The latest Investing Matters Podcast with Jean Roche, Co-Manager of Schroder UK Mid Cap Investment Trust has just been released. Listen here.
SNN, £120m might be hyperbole to some, but really think shareholders should take the idea of tremendous growth of the Solutions seriously. The new CCO started last week as per the announcement in May.
'We continue to target talent and are delighted to announce the appointment of Tom Kiddle to join our executive committee as Chief Commercial Officer. Tom, who previously worked as UK General Manager for the international payments group, WorldFirst, will start on 1 July 2022 and will be responsible for sales, marketing, and growth teams within the Group.' (from AGM Statement Tue 17 May 2022)
Equals believe their platforms are top notch and importantly, highly scalable. They must have an idea of their potential for growth. Whatever target they might choose to mention, it is likely they would be keen to surprise to the upside. Let's see how they do over the next year, perhaps the numbers will need inflation to get anywhere near. Am sure that Tom Kiddle is on for a performance bonus. I hope that it rewards relative to how high the bar goes.
I take it you saw the trades this afternoon.
06-Jul-22 14:25:47 88.00 5,400,000 Unknown* 86.00 90.00 5m O
06-Jul-22 14:25:40 88.00 5,386,935 Unknown* 86.00 90.00 5m O
I presume that one is a sell and the other a buy. Am sure that we are in agreement as to who we would like to learn has sold , if so well done to the broker. Hopefully a holdings notice will emerge over the next few days involving a holder on your list.
SNN with reference to your 'Solutions was just over £2.6m Q1, so about £3.5m Q2. Plenty more to come from this, will be a major growth contributor.' Fair to say that this a major growth contributor already. Next year we will be realising that this is a massive growth contributor. Thanks for the IS-T interview link. It would seem from what he's saying is that the Equals platforms provide so many flexible options for multinational corporates. By using them effectively they will have full visibility on transactions with the monies in the right place in different accounts. Enabling them to reduce their own back office staff and cut costs. Solutions looks capable of offering 10x growth from H1-22 in less than 3 years before adjusting for likely persistent inflation. With the recruitment Equals have recently made, they would appear to have the quality of people to achieve this.
The orderly liquidation of the Crystal Amber Fund, along with recession worries and bear market will be slowing down the sp growth, but only for so long. A three year view is likely to prove extremely rewarding.
We will just have to wait to get a better idea of what's going on at CSFS. What option will they take? Does JW end up with a much bigger stake in CSFS or the 'new' company? At least one party was selling on good news, which meant the PI ownership in the company was increasing as they got sucked in.
Had good news from another FX company this morning Equals EQLS. They have had a record H1 with revenues of £252k per day @ 48% margin. Despite heavy investment have £15m in cash. What is currently holding the share price back, apart from the bear market, is Crystal Amber's large holding, as they are liquidating their fund by end Dec 23. Am not complaining as it is giving me a chance to regularly top up at a decent price.
Also have a smaller holding in TAVI, whick just keeps on going up, despite the bear market. Directors have topped up in the last week. This would appear to be a well run small cap, with very clever people in charge.
Q1 was a record in terms of revenue. At the time of the TU, I imagined that the full year could be £4.5m, such was the rate of growth. The uncertainty around inflation concerns and the war in Ukraine, could well have affected the business, with the Pound being so low. Likely that there will be a H1 update in the coming weeks. Had the news been great, a year to date announcement in the results rns, could have eased concern. Therefore am inclined to believe that Q2 will not be so good. If that is the case, my original optimistic forecast for the year is going to prove to be far too high.
If there is to be an equity raise, 6p a share would be a result under the circumstances. Though in reality 5p is more likely, especially if CSFS bite the bullet and go for £3m+. That would be a massive dilution for existing holders, who would need some convincing that further investment would be worthwhile.
Not convinced by Sparks Advisory the Nomad. Had been watching BRSD but they are chasing top line whilst the losses grow along with Director remuneration, advised by Sparks.
Some buyers wading in now @ under 10p. Possible that funding is already arranged despite what is said in the rns. I can't trust a company that fails to communicate with the ordinary private investors. They should have been open about the cash situation at the time of the trading update on April 20 and raised the money then.
Thankfully only had a minor investment, was waiting for the results before contemplating topping up. The company has less than £300k in cash. Any fundraising has to happen in days if they are to survive. If they remain listed could be down to 5-6p a share next week, therefore sold up. If I was crazy enough to reinvest would buyback after any placing but economic conditions are totally unfavourable. See the price has collapsed again while writing. Am expecting a suspension sooner rather than later.
A problem with paying too high a dividend is that temporary buyers are attracted, qualify for the dividend, then sell. Fortunately, was unhappy with FCAP over another matter and decided to dispose at over 30p. I got lucky.
FCAP have lost a number of companies over the last six months or so. That includes K3C, described as a good company by CEO Sam Smith during a not too long ago investormeet presentation. They did pick up KMK recently but would expect overall revenues to be down, compared to last year. Probably depends on how much revenue Cavendish have been generating. Sam Smith deciding to hand over control, has added to current short-term negativity, but likely good for her health. Watched the interview, she is still going to hang on to her c10% holding, which is reassuring for holders.
