Network Share Discussion Threads

[tradertrev] 24/2/2021 11:52

I hope this is a bit more than hopes of British tourists going back to Dubai! Suspect it will take something good to push through 400p.

[tradertrev] 22/2/2021 18:16

With results due on 8 March and the comment in the January trading update that the DPO acquisition should complete in Q1 2021, must be a chance that it happens on the same day? Been a long time since the initial deal announcement, meantime DPO has continued its fast growth.
Shares seem to have support from the (currently rising) 50 DMA and resistance around 372p. Upcoming news could move the shares out of the current trading range.
Very interesting the shares were a strong market on reasonable volume today in a weak market for growth shares.

[sphere25] 09/2/2021 18:25

In light of recent short movement events, two shorts have flinched here and are covering now. You can see the notable volume activity coming in here too so I suspect there is more short covering going on.

I think they know this share could easily be targetted with them being on the wrong end of a squeeze. It's a shame the short movement are so early stage because they could have caused alot of anxiety here!

Nonetheless, two are covering and it remains to be seen if the other shorts will follow suit and scamper out now also. These movements are sending real ripples through the shorting industry, so many big names are giving in or scaling back including Citadel and Muddy Waters.

Many shorters say they fear for their wellbeing and lives too. It's actually got too intense at times. It should never go that far. We might not agree with shorting but it doesn't mean going to extremes.

I embrace shorters. Everybody plays markets differently and they are a fixture of the market mechanics. Used to hate them in the early days, and it's never nice when they're involved in a share you own, but over time you learn to focus on finding a profitable strategy with all market participants involved (regardless of their views) and keep the focus to that, rather than putting unnecessary focus or hate into particular market participants.

It just becomes a distraction that from your own focus and can result in an adverse affect on your performance. Alot of this trading is psychological. Whoever holds it together the best, will come out the best.

All imo
DYOR

[bigdazzlerreturns] 27/1/2021 19:18

Yes very interested in how this behaves over next few trading sessions.

I have held this since Sept so personally i would love a short squeeze.

[sphere25] 27/1/2021 09:37

Market appears to be going after the highly shorted shares with big moves in CINE, PSON and PFC today. The squeezes in the US have clearly triggered some form of knock on effect. Interested to see how this develops and whether the shorts in the UK based shares flinch to a larger extent.

Called this one substantial risk for the longs but it could now be a case of even bigger risk for the shorts.

Will they flinch here and begin to cover?

Time to get more popcorn out!

All imo
DYOR

[sphere25] 20/1/2021 11:09

Could we see a Tesla like spike here? Who knows.

Tesla looks well ahead of where it should be and interesting that Michael Burry (The Big Short) has been shorting very recently calling for a monstrous crash there.

But what do valuations matter in some of these hyped areas in a market like this? I'm on guard but it just seems a case of "Hell, who gives a hoot!" at the moment.

As for NETW, I'm unsure of this one so happy to sit it out and watch. Interesting to note that the Capital Group continue to be aggressive buyers. They are essentially buying through all the shorts being fed into the market as well as ordinary sellers.

The 15.22% position is now too big to unwind so that's an all in type of play versus the shorts - certainly putting their money where their mouths are. Wonder how much they are willing to buy and whether it is a play on trying to squeeze the shorts.

It's almost a given there will inevitably be some explosive moves here one way or the other.

A fascinating popcorn watch (hell yeah the bore'o'meter goes that far up!)

All imo
DYOR

[tradertrev] 15/1/2021 18:36

Yes but far greater conviction by the longs, who outnumber the shorts many-fold. Shorters don't get it right always - I've heard about a little company called Tesla? Ruining a few careers that one.

[sphere25] 15/1/2021 16:02

It's interesting to look around such bullish times to see where shorts are adding or holding steady. If they have conviction in a rampant market like this, then it really could be sending a strong signal to market participants.

This is the type of market where shorts in something like NETW could get squeezed to the high heavens and forced to close with substantial losses. The moves in NETW can be enormous and rapid on small volumes.

We also just have to look at some of the recent bullish market activity to see the risk the shorts are taking:

- Crypto and anything Crypto related has been going nuts with it being talk of the town and doing the rounds regularly on non-financial sites.
- IPO's almost guaranteed a double with Poshmark a recent example
- SPAC activity
- Robin Hood traders on a tear
- Higher risk speculative jam givers over here(e.g. VRS and AGM) having enormous moves higher.

Essentially, pretty much anything can spike substantially higher in this market. Easy to see why people are getting concerned too with more talk of a bubble.

So with all that, here we are with examples like NETW and CINE where shorts aren't flinching or concerned about getting squeezed. It just makes you want to look in abit more to these companies and see how it plays out. Mainly interested in NETW though.

No position here but did consider quick day trades without holding overnight. After watching, the price moves are too bonkers though with erratic gaps making it very hard to trade consistently profitable.

Will continue to look into this to see who comes out right. As stated, this level of short conviction in such bullish times is rather noteworthy.

