Eckoh Share Discussion Threads

[simon gordon] 19/4/2023 16:48

Nick,

One point to remember is that the migration to the cloud is ongoing and as more corporates migrate they will need a cloud PCI DSS solution and if it also has payment options all the better.

Here's an example of a government tender for Call Masking & IVR and Open Banking which PCIP can offer. The channel partners will bid for the whole contract and outsource the Call Masking & IVR and Open Banking:

Bidstats - 9/3/23:

The Contracting Authorities, along with approximately 20 other councils of varying sizes, are looking to review their Financial Management & Payment Systems.

Specifically, the following areas are of interest:

-Income Management Systems

-Banking Services Merchant Services

-Call Masking & IVR systems for compliant Moto payments

-Open Banking Payments



-----

It looks like there is still plenty of growth in the sector.

[simon gordon] 19/4/2023 16:35

Nick,

PCIP has been hit by the patent issue.

Growth continues to be strong. They are just hitting break even and will move into profit next year. They've moved from £2m in turnover in 2018 to £20m in 2024 which is just about in the bank. Once they start moving to over £18m per anum it drops rapidly to the bottom line. Right now the gross margin is 87%.

The CEO had this to say at the recent IMC call:

"We are generating more pipeline than we ever have before and that’s key."

-James Barham, 16/3/23.

They are now morphing from card security to a payments company for call centres.

Only time will tell if they can get up to £30m+ in turnover, if they do then the share will be higher than it is now.

The TAM for PCI DSS is £300m based on 10 million agents globally. Next year they will have 6.5% of the market and their sales push is only gathering steam as they onboard more channel partners. They are displacing the competition and the new payments products are helping in that act.

[nickelmer] 19/4/2023 16:16

You may well be right Simon, I follow pcip but am not a shareholder. I fear however that when you look at the share price performance of both companies, they are both fooling themselves as to the size of the market opportunity. Both businesses have an awful lot to prove to win investors confidence, good luck with pcip

[simon gordon] 19/4/2023 16:08

I'm a holder in PCIP. If you look at the strategies of the two companies and how they are attacking the market, it is clear that PCIP are the superior team. Both in product and marketing.

Sycurio are also falling behind and decided to sue PCIP for patent infringement. It's all they've got left in the tank. PCIP are confident Sycurio will lose in a UK court this June.

A new management team will not solve ECK's market position, they are too far behind the curve.

PCIP are becoming the market leaders and with their new payments products will strengthen their position and increase the market opportunity.

[nickelmer] 19/4/2023 16:00

I have no idea why the company is so bad at keeping investors informed, if they have a "PR" person they should be fired on the spot. The main reason I sold the majority of my shares some time ago was the woeful lack of information coming out of them. For many years now the directors have been banging on about the "huge opportunity" in the USA, and regulations forcing companies to use their services, yet no material gains in profits seen. I would suggest that unless management gets a move on, new technology will replace what they see as a big opportunity. The management team have been there too long and are blind to their poor performance, I would suggest it is time for a new management team to be put in place sooner rather than later, this year's trading statement and full-year results may be the final nail in the coffin for the current management.

[earwacks] 19/4/2023 15:46

Looks like you were spot on nickel. Glad I bailed the other week. Dropped 25% in the last couple of week on absolutely no news. Can only presume leaky ship.Last year the upate was april 4th and the year before may 5th. Quite why the director bought 125k was it last week? Will have lost all trust from investors as they are incapable of transparency. Frankly I think the management are a bunch of dullards. It sounded good but maybe they are just too feeble for the competition.

