Altitude Share Discussion Threads

[billster2018] 09/7/2020 09:52

Hi BSF, so on the two points my take is as follows. Firstly on the supplier issues. During COVID, supply chains were completely screwed up, it is hard to remember only a few months ago just how bad things looked on that Friday when the US said that NY was locking down. Ships were stuck in Chinese ports and stuff just wasn’t getting shipped. So I think that bringing on new suppliers was a long way down their list, just getting the stuff supplied that they ordered was a bigger issue, plus PPE etc. Also I thought they intimated previously that they could cover the lions share of business with the current suppliers. Again this is just my guess.

Onto the fact ALT own AIM and whether they are able to charge both sides of the trade the distributor and the supplier. Here’s my simplistic view, as ALT gets more and more data they can surely start to see how the distributors behave and tailor their services in a way that they add huge value to the distributor, so the distributor ends up being better off by paying for ALT’s services (this side of the trade is the heaviest lift, I think).

On the supplier side, the easier side. Surely they simply engineer it so that distributors are forced to go through preferred suppliers. How? I am not totally sure, but maybe by making preferred suppliers much more attractively priced than none preferred, or by finding products within the preferred group that are more attractive than none preferred products, or maybe by finding the suppliers most used by the distributors and getting them on as preferred suppliers. I just don’t see this part as being in anyway complicated. I see it as similar to telling a private bank that is owned by an investment bank that they have to execute all equity orders through the investment bank, essentially making them a captive client.

I may be over simplifying this, but I struggle to see how they can’t make this work, if they are competent and the fact that they had the insight to buy AIM, tells me they are.

[john09] 09/7/2020 09:38

9p a share . Yeah what a top guy

[northwards] 09/7/2020 09:31

Peter Hallet forking our 76,000 pounds - yes a great price, but that shows confidence.

[northwards] 09/7/2020 09:19

Big - I think that's a fair question. However, I think the answer is pretty simple and that's Covid. A lot of suppliers were fighting for survival in April/May and trying to get more to sign up during that time would have been super challenging. Covid has clearly pushed back progress. But cash is not an issue and my eyes are focussed on Jan 21 onwards.

[thebigshortfella] 09/7/2020 09:08

Billster - John09 wrote this yesterday:

“It was already the aim group, they’ve tried to reverse into it , push their elbows out and try and take a cut of the buyer and sellers market...and they can’t do it! They can’t count it nor can they enforce it”.

Obviously, we don’t know if this is the case, but it would be the main reason why their plans may stall, so it’s worth discussing.

My understanding is that, aside from other revenue generating services, ALT take a cut from the preferred suppliers sales. The fact that they have 175 highlights that some suppliers have gone along with it.

In the March update ALT stated:

“The preferred supplier base has been expanded to 175 from the 161 suppliers reported as at 30 September 2019, with more suppliers expected to join from 1 April 2020. All current supplier agreements are active 1 January 2020. We continue to receive requests to participate in our supplier program, as AIM Smarter is consistently reported as a top customer by our supplier partners.”

However, in this weeks update, they state that the preferred supplier numbers has remained at 175 and the expected increase in April did not occur.

I appreciate that Covid has created disruption, but why would no more suppliers join over the the last 6 months? I would have assumed that, during a tough trading time, they would want to be in a position to get more orders.

Also, it would clearly be in ALT’s interest to sign up suppliers to the preferred scheme, particularly if they are having requests to participate.

It could be that ALT’s staff focused all their efforts on pushing PPE products, as this may help to close the overall revenue shortfall due to Covid.

What’s yours or anyone else’s thoughts? Thanks.

[northwards] 08/7/2020 16:15

I wonder if some of our major shareholders have taken this opportunity to top up...

[thebigshortfella] 08/7/2020 16:04

Billster - funnily enough I was running a long spreadbet that expired around the £1 mark. I was very lucky...

[thebigshortfella] 08/7/2020 15:32

Billster - I like your thinking. I suspect we are coming from a similar place, ie is ALT about to become a worthy speculative punt?

I agree that ALT “appear” to have a “potentially” scaleable business model. The problem, as John09 has pointed out, is that they have pivoted far too much and at times it looks as though they have been just clutching at straws. Furthermore, I believe that ALT has overestimated how easy it would be execute on their plans with AIM. I’m not saying they can’t get there, just that it will take them far longer than they and investors imagine.

It’s entertaining reading all the excuses and justifications provided by long term investors for ALT’s poor performance. It seems no one is at fault for the crash in share price!

