Member Info for Ravenswell

This business is draining cash fast, and far from taking "soft loans" - what would anyone lend against when there's no income to speak of? If they did the terms are going to be brutal. Any interest and repayments just kick the "breakeven" point further down the road.. Back of packet calculation, say £10-15m would be the minimum to secure the next 24 months .. That's a tough raise against a business with this track record of equity distruction.

Your point about Richard Griffiths did make me pause though. He’s not on the board and is not an ‘insider’ in terms of Market Abuse Regulations (MARS) I think, so the regulator and their NOMAD would have a very dim view if he was privy to anything you or I might not be able to see in the public domain. So if you think he has that inside track - would be interesting to know why?

Fair point - gamblers paradox? This is the guy who backed the previous management after all.

More significantly for me.. I don’t see any aim tech funds buying or market analysts even mentioning it.

Thank you for some sanity here! Growth, earnings comparatives, aren’t a guarantee but they do add substance!

What I find so weird is this almost messianic belief in something that has so consistently been an economic basket case, destroying shareholder value over such a long period. The previous ceo (&president & Chairman !!) was a master at pulling people into the dream (a lot in common with cult leaders now I think about it) and although now deposed, the followers have a new leader to worship! Like the previous one however, he’s on a no lose bet. Very well paid, big bonuses and his matching share deal - (I think the share would need to be near 25p before he’s not ahead - if I read the prospectus correctly). I’m only calling this out because I’m all interests to have a healthy trusted equities market - putting risk capital to companies and a return to their shareholders.. but then I suppose we always need these outliers just to act as a warning! Does anyone know if or when the FCA investigation reports on the debacle from last year and if any fines would be against the company?

I'm sorry but cannot let this kind nonsense pass. On what planet does this company warrant a fraction of it's current inflated value? It has burned shareholder capital since listing. It has barely sold anything, and what it has sold is largely its legacy product - acknowledged in the last management reports. It has a tiny turnover, makes collosal losses and the market is demonstrating no appetite for their unique charms! Last year's bubble was on the back of extraordinary fiction, apparently unquestioned by directors who although now gone, benefited from the hype and (I think) means the company is still under FCA investigation. This is the sort of company, results, and puff which makes AIM appear such a cowboy market to retail investors. Do your research, look for qualified analysts reviews, look at comparatives .. And good luck!

You are so right - purpose of the boards is surely to exchange views! Like Walkley I am mystified why this stock is worth a fraction of it's current market cap. Look across AIM for other tech stocks around this market cap and you see multiples of their revenue, growth and profitability. Add to a history of burning hundreds of millions of shareholder equity to get here so an embarrasment to those trying to establish AIM as a credible market, it makes no sense by any benchmark. I do acknowledge they havent been out for more shareholder cash which I was expecting this quarter, so will be very interesting to see how it's loss is being funded when they give the update.

No lose bet for him .. 50% discount.. which means another cash raise / dilution still makes him looking very comfortable.

Continues the companies history, when the leadership have done extremely well, despite the car wreck of performance for investors.

Agreed - makes no sense. Great business model, steady payer and solid experienced management .

Although agree with the post on that there is "nothing new" - I hold my hand up that they have conserved cash better than expected. Cash flow challenges cripple a business since you have to make increasingly painful short termist choices, "No you can't fly to the US to meet that prospect even if it will accelerate a deal for next year"....

Other thing of note for me was the acknowledgement that their Life Cycle Management software is still delivering revenue (most of the revenue in fact) and they are diverting development resources back into it. Read into that what you will but I interpret it as the "big data" solution is not getting any easier to sell and they are being pragmatic about where to focus going forward.

Also trying to interpret what "Cashflow neutral" means.. I think that suggests cash received for annual in advance contracts for new sales should be sustaining working capital despite the operating loss by the end of next year. Given the tiny sales and the scale of the negative P&L... that sounds optimistic.

Perhaps a better question is what’s the purpose of a chat on a share if the only comments allowed are positive ones. Against any comparatives (show me if you disagree) wand is way over valued at todays price. Cash burning- negative growth- ongoing investigations with material potential liabilities - and 12 years of broken expectations.. if it was approaching the market for funding as a start-up it would be laughed out of sight. The sunk cost logic made the recent raise a necessary pain for existing investors but other than that what makes it investable? … so sorry but pointing out the unpleasant reality is a legitimate comment. As usual happy to be wrong and welcome any comparatives or research from market analysts which tell a different story.

There are so many great UK companies on AIM which .. but ones like this which pull in retail investors and leave them poorer for the experience are the reason the market suffers as a investment class.

So what is Wand for .. ? What it’s good at is spending investor cash ..£250m raised so far?.. to go backwards. Still at least Sheffield Wednesday gets some benefit!

