Stilo Share Discussion Threads

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 19:08

Well Escapetohome may be we should get our "Industy professional Michael Iantosca" to pitch to potential investors as he certainly seems to know what he is talking about.

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 19:04

Damn!

Sorry boys I was so much enjoying the conversation earlier that I forgot to do something!

I forgot that I didn't get my weekly shop in so I ended up at my local Lidl supermarket before popping round to my mates fish and chip shop to have a burger.

Actually, my mate started out in the fish and chip shop business some years back. I may have mentioned it before.

As it happens he now has around 15 shops and generates around £1 milion clear profit and that just from fish and chip shops after 10 years or so of trading. Not bad eh!

I should have invested in his fish and chip shops.

[mam fach] 20/12/2017 16:53

We had faith in 2000? when price reached the dizzy heights of over £1.
If it doesn't recover soon we may reach the age where we've lost our memory.

[escapetohome] 20/12/2017 16:14

N* I* C * E *

AB to add cryptocurrency functionality?

[mudbath] 20/12/2017 15:29

From Industy professional
Michael Iantosca
Corporate Decision Execution Team Lead (Product Development) - IBM Authoring and Content Management Systems

Hi XXXXXX

I'd estimate that AB is finally reaching full maturity. Building any full-feature authoring tool is always multi-year endeavor - let alone one that is fully visual and low cost compared to other market competitors. I've been deeply involved with most of the top structured Authoring tool providers for more than 25 years. AB came to exist when I approached Stilo with the ultimate spec for a low cost, all visual DITA authoring solution for casual content contributors after failing for years to convince existing leading providers to do the same, but they didn't want to do so out of fear of cannibalizing their existing vertical markets. Since then, Stilo has exceeded that initial goal and are well on their way offering a full-feature intelligent authoring solution that could seriously challenge other more established providers in this space and open up the use of intelligent content to broader industry segments.

I expect Stilo will add DITAMap support soon, which will complete the core function and essential to be able to displace other full-featured competitors. Along with their turn key cloud version and ability to integrate with other CMS platforms, Stilo has in its hands what I consider to be the Holy Grail of DITA/intelligent content authoring - exceptional simplicity (no need to know or see DITA with the the greatest DITA capability for an all-visual DITA authoring tool), lowest cost offering, least-obtrusive model that ensures content consistency across multiple content creators, integration with AI content authoring assist (Acrolinx), and much more. Had authoring tools like AB been around years ago, DITA would be dominating much more than it has to date. A few facts haven't and won't change: content automation is forever dependent on adding author intent and metadata on which document processing automation at scale hinges. Every other method of doing that (CMS-driven content creation for example), provides a poor authoring experience that writers despise (forms, templates etc). Next, consider the emerging cognitive frontier - structured 'chunking' and sub-grouping of topics, including micro-documents, will be required to scale and prepare any large content corpus for cognitive consumption - such as bots whose content isn't hard-coded. That, plus accelerated training of cognitive content at scale will require structured content plus AI-assisted attribution of taxonomic metadata. I think Stilo AB is positioned well - success will be more about execution than the technology at this point in my opinion.

I have other wishes for the expansion of AB. I'd like to see them add support for Markdown and GitHub in addition to DITA, be able to integrate the DITA Open Source Toolkit into the UI to add integrated output generation, and a few more things to broaden the market appeal with a turn-key solution - but these ought to come with more development time if Stilo sees the value.

I have no vested interest in Stilo other than being a paying client. I have a very large and complex content environment to manage as you might imagine. Stilo AB has filled a critical void and I am rooting for their continued and growing success with AuthorBridge. I am also required to point out that all of the opinions I offer are entirely my own and do not reflect those of my employer.

Regards,
Mike

[escapetohome] 20/12/2017 14:13

A happy christmas!

To every Stilo investor and employee!

You hard work is appreciated in closing these sales!

And thankyou to stiloloses and mudbath for your determination in potraying the 2 opposing viewpoints on Stilo and sharing your perceptions.

[clocktower] 20/12/2017 13:25

Thanks mud, you better hope that the reservoirs do not suffer from nitrate pollution, causing them to be emptied at some speed and even flooding what goes before it. :-)

[mudbath] 20/12/2017 13:19

clocktower
For me,investing is all about perception/interpretation of the available facts.
Holdings are like reservoirs in that they need to be full when demand is most likely to increase.
In my opinion we now are being confronted,even if obliquely, with a whole slew of positives as regards the potential for Stilo to confound the odd sceptic or the unconvinced.

