Member Info for portswigger

Sister....... umm.!!
In 2019 Lloyds Investment company made a £5m loan to DX group converted into shares held as an investment. So there has obviously been a link between Lloyds other Business (the Chimneys Investment Co) and DX. What we don't know if there is still link between these companies and to its extent. It isn't beyond the realms of possibility what it may be possible to infer.

If there turns out to be something in it.... full respect for your investigative powers

Yes that is a possibility but they do have an option to apply for an extension which if the audit has to be done again I would think is almost certain.

I'm really struggling to get my head around this. One minute we are told GT have internal resource issues (Thanks Pianista for the reminder) and eventually we find out GT resign citing very serious concerns. Alarms bells are ringing.. has the company been truthful..??. Under normal circumstances the people at the top would go but Lloyds holds 10% so possibly not.

We need to be told if GT are going to complete the audit or have they resigned with immediate effect meaning the audit will have be done again.

Good job the shares are suspended.. they probably would have dropped 50% plus on this news.

It's as clear as mud..... no... it's worse than that.!!

As a non trading issue I think this is as serious as it gets. The resignation of an auditor is never good news and considering this investigation is about an incident that took place before the beginning of July 2021 to reach the point where we are now is more than disappointing. GT reasons will be interesting to read but they obviously feel that they can't work with the DX Board. That has implications for any new auditor to consider who may be appointed. It looks like we are going to be suspended for a good while yet... could it be the maximum of 6 months or even an extension or whatever. A difficult time for us all.

I don’t know sister, it just strikes me as strange that despite the investment in express over the past calendar year together with the continued increase in on line shopping that DX product mix is moving away from b2c to b2b. They are more expensive than most of their competitors in that area.But I don’t run a logistics business they do and quite successfully so in using your words... let them get on with it.

Having re-read the RNS there is certain aspect of it that I think is slightly disappointing.

They have said that DX volumes in express are consistent with last year which isn't great given the investment in express depots last year and local sales depot managers. It seems the B2C is struggling at the moment and that work is not really bearing fruit currently. I can't say I'm really surprised in a saturated, ultra competitive market.The increase in B2B is promising but we are not told anything about that divisions margins and turnover. I'm still pretty confident in freight but hope express has a better H2 as society and business gets back on the road to normality.

To follow on from my post the other day. I ordered a lot of packaging on Monday on a 1/2 day delivery. Dx were the carrier and goods arrived this morning within the timeframe on 1 man freight service. The delivery/tracking portal between the supplier and Dx worked well although I didn't get the 2 hour delivery ETA. Driver said he was very busy constantly. I'm sure there are times when things don't go so well but my first experience with DX Freight was a good one.

Nothing really stand out in the RNS but everything seems to be going in the right direction.

"DX Freight continued to improve its volumes and margins against the same period last year. Volumes at DX Express were consistent with the first half of last year, with the product mix showing a slight shift back towards its historic B2B weighting rather than B2C, following the easing of coronavirus restrictions. Net new business at both divisions continued to be robust and the pipeline of new business opportunities remains extremely healthy."

Reading between the lines it is still freight that is primarily driving things. Interesting that there is a slight drift back to b2b in Express rather than b2c. b2c though is where there is massive low-cost/low margin completion.

As expected. The Non Execs were not doing their job. I think the chairman has done well to still be there has he is responsible for corporate governance. The important question though is who replaces them. Pleased Lloyd is still there. !

Fair comments Everton. I think there may be a strategy at play. There is nothing to gained by releasing any information now apart from appeasing the lowly private investor. The significant shareholders are all fully aware and that is all the matters really. If Dx are as busy as a few posters seem to hint at then releasing good news to the market in the current market sentiment will do nothing even if the shares weren't suspended. So it really doesn't matter. They could delay until sentiment changes ... who knows.

I'm not unduly worried but I do think that there may be something that affects the integrity of last years results but it doesn't affect financial projections. But it does seem to be taking an extraordinary length of time unless the audit is being redone. But the company really should be more transparent but that's the AIM for you. I take comfort that the Auditors haven't resigned like the Cake Box Fiasco.

