Surface Transforms Share Discussion Threads

[quemaster] 02/12/2023 23:52

Bones698, yes they could use Brembo on future models, my point was about the possibility of contract cancellations which you raised in an earlier post and why I think this is highly unlikely.

A question was asked regarding this in the presentation, an OEM would have to go through the whole integration process again if they were to change to Brembo ceramics this is something that they don't want to do and time wise can't afford to do.
OEM 10 have Teams that only job is assisting the manufacturers in their supply chain with production issues, they have been in the UK helping ST with their problems but still signed off the recent £100M carryover contract.This contract doesn't start production for 3 years but shows they have no plans to change supplier, after all they want the best brakes available on their cars.

[pinkfoot2] 02/12/2023 13:08

It’s still very immature so I suggest their quality department is still growing up-

[amt] 02/12/2023 12:55

OK but Tessla is the biggest electric car manufacturer in the world, so hardly a teenager.

[davealders] 02/12/2023 10:00

If anyone has listened to the latest Joe Rogan podcast with Elon Musk, he sheds light into just how difficult manufacturing can be.
This is a guy that has worked with engineers who have managed to make a rocket land back on earth.
Sure I'm sure a guy who owns TESLA and want's carbon ceramic brakes for some of his electric cars is patient enough with some hiccups along the way.
The podcast is well worth a listen and might change some people's mind who don't come from an engineering background like myself.
Good day all.
Thanks

[amt] 02/12/2023 06:57

bones698 if you are worried about the loan then why bother having an interest in SCE. I am sure they wouldn't be stupid enough to have gone down the current route of massive dilution without the loan being guaranteed.
I agree though that the share price isn't likely to recover until we see evidence that production issues have been resolved. So the next 6 months is critical.

[bones698] 02/12/2023 03:39

Quemaster that wasn't my point the point i was making is there is other suppliers available to OEM's if required which someone was saying there wasn't . Yes the specs might be different but if needed they would make it work .

What concerns me now is the uncertainty of the loan facility . This isn't guaranteed and given the current state of play both with the market and with banks being risk averse . Add to the ace's recent poor performances and I would be waiting until that is a done deal otherwise this could drop a lot more if they fail to get the loan . For me there is no need to be buying in now while that risk is present

[bones] 01/12/2023 23:43

My own view now is that all the arguments on here about the merits of the business and its management over the last year have been truly flogged to death. There’s only so many hours of your life to be spent obsessing over a perceived wrong.

Now that the open offer is almost completed, I’m happy to wait and see how things develop in 2024. Trusting for a smoother operational ramp up while not being complacent enough to think it will all be plain sailing. Even so, I imagine management are paying close attention to getting the business back on track.

[geko5trade] 01/12/2023 19:23

cheese, fair points but I don't think it unreasonable to criticise management on what was a poor presentation. It is AIM but it is a listing and they are accountable to shareholders. So yes shareholders do have a choice but management have a responsibility to them and I think that video fell below what's expected. Clearly a number of people share that view. It doesn't seem excessive to ask that they put a couple of hundred quid into putting something out that's more polished and less stumbling. It would at least give the impression of being more on top of the issues. I hope they are because as pinkfoot says the order book is impressive.

[glyn10] 01/12/2023 17:44

Whatever the company said (or did not say) in the presentation, they were always going to get cained by those bitter armchair experts who could have done a lot better.

I like most have lost a fair chunk of cash but as Cheese has rightly saidly said don't invest what you can't afford to lose. Am I happy, no I am not.

It is way to easy to blame the management, yes the hold blame, certainly the dodgy forecasting should have been avoided. Otherwise they are just an easy target.For the most part the problem has been the manufacturing process/equipment failiure which is typical of new manufacturing processes and equipment.

Some have said that it is very simple, well its not! If it was everyone would be making carbon fibre brake discs and they aren't. These are new processes, bespoke/modified equipment being used with more throughput than before, with the best will in the world sh1t happens, things go wrong they are called teething problems.

If you are unhappy with current circumstances I don't blame you,but constantly whinging on and on changes nothing. Either sell up and take it on the chin or suck it up and accept we are where we are and wait for the share price to improve as it will do. The share price will improve, it may take longer than we previously hoped, but thats life trading on aim.

[pinkfoot2] 01/12/2023 17:43

It’s like listening to Starmer on here-so many bashing the company when the reality is they need collective support.

To remind all, the product goes through at least 15 processes-one niggling issue indirectly impacts on all 15 processes.Think Nissan production line where one point of failure , however insignificant, can cause serious indigestion.

The BOD need to get ahead of the curve on inventory-once achieved, we will be in clover

[fevertreeman] 01/12/2023 15:27

Goldman Supernumerary is correct in his assertions about this lot. Its management management management all the way. And this lot has spectacularly failed to make the transition from plucky spin-off through EIS and to AIM listing process. It really is as if Bundred and Johnson have absorbed/learned nothing about running a growing listed company ove rthe last 10 years as a listed company.

The presentation was shocking given the main 2 protagonists had just presided over a total failure of management - absolutely no contrition or explanation about what went wrong in the messaging/RNS statements to the markets. Explanations confined to the engineering processes NOT the management, financial, and communications issues.

In contrast to the cutting-edge products the boffins have produced, everything else about the company screams amateurism & mediocrity, and this is at the heart of the problem - the company has not developed a professional plc culture in the last 10 years, and both Johnson & Bundred treat s/holders with barely concealed contempt.

The fact is that they raised funds at 40p not that long ago and used large chunks of that to address the problems they had failed to anticipate, and then blithely told us all end of Sept that the problems were behind, and 5 weeks later pushed the emergency button that crated the share price and their reputation with it.

[toffeeman] 01/12/2023 08:59

Given the order book, this is low risk at the current price, because if they don't get things right in the next 12 months someone (probs PE) will buy them and sort it.

[supernumerary] 01/12/2023 00:41

cheese - you seem intent on adding to the farce. The company, and more precisely its management, are not innocent victims of fate as you imply - they brought all this on themselves and us. Particularly galling when they're employed to avoid this sort of chaos, something they'd managed to do, slowly but successfully, for years before their rush of blood to the head.

Your lack of sympathy does you no credit I'm afraid, and your whingeing about other posters is even more risible than their complaints (of which there are actually relatively few) about losing money. You could have trivially solved your problem by using the filter button, while those who've lost potentially life-changing amounts of money due to no fault of their own can do absolutely nothing about it. I know where my sympathies lie.

SCE may be gaining orders, but has yet to deliver them, so whether it's actually expanding (orders, production, revenue, cash, market cap, w.h.y.?) is yet to be determined, and it probably won't be clear for another couple of years.

And thanks for reminding us we have an opportunity to buy at an 'incredibly low price': that was what I thought when they raised funds at 40p - remember that? Personally, I'd trade all the opportunities to buy cheaply for just one opportunity to sell expensively, and I doubt I'm alone in that view.

pf - never claimed I did. And yet here we are, both in the same boat, only difference you've lost even more than me.

[pinkfoot2] 30/11/2023 19:16

Supernumerary-you clearly have no experience in automotive supply chains.I do

[toffeeman] 30/11/2023 17:51

I only had a few quid in my dealing account so sold some shares at 10.8 so I could buy some back at 10.

Presumably I am not the only person to do this!

[cheese666] 30/11/2023 16:38

This board has become slighlty farcical of late in my view.
The company isn't this latest presentation and it's not an accurate way to assess it as if it is.

They have become a victim of their own success. The word i take from this is 'success'. The product is the best and the order book reflects this truth. They are successfully building a significant business.

Of course it's incredibly disappointing where we are but this is AIM. Smaller companies looking to make an impact list here to finance their growth. SCE is using AIM correctly, albeit with some stumbling blocks.

I've got no sympathy for anyone who is down on their investment (who then moans about it on an Internet bulletin board that is) because it's part of the game and I'm sitting on a huge loss here. (6 figures) I don't feel sorry for myself. I chose the risk and have to accept the outcome.

If these issues weren't on the back of SCE being successful in securing orders, and therefore expanding, I'd probably feel different.

We've got an opportunity to buy at an incredibly low price.

[volsung] 30/11/2023 16:32

Put in for a grand's worth

[supernumerary] 30/11/2023 16:12

Anybody can win orders if they charge the wrong price or accept the wrong conditions.

[pinkfoot2] 30/11/2023 16:06

I disagree-the order book is far greater than anyone expected and sooner

[geko5trade] 30/11/2023 12:18

Bagpuss, there's a moment in the video when IM is clearly thinking what the ...!
supernumerary, I agree a symptom not a cause. I wasn't labouring the point. That was the first (and last) time I'd seen it and it's difficult not to comment. But yes I take your point!

[nchanning] 30/11/2023 12:09

For anyone defending management because scaling up is hard , this is a pretty simple one product company . They should have raised the money early enough to get production capacity up and running months in advance of when it was needed . They've over promised and communicated badly every step of the way . If it's completely understandable that it's taking this long , then they ought to have started far earlier

[fft] 30/11/2023 10:50

I would like to think we will get a November update tomorrow or Monday. They need 2.3m in Nov and Dec to meet the Q4 target of 3.3m. That is revenue, not production so more chance to massage the figures by having sold to higher priced clients. Let's hope for a beat.The share price movement in the last couple of days might be people with knowledge or could just be those with blind faith !

[bagpuss67] 30/11/2023 07:47

IM must be going WTF.. She seems like an actual professional and robust. My guess is she will knock this into shape. That presentation was embarrassing.