Member Info for Trenners

I don't know why is everyone getting so twitchy on here. For a large part of the day, CPI was actually in positive territory during a FTSE that spent most of the day in a crater.

CPI has always been a high BETA share - so when the FTSE collapses, CPI collapses more - but it held up pretty well today, considering all things, and even rallied into the close.

I'm still confident we'll make the FTSE250 cut and I do think the whole hack thing has been overdone.

Time to just sit patiently ......

Trenners

@Beachfeont - it's not that bad! We will hopefully get elevated to the FTSE 250 next week, the cyber report will hopefully report that the whole thing has been blown out of all proportion to what actually happened AND the H1 results are only about 9 weeks away and we know they are going to be pretty good (because the company said the company was trading in line with expectations for the initial 4 months of this reporting period).

Also - there is a chance they will announce the resumption of a dividend in the August results now that all the debt has been cleared.

So - I understand your frustration - but surely this must be trading in the 50s after the August results (if not before) ... And hopefully that will deliver you a handsome profit and an escape route.

And if in wrong - and we are still at this level in August - then I will also be selling too.

Trenners

@Capitalizer - in hoping for the 40s (if we make FTSE250) and fearing the 20s (if we don't).

Another thing to kick-start this would be an RNS detailing the hack and confirming it was not as bad as The Times kept reporting (but that's probably too optimistic) LOL

@Beachfeont I wouldn't be so sure that this is asleep.

Lots of negative press - almost daily - seems to be holding this back a little .... but that will eventually pass .... then I am expecting the share price to spring forward again.

By any measure - this share should be trading in the 40s plus now based on reports of how the business performing AND with AI being in the news a lot these days .....it's looks to me that we are well positioned at an important time for AI.

Finally ....when CPI wakes up .....it wakes up with huge springs and I don't want to be out when that happens!

Trenners

This is just so puzzling - I thought the update yesterday was good and the hack finally contained.

Today it's suggested that the hack could be used to win new customers (which I agree with) .....

Yes the share price (after a mini rally) continues to be under pressure.

I think we, just about, still make the FTSE250 cut at the end of the month ... But I would have anticipated a rally into the mid 30s (36/37) by now... Yet all is quiet and share price is under pressure again!

I don't understand why as everything looks good from where I'm standing

..... How many times has this been posted on this board ....

But this time - Rodney - they might be right!

All the best to all suffering longs ....

@Cagney I agree that the slow drip of the share price is painful to watch but I am hopeful that the update next week might create a short term bounce and then a steady climb back to 36p or 37p so that we regain entry into the FTSE250 at the end of May.

Of course - I could be wrong - in which case we will need to wait until August results (only about 11 weeks away now) for the bounce and re-rate that we've all been hoping for.

Can't see the point of selling now (when I could easily have sold at any point on the way down) ....

Although it's a bit easier for me as I am averaged in the 20's so I'm only losing profit I never took!

I'm confident this business has turned a corner though and we have better times ahead - hence why I'm still holding!

Trenners

60k shares for me .... Happy to accept any takeover price to get off this switchback roller coaster.

I bought because I had belief in ingenuity.... Now I'm not so sure ...... Gave up averaging down ages ago .... Only so much money you can throw off a pier!

No selling until takeover though!

Ha I admit it .... It's only been me calling Helen Parris by her alter ego (Helen Parsons) ....

Anyhow ... Whatever she is called .... She's doing an absolute sterling job (and so much better than the last guy).

@NoFear - what total rubbish you post. JL and l, especially, Helen Parsons have handled the PR surrounding the hack with total aplomb. Can you imagine how Stuart Morgan would have handled it (weeeeeeee'rrrrreeeee doomed).

They've put out RNS upon RNS as the scope of the hack has been assessed and have been very honest with the market (as soon as they had checked that customer data had been compromised).

I think the market has already over reacted in selling down CPI so much .... That's not to say it won't fall further because the market is the market.

But .... The handling of this incident by Capita is to be applauded rather than criticised.....

I honestly don't know what else they could have done (from a PR perceptive) once they realised their IT infrastructure has been compromised.

@IanB - Well the latest RNS suggests the cyber attack was well contained and only limited data lost. They also confirm they are working with regulatory authorities.

I think they've done everything they can to handle this 'by the book' - so if they do get fined (which feels harsh but not beyond the realms of possibility) I would guess the fine would be minimal

I know 4% of turnover is the theoretical maximum but that is just preposterous - no one has ever been fined on that scale and this data breach has been minimal.

I think this storm has now passed, I expect the share price to now heal ....

@NoFear - DR means disaster recovery. Every corporation usually has a set or IT processes and procedures that are defined and executed in response to an IT disaster (which can be as simple as a hack or as disasterous as a 777 airline crashing into your corporate data centre).

