RE: DISH:-21 Nov 2018 19:37
The shareprice has been hit here because the company are already falling badly behind schedule - their own schedule that is - and the market doesn't like that.
The RNS on 17th September - headed "UK Launch UK and Fourth Quarter Strategy" - clearly set out a strategy:
"Launches today with a select number of restaurants in Bath
Targets 70 independent restaurants in Bath and Bristol in the fourth quarter of 2018
Migration of Table Pouncer to BigDish platform
Fourth quarter sets the stage for aggressive rollout across the UK in 2019, targeting up to 6,000 restaurants
A select number of restaurants in Bath were chosen for the beta launch of BigDish in the UK. The beta stage will be for an initial one month period. The goals of this first month are to ensure that the technology and booking process operates seamlessly, to test various marketing channels with a view to understanding the economics to achieve scale, and to gain insights into customer data via the BigDish proprietary business intelligence platform.
At the end of this one month period, BigDish will seek to increase the number of restaurants in Bath and expand to neighbouring Bristol. The goal for the fourth quarter in Bath and Bristol is to grow to 70, predominantly independent, restaurants. The Company will target larger restaurant chains at a latter date. The Company has hired a territory manager who will seek to grow the business in south west England."
Now the latest update in Mid November basically says that none of this has been done. The beat phase is now due to run into January instead of mid October. At present, both BigDish in beta and TablePouncer are operating. The initial focus is to sign up restaurants in Bristol - not Bath. The UK business is expected to be fully rebranded and TablePouncer will be completely absorbed into BigDish by January, at which point the Company plans to end the beta phase. And of course now they are talking about selling their Asian business without even a word about whether it is a success and what sort of revenue they are achieving.
Could be just very poor and unambitious management, which is not a good scenario for shareholders.
Anyway I have bought quite a few on the way down but now realise that this is going to be slow going unless the management buck their ideas up. I shall probably now wait and buy more when the they start signing up restaurants and expanding the business at the speed they need to operate to keep ahead of the market.