Trakm8 Share Discussion Threads

[dave2608] 07/12/2018 14:25

Yes and as at the end of June 2017 they had £6,807,000 sitting on the balance sheet. All done without having to go public too. Now that's how to run a company. Let's hope they don't get a dose of Trakm8itis. It's a nasty little virus that one.

[smithie6] 07/12/2018 14:09

interesting

Microlise accounts to end June 2017



turnover of 48M pnds. up 17%
gross profit 23M pnds !!

TRAK looks to have been lucky to have latched on to a much bigger player....
which hopefully means lots more sales outlets and sales staff

[dave2608] 07/12/2018 13:30

Someone bought 500,000 shares yesterday at 16:00:06 @ a price of 21.25p. It's not someone on here topping up is it?

[slartybartfaster] 07/12/2018 11:36

Winter has arrived manc. What goes around comes around!

[bottomfisher] 07/12/2018 10:05

It is easy to dismiss the latest placing as just another milestone on Trak’s slide into oblivion. My much battered investment case for Trak was always based on its ability to attract a blue chip client base and a naive belief that it had a technological edge. How wrong I was.

However, there are a number of reasons why it might be worth giving Trak another chance. First, the arrival of Microlise, a bigger and far more profitable telematics player, addresses one of my major concerns about Trak over the years - the absence on its share register of serious institutional investors prepared to challenge Trak management. Assuming the deal is voted through on December 24th, Microlise becomes Trak’s biggest single shareholder with a 20% stake.

Nadeem Raza, Microlise’s ceo and a telematics industry veteran, will be appointed a non-exec on Trak’s board which has long needed strengthening. A quick check of Microlise’s accounts at Companies House shows that it is a fast growing and profitable company, with international ambitions, which spends around 5m pounds a year on R&D. It won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2018.

Microlise and Trakm8 operate in different parts of the telematics markets and serve different customer-bases which offers the chance to capitalize on synergies between the two businesses.

The second reason for modest optimism is the 700,000 pound investment by Trak’s management and board in the placing. John Watkins, the chairman, is investing 350,000 pounds, and Jon Furber, Trak’s new finance director, is investing 125,000 pounds. Keith Evans and Bill Duffy, Trak’s two non-execs, are both investing around 50,000 pounds each and the rest of the board, except for Sean Morris, are making sizeable contributions.

Trak’s management, which will still own around 27% of the business after the placing, can be accused of many things, but their willingness to invest their own money in the business gives me a modicum of comfort.

[manc10] 06/12/2018 23:52

michaelmouse winter is coming lol

[dave2608] 06/12/2018 22:25

Horned Eagle

I was thinking the same re your post of 3349. You'd think there would be some tie up between Trakm8's camera offering and their route optimisation product, not forgetting their black box technology too.

As far as I can see, every part of Trak's business is done in house. Whilst giving them control, this means they have committed themselves to outlays of r + d just to keep pace with the competition. The amount they have been spending on r + d comparative to their level of turnover IMO has been proving ruinous. e.g if they spend £2.7 million on r + d compared to say earnings of £27 million revenue, that is an immediate 10% hit on margin. To some other companies £2.7 million spent on r and d will be loose change. And some telematics companies don't even bother with r + d to the same extent, instead buying an off the shelf producst which they integrate into their existing offerings. Therefore to sustain this business model Trakm8 are quickly going to have to gain market share to reduce their turnover / r + d expenditure ratio.

Sharing r + d costs with Microlise is another way forward, alleviating their cost base on this front and giving them more breathing space to gain market share and in the process becoming a much bigger player. It's up to them to deliver now. They've been given a chance to get out of this hole. Maybe there might be cross selling opportunities between the two companies too.

P.S. I'm still trying to get my head around the dynamics of another telematics company being the largest shareholder.

[slartybartfaster] 06/12/2018 22:15

HE, read what elrico has to say. He says it better than me.

[slartybartfaster] 06/12/2018 22:15

Ouch! There's no papering over the cracks in those lemming articles. And yes, all the prophesising came true, share price and placings.

Hey Michaelmouse, in todays lemming update there if a fine example on how to remain true to yourself and maintain integrity, even if it means slagging of a company invested it. Read the SBTX stuff. It's a shining example of integrity and not attempting to decieve readers.

[manc10] 06/12/2018 21:51

from elric to michaelmouse happy christmas

[slartybartfaster] 06/12/2018 18:16

Isn't if funy watching Michaelmouse sweet talk a bail out placing. Yet ridicules any other company. Pathetic!