I agree with you that Covid has come at a particularly bad time for ALT and it’s investors. What it has also done is obscured (up to a point) if the new business model works. I do agree with John09 that the supposed strength of their solutions, should be that they have a far better idea of tracking throughput and, therefore, revenues.

I’m not trading ALT at this stage, but will be checking the next update to see if I should take a position.

[robbnw] 08/7/2020 15:25

Dead right !

[tjbird] 08/7/2020 14:31

bad debt coming

[stars309] 08/7/2020 14:28

Added more today at 19p which reduced my average nicely. I wouldn't be surprised to see a few more taking advantage while the price is around the 20p mark. As we've seen recently the share price could quite easily be 35p+ in a few weeks time. No need for panic. Long term holders know the true value in ALT is yet to come.

[billster2018] 08/7/2020 14:21

From memory the old Altitude would try and get contacts/clients to white label their tech, for which Altitude would receive a fee. The client was in no way wedded to Altitude and could change at any time. Their main client was AIM.

Now they own AIM and are finding new ways to monetise the network. They are now charging suppliers for supplying into AIM and in time hope to charge distributors for the extra services that they can provide, services they know they need, as they see all the flow business. They have complete visibility of all transactions going through their distributor network.

With the old model, the investor had to hope that Altitude could over time win new clients and persuade the clients to use a technology/platform that the investor didn’t fully understand, but new that these clients could turn the tap off at any time. With the new business, Altitude actually own the client and over time are finding ways to monetise something they own.

To me the new model makes sense and I would find it hard to understand why it wouldn’t work. But that is just my view

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:20

A new strategic alliance with ASI? ok how’s that working out
Napco? Hmm
Torch partners? No...
Think promo now? Nope
Channel pro
Aim pro
aim smarter
ADP acquisition?
Aprinta deal
Click2ship
“Artwork tool”
Promotions products expo

Go back...read up. Enjoy. Should have called it clutching at straws plc

The market cap is £13m.........

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:12

I would “be annoyed at my investment“ if I was holding at 19p!!! But Im not so stupid

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:11

No blister lol. Jeez

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:10

We continue to enjoy the support of our supplier partners and AIM members, many of whom have expressed deep gratitude for the assistance the Company has provided to them during the crisis. YES I BET THEY HAVE LOL. FREEE FREEEEE FREEEE. IF YOU WANT TO INVEST IN DEEP GRATITUDE GO FOR IT

As a result of the reporting challenges caused by COVID-19 and particularly in establishing the quantum of the revenue accrual up to March 2020 for partners on annual service fee agreements, the Company intends to announce full year results for the 15 months ended 31 March by the end of September 2020. WHAT REPORTING CHALLENGES CAUSED BY COVID? WHY HAS COVID CAUSED REPORTING CHALLENGES??? IT BLOODY HASNT THEY HAD REPORTING CHALLENGES SINCE AUGUST LAST YEAR

[billster2018] 08/7/2020 14:09

Honestly the more I read, it baffles me. I understand that people are annoyed their investment has gone down, but to say that this company is far inferior to its distant predecessor, is bonkers. They may not succeed, but at least what they are trying to do makes sense.

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:06

What is superior about it? It’s dead. The concept has failed. This is just the aim group!! It’s all it is !

It was already the aim group, they’ve tried to reverse into it , push their elbows out and try and take a cut of the buyer and sellers market...and they can’t do it! They can’t count it nor can they enforce it

[billster2018] 08/7/2020 14:04

This is my point, you say it is a con. Why? What has changed? The company I am looking at is a far superior beast than the one that traded at £1.40, years back. I can well see that people buying into that company at £1.40, may look back and -ask themselves what were they doing.

[john09] 08/7/2020 14:03

Didn’t the original guy bail and take the UK company back? Lol.

I can’t wait for the next anouncement it will be an absolute beauty

Something like a strategic review blah blah and nichola (she’s very excited) has decided to step down for personal reasons. Either that or this will be sold to her mates which is who she bought it off for £5m (Jamie!)

[john09] 08/7/2020 13:59

Hardly direct blister

My aim is simple and has been for a year. To impart my wisdom and experience on exactly these massive cons I’ve seen before. That’s it

Same aim at 45p (when I sold) same aim at 35p, same aim at 26p and same aim now at 19p ffs


It’s a massive con and that’s been known since August 2019....

[billster2018] 08/7/2020 13:58

Also John, you used you to be very bullish all things Altitude. If you remove Coronavirus, I assume that you would agree that the company at present is a far superior company to the one you invested in a couple of years back at over £1.