It is not a stupid question though - sorry if you don’t like thinking about it - but they have been trying to sell their patented large data migration tools for over 10 years - and it hasnt exactly flown off the shelves! In fact most (all?) of the real revenue still comes from the tail of their legacy product according to annual report. So fair question - and having read their blurb .. I don’t think it is at all obvious.

And this isn’t trolling, this is just a different view ! Ignore as you wish!

Or cashing out before the discount for the fund raise …??

I’m estimating (so nothing other than public data) cash injection needed for survival beyond Christmas so RNS on raise in next 21-28 days ..??

Happy to be wrong on back of a rabbit out of hat miracle- but history isn’t on their side

Mockexchange..

The short answer is running out of cash is not a buying signal for most - Quite the reverse.

What you have here is a stock which was massively promoted relative to its actual revenues, growth rate and profitability since its debut on the AIM market back in 2012.

It has a long and innoble history of raising funds for growth, which as you can see in the numbers has failed to turn into revenue. Ian Spence, CEO of MegaBuyte, a leading analyst firm wrote this article back in 2020 before the recent events - so the writing was on the wall even then. Since then they have raised even more funds on the basis of "exciting opportunities ....

www.megabuyte.com/ceo-hub/article/5e73a06b590801000b52a2c3/wandisco-would-be-a-joke--if-it-wasn-t-so-serious Well worth a read.

For a micro-cap, it also has a very active retail investor community well represented on this board and many of whom are probably sitting on large losses after the share price hype of last year translated into the suspension this year and turned a £13 share into 50p.. Hence the relentless grasping at titbits of news, or if all else fails, the arrival of a new CEO as the big new hope. But as is suggested elsewhere, do your own research - I think you would struggle to find any tech IT stock with this low growth, ebit loss and trading track record at a valuation of even today's price. .. ! The only reason I post on this board is it frustrates me that the London AIM market is devalued by firms that destroy shareholder capital, and makes people so nervous to invest. I use the simple rule of 40 - adding annual revenue growth rate and EBIT .. anything near 40 is worth considering - and there are plenty of great companies out there!

Have fun!

Manifesto, You really don't like anyone having a different point of view do you? Playground name calling and suggestions to depart seems to be your only reaction .. You must realise it undermines what you want others to believe?

On Smallwheel's post - they have just done the sums, like others and worked out at the cash burn rate, taking out the cost of the raise, and the absence of deals bringing in real cash, means the business will need more working capital before Christmas. My prediction as you know is in October - and its going to be very tough on existing holders because there is almost nothing other than hope in the new CEO to point at - (that hasnt been promised for years). Other businesses with these revenues and ebit profile measure their value in pence and life expectancy in months.. which makes following your money very brave for institutions.

The monthly burn over revenue is huge and the multi-country operating model adds to the operating cash required to pay the bills in the right locations. Bank debt is going to be impossible with the balance sheet, so It will be fascinating to see if funds follow their money in again irrespective of the discount on share price. There will come a time when they have to take the hit.

An analyst view this week..

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7106929087088087040/

Returning to high growth ... huh? In which parallel universe did they ever have high growth?

Since floating, this company has raised and burned circa £250m of investor funds. Apart from the heady excitement built on fraudulent deals- (the last CEOs bonus is a real poke in the eye to investors on that one) the only high growth element has been the cost base. Even today most of the revenue is coming from their old product sets if I read the Interms correctly..

Sorry - but really???

- in others news, leprechauns, fairies and Father Christmas have all agreed this is an investment. Snow White has it in her pension plan for when she wakes, and great news Pinocchio is on PR ..- day traders feast .: investors hurt.

Wow - so rather than being a chat zone for exchange of perspective and views, the only information or opinion wanted here are ones which agree or reinforce your own? Any conflicting perspectives or data is to be ignored or better still, filtered out to avoid dangerous contamination. South Sea Bubble anyone? This is a very very small company, with a track record of burning huge amounts of shareholder capital to zero affect. The most likely news shortly will be a further raise (i.e further shareholder dilution) as the recent one only created around 3-5 months at best of working capital, dressed with exciting descriptions of the "market opportunity". The longer term news will probably be a trade sale with 12 months at a price which reflects current revenues and cash burn (i.e not a premium) but triggering option payouts for the execs involved.

I think you answered your own question. No credible analysts are going to come with any kind of valuation - or at least one I think you are hoping for. The history, revenues and comparatives only suggest it is very optimistically priced today. The best you are going to get are the broker forecasts supporting the recent raise - and that was to gild a rock and hard place for the main holders to stop the business going into adminstration. I hold no interest in the success or otherwise of this company. I do however believe in the UK equity market and AIM in particular and this firm has already destroyed more shareholder capital and therefore investor returns than appropriate, so I am just perplexed why anyone still believes it worth investing in. There are so many great UK companies which have delivered a return.. why so much enthusiasm for one which has done the reverse?