Workplace Systems Share Discussion Threads

[mudbath] 05/2/2010 10:59

Fascinating that Herring has just nearly doubled his holding in WSI.
From a strong actuarial background,he has been with Workplace for some eleven years.
Suddenly the guy is buying further into the story.

Barney Quinn CEO said last month that WSI's SaaS offering,OnLine,

"Provided a quicker return on money"
and that,
"Over the last year we have seen a complete transformation,particularly in retail."

OnLine,trialled in Australia for 2 years and in Europe for one year is now making an impact in North America.

Looks like the right product,at the right time in the right places.

With the multi-lingual version on its way for the remainder of global demand.

[mudbath] 04/2/2010 13:11

Thanks for keeping me on my toes Ravel Morrison.
His purchase of additional shares fuels my optimism even further.

Recently published views point to the deployment of workforce optimisation software becoming a key point in configuring corporate strategy,particularly in retail.Here is a recent quote actually referring to ALL:-

"companies that PSQ predicts to establish the new world order in technology included workforce optimisation solutions provider...."

As I regard WSI as a far superior investment at current prices,it is reassuring to know that others regard Allocate as a "buy".

[ravel morrison] 04/2/2010 12:23

RNS Number : 6925G
Workplace Systems International PLC
04 February 2010

?
4 February 2010
WorkPlace Systems International PLC ("WorkPlace" or the "Company")
Director's Shareholding

WorkPlace was notified on 3 February 2010 that on that day John Herring, a
non-executive director of the Company, purchased through his SIPP 200,000
ordinary shares of 5 pence each in the Company at a price of 9 pence per share.

Following these purchases, John Herring is beneficially interested in 588,956
ordinary shares in the Company, representing approximately 0.40% of WorkPlace's
issued share capital.

Enquiries:

WorkPlace Systems International PLC
Paul Wright, Chief Financial Officer
Tel: [phone]

[mudbath] 04/2/2010 09:29

Although trading in WSI shares is generally thin(not a trading stock thank goodness)it seems pretty bullish that the price has risen steadily over recent times whilst the MM's have absorbed a succession of small sales.Yesterdays 200,000 buy at 9 pence presumably took that stock off the table.
Ideally I would now like to see a string of significant(100,000++)share movements;with the directors continuing to accumulate;whilst the institutions shave or even exit their holdings.
"Extremely bullish" remains my stance on Workplace Systems International.

[mudbath] 30/1/2010 21:00

Allocate(ALL) results were published yesterday for the 6 MONTH period ended Nov 30 2009.
For those who are interested in comparisons,here is a link:-



It is worth noting that Allocate highlight profit figures after adding back amortisation,share option charges etc.,whereas WSI quote a net figure after allocations.

In my view ALL performance was weak,with fully diluted e.p.s only 1.1pence(from a profit of £483k)on a T/O of £9million.Market Cap remains ambitious at c.£35million(at todays price of 73pence).

IMO WSI has every chance of totally eclipsing these results(pro rata) with their own 6 month figuresfor Oct/Mar 2010.

Assuming we make a slightly below forecast £800k e.p.s will translate to .66pence.
WSI Market Cap is just £13million.Visibility of future earning potential will become crystal clear over coming months.ALL however is acquisitive;issuing shares to satisfy considerations.

CEO Barney Quinn is looking to drive recurring revenues at WSI from their current 40% towards 75%,thus seeking to repeat the success of SSP(now privatized).
(Possibly)We might enjoy a trading update towards the end of March.If my confidence proves well based,then this would prove a catalyst for a significant upward reappraisal of prospects.

[firth] 28/1/2010 12:59

Talking about 'Euro's' Mudbath, are you away in the sun spending them??

[mudbath] 27/1/2010 16:24

Hi greengiant,
Thanks for your observation.
My view is that the £/Euro are currently just rotating in value.
My £5 would be on longer term persistent sterling weakness.
Whilst any temporary £ strength might shave margins;I remain convinced that there is such a quantity of upside potential here that its impact should be marginal.
Could of course be off target.However the die is cast and until proved otherwise,I am more than happy with my investment,WSI's fundementals,SP performance,chart,newsflow,ETC.
Mud.

[greengiant] 27/1/2010 10:43

Mud,

You may want to have a look at what effect a strengthening £ will have on profit and revenue. Just a thought as the £ seems to be getting stronger and a fair %is Euro sales

gg

[mudbath] 25/1/2010 12:52

Thanks for yor insight greengiant.
I agree that the savings in part came from a reduction in R&D,yet I believe there was ill directed over investment in earlier years.Spend remains substantial.
The head count was also reduced in North America and included the departure of Kevin Donnelly,President of wholely owned LSI, who has moved over to Axsium.Edison's view is that WSI will reinvest in the States if further success is forthcoming.
Whilst we have no idea of potential profitability eminating(already) from the new Tier 1 US contract,it does look to be substantial.My "shot in the dark"is that it will yield a net annual profit of £650K++after all costs,including NaviStar's hosting at say £100K.
I am confident that the current market profit forecast of £810K will be surpassed with SIGNIFICANTLY increased revenues being the key.These after all have been predicted on several occasions by the Directorate.
Whilst 2010 full year performance will be held back by WSI's minimal profitability at half way,the second half figures should clearly flag what might be achievable in Y/E 2011.
Thanks again gg.
Mud.

