Now that’s a thought!
He has done such a great job for PX1 that he was headhunted to join Kami.
Hence the resignation with immediate effect.
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Valuable bloke that Craig.
At 61 cents he took 8c off the share price, which is $13.876 million capitalization.
Was he worth it?
What’s the worst scenario with ceo resignation with immediate effect?
No rudder, and without CFO, no one to put their oar in either!
Have you never watched The Inner Circle ? :ohmy:
Wonder if Craig checks on ST ...his mate seemed to
The last 6 months.
https://youtu.be/wswFjuJPbxg
What will the next 6 bring?
The days of CEOs staying in the same job for years are not so common these days. Particularly with progressive companies. The average tenure is approximately 5 years. Beyond that you risk CEOs running out of ideas, becoming stale and out of energy. Sounds like he has “other priorities” ie more $$$$ and more time at home. My guess he will have secured a new position paying more for less hours. Money doesn’t not talk, it screams.
He does say he is confident Plexure is well positioned for future success.
So watch this space. New man, fresh ideas and new drive. Just part of the CEO merry go round.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/07/cram...ly-resign.html
Quit your shares when the CEO or CFO quits unexpectantly & without proper explanation.
IMHO I believe a change of CEO is for the best for Plexure. However, temporarily not having one looks very dodgy and the resignation was quite unexpected. I’ve seen companies turn around first hand from having a change of CEO with a fresh mindset and greater ability to execute (AMD with Lisa Su for example). Worth a hold in my portfolio at least.
3 instances YTD of big volumes being sold down along with the sp :
1. 20 May - revenue downgrade
2. 18 May - CFO resigns
3. 4 Aug - CEO resigns
Credibility is gone (certainly in Australia with the $1.20 placement last year with plenty of undelivered promises) so ....
.... PX1 will either have to scale back growth plans to conserve cash, or do further capital raising (if it's even possible) at heavily discounted prices.
No compelling reason to invest or hold this stock imo.
Plexture chair Phil Norman has been quoted in the media saying:
Since joining Plexture in 2017, Mr Herbitson has lead the business through a significant transition from a loss making entity to becoming cashflow positive and profitable in 2018 and 2019"
Does this reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of where Plexture's true value lies? Or, if that isn't the case, speak to a Plexture's strategy being off the mark?
Those who understand investing in the tech sector would know that tech companies such as Plexture are valued based - at a high level - on a multiple of their revenue, with revenue growth being a key determinate of what that multiple might be.
The basic model for delivering value to shareholders is one of acquisition. With the above valuation context in mind, the strategy of such tech companies is to grow revenue as quickly as possible, so that a) the revenue base to be multiplied is as large as possible, and b) quicker growth = larger multiple.
Growing as fast as possible means investing heavily in all areas of the business - the result of which is, in most cases, a cash deficit and/or trading loss. As opposed to traditional models of value whereby a business is valued based on a measure of it's underlying profitability (eg: a EBITDA multiple), in the case of tech it is more often than not a good thing if the business has a cash deficit
To that end, Norman's words above do seem to be a cause for concern - is there anything that relates to Plexture in particular that people know of, which would mitigate or explain this?
The context here is the previous CEO almost ran the company into the ground by chasing expansion without worrying about whether it was profitable. The ship has now been steadied and the last cap raise allows them to aim for growth again.
If they hadn't become cashflow positive in 2018-19 they probably wouldn't exist today - that's Craig's contribution.
Good post wagwan and generally your comments are how tech gets valued
However I see Plexure not a pure tech play - rather an outfit that uses tech to deliver customer outcomes but in doing that has a high servicing component
The servicing cost - people cost 70% of sales - wow
Not sure you've got the point I'm making
Chasing growth at the expense of profit is essentially the aim in tech. Completely different from most other sectors and traditional models of valuation, yes, but understanding this is at the crux of investing in tech businesses.
Yes you have to raise capital to fund that growth from time to time, as there is essentially an on-going cash burn - the investors decision to do so depends on their assessment of future acquisition potential.
Examples of this model / approach are found all through the US - think Uber, Netflix etc etc
I would suggest that if Plexture wouldn't be around today without turning to profitability it reflects a fundamental issue with the business - their offering, strategy and value proposition (ie: if the business had a bight future, and was burning cash and required more, why would investors not step up to provide?)
NB: the strategy from the acquirers perspective is that they have the existing cost base covered in terms of infrastructure, staff etc etc, so essentially can add the revenue from acquisition straight onto top line, and only have to add marginally to cost base - this turns the existing 'business' from loss making to profitable - both in accounting and cash terms - overnight
Thanks - and yep agree largely. Although that people cost wouldn't be as much of an issue if it resulted in significant sales growth or new clients!
