Touchstar Share Discussion Threads

[boonkoh] 12/7/2018 18:21

Jeevsje: until solid numbers come out about the new products and opportunities, it is all just pitch material at the moment.Plus I think this company has been around so long there is no interest in it until it starts to perform.

[jeevsje] 12/7/2018 07:05

Been reading about this company. Any reasons why they look cheap? Looks like they are in a transition period but surely, even that does not explain the discounted price.

[pavey ark] 04/7/2018 16:57

Leoboy, thanks for that. I had a look at order notifications on their site and H1 did seem to be well ahead of of H1 last year but then it's difficult to get a value for the orders. The positive AGM statement looks to be justified. An end of H1 update would be nice but they didn't do it last year. This still looks great value at this price.

[leoboy] 04/7/2018 10:39

ORDER PODStar : http://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/reacttransport & interesting partnership : http://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/touchstar-on-board-retail-sts-partnership ...

[pavey ark] 18/6/2018 20:18

Hastings, thanks for that. As I suspected the bottom line prediction is almost meaningless as the investments being made are almost all set against P/L. The company said they expected to geneate at least £500k free cash flow a year and added to cash raised this would enable them to invest almost £1m a year over the next three years. For a company with a market cap of little over £4m this is a serious investment programme. Happy to add at these prices. I get the impression these people know what they're doing.

[hastings] 18/6/2018 13:25

PA email me at [e-mail] and I'll pass on to you.

[pavey ark] 15/6/2018 12:13

Noticed that rather silly trade early on (43p) and was able to pick up some at 50p (both those 50p "sell" trades are "buy" trades). If you exclude the shares issued at 60p and the cash they produced then the company is being priced at 3p a share (BVM price). As I suggested in the previous post the bottom line will show as loss as the cap ex is very likely to come from the P/L account but the company does generate healthy amounts of cash. Ian Martin, Chairman of Touchstar, said: "The first few months of 2018 have seen solid momentum and the board remains optimistic that the financial results for the year will be in line with expectations." At this price "solid momentum" will do me.

[pavey ark] 30/4/2018 19:37

hastings, The company generated over £600k in free cash flow yet on the face of it the results looked bad. TST intends to spend almost a million this year and next as it builds up the business and although they have the cash in the capital account new rules mean that most of this money has to come from the P/L account which does tend to render the bottom line figure rather meaningless. Has the broker's report included the yearly tax rebate they get on their development/research expenditure ? Difficult to get brokers to spend time and effort on small company report but TST is a micro cap so highly unlikely that this is an in depth analysis. The company has said (in a fairly detailed fashion) how they will spend c £2.5m over the three years covered by that broker's report yet those figures suggest that the net cost will be £350k. I would imagine that the cash generated ids quite a bit more than this over the period. I can't get the report, is it freely available? I understand if you can't pass it on as I am sometimes in that position.

[hastings] 30/4/2018 06:55

Just looking at the WH Ireland forecasts for 2018/19, £1m loss moving to break even. For 2020 a return to profit of £650k has been pencilled in.

[bio_tango] 27/4/2018 13:52

Another 32k buy today after that 12k buy yesterday. Anyone claiming them?

[pavey ark] 27/4/2018 08:20

Had a further, very close look at these results and they are very good indeed. At this stage of the "the plan" they generated over £600k in free cash flow.spent over £600k in developing the business and increased debt by a mere £7k The fundraising would wipe out the comparatively small debt and leave c.£1m free cash. The price to sales ratio (PRS) is a very large 1.5 and one million of the £5m market cap is cash. The three year development programme may have spooked some as I suspect that people imagine that it will be three years before a successful programme of development is reflected in the share price. Even though the company will continue to invest heavily the results will show t/o, operating profit and cash flow which should show improvement. The accounting rules have changed recently and a large proportion of the investment has to come from the profit and loss account and not capital. Fortunately this company generates a lump of cash and the results suggest that the development costs will be c.£300k cap ex,£600k generated cash over the next two years with about half this in the third year. All looks very manageable with a reasonable cash cushion in the background. More than happy to hold. Held a large number of the old BVM shares ( a large buy in the 2008 crash at under 2p) but sold most a few years ago. Bought more last year and added quite a bit more at and around 60p. This guy Martin would seem to be a big improvement on the previous management ( that wouldn't be difficult) but his folksy approach and his rather Churchillian " blood sweat and tears" may put some investors off.

[russman] 26/4/2018 20:40

Cashflow seems fairly steady.Work in progress.

[pavey ark] 26/4/2018 09:47

Boonkoh, always best to look at total current assets then total current liabilities.

[cocker] 26/4/2018 09:18

Sold out some time ago but was a holder for a few years. My take is that Martin is giving it his best shot,but to invest in hope and promises alone leaves me on the sidelines still. The news that it will be some time before real profits are made also tells me that better opportunities are else where. Good luck to those who believe.

