Gresham Technologies Share Discussion Threads

[richjp] 05/2/2018 17:45

The new CFO seems like the right person to me. With the greatest respect to the current incumbent, who took over the job in difficult times and I believe was the right man at the time, I think it often happens that as companies grow, different skill sets are required in the senior roles.

GHT have stated that they are looking to expand internationally, that they are on the lookout for another acquisition or more, as well as establishing relationships with partners. The new man seems to me to have the right background to help the company achieve those goals.

[gottafly] 05/2/2018 13:20

Good news that the new CFO is sorted, Tom has an interesting background and considerable international experience.

Gresham Technologies appoint Tom Mullan as CFO
By StockMarketWire | Mon, 5th February 2018 - 09:32
Gresham Technologies said that Tom Mullan will join the company as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer on 1 March 2018.

The company said Mullan's appointment to the Board will be effective from the date of release of its final results, expected 13 March 2018.

Rob Grubb will continue in his role as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer and is expected to step down from the Board and remain with the Group until 31 March 2018 to complete the CFO transition plan.

[from8to800] 02/2/2018 13:04

Someone's dumping in round chunks. This is not behaving too well IMO.

[gottafly] 30/1/2018 14:41

Encouraging tweet from Gresham as regards R&D/new product - would be nice to have a published road map of some kind.

Rounded off day one of the Sales & Marketing Kick-off with the R&D team; revealing some of the future tech coming out of the Innovation Labs here in Bristol! We have some of the best talent setting us apart from the competition and it shows! #SMKO2018 #awesome #innovation

[gottafly] 29/1/2018 10:15

dd, I have doing some digging on this N1S announcement and it seems it was published on Jan 9th and was quickly followed by some sizeable share deals at circa 200p. So it clearly had an effect, since then we have had silence and the share price has drifted off a little. I think this all bodes well for the revised forecasts when the full trading results are published on March 13th. As I say, I don't want to get too excited but it does seem an upward revision is pretty certain, the question though is how big of an increase, on past performance I suspect it will be pitched on the conservative side.

[double double] 29/1/2018 08:39

gottafly apparently the brokers make money from paid research. But does not compare with other companies whos brokers, whether inhouse or not, provide commentary and/or numbers on news or trading statements or results and which are updated and published on Bloomberg etc. within hours.

[gottafly] 26/1/2018 17:04

dd, thanks for the post, where did you find the N1S note from may I ask?

This seems to be the first 'published' comment from N1S post the GHT trading update and it is positive with the expectation of another good year in 2018.

I don't want to get too excited but this does seem to pave the way for an upward revision of the 2018 forecast and of course we still await a 2019 number.

Happy days ahead hopefully.

[double double] 26/1/2018 15:00

Note the second last sentence from N1SINGER so I would hope their 2018 forecasts to match company performance of 2017.

Gresham Technologies year end trading update confirmed another strong year driven by Clareti and its flagship product, CTC. FY revenues are expected to be up 24%, with Clareti revenues accounting for 52% of total and up 48% y-o-y. This strong Clareti performance drove good profitable, cash generative growth, with adjusted EBITDA up 32% to c. £5.0m and cash up to £8.5m (2016: £7.1m). North America performance was particularly strong in 2017 following direct sales investment in 2016 and 2017. We believe the global opportunities for the group remain plentiful and we expect another good year of progress in 2018. FY results will be out on 13 March 2018.

[gottafly] 19/1/2018 15:54

dd, you and I can whinge on about the brokers until the cows come home back I don't think this will have any effect except perhaps for us to feel better, always satisfying to have a good rant though!

I say this because I don't think the small private investor is particularly important to a broker since over 70% of the stock is held by institutions/insiders (Morning Star is a good source of information on this).

GHT, as per the extract from the Annual Finance Report below, promise to operate a pretty balanced approach to the relations to shareholders :-

"The Board as a whole is responsible for ensuring that a dialogue is maintained with shareholders based on the mutual understanding of objectives.

