Blur Group Share Discussion Threads

[bookbroker] 03/3/2014 10:47

Investec selling down evidently having a big effect on this share price, interested to know their reasons, they evidently have been here since the IPO, surprised they feel they should be reducing holding so early in the life of this co., maybe year end rebalancing of their portfolio, taking some gains off the table, but a nuisance when the stock is so illiquid.

[yump] 28/2/2014 16:28

That 20% is effectively a gross margin of sorts. How much of it goes out in costs ?

There should be a few 'markers' for that by now surely.

[wisteria2] 28/2/2014 16:01

$166,799,758 value of projects submitted 4,158total projects to date. On this rolls....gla

[wisteria2] 28/2/2014 15:56

Some facts....
blur's core revenues are driven by project revenues which represent the amount billed to the customer (in true e-commerce style) for the value of their project. blur makes a margin on each project which starts or kicks off in the Exchange. This is typically 20% of the total project value. In addition blur charges a listing fee which is currently the higher of 10% of the total project value, or $375. This is payable once a project is listed on our Exchange, although this is currently waived if the project subsequently kicks off.

[yump] 28/2/2014 15:15

The scariest part of investing is that if you just buy based on rapid revenue growth, its a matter of luck whether that supports the share price or not.

Some seem to 'get away' with losses for ages, some get hammered within a couple of years if profits don't turn up, even if they are growing revenues well.

So there's an X-factor at work imo.

No doubt anyone who has picked a share price 'winner' that is still posting big losses after years, can rationalise it backwards into something to do with the business. But what about the others that didn't make it ?

The cynic in me thinks the X-factor is basically how big and for how long can a heavy loss-maker be built up into a 'this could be ££££££ in x years' ?

Some businesses are also clearly built up by their management in terms of revenue, with the specific idea that they will then occupy a space which is priceless to an acquiring company, who will then pay whatever it takes to get them.

[jpsmithson] 28/2/2014 11:54

Something Hossein Yassaie the head of IMG has just said which seems rather relevant to here and the current discussuion.

Tech companies should put growth first, says Sir Hossein Yassaie
Fast-growing British technology companies must "go for scale and go for revenues", rather than profits in the short term, or risk falling behind global rivals, a British tech boss has warned.
"US companies do go for scale, they do go for revenues. They don't have to go and get a profit for three or four years," said Sir Hossein Yassaie. "American companies build revenues fast." In contrast, many in Britain worry too much about profits and that "restricts scale", especially as it can take many years to develop a successful product.

[pyglet] 28/2/2014 10:42

So after all the countdown nonsence has blur 4.0 been launched?
I was expecting an RNS today stating so.

[referencepoint] 28/2/2014 07:51

I am certainly no fan of Yump (as I have made clear in the past few days). However, I believe he is right in saying that you would expect Expenses as a percentage of Revenue to start falling away as the company matures. Certainly this hasn't happened yet in the case of Blur. (Lets see what they say in their end of year statement.)
There may be a number of people who bought shares between £5 and £8 and are feeling rather sorry for themselves. If they have sold, they have compounded their mistake. (Right company but poor timing). If you continue to hold, then all you have lost is time.
But these are all short term issues. Whatever price you bought at, you should be making your best assumptions as to what the price is likely to be in 5 or more years time. If you don't believe it is going to be substantially above current levels, then why have you invested.

[j777j] 27/2/2014 21:29

They all argue with each other.One ego bigger than the next.

Meanwhile, on she rolls.



$166,756,858

value of projects submitted


4,151

total projects to date

[hazl] 27/2/2014 20:54

I don't think anything we say is going to make a difference to the eventual outcome here.

Lets each of us agree to differ.

[bookbroker] 27/2/2014 18:45

Lot of dissing going on here, not sure who Steg. and Yump trying to convince except themselves, Steg. do me a favour and give those worzels at BRY a ring and tell them to pull their fingers out and do something about the share price, I've given up on them, maybe a For Sale sign might be suitable!

[hazl] 27/2/2014 17:30

yes stegrego 'value' is a very difficult thing to assess.

Amazon has only ever made 2B$ net in its entire history yet Apple makes the same every 3 weeks so I understand ...from memory.

[stegrego] 27/2/2014 17:28

I wouldn't say that Yump has been wrong, as no financials have actually come out. All that is released are waffley RNSs.

The share has generally gone up, but that doesn't mean the business is actually doing well, just that this current market wants to think it is.

[hazl] 27/2/2014 17:24

I am not prepared to discuss anything with you yump....you have been wrong on these for months and missed good profits. Perhaps you haven't made profits on anything....in which case, I am sorry.
I have far more understanding than you'll ever know.
However it is clear the markets in general are jittery and people like EJones seems to have gone short who was bullish back in September....see post440. He has said he relies on a broker for advice so I will leave you guys to it.
I will keep my few to weather any storm, good luck holders.

