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Because I'm interested in what happes next, that is why. I am sure you're the same. As I posted yesterday anything other than cheerleading is immediately shot down. I guess emotions are running high if you have backed a lame horse.
I am unclear how you have made the leap from my referencing of recent analysis shared into the business to me being fired but you are very wrong! I don't think anybody has ever been fired! People have grown bored and left or been promoted into new roles elsewhere and there has been redundancies over the last 12m but I didn't ever see anyone get fired.
I thought the results was going to bring an increase and brighter days? It has been gone a month now and still the price collapses.....
Through whichever lens you look this is not a positive story.
Past month - down 10%
Past 6m - down 70%
Past 12m - down 78%
Since Apr 21 - down 96%
I have no doubt I will be dismissed as a troll or naysayer but the above are all hard facts. I am often asked to be positive with my posts on this forum but I see little to cheer.
Rudderless leadership, stagnant at best performance, a failed rental experiment - nothing wrong with that, it was a brave punt that has not paid off.
Customers are holding on to devices much longer now, recent research shared with the team has proven this and strikes to the heart of the core business. The 24m cycle of upgrading no longer exists! No upgrades, means no phones to buy, means no sales!
How long will the (invested) cheerleaders persist with trying to kid others boom times are around the corner???
My agenda is no more a reality than yours.
I could say the same about you. You have constantly and consistently been a cheerleader and tried to bat away any criticism or alternative view by just calling people negative.
Again if this is such a good business where are the interested parties? It has been similar conversations on here for months and and months with little to show except a dwindling price.
Just to be absolutely transparent I do not have access to insider knowledge. I have a few friends still employed at MM and their outlook is as bleak as mine but not based on any otherwise unreleased numbers or news.
And why is there no news on any buyer? How long have you been crossing your fingers and waiting now? There is no news because there is nothing worth buying. You think there is but nobody with the means has come close to even making any offer. What we are seeing is the reality. A 10p business. Expectations and hopes of 18p, 20p, 40p are fanciful in the extreme.
As you well know I was highlighting that despite week after week after week of expectation that the SP will shoot up, that fortunes will change, here we still are.
The news from MM HQ when published later this month is not going to paint a rosey picture.
I note Ms Vesey is no longer listed on the Leadership team.
A blow to MMAG's green credentials if there is no longer a Sustainability lead in situ.
Or a sign that the fat is being trimmed from the top of the business, as Hedge suggested could be an option a week or two back.
The simple and clear answer is because they don't work. They are frequently out of service. Visit your nearest one over the next 3-4 weeks and see how many time it is out of service.
The corporate recycling is nothing new or worthy of attention. They have been buying in bulk for many years, often in relatively small volumes of mostly old low value stock. It is not a silver bullet new idea.
Absolutely on the money.
I have said multiple times it is a successful small business and one that Mr Oliver should be proud of. But trying to become a major tech business and chasing the big money is utterly fanciful and will lead to ruin.
I fear my predictions of a bloodbath in 6-8 weeks time will ring true, the current price is just the start.
What is your opinion on the other members of the leadership team? I agree with your sentiment re: Matthew Fowler, both he and Steve Oliver are top drawer.
And then look what happened after that. Look where it is now. Look where it’s been for majority of the past 18 months, despite hints, hopes and expectations of a sustained rise. We’re back at 10-12p.
Take it however you want, my friend. I've always been open and honest about my background and thoughts. You disagree with them, that's fine, you have your own motives for posting on here but please don't assume you know what my motives are.
Ask yourself why aren't MMAG pursuing those opportunities, if they are so lucrative?
As I said below, let's see the lay of the land in several weeks time. I fear the predictions of soaring prices will be ill-judged.
A strong Trust Pilot rating is always a positive but doesn't detract that as it stands right now the share price is 71% down on this time last year. That is just a plain and simple fact. Other than the slight increase 12 months ago rebounding from the rock bottom price of c7-9p it has been a sorry tale ever since April 2021.
Lots of talk about partnerships with Apple, Walmart, Asda have not seen a consistent and sustained uplift. Lots of talk about kiosks being a transformative approach have not seen a consistent and sustained uplift. Lots of talk about rental have not seen a consistent and sustained uplift. Do I need to persist?
As I have repeatedly said MMAG functions very well as a small operator giving consumers cash for old devices. There's likely some headroom in that space, and in the media world with books, CDs, DVDs etc but nothing like what is being thrown around in conversations here. Anybody thinking second hand media is going to send the pricing soaring is kidding themselves.
I hope for the sake of those who have invested, and for those at MMAG who have put there heart and soul into the business over the past decade, that news over the coming weeks and next few months does not lead to a similar bloodbath as we saw in 2022.
Just to add about the salaries, there are a lot of staff on low salaries and then the leadership team are on hugely inflated salaries. The middle management layer of £60k-£70k is fairly slim, they're more likely on £40k-£50k tops which is reflective of their experience.
I have no more of an agenda than you do, HedgeHogarth. You're being positive and pushing the business, I've offering a different view based on working there in the past. I don't have any funds or anything tied up in MMAG.
It was criminally overpriced in April '21 at c£200m I don't think anyone can dispute that. It's evident from how much the price has collapsed in that time and it was all fuelled by the Covid boom and the record results posted off the back of that.
To be clear, I don't think it's a bad business. I've said previously Mr Oliver has done very well and he's a very likeable chap I have a lot of respect for. It's just not something I can see ever being truly sustainable/profitable at the levels discussed on here.
I saw it mentioned about staff salaries. A lot of the HQ staff are very junior on low salaries and working practices/product development etc aren't the most progressive. It's led by old school IT pros with a focus on maintaining what is there rather than looking for new ways to scale and grow. Nothing wrong at all with the old heads in place but there have been numerous missed opps to push things forward. Mr Oliver's daughter has also been promoted to a Head role in the IT department without any relevant experience which does lead me to question the credibility of that side of the the business.
It's small gry really. Walmart are clearly vast and any partnership sounds attractive but MMAG have been doing the same with Asda, Poundland etc over here for years, that's where all their used media comes from. Appreciate Walmart are on another level, and there'll always be some appetite for physical, but it's not a horse I'd be backing given the other known concerns with the business.
I said in posts last year that MMAG were pinning a lot of hopes on selling new Apple products but Apple customers are not flocking to MM to buy a £800-£1200 device. It's just not on their radar. And the ones MM do sell barely make any money as margins are so slim.
The other big issue that hits the heart of their business is consumers are holding on to devices a lot longer now. The cycle of a new phone every 24 months has declined, consumers are keeping their iPhone 12s/13s etc for 3-4 years now.
I shared my thoughts on MMAG approx 12-15 months ago when the price dropped to below 10 and was challenged on my views. To recap I previously worked for the business around the time of float until 2022.
Sadly nothing I have seen since my last posts have changed my mind. The business is struggling and will never be more than a small operation turning over old devices. The media arm has been in decline for years, save for the Covid boom in lockdown, but that was very much a one-time boost. Kiosks on the face of it are great but are often out of service and require a roving member of staff to manually reset them and/or clear out the trays once the drawers have reached capacity (approx 6 devices). The technology and infrastructure that powers the buying arm is also antiquated and prone to failing leading to significant delays and problems internally.
As a small business it is a success, the Oliver family will be very comfortable but I would not put any money anywhere near MMAG.