[nickelmer] 06/4/2023 08:50

Looking at the chart, after a very long period of going sideways the price broke out of the range to the downside, suggesting more downside to come, unless of course, this proves to be a fake breakout in which case the price would reverse and move higher and above the old range. If this is to happen it would need to do so in the next few weeks (I use weekly charts for the analysis)if it does not do so in a short time, then the only way is further on down. That would suggest directors need to do more than buy £30K worth of shares, the company needs to prove to investors that it is actually doing well and growing profits meaningfully, to date, their miserable silence sums it all up for Eckoh

[nickelmer] 04/4/2023 20:31

I am expecting EPS of 1.3p for this year which would mean a PE of 25 at a share price of 32.5p. in my opinion their true value is being revealed, plus £30 million wasted buying out a competitor, I bet investors who backed the placing at 54p are furious. The truth hurts, Eckoh will need to start producing real growth in EPS for once instead of promising it. Hope I am proved wrong

[septimus quaid] 04/4/2023 19:51

Yes, pretty painful.

What looks like smallish trades into a weak market for ECK shares, dragging the price down.

Last year, ECK issued a trading update on 4 Apr 2022 and provided a full year trading update on 17 May 2022.

So, we may hear something fairly soon, or it could be mid May?

[bollers] 04/4/2023 14:52

Getting on for an 8 year low.

[nickelmer] 09/3/2023 08:38

New Brokers, good luck to them, this company is the least communicative to shareholders I have ever known, no wonder people sell and move on

[morkandmindy] 06/3/2023 13:02

Some interesting buys coming in. Paying over the ask.

[earwacks] 06/3/2023 09:17

So little news this half. Hope its worth waiting for results beginning of April

[rabbrooks] 05/1/2023 15:23

Obe would think these broker views would encourage buyers, but nothing ever does.

[tole] 29/11/2022 17:33

https://masterinvestor.co.uk/equities/eckoh-cloud-security-has-sunny-outlook/Eckoh – Cloud Security has Sunny OutlookBy Mark Watson-Mitchell 28 November 2022 3 mins. to readEckoh – Cloud Security has Sunny OutlookAs the shift towards greater remote working continues apace, it creates a number of security threats for this group's clients.Strong order momentum, especially in new business, has been a marked improvement in the interim period to end September for Eckoh (LON:ECK).Previously it has focused solely on the UK and US markets, but it now has an increasingly cloud-based security proposition enabling increased activity to come from an expanding international market.Engage your customers safelyBased in Hemel Hempstead, the £118m capitalised group provides Customer Engagement Security Solutions, which enable enquiries and transactions to be performed on whatever device the customer chooses, allowing organisations to increase efficiency, lower operational costs, while also providing an omnichannel experience for the customer.Its solutions include advanced interactive voice response (IVR), speech recognition IVR, visual IVR, chatbots, and AI customer service.The company's secure payment solutions include: CallGuard, an automated IVR system; DataGuard for payments made over the web or a mobile; ChatGuard for payments made through a web chat or chatbot; EckohPAY, automating recurring payments through secure IVR; Pay by Link, a secure digital payment link; online payments, payment methods, personal customer data, remote agent payments; and payment card industry compliance solutions.Clients are helped to take payments and transact securely with their customers through all customer engagement channels. The solutions offer merchants a simple and effective way to reduce the risk of fraud, and to secure sensitive data.Across various sectors in both the UK and the US, Eckoh has an extensive portfolio of large enterprise clients including government departments, telecoms providers, retailers, utility providers and financial services organisations.The customer engagement industry is already facing new security challenges from the permanent shift towards greater remote working, and a deteriorating global economic environment is likely to only exacerbate the number of security threats.Halfway advance points to strong yearLast Wednesday the group announced its interim figures to end September. They showed a 33% growth in group revenues at £19.6m (£14.7m), while the group's adjusted EBITDA was 44% better at £5.0m (£3.5m), lifting earnings per share up 32% to 1.06p at the halfway.The group's CEO, Nik Philpot, stated that: "These are a great set of results, showing the anticipated strong progress in key areas. I am particularly pleased with the increasing organic and overall levels of ARR and contracted orders. They reflect our organic growth, the successful integration of Syntec, strong growth in the key North American market, and the ongoing momentum from cloud deployments.The group's interims show that it is on track to deliver some material growth in the current year. Importantly what came through was the strength of the North American business.The EquityThere are some 292.6m shares in issue.Larger holders include Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management (16.74%), Liontrust Asset Management (14.04%), Chelverton Asset Management (6.24%), Herald Investment Trust (5.49%) and Blackrock Investment Management (4.45%).Broker's Views – a Price Objective of 80pBrokers Singer Capital Markets have current year estimates to end March 2023 for £40.0m revenues, up from £31.8m, while adjusted pre-tax profits are set to rise from £5.2m to £7.6m, with earnings of 2.0p (1.6p) and dividends of 0.70p (0.67p) per share.Already they have pencilled in further growth in the coming year with £43.2m revenues, £8.3m profits, 2.0p earnings and a 0.80p dividend per share.At Canaccord Genuity Capital Markets, their analyst estimates £40.5m current year sales, with £7.3m adjusted pre-tax profits, worth 1.91p in earnings and amply covering a 0.80p dividend per share.The brokers are going for a Price Objective of 80p compared to the current 40p in the market.Both sets of brokers agree that there are significant cross-selling opportunities for the group as both its operational base and its service offerings expands.My View – setting a Target Price at 50pThe very positive tones emitted from the Interim results shows that the shares are undervalued and capable of very good growth in the next year or so.At the start of 2022 this group's shares were trading at around 52.5p, since when they have been as low as 36.2p, which was just a couple of weeks ago.Now at 40p, I do feel that the current year's prospects will help to increase the group's share price.I will now set a Target Price at 50p, which could well be achieved early in 2023.

