Trakm8 Share Discussion Threads

[dave2608] 05/5/2020 06:33

Interesting answer to the question why your sudden leave?

[dc2] 04/5/2020 22:15

TBH, I was surprised she didn't get offered the director position. Perhaps she turned it down?

[rightsaidfred2] 04/5/2020 20:57

So Nickie Hunt-Mason has left Trakm8 today, her LinkedIn profile is quite an eye opener don't you think?

[darrin1471] 04/5/2020 14:53

My daughter had her test cancelled. We have bought her a car with learner insurance so she can keep on practicing. A levels cancelled but not going to university. Hotel job furloughed but she has picked up another part time job so she is financially up at the moment.
Most driving instructors are self employed so probably also furloughed or the equivalent. I still see a few driving instructors on the road.
Any drop over the next 3-6 months will be result in a increase over the next year or so.
Anybody have an idea what the average length of time a learner driver uses telematics for?

[dave2608] 04/5/2020 14:17

Driving tests were initially suspended for up to three months. How many driving instructors will still be in business to teach these eager young drivers? I doubt it's going to be 100%. OK it might scale up again in time but the question is how many people are going to risk setting up any kind of business never mind a driving school when you can be locked down at a moment's notice. Until stability becomes the norm and there's no sight of that, no one in their right senses is going to set up a business at the moment.

[dave2608] 04/5/2020 13:56

But if a sizeable number of these eager young drivers are suddenly out of a job, how are they going to pay for their driving lessons or afford a car and all the expenses that come with owning a car?

[knowbodyyouno] 04/5/2020 13:51

Yes, that will hit the Ingenie and Marmalade contracts, no doubt. However, there will be a bunch of eager young drivers chomping at the bit to take their tests ASAP once we're out of this.

[dave2608] 04/5/2020 13:48

Good point darrin. However it looks like the ending of this lock down is going to be on a slow and phased basis. I very much doubt driving tests will immediately recommence, social distancing, I'd imagine will be the reason given.

[darrin1471] 04/5/2020 13:18

Small impact. No driving tests for 2 months so far = less new drivers for the next quarter and less telematics needed for young drivers. Should be a bounce back once the driving centres reopen.

[dc2] 04/5/2020 11:57

I read all posts with a pinch of salt and KBYN seems very grounded to me. They have skin in the game so I can understand their interest. You don't.

[dave2608] 04/5/2020 11:30

Lol at michaelmouse blowing smoke up KBYN's buttocks. I've yet to see KBYN make any post worthy of mention. The bloke is clueless.

[knowbodyyouno] 03/5/2020 17:40

Thanks mm ..simply couldn't let that nonsense stand unchallenged.

[michaelmouse] 03/5/2020 17:20

Good post Knowbodyyouno. We must have posted at the same time. :)

[michaelmouse] 03/5/2020 17:11

As regards insurance companies, By Miles (a Trakm8 customer) are still getting fantastic reviews. They're ideally placed in the current "lockdown". What's more interesting though is that their business model has opened up a huge new insurance market for Trakm8 to exploit.

Until this point insurance telematics has been about younger drivers. However, "By Miles" have sensibly seen a large market in the lower mileage drivers. How long before other insurers extend their telematics policies to include these low mileage drivers? Not too long I'd imagine given the numbers signing up to "By Miles" and their terrific reviews and glowing references to the accuracy, ease of use, and other features offered by the plug in device and connected app.

[knowbodyyouno] 03/5/2020 17:04

Yes, the nefarious history of this BOD is well documented and understood.
Yes, the numbers could do with a little more transparency and unpacking.
Yes, the company is still in a fairly precarious position; although certainly not to the extent it was.

However, what you're saying is straying too far from the reality of things for me to let it pass without comment.


All fleets are not grounded. We also know that the vast majority of fleet contracts aren't for one month - no business could operate on that kind of model for long. We've seen no large cancellations, but rather two 5-year renewals and Iceland Foods upgrade their fleet. Another large food retailer was about to come onboard. Expect that to happen Q1/Q2.

All the insurance companies are now rolled out and that happened in the last couple of months - the roll out continued AFTER the onslaught of the virus but before the lock-down. Also seen two NEW insurance companies sign up.

No insurance company is giving insurance holidays and on what basis? Oh I'm doing less miles than I thought. That's not how insurance works and you know it. The response is simple - tough - oh and if you want out,there's a cancellation admin fee that's worth more than you continuing for a couple of months whilst your mileage is down. I'm not driving as much but I'm still driving and guess what? My 18 year old neighbour with Box insurance is out and about all the time. Loves his car, and will certainly not be giving it up any time soon. Admiral gave customers £25. Others were expected to follow suit - they didn't and now with the reopening of the country about to begin, they won't. If anything people will be eyeing products like ByMiles AND more importantly many will be reluctant to get back on public transport, so guess what, they're going to need their cars more than ever. They're going to need insurance and breakdown cover.

