Member Info for Kando

"The sp didnt fall to 76p as soon as conf call started, i know you are disgruntled but come on."

Though it did. Check the charts. It fell from the 9:45 candlestick onwards. Calling a spade a spade isn't disgruntled. I would like full value to be realized here. It is apparent though that may require a more experienced CEO. The current one has negative credibility with the market - deservedly at this point. Until all shareholders, PIs and IIs are singing from the same hymn sheet on that, we're going to be stuck with opaque financials, misleading communications and a weak share price.

You're angry, blert, but aren't you angry with the wrong people? Myself and Steve don't run the company. We didn't issue profit warning after profit warning; miss guidance issued 60 days ago; promise separation, spinoffs and relistings; whales that never land; golden shares that are never ceded; premium listings never applied for; analyst questions never answered; financials never transparent.

I would have thought you should be angry that at 9:45, when the analyst call started, the share price was 90p. It started its long slide all the way to 76p the moment that call started. What does that tell you about how management handled that call? Stonewalling questions on capex, no flesh on how to achieve FCF guidance, more opaque accounting and wishy washy jam tomorrow guidance. More examples of a leadership the market just does not trust. You're angrier with us than them, when we're just commenting on their failings, suggesting and hoping that one day they improve. There's no need for such vitriol.

"Why do so many people talk down this share? If I am not invested in a share I don't visit their board let alone talk it down.

Cloak and daggers at it's finest."

It's possible to be invested and agitate for change. The company has value, but elements of management have been a liability. Buying shares isn't swearing allegiance to a cause. Many buy distressed shares knowing that value can be unlocked upon changes being made.

There are some things the company have done right, but plenty of things that the company have done wrong, many of them directly attributable to Matthew Moulding. As shareholders, you're entitled to hold them accountable.

Yeah, sorry, I stand corrected, I've just seen the associated footnote on the slide:

"Non-cash impairments of £182.9m (THG Beauty) and
£87.0m (THG Ingenuity) relate to the impact of more
challenging global markets, rising interest rates, along with
the substantial amount of assets from recent acquisitions,
leading to the impairment of historic goodwill balances"

I believe the impairment of goodwill writedowns (-273m) and strategic review (-32m) contributed to the scale of the operating loss. I'm assuming those impairments account for the discounting of the unprofitable ondemand catalogue and acquisitions which are now being wound up. It therefore shouldn't be a factor in the next results and any operating losses would hopefully be considerably smaller, assuming the company keeps moving in the right direction elsewhere. This is the part of the update that was the expected kitchen sink, to give the next set of results ta fighting chance of being positive.

"where was separation valuation and a relisting date!!"

Behind the same pall of opaque accounting that it was before.

A bad update was expected. A bad update with the same lack of clarity is why this was is easy to hammer back down, making it easy for the shorts to cash in. They could and should have released everything they could, and kitchen sinked it for the poor set of results it was always going to be. But they chose to fudge around with the numbers again. It's 3 strikes and out time. It's time for a trustworthy CEO.

So, my take away is, it will take 5 years for Ingenuity to start to carry its own weight, and not need to be carried by cash flow from Beauty and (mainly) Nutrition.

"THG confirmed £750M GMV already for full year 2023 and they need £1.25B
for FCF neutral ? Another £500M and they are at scratch ?

That was my take.

Stand corrected if I’ve got that wrong ?"

The way I read it was they need that in Ingenuity revenue, not GMV - and that they expected that to take 5 years to achieve.

"He knows he's out by September regardless as people are fed up with him fudging the figures constantly. He may be a nice guy but he isn't fit to run the business as he is too eccentric. A new management team is the only way to achieve anywhere close to the previous share price.

The market are all to aware of MMs ploys and calling his bluff. Would not be suprised if the shorts have doubled down."

Basically this. The Q&A was again, poor. Probably predictably so at this point. Analysts again stonewalled on finding out the actual figures. Everyone expected the kitchen sink update in order to move on afresh, but we still didn't really get it. Still so much opacity to the finances. There should be no reason at this point for hiding anything. Let the market know it all, this curated drip feed of incomplete information is destroying confidence and costing shareholders.

