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YHAL, yes there's plenty of Toby - speak in there, but we asked the questions, he gave the answer! that's how it works.
He was very straight about things, I think all will work out if we are in a position to wait.
All points made here have been mooted on this BB previously, many of us didn't like it! It is what it is, would rather be patient for 24 months than have a disaster now and selling at a loss. Effectively its full steam ahead until the 'market 'does the maths on MMX, sees the value and the sp will respond. This is straight out of SJL's mouth. Huck
Do you see AdultBlock as a “silver bullet”?...... “We see brand protection as an important long-term revenue generator for the business but do not subscribe to the “silver bullet” notion. We are a portfolio business that is building a balanced revenue mix of built on a highly resilient, growing renewal revenue base across all our product.”
Are we looking for acquisitions or to be acquired? ....................... “As you know, selective acquisitions are an integral part of our stated strategy and continues to be so.”
Are we likely to be acquired by Go Daddy or anyone else…… “A loaded question which you know I can’t respond to. Our focus as a business is to continue growing the quality of our revenues, our reoccurring revenue base, and take advantage of wider consolidation opportunities in the sector to deliver additional value to our shareholders.”
Staff, Why does it take 23 staff to run an annuity business?, what are the extra appointments for?…… “Essentially to drive growth. We could just cut staff and turn the lights out, so to speak, but that would inhibit growth. We need to drive growth and be able to scale. We are working on continuing to grow the percentage of sales generated through automated online renewals and automated online new sales, whilst continuing to improve efficiencies. We are focused on EBITDA, net earnings, and a strong balance sheet. We now have strong fundamentals and are working hard on earnings and cash generation. Sooner or later maths based on fundamentals will dictate our sp and the market will recognise our value. In the interim, we as a Company will continue to take advantage of any disconnects in the sp.”
Where will the sp be at the end of 2021? “As indicated in 2016, we are in a 5 year programme - effectively through to the end of 2021. I cannot be drawn on the sp at that time but the II’s are invested for the long term and understand the strategy. The 5 year strategy is on track and ultimately it is about the maths reflecting the fundamentals baked into our model, our ongoing delivery of that model and the wider market recognition of it.”
Investors now seeing sound fundamentals will want to see s/h value in terms of the sp now………. “Completely understandable – particularly given the sp momentum building pre COVID – but we have every confidence in delivering on the original 5 year plan and of delivering value to all our shareholders based on robust fundamentals and not just blue-sky speculation that historically surrounded the stock.”
Some questions answered
How is shareholder value delivered? ………………“As indicated at the Year End, the Board will re-consider the dividend in September but in the interim we are operating the buyback as we see value at the current levels – hence the recent purchase and cancellation of some 16m shares earlier this month.”
How are we performing against our peers in the sector? When Elliot Noss says The domain business has seen a remarkable and immediate impact on domain registrations – they are way up – a significant bump in transactions, would you agree with Elliot Noss…….. “Yes, as we indicated in the Current Trading section of our Year End results in March, and repeated May 4th 2020, we are seeing ‘healthy trading’ through our automated online retail partners.”
We would like quarterly reports on our trading……… “Respectfully, we do provide quarterly updates – a full year trading update including Q4 in January, a Q1 update as part of the Year End results which now will be typically be released late March, an H1 trading update in July and a Q3 update as part of the interim results in September.” ………………..Could the reports on Q1 and Q3 be a little more fulsome Toby? “Noted”
SJL. We have accounted for all SJL’s share sales except some 22 million unaccounted for, who owns them? ………. “They are all now held by long term Institutional Investors.”
Do you consider SJL’s sale as a negative for the business moving forward “Absolutely not – it should be taken as a positive that all the shares were purchased in the open market by institutional investors who understand the long-term strategy of the business.”
When will we have the AGM? ........ “We are currently reviewing our options on how best to hold the AGM given the current social distancing requirements and will update the market when a date and format has been set.”
When can we expect .dds and .budapest to be launched? “Currently not a priority, as one is caught in an ICANN process.”
Why are people selling at 6p? …… “A very good question, we are progressing to plan, are experiencing healthy trading, have a strong balance sheet and see value at these prices, hence why we recently extended our buy-back authorities”.
How is Adult-block selling? ………. “This is an IP brand protection sold through our corporate registrar partners, and for the initiation of sales to existing Sunrise B holders is reliant on key partners activating their sales activity to their base. Once activated, this is a high margin product with a likely high renewal profile. We continue working closely with those partners targeted for 2020 activation ahead of the 2021 natural renewal period for the original product, to see how they can benefit in much the same way as the early bird registrars did in Q4 2019. That said, as indicated in the Year End results, we have to remain mindful of the priorities of our registrar partners in the current COVID environment and continue to work closely with them during this period.”
We had a long chat through your questions, I said I wanted to post the substance of the answers, normally TH will not put these comments in writing he just said he wanted to see the copy before I cut and pasted it to you guys............no drama
Toby is a straight guy, basically we are in a process, generally going to plan, it is a 5 year plan up to December 2021.
Toby answered our questions, I will post asap, i will just bounce the answers off Toby.
Huck
OK all good
Yes, I do have a list of questions, including q reviews and new staff, please do add questions here I will make a concise list and go for it! I am interested to know what he thinks of the disconnect between results and sp, I dont get it. Hucks
Bakky, no I rang, he said the co was in good shape.
All Ok it seems
SS, I agree with your question of 16.33. I don't still have TH's contact email or number but I think we should make him aware of our concerns saying how we feel the situation looks. We then need to ask some questions....
What are all the extra staff for, what is it that you expect the extra costs to achieve, and in what time frame?
