Gresham Technologies Share Discussion Threads

[schytalk] 30/7/2015 11:32

Agree that the share price drifting lower has been disappointing and not what I expected, the new CEO's options are somewhat under water having been granted at 110p.

That said the markets have been somewhat jittery and as richjp points out it is a funny time of year. I suspect that Kestrel are indeed covered by the closed period so cannot offer their usual support. There is still a hang over from the profits warning in that one or two major investors are not in the share for the long term hence the major sale yesterday - it will be interesting to see who the seller and buyer are. Also, I still believe that the broker remains somewhat bruised and so is not sweeping up any available stock, they seem to have left that function to Kestrel!

Overall though I remain positive about CTC and therefore the share price I believe that the interim results will be good and hopefully will contain some detail as regards CTC roll out and prospects. Yes patience is needed which as the saying goes is a virtue.

Onwards and upwards all be it with patience.

[jadeticl3] 24/7/2015 15:44

Good advice. However, I do not have an alternative, so I will be patient. I believe the company does have a very valuable asset, and that this will be recognised, purchased, used successfully by many companies. Then the share price will rise accordingly, but nobody is factoring in this potential until they see the revenues flowing in.

So with this confidence I cannot sell, and from time to time I add to my position, but falls such as I see now test my resolve. Maybe Monday, I say to myself, and then...next Monday!!!

[richjp] 24/7/2015 14:26

I think we just have to be patient at times like this although I know that is easier said than done.

The optimistic messages and announcements that we have had over the past few months are all very well, however we are coming up to the crunch time now when the half year results are announced and following the profit warning last year, I think many will be looking at these results closely to see if the company really is back on track. In the end it’s definitive revenue, profit and cash figures that matter most to me.

Also lots of stocks drift lower at this time of year when there is not much activity. Unless there are any delayed announcements there seems to be no heavy selling and Kestrel’s purchases over the last few months have been around or slightly above the current share price Kestrel themselves probably cannot do anything to support the share price at the moment, assuming that they want to, as we are in a closed period.

Patience jadetcl, patience…..

[jadeticl3] 23/7/2015 14:04

Share price rose at start of June coinciding with arrival of new man. It has been a sad tale since then as the share price has fallen away much more than I would have predicted. Did anyone really expect that in his first 2 months he could close out a few major contract wins? Why else would the price fall 10% in such a short time? But I do hope we don't have to wait too long to hear of another valuable contract win!!!

[wh1spa] 15/7/2015 08:33

Maybe not Kestrel , as I'm guessing its the closed period for them at the moment. Could well be a good time to buy into the recovery after last years disappointment.

[wh1spa] 13/7/2015 18:13

Looks like Kestrel have picked up some more

[jadeticl3] 12/7/2015 21:59

All the concern over Greece caused the indices to fall. GHT produced some good news but got no credit for it due to market pressures, and then when there were two good up days GHT missed out!

[richjp] 03/7/2015 10:00

jadeticl3,

When discussing the profit warning at the AGM I got the feeling that the board were somewhat chastened by the experience. I cannot remember the exact words used but one of the directors said something to the effect that they would be more careful in the future in their public pronouncements.

I think it made sense a couple of years ago to give contract values, although as I said previously they are probably estimates, to show that CTC was gaining new clients and had proven potential in the market. However it is now almost two years when the share price went to 140P and we are not back there yet. The reality is that CTC revenue was a mere £3.5 in 2014, although it is obviously growing. Markets of course often overreact to good or bad news, but I feel that a consequence of those earlier announcements was to drive the share price too high, resulting in a bigger crash when the profit warning was announced.

That is why I am now happier with the style of the more recent announcements. If you read the 2014 annual report and the way they define key accounts, the wording of the last two customer wins suggests that they are key accounts and therefore will provide a revenue of £3M each over a five year period. I prefer a more modest style of announcement so that the share price does not get ahead of itself. It will be the definitive half year and year end results that will drive the share price in the longer term. I would much rather they under promise and over deliver.

From what was said at the AGM, I think we may have recovered the situation with regard to the deferred orders, but the result is that the revenue from those orders will also be deferred. If the half year results are at the higher end of expectations I suspect we might get a trading update. The absence of a trading update would suggest to me that the results might be OK but not outstanding.

[jadeticl3] 01/7/2015 19:20

Richjp, I have enjoyed reading your insights very much over the years, and I would not dream of contradicting your view now, but it does make such announcement soft and touch/feely.

Do you believe that this company is now back to where we were before the announcement of delayed contract wins (was it in Oct 2014)? If so, the recovery of position has been swift, but the share price has not regained its value yet.

What I would like to see the company provide for shareholders is some kind of model of the shape and magnitude of the revenue pattern from the day the contract is signed and for the following few years. There could be a few models for say, major wins (this would replace the old pattern you now feel is not appropriate), and medium contracts etc. I feel at the moment that I know a contact win must be good news, but have no idea of the scale.

[richjp] 01/7/2015 15:07

I have previously been a bit frustrated with some of the recent contract announcements because they have not quoted any contract values, however I think I have now changed my mind on that point.

I raised the topic of CTC contract revenues at the recent AGM and had my view confirmed that the multi-year revenue pattern typically follows a “J curve”, in that they get a good revenue return in the first six months of a contract from the consultancy that is sold to the client to support the implementation, but the annuity revenue builds over a period of time.

Taking the most recent win as an example, they will probably get a decent chunk of revenue during the remainder of this year from the implementation, with the annuity income building from 2016 onwards, with the result that revenue from this particular contract could be higher this year in 2015 than it will be in 2016. In the past when GHT has announced contracts with say a £5 million value over five years, they may have created an expectation that may not be immediately realised. Furthermore that £5 million may never be realised in full if the customer changes the roll out of CTC in some way. I doubt if the customer actually commits to spending £5 million, even though that may be a reasonable expectation at the time.

