5 musings on why LoopUp and Covid are still a happy couple17 Jun 2021 21:40
LoopUp was downgraded by analysts who believe that - similar to Zoom - their revenue has enjoyed a "Covid" spike that will now come to an end. In other words, the party was good while it lasted. That's looking a bit daft and here are five musings on why that party is likely to go on:
(1) We're still in the midst of work-from-home and, if not in "lockdown" anymore, varying degrees of restrictions exist across Europe and, with international travel at a standstill - this company's core business should be thriving! 19 July is Bojo's new "unlocking" date, but with a legal right to work from home now being consulted upon + "generation flex" (part-office, part-home) being another option on the cards - think Michael Gove's conservatism about the status quo - this should continue to be a cash cow time for LoopUp;
(2) Yes, vaccine rollouts, but there's uncertainty abound as to where we'll end up - effectiveness as things stand, effectiveness with new variants.. Not being a scare-mongerer: even good old Chris Whitty warned today that there will be a tough winter ahead. Now, I don't want to get into the "what will be" argument, it's more the point that businesses will be, should be, or might inevitably have to plan for this eventually and have an integrated system that will cope with all eventualities;
(3) Has Zoom reached that covid-cliff-edge that analysts were predicting - no, it doesn't look that way as things stand. They have warned of a slowdown, but not a cliff edge. In other "are we returning to the office news" - IWG plc (the world's biggest serviced office company) were quite gungho a few months back but, last week, had to warn the market that the recovery is coming through slower than expected: the great return to the glass cathedral isn't occurring;
(4) Bigsmoke recently shared a BBC article on this chat predicting a "full" return to the office is at least 2 years away. To add my own pinch of salt, opinions in my (virtual) office range from "never" returning as we did before to "at least five years away." Even if we go with a cautious 2 year prediction, work is still going to be taking place in the cloud for a long time yet;
(5) Just from a pragmatic perspective, think of all those people who've moved out to the countryside. Even if we do go back, it doesn't look like we'll all be going back all of the time - companies need to plan for that eventuality and keep infrastructure like LoopUp's in play, catering for the different ways of living and working that might prevail within the organisation;
Just to be very cheeky I shall add an excitingly unexpected sixth point: christ, how much time is passing here?! We're going over the hump now of 2021. The more time that passes, the more "prime time" for Loop to be securing business. And regardless of these musings, I desperately hope they're working flat out here to get their ducks in a row. Silence is golden if it's because they've had their heads down delivering stellar performance
Sign In
Follow the stocks
