Member Info for shandypants2

The timing of his increase in shares is a little strange as the 1/2 year trading update was woeful. At 31/3/24 we were told there was just over £500k in cash and since then revenues are down over 50%.

The RNS stated "This backdrop has created an immediate short-term funding need within the business and the Board is currently exploring funding options to address this need".

I'm expecting a heavily discounted placing

There was no dispute re VAT once the court case was resolved. The invoice wasn't paid yet we has already paid the VAT - a pretty straightforward refund process.

Whilst the SP has been disappointing for some time looking at the 12 months results published a few months ago there is clearly decent progress and the business is cash generative.

What we need to see now is less expenditure on new stores (as this should now slow) and higher margins as existing stores become more mature.

I don't think the extra 3 months will bring many surprises as the accounting period change will impact the quietest 3 months of the year. However, current trading and the outlook will be critical.

Businesses that regularly quote positive EBITDA (and sometimes more than one version) and then seem to still make an overall loss are IMHO quite difficult to value, however, i do see value here

Mr Math - 30 seconds research and you would have your answer - see below. Although i have just paid over £300k in IHT over the last 2 years (on my dad's and then my brothers estates) i do feel it is a reasonable tax. We are not a wealth family, but both owned properties in London without mortgages. My dad had years to utilise the gifting rules (7 years and it's completely tax free) but refused to do so and my brother died suddenly and was unmarried with no kids. Gifting seems the sensible and effective way to reduce an IHT liability. If your wealth is in your property you can still give away 50% and still live in it as long as the other person does to.

The most recent HMRC statistics show less than 4% of estates paid inheritance tax in 2020–21. However, the rapid growth in wealth among older individuals means this number is set to rise to over 7% by 2032–33.

The IHT thresholds have been frozen for over a decade so IHT has been 'attacked' for the last 10 years. I can't see these thresholds changing anytime soon

IHT effects only 4% of people and the tax receipts are quite low. However, there are a number of exemptions e.g. businesses and farms, so they are the areas i would focus on.

An absolutely woeful RNS. I would go out and buy a bottle to drown my sorrows however other than Red Leg ( i don't like rum) none of the other brands seem to be stocked anywhere - and i live iManchester!

Any ideas what the board's expectations are - have these been published?

Agree the VAT refund should be pretty straightforward. We have clearly overpaid and these adjustments, albeit often smaller amounts, are standard.

You can actually reclaim VAT for the last 4 years. When i was helping out a not for profit organisation i noticed they were charging VAT on invoices to a kids football team for pitch hire. Such activities are VAT exempt so i got the last 4 years invoices and reclaimed the full amount - payment was made without any questions.

So this should take cash to over £45m - less than the current market cap

Good to see my £4m cash estimate has been confirmed. Whilst i was slightly disappointed we didn't get more info re current trading (other than inline with expectations) as there was the £450k acquisition in January , paid for with cash, it appears this has been recouped in the last 6 months trading, which would indicate a good performance.

Nothing negative here, although i think the lack of details won't help the SP. Clearly the cash pile is great both from an acquisition perspective and also the bottom line as this should be earning c5% for the company.

Lorenzo selling stock is not 100% profit. The cost of manufacturing the product is used to value the stock and it sits as an asset on the balance sheet (alongside cash). When it is sold the revenue generated less the cost of sales is the gross profit.

So it is almost irrelevant whether stock sold is new or has been sitting in the warehouse from a profit perspective.

Clearly it is sensible to have an optimum stock level - enough to meet peaks etc but not too much that is sits there for an excessive time. Obviously from a manufacturing perspective you need to produce a certain amount to achieve economies of scale etc.

So essentially selling stock down will increase cashflow but not profits and this has occurred with these results.

Having worked for Lloyds they are a big dinosaur and i was surprised they were so interested in Satago rather than developing something in house, which is i suspect what they are doing now. Sage and smaller banks always appeared a better fit. However, they did invest £5m to purchase 25% of Satago so i think that underpins the value of the brand. As TRU turned down c£25m for Oxygen last year and Playstack is finally flying a total company valuation of c£50m looks cheap.

Today's RNS is slightly bizarre. No numbers so suspect it is a very small, niche provider and surprised BOD were allowed to buy shares prior to this announcement.

A really positive update today, difficult to see any 'red flags' IMHO.

Good to see margins increase and the cash position is very healthy (and slightly up on the 31/12/23 position) despite spending some money on the new facility and also the recent dividend payment.

I note MO mentions a number of future contracts in late discussions - as the value of future contracts has reduced slightly, now £71m, this is a figure we need to maintain or even increase going forward.

Gooding was in charge during the China debacle a number of years ago. If you still trust him i feel for you.

Hopefully this will come good, but the constant SP decreases and small placings don't bode well.

Because Satago revenues are growing quickly from a low base. In 2022 rev was £2.2m up 350% on the previous year.

In H1 2023 we were told revs were up 180% at £1.7m (from £600k) . If total revs for 2023 are say £4m then 2024 should be significantly ahead of this and should exceed £10m in 2025. So 2025 revs are considerably more than 8% of total revs.

Currently we don't know what impact the Lloyds exit will have on future revenues hence the drop

Terrible news. Satago was meant to be the best of the best and lloyds even bought a strategic stake. Why now exit?

No idea what the exit timescales are and the impact on revenues etc, but can't be good. Luckily Playstack doing well so it may offset this in the short term

Looking at DEST today i can't see much hope for NFX. Barely worth £1m now, loss making and repeated small 'lights on' placings.

Yep, feel sorry for all PI as i could see something bad happening here the moment they said they need further funding. Had my fingers burnt on POLX in a similar scenario (thy did a massively discounted fundraise instead) so have been watching from the sidelines.

Unfortunately can't see any scenarios being good for PIs from now on.

Fang - the Guardian is one of about 10 daily newspapers and has quite small circulation. The biggies are the Sun, Mail, Telegraph and Times, all of which are right leaning and when Boris needed a favour his mate who owns the Mail run the beergate story for about 2 weeks solid to deflect from Boris's parties despite it being a non story.

As the the BBC the Tories have put their own appointments into the top jobs over the last few years - Tim Davie the current Director General has very close ties with the Tories and even stood to be a MP a number of years ago.

As an example, how much coverage has the BBC given the MIchelle Mone PPE fiasco? Almost zero.

Sorry, forgot the acquisition in Jan 2024 of c£450k so maybe nearer £3.5m, however, indications are that H2 has been good so hoping maybe an extra £500k has been generated in that period to offset that expense.

I agree that the share buyback is rarely a good way to spend excess money and also that the green space is a good place to be in and should benefit from more investment and also focus.

Also the existing 10p divi is over 7% yield so that alone should underpin the SP.

As for your other points Alive, i think you need a lie down. Not even sure what you mean by Woke press, especially as the majority of the press are quite right wing