To be seeking to recruit and then pay a Conversion Services Consultant US$ 50k p.a.to support growth in Migrate sales indicates to me that Migrate is gaining traction,thus underlining the Chairman's contention(2017 Interims)that,
"The outlook for Migrate conversion services and OmniMark software remains promising for the remainder of the year".

As regards AuthorBridge,the final aspects of its development are seemingly being concluded,with the end of 2017 being Stilo's target date for this to be achieved.
The fact that the total accumulated capitalised costs will be depreciated over a 10 year period, commencing later in 2017 reaffirms the above timescale.

Insert these facts into future company reports,allied to news of take up/traction(if any) and we could have a more heady mix of positivity than that demonstrated over the past two years.

The views of say,Mike Iantosca,or those of Vega might not interest StiloLosses.
For me though they are an integral part of the equation.

Cheers though clocktower for the good wishes.These are warmly reciprocated and extended to all .

[escapetohome] 20/12/2017 12:30

Hilarious stilolosses

That was the point i was trying to make

Concommitant with progress on sales we should see a step change in how the company talks to investors.

NO SIGN OF THAT YET!!

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 12:26

Upping the potential of a company and then profiting, jumping off and then buying at lower prices and repeating the process year after year, year after year and so forth is something that some people do.

No problem with that. Lol

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 12:24

Good grief! What could Stilo possibly say to investors and to the likes of proactive investors and the investors chronicle.......

Boys it all happening here in 2000....

We meant 2001....

Make that 2002......

Possibly 2003....

Nah its happening in 2004....

Maybe in 2005....

Oh no, it will happen in 2006...

Or in 2007......

New product Migrate has now come out so its happening in 2008.....

It will happen in 2009 actually........

No, it won't, its 2010......

Revise that to 2011 as there is now a tremendous amount of interest in Migrate......

It didn't happen last year so boys its going to be 2012.....

You must buy now as it is definitely 2013.....

We actually meant 2014 as we have AuthorBridge......

Lots of interest in us now boys so make that 2015......

We know we have been leading you up the garden path for 15 years and now that you are in your 50s so 2016 is the year........

2017 boys, 2017 trust us!......

No! No! its 2018 for sure!!!!!!!!!1

Possibly in 2019....

2020 is also penciled in boys!....

2021 in possible too!!!!!!!!!!!!

2022 is not out of the question!!!!!

2023 is a maybe!!!!!!!!

2024 we have something on paper for this......

As we do for 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028, 2029 and 2030......


These are the reasons why Stilo don't make presentations to investors.

Mind you, I don't bleeding blame them!!!!!

[clocktower] 20/12/2017 12:03

LOL mudbath:

"No doubt this post will elicit protestations from a certain quarter to which my answer would be:-

Just watch the share price climb !"

Have you not said that for many, many years?

While I am sure you have traded this successfully over the years, it seems to me you have never acknowledged the fact that you have traded after every spike upwards, before the many falls backwards.

Best of luck.

[escapetohome] 20/12/2017 11:52

One thing is see a lot of is companies selling themselves to investors, ceos talking to proactive investors, investors chronicle, links built between techinvest and ceos, presentations to sharetalk etc.

Stilo seem incredibly shy in this regard.

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 10:49

I am more or less certain that Stilo will be able to clearly demonstrate in their year end results what progress has been made with the "industry experts" during the last 12 months. We all know how slow this progress has been during 2014, 2015 and 2016.

As we all know Stilo said in their 6 month end annoyingly "not much!"

The only "industry experts" that I am really interested in is the "industry experts" at Stilo International.

Personally, I would not waste my time asking the "industry experts" as our very own "industry experts" will be spelling it out for us, I hope, during the 12 month end report.

Forget the "industry experts", relax and "enjoy Chistmas" is what I am recommending old boy! We all know some "industry experts" tell you everything but the truth.

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 10:46

I totally agree that "Stilo International is a vibrant and progressive small public company with a unique technology suite".

Problem is that it has been in this exact position for the last 20 years or so. So nothing different there.

In terms of "I believe that we are about to see a shift in sentiment allied to a positive news flow".

Well, why has this not happened for the last 2 decades and why would it happen now?

