Yesterday I attended a “Capital Markets Day” for Cloudcall (CALL), a company in which I hold a few shares. But not many because it has been one of those technology companies with fast growing revenue but it has been slow in actually reaching profitability. The result has been multiple share placings, the last one in October 2017, to plug the negative cash flow hole. So cash flow was no doubt on investors minds at the meeting, as you will see.
The company sells unified communications technology to businesses using CRM systems. A couple of their major partners are Bullhorn (a recruitment/staffing software business) and Microsoft with their MS Dynamics product and there were speakers from both companies at the meeting. They helped to explain the attractiveness of the product to their customers, which I do not doubt.
CEO Simon Cleaver covered the latest product enhancements which will potentially enable them to integrate with 4 or more new CRM products in 2019. It will also include broadcast SMS messaging and mobile support which their customers need. Apparently there will be an increased focus on the US market, but the company is also looking at the APACS region and Brazil from later comments, where there are obvious opportunities. Pete Linas from Bullhorn made an interesting comment that the company has been missing out on business growth due to lack of finance – suggesting perhaps that a more aggressive strategy be adopted as per early stage US technology companies, i.e. ignore the losses and negative short-term cash flow and raise more finance.
CFO Paul Williams, covered the recent trading statement which was positive. Group revenue up 29% but cash burn was £1.5m in H2 2018, i.e. still consuming cash rather than generating it. Cash available was given as £2.75m. Paul also covered how the growth in users converts into revenue and future profits but they seem to have a relatively high churn rate for this kind of business, i.e. customers dropping out subsequently. It was not made clear why they lose some customers/users and what the customer contract durations actually are. However in response to one of my questions it was stated that forecast revenue growth for this year will be 40% (that’s higher than analyst’s forecasts so far as I can see).
Paul also said cash burn was reducing and Simon said that it was down to £240k per month, with sufficient cash to break even, if the sales numbers are met. He suggested that if more cash was needed (e.g. to fund US expansion) then they could raise their existing debt level from £1.8m to £3.0m and the board would prefer to raise the debt than more equity. The impression was given that conversations around that had already taken place and Paul Scott questioned whether the bankers would want to lend to a loss-making business – it seems they might. Comment: they might but at a hefty cost and with tight mandates. I simply don’t believe that companies like this should be financed via debt. Equity is what is needed for early stage, high-risk technology companies as I said to Simon later. But another placing may not be enthusiastically welcomed by investors at this time.
One interesting comment from the audience questioned whether the company was charging too little for the product. But it appears that they need more functionality to be able to charge more, and that would require more investment of course. But will the company ever become such an essential part of the customers’ business operations that they cannot do without, or even more to the point switch to a competitor? That was not really clear.
Concluding comment: The company is making progress and Simon communicates his enthusiasm well, but I suspect the business will continue to burn cash and financing that with debt makes no sense to me.
Sophos (SOPH) is another technology company that issued a trading statement today. The good news is that it has reached profitability and revenue has increased by 14% year-to-date. The share price promptly dropped by more than 25% in early trading! The reason was no doubt the lackluster growth in “billings” (i.e. invoiced sales) of 2%. Why is that different to the revenue figure? Probably because the revenue includes some accrued from last year on subscription billings. It otherwise looks like it is likely to meet the year-end targets forecasts of analysts. With the share price fall it’s starting to look relatively cheap for a high-growth software business so the key question investors have to ask is whether growth will return? It was no doubt exceptional last year because of IT security scares and new product releases, but is it simply nearing market saturation? An article in Shares magazine has questioned whether the cause of billings slowing is increasing competition from new market entrants so that’s certainly an issue to look at also. There is more explanation of the reasons for billing trends in the audio presentation available here: https://investors.sophos.com/en-us/events-and-presentations.aspx . I have a small holding in Sophos and bought more on the dip today.
RPI concerns. A House of Lords committee has apparently questioned the continuing use of the “discredited” Retail Price Index (RPI) when CPI is a more accurate reflection of inflation. RPI is still used for many purposes, such as rail fare costs, and for index-linked savings certificates and gilts. Personally having just signed up to extend my investment in savings certificates even with minimal real interest on them, I would be most concerned about any change and I would not have done so if the index used changed to CPI which typically gives a much lower figure.
Brexit. Everyone else is giving their views on Brexit so why not me? Here’s some.
Firstly, in case you have not noticed, MPs have apparently been advised that it might take over a year to organise another referendum. So those who are calling for another one are surely misguided. Putting off the EU exit that long, with the uncertainty involved surely makes no sense. And most people are fed up with debating Brexit even if the questions in a new referendum could be decided. Parliament and the executive Government alone need to come up with a solution.
Should we rule out a “no-deal” Brexit? No because it would not be a nightmare as remainers are suggesting. As I was explaining to my wife recently, grapes and bananas might become cheaper because EU tariffs would be removed on food from the rest of the world. What about UK farmers who would face problems in exporting to the EU? Well that just means that beef would also become cheaper in the UK. Secondly to rule out a no-deal Brexit would totally undermine our negotiating position to obtain a good Withdrawal Agreement with the EU. Only the threat of a no-deal Brexit with the risks to exports from the EU to the UK (where of course the trade flow is in their favour at present) will focus the minds of EU politicians. So Jeremy Corbyn’s insistence on ruling out “no-deal” before he will discuss the matter just looks like an attempt to throw a spanner in the works in the hope of getting a general election.
Can Mrs May get enough support for the Withdrawal Agreement as it stands? Undoubtedly not. She has to go back to the EU with proposals for substantial changes to meet the concerns of MPs and the public, e.g. over the Irish “backstop”. If she acts quickly and decisively, I think that could achieve success. If she cannot do so then surely someone else who can provide the required leadership needs to take over – including someone willing to support a no-deal Brexit if required. The current Withdrawal Agreement is not all bad, but contains some significant defects, probably because it appears to have been written by EU bureaucrats rather than as the result of mutual negotiation. It needs revising.
Roger Lawson (Twitter: https://twitter.com/RogerWLawson )
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