I ordered a load of packaging for my business being delivered by DX freight so I'll be quizzing the guys later this week hopefully.

Well Deep, thanks for those comments but I'm not sure I provide pearls of wisdom I just says things as I see them and if hat helps then great. I like chat boards where people give honest opinions and I get more from views that are different from mine as it helps making a rounded decision on the investment case. But I can't think of many boards like that, most descend into personal attacks on people with opposing views. Dx as far as I am concerned have done a good job apart from one problem that they are keeping close to their chest. If I had been able to sell I would of done but it would have based at least 75% on the wider economic picture and outlook as I see it. While I'm involved I'll still post.

Unfortunately, the pots not big enough to keep me in the manner that I'd like to be accustomed, email. So's it's s break of unknown length until the fog clears. !

Sold a lot of my portfolio last week and finished today. I would probably have sold DX if I could.

For me the inflationary economic headwinds are to great and here for while and I think coupled with the European security uncertainty I think we are in for a torrid time, so I'd rather have the cash.

Deep. Just read Wincanton's RNS that should help. The article was on stockopedia which is a paid for service and I think subject to copyright

For those interested good update from Wincanton today. A sightly different beast to DX but some similarities. Read across for some areas of DX

Well Sister... you certainly seem to have a bee in your bonnet about Gatemore. But I do see exactly where you are coming from and your points are valid.I think we just have to wait until Gatemore show their hand with the review.

They have already showed their hand to some degree with their letter of threats and demands for a seat on the board which really is not a good look at all. But is indicative of how dire things had become.They also stipulated they wanted to see changes in the board. I think after the review we will see some board changes I just hope they are not people I consider vital to the business.

It's just a waiting game but it's not a nice game to be involved in.

I think we are pretty much on the same page Sister.

It has crossed my mind that the concerns expressed by Gatemore regarding corporate governance were a bit of a smokescreen to the real issue which I think seems to be a concern on DX's direction of travel. Hence the instant review of the expansion policy as soon as mediar is appointed to the board. Going public with their threat to call a shareholders meeting for me was a nuclear option when it could have been done in private shows a real disconnect between the directors and its major shareholder.

Meidar is now a non exec director leading a review into the expansion and capital allocation strategy.Non Execs are supposed to provide independent and objective judgement on strategy. I don't know how that can be achieved if he leads an organisation with a 20% shareholding.

My concern is mainly medium to long term. The waters are muddy and strategy uncertain but I am prepared to wait a bit for some clarity.

So I fully understand your concerns Sister on Gatemore and I have them as well. Good luck whatever you do.

Interesting that at the AGM there was a virtually unanimous vote to reappoint the auditors. Although 28% voted against the auditor renumeration resolution. I'm not convinced the auditors are completely at fault. After all they can only work with what they are given or find.

Yes, hopefully we'll get a trading update early February and I think we will. It's interesting that with the clearance of vacancies deadline 30/12/21 the operations vacancies dropped to 177 on 2 January and within two weeks we are back up to 277. Notwithstanding staff churn I still think they are struggling for staff.
Had an interesting chat with our UPS collection driver recently who said that business for him was unprecedented, things from before Christmas have been held back and returns from online shopping were in his words "unbelievable". He was surprised as UPS are relatively expensive in the grand scheme of thinks although slightly cheaper than DX and there was plenty of staff off with Covid. I think there is a read across for DX in that there is still plenty of work out there but the logistical issues are still pretty prevalent.
I am pretty confident that we will see a bounce upwards when the suspension is lifted but I think that will be very short lived until mediar's review is completed. Time will Tell

Fair comment. The note in the RNS that things are progressively "steadily" hardly inspires confidence as its obviously been bubbling along under the surface for well over 6 months.

A share suspension for maybe a month or so is really just an inconvenience in a 2/3 or 5 year plan.

I'm more concerned about Meidars review as the result will determine what sort of business DX will be moving forward and the company we are investing in.