I am sure that as time goes on, when new products in AuthorBridge and Migrate do eventually end up on the desks of customers and paid for, once Stilo are able to complete them and market them, the Stilo coffers and share price will start to move up on a incremental basis. Like they have for years to the current £1.8 mark.

In terms of " Just watch the share price climb!"...........Well, this will certainly not happen any time soon under any circumstances as there are absolutely no products any company are able to take on from Stilo that will result in huge revenues and profits.

As we all know, customers only order small licences with Stilo with the exception of a handful of customers who put in big orders from time to time like the 5 or so customers that have done so in bulk during the last 20 years or so. Problem is there have not been many of these over the years with any of Stilo's Omnimark or Migrate products.

I am all for progress for Stilo but I know alongside many others that "incremental" is the best that Stilo will be able to do.

Again, like the 6 month end results have shown and the 12 month end results will clearly show, in terms of revenues and profits, there has not been much progress yet again during 2017. Progress there will be but disappointingly not on the scale most have been waiting for.

Progress will and has been happening for years but at a snails pace due to nature of their products and the nature of their customers. Lets not forget that the market Stilo operates in is so incredibly minute and the annoying thing is that Stilo has been the market leader in its markets for so many years.

[mudbath] 20/12/2017 10:34

Cheers escapetohome.
I am busy ascertaining from involved industry professionals what progress is being achieved in the final stages of AuthorBridge's development, together with detail on any traction being gained or the potential for such.
As ever,I will post anything relevant.

[escapetohome] 20/12/2017 10:04

Yes Mudbath

The proof is in the pudding!

A very welcome show of resolute confidence from you!

[mudbath] 20/12/2017 09:29

Stilo International is a vibrant and progressive small public company with a unique technology suite.The potential market for the utilisation of its technology is massive,certainly when compared to its miniscule £5 million market cap.

The jaundiced posts from StiloLosses therefore do not resonate,in any way,with my understanding of its current position;for I believe that we are about to see a shift in sentiment allied to a positive news flow .

Anyone considering investing in Stilo might therefore find that any such investment might be quickly and substantially rewarded without the requirement to wait a "very,very,very,very" long time .

No doubt this post will elicit protestations from a certain quarter to which my answer would be:-

Just watch the share price climb !

[stilolosses] 20/12/2017 00:42

In Stilo's management's estimation they were hoping to have Authorbridge ready, up and running and with some potential customers and generating some incremental revenues as far back as 2014. Come 2018 and it still is not ready. It has only been installed with 2 customers. Stilo management have been talking about AuthorBridge for years now.

One only has to read Stilo's AGM statements, 6 month and 12 month reports about Stilo managements expectations on AuthorBridge from as far back as 2013.

In my estimation, I'm sure AuthorBridge will be ready sometime in 2018, 2019 or 2020. When it is ready it will need another level of marketing and getting potential clients to do what Stilo have been hoping for a long, long time: "Pay for it!".

"Commercialisation and scale" for anything that Stilo does takes years and years as they have proven since Ominmark was launched around 20 years ago.

"Commercialisation and scale" for Migrate to date has taken over 10 years and this has amounted to a few hundred thousand pounds in revenues each year. Up one year and down the next.

As all Stilo investors know, after years of "Commercialisation and scale" for all their world leading products, Stilo only generates around £1.8 million and my estimation is that growth for 2017 is going to be very low with profits quite likely to be lower.

My understanding is that Stilo has had offices both in the UK and Ottawa as far back as year 2000 with a global customer base for around 20 years now. So nothing new there.

In fact, Stilo have been appointing permanent members of staff ever since they started trading. If I can recall their staff numbers have been around the 20 mark for the last 10 years or so.

Growth in Migrate has been up and down since it was launched around 2008. It fell again dramatically in 2016 from already a minuscule amount so its a foregone certainty that it will now grow slowly on an incremental basis going forward. Employing new permanent staff for Migrate is nothing new and has been happening for years as and when needed.

The only "possible pivital time" for all investors will be when Stilo are ale to make a difference to their revenues and profits. Hopefully in 2018, 2019 or 2020. I hope it is no longer. In the meantime, in my estimation, I have no doubt they will continue to recruit new staff. Overall, like I have pointed out already, staff numbers have been around the 20 mark and have not changed for quite a few years now.