So, the DR protocol ensures that the business can both respond and survive any IT disaster.

Why is this important? Well statistics show that 80% of companies who have not implemented a robust DR strategy fail to survive / recover from such a disaster within 18 months

@IanB - anyone can get hacked, anyone can get scammed these days .... That's a fact of modern life.

What is important - is how you respond to the hack or the scam and, imo, Capita have acted so far with both professionalism and integrity.

This share is going to surge upwards when this mini storm passes .

Things seem much calmer here this morning (than they were yesterday) and I was very impressed by the professional communication / email from Helen Parsons in response to an email asking for an update on the hack.

I know I resisted adding more shares yesterday - but decided to top up with a few thousand shares today in the hope we can return to the 36p - 38p range in the coming days together with automatic entry into FTSE 250.

Also someone on here was suggesting there won't be much happening here before August results - but I don't think that is correct.

I see:

The delayed investor update (was due to be delivered today but not delayed to 9th May - which hopefully be able to report on what actually happened re: hack).

Entry into FTSE250 as long as we can hold around 36p at the end of May

There was also a trading update delivered at the end of June in 2022 which caused the share to rally during the lead up to it ..... Not sure if this is going to happen this year or not .

Surely we must be due a few contract wins between now and August as things have been very quiet recently and I can't believe the sales teams have been sat on their hands.

Then there are the August results where we expect debt to be virtually zero with free cash flow and - with a following wind and a bit of luck (gosh don't we need some luck) the announcement of a dividend resumption.

For me there is lots to look forward to and that's why I'm still adding .....

Its always darkest before the dawn .... And I feel the sun is just about to start rising for CPI.

@Xenor - I wouldn't worry too much about reputational damage (and their inability to win new business) because, right now, they are handling the situation very well and a lot of their income, for the time being, is run rate business so we shouldn't see a short term dip in revenue.

They are investigating the hack, assessing what has or hasn't been stolen and will, in due course, issue another statement (if another statement needs to be issued). That sounds a very professional and sensible approach.

OK - I feel the pain of the plummeting share price (holding nearly 400,000 CPI shares personally) - but its more important they fully investigate the hack and report in a professional way (rather than rush out an Ill conceived RNS to try and shore up the short term share price).

Over the weekend I was contemplating selling into todays down spike - but actually I came to my senses and realised they are actually handling the hack in quite a professional manner.

In fact - they may even gain kudos and reputational enhancement by the way they are handling all this.

I'm hoping the worst of the share price fall has now happened and we can start to return to the mid / late 30s very soon (and very quickly) once the market overcomes the fear.

If I didn't already hold so many CPI - I would have bought more today .... And if it falls much further I think I will be compelled to add more as the sell off is massively overdone now.

Well I couldn't bring myself to sell into a downward spike and - on reflection - I think @GoCPI is probably right in suggesting we should ride out this storm.

Capita isn't the first business to be hacked and it won't be the last.

A few twitchy investors rushing for the door this morning - but not as many (so far) that I feared might leave.

Time to add more on the dip .... There must be a solid chance this is all going to blow over soon as we will get back to business fundamentals?

Trenners

I can't decide whether The Times has really uncovered something new or whether they simply love bashing Capita (as they seem to be running an article about the hack every Sunday).

I'm obviously hoping they haven't uncovered something nasty (and unreported) as that's likely to have a 20% plus negative impact on the share price (and make our admission back to the FTSE250 at the end of May in doubt).

I, too, am hoping for an RNS in the morning saying recent media articles are both speculative and incorrect .

If not - I am thinking of reducing my exposure here (although it's never good selling into a down spike) as I can see this back into the early 30s or lower pretty soon!

Really frustrating for all us LTHs - waiting so patiently for the company to turn itself around .... only for them to get hacked and held to ransom as we saw light at the end of the tunnel......

Fingers crossed The Times are wrong!

@eatstocks - I totally agree that this has been a very well managed incident - the PR updates have been excellent (as opposed to previously when they were either non existent or had a negative slant to them) and they got most things back running over the weekend.

It is a credit to the way the business is now run, as you say, and a huge credit to IR / PR too.

Positive PR from Capita will only have one affect on the share price!

Trenners

Now we are fairly sure the company hasn't suffered a cyber attack and assuming everything is running and back to normal tomorrow .....

I would hope for a short term rally in the share price back to the mid - late 38s (which is where we were before the IT story broke).

An RNS confirming what happened and everything is now fixed would also be welcome.

Trenners

@Manan - and if it's not a cyber attack it will blow over and the share will rally on Monday.

Either way - they've got the weekend to fix things and issue a statement on Monday.