[earwacks] 25/11/2022 16:42

Funnily enough the PE ratio is what sealed it for me. Must be the lowest in the sector according stockopedia@19.2. It got to something like 70 when I sold last year. kestrel Partners were here at the beginning but they too moved on wishing them well and saying they were in good hands. It was the fervent share buying too recently overhang or whatever that looked juicy. They look well set to grow again, in a sector which is only going to get hotter as cash disappears and security payments need more security.

[nickelmer] 24/11/2022 08:08

I can't see a compelling reason to buy these unless the price falls further. Now that you can get nearly 3% in the bank their dividend has no appeal. They remain on a reasonably high PE and so are still fully priced.

They will really need to show good growth in profits from here to interest investors. Sales have increased but their margins do seem to be slipping, also, no good news on the acquisition, other than "proceeding well" for £30,000,0000 I would have wanted to see a BIG increase in profits, but nothing much was reported there which I find concerning.

Jurys out on this one for now imho

[wjccghcc] 23/11/2022 23:51

The overhang hasn't cleared yet.

[earwacks] 23/11/2022 19:27

Near 3 million traded some late reported. I bought today with several others around 37.75. The company bought 352000 for employees trust @38p. Plenty more big trades at that price. What the hell does it take to move this sp?

[wjccghcc] 16/11/2022 16:26

I hold both but I prefer ECK at these prices. DOTD is in a very crowded market and has to work hard to get any growth. ECK's order intake may suffer in retail downturns but it has the advantage of few competitors, a regulatory tailwind and the need for increased WFH security. I've been buying back at 36-37p where there seems to be an overhang.

[nickelmer] 15/11/2022 06:25

Reality has come home to stock market valuations and pe multiples, and eckoh has not escaped. They were ridiculously overpriced in the 60-70p area. I feel there may be one final capitulation drop, but if the forward pe ( or post results) pe drops close to 15ish then I might consider buying back at what will feel like a half-price sale.

[boadicea] 14/11/2022 23:27

I've cashed in enough of these around earlier highs to put me in free carry territory but that does not stop me feeling disappointed by its current depressed price. In some circumstances I might be tempted now to rebuy for a recovery but I remain unimpressed as it seems to have difficulty in maintaining good margins.
I am inclined to prefer DOTD for a recovery after a similar price fall since mid 2021 (when they were both significantly overpriced - in hindsight of course) due to it being stuffed with cash and showing better margin resilience.

[tnt99] 02/11/2022 08:01

Should be more reaction here to the great results long May it continue into the second half!!!Should double from here!