[yump] 27/2/2014 16:26

That's pretty typical.

Rather than discuss the figures here, find a post on a business that is so far removed from the business model here that it is totally irrelevant.

Why don't you answer the question about the administrative costs here ?
Is it because you simply don't understand business in general ?

(If anyone cares to check, that company is close to break even and you can clearly see how increasing revenues have got it to that point.)

Here, there is no sign yet of increasing revenues bringing it any closer to break even, because the admin. costs are rising in line with the revenue.

Plus the valuation here, EVEN IF they made $5mln profit, would still be a p/e of 50.

Perhaps admin. costs will become a smaller and smaller percentage of revenue, but there's no sign yet. So that's the key thing to watch imo.

[hazl] 27/2/2014 13:27

double standards?

I think somebody wants to pick these up for a song.

[yump] 27/2/2014 12:56

I suggest that if anyone is interested in relevant numbers, rather than looking at a beginners guide somewhere, you have a look at the following:

Work the market cap backwards to see what profit would be required to give say a p/e of 50 (which is v. high, but no doubt supporters would say that's justified). By my reckoning it needs $5mln pretax profit at a p/e of 50.

See what multiple of revenue the market cap is. (Around 30)

See how cost of sales as a percentage of revenue is reducing. (Its not)
See how administrative costs as a percentage of revenue are reducing. (They're not)

High valuations are quite common, but there have to be some clues as to how increasing revenue is actually going to fall to the bottom line.

Usually with net-based businesses, scalability is the holy grail.

So the reduction of cost of sales and admin. costs, as revenue increases is crucial. Otherwise they just keep getting wiped out.

The obvious reasoning is that they are 'building the business' and that costs will reduce.

However, so far cost of sales has gone up with revenue, which you'd expect.
So have the other costs, so scrutinising those is key. Are they purely fixed costs, or are there variables related to the project volumes in there ?

[j777j] 27/2/2014 09:25

Blur Group PLC Preview of blur 4.0 public pages


27 February 2014

RNS REACH

blur Group plc

("blur," the "Group" or the "Company")

blur opens up its s-commerce trading platform to user scrutiny ahead of 4.0 launch

Preview site takes instant feedback as usability and experience take center-stage

blur Group plc (BLUR), the s-commerce company, has given tens of thousands of users of its new trading platform the chance to see what's in store with blur 4.0 - and to say what they think of it.

The preview of blur 4.0 public pages unveiled today showcases a site-wide platform focused on enhancing the customer experience. Designed to be responsive and reactive for easy browsing on any device, it also provides clear explanations of each stage of the process. These changes make it easier for a customer to buy services as they are taken on a curated journey that encourages conversion.

Key to the public preview is the brand new look and feel, achieved through a clear and adaptive design with jargon-free copy: the preview gives a clear call to action by exposing listed project briefs to the public view for the first time, improving conversion by encouraging buyers to start similar projects and inviting sellers to join and pitch.

blur has already announced its move to a component-based platform architecture with the first part of its 4.0 release and this means that the platform will develop faster to incorporate new functionality. This preview enables customers to experience first hand the new reactive and responsive sites, using instant feedback on page to provide detailed insight ahead of the full launch of 4.0 - a classic case of informed crowdsourcing.

Philip Letts, blur Group CEO, said: "blur is changing the way business buys and sells services. Now we're changing the way business users get to view changes to the technology they use by previewing in a live environment and feeding back ahead of launch - online of course.

"blur 4.0 is the most significant release we've made since launching the first version of the trading platform. Each year we increase robustness, usability and with 4.0 we're driving towards a scalable solution for the enterprise. With nearly 40,000 businesses worldwide using the platform, allowing instant feedback means we know just how closely we've delivered on this."

[lucky_punter] 27/2/2014 09:19

UPDATE - blur Group momentum builds as it lands US$3.2mln marketing project
By Ian Lyall

---ADDS SHARE PRICE AND BROKER COMMENT---
blur Group (LON:BLUR) has notched up another significant project on its services exchange.
The fast growing group said a global LED (light emitting diode) manufacturer has kicked off a US$3.2mln marketing programme with blur for the manufacturer's 2014 pan-European product launch and roll-out.

[wisteria2] 27/2/2014 08:56

12 new projects overnight! on this rolls.....gla.

[hazl] 27/2/2014 08:32

For those that don't understand an annual report and the technical terms used
do get the info there is plenty of it out there.
Just clicking on the name itself on the quote page will give you lots of useful information.
Then you may be able to judge these newer firms better.
If a firm like this was without risk and fully functioning it would be a lot higher in share price. imo
videos like this may start you off if you are new to investing.

[bookbroker] 26/2/2014 16:10

Freelancer is an Australian co., involved in the crowd sourcing market, website, business cards, apps, etc., mkt. cap. $645mln Australian dollars.