Internet Business Share Discussion Threads

[muffinhead] 04/5/2007 12:38

LB
Thanks for explaining that. I am just trying to be realistic and not trying to be authorative as suggested. There is a lot of uncertainty at present. The premium share rating seems to be slipping as the shareprice has been flat for so long and recent dip to 24p

My main concern is a possible reducing momentum in the business

Is the invoice total available for April?

[aleman] 04/5/2007 00:37

Churn in the US at an earlier stage than it started in the UK is a sign of strength. Would you carry on with low margin business? You do not know what margins will be in this industry until it gets going. Some niches pay very well. Would you mow lawns for £2 per hour and turn £20 per hour away because you were busy?

[muffinhead] 04/5/2007 00:18

Henoo and media group is first serious attempt at focus and making a market for travel merchants. There was 3 good months of travel merchant recruitment for Henoo. The last couple of months we got back to the shotgun merchant recruitment approach..i.e March 50 in, 50 out


Vertical markets like Henoo also focus the minds of the recruitment team so they are not chasing bonus targets by recruiting willy nilly. Creating long term company value is the aim and this can only be developed with better quality and relevant merchants who stay.


AF must reduce the churn factor and look at its offering so merchants stay, get better value and see a benefit, and are not tempted to go elsewhere.


Why is affiliate marketing not working for the merchants that are leaving? Can the company improve retention?

[muffinhead] 03/5/2007 23:11

Some questions required about merchant recruitment and sales force not targeting effort on quality recruitment. Running ever faster with a churn factor of 59% is a waste of effort and resources.

[the blackster] 03/5/2007 19:48

Stemis - what's you thinking on whether management expectations is the same as analyst/market expectations?

[stemis] 03/5/2007 13:23

what is everyones opinion about the review? possible sale of the company?

I can't see Maz selling out at under 50p. The main reason for this review is that he believes the stock market is massively under valuing the company, so he ain't going to sell up for 40% premium or so.

At the AGM he came across as very confident of hitting the numbers over the next 2 years (and we know trading is in line with management expectation after nearly 6 months of the year) so that's a current year P/E of 14.9 and 9.7 for next year. The company currently has cash in the bank which (unless there are any acquisitions) will be around 8p per share by end of next year. Strip that out and you are looking at a valuation of around 5 x next years EBITDA.

Personally I'm surprised that the share price isn't around 40p (8 x next years EBITDA) but then I was surprised you could buy TMC shares at under £1 12 month ago and look where they are now. Sometimes you just have to be patient.

[aleman] 03/5/2007 13:10

I think that RNS might highlight part of the problem. Maz might be a little upset that the hard working staff at IBG who have options maturing would not benefit from the shareprice being lower than might have been expected. I think options may have been a keen motivator for some of them in the past in a market where it is hard to get employees with the relevant skills and experience. Recruitment was an issue two years ago and the business has exploded since then.

[yump] 03/5/2007 12:47

ww
Try sitting on your hands.

[paulcaine2003a] 03/5/2007 12:40

what is everyones opinion about the review? possible sale of the company?

Thinking about getting in on this one because there was a solid set of results and even if no sale came there could be further upside potential.

[68steve] 03/5/2007 10:15

Well i am sure the staff are very loyal and enjoy working for Maz& co but with the "For sale" sign up they will be somewhat jittery regards job,potential future employer..I hope the review does not backfire too but only time will tell...

[bonio10000] 03/5/2007 10:13

Any traffic numbers about for Henoo?

[bonio10000] 03/5/2007 09:11

I hope the review is not going to lead to management time being taken up and eye's being taken off the job in hand.

[niggle] 03/5/2007 08:33

I think you are right Aleman, wasn't that with some betting sites?

[aleman] 03/5/2007 00:29

niggle - I thought they had refuse some merchants with more complex sites because tracking was unreliable. If that is not the case I'll be happy to stand corrected.

VCLK results:

[niggle] 02/5/2007 22:35

Webgains, that's it

[niggle] 02/5/2007 22:31

Aleman, the software is really simple. It relies on cookies which are imho becoming more and more anachronistic but hey ho, I'm now a merchant :O) so if the odd sale is not tracked it means less to me. I now prefer something like fusion quest where the track works without a cookie. I empty mine more than once a day what about you?

I had an email about another network today that does not rely on cookies something about recycling mobile phones??

[aleman] 02/5/2007 21:30

I can imagine a few get pulled because there are problems with the software linking in, although they are supposed to be pretty thorough before launch I believe. Relisting them could cost more than £500 in troubleshooting.

[andnmand] 02/5/2007 20:52

And that works out at over £20,000 per month in sign up fees at £500 per time - probably pays for quite a few staff wages. I bet it doesn't cost them much to remove a merchant from the network, they probably leave everything in place and just disable them in case they come back which a few seem to.

[muffinhead] 02/5/2007 19:42

in last 16 months 687 new merchants

same period 405 lost merchants from above figures

Churn 59%...if you throw enough muck at a wall some is bound to stick!!!

[68steve] 02/5/2007 15:51

I don`t think he wants to sell either so everything seems up in the air at the moment,hence uncertainty in share price ..