Members of the Board meet with major shareholders on a regular basis, including presentations after the Company’s announcement of the year-end results and at the half year.

The Board is kept informed of the views of shareholders at each Board meeting through a report from the Chief Executive together with formal feedback on shareholders’ views gathered and supplied by the Company’s advisers. The views of private and smaller shareholders, typically arising from the AGM or from direct contact with the Company, are also communicated to the Board on a regular basis."

To be fair to GHT, whilst I am far from happy about the information flow generally from GHT (soon fixed hopefully), they do provide presentations for the private investor (as well as institutions) following the half/full results.

Also, it would appear from the above that if we make our views known, by writing directly to company, these views will be noted. This bulletin board has some splendid dialogue (if perhaps somewhat heated) and I suspect is reviewed by GHT, however, perhaps we should take the time/effort to write (email) to the company about the things that most concern us.

[double double] 19/1/2018 13:16

And there you see it why those dodgy 2018 numbers from our brokers mattered and still matters. I did say it was holding back the share price It would have been helpful and the right thing to do for our brokers to have updated the numbers in light of the trading statement.

[gottafly] 19/1/2018 12:55

Interesting note on Yahoo Finance posted on the 9th, this looks a very good site in my view, just added it to my favourites.



----------------------------------------------------------------

Today I’m looking at two exciting tech stocks which could have serious growth potential. The only trouble is that neither stock is exactly cheap.

Although both stocks could still be a decent buy at current levels, I believe that the smart thing to do might be to add these to your portfolio during periods of weakness.

Profits up 32%
Fintech stock Gresham Technologies (LSE: GHT) produces software used by banks and financial businesses to help maintain the integrity of their data. Areas of operation include regulatory compliance, risk management and financial controls.

Shares in this £150m group surged 7% higher this morning, after it said 2017 sales are expected to have risen by 24% to £21.3m. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) are expected to be 32% higher, at £5m.

Both figures are in line with market expectations, but I believe the significance of today’s news is that EBITDA is rising faster than revenue. This implies that the group’s profit margins are continuing to rise. If this continues, profit growth could accelerate.

Don’t get carried away
Of course, it pays to consider the valuation of Gresham stock as well as its growth potential.

The London-based group’s main growth engine is its Clareti software business, where revenue rose by 48% last year. But this isn’t new information. Much of this growth potential is already priced into the shares.

One risk is that City analysts’ 2018 forecasts are surprisingly modest. Sales are expected to be broadly flat, while earnings per share are expected to rise by just 6%. Today’s update didn’t include any change to profit guidance for next year.

Today’s increase has left this stock trading on a 2017 forecast P/E of 33, falling to a P/E of 31 for 2018. In my view, the upside and downside risks are fairly evenly balanced, even if growth remains strong.

Gresham looks like a good business to me, but I’d prefer to wait for a cheaper buying opportunity.

[gottafly] 19/1/2018 09:58

dd, agree that the CMO has a wide role - marketing strategy, brand management, communications and international programs - but communications is one of his four activities. I hope you are wrong about getting more information from GHT since I am sure you we would agree that we need it.

[double double] 19/1/2018 09:20

I wouldnt get too excited from an investor point of view of getting more information out of the company because of this appointment.

The CMO is responsible for facilitating growth, sales and marketing strategy. They must work towards objectives such as revenue generation, cost reduction, or risk mitigation. The unpredictable effect of marketing efforts, coupled with the need to drive profits, often leads to a short tenure for most CMOs.

[valhamos] 18/1/2018 18:26

GF

The tweet you attribute to IM was actually an @greshamtech tweet from 16 January.

Rather than being "rather late" and a negative for you, I regard IM's comment having had a closer look at the CMO for the last 3 days "Great new addition to our leadership team" as a positive.