All imo
DYOR

[tradertrev] 13/1/2021 15:53

That's another 1% added by Capital to go to 14%. With their huge resources, corporate access and checks and balances I'd far rather follow them than some tin-pot one/two man band so-called activist short outfit.

[roks] 08/1/2021 15:50

Hopefully a much more sustained rise this time round

[brain smiley] 06/1/2021 23:55

Short interest falls to 5.63%.

[roks] 29/12/2020 08:48

director bought a few..

[tradertrev] 24/12/2020 09:03

Extraordinary volatility continues, with a nice top up by Capital International. Roll on the trading update on 14 January.

[brain smiley] 24/12/2020 08:58

Short interest increases to 6.6% from 6%.

The battle is on.

[petrencf] 23/12/2020 17:05

What has happened in the last hour?

[brain smiley] 23/12/2020 17:00

What a finish!

[tradertrev] 22/12/2020 18:37

JMIA NY up another 10% today to ATH with mkt cap of $4.1bn, fraction of the size of DPO and making huge losses!

[brain smiley] 22/12/2020 08:08

Sellers are back.

[tradertrev] 21/12/2020 08:50

Being the 8th most shorted stock in the market now looks like a positive!!

[tradertrev] 21/12/2020 08:14

4% down, sorry now 3% - is that all you've got? With this short attack out of the way we could be up on the day, particularly with Sterling down more than 1%.

[tradertrev] 21/12/2020 07:49

Changing the area of debate when they realise how flimsy it is. If they look at the valuation of Jumia Technologies listed in the US, DPO deal looks like a bargain!

[brain smiley] 21/12/2020 00:36

Article in todays FT. Shorters now say its not really about links to Wirecard but the cost,margins ,profit of the DPO deal and how it was transacted...that is the probelm.What a mess !

[tradertrev] 20/12/2020 18:47

Here's the Times article in full - a pathetic attempt at smear by association comes to mind:

Short-sellers who attacked Wirecard are now targeting a FTSE 250 payments giant over its links to the collapsed German fintech company.

Matthew Earl, a former City analyst who runs ShadowFall Research, and Fraser Perring, a former social worker who is behind Viceroy Research, are both betting against the shares of Network International. The Middle East-focused firm is chaired by Ron Kalifa, who also led Worldpay and sits on the Bank of England’s court of directors — akin to a board.

The short-sellers’ criticisms centre on Network International’s $288m (£213m) acquisition of African business DPO Group, which was unveiled in July but is yet to complete. Earl and Perring have highlighted concerns around a subsidiary of DPO called AconaOnline.

That business, which is now dormant and is being liquidated, was sold to DPO by Dietmar Knöchelmann, a German businessman whose companies were bought by Wirecard as part of a €43m deal in 2007. He continued to work for Wirecard as a director of its Irish-registered Wirecard Payment Solutions Holdings until 2009.

In 2016, Knöchelmann pleaded guilty in Israel to helping a local credit card firm called ICC-Cal, and its then executives, commit fraud from 2008 to 2010.

Another former director of AconaOnline is Ralf Buchholz, who was previously vice-president of risk and operations at Wirecard Payment Solutions.

A report by Earl, circulated among ShadowFall’s clients this month, said that while DPO was an Africa-focused business, it was “birthed by the ‘back-room boys’ to Wirecard UK & Ireland”.

The collapse of Wirecard, one of Germany’s biggest companies by value, in a fraud scandal sent shockwaves through the financial world.

Network International responded yesterday by revealing that it had hired lawyers at Freshfields to help it look into DPO and its subsidiaries. Chief executive Simon Haslam said: “AconaOnline is a DPO group company that has been dormant for several years and was put into liquidation prior to our engagement with DPO.

“We are aware that questions have been raised and we instructed Freshfields to assist us with regard to the acquisition ahead of completion. We have not found any evidence to date of wrongdoing by DPO or the sellers and can confirm that no Wirecard directors, past or present, have ever been involved in the management of DPO.”

Network International was the biggest float in the UK by a technology company since Worldpay, in 2015, when it listed in April 2019. But it has attracted the attention of short-sellers hoping to profit from a fall in the share price.

Network International is the eighth most-shorted company on the London Stock Exchange, according to the Financial Conduct Authority. At least 6% of its shares are out on loan to short-sellers.

Earl’s report said DPO was registered in Dublin in the same building as Wirecard UK & Ireland. The company said this was the office of its accountants, Moore.

Earl and Perring each deny any knowledge of the other’s short positions and research into Network International. They previously worked together at Zatarra Research, where they co-authored a report on Wirecard in 2016, accusing it of “corruption and corporate fraud”. However, the pair have since fallen out.

[tradertrev] 20/12/2020 18:16

Should be good opportunity to buy some more very cheap ones. Matt Earl's reputation massively overrated. Just spreads alarmist nonsense with opinions dressed up as facts. Always goes for guilt by association - here it is that it's a payments company like Wirecard and it's a UAE-based co like NMC, so it must be a fraud. What's even more pathetic about this latest attack is that it's about something NETW doesn't even own yet.