Inexperienced investors may find the news of Stilo employing a new member of permanent staff promising and exciting, but those long holding Stilo investors are after no other news than a serious increase in revenues and profits and nothing less. I certainly favour the latter.

I think the wait will continue yet and I am more or less certain that the final 12 month numbers will confirm this next year. I think the full 12 month numbers will reveal that we need to move 2 steps back before we can move forward.....Even if permanent staff are being recruited or not!

In clsoing, the last 2 posts Stilo advertised on their website were on there for nearly 11 months before they were removed.

[mudbath] 19/12/2017 21:10

I mentioned a few days ago that in my estimation AuthorBridge was nearing an adoption point with the next 6 months therefore possibly proving to be a pivotal time in the company's progress towards achieving fuller commercialisation and scale.

This would seem to be born out by today's solicitation from Stilo International
for a further permanent member of staff.
"With offices in the UK and Ottawa,Stilo International is a world leader in XML/SGML content processing technologies, supporting a global customer base in publishing, high tech, government,aerospace and defense.

Migrate, our world-leading cloud content conversion service, enables documentation teams to convert content from proprietary formats including FrameMaker, InDesign, RoboHelp and Word documents, to XML formats including DITA, JATS, STS and custom XML.
To support growth in Migrate sales, we currently have an immediate vacancy for a Conversion Services Consultant, reporting to the Conversion Services Manager, based in our Ottawa office. "

[stilolosses] 05/12/2017 21:56

Just being completely realistic and honest Varies. Certainly do not think it would help any investors to paint a picture that is far from the truth. Stilo has been and will continue to be a long wait story as all those investors who have got first hand experience know. Its just the type of products that they do, the market that they operate in and the hurdles they have to jump through with each and every single customer in order to get business which causes the kind of delays that we have all come to expect. In this market, as IBM and AuthorBrdige has shown, they can speak about how they want to do things for 2 or 3 years before they even get any revenue come through. Every customer is different and every customer has their own specific requirements and Stilo have to deal with this on a case by case basis and with only 17 or 18 employees across the company they can only do so much each year, causing the types of unheard amount of delays and incredibly slow speed that they have shown over the years. Not Stilo's fault. They offer the best products in the world, are the market leaders in their field but still they cannot dictate the level of business that they would like to do each year. This is clearly dictated by things that are totally out of their control and in the control of their customers. Something that they just cannot change.

[varies] 05/12/2017 20:56

StiloLosses
Many thanks

[stilolosses] 05/12/2017 14:54

Varies its not a case that it won't happen at Stilo as it has been happening quite well for some time but there is only so much Stilo can do. Its just a case of long, painful and protracted patience until it does.

As I said earlier, they are operating in a niche market which happens to be a incredibly small and minute market area and with the amount of work they need to do with each and every customer is mind boggling. Stilo only has 17 or 18 employees across its workforce and there is only so much they can do and as we know, apart from their recurring Omnimark revenues, Stilo have to start afresh each year with all its customers in order to generate new revenue for its Migrate model. Lets not forget it has taken Stilo 20 years to get the recurring Omnimark revenues to where it is now around the £900,000 mark per year and this is not going to change anytime soon. Migrate makes around a few hundred thousand as does Omnimark sales, totaling the £2 million mark or around there.

Disappointingly, what we seem to see each year is a good showing in one area which is let down in other areas. You are always going to have one good year for Migrate but you then tend to find that Omnimark sales have fallen by a similar amount or vice versa during the same year. I do not ever recall Stilo ever having a good year for everything in Omnimark recurring revenues, Migrate and Omnimark sales. We have always had good in one area and bad in another and vice versa each financial year.

In terms of AuthorBridge which will start to make incremental additions to the bottom line once it is ready, hopefully in 2018, the hope is that in the same period they will have a good year for their other products in Migrate and Omnimark. What does not help, of course, again, is if the dollar continues to strengthen in the absence of a hard Brexit.

Like I said earlier I am more or less certainly expecting flat lining this year with a fall in profits and most likely flat lining again in 2018 with the hope and expectation that they will increase somewhat in 2019 once AuthorBridge is completed and marketed and then implemented by customers as time goes on. It is a long and protracted and painful wait and I think it will become all too clear when the results for the end of 2017 are out next year.

[infocusint] 05/12/2017 12:48

Make that FBT.