I think too many fundamental issues with PX1. People bought on the promise of big new clients, accelerated revenue growth and as a result SP appreciation.
Seems that may have just been a good story, although would love to be proven wrong
Sorry to those who are selling at a loss.
FWIW my first large purchase was way back when they were PLX in October 2018 at 21c when they announced the McD deal. ( I also remember days when PLX touted IKEA as a BIG client......and still wonder what happened to that?)
So long term large holder but recent CFO and CEO resignations plus non delivery of their "two MAJOR clients" pa promise made me decide to get out.
If the news changes and the trend reverses I may be back, but in the meantime it is about capital preservation/appreciation for me.
GLH and as always DYOR and take responsibility for your own decisions.
Yes, the company needed stabilising because it ran out of options for raising capital. The company was taken much more seriously after Craig took over and would have likely run out of money otherwise. Fully understand those selling out, it's been disappointing that new large clients haven't appeared.
Wonder how Scobie Ward feels about Plexure now
Hope he doesn't feel he has to sell out
BAL, NO ONE SAID IT WAS, IMO Zero and this is from a long standing S Her circa April 2009, is just an example of a company that almost went broke a couple of times , we all know that they are different business models but some take more money and time than others ie PEB etc.
1 order 360,000 at $0.570
One of my informal indicators - if posters feel the need to start to shout, than this is a pretty reliable indicator that company is moving towards the "roll up their toenails" - phase. This is what 19 out of 20 start-ups tend to do.
Make no mistake - PX1 is still a startup, and even a pretty slow one ...), and only 5% of startups do succeed (and even a smaller number of them turn into a XRO, amazon or google).
Just wondering where these 95% of startup investors are who bought into the loosing startups? Anybody ever heard from them?
Imagine - you are standing in a group of 20 people and you know 19 of them will be randomly executed. Same chances to win - do you feel save with the business model?
Another way to look at it might be - you have twenty dollars to invest and put one dollar on each of 20 startups. You know 19 will go down statistically. Will this startup pay back not just the dollar you paid for it, but as well the 19 dollars you lost in the other companies?
Maybe this thread should better be used for contemplation instead of for shouting :):
You are right - Craig has not been doing any international travel vs plenty before Covid.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...FQNFU46RQ3HN4/
"Craig's gone from constant air travel to no travel," the director said.
Something really smells with his resignation with immediate effect.
Excerpt :
"Plexure director Jack Matthews told the Herald that people shouldn't read too much into the seemingly abrupt nature of Herbison's departure."
"This didn't come out of thin air. Craig has expressed concerns about work pressure and wanting to spend more time with his family for a while."
Really? Anyone read or heard anything about work pressures and him wanting to spend more time with his family?
PX1 shareholders, particularly those who bought shares in the $1.20 placement last year, deserve better than ‘spend time with family’ reason for his sudden & unexpected exit.
I don't know if that is much of an indicator but maybe. If you hold enough companies, some will give you a good feeling over and over again as they execute well, demonstrate competence, good communication and endurance and some companies make you feel quite the opposite as they stumble along. Best thing you can do is hold companies that make you feel good. Drop the dogs and don't look back.
After I read these posts I felt frustrated with some of these forum posters..I said to myself "I love to shout"..Then my inner voice said "Go ahead you have my permission"......."Ok thanks"...
NEVER FALL IN LOVE WITH A DOWN TRENDING STOCK.
Buying long term into a down trending stock is equivalent to venturing into a forest where bears live, the risk of being mauled is very high...anyone with any common sense will know this.
If you have this masochistic desire to purchase PX1 at least wait until the down trend ends and reverses.
Attachment 12807
aux and nzx trade at same price 0.6
Actually a Canadian messaged me..A 4 legged hairy friend with antlers that many on ST would know and respect...and sadly missed.
He allowed me to post this part of his message....No offense to Biscuit just nice humourous banter ...enjoy :D:D.
Attachment 12808
Plexure is supposed to give update on renegotiation contract with McDonald’s in August. I guess something is wrong here. The negotiations might failed or MacDonald don’t want to use Plexure in the future. Quite scary picture in these cases.
Just a few things to keep in perspective.
29/3/21. Exceeded guidance.
20/5/21. Ann Report, Increases revenue 15%, Loss of $7.93M, still leaving $42.4M in CASH, NTA 21.4c.
!/6/21. Signs Pita Pit as new client.
5/7/21. New CFO appointed.
Macdonalds own 9.9%. Did they invest, only to take their business elsewhere?
