Cobus Loots, CEO of Pan African Resources, on delivering sector-leading returns for shareholders. Watch the video here.
Agree. The perception of MM is of a value retailer (perception shows it to be in similar buckets as Poundland etc). Selling brand new Apple/Samsung products doesn't fit with the customer base. MM customers are not spending £1000+ on a new device. And Apple customers are not buying their new devices from MM. It's one of the last places they'd consider buying from and the margins on new products is tiny as MM are restricted from discounting them.
A lot of what MM does is sound and ticks over. The buying and selling of books and media turns over a nice profit, as does the buying and selling of phones and devices. But not at a level that makes it a truly viable investment, which is what we've seen over the past 18 months. Forget the last week or two, there has been a constant decline in the value of the business since April 2021. I don't believe it'll get much lower but I don't believe it'll get much higher either. 10-14p feels about right for what is essentially a second hand retailer, albeit of pricey items.
The kiosks aren't a gamechanger. They allow more products to be brought in, and then to be sold on, but it's not transformative. Rental has a degree of potential but far too early to say and others are way ahead, such as Raylo.
US expansion is fanciful, if I'm being kind. There's bene plenty of regulatory problems and slaps on wrists and reality is that most plans are just affiliate deals. I certainly wouldn't be pinning any hopes on big US plans.
No problem. There have been HUGE problems with them. Cameras not working, drawers getting jammed, poor reception issues so going offline and unavailable to customers. There's also a lot of manual work required with them. There is (or certainly, was) a team who travel around the country emptying devices, fixing faults etc every day. And seeing them unavailable so often because of faults leads to a trust issue for customers. Would you put a £500 phone in a kiosk that you have noticed isn't working on several occasions?
The strategy is to go ahead with over 300 across the country in the coming months. The benefits are the average price for a device is higher when coming through the kiosk (compared to the site) because we're seeing better, more recent and high end devices rather than clutter from lofts and back of drawers.
But the numbers don't really add up. They're a huge outlay and are really an ancillary stream. Nice to have and they tick over but are in no way the future of the business.
Hi all, first time posting but long time observer and wanted to offer a different perspective on this. Full disclosure - I worked at MM for several years until summer 2022.
The positive comments about CEO Steve Oliver are all true. He's a great guy. A really strong leader and has done things the hard way and deserves every success.
The rest of the leadership team is less appealing. Many are over-promoted way beyond their ability and would not be close to similar positions in any other business. They are longstanding and loyal colleagues but sadly way out of their depth. If there is a fault with Steve Oliver then it is his loyalty to his immediate team. They are often presented with plenty of evidence the sky is blue but will go to great pains to argue, without basis and purely on opinion, to the contrary. After several months of such battles it is no wonder so many staff either give up trying and fall into line or gain employment elsewhere.
It' is also true that the rental scheme does show signs of promise but the traditional business model is held together by sticky tape. I have seen posts from those wishing to pump the price of MMAG highlighting MM's 'proprietary technology' - sadly this is woefully inadequate and requires almost constant maintenance, which stifles any potential innovation, from the technology and IT staff. Of which there is an almost constant revolving door of good, and bad, people leaving. The tenure for IT staff is less than a year which has resulted in painfully inadequate off-shore teams in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova trying to hold things together with often calamitous outcomes. Some of those who are UK based offer hope but the problem of weak leadership and poor culture and spirit often outweigh this.
I have also seen comments offering hope to the SP because of strong uptake in share scheme from employees. This was relentlessly pushed from leadership to us to the point many just took the minimum option. We were sold the idea of healthy returns based on a buoyant and innovative business but the reality is funds are just locked away, with no growth, until departing the business or the term ends. Of course, it is our responsibility to understand this but many lower paid and junior staff do not fully grasp the reality of the markets and are eager to please and so sign up.
All of the above is based on first-hand experience of working at MM for several years, both pre and post public.
I left on good terms and remain friends with a good number of current MM employees but thought it right to address a few misguided comments I've seen on here recently.