So I now prefer the kind of terminology used in the announcements of 27th April and 29th June where they have used words such as “significant contract win”, orders “making solid contributions in the current and future years” and “the potential for future growth as the customer’s use of CTC grows”.

I think we have to read the wording of these announcements closely, to get an idea of how important these deals may be.

[4-10] 29/6/2015 11:04

article in Richard Holways publication
UKHotViews from TechMarketView LLP
Gresham adds another use case
Peter Roe, 09:52, 29 June 2015
logoIan Manocha, the new CEO of Gresham Computing, was probably delighted to be able to announce a new contract and potentially important use case for his flagship CTC solution after less than a month in his new position. Over the past couple of years we have highlighted the lengthening list of areas where the CTC reconciliation engine can be employed, see “Insurance brokers underwrite Gresham Computing’s progress” and work back.

This contract with a North American solutions provider in the pre-paid products market will apply the CTC solution to reconcile payment transaction data in the company’s settlement and accounting operations. This contract extends Gresham’s successes in North America and also benefits from the recent PCI-DSS accreditation for use in credit card transactions. It should boost revenues in the current year and provide additional medium term growth.

At the end of March the company talked positively about the current year and we look forward to more information about the company’s progress with the announcement of the results for the six months to June, due early August.

[jadeticl3] 29/6/2015 10:57

Difficult, on such a down day in the market, to judge how the market assesses this contract win. From company viewpoint is the choice of RNS Reach to proclaim the news correct, or too conservative?

[thebullyboy] 29/6/2015 07:04

29 June 2015

RNS Reach

29 June 2015

Gresham Computing plc

("Gresham" or "the Group")

CTC North America contract win

Gresham, the leading software and services company that specialises in providing real-time financial transaction control software, is pleased to announce the following new customer win in North America:

A leading North America based provider of solutions for the pre-paid products market has contracted with Gresham to use CTC to control and reconcile payment transaction data within its settlement operations and accounting functions. Gresham's PCI-DSS accredited CTC was selected after a competitive RFP and Proof of Concept process, as the only vendor solution able to achieve the customer's significant transaction volume and real-time control requirements.

This win will provide a solid contribution to our planned CTC revenues in the current and future years, and has the potential to add further revenues as the customer's use of CTC grows.

Ian Manocha, CEO of Gresham, commented:

"We are delighted to have secured another market-leader in a new segment for the Group. This win underlines the versatility and power of our CTC platform to provide real-time transaction control solutions across multiple industries and channels. I am particularly pleased to report this win in North America in light of our ongoing investment in this region and our recent PCI-DSS accreditation."

- Ends -

[richjp] 22/6/2015 16:00

Wh1spa, thank you for the PTO info. I have had another little dabble there as I did with UBI.

[richjp] 22/6/2015 15:58

Interesting as last week’s announcement was, I don’t think it qualifies for an RNS.

As far as I understand it RNS announcements apart from statutory ones, should only be used for something that will materially affect the company such as major orders or significant financial announcements. You could interpret this news as something that might lead to further opportunities, however I see it more as a part of the ongoing marketing process and in any case future revenues could be a long way away.

So very useful to know and please keep posting these kind of news items, but for me they do not merit an RNS.

[jadeticl3] 20/6/2015 21:33

ThanksQantas.

[qantas] 20/6/2015 06:31

hxxp://www.gresham-computing.com/gresham-clareti-transaction-control-gains-pci-dss-accreditation/

[jadeticl3] 19/6/2015 21:36

Maybe the new CEO can organise this company to publish announcements like this, which seems to me also to be worthy of RNS status. OK they did announce it somewhere, but where was it announced Mick Bell?

[wh1spa] 19/6/2015 14:22

richjp - kestrel into PTO now. PTO may well be able to use CTC in the long run.

[wh1spa] 18/6/2015 10:52

Good find Mick, thank-you.I am surprised this isnt RNS worthy.

[mick bell] 18/6/2015 09:34

Gresham Clareti Transaction Control gains PCI DSS Accreditation
London - 17 June 2015

Gresham Computing plc, a leading provider of transaction control solutions to international financial institutions and corporates, today announced Gresham’s Clareti Transaction Control (CTC) has been certified as meeting the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) for the global card processing industry.

CTC's market-leading reconciliation and transaction control functionality can now bring further protection against fraud and error to the card payments industry.

The PCI Security Standards Council offers robust and comprehensive standards for payment card data security. These include a framework of specifications, tools, measurements and support resources to help organisations ensure the safe handling of cardholder information.
PCI DSS provides an actionable framework for developing a robust payment card data security process, including prevention, detection and appropriate reaction to security incidents.

CTC was independently audited by an external assessor and completed level one, the highest level, PCI DSS version 3.1. The development processes for CTC that are followed have been certified by this accreditation as best practice and adhere to the high standards of the PCI Security Standards Council.

“The PCI DSS accreditation for our flagship product, Clareti Transaction Control, means that any card processor can be onboarded onto our platform, safe in the knowledge that we adhere to the strictest standards,” said Neil Vernon, Chief Technology Officer, Gresham. “We have proven in our development approach that it is possible to develop innovative and relevant software while maintaining best practice and highly secure standards.”

[richjp] 15/6/2015 16:04

His profile on the Kestrel website states that he is a Gresham non exec and gives him credit for helping turn Gresham around.

Anything strengthening the relationship between GHT and Kestrel suits me.

[wh1spa] 15/6/2015 15:26

Non exec for Gresham and a role at Kestrel apparently.

[jadeticl3] 15/6/2015 15:22

Is that for Kestral AND for Gresham, or has he left Gresham now?