Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I don't believe that I have ever bought at the bottom or sold at the top (!) but I have to agree that I must have reasoning behind why I have bought into a particular business. When I first bought in here there were huge calculated risks but, as Kitlow has said, this does appear to be becoming more and more risk off with each RNS. Having said that, the market is the determining factor (it is what it is) and the market will only see this move up when those risks gradually become overtaken by monetisation of the IP and the developed products (projected and actual). IMO this year may well see just how well Enet is positioned to take best advantage of that and, again IMO, H1 could well give us strong indications of same. GLA LTH.
Ha ha Kitlow – great minds!
Hi TL, I suspect you're right and some are getting bored because this isn't moving as quickly as they'd like. At times like this I think it is worth reiterating some elements of the RNS from December 2nd last to remind ourselves of what is going on with the business. Extracts such as:
‘Testing of ACE-NIC100 fully integrated within 5G deployment - selected over two major SmartNIC competitors' offerings. Larger scale commercial field trial now expected in 2021.’ Larger scale.
‘Anticipated revenue for 2021 based on both signed contracts and customer forecasts received from existing licensing contracts, excluding any ACE-NIC business, currently account for approximately 60% of the Company's total forecast FY 2021 revenue. This represents a further growth of 300% over the current FY 2020 market expectations. Delivery, and revenue recognition, is expected to commence in Q1 2021 and to ramp up throughout the year.’ Excluding any ACE-NIC business.
‘The Company has continued to test and develop its product both with OEMs and end-users including national telecoms operators. These initial testing phases have progressed well and the Company now anticipates that that these will lead to larger scale field trials prior to eventual commercial deployments.’
‘The Southeast Asian national telecom operator, referenced to in the Interim Results announced in September 2020, has now successfully integrated its open source-based 5G User Plane Functionality (UPF) software onto Ethernity's ACE-NIC100 FPGA SmartNIC and tested it against other tier-1 competitors. The operator is now progressing to commercial field trials utilising the ACE-NIC100 to reduce cost, space and latency, noting that the Company's router-on-FPGA NIC and forwarding engine was selected over SmartNICs from the top two tier-1 SmartNIC competitors.’
IMO it could be thought that we may get an update end of Q1 about progress generally on trials/developments but my focus is now firmly on the end of Q2 when we may get something on the deliberately excluded ACE-NIC business. I just cant help wondering why it was excluded. Could it be because its expected to make a big bang I wonder? Conspiracy theorists of the world unite lol. All IMO. GLA LTH.
Dallo, and therein lies the crux. They wont be the only ones by any stretch of the imagination. Any potential suitor would have to consider a number of issues in addition to the usual such as geographical location, jurisdictional trading issues (US/China etc), and also IMO the established and prospective revenue streams. The latter may well be clarified over the next 12 months. Of course, I could be completely wrong. One thing is for sure and that is that it will be fascinating watching this play out over the next 1-3 years. GLA LTH.
Hi TL, you may well be right. However, you did mention a short while ago that there were other firms in Israel that were 'looking at' Ethernity and I have seen, albeit in other areas of business, where a firm with a unique approach to a particular matter is watched whilst it develops its market and, once it begins to become apparent that there is a considerable amount of money to be made over the medium to longer term, a larger business makes an approach, friendly or otherwise, and a deal is constructed.
I'm not saying it's a given, just a strong possibility. To use your analogy of 'who is going to buy Ethernity' - I would say 'a firm with the capacity to construct a deal that meets with Mr Levi's requirements and that wishes to move into an area of business that will almost certainly provide it with an excellent return on investment (based upon negotiations and price of course)'. Just my thoughts. GLA LTH.
FWIW I don't believe it will get that far. IMO, should Enet begin to show major inroads into the various markets it is targeting, in discussions with, and for which it has unique propositions, I suspect that Mr Levi and co will be approached by XYZ big boy and an agreeable deal will be put together. I am not convinced that the big players will sit back and watch Ethernity become a stellar business in its sector - there's too much money to be made over the medium to long term. As with everything in life, time will tell. GLA LTH.
Dallo, Agreed. And a useful indicative comparator if I might say. The p/e's are showing disparity and, IMO, as and when ENET can begin to quantify the levels of income being, and to be, generated through 'ACE NIC business' on top of those described in the Dec 2nd trading update, we may then see the commencement of a p/e rerate. Just my musings. GLA LTH
Hi all, I am inclined to agree with you TL, albeit I found the flurry of activity over the festive period to be a fair bit more encouraging than I had anticipated. The volume dropping of the proverbial cliff this week is simply reverting back to type as I see it.
With regards to the 5g fund, the timing of the arrival of the deal gave me a wry smile and, quite frankly, the structure of it could suggest that those behind the fund might be anyone from David's mother in law to whomsoever, but who they actually are and what they are doing is a bit of a mute point IMO. At the time it was about a program of funds in, shares issued, and funding jitters calmed.
I'm much more interested in whether the next market update (which I don't expect to appear before the end of Q1) includes something about the ACE NIC business which was expressly excluded in the Dec 2nd one. Fascinating times. GLA LTH.
Alco
Absolutely. I accept that things can and do change and David's motivations may be very different to 2012, however, I suspect that there is a number somewhere deep in the back of his mind that, should an offer be made, would encourage him to walk off into the sunset clutching his cheque. I'd be fascinated to find out the current value of the company's IP actually. Some way north of the market valuation I suspect. GLA LTH.
Dallo
Agreed. It will need the right announcement though which may not appear for some time and that is why I would really like an update on overall testing progress. I realise that I sound like a broken record on this but we are almost half way through the fourth quarter (assuming that nothing has changed on this being the testing period) and, as I said previously, I cannot believe that David et al don't have some indication of progress or otherwise. Time will tell. GLA LTH.
Hi TL, you may well be right. I'm afraid I don't know anything about the tax position in terms of how David would be impacted either way but, assuming there isn't much to choose, it may come down to the number on any offer doc and his frame of mind at the time. Timing can be a major factor in these things. In any event, I cant imagine being upset at either!
I'm in for just about 1% all told. And, whilst I'd love to think this will go to a 10p dividend the year after next, I am inclined to agree that David will sell out ultimately, after all, he has history of such. However, as you say Dallo, potatoes/potartoes! Either is perfectly good with me. Time will tell. GLA LTH.
Very positive announcement yesterday as was elucidated by those who could get on here lol! Another great quality new customer. Now, a cheeky little update on progress in China would be splendid! (Some PI's are just never satisfied)