Uls Technology Share Discussion Threads

[studentinvestor13] 08/12/2020 07:52

I am weeding through uls talking to some of my solicitor and other friends. Work in progress but feedback on the platform they can create is good. It sounds like the second half of the year they are now in might be much more back to normal given what is happening with housing transactions at the moment.

Masurenguy Do you see any expectation that uls gets acquired in this transition period? If i was a suitor on the market I would want to do it before the Mr Fogstrup joins. I can create a sum of the parts of this business and still get 40-50% upside

[masurenguy] 08/12/2020 07:43

Half Yearly Report

"Robust financial performance with focus now on revolutionising home moving and ownership"

ULS Technology plc announces its half year results for the six months to 30 September 2020. During this unprecedented period, the Company continued to generate profits and remained highly cash generative whilst further developing its DigitalMove platform.

Financial Highlights

-- Revenue declined by 31% to £10.06m (H1 2019: £14.55m) in line with the overall market
-- Gross margin fell slightly to 42.7% (H1 2019: 43.9%) due to changes in business mix
-- Underlying EBITDA reduced to £1.0m (H1 2019: £.3m)
-- Underlying Profit before Tax(1) declined to £0.33m (H1 2019: £2.78m)
-- Adjusted basic EPS(1) declined to 0.51p (H1 2019: 3.60p)
-- Net debt reduced to £1.9m as of 30 September 2020 (FY 2019: £3.4m)
o Part of improvement due to use of VAT deferral scheme worth £0.6m to be repaid in March-21 which does not show as debt

o Pro-forma cash balances following the sale of CAL were £25m

-- Positive cash from operating activities of £2.1m
(1) Before exceptional costs and amortisation of acquisition intangibles.
Operating Highlights

-- Increase in brokers actively using our platforms to 3,917, an increase of 9% over the 6-month period and 21% against September 2019

-- Over 20,000 cases have now been instructed through DigitalMove, compared to c.3,000 twelve months ago

-- DigitalMove Solicitor Portal launched as pilot in the period

-- The appointment of a new CEO, Jesper With-Fogstrup, who will be starting in the New Year

Significant Post-Balance Sheet Event

-- Disposal of wholly owned subsidiaries Conveyancing Alliance (Holdings) Limited and Conveyancing Alliance Limited ("CAL") for a cash consideration of GBP27.3m

o Proceeds to be used to repay debt, leaving c.GBP25m cash on balance sheet to invest in a digital platform aimed at revolutionising home moving and ownership

o Continuing operations remain profitable at an EBITDA level immediately post-transaction

Martin Rowland, Chairman of ULS Technology plc, commented:"We are pleased with our performance in the first half of the year in an unprecedented housing market which virtually came to a standstill in the first two months of the period in terms of existing pipeline and, in particular, new instructions. While the market has since come bouncing back to life with the number of instructions above pre-Covid levels, the lag between instruction and completion means that this will benefit H2 rather than H1. That said, our ability to make a profit and generate cash in the period against this backdrop, highlights the strength of the Company's model and relationships. Importantly, given the volume of instructions, we are now seeing an increasing run-rate of revenue and have good visibility of higher revenues over the coming months.

The post-period sale of CAL was a pivotal moment for ULS providing the capital to help us achieve our vision of building a digital platform that will transform the entire home moving and home owning process for consumers. The broader functionality that we plan to offer and scale of opportunity we envisage provides a strong backdrop for future growth opportunities .We have also announced the appointment of Jesper With-Fogstrup as our new CEO who we expect to take office in early 2021. He will now be armed with significant funds to help us achieve our vision and we look forward to him being able communicate his plans in Q2 2021."

[simon gordon] 05/12/2020 18:46

On any week day Quester at the Telegraph could tip this again and it should pop hard. The story is getting juicy and it will read well to tip junkies.

[masurenguy] 05/12/2020 17:43

Interims on Tuesday. There should not be any negative surprises after their trading update 6 weeks ago where they stated:

"Despite the unprecedented backdrop, the Group made a small positive underlying profit before tax for the Period of £0.1m, despite revenue being 31% down on the same period last year. This is in line with the fall in volume in the overall housing market. After making adjustments in its cash management due to COVID-19, the Group generated operating cash flow which has meant that net debt has decreased to below £2m from an opening net debt position of £3.4m at the start of the Period.

We are particularly pleased with the progress of DigitalMove which is gaining increased traction in the market. The period of lockdown and home-working has highlighted the need for a paperless platform which makes the house moving process quicker, easier and more secure. During the Period the Group launched its Solicitor Portal which allows solicitors to instruct cases directly using DigitalMove, completely independent of the Group's conveyancing comparison platforms. There are a growing number of solicitors using this portal to place cases including ones who are new to the Group's platforms. The housing market is undoubtably buoyant at the moment and instructions are up year-on-year. The stamp duty holiday is providing an additional incentive and while this is due to end in March 2021, unless there is a change in government thinking, the impact of COVID-19 is likely to provide a stimulus to the housing market for longer."

[studentinvestor13] 05/12/2020 16:49

This could become quite exciting if they can supplement the cash generative econveyancer business with a digital housing platform managing all parts of a homeowners costings. £30m market cap subtracting cash looks attractive. The long term chart looking good.

[sidam] 03/12/2020 18:13

But that did not take any account of upside if new digital works.

[studentinvestor13] 03/12/2020 12:16

I am researching. I see Numis increased their target price from 75p to 110p

[simon gordon] 02/12/2020 18:21

Student,

£5m ebitda x 11 £55m + £25m = £80m.

Digital Move already done 20,000, so up and running. You can follow them on Twitter.

Interesting aspect of the video discussion was the context of how Digital Move sits within the Rightmove and Zoopla ecosphere.

If Digital Move takes off then it's a seriously valuable strategic platform.

The incoming CEO shows the ambition of Kestrel and the BoD.

Could be an absolute ripper.

[studentinvestor13] 02/12/2020 18:00

Piqued my interest after gresham house talked about it on a video yesterday. They sold CAL for 11x ebitda and the remaining rump before digitalmove makes 4m ebitda after costs. econveyancer is better than cal as an asset but

put the rump on 11x, add in 25m of cash, and 69 million market value compared to 56m today and free proptech play in digitalmove. Intriguing.

[simon gordon] 02/12/2020 14:51

Vox Markets - 1/12/20:

Gresham House update Vox Markets on their portfolio and the stocks they are watching.



*ULS included.

[masurenguy] 01/12/2020 07:08

Results for the six months to 30 September 2020 will be announced on Tuesday 08 December.

[simon gordon] 30/11/2020 16:53

-£50m market cap.

-£25m in cash.

-c.£5m EBIDTA from core business.

-Digital Move platform.

-New CEO starts early in the New Year.

If the story starts to build and the City likes what it sees and Digital Move scales and expands then the share price has a lot of juice in it. ATH 161p.

As the Chairman said "this is a pivotal moment".

Kestrel doing the business!

[its the oxman] 30/11/2020 15:02

Chart suggests we could move quickly to 100p. Hold on.

[simon gordon] 30/11/2020 10:48

Tech Market View - 30/11/20:

ULS Technology, the AIM listed provider of online B2B platforms for the UK conveyancing and financial intermediary markets, has sold its Conveyancing Alliance (Holdings) Limited and Conveyancing Alliance Limited ("CAL") businesses for a cash consideration of £27.3m. The buyer is Project Ophelia Bidco Limited, a company that controls O'Neill Patient Solicitors LLP, the largest conveyancer on the CAL panel.

In the year to 31 March 2020, CAL generated revenue of £8.9m with a pre-tax profits of £2.4m.

Following the disposal of CAL, the Group has one cash generating unit, its main operating brand eConveyancer, which delivered c£5m of EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020 (based on unaudited management estimates).

The reason for the disposal is to bring greater focus to the firm’s strategic objectives to create more touch points with homebuyers/owners - which is also core to its DigitalMove proposition. DigitalMove was launched at the beginning of the year and is designed to help bring the conveyancing process into the digital age via the use of a secure portal for all consumer and solicitor communication.

The firm is working on “an accelerated plan” for a platform that can be used by consumers to arrange the various financial and legal administration necessary to complete a house purchase. There would also be the possibility to make arrangements for insurance and utilities suppliers in the new home. In sum, all of the things that can cause so much stress and take so much time to arrange otherwise. ULS has a new CEO starting in early 2021, when plans will be “finalised”.

[energeticbacker] 30/11/2020 10:35

Uls Technology looks even better value following the sale of a subsidiary and is a prime beneficiary of the growth in housing transactions.

This represents a nice transaction for ULS, the proceeds of which can be used to develop DigitalMove.

More on the Investor's Champion website.

[its the oxman] 30/11/2020 10:35

Chart turning up and almost becoming bowl like to my eyes. Could be very positive here , longer term now.

[masurenguy] 30/11/2020 10:01

Yes, that news came right out of left field. Topped up this morning on the back of it.

[techno20] 30/11/2020 09:33

Wasn’t expecting that. Looks like a decent exit price. Not ULS’s problem, but wonder how the other conveyancers feel about the platform being owned by a competitor. Nice morning, given I’ve got a decent holding in Tremor. Both got further to go IMV. GLA

[its the oxman] 30/11/2020 08:26

Considering most of last week we were 63p on the bid, not that huge a move up on this news, yet. All strongly positive and more to go.

[qs99] 30/11/2020 08:19

Totally agree. Market not really woken up to this announcement I reckon. Fully funded to grow the exciting piece of the pie, profitable.....exciting times ahead. DYOR and GLA

[red ninja] 30/11/2020 07:52

An exciting time for Uls.

[simon gordon] 30/11/2020 07:49

Got to be worth a bare minimum of 75p after that RNS. 100p would be more worthy.

Exciting times ahead.

[masurenguy] 30/11/2020 07:32

30 November: ULS Technology plc (AIM: ULS), the provider of online platforms to support UK consumers moving home, announces that it has sold its wholly owned subsidiaries Conveyancing Alliance (Holdings) Limited and Conveyancing Alliance Limited ("CAL") for a cash consideration of GBP27.3m (the "Disposal") to Project Ophelia Bidco Limited, a company which also controls O'Neill Patient Solicitors LLP which is the largest conveyancer on the CAL panel.

Highlights

-- Cash consideration of £27.3m for CAL which made £2.5m EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020.

-- Proceeds from the Disposal will be used to repay all of the Group's existing debt facilities, leaving c.£25m of pro forma cash on its balance sheet.

-- The Group's main operating brand post the disposal, eConveyancer, delivered c.£5m of EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020.

Following the disposal of CAL, the Group has one cash generating unit, its main operating brand eConveyancer which delivered c.£5m of EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020 on unaudited management estimates. The Group invested a total of c.£1.5m in Digital Move in the same period, of which c.£0.5m was capitalised. This investment, combined with the Group's other ongoing activities as well as central and head office costs, reduced EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020 by c. £2m. After the sale of CAL, prior to any increased investment, the Group expects to continue to be EBITDA positive.

The Group has already processed over 20,000 home sale, purchase and re-mortgage instructions through the DigitalMove platform, none of which were introduced via CAL, and the Board is continuing with its current investment plans in DigitalMove. They are also working on an accelerated plan to develop a platform from which consumers can arrange the finance necessary to complete their house purchase, obtain the legal support needed to complete the transaction and select the insurance, utilities and other providers of services they need to run their home. These plans will be finalised following the arrival of the Group's CEO, Jesper With-Fogstrup, and are expected to be communicated in Q2 2021.

[simon gordon] 30/11/2020 07:31

£25m net cash on the balance sheet.

'...one cash generating unit, its main operating brand eConveyancer which delivered c.£5m of EBITDA in the year to 31 March 2020, based on unaudited management estimates.'

Martin Rowland, Chairman of ULS Technology plc, commented:

"This is a pivotal moment for ULS with the Disposal enabling us to accelerate our growth strategy. We believe that the consideration represents an attractive valuation, unlocking value for shareholders, whilst at the same time providing the capital to achieve our vision of building a digital platform that will transform the entire home moving and home owning process for consumers. We look forward to welcoming Jesper in the new year to spearhead the next phase of our development."