Their contracts are only done on an individual country basis anyway.
Conclusion. All of the above is known to the marketplace, enough cash to keep going, so recent sellers must have only had faith in Craig Herbison??
One of Plexure’s greatest advocates on here is BaaBaa ….even seems to have insights into inner workings at Plexure.
You been quite mate
What you say about recent developments
Looks to me like PX1 is heading the same way as Provenco unless they land another major profitable contract soon imo.
Provenco bled to death as you recall after winning the Petronas multi million dollar contract. Was not able to win another oil company contract (or any other major contract) after that - servicing the Petronas contract proved to be more than the contract price!
Yes this service cost issue seems to be the underlying issue running through many of our minds.
In Theory (ok sometimes doesn't work in practice) 101 Marketing. A small company should be very careful when signing up a very powerful and large client which can dominate the Balance Sheet and makes that small company very vulnerable.
Oops..PX1 has suddenly fallen 10% before recovering to 55c..big seller at 53c ..someone desperate to get out..Not a good look..eh
Hoop just wanted to say thanks for your TA Chart posts on PX1.
My own charts aren't as pretty as yours so I don't post them, however I started reducing my overweight holding some time ago due to the TA signals you have noted. I shifted to a less risky 'free holding' as the SP slipped and held this position as a major customer gain could have changed things in a flash, however the recent CEO announcement means the odds are now against this. GLH.
I don't understand the comment re "free money".
Why do you think a "free holding" is less risky? It is money you own and you can either use it to do something desirable or useful with this money, or you can lose it. What difference does it make whether the money was a gift (free money?), an inheritance (free money?), whether you made it as capital gain ("free money?") coming from this share or from some other share ("not so free , but still free money?"), or whether you earned it doing your job (clearly not free ....).
If you own a certain amount of money - what difference does it make to you in which way you managed to make this money in the first place?
You do have an opportunity to do something useful with this money ... and you might lose it.
I used the words 'Free holding'. My definition of that is that I have taken my original investment money out previously (by selling at a profit.) Any remaining shares were essentially "Free held' IMHO. I use this as a de-risking tool.
Just my terminology, you are free to think/do differently.
I haven't posted because I'm trying to find out what's really going on, I don't believe the CEO leaving 'immediately' for 'family reasons'. That's BS in my book.
This is what worries me more, on the day before the CEO announcement:
Full legal nameHSBC Custody Nominees (Australia) Limited
Vacation Date03 Aug 2021
Full legal nameSHARBO LIMITED
Vacation Date03 Aug 2021
Full legal nameVIX Investments Ltd
Vacation Date03 Aug 2021
Interesting Baa Baa. :scared: According to the 2021 Annual report showing Top 20 shareholders HSBC Custodial and Sharbo Limited had a combined holding of 3.58%.
The Vanguard notices all related to transactions on the 28th, and rather than sell downs, were listed as In Specie, indicating a fairly substantial tranche of their NZ shares handed over to party unknown in lieu of payment.
Found the whole thing deeply curious, and would love to know what was behind it.
Can’t see any connection to Plx though.
I don't think any of them were 5%+ so no need for notice. Companies Office, scroll down and click on 'Show History'
I missed this one as well, the day of the CEO announce.
Full legal nameHSBC NOMINEES (NEW ZEALAND) LIMITED
Vacation Date04 Aug 2020
Total volume on market hasn't been enough to exit those four large shareholders. I don't know what they've done to get out, or where their shares have gone to. Only thing I'm focusing on is why all of them recorded 'vacated' on 3rd or 4th August. Too much just for coincidence, with the CEO leaving.
Thanks for info, looks like the Herbison departure was leaked in advance.
Here is another for Sharbo
https://opencorporates.com/statements/964877711
Hit the documents tab on your link Baa_baa, you can see that “particulars of shareholding” were updated for the first time in nearly 5 months, so possibly just accounting for all changes within that time?
Interesting to note that prior to this year, they were usually updated every 1-2 months, but recently some much larger gaps..
Yes you're probably right, the updates are registered by the CFO, this one shows the big movements ,and issued by the new CFO. Still, it's a surprise especially to see Sharbo and VIX go. Something just doesn't seem right.
Anyone seeing any parallels between this, and PPH?
Seeing a big sale on Friday morning made me wonder if there was going to be a bad news disclosure when the NZX closed for the weekend.
No announcements... nothing, nada, zilch....so....No news is good news..eh.... Hmmm
Is a new CEO priced in?
Buy, Hold or Sell?
