Member Info for Aimtrader1

Yeah the SP has fallen all the way back to the last known cash in bank figure. The market is valuing the business at zero. I really hope that it transpires they're in a closed period right now. If it turns out they're not and not one director has bought in at a zero valuation then I'm out for good as says it all.

Wow you really don't give up do you ;) being honest I don't see the discounts as a problem. I'd have confidence pricing is optimised. When to discount. When not etc.

Yes she's kept the show on the road but from what I can see keeping the show on the road doesn't help us, it just keeps the team employed for a longer period. They have lofty ambitions to create the worlds first sleep wellness brand yet the actions don't talk to the ambition. Launching a few knick knacks that generate 1-2% of revenue is NOT the answer. They should have used the Covid tailwinds to their advantage - as an example they could have raised cash at 3-4x the current SP to help fuel growth. Why didn't they? I'm coming across really negative and apologies to all. It's just very frustrating. I think CC is the right person for the job (a good operator) but I think she needs help strategically. How much support is she really getting from the part time board?

Why would the old team not have got the DFS deal? They were responsible for all existing partnerships apart from DFS - the likes of Argos. Dunelm. Wayfair. What partnership's have the current team managed to get? DFS. And DFS approached us. The team are too inwardly focused for me. Re the employee benefits I don't have a strong view either way. They should really be cognisant of investors sitting on large losses though when they push the messages externally . Not convinced they are/even really care.

But no wait I see we've just launched a new gingko diffuser lamp.....so maybe there is hope yet.

Maybe but I'd much sooner go out giving it a good go. The ambition here is non existent. All that is happening is a slower but more painful death of the business.

I'm sure they are open to approaches but they need to be front foot and go make it happen. That's the problem - they're just busy with the nick nacks. They need to look beyond the 4 walls of the office.

At least under the old management they were bold and went for it. All of the third party deals (apart from DFS) were under the old team. The objective for this team feels like survival for another year so the employees can enjoy more time in paradise. Its painful watching.

Eve mention that they're ahead of their competitors in the quest to become a sleep wellness business. This is presumably because in addition to mattresses, beds and bedding (that everyone stocks) they also stock other nick nacks such as candles. What % of revenue comes from these nick nacks? You can see from the recent investor presentation it's almost nothing. So they have no advantage at all just a smaller slice of the mattress market. The only way out here is to make a big move. Try and get scale through acquisition or put the business up for sale. Would make a great bolt on for a big player and they could strip out the costs. We'd do well vs these prices if it happened just not holding my breath tbh.

I really don't want to hear TP and CC lead with 'the macro conditions are tough' in the next trading update as they were not leading with the opposite argument last year. The current situation is almost terminal I'd guess with the business seeing double digit YOY decline YTD and still loss making. Not sure who is going to be making the big strategic decisions to get us out of this?? Steady TP?? I can't see it....

easy to blame the current macro stuff but the headwinds are not nearly as strong right now as the tailwind was through 20/21 when the high st was shut down. Really not convinced they've made any real progress actually. When they talk about the turnaround strategy being complete what do they actually mean? Covid was a great chance to be aggressive and capture share. They did the opposite and tried to save cash. They've lost ground on their competitors. Covid tailwinds made them believe that they were making progress but actually I think the opposite is true and we're seeing that now.

One thing I think we can all agree on is they need to do something. If they just carry on as they are we go out with a whimper. Need to be WAY more aggressive to survive here. Its really poor.

I think you're being too kind DG. We're not saying their salaries are comparably high (they're absolutely not) but certainly high enough to top up especially given the valuation is essentially nill minus the cash. The team need to be thinking much much bigger - we can't have a CEO writing trust pilot reviews (pretty sure she said she was in the Jan investor meet presentation). We need a CEO to be doing things like - 1. looking for new / profitable partnerships (DFS approached us !!!), 2. looking at acquisition opportunities to get us the magic £30m revenue faster, 3. selling the business to new investors to help the SP so that point 2 is a possible 4. exploring options to bring production in house (not saying this is a good idea but an example of where we'd want the CEO to be focused) etc etc etc.

I'm in exactly the same boat. I think the only director with more shares is Mike Lloyd. It seems like they're doing absolutely nothing to bring in new investment. They'll argue that if they focus on the business the SP will look after itself. This is true to some extent but with a business in such a precarious position they'll need additional finance at some point. Certainly if they have any real ambitions of scaling to any size. I fear the team are not up to the task. CC is excellent but more of a COO than a CEO in my view. Hopefully I'm proved wrong but think it's all very tactical at the moment. Who is looking at the bigger picture?

How has there not been any director top ups in this financial year with the business effectively valued at cash in bank? If it transpires that we're not in a closed period right now then I'll be offloading as I think this says a lot. Will give the benefit of the doubt for the next few weeks on the off chance they're negotiating a sale and so can't transact. But after that I don't so why I should leave my money here if the directors clearly place no value in it.

Agree on the James Sturrock point. He was with us as CEO for 5 minutes before getting a better offer and moving on. Yet we continue to pay him as an non exec. So frustrating for investors.....

'not dissing anyone' although using words like 'obsession and 'infatuation' would suggest otherwise ;)
TP reviews / web traffic act as pretty decent read across to overall perf here. So please keep the stats coming I say.

I disagree username. I think Eve are a good buy for someone who can strip out some of the cost (i.e those associated with being a listed business, the London office etc). If they're acquired by a bigger player you've got to think there could also be some savings to be had on margin as they purchase in greater volume. I think the board will be looking at options right now and so i certainly wouldn't be ruling out a deal this year. Whether this is with DFS (i think unlikely) or someone else who knows but I wouldn't dismiss it as I think it quite likely. Look at Casper Sleep who sold out to private equity for $286m recently. They were in a much worse state than Eve in my view with losses of c.$12m per quarter. The Eve brand is very strong and that has value.

I think those numbers are fair Wynn. I'm holding more than 2m shares and am just a normal person. I'd like to see CC / TP and the Chairman really go all in with some conviction. That doesn't mean just using the annual bonus it means finding the money from equity in the house or taking out a loan. If you were controlling the business and believed it was truly undervalued surely that's what you'd do. Anything less than this (5k, 10k buys etc) is meaningless.

I think management need to make some big moves as quick. It is a good brand with lots of potential but at the size it's at should really be private or part of a bigger group. I think long term holders will realise decent upside from the current SP level but don't think this will happen if they just carry on with BAU. I think it's in shareholders interests that they put the business up for sale. I genuinely think/hope this could happen this year which would safeguard the future of the business. No idea on valuation but I'd guess if you strip out all of the needless costs someone could get £2-3m EBITDA p.a out of current revenues and with some cash in the bank (albeit shrinking) maybe value at c.£20m so 3x + from here. Let's see.