Saturdays , can only be a good thing . Hoping demand hasn't softened too much now we are in a technical recession though
I really hope this is the beginning of a climb. Lets hope the directors have bought enough with the SIPS and want some real profit now too! 90% drop from original float SP is not a good look after 7 years.
Interesting trades last few days. Hopefully this is the start 🤞
SP has perked up a little today. Hopefully, this will continue over the next few weeks in anticipation of the March update
Fake AIM!
Lest hope so as a couple of fellow investors flagged the missing cash to me in TU. Others mention it btw. Also, check share dilution and director share schemes. Good to see director investment but the original scheme was changed to one so low, shares are bought at very low price, hence maybe price kept low to allow more of that buying. All in all, something being done to keep price low.
Nice looking late reported trade at a premium.
I expect this to start moving now