[michaelmouse] 06/12/2018 17:41

Much has changed since then, but arguably Trakm8 are in an even better position to multi-bag this time round than previously. Microlise could prove to be a fantastic partner or even an acquirer. Let's see. :)

[michaelmouse] 06/12/2018 17:37

HE post 3350 - "If you had actually followed them the first time they kept most of the shares to themselves via a placing then you would have 15 bagged plus before it went wrong."

Ahhhh sweet memories!! Just looked back at previous blog posts and found this one from 2013:-



Placing was at 22p, and you're quite correct here's what happened:-



Average White Band anyone?

;)

[slartybartfaster] 06/12/2018 17:24

HE, how many years are you going back? The placing before this little lot was little more than 12 months ago and at multiples of the latest 22p. That's no 15 bagger is it? You have a point about the Microlise HGV's ... at what cost? Yet another screw on margins like the great white knight that was supposed to be the AA?

There is no escaping the fact the last 2 placing have needed to BOD to put their hands in their own pockets because the support outside the BOD just isn't there, and will remain the case until the company deliver free cash and stop cooking the numbers to fool the unsophisticated investors.

[horndean eagle] 06/12/2018 16:46

Slartybartfaster - Slight flaw in your argument re making same mistake. If you had actually followed them the first time they kept most of the shares to themselves via a placing then you would have 15 bagged plus before it went wrong. Having a strategic in place now is a major positive. They are very successful and will obviously have an interest and opinion in making sure the company is better run.

[horndean eagle] 06/12/2018 16:43

Worth focusing on the positives here. Microlise are huge in hgv market. 80% of UK market apparently. All the major supermarkets use them. They don't have a camera offering of their own or an optimisation product either. Its third party providers that plug the gap. If they were to utilise Trak instead of these third party providers then it a serious win win situation. I imagine the partnership will also involve r+d and technical collaboration so that all products are compatible and easier to cross sell. Microlise owning 20% of Trak will be their motivation to push Trak onto their customers so would hope realistic chance of this working. According to Microlise press release it looks like its their CEO who is joining as Non Exec. Hopefully a signal of their intent and how seriously they are taking this.

[slartybartfaster] 06/12/2018 16:43

Directors sticking in another £700,000 and Microlise at 22p. Of course, like the last bailout placing, they couldn't get institutional support for all the funds required. A BOD will always want more institutional support over allegations of pocketing shares themselves. Like last time, the BOD got it wrong. Whats the saying about repeating the same stupid mistake over again and expecting a different outcome!!

[knowbodyyouno] 06/12/2018 16:33

I take back my previous comments.

Whilst I conceded it has played out like an episode of Dragon's Den, your condescending/gloating tone undermines the value of your comments.

Hope you have better luck with your other investments.

All the best.

[dave2608] 06/12/2018 15:56

Latest Dragon's Den episode:

Dragon Microlise "I will give you £2.2 million for a 20% stake in your business".

Pitcher Trakm* - "Ok deal".

Currently 36,000,000 shares turning soon into 50 million shares. That's a touch under a 39% dilution. And Microlise become the biggest shareholder in one fell swoop.

Seriously what choice did they have? It seemed quite clear that the firm was running out of money and a cash injection was needed urgently. I doubt the bank were prepared to extend their overdraft facilities. There'd be little institutional support. Without a cash injection this share looked like it was heading towards 0p.

Along comes "white knight" Microlise. To get this funding at a premium to the current share price would on the face of it look like a fantastic deal given the circumstances. I mean Microlise had them over a barrel didn't they? Surely they could have got a 20% cut for less? It just makes me wonder whether there are strings / conditions attached here. e.g resumption of the c.e.m. work. Even if not you'd definitely think Microlise now have some serious influence as it is now 20% their company. It will be interesting to see how the dynamics play out.

All in all gives them an extra £3 million to play with which probably equates to an extra 7 months to turn the ship around. Let's hope the deal goes through as Trakm8's hand has now been well and truly revealed.

[napoleon 14th] 06/12/2018 14:55

More + than -.
Needs a big sales boost.

[tonybaloni] 06/12/2018 14:41

FTSE is down 2.5% todayso any rise has been stifled. Hopefully it will be a different picture in a year or three.

[knowbodyyouno] 06/12/2018 14:06

Either the market doesn't see it the way you do or more sellers need to clear first.

People who got in at say 15/16p might jump out with a quick profit, rather than expose themselves to further risk. It's good news for LTHs I think. However, it may be sometime before we see a decent rise.

[keepquiet] 06/12/2018 13:59

Maybe i'm a bit too eager but i was hoping this news might of brought this to life today....

[dc2] 06/12/2018 12:01

I still cannot understand, with all that positive spin from JW, how we ended up here - in essence we have had to go cap in hand back to Microlise (who we rejected not long ago). If they needed money they should have used the 1 million device target as the reason.

However, I do see this as a positive.