I am so Perplexured on this one. I had high "hopes"/ blind optimism with the CEO. Where the ... is the new customer. Pita Pit NZ is that it... surely they have something going on with Ahold Delhaize?
Just a few of the brands we should be able to connect with surely if Super Indo is doing good things....
Attachment 12817
For now I hold but quite nervously as have already DCA down to improve average. After participating in the oversubscribed SPP. What a blessing in disguise that was to have only received a nominal amount at $1.20
GLTAH
I had to exit on Friday. The ship was already looking a bit rudderless, and now the captain has jumped overboard there were just too many red flags for me.
Happy to jump back in once we have some surety around a few of those flags. Until then GLTAH.
Well, I guess traders can always hope for the famous dead cat bouncing ... which would not be unusual after such a hard fall. Otherwise - pretty ugly trend chart, isn't it?
Attachment 12818
Long term investors clearly must see something which makes this company standing out out of the crowd of startups (Remember - Between 18 to 19 out of every 20 die without ever paying their share holder funds back) - and I mean in a positive way.
Does Plexure look that healthy compared to the other startups who are going to die a premature death? Is this the best Startup candidate you can think about? If the answer to that question would be no, than its clear - SELL and invest into the other company ... if you really must invest into startups, this is.
I don't know what the survival rate of sinking ships is, which even the captain already abandoned - but I recon it is not that amazing.
However - never say no, there is always a chance of a whale lifting the sinking boat and bringing it safely to shore. She'll be right ;) - won't she?
PX1 having a good day on the bourse today
Panic over
I spoke with Phil Norman and he mentioned Mcdonalds leaving Plexure would be costly to Maccas and not happening at all. McDonald's is extremely happy with Plexure and they have a close relationship. With Pita Pit it is a doorway to a bigger contract. Plexure needs to earn their stripes was mentioned.
He also mentioned costs sourcing people in IT had increased greatly from last year.
He indicated another Capital raise will be happening in the future for possible mergers or acquisitions and that the directors were onboard for putting in money themselves for this if it needed to be done.
A lot of this stuff I have mentioned I read between the lines. So DYOR
Spoke to Phil also, he seemed like a good sort. Didn’t sound like he was sweating over the CEO leaving either, it was in the pipeline. However they realise the growth is not as much as expected and possibly looking at M&A opportunities like Ggcc mentioned.
Edit: update - also he mentioned that Andrew Dalziel is actually stepping in to help them out a bit since craig decided to leave.
I sold. Lost heaps. Don't want to talk about it. Removed from watchlist.
I once said this could be a $1b company LOL
GLHs.
I'm totally out now. Been in since 2015.
I think that Craig might have failed to execute with new customers but he did help the company stabilise and survive as they were doing cap raises at ever lower valuations. Losing both CEO and CFO without warning in a couple of months was bad enough but losing the CEO with immediate effect was a huge red flag for me.
There might still be a future for this company but without further announcements of what the future holds, it feels way too risky right now. And it was already a pretty risky bet anyway.
Heaps of NZ’s IT companies sold for mega-bucks to overseas acquirers :
There has been a string of offshore tech sales this year, which has included the $100m+ sale of EzyVet, plus the sale of Vend ($455m), Timely ($135m), Seequent ($1.45b), Ninja Kiwi ($203m), Education Perfect (in a majority-control deal valuing the firm at $455m) and the $500m Hawaiki Cable (a deal now in front of the Overseas Investment Office), while December saw the sale of local retail hero Mighty Ape to Australia's Kogan for $128m.
Begs the question, doesn’t it, as to why PX1 still around like a bad smell if it’s business and software is so **** hot as was spun during the capital raise last year?
I am now fully out of this one as well biggest disappointment and ..... not happy with Craig he pumped the ASX listing and CR so hard was everywhere prior pumping this with false promises.
I will watch for now but had to protect my capital and accept the loss on this spec.
GLTAH that decide to stay on board.
I was out at 70c. 40% down. Cut my losses with this one. What a **** show of a company. Waiting months for a big customer. No update on indo's big supermarket chain. Ceo leaving. Continuinely issuing shares to employees that so far have brought no value to the business.
After months of waiting they announce they sign with pita pit. Big whoopee. GL to all. Thankfully I didn't average down.
I have it on good authority that the reason for Herbisons departure was a 'disciplinary' type matter that in no way was related to the financial performance of the company both now or impending. On that basis, there should be no sell off relating to his departure unless of course people thought that his worth/value to the company was the same as the share sell off on a relative basis.
What good he have done... Spread false information to the market about the next big customer.
I took a smallish hit on this one and would be very cautious about re entering. Good luck every one that stays.