Still keeping an eye on FCAP, the bear market is creating many other attractive long-term opportunities though. Without the benefit of the current numbers, would expect FCAP to be close to the bottom now. Good luck.
Am happy with these numbers. Will re-invest the dividend whatever it is. I'll leave you guys to bang the drum for K3C but for me, it's the results that will do the talking.
On the USA front, the talk is of wanting the S&P to fall at least another 10%. Even to fall below 3000 with a major capitulation. Until there is some end to the wanton destruction in Ukraine, any upwards movement will be shortlived. Any irrational falls in sp of decent stocks with longer term prospects, are opportunities to buy, rather than be frightened.
Following the successful completion of the significantly oversubscribed fundraise in April 2022 to accelerate development of Beeks' offering, Exchange Cloud is now formally launched,
with a major equities exchange already under contract to deploy later this year.
Additional proof of concept implementations and discussions are underway with potential customers.
Gordon McArthur, CEO of Beeks Financial Cloud commented:
"Our product development has always been driven by customer demand and we created Exchange Cloud specifically to meet the needs of top exchanges around the world. During early-stage Proximity Cloud discussions with some of the top ten financial exchanges in the world, we identified a demand for a secure, multi-client cloud environment which they could offer to their customers. We believe the end-user compute market within exchange data centres to be considerable, and there to be no comparable offering currently in the market.
"We are delighted by the early win of this top exchange, which will contribute towards underpinning our FY23 expectations, but more significantly we believe the opportunity for Exchange Cloud to be potentially transformative for our business."
Early good news, if not the best of days market-wise. A contract already agreed for deployment later this year. Beeks' level of business, now means that these contracts individually do not require a formal announcement. The company is in discussion with all the major exchanges offering a product that is currently unique. Should the share price fall short term, I would regard this as an opportunity rather than a concern.
Couple of blocks of 360k shares late reported after closing. Looking good, as this is likely to be CA selling a fair number, perhaps 560k, of shares today. Probably sold a few other smaller blocks, since the last holdings rns.
Turns out it was an employee sale of locked-in shares. Surprising they were rushing to sell.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/RBGP/limited-employee-share-sale-to-satisfy-demand-zd5oz6vhextljt9.html
Some largish blocks gone through today, likely to be CA related, as not adversely affected the sp. They have given themselves up to the end of December 2023 to sell their more easily disposable fund assets. Therefore a fire sale of their EQLS holding is highly unlikely. Have seen that their average price paid for their holding is 33p a share. If I was a fund investor waiting for a return of money, would have been buying EQLS now not waiting for the money first.
TU likely next month, we could be testing the pound level then.
It looks as if a block of 2m shares have been sold and snapped up. Oversold because of a row over shares handed to the CFO, who hadn't been getting anything extra since joining. The company has done well financially, paid two dividends last year, perhaps he deserved something. Future shares depend on performance. Has got the sp moving.
AGM likely later this month with a probable early interim payout qualifying in July. Litigation payouts rewarding the money invested, likely to be increasing this year, which should boost profits.
The IPO last April was at 61p a share, therefore some in the market have burnt fingers from holding CSFS. It looks, as if at least one holder is selling on the back of good news. For me they are realising losses, which could be solely for tax reasons, rather than worries about the future of this company.
The way I see it, the company is undervalued short-term. The prospects for a sustained period of growth, in excess of 30%, look very good, which means profitability generating cash and dividends. Then the sp, will not only reflect the value of the company but have future growth already priced in. Surely the best time to buy is now, whilst the price is cheap. That is what the directors are doing.
Had this company on watch. Had a quick run through the results, think too dear especially as number of shares this year have gone up by c90% to 76m. Growth in revenues is limited by size of vehicle fleet. Will keep watching.
Begbies Traynor came out with a bullish trading update this morning, up nearly 9%
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BEG/year-end-trading-update-and-notice-of-results-6z8bv3qoc1ej0b2.html
Yesterday's rns regarding Director buys, is a vote of confidence from Richard Cooper, CFO. Apart from exercising 666,666 options @29p from a LTIP. He also bought a further 33,334 shares on the market @ 86.75p. This now makes his holding 850k. Take note, this man knows this growing business inside out.
Equals had accelerating growth during H2 last year. If they are able to achieve significant growth again, in the second half of this year, the market will respond. The sp will break through the £1 barrier.
Mustn't forget the Crystal Amber holding which has to be sold. Am thinking, why not have a sale of at least 33% of what remains, through a book building placing at an opportune moment. Am sure institutional investors would be happy to acquire. If a success, could be done again on the back of future trading updates. Also an oversubscribed placing should move the sp higher and likely increase institutional demand for more.
As it is, I'm happy to accumulate at current levels.
Ironknut, your comments noted with great interest. No doubt in my mind that finnCap, who advocate an under promise and over deliver strategy, will have a beneficial influence on KMK's decision making. KMK will have to deliver for the whole of this trading year to attract interest. Will tuck my shares away for the next 18 months. If the return is only 10p a share, at least it's a relatively cheap bet with the risk being much less than the potential reward.