Vianet Share Discussion Threads

[connor23] 17/3/2014 08:25

Thanks Lomcovaks. I have just started reading his book as it happens so will keep an eye out for that.

[tonsil] 17/3/2014 07:55

It's a pump to recover his losses here

[lomcovaks] 16/3/2014 20:30

He's been a holder since 'bruline'days and wrote about them in the FT in March 2012 and republished this in his book 'How to make a million - slowly'from last December where he mentions his disappointment but says he's 'keeping the faith'.

[masurenguy] 16/3/2014 09:03

Thanks Connor23 - here is the reference to VNET. However, John Lee does not mention the current uncertainty relating to the ongoing government Statutory Code review. Perhaps he just thinks that this is an obvious non-starter and has decided to ignore it!

"The FTSE is close to its record high, while the indices that track smaller companies have surpassed their previous peak levels. Is it too late to jump in? No, Lee insists – having just bought shares in another UK smaller company stock, Vianet, based in Stockton-on-Tees. It provides beer monitoring systems for one in three of Britain's pubs, but its shares have been weak as it has missed profit targets. "Get to know the business you are buying shares in, and back your own judgment," he says. "It's not rocket science."
John Lee 15/03/14

[connor23] 16/3/2014 08:37

Not in this one anymore, but interesting that a Guardian article today mentions Jon Lee as a holder. Might take another look!

[speedsgh] 19/2/2014 15:59

Note the typo error in the rns. 39,000 shares purchased on 17/2 were at 69.25p, not 60.25p as per rns. Would've been a bit miffed if he had picked them up at 60.25p.

[alan@bj] 17/2/2014 21:42

Just read the 16th December announcement again. The government's delay in determining the outcome of the pub consultation is very frustrating and must be detrimental to the company's growth.

[harry the haddock] 07/2/2014 10:05

i got out a little while ago - this is only going 1 way at present. sold at a loss but dived into tni on a rare dip and now have made my money back. good luck to all holders. will be keeping an interested eye on things from the sidelines

[xdavid] 06/2/2014 20:06

Since the BOD were expecting the whole thing to be resolved before Xmas, the longer it goes on, the more it will affect final results, given how much it affected the first 6 months. I've hummed and hawed but concluded I would actually be a buyer rather than a seller at this level - but I'm at my (self imposed) limit already and, frankly, would be awaiting a resolution even if I was going to buy more. So meantime, we continue to dribble down further :-(

I'm confident (like the BOD) of it being resolved without greatly affecting VNET's business but for how much longer is the can going to get kicked down the road?

[masurenguy] 06/2/2014 16:45

Some selling today ! Just impatience by some small holders at no news or has somebody heard that something negative may be in the pipeline - no pun intended !

[masurenguy] 24/1/2014 15:39

Not really so odd - it is a fairly illiquid small cap and just four small buys, aggregating to around 15,000 shares, is sufficient to move it up 1%

[alan@bj] 24/1/2014 14:18

VNET up a tad on a day when most shares are down. Odd?

[speedsgh] 22/1/2014 12:22

Saw Vianet sticker on pump at local Sainsbury's petrol station this morning saying that pump was last calibrated Aug 2013. First time I've clocked one of them.

[speedsgh] 21/1/2014 17:50

Morning Advertiser ‏@morningad 2h

Labour pub debate: Regulation is 'necessary' and decision will be announced soon, says Vince Cable - www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/General-News/Statutory-Code-Regulation-is-necessary-and-decision-will-be-announced-soon-says-Vince-Cable

[xdavid] 07/1/2014 10:45

I was thinking more likely he would be useful if looking to sell-off the Fuel division now it should be showing profits rather than the MBO previously mentioned? But maybe there are gaps in their technology side which can be filled by small acquisitions rather than develop internally. I don't know but it does seem odd to specifically mention that aspect of his experience. Might not mean anything specific though - who knows [shrugs shoulders].

[speedsgh] 07/1/2014 09:58

Appointment of Non-Executive Director -

"Vianet Group plc (AIM:VNET)... is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike McGoun to the Board as Non-Executive Director. Mike will join the board from 1 February 2014.

...He brings a wealth of management experience within the technology space, as well as strong corporate merger and acquisitions expertise."

M&A expertise? Are VNET looking to go on a spending spree?!

[alan@bj] 16/12/2013 12:29

Well there's a surprise, a governmental delay! However, the tone of the announcement is pretty positive and optimistic, so fingers crossed.

[yupawiese2010] 06/12/2013 12:18

xdavid.

It is common knowledge within the workforce that when the management have turned the fuel solutions division around, they will be looking to sell this division, due to the low profit margin.

It is important to remember, they are not forced sellers & no timescale has been given for the disposal.

