Eleco Public Share Discussion Threads

[ansc] 05/5/2016 09:29

Another feather in Asta Powerproject's hat:

[read full case study]

[lgw500] 03/5/2016 12:12

All this may well make sense. However, this AiM and, if you control enough shares, you can do what you like!

[lgw500] 03/5/2016 12:10

Don't forget the other large family share interests which would seem likely to always support Mr. Ketteley!

[wiseboy1] 01/5/2016 23:13

Nice to get some support
Anyone else ?

Why do you say that it would be difficult to do anything ?
Ketteley and family only have 16%.....small part of 100%

(Ketteley is imo taking excessive renumeration.....does that mean that other family members are plugged in as well....as managers or doing admin ? ....I hope not....but it seems quite common when someone is arguably taking advantage of a position of power at a UK listed co....

[wiseboy1] 01/5/2016 22:57

"Ketteley. Exec. chairman
"Total 2014 Renumeration 329k"

when the truth is 329 + 91.k given on same page
= 420k

and 35K lease cost is paid to Mr Kettely for London address (if I recall correctly the co. moved to that address !, to benefit the chairman I assume ??)

35k, up from 25k in 2013 !!, massive % increase

And appears to even charge the company for office at his home !
£5,000 (2012: £5,000)"

-----

THe fact that he owns 16% including family member stakes should make no difference.
86% of the company is not owned by him.
If he wants to have a company and pay himself a ridiculous excessive renumeration.....while company does badly since about 1997 when he became (exec ?) chairman ...then he should create a private company.

Shareholders need to wake up imo.
and change Ketteley to a non- exec and pay him say 70k
and pay the 350k saved to shareholders as a divi...or keep it in the accounts ..we after all own 86% of the company. ie. majority control.

I think a software sector specialist chairman is needed...and with a better track record
Ideas
- M.Jackson from ACC and a lead figure at Elder St. Inv.
- phps someone from MXC who have a track record of doing software/IT co. sales and acquisitions
- phps the female MD or ex MD from Advanced Computer S.Ware. AWS (which was bought) (very good track record)
etc

[ansc] 28/4/2016 20:01

Praise from a Asta Powerproject user [read the full case study]:

[lgw500] 27/4/2016 11:34

The other way you could lok at the situation, Wiseboy1, is that he is "robbing Peter to pay Paul". He may take a huge salary and rental income out of the business but then he does own 12% of it with another 4% with family members. Maybe there is a grand plan in place which we do not know about!

[lgw500] 27/4/2016 11:32

I don't see anyone disagreeing with you, Wiseboy1. Will this be raised at the AGM?

[lgw500] 27/4/2016 11:28

I am afraid I agree largely with you, despite him being an approachable and pleasant gentleman. He has no relevance to a young and dynamic software business and should see that his mission to save the company has been (just) successful and let a complete new team drive the business forward. Unfortunately, with the shareholding structure, it would be rather difficult to do anything about this situation.

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 13:03

Is there any interest t combine votes to remove the Exec. chair Ketteley

since
- ELCO has performed badly with him as exec. chair since 1997
- has no qualification in software
- has no mngmt experience in software
- is bleeding the company dry via exorbitant renumeration,
420k pnds in 2014.
for tiny company with turnover of only 15M. The company is operating solely for HIS BENEFIT. This must end.
- too old
- in interviews he ums, ahs, ehs. BUt ELCO needs a skilled and dynamic chairman with experience and success in software sector (such as Michael Jackson, from ACC or the chaps from MXC who hve been making structural changes via acquisiitons/sales)

and ELCO does NOT need an exec. chairman
with 180 staff and 15M turnover it can NOT support the cost of 3 exec. dirs.
A non-exec chair on about 50k would be sufficient.
----

Any support for voting him out at forthcoming AGM ?

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 12:41

False accounts btw

Ketteley. Exec. chairman
"Total 2014 Renumeration 329k"

when the truth is 329 + 91.k given on same page
= 420k

and 35K lease cost is paid to Mr Kettely for London address (if I recall correctly the co. moved to that address !, to benefit the chairman I assume ??)

35k, up from 25k in 2013 !!, massive % increase

And appears to even charge the company for office at his home !
£5,000 (2012: £5,000) for a contribution to the office costs at Burnham-on-Sea.
I dont know any other company that allows/does this. NONE. ONLY ELCO


For an exec. chairman that is um, ah, eh, um, .....old and struggles to get his words out..and no experience or qualification in software .....and has never been a success at ELCO despite being exec. chairman for more than 16 years.


(while the MD in 2013 got paid 180k,
so the MD, who has to have experience and skills in mnging software development
only gets less than half !!
than what some old fart that has no experience or qualification in software (in a software company !) gets paid more than DOUBLE !!

