Member Info for Pianista

No, a good little read.
And not that old? (16/7/21?).
They must be in pole position to land some major insurance contracts.
An RNS or two would be nice.

Good to see 'em get their come-uppence!

Acquired c1.7m on Friday, but doesn't appear in the list of trades.

"But the numbers are still far below pre-pandemic levels", the article says.

So where does that leave us?

"Travel is what connects us to new cultures, sights and experiences across the globe."

The world is at an inflection point: if the globalists have their way, there'll be no cultural diversity, the whole world will be reduced to plain vanilla, thus taking away much of the desire or need to travel abroad. That will leave us just one short goose-step away from an outright ban on international travel for the masses. Of course, mythical man-made "climate change" will be given as the reason, before being quietly dropped once it's served its purpose and the Cultural Marxists' objectives have been achieved.

I'm so glad I banked 15 incredible long haul trips during the 7 years before the pandemic. I fear the next 7 years will be a different kettle of fish.

Just like "employees" have suddenly become "colleagues".

I agree, D-G, more legislation and enforcement of, eg speed limits, is the answer. I can't see a total ban - the genie's now out of the bottle.

It's obviously “news” because of the novelty of e-scooters, and because the rider was well-known in the local community. However, used as they should be, eg within the speed limit of 15.5mph, the risks of e-scooters are little different from bikes, to be honest. I suspect the numbers of deaths/injuries associated with bikes are similar. As a pedestrian, I’ve been in plenty of close shaves with reckless cyclists.

Of course, before riding an e-scooter on the road, you should practise first, as you would if you’ve never ridden a bike before. Lack of practice may have been a factor with this unfortunate incident - apparently, a vehicle was not involved, and the rider may simply have lost his balance. At the end of the day, if you have difficulty keeping your balance on an e-scooter, you should avoid riding them, full stop.

The long-awaited trading update gave us exactly what we wanted, and should have propelled the SP to an all-time high - a quick comparison with Clipper shows that the SP should now be well into the 40s - and yet the SP remains in the doldrums.

Part of the problem was the unfortunate timing of the update, coming as it did on a down day in the market. And since then the share turnover has been pitifully small - especially today - which hasn’t helped.

However, the situation could change quite suddenly, as is the market's way. It just requires something to bring the company to the market's attention again, eg more director or institutional buying, or more news of contracts, depot openings etc.

Preferably all three!

...despite which, the shares fell 9% today from their intra-day high.

There are clearly still concerns about when and to what extent governments will allow travel to open up.

As encouraging news alternates with worrying news on a daily basis, the SP is likely to continue to see-saw. It didn’t drop by as much in the States today, so maybe it’ll retrace a bit tomorrow. Who knows?

If the company can get 75% capacity up and running by end of the year, that should be enough to keep it afloat, but with 25% of capacity therefore unutilised, which equates to a shortfall of $5bn in revenue, there won’t be much for the shareholders until at least 2023.

Pre-pandemic, the shares were trading in the mid £30’s; about a third of that seems about right for the shares at this stage, though all being well on the Covid front I could imagine the SP spiking back up to, say, half way by the end of the year through sheer bullish sentiment.

Tomorrow's trading of ML shares on AIM will be interesting. I'll certainly be putting it on my watchlist (the ticker is SAAS apparently). I wonder if it'll go to a premium.

Yes, some existing shareholders are cashing out.

Most of the proceeds is going to existing shareholders.

ML’s website has just been updated in readiness for tomorrow’s opening of trading on AIM of shares placed at 135p, valuing the ML group at £156m (cf Trak’s £8m).

The 182 page Admission Document confirms that the net proceeds of £14.3m “will be used principally to invest in targeted bolt on acquisitions to enhance the Group’s product portfolio and geographical reach”.

It also gives Trakm8 an interesting endorsement: “[Trakm8] is listed on AIM and at 30 June 2020 the market value of [ML’s] shareholding [for which ML paid £2.2m] was £1.6m which is not considered to represent a longer term decrease in value”.

Raza's been a NED for 2.5 years so he'll know exactly what Trak's worth to ML, ie as we've previously discussed on this BB, well over £1, but naturally if they can get away with paying less they will.

My guess is 50p - 100p.

If it happens.

"The problem is that the acquisition of more shares by Microlise or indeed Raza would drive the price up quickly."

Yes, but still to much less than the 50p, say, they'd be prepared to pay for the rest.

Raza's focus is very much on international expansion through M&A.

Trak has also said: "We will continue to seek international distribution partners to expand our non-UK revenues." (latest Annual Report).

A merger seems a no-brainer.

Since 12/18, Raza has bought sizeable chunks, first in 7/19, then in 7/20.

So he’s put his own money where his mouth is at a time when Trak have not performed well.

But he obviously believes in Trak, and with JW on the way out, it could be the time…

I’m not convinced it’ll happen, but I’m not convinced it won’t either.

The most obvious indicator that something was afoot would be if ML increased its stake, taking advantage of the depressed SP in order to do so on the cheap.

It would be a marriage made in heaven if the Trak RNS in 12/18 is to be believed:

“Significant cross-sale opportunities for both entities, with complementary technology, market focus and geographical footprint

Microlise already has a significant international presence with offices in India, Australia, France and UAE which will therefore support Trakm8's international growth ambitions”

The interesting bit: "It said it will invest in upsell and cross-sell opportunities, which it hopes will significantly increase its revenue base, while it will also grow by “targeted M&A”."

So the float finally opens the door to M&A.....and the only company in which ML already has a significant stake is Trakm8.....

It's not "customers", it's just one particular person. And when I saw who it was, I had a little chuckle to myself. It's someone who is known to be a bit neurotic, argumentative and pedantic: he once threw a wobbler when I misspelled his name by a single letter. He threw in the towel on that particular company (Saga) just before it multi-bagged.

So I'm not surprised he talks about the "impertinence" of staff when others might regard "inquisitiveness" as congeniality and/or as taking a healthy interest in the client's business.

I reckon DX would be better off without him. I'm not saying DX always get things right, but poor service has always been a feature of the industry as a whole, though in my experience it's better than it used to be.