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Management are a bunch of cheats
Management
Been on the hook for a period listening to promises and garbage from mangement. Shame on them.
Disgraceful.
Where does the truth end and lie begin. Tiresome with increasing loss
However, the brokerage’s new EPS estimate of 9.9p is now a thumping 42 per cent below forecasts only three months ago and that has clearly changed the valuation argument. Investors will not have been impressed either by Trakm8’s weak cash flow performance which resulted in net debt quadrupling to £4.4m since the March 2016 financial year-end. This is partly due to the lower profits booked in the latest six month period, but also reflects an increase in the company’s working capital requirements due to a number of customers moving to a software as a service (SaaS) financial model (principally in fleet telematics) whereby the customer pays a monthly rental fee rather than including a one-off amount for hardware at the start of the contract. As a result, Trakm8 incurs its manufacturing and installation costs at the start of the contract so there is an initial mismatch of costs and cash flows. It wasn’t all bad news as Trakm8 announced yet another contract win alongside its first half results with Smart Driver Club, the innovative UK vehicle services company, to supply devices and data services for the launch of its Smartbubble service solution. Trakm8 will provide its latest generation T10 Micro devices to the company and has a launch order of 6,000 devices to be delivered in the current financial year. It’s only fair to say that Trakm8 reported 17 per cent organic growth in orders in the first half, so is clearly winning new business. However, that’s not enough to turn the tide of negative sentiment fuelled by two earnings downgrades, a weak cashflow performance, and a currency headwind. Sell.
Trakm8 warns Investors have reacted savagely to the latest trading update from Dorset-based telematics and data provider Trakm8 (TRAK:140p), marking the share price down by 25 per cent this morning after the company posted a sharp fall in first half profits. The board also warned of the possibility of a shortfall on second half profits in the event of a few large orders being pushed back into the next financial year. The current order book still supports expectations that Trakm8 can deliver full-year adjusted pre-tax profit of £5.9m, up from £3.8m in the prior year, to generate a 25 per cent rise in full-year EPS to 15.7p in the 12 months to end March 2017. However, this is based on a second half weighting “more pronounced than in previous years” given that Trakm8’s first half adjusted operating profit declined by 61 per cent from £1.52m to £590,000 on revenues up 12 per cent to £13.2m. Increased investment in engineering, sales and marketing expenditure in the six months to end September 2016 accounted for £1.5m of the £1.8m increase in overheads which surged by 44 per cent to just shy of £6m. Of this additional investment, over £600,000 was spent on marketing and additional staff to boost sales teams, the consequence of which is that “the pipeline of new opportunities is considerably greater than before.” But analyst Lorne Daniel at house broker finnCap is taking the worst case scenario and has pulled back his pre-tax profit forecast from £5.9m to £3.8m, implying a flat performance on the prior year, and cut his revenue estimate from £34m to £32m. Moreover, with a higher average share count for the full 12 month period, reflecting the dilutive impact of a placing at this time last year to fund an acquisition, and a higher tax charge too, then Mr Daniel’s new EPS estimate is now 20 per cent lower than last year at around 9.9p, representing a thumping 37 per cent downgrade on his previous expectations. When I last updated the investment case, and rated the shares a buy at 215p ('Priced to trak higher', 8 Sep 2016), having originally recommended buying at 92p ('Zoning in on a profitable price move', 16 Feb 2015), I noted that the fall in sterling against the euro and US dollar since the EU referendum had added £500,000 to Trakm8's annual cost of sales for the current financial year to the end of March 2017. The company sources electrical components from global manufacturers, mostly in the Far East, and is unable to pass this added cost onto clients given the competitive nature of the industry. finnCap lowered its pre-tax profit and EPS expectations by 8 per cent at the time, but I still felt that if the company could deliver on the new downgraded forecasts then there was upside in the share price on valuation grounds. However, the brokerage’s new EPS estimate of 9.9p is now a thumping 42 per cent below forecasts only three mo
I have both Quartix and Trakm8...Quartix expenses its R&D but Trakm8 does not expense all and it amounts to £1.8mil. I see investment in R&D as a source of increasing the future rate of return and this is not an irrational thing to do. At 25 times EBIDTA multiples prices it about where it is now ( if £1.8Mil expensed ) for Trakm8, Quartix and Fleetmatics (US). There are all sorts of way of valuing a company but I think Trakm8 is undervalued as am treating R&D as a real source of strong future cashflows. Seen this folly before and no doubt will see it again.
GKO is a case of minority shareholders' vulnerability to weak governance of foreign companies esp in Asia listed on AIMs. Shame on management both the foreign and local component.
investors@greenkogroup.com
brilliant management team must be grasping at straws
Done that but not waiting with bated breath.
Abysmal management team. I have swallowed a huge loss. Can do without poor management.
Often enough companies that are inclined to "exponential" expansion through debt have consequences.
That sums it up with GKO.
GKO's response to my email The management and the board is focused in resolving the issue with share price drop. The underlying business and its fundamentals are strong and tracking in line with expectations both at the financial numbers and growth plans level. The current SP drop has been a function of the concern on convertible shareholders in the subsidiary with rights to swap into PLC share may lead to significant dilution. We are actively working with institutions and convertible holders to enable clarity in the dilution and report back to the market in 2 weeks period. Post which we believe 1GW operating portfolio and strong long term financials will be reflected in the share price and recover rapidly from these levels.