Oil price is almost meaningless as it just translates into a just few pence at the pumps. The saving is also a saving in percentage terms so it doesn't really matter what the retail cost of the fuel is to a take advantage or it. However, Trak's solution provides fleet much more than a simple fuel saving - a saving most companies would welcome.

[trakm8fan] 02/5/2020 17:52

Dave ... If for argument's sake they did £5 million of sales in the final quarter. VAT at 20% means they owe £1 million to HRMC ... this assumes they have not spent much. If however they've spent say £4 million on VAT rates goods then they only owe HMRC for VAT on £1m so only 200k. If we know they made no profit and just about broke even then we know their costs matched their revenues so they must have spent the £5 million on VAT rates goods or salaries. So yes they may have a bit of extra cash which they owe the HMRC but it won't be based on £5m. Absolutely impossible. Now let's talk again about cash flow. This business gets paid over a period of 12 months minimum for the goods they supply so they spend on parts, they manufacture goods, they sit on these for a short time hopefully but it might be months and then they are sold. If an insurance company buys then do they pay an initial amount which is higher or the same monthly. Let's hope the first month is higher but how long till it pays. Is it 30 days or 60. Then they pay monthly for the service and again this could be 30 or 60 days - we dont know so it's all guess work. So what we do know is this business has only just started making a profit. So its probably fair to assume that the profit per deal isn't a lot based on their current volume and therefore probably doesn't come till the end - by that I mean the money coming in at first will just be covering their costs. So let's say the actual profit doesn't arrive until month 12 and let's say the insurance co pay on 30 day terms so its month 13 in effect. So I would suggest that if this business is only making a small profit at the moment then they have to spend cash to buy parts and make goods which may sit around for a while until they are sold and then the cash will drip back in over a period of months until the cash profit arrives in month 10, 11, 12 or later.

[dave2608] 02/5/2020 14:33

Just read KBYN's comment about a £1.1 million tax rebate. What with the taxpayer funding their furloughed workers and a rebate on top. I wonder if the TaxPayers' Alliance are aware.

[dave2608] 02/5/2020 14:07

Well dc2 in their RNS of 18th December they state the loan was to fund potential working capital requirements. No mention of it being used to pay off another loan. Note the wording POTENTIAL working capital not working capital. It's implying that the money is for some maybe soon in the future extra costs, maybe jacking up production like trakm8Fan has been implying to meet shipping orders. Trakm8Fan says words to the effect of that they don't want to be caught with their pants down when this happens hence the loan. But again this doesn't stack up because the cash on hand surely should be a lot higher. £1.4 million loan (for POTENTIAL working capital needs) + Trak's own cash in hand + deferred NI/PAYE + VAT payments. That has to come to more than £1.7 million cash in hand doesn't it?

[knowbodyyouno] 02/5/2020 13:50

The people that care the most here appear to be those who are not invested, but retain what I would call an unhealthy obsession with an investment long disposed of. Blonde's credibility tanked with me personally when he sold his holding whilst at the same talking up the share to all who would listen. And Dave? Well, Dave is just Dave and everyone needs a Dave, so the saying goes. Both are welcome of course (although the continuing obsession I find surprising), but as for what they've got to say, it's more than a little tainted as far as I'm concerned and for that reason I pay it very little attention, anymore. Trak will either survive or it won't. However, to me at least, the odds seem better than they did before the RNS. We'll know more next week, about the Gov's exit strategy - in the meantime have a good weekend all.

[knowbodyyouno] 02/5/2020 13:49

Well,they also got the £1.1mtax rebate, which presumably helped stablised the debt.

[knowbodyyouno] 02/5/2020 13:41

The people that care the most here appear to be those who are not invested, but retain what I would call an unhealthy obsession with an investment long disposed of. Blonde's credibility tanked with me personally when he sold his holding whilst at the same talking up the share to all who would listen. And Dave? Well, Dave is just Dave and everyone needs a Dave, so the saying goes. Both are welcome of course (although the continuing obsession I find surprising), but as for what they've got to say, it's more than a little tainted as far as I'm concerned and for that reason I pay it very little attention, anymore. Trak will either survive or it won't. However, to me at least, the odds seem better than they did before the RNS. We'll know more next week, about the Gov's exit strategy - in the meantime have a good weekend all.

[dc2] 02/5/2020 13:11

Dave, maybe you are correct; I'm almost past caring and wish for the sunmer to end it all. However, it misses out Blonde's point that yoy the debt is the same. Given your statement that they took on an extra £1.4m debt this year it implies they also paid down the same amount.The truth is none of us know (except trakm8fan)