Ridiculous.

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 12:30

2014 accounts
"Earlier this year, Michael McCullen left
ELECO by mutual consent to pursue a
career as an independent consultant."

So, 2015 accounts will say

"Earlier this year, Nick Caw left
ELECO by mutual consent to pursue a
career as ......"

makes writing the accounts easy....just need to change the name of the MD that is leaving !!

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 12:23

So Nick Caw has gone.

Someone with years of software mnmgt experience and years at ELCO

leaving behind an exec. chairman with NO software knowledge
and no record of ever being a successful at any company !!

Wrong way around imo

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 12:21

Rathkum and ANSC

Are you brothers/sisters of Mr Ketterley ?

despite him being a bloodsucker and the company doing badly with him as leader and other directors usually staying only 1 year....time after time...

you repeatedly defend him....in a brotherly way

when you should be criticising him and pushing for him to be thrown out

[wiseboy1] 20/4/2016 12:18

So

would it be fair to say that Mr um, ah, um, eh, Ketterley

1) is just an old parasite that is sucking the blood out of the company for his own personal gain using an extortionately high salary and charges for everything he can think of.

2) ..while there is NO justification at all for him being an exec. dir. of a software company when he has NO background or qualification at all in ....software


3) that no one is willing to work with Mr Ketterley as exec. chairman
and he gets through directors like someone with a cold gets through Kleenex !

4) that the costs to shareholders of redundancy payments to departing directors is painful

5) that Mr Ketterley gets rich while he um, ah. eh, bumbles his way along
while shareholder get NOTHING....not even a miserly dividend

6) Ketterley appears incompetent
and with him as chairman the company has never done anything
and in fact sufferred massive losses a few years ago forcing massive layoffs, a collapse in the company size and a rescue cash raise

[ansc] 19/4/2016 17:20

I agree with your interpretation regarding today's sells, rathkum, as the shock of reading Nick Caw's departure gave me serious food for thought last night; until my chat with JK this morning, I had given a lot of thought as to my next move. Even John mused that the announcement could probably have been handled better.

With the cloud lifted, I have no qualms about staying put. Eps grew by 38% last year and I can envisage at least 50% growth being achievable in 2016. With a prospective eps of at least 1.6p for 2016, the current share price of 25p is far too cheap (imv). I always felt that finnCap's target price of 35p last year was a bit fanciful but I'll willingly go along with that figure now.

Looking forward to the AGM [26th May].

[chrisdgb] 19/4/2016 15:51

Thanks for this, roll on the 35p......

[rathkum] 19/4/2016 15:44

ansc - I felt the results announcement yesterday merited a small rise in the share price. It appears some investors felt uncomfortable and rightly so with Nick Caw's departure guessing as to the nature of his departure, hence a fair number of sells.

Good of John to clear the uncertainty.

[ansc] 19/4/2016 14:54

Thanks, rathkum. The news of Nick Caw's departure troubled me somewhat yesterday so telephoned the chairman just before lunch today; basically he reiterated what is said in the Interactive Investor article but added that the parting had been achieved amicably so much so that Caw will be making himself available for future software consultation should the need arise.

It has to be said that Caw's 'replacement' as COO appears to be the right move. He's had a lot to do with getting Elecosoft up and running in the USA and, by all accounts, rapid expansion over there is taking place; potential looks awesome (imho)!

I was pondering last night whether going over-weight in ELCO had been a wise move but feeling much more relaxed about it now following my chat with Mr K.

[ansc] 18/4/2016 19:26

Link to the chairman speaking to Share Radio this morning re the company's results:



One thing I found puzzling/baffling in the announcement was the news that Nick Caw (the young CEO) had left the company 'to pursue his other interests'. Why? Anyone with a viewpoint?

[ansc] 18/4/2016 11:19

Chairman's statement:

Outlook

Elecosoft has now established itself as an international provider of market leading software applications for 5D BIM project management, estimation, 3D architectural visualisation, visual business systems, engineering software, and cloud based solutions. Although our software and related services are aimed principally at the international construction industry market, we also develop market leading software for digital marketing and architectural applications. Elecosoft has a major presence in the markets it serves; it is financially sound; and above all has outstanding teams of highly dedicated, talented, and creative developers backed by a strong management team. For these reasons, I have every confidence in the future of Elecosoft as we move forward. I am pleased to report that 2016 has started encouragingly and that we expect to deliver significant revenue and profit growth in line with market expectations.

[chrisdgb] 18/4/2016 10:16

Described by Hardman & Co as a very strong set of turnaround results.......

[chrisdgb] 18/4/2016 08:11

Nice optimistic set of results....

[chrisdgb] 13/4/2016 09:32

Not long until Monday...bullish outlook please..!!