What are the trading results for Q1 how do you see the year?
whats happening re divi?
Generally the sector seems to see Covid as an opportunity, and is moving forward, why do we in sharp contrast to others seem to be struggling with a pxss poor sp
How do the II's feel...........tell the truth
I would like to see us go forward as you suggest SS and SB lets do it, we need the information, something aint right here, it probably isnt terminal but where are we headed. Huck
God....what? I agree MMX was probably in decline pre - review, this was fairly effectively papered over with the ICM acquisition albeit it halved the size of our investment and we have been under water ever since...not overly clever. Now we have this Covid-19 situation that has changed life as we know it........ very bad. But as it happens and as some of us predicted it could in fact be good for internet service companies, indeed most are seeing an upward surge in performance and sp.............. very good. Somehow the muppets have managed to connive a situation that while internet service companies do well we see a further decline in performance and sp....... ffs we could do better by sheer accident. I would love to know what the II's take on this is. We are told absolutely nothing during a blizzard of great first quarter results by contemporaries in our sector?????? wtf is going on ? I simply cannot understand why we are not moving as one or at least in the same direction as companies doing what we do in our own sector.............perhaps MMX is not doing what it should to be successful .............why not, how not? Huck
Thank you sB for your informative posts yesterday, interesting but unfortunately the substance is nothing but very disappointing. It almost seems the Mment are ducking and diving and hoping to avoid scrutiny. We should at least be on trend with our sector, if they are not capable of doing that something is wrong. As you suggest, with the II's owning over 50% of the business they should consolidate into an investors forum and invite Toby to 'communicate' perhaps as an extra ordinary general meeting...........waiting is what we have done for years now, we need to see some forward plans and actions to achieve them......................ain't that what businesses do?................ Huckster
hmmm.... SJL was right, I believe it is right to say buyouts do happen in a recession but not paying premium monies, bargains are to be had in recession, yes bargains are to be had in recession, agreed. Airlines, restaurants, bars and any business's where the customers need to be in close proximity will struggle, in any crisis there are winners and losers, supermarkets are our clear winners with sales up 40%, this because we are not spending our money anywhere else except on internet sales eg: Amazon! Business will have to continue with folk working as remotely as much as possible ie from home ergo on the internet, sales will be best secured on the internet. It is beginning to look like for the short to medium term we registry's could be one of the winners, therefore not in recession ourselves, why would we need to accept low ball offers, we all have a middle finger, even Toby; not that Toby has any say in the matter, our company over 50% owned by the II's.
So maybe its too late for good deals, the registry's and registrars are going to be doing just fine, maybe we will be the winners in these difficult times. Huckster
Bakky, As I wrote the last post I thought about putting in the deletes but I knew Bakky would be on the ball!
Following on from our South American Financier friend, with out counting chickens, I strongly suspect he is correct in what he is saying.....this makes it an ideal time to snap up Registries, n'est pas ?
Morning all.....do we dare suppose MMX are doing OK or even quite well in this time of health and financial crisis? history tells us that is unwise, Toby tells us nothing at all. With other registries seemingly showing encouraging first quarter results is it likely some of this coming our way? I note registrations on the MMX website show 2.623 M this is I think a small increase.
Seems strange quarterly statements are coming thick and fast, nothing from MMX. Maybe they think it's all on a need to know basis, Mum's the word..............................Huckster
SB, i concur , I think those II's are still convinced this stock will work out as an investment for them albeit not anytime soon. They will have taken balanced corporate decisions as regards the investments that make up their portfolios, they could have simply taken their losses on MMX and moved on as there are many investment opportunities at the moment. It seems they recognize MMX will come good eventually, that is a distinct positive along with our trading fundamentals So we just need to remain steady and ride this out along with everyone else. Sadly many will not make it or return to profit for some considerable time., it is what it is.........Huckster
hmmm reading through all the posts, well good luck to Stuart, he was so encouraging to have around especially in view of the wall of silence from the company! We still have our fundamentals, Institutional investors and company buyback have taken up SJL's holding, this is healthy especially in view of the fact that most companies in this crisis are aware that cash is king in warding off disaster. so an investment like this is likely to be for a very good reason. I think generally we are in OK shape all considered. I agree with YHAL that a sale of MMX is unlikely, an acquisition by MMX is entirely possible, that may be what the extra staff are for. BUT shareholder value is probably even further away due to COVID19 and that is why Stuart is not about. For those of us underwater not great. Huckster
Well, turn your back and look whats occurred. I do hope it is not SJL, he has been great for our morale over the last 2 years, he did say he would stay until the end of 2021 and had no plans to sell now, but we haven't heard a great deal from him lately so ....maybe. MaccGaz that is the question, who has gone and who is new and why, If its SJL he will probably tell us on this BB.
Encouraging to see the sp not slipping (probably spoken too soon)
We still have those sound fundamentals.....after the ICANN/.org thing I will ring ethos capital Silv, I haven't spoken to Toby yet! Hucks
SB......... bearing in mind most investors here have been under water for around 2 years now I think we should ask for some answers/ explanations to a few polite focused questions, some of which as your post today at 13:02. I think perhaps I might email some questions to Toby and ask him to ring me. He has done this before, he has shied away from putting things in writing but hopefully we can have a conversation.
i am keen to get his thoughts on consolidation, generally for the industry and specifically for MMX
Trading prospects now the lockdown has been with us for a while
Adult block
How the good business fundamentals we now have will affect the sp, how much and when
Reasonable ball park sale price
Shareholder value......what does that mean to him.................stuff like that
any questions you want to add? huck