Utilitywise Share Discussion Threads

[blusteradjuster] 22/3/2018 07:40

Accounting policy now looks ultra-conservative.

No idea what to make of their profit/dividend-making ability going forward..

[freddie ferret] 21/3/2018 17:42

The only worry in my mind is Corbyn blight.

[bennywin] 18/3/2018 18:46

I would hope we get some clarity soon.

Do you think the current price based on failure ?

And ...if they are by some miracle making profits and there is no more trouble in store will we see a decent bounce ?

[r ball] 17/3/2018 13:06

Going concern issue i suspect

[kizzbop] 16/3/2018 23:52

Is there a fine for late result submissions? I heard up to a £1m?
These audit fees much be totting up to a fair amount too?

I still reckon redundancies to make substantial cost savings. Or of course any other methodology they can employ to save staff costs?

[freddie ferret] 16/3/2018 17:27

:)

My main worry is Corbyn Blight.

[karadas09] 16/3/2018 15:56

Bennywin - I think profit/loss is probably going to be all over the place, given the likely paybacks and the restatement of already booked revenue. I would look to the forward order book and cashflow statement to assess if the underlying business is performing well or not. The last RNS from the company indicated that net debt was reducing, and that the bank had been happy to extend lending based on latest cash flow statements, so that at least is encouraging.

[bennywin] 16/3/2018 11:35

Anyone got any opinions as to what would be acceptable results for the six months (bearing in mind there will be an impact from the new IFRS standards) ?

[bennywin] 15/3/2018 19:00

But you are nuts Freddie and laugh at anything .

[freddie ferret] 15/3/2018 17:38

Oh I think it is funny.

[bennywin] 15/3/2018 10:16

As funny as pulling teeth.

All becoming a bit of a farce, and not long before they miss the next set of results as well.

[freddie ferret] 14/3/2018 17:13

This is getting quite funny.
Directors on holiday?

[freddie ferret] 13/3/2018 16:43

Share price seems stable.

[freddie ferret] 08/3/2018 19:28

The only question I have is, Corbyn Blight??

[bennywin] 08/3/2018 08:03

Funny one Freddie.

I too am waiting for an exit point , as I don’t like to leave my money in a company that has a CEO that seems to think he can be as tardy on reporting as he pleases.

I can’t see a bright future under his stewardship although I would love to be proved wrong.

[kizzbop] 07/3/2018 22:35

Ha ha.
I for one wouldn’t buy one more share at any cost.
Any faith I had in BF and his inner circle has disappeared. He and his key individuals would have to be long gone and even then ...??!
I’m keeping an eye so I can sell. Hopefully at a point when it won’t be too painful.

[freddie ferret] 07/3/2018 16:58

You folks seem to be posting a lot given the current availability of information and the suspension. I find this funny, and guess you want to buy more cheap when the suspension is lifted?

I wonder when? One month, two months, three months, four months, five months, six months, seven months, eight months, nine months..................

[kizzbop] 07/3/2018 10:52

The TPI market is vast, it’s well documented. UTW competitors are thriving.
I still think that the issue is training and development and data.
I’d be looking at where the money is being spent in those areas. I’m terms of who is heading those departments and what tools they are using.
BF et al have been making it overly complicated. Get this right first then move on. A year of BF leadership and there appears to be few improvements suggesting some costly ineffective hires in HR and Marketing.
Develop highly efficient sales people and give them good data.
You can give ineffective sales people all of the products out there, they’ll sell a little more, but develop great sales teams and they’ll sell the initial offering and anything else you give them.
BF may need to look at some of his ex colleagues and friends he’s employed and really assess if they are fit for purpose.
If you put director and ‘head of’ into LinkedIn for this company it looks hugely and expensively top heavy compared to its turnover?

[bennywin] 07/3/2018 10:31

I would guess lot of it is down to the new rivals who are poaching staff.

Sales jobs have always had a relatively high turnover, but UTW does seem to be struggling in this sphere.

To be fair to them, from what I have seen, they are trying their hardest to make it a good place to work and provide opportunities and incentives for staff.

Looking at the lack of recent growth and loss of existing customers, perhaps the market is just not there.

I can’t for the life of me understand why they don’t add other products that they can up sell to their existing clients.

[kizzbop] 07/3/2018 10:15

Not how I would read it.
How do you know only the under performers are the ones that are leaving?
If you read the comments there are three common gripes. Training and development, which appears to be sub standard, the management team and data.
Good sales people won’t stay unless the latter two are good. People work for managers and the biggest reasons people leave companies is regarding the manager not the company. Second sales people need great data and UTW appears up consistently have had major issues in this area.
Look at LinkedIn. It’s easy to sift out past UTW employees and there’s a very large number of long standing performers that have gone, those numbers appear to be rapidly increasing.
As more top earners leave then more will leave.
UTW lost the last case regarding restrictive covenants:
hxxps://www.warnergoodman.co.uk/news/employment-law-case-update-utilitywise-plc-v-northern-gas-and-power-ltd-ors
Why would they take up a costly case unless they were concerned? It wouldn’t make commercial sense if they were non performers? In addition, reading this HR dropped a clanger not having everyone complete a non disclosure?
I would take a small wager, having read this article that, as it mentions, their only option is to take individual actions, that could potentially be their next step?
Personally. If I was in BFs position I wouldn’t bother as it would create totally the wrong impression internally as to how much concern UTW has about the sales revenues walking out the door and externally about it’s inability to retain staff by training, developing, supporting them and giving them great data.
If I was BF, I would be focussing on sorting internal problems (as I’ve maybe mentioned!) put all of this peripheral gubbins to one side and focus on being an effective MD.
He could do with a decent mentor as his current board appear to either not have the relevant knowledge/abilities or are maybe too sychophantic to speak up?

Going back to the post I lifted from the other share chat. I see BFs only option in the short term as more redundancies, unfortunately for those in UTW who are not performing.
It didn’t appear that the 50 mentioned in the press were a true reflection of the actual leavers. Another question to ask BF, what was the actual figure of redundancies with what saving and what are your intentions moving forward?

[bennywin] 07/3/2018 03:40

I read on glass door that 40 per cent of the sales force were hitting commission targets.

That would leave 60 per cent of sales people under performing and unhappy.

They will be the ones leaving.

[kizzbop] 06/3/2018 21:34

Bennywin.
He’s one hell of a salesman, at the very least?
Look at the people he’s had follow him from Sage. These guys would have been getting substantial packages, which suggests that UTW would have to pay more to attract them. Heck knows what they’ll be thinking now?
An accomplished orator with little substance?

There appeared always to be a high level of loss of sales staff. I’d bet the local competitors are making hay just now. NGP, Utility Alliance, Green Energy, G4S et al must be rubbing their hands, particularly if the comments around training and development and the capabilities of the managers remain true as per Glassdoor and Indeed.
A company that has to continuously renew its sales team will experience all the problems you would expect.
Great questions to ask BF, how many sales staff are leaving, how are you resolving this issue and what impact is this having on the business? It’s been an issue for so long now. What are the folk that are managing HR and training doing about it? Expensive Directors/Heads of, are they accountable?
What are you doing to make sure that new people coming into the business perform? Given the sales revenues there must be a high percentage of the sales force that are not making it.
Who is being held responsible?

[bennywin] 06/3/2018 12:32

Of course they will be.

It’s as much the suppliers fault as it is Utilitywises that previous contracts were allowed to be over estimated.

[pictureframe] 06/3/2018 10:44

I wonder if the large suppliers are still accepting contracts from UTW whilst they remain suspended ?