[microscope] 26/4/2018 08:59

I read this through with a view to buying a small stake this morning. I liked the interim report which originally caused me to put this on the watchlist. I like also the elimination of goodwill, like the building strategy and the recent fundraising was also a positive. They have though effectively warned for the next 12 months, and that means that Jam Tomorrow remains the message for now. I realise that might seem a harsh thing to say given the clear plan from management, who i can warm to easily, and increase in customer uptake, together with speedier results from the technology. As an investment I don't feel any rush to get involved quite yet, but I'm sure there's a tipping point coming over the next year or so when we will know for sure if that 'significant upside for shareholders' is about to be delivered. I like the company and will watch closely.

[boonkoh] 26/4/2018 08:50

There's £2.5m of borrowings in current liabilities. Anyone know details about it?I'm surprised the Placing announcement in Jan didn't contain any info on this borrowing. Presumably quite a bit of the placing is going to pay this rather than to drive growth?

[pavey ark] 26/4/2018 07:51

Now had a chance to look at the results in some detail ( more study required)and the first positive is that the company is certainly cash generative. The old Belgravium always made a profit but never seemed to move forward. I have a self imposed no debt rule especially when investing in small companies but the post results fund raising takes care of that for the time being. The guy in charge obviously has a plan, has invested in the company and I like his prudent approach to financing his plan so I will stay put and see what happens.

[hastings] 26/4/2018 06:52

Thankfully there's another sizeable R&D tax credit flattering numbers.Hopefully moving forward things will at last show some meaningful progress.

[bio_tango] 26/4/2018 06:24

lthough Ian asks us to be patient (again), there are snippets of good news hidden within the report. I am pleased they got the goodwill impairment out of the way, which as they say has no implications on cash flow. "Touchstar has a number of customers now using the Transport back office solution, PODStar. This system has been supplied into the generic transport sector, a new and extensive opportunity for us, as well as two new customers adopting the package in the fuel logistics sector, where traditionally we are strong. We now have 7 customers (2016: nil) with over 200 vehicles (2016: nil) operating on the platform. Touchstar recently deployed an integrated back office and Mobile point of sale system for an international 'flag carrier' airline. The project from kick off to going live took around 3 months. Faster deployment afforded by the cloud-based system resulted in much reduced demand on resource when compared with an on-premise system and in turn putting both companies in a position to realise revenue earlier. We now have 3 airlines (2016: 1) using the 'NOVOStar' back office system." 0 to 200 vehicles is significant. Ian has the products, the money and the conviction

[norbert colon] 25/4/2018 18:04

Yes good question pavey and I would expect it to mean anything £100k upwards at a guess.Looking forward to results tomorrow which will hopefully clarify trading / outlook for investors including more colour on the planned internal investments.It's nail biting stuff to be honest but mgt are incentivised to turn things around so I remain supportive.

[pavey ark] 25/4/2018 17:30

I wonder what be a "material" order/contract for a company with a market cap of under £6m ? I have shares in a company with a market cap of c.£45m and their cut off is £500k. Anyway, results tomorrow and although we were given a fairly specific update it is the forward looking statements that is important. I expect cash to be positive and that will be a measure of the ability of the company to generate cash....always nice to see.

[rivaldo] 17/4/2018 10:44

Good to see - though if it's a "major" contract win wouldn't it have been eligible to issue an RNS? Perhaps it was just under the materiality limits.

[leoboy] 10/4/2018 19:22

major contract : http://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/touchstar-onboard-retail-secure-new-contract-from

[norbert colon] 10/4/2018 19:14

And another decent contract win / extension: hxxp://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/touchstar-onboard-retail-secure-new-contract-from 10th April 2018

[rivaldo] 29/3/2018 09:34

Sounds like quite a sizeable contract: Http://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/the-sweet-smell-of-success "The Sweet Smell of Success!!! 27 March 2018 UK-based rugged hardware vendor, TouchStar Technologies, is pleased to announce the recent warehouse hardware upgrade at The Fragrance Shop. As the UK’s largest independent fragrance retailer, The Fragrance Shop made the decision to refresh their existing hardware estate as they undergo a period of growth and expansion within their operations. Supporting the sale of over 130 brands online or from one of their 215 stores nationwide, The Fragrance Shop aim to make mainstream and luxury fragrance affordable and accessible to all. The decision to roll out TouchStar’s in-house manufactured TS8000 handheld solution enables The Fragrance Shop with a futureproof hardware solution that will support the planned future growth of their warehouse operations. With a high level of expertise within the logistics sector, TouchStar have over 30 years real world experience in the integration, installation and support of data capture systems into leading warehouse and distribution operations. In this period TouchStar have maintained a longstanding 13 year relationship with The Fragrance Shop supporting their goods in, picking and put away operations. Dave Redeyoff, Group IT Manager at the Fragrance Shop comments, “Having worked with TouchStar for a number of years we have found their hardware to be robust, reliable and a fundamental part of our warehouse operations. We place a great emphasis on our warehouse operations and the infrastructure that is in place to support it, that is why we didn’t hesitate in selecting TouchStar for the hardware upgrade. The implementation of TouchStar’s TS8000 will provide The Fragrance Shop with high speed data capture for increased productivity and efficiencies as well as a futureproof solution that is scalable to support our future requirements”.