# SPZ - Smart Parking



## System (18 March 2011)

Car Parking Technologies Limited (CPZ) was formerly known as Empