Member Info for Silverblade

Thanks bakky. I guess we could all do with a bit of reassurance during events like this. Wonder if mmx will post an RNS this week with results and AGM date. SB

Bakky - what was the jist of the article - was it a commentary on the domains market? SB

That's true KitKat - but because we have such a low liquidity we appear to be on the receiving end of some very harsh pricing - we could finish the day 20% down which is not reflective of the wider market mark downs. SB

Scotty - there's an interesting piece of analysis on the domainnamewire site about the impact the virus is having on domain related stocks in terms of company valuations.
Not sure if this is good timing or not - but suspect mmx will be the first company to report results post pandemic confirmation - and what might be included in the statement as regards potential impact - as mentioned previously the digital economy may be more resilient than goods and services - and the ability to provide clarity on a company's ability to deliver revenue and earnings will be critical in the coming months to all businesses in the short term. That said - its a humanity scale tragedy and we should not lose sight of the impact on families, friends, colleagues - I hope those who post, read, contribute - are all ok. SB

Good to see that despite the continued selling there is some reasonable purchasing. I was starting to wonder if the share buy back had either engaged or was waiting for the price to go below 6p before it started to support - although there are clearly outside factors driving sentiment and this might impact on whether finncap started purchases. Hopefully the results will inject some confidence - and the company will be able to provide some guidance as to how 2020 will pan out in terms of dividend expectations to provide investors with some comfort despite the ongoing share price capitulation. Stay safe all. SB

Good point bakky. I was thinking the same myself. The market is free falling and we are not immune to the value damage being felt across global businesses - but in some way the largely digital environment in which we operate should not be effected by the trade issues resulting from virus related lock downs - which would make us an attractive target - and the cost of long term borrowing is once again at rock bottom. That said - it will be interesting to see if there is any mention of current global issues and any impact when the company publishes its results towards the end of the month. SB

Evening bakky. Strange to see some reasonable PI selling this close to results. Radix numbers look good - there is no reason why we should not be performing in line with our peer group. On the plus side price is holding so sells are being soaked up. SB

Thanks SJL. I hope that the upcoming results includes an update on people movements.
What i think we now have is Toby at the helm with probably three key business streams likely all reporting directly into him. Firstly Michael S continuing to head up all things finance with Deep Shah in support. Secondly sales head by Vaughn L with Christa Taylor, Yuling Huang, Christa Taylor and Solomon Amoaka as function heads in support. Thirdly, Ben A picking up the rest which would be largely operational/governance - Sheri F in legal and Ronan P in tech. This executive team are supported by c.15 employees in admin, finance, sales, engineering. So about 25 employees in total including the two directors. In other words - a substantial team.....and one which should be capable of delivering strong growth in revenue and more importantly profit. SB

SJL - any idea what the difference is between a chief financial officer and a chief revenue officer? And no that’s not the start of a Friday joke.....!! SB

/domainnamewire has the story. We also appear to have a new interim chief tech officer, so we appear to have lost Len B? Interesting times ahead with this team in place. Here’s hoping!!! SB

Evening SJL. Michael was COO and CFO - and he is a director - hence my assumption. I’m not questioning anyone’s capabilities - delighted to hear they are good guys - just surprised at the level of senior staff we seem to have and the lack of communication on such appointments. Also - if I was a current director and was not responsible for these appointments - I would wonder why they were made - given their similarity to existing positions.... It does need a bit of clarity. SB

If these are director level appointments (and a COO surely is) corporate governance would surely require formal market notification - we appointed a non exec (disher) to deal with this type of stuff. What’s really going on here? SB

Bakky - its certainly a team that should be smashing it out the park as a minimum, and I'm not sure that claim would go down well with a few here. And yet - global stock markets cratered today and we nudged a blue day. Funny old world...SB

SJL
Good to get your thoughts. I've just refreshed myself on our senior management team.
Firstly - its big. 10 heavy hitters with big job titles (Toby, Michael, Vaughn, Ben, Deep, Sheri, Len, Christa, Yuling, Casper). For a business working with registrars to sell our inventory we sure have an abundance of officers, managers, presidents and directors involved in the sales process. Plus Daniel Schindler as a Special Adviser. Is this level normal?
Secondly - Michael Salazar is our COO and Chief Financial Officer. But apparently we've just appointed a COO (Ben) and Chief Revenue Officer (Vaughn). This sounds like there may be more to these appointments than meets the eye....but certainly an issue which should be clarified. SB

These appear to be a number 2 to Toby and a number 2 to Michael. Are we really operating at a scale where we need such additional senior positions in the business? Appreciate your view SJL they are good people - but that's probably added another $500k in overheads? As you say bakky, is there more going on the background we don't see. SB

Bakky - no problem with rewarding our team. I think we all appreciate what had to be done - although if we were being honest none of that work is reflected in the share price and that is not great for any investor. I do have a problem where the rewards are disproportionate, appear to replace prior year lapsed options, effect shareholder distributions, and lack any explanation as to their scale. SB

bakky - that's all fine and well - but in 2018 the 5.8m share options and 7.8m restricted stock units required a (non cash) $1.1m share based payment expense which came off the P+L; 30m is a whole heap more options to be expensed v the dividend pay-out to shareholders. SB

Bonum - you've hit the nail on the head. What the company is currently valued at and what it is worth is no different to the core issue faced by investors since the dawn of time...and central as to how we make a return on our investment. Following up on my recent 'perspective' - and the hope that eventually our worth is recognised by a third party consolidation play - in the meantime the company needs to focus on fundamentals which should drive improved sentiment.
There also needs to be a balance between operating performance and rewards - it cant be a good message for share options to lapse one year merely to be replaced the following year with an even larger package which has significant accounting implications for the business - lets see how share based payment accruals are going to be made in the latest set of accounts for the 30m share awards last year - and whether that outweighs the shareholder dividend package.
It is frustrating that we have entered a new financial year and our own house broker is unable to provide any guidance on 2020 outlook - revenue, PBT, eps, dividend - pretty material info and the type of guidance which should be in the public domain. I don't see how this lack of communication can possibly help the current investor malaise.
I hope your piggy bank remains on standby but we don't reach the point at which it is required......ATB SB

cheers SJL. Hope its nice in the sunshine state this time of year. From what I read Frank S comes across as one of the good guys in the industry - and seems to have done very well from domain investing - something you've got in common! What a nice combined business operation we would have......SB

Took a couple of weeks off from the board following ‘trading chinagate’ – felt I may have been coming across as too critical and was perhaps jumping to conclusions which didn’t help my perspective – not my intention. What I think it now apparent (and clear to the majority here) – is that a lot of the value in mmx is locked into the business which realistically will not be quantified until a major ‘event’.
The introduction of a dividend at the scale being reported, whilst encouraging, is simply not sufficient to create a level of demand capable of moving the share price to a level acceptable to longer term investors. That is equally relevant for the team at mmx – another 8m shares are going to expire in the next few weeks based on the current share price.
What is clear is that there is continued opportunities in the market from mergers, acquisitions, consolidation etc. Our team have had to deal with a whole range of car crashes – most of them were legacy issues – and it would appear we are close to having a clean house – we should know more next month. On that basis – it would be good to have clear understanding on our business strategy - beyond the ‘innovation, selective acquisitions, and growth’ agendas. Are we simply waiting for someone to offer the right price; are we going on the front foot as the adult domains purchase; or do we look at our fellow registries and pre-empt the sector consolidation work of the private equity teams? There is clearly capital available – noting there are risks with debt – but I don’t think we will see they type of return most of us would like to see here (in the short term) unless there is a clear plan beyond business as usual (accepting there are commercial sensitivities around such plans).
I like the fact SJL is able to share his knowledge and market relationships for our benefit – it continues to show the pot at the end of the rainbow…..it would just be nice to see where the rainbow started! SB