[ravel morrison] 25/1/2010 11:55

Thanks thanks GG......I had Costs at £4,333....































Coughs.....;-))

Thanks again Sir......

[greengiant] 25/1/2010 11:39

Okay, here goes, let's see if this makes sense -

Profit & Loss Statement

I think it is important to start the process by looking at 2008 Interims and Finals before moving onto the 2009 Interims. I think that this is important to try determine where exactly the following statement disappeared from

"This exercise succeeded in removing a total of £1.4million from the Company's fixed cost base"

2008 Interims showed Sales of £5,341k with Operating Profit of £356k.
Half 2 for 2009, showed an operating loss of £836k on reduced sales of £1,121k. Highlighting the fixed cost nature of this business (75% Fixed Cost : Turnover Ratio)

So did they actually save the £1.4m? Yes, the Turnover between H2 PY and H1 CY is similar so I would expect to see Admin Costs reduced by £700k, reflecting the annualised £1.4m. And, we do - Admin costs dropped from £5,056k to £4,334 - reflecting savings of £722k. Perfect.

Now, let's try to understand where they made these savings, after all we don't want research costs to disappear. This is where it gets difficult. There are no numbers in the Interims with regard to R&D, so you are going to have to wait until finals to validate my hunch. I believe that headcount and investment within R&D has been where the majority of savings has been made.

This can be partly validated through Development. The reason I say this is because of the changes within the Cash Flow Statement - Under Investing Activities - Internally generated Intangiable Assets

This has dropped from H1 PY of £220k to H2 PY of £280k to H1 CY of £80k. Now this is not a P&L item so it has no bearing on the profit performance but it does raise a question of whether a large proportion of the savings have been at the expense of scaling back Development. This would point to that, and more importantly, the company will have to reinvest at some time in the future.

Headcount numbers certainly have dropped as per the FY report headcount numbers are down (this is average, so would expect the full effect of these reductions in this years numbers)

Cash Flow.

Now the company drained cash in the first half (£639k)- which was through poor working capital management (down by £824k). Now I have tried to reconcile the £824k, but there is not enough information - however, roughly speaking Debtors went up by £476k. Whilst historically it looks like debtor days peaks at the end of H1 then drops down in time for Full Year, this H1 rise looks too high. Questions to think about are whether new contracts have required extended credit terms. I am sure that this will partly reverse during the remainder of the year.

Creditors look to be in line, which you would expect for this type of company.

Nothing else really to say except for one Balance sheet item. Deferred Income looks low, especially for this type of company - It seems to have dropped off from H2. I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from that until the final results.

Forecasts

Current Forecasts are for a profit of £810k on revenues of £9.3m. My initial thoughts are that this is tough. That means that it has to make £777k after tax to match these results on turnover of £4,925k. If you assume that overheads will remain flat on H1 (£4,334), then you get £591k dropping straight to the bottom line. It's not enough to get to the £810k. They need either more sales or to cut costs more. It is a tough ask to assume costs will remain the same. So rough and ready predictions would be

Revenue £4,925k
Costs £4,334k
Interest £3k
Tax @ 25% £148k
Total H2 £446k

If the Board are happy with these numbers (£810k) and there have been no downgrades, it points to me that they believe that Revenue will be higher.

All the best
gg

[mudbath] 25/1/2010 10:09

RavelMorrison
Thanks for your input,
What goes round comes around .

Back to current reality however, where MSPmentor,who focus on managed services,last week carried an article by John Moore,which somewhat supports my header.

RETAILERS SHOP FOR MANAGED SERVICES.
"Signs of life in the retail sector began surfacing in mid 2009 and 2010 finds companies carefully sizing upI.T. spending.Indeed,managed services providers(such as WSI)are landing deals as retailers revisit initiatives that may have been stalled last year.

A recent pact highlights managed services time to value benefit.
NaviSite is hosting WSI's workforce management SaaS offering,where the partnerships first significant installation is with an as yet undisclosed N.A. retailer.

BARNEY QUINN WSI's CEO said,
"The recession has served to boost customer interest in SaaS versus traditional products.Over the past year we have seen a complete transformation ,particularly in retail."

Interesting.
Mud.