[alan@bj] 05/12/2013 14:25

PP - thanks very much for the feedback on your wildly expensive lunch date. It's very good of you to take the time to do this, and of Vianet's CEO too. I thought it was quite encouraging and am sure we'll see a decent jump in the share price if the outcome of the Statutory Code is reasonably positive for the company. All IMHO, of course.

[xdavid] 05/12/2013 13:00

PP, firstly thanks for the recents reports!

I'm not sure why you are discounting Fuel Solutions at the moment. Hopefully you can consider the following and give me your thoughts...

Fuel Solutions accounts for 20-25% of total revenue (according to latest interims but I am confused with their handling of the "revised reporting segments").

Running at 140k (or 257k?) loss for the 6 months, they report that the "last two months of the period were profitable at the operating level, a trend which is expected to continue". Reinforced with outlook for H2... "making solid progress towards trading sustainably at breakeven level during H2 2013".

So... what effect on bottom line if (when?) the division moves into profit? A quarter of the revenue - what sort of profit margin can be expected to move to bottom line? That's the big question I guess. Can they get the recurring revenue up enough to make a sustainable difference to the EPS... Can we get 1p? 2p+?

I don't suppose you had any exchanges with management as to how geared the Fuel Division was to an increase in revenue? (I should have thought of that question before your meeting :-0

--------------------
Now I'm at risk of getting too close, but bear with me...

"Fuel Solutions has made good progress in establishing a relevant offering for the independent forecourt sector, which comprises approximately 5,000 sites. The division is successfully aligning itself to the Petrol Retailers Association's ("PRA") Big Oil membership as the preferred "one stop shop" service provider to fuel forecourts. During H1 the division took responsibility for the Big Oil fuel pricing portal which has included a completed re-development, introduction of several Vianet fuel management modules, and migration of existing subscribers. The formal launch to the wider PRA membership and the independent sector will commence in Q4 of the Group's financial year which the Board anticipates will lead to increased traction and growing recurring income through the next financial year."

Looking at the Petrol Retailers Association's ("PRA") website...
and from their Facts & Figures page, independants make up 61% of all service stations, 5,300 potential sites. (Mind you, it is still less than one third the size of actual beer monitoring sites but surely higher value?).

There is a link on the PRA page to Big Oil which takes you direct to a Vianet sub-page off their Fuel Solutions website (so not just restricted to members of the PRA)...


(Actually, its also worth taking a look at the main site...
to get an idea of the extent of all their offerings to fuel suppliers)

Initially launched in April, there are various bits of good promo info out there in webland...



For more, just enter "vianet" or "bigoil" (one word) into the search field of above site. For example, this is another article from May...



-----------
CONCLUSION: Fuel Solutions have _already_ undergone the required recovery work and look well positioned for growth. With a quarter of the revenue, should we not now be looking forward to a meaningfull contribution to EPS in the next full year and hopefully an indication of movement to this in this year-end's results?

[paulypilot] 05/12/2013 11:01

Hi Jeffian,

I wouldn't say its going nowhere. They're getting growth in vending, and that's moved into profit, with further progress expected in H2. It's recurring revenues mostly, so that should build over time.

Fuel - the least exciting part of the business, I'm largely ignoring this. But it's around breakeven, so that's acceptable.

Core business - they think they can move clients over to iDraught better once the Statutory Code issue is resolved. Although take-up of it was slow even before the Stat Code issue surfaced.

USA - could become pretty exciting if pilots currently underway with bar chains convert into contracts & roll-outs.


If a few things come together, the price will be a good bit higher than now in my view. In the meantime we can lock in an 8% yield at the moment. So if you think they can make some progress (which I do), then it's good value. But rapid growth is probably not going to happen any time soon, but who knows?

Cheers, Paul.

[jeffian] 05/12/2013 09:25

Only just had a chance to catch up here and grateful to Paul for his report. Grateful, but rather depressed. In the context of my #424 -

"a) selling iDraught as a 'management tool' rather than a system simply to police the 'tie'
b) Fuel
c) Vending.

We need to hear about progress on a) and an explanation of why b) and c) are taking so long and whether they will ever be profit growth centres."

- the answer seems to be:-

"It's fair to say that the core business is declining........
Vending could become a decently profitable business in time, and fuel is really a wild card - personally I'm not placing any value on that"

- See more at:

Sounds to me like it's going nowhere.

[paulypilot] 05/12/2013 00:41

Happy to be of service! I had a couple of hours free between meetings today, so dropped into the IoD to use their WiFi and type it up. Hope to do more of that kind of thing - i.e. getting Qs from investors, and then getting As from management & disseminating it out again. Trouble is just finding the time - if you don't immediately write up things, it just gets to the back of the queue & then never gets done.

PP.

[prop_joe] 04/12/2013 16:38

Thanks for the clear Q&A write up. All the key points covered.