[gottafly] 18/1/2018 17:54

Well another Tweet from IM but rather late:-

We're delighted to welcome Paul White to the Gresham Tech team. Joining at an exciting time, Paul will be responsible for marketing strategy, brand, communications and international programs, as he takes up the new role of CMO. Welcome onboard, Paul!

Some three days after the RNS - reckon communications needs sorting, good job GHT have appointed Paul White!

[double double] 18/1/2018 08:25

crazycanuck i think you can email such questions and you will get a response from the company.

[crazycanuck] 16/1/2018 18:33

Well I know what question I would ask. Can you please provide me with the number of companies currently performing poc's with CTC. Another question I would like to know is the size of the sales team. Are they planning any big enhancements to CTC - for example real time cash Mgmt. FIS and Smartstream have both built new modules that bolt on to their rec system. This seems to be a new requirement for banks.

[gottafly] 16/1/2018 10:21

dd, not trying to get you into trouble at all.

Your comments may sometimes cause a strong reaction but I for one value your input.


I presume, like me, you would like an N1S update as soon as possible (also Cantor) so that we PI's have something to do on. As you may have seen I wanted to repeat the share price 'guessing game' for end of 2018 but nobody wants to play, that says everything to me, a vacuum.

If you were sat across the desk from N1S today, what questions would you ask them as regards the current (or lack of) broker forecasts since I might just have this opportunity.

[double double] 16/1/2018 09:19

Gottafly your just trying to get me into trouble here! I have said it already all this is not normal.

I will just add you pointed out the other day Cantor have made no comments since Dec 2016, guess what happend in the interim... they were appointed joint house broker!

[gottafly] 16/1/2018 08:44

dd, you seem a knowledgeable individual, do you know how usual it is for a broker not to provide a target price for a share. Cantor have done so at 180p (over a year ago) but I don't think N1Singer have ever issues a target price as such, is this normal/usual practice or is this unusual.

N1S last produced a GHT note in July when the share price was at 177p. Although there was no revision to the overall forecast GHT performance in terms of revenue/profit etc., the investment summary concluded positively in terms of the share price - trading momentum will sustain the shares and provide further performance for investors.

So this N1S report wording seems to show that N1S would be comfortable with the current share price of circa 200p but there was a caveat - subject to delivery performance. I know we have discussed this before, the ability for GHT to scale for implementations (which IM said was not an issue), but is this the key reason for the N1S 'cautiousness'? N1S don't seem to doubt the potential or market prospects for CTC but do have a question mark over scaling up.

[gottafly] 15/1/2018 10:24

Revised Broker Forecasts

I have received a reply from GHT regarding my query for revised broker forecasts - sooner rather than later.

Whilst I understand that GHT cannot make this happen the reply is somewhat disappointing -

"Broker forecasts are ordinarily issued alongside the final results, so in the 13 March 2018 timeframe, and we would expect them to include 2019 forecasts – but, as you say, this is up to the brokers to determine."

[gottafly] 15/1/2018 09:52

dd, yes poor old Gottafly has been wracking his brains about the 2018 numbers, especially since the expected drop in legacy revenues was forecast to happen in 2017 (and was covered off by the Australian contracting revenues)and therefore the 2018 forecast made even less sense.

But the 2017 actual numbers don't make sense either, over performance in revenue and cash but only just about there in EBITDA. As always with GHT you are left asking questions. I though the note from inforprofit summed things up nicely, what do we want - information, when do we want it - now.

[double double] 15/1/2018 09:29

crazyacanuck I appreciate your sentiment in your post. The "market" may think the price is right now but based on what and whose information.

Poor gottafly has been wracking his brain all last year trying to work out why brokers were forecasting a slowdown in sale in 2018 - infact the company has met 2018 sale forecast in 2017.

[gottafly] 15/1/2018 09:12

Another interesting thing. Gresham announces the appointment of Paul White by way of an RNS announcement, no press release on the GHT website, as I say much work to do!