Ecsc Share Discussion Threads

[cerrito] 31/8/2020 18:56

Does anyone understand why on Friday morning we had 2 Price Monitoring Extension RNS' but the price was unmoved and there was only one reported trade?

[cerrito] 10/8/2020 16:15

They would have received the proceeds of the equity raise by June 30-say post expenses £470k. As you say,Harlowdavood, given this equity raise and government support the cash position is at first glance disappointing. I am reserving judgement until we get the figures andcan see what happened to receivables and payables. Also what is the status of the £260k corporation tax recoverable at 311219?

[harlowdavood] 05/8/2020 09:54

Cash at 1.25 mil, 0.77 is deferred tax, so actual cash of 0.5, does anyone know if they have had the 0.4 from the share issue? If they have then they have not generated any cash in the period organically at all and have burned nearly 100k. This is obviously not bad but certainly not a stunning performance.

[owenski] 05/8/2020 07:08

Yet another bargepole IT security stock.

[imjustdandy] 02/7/2020 22:23

There's huge consolidation happening in this sector and ECSC is not big enough to remain independent. However, it's small enough to be swallowed! Watch this space

[harlowdavood] 02/7/2020 08:35

Perhaps the fear of a take over is what prompted the director to buy the shares. Over 136k shares traded yesterday, wont be surprised if some more PDMRs are posted in the coming days.

[ali47fish] 02/7/2020 07:59

imjust why do you say that please expand

[imjustdandy] 02/7/2020 06:26

This won't be independent for much longer. Lots of consolidation in this sector. ECSC will be snapped up this year.

[jane deer] 01/7/2020 15:46

Ian Mann bought £20,000 worth of shares today. Not a massive sum but a useful sign of confidence following the recent trading update. I think that is his first share purchase for at least a couple of years. It was surprising that he did not participate in the placing, exactly 2 months ago at 55p.

[cerrito] 11/6/2020 17:00

My first reaction on seeing the falls in the share price today was to check the volume-or to be more precise the reported volume. Reported volume today was 39.6k shares -roughly equal to the amount of the last 7 trading days combined,and someone wants out or at least to reduce.

[cerrito] 17/4/2020 16:57

Just to show how active the placing market is, this morning two of my holdings who cannot be more different-ECSC and FAIR- announced placings.

[cerrito] 17/4/2020 15:51

As someone who has fretted that ECSC needs more financial firepower, I should be pleased with an equity raise. That said it is very expensive at 50p post expenses and it would have been better if they could have done it at double the price earlier in the year. They gave two reasons fir the raise. The first was for future expansion which they would have known about a couple of months ago. The second was to improve their credit rating which fair enough I can understand has been an issue in the last three weeks. The net amount of £450k should be sufficient. They refer to their 2019 results as being well received; I am not sure by whom but certainly not the market. Both my two other holdings in this wider sector-BLTG and NCC-have had a good run in the last 2/3 weeks while ECSC has gone nowhere. Those who went into the placing have got a good deal.

[cerrito] 08/4/2020 10:39

No idea, but as someone who prefers quality over quantity I am OK with current structure.

[maddox] 06/4/2020 16:13

Cerrito, Thanks for the analysis. Overall, things are going in the right direction. The strategy is sound, opening the door with consultancy and then selling follow-on services. The recurring revenue they are building will be a more significant attraction in the medium and long-term, and be more resilient in the short-term Covid-19 circumstances. It'll take a while for confidence to build in ECSC as a result of the loss of momentum post floatation. We need to see steady progress over next few results but Covid-19 has unfortunately thrown that off-course. These are a hold for me too. Regards, Maddox

[cerrito] 06/4/2020 15:47

I am very comfortable with the quality of the two non execs.

[maddox] 06/4/2020 15:33

Harlowdavood - or it gives the current Non-Execs more direct access to question the new Exec Board Members on progress and plans. It's not just a matter of numbers - experience and capability are more important but difficult to judge.

[harlowdavood] 05/4/2020 08:28

Great analysis by Cerrito. Interesting that two new directors appointed last month now mean that only a third of directors are 'independent' as the two new ones are internal long standing management of ECSC. This presumably means less independent oversight from the board

[cerrito] 25/3/2020 21:48

Have been through the prelims. We obviously got the big picture in the January.23rd RNS. Things that caught my eye were Deterioration of the current ratio with the build up of current liabilities. This build up was partially caused by the new IFRS 16 accounting policy on leases and the increase in deferred income resulting from the longer contracts-see explanation in the KPI section. Also in the KPI section, I note that the percentage of revenues spent on R&D increased and as a consequence we have tax recoverable going up form £155k at 12.18 to £265k at 12.19.In 2019 this was received in H2. I bring this up as I have fretted that they do not have the financial resources to keep ahead of the game in the fast moving technology. Interested in their comments about the Partners programme gave 17pc of new clients-though niot sure over what time frame . One can only assume that in the current scenario this programme will not produce so much new business. As always the cash position needs close scrutiny. Cash did increase in H2, largely due to the collection of the Tax receivable. I have no comment on their Going Concern statement.They confirm the invoice discounting facility with Barclays of £500k. Note there was no big increase in finance costs between the 2 halves-£19k in H! and £26m in H2, Such high finance expenses relative to the facility would suggest active usage-let’s hope we have a physical AGM to clarify or if we have a virtual AGM one can ask questions. As stated by them, there were no drawdowns at year end. They referred to the extensive changes last year in the sales and marketing team, which was news to me. I re read last year’s prelims where they were more oblique referring to improvements. Interesting that despite being the least favoured child, consultancy had a v strong H2 at gross profit level and certainly better than managed services. Where does this leave us?? The company continues to make progress in a measured way but inevitably will be blown somewhat off course as regards new business by the current situations. I get the sense that for the next 6/9 months the market will want to see more signs of solid progress before the price moves up substantially. I do not anticipate buying or selling in the foreseeable future.

[harlowdavood] 12/3/2020 20:06

They have a habit of pushing good news to imply things are better than they seem and that although the year end results are poor, since then they have had a good start to the new quarter. No doubt next half year reports will show continued mediocre performance and no one will notice the slight of hand. The management team are not driving any spectacular results here and something needs to change.

[cerrito] 12/3/2020 13:05

Good news of course that they have these contracts but the £200k pa revenue for the next three years has to be put in the context of managed services revenue of £1.2m in H1 19.

[harlowdavood] 28/2/2020 06:40

Results pushed back to end of March.

[tomv33] 25/2/2020 16:30

Coronavirus in Europe

[pjlm] 25/2/2020 15:59

At current price this looks like a bargain for a profitable company in an ever-growing market! Am I missing something?