Their communications on financials are, as always, a "we can't say, but trust us". Trust us on FCF soon. Trust us, there's no need to reduce capex so we won't be telling you minimum maintenance capex.

As I've been suggesting for a while now, I would want Moulding shifted to operational functions only. The reality, as has been mentioned before, is that Moulding and Gallemore in key posts was probably worth at least 40-50p to the share price upon their departure. The market trusts not a jot what they say because they've yet to be transparent or honest. They withhold key information, and disliberately mislead or fail on guidance. Progress has been made. I like Vivek. I like Sanders. I think Gallemore moving to COO was fine - that might be where his strengths are - they weren't at CFO. But I don't think Moulding, at this point, is additive, he's much more of a liability on comms and market trust.

You want clarity from THG on its financials? Big ask.

"Sell Kando average of 55 p easy dough"

I didn't buy to sell at 87p. I want value to be realized here, like everyone else. Things need to continue to improve to see that happen.

I don't think anyone should pretend to be happy with their performance when the market isn't happy with their performance. The finances still seem opaque to me, so they will still seem opaque to the market. No one wants to commit heavily into a company with finances they can't analyze. They're just guessing at true value. Analysts asking basic questions to tease out some transparency getting stonewalled is not a good look. I'd suggest you stop apologizing for poor practice and start agitating for better communications.

"exactly kando, the worst of it is they said it was 3-3.5% in the last years FY so why not just re-iterate
made such a hash of the FCF and SP dropped on it.
inorganically (ie without disposals) they are miles off achieving CFC neutral (up to 100m off it), so they have to sell assets and inventory to fudge it
was an ok update apart from that, but that point is so important, it ends as a very poor update"

Exactly, the share price tracked downwards throughout the Q&A. There was nothing exceptionally reassuring about how they handled any of those but for the most basic questions.

"the answering of soundpoint vert good questions was so poor
they couldnt even give a maintaince capex number"

Yeah, it's just such a inconsequential ballpark number to give, and yet he didn't, or wouldn't.

This unshakable resolve to keep the finances opaque is going to keep the market hesitant to ever come back onside. It signals untrustworthy, like they're hiding something. And who's to say they're not? I'm really struggling to forgive the seemingly endless communication own goals from Moulding.

Would rather he just answer the question. That's what the market wants and needs. No need to be so opaque. What is basic maintenance capex?

What a broker.

6th of April, 55p price target. 17th of April, 220p.

Drawing numbers out of a hat.

If there's so many insatiable buyers Oke, then why is the share price making no progress? Could it be that too much attention is being paid to the buyers and not who is selling? The price movements would suggest there's someone happy to unload their position at anything in the high 60s.

"why is no-one buying ahead of the results?
There is something here that does not make any sense"

And that should be a source of concern, not a source of endless, blind faith ramping.

There's value in THG, but to unlock it there needs to be meaningful change. The criticism levelled at the company is now mostly justified. Moulding and Gallemore have done their level best, whether intentionally or otherwise, to undermine the group value since IPO. Opaque accounting, misleading announcements on strategy, broken promises, whales that never landed, inexcusably vast guidance misses when they had the optics to know they couldn't possibly hit it when they issued it, picking fights with the entire LSE and British press as if all of the above failings weren't to blame, but instead some anti-british success story conspiracy.

At least Marshall Wace meaningfully decreased their short (by 0.10% to 1.39%) last Thursday, as disclosed today.

"I think MM will surprise the market with some very good news."

He's proven to be much more adept at disappointing/misleading/complaining about the market, but as always, I hope you're right. I've said it before, after the last guidance debacle, I'd rather he was no longer involved in market communications or issuance of guidance going forward, but that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. His name has unfortunately become synonymous with the company itself and since his credibility has been thoroughly obliterated by his past communication failures, so too has the company's. The shareprice will suffer for as long as company comms and guidance are filtered through the mouth of someone the market does not trust. We can only hope that he begins to consistently perform up to spec with conduct befitting a CEO, because we seem to have no choice but to put up with his scorn for the market.

*14bn in GMV capacity,