Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Yup - that was me. I said I'd evaluate again when I saw results and their market update has confirmed their situation.
I still think they're going to need further funding around 2020/1 but they have a believable story now and they've got rid of some of the crap management.
You are right I have sold out but that also means I have a view, which is to watch from the sidelines for more clarify on how well SEE's strategy has been implemented. They have results in September and I'll compare the promises against the financial facts, although I note the most recent RNS statement contained the phrase "Paul McGlone has reset the Company's strategy..." which may be preparation for poor results when he declares his new strategy has had insufficient time to show returns.
Of the recent management restructure, Paul McGlone seems good. CFO leaving so soon very bad and I wonder whether this had anything to do with the financially competent chairperson overseeing. I'd have liked an appointment of someone with auto industry connections to join the board.
I have expectations of clearing the decks, throwing out the kitchen sink etc, and blaming the previous management in the EoY RNS in the hope that SEE can turn this around. Hence my position of continuing to watch from the sidelines.
Lack of share purchases by KK must mean he is leaving and I see it as very positive for SEE's future. The company should use the opportunity to clear out the dead wood in the company at the same time. I'm not expecting any visibility to their future for at least a year and so I'm now out but I'll look back in after a year to see what their progress and burn rate is. Good luck to those still holding.
I posted before the interims that SEE were in last chance saloon. I've just completed dumping my entire stock. More than 5 years of investment and a loss of around £40K. If the rights issue had include KK's resignation I'd have given this more thought but the only future I see where private investors will make money on this is a buyout. If you were an OEM would you license technology that might be controlled by a competitor?
No real surprise except KK hasn't resigned. They have indicated some of the directors will be participating in the offer. Don't be fooled by their altruism, the institutions will have insisted on this.
The question is whether the market capitalisation is justified by their predicted A$141m in the 2021-2024 timeframe? Based on their historical performance, no.
In response to the question asked here, if SEE miss their deadline they pay a fine. The fine escalates over time and they would eventually get kicked off the exchange but not before their nomad left them. I have seen delays from companies that have complex accounts but SEEs are so simple I could do them on the back of a napkin.
As I've said previously, if the accounts make it obvious there is financial hole then it would be addressed at the same time. If this goes on too long then I would start to suspect financial irregularity - possibly why there is so much selling going on.
My best guess is there is some bad news lurking and they are being delayed in the hope that some contract news will sweeten the pill.
"...not that difficult compared to the firmware the car companies are employing"
Compared to the hardware and algorithms for automatic driving it is relatively easy. In other words the car companies already have access to developers capable of replacing SEE's technology. That was the point I made not whatever it was you imagined I wrote.
Urgh. Really don't belittle my comments with "you really ought to research more...". Tracking eyes, closure periods, saccades etc, is something I know about from my time working as an IT consultant on VR. What SEE are doing is not that difficult compared to the firmware the car companies are employing.
I'm glad you find the concerns of posters amusing.
Following on from my comment about auto using SEE to prototype DMS, I'd like to remind people about the similarities in image processing. For those auto companies developing automation at L2 and L3 do you really think that tracking the driver presents any challenge other than the time to implement it? The biggest advantage that SEE have is reducing the time to market.
My guess would be the results now conclusively show that SEE need funding. If that's true then the results need to show where that funding is coming from. A delay waiting for an announcement of a contract win is unlikely because that is reliant of a third party. So brace yourselves as I expect this is not going to be good.
I consider SEE are drinking in last chance saloon. The competition are hot on their heals and SEE have squandered their lucky advantage of having a product in a potential lucrative niche. For some time my biggest concern has been in the auto field that their licensees are using SEE to prototype DMS whilst waiting for cheaper and more professional companies to get their products to market.
I may have missed some of the sarcasm but posts here appear to suggest BMW's restriction on their semi-autonomous driving is a restriction imposed by SEYE. The 37 mph (60 kph) is a restriction on the semi-autonomous software. It wouldn't make sense for their DMS to stop working because the car is moving faster.
Two reasons for potential investors being put off:
1. As soon as there is a significant price rise SEE will go for more funding. Yes, it's catch 22. Especially as when they do announce a fund raise the share price will drop again from where it currently is causing even more share price damage.
2. Previous assurances that the last fund raise definitely was the last and that fleet would provide sufficient equity to take them into profitability.
This is what happens when you lie to the market. SEE have a serious credibility issue.
Some of the share certificates are quite pretty and suitable for children, which is their market. I suspect that I'm like most people on this BB and have their broker holding them rather than the certificates. There are of course advantages in holding certificates as your shares can't be shorted without your knowledge and, as I would appear on the registration, SEEs management might apply more than 1 brain cell in answering my questions.
For these nuggets of information if someone would like to reward me with a share purchase, I'd like 1 class A share in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. :)
Single share purchases are common around this time of year. There are companies that allow you to buy framed share certificates - google them. Forget the conspiracy theories, it's people using their Christmas share gift vouchers.
Last notification from SEE stated about 200 employees. Say an average monthly cost of $5K per month so that's $1m salary cost. One would hope that some revenue is coming in but lets ignore that for the moment and just ask the question, where is the other $2.6m going? That is quite a burn rate.
The fleet situation will hurt SEE on a number of fronts:
1. Less income means another placing on the cards. Their agreed loan facilities will have been negotiated on forecasts and may no longer be available or more expensive.
2. Reputation over ability to deliver will affect potential licensees.
3. Redesign will cost money and delay will allow progress from competitors as SEE stand still. Again, their reputation is affected in terms of technical ability.
4. Share incentives to staff worth less.
5. Looking back over the last month it is clear this situation was known about and discussed with IIs and so there is the question of fair and timely disclosure to the market.
I think shareholders and SEE employees have a right to be peeved by the way that KK has disclosed this information.
"Furthermore, the Board has concluded that the cost reductions previously anticipated to be delivered by the updated Guardian product are unlikely to be achieved in the short to medium-term in the absence of further redesign, optimisation and improvements in the production cycle."
This paragraph worried me too as it had all the hallmarks of a company that does not know how to do mass production. A typical mistake that beginner development companies make is they do not consider the manufacturing, production, firmware installation, configuration and testing as part of the product design. A warning sign was their lack of preparation for purchasing components causing them to run out (was this the real reason?) should have told us that they lacked the experience. Everything about SEE tells me that they have been lucky to have the right product at the right time but if they continue to make novice mistakes they will be overtaken by companies that know what they are doing.
I find it shameful that they are keeping their performance related shares.
Further research has revealed that the camera is wide angled, covering the entire cabin and not just the driver, and is used as part of their black box mechanism for recording the driver's attention pre-accident. Their circuit board even has the camera labeled "Selfie cam" on it!
For the camera to record the driver pre-accident it must be permanently turned on but recording into a circular buffer so that it can stash away the seconds before the accident.
If the above is correct then it seems unlikely they'd be able to use it to monitor the drivers eyes.