[ravel morrison] 25/1/2010 09:50

LOL....;-))

[greengiant] 25/1/2010 09:41

Ravel - that makes me feel old! Just going through the workings altho' first point the Interims are shockingly bad at setting out clear concise financial statements. But I will slog through them just for you. Will post the findings in a couple of hours.

gg

PS - Wiser! Definately not!
:-)

[mudbath] 21/1/2010 12:55

Returning to the Chart;once WSI breaks through to the 12.5pence level, we will be at a four year high.
Workplace Systems is not a company that shouts "UNDERVALUED" on a brief appraisal.
However,as the positive newsflow continues, it will become apparent,even to a casual observer,that a sea change in its strategy and fortunes is underway.
We can dwell on the impact on future profitability as more facts about the success of OnLine emerge.

[mudbath] 20/1/2010 17:36

Re litigation ,rather NaviSite bore this type of problem.
NEWS FLASH:-
"19 January 2010:NaviSite San Jose Service Alert: Power Outage Impacting Data Center; Engineers Working to Restore Connectivity."

[mudbath] 20/1/2010 14:50

Opting for a "cloud computing" solution for their SaaS "OnLine" should prove a sound corporate strategy,rather than investing in the hardware necessary to support the service.

Could slice a few per cent off margins ,although this wll be balanced by H.O.savings.

Nevertheless if NaviSite's hosting reassures ADDITIONAL potential US clients then the sacrifice will be well worth while.It should also reduce the risk of litigation.

One statement in particular caught my attention:-

"The FIRST major installation is at a major North American retail chain with 4,000 branches"

Looks as though WSI has other MAJOR developments in the pipeline.
Roll on news of a SECOND US Tier 1 client.

[mudbath] 20/1/2010 14:39

HERE IS NEWS TO PONDER :-



"NaviSite Partners with WorkPlace Systems, Deploying Retail Workforce Management Solution to Major US Retail Chain with 4,000 Stores

NaviSite, Inc. (NASDAQ: NAVI), the worldwide leader of cloud-enabled, enterprise-class hosting, managed applications and services, announced today that WorkPlace Systems has selected NaviSite to host WorkPlace OnLine, its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) workforce management solution. The first major installation is at a major North American retail chain with 4,000 stores. The solution was deployed in 90 days.
WorkPlace Systems chose NaviSite's managed IT hosting services to strengthen WorkPlace's need to better serve large enterprise customers that require reliable, secure and scalable services. NaviSite's expertise in enabling SaaS implementations helped accelerate WorkPlace Systems' ability to address their retail client's requirements. NaviSite provides a secure SAS 70 Type II compliant environment for hosting, managing, and monitoring SaaS-based applications with 24×7 monitoring and support throughout NaviSite's dual, globally distributed Network Operations Centers.
WorkPlace OnLine workforce management solution provides; Forecasting, AutoScheduling, Schedule Management and Time & Attendance functionality which enables retailers to establish optimized schedules and track actual attendance against planned schedules. The SaaS solution significantly lowers the total cost of ownership of workforce management, while reaping the benefits of reduced labor costs, increased reliability, increased sales and better customer service.
"WorkPlace is delighted to have chosen NaviSite due to their experience and customer base in the Retail sector. Their infrastructure allows WorkPlace to deploy large retail implementations of our SaaS solution in a secure, scalable and highly reliable environment" commented Barney Quinn, CEO, WorkPlace Systems. "We were impressed by Naviste's global reach and responsiveness through the selection process and look to working with the NaviSite team."
"We're pleased to add WorkPlace Systems to our portfolio of SaaS and ISV organizations who are leveraging our unique skills and capabilities to accelerate their entrance into the SaaS market," said Brooks Borcherding, Chief Revenue Officer of NaviSite."

[firth] 19/1/2010 14:32

Optimistic yes,impatient very, 10p is nothing they are 9.5p to buy this afternoon. I want 10p by lunch time tomorrow !!!!!! I am looking for something to pay for my trip to China in early march. Should be 'Gonk ' by rights. I have not got a printing press like you Mudbath!!!!!

[mudbath] 19/1/2010 12:21

Optimistic AND impatient!!
"3months,6months a year";all those timescales will pass in a breath.
Just savour the news of WSI's progress as it is released.
The share price will look afer itself.

[firth] 19/1/2010 09:04

10p to 20p,are you talking 3 months,6 months a year?

[mudbath] 18/1/2010 20:32

You sound like an optimist, firth.
Somewhere between 10 and 20 pence will be most satisfactory in my book;although a much higher rating might be accorded to WSI in the fullness of time.

[firth] 18/1/2010 11:32

The under quote of the year 'If I missed anything let me know'. The only thing you missed was who is going to reach £10 first ANG or WSI. My money is with you on the latter!!!!!!!

[saucepan] 18/1/2010 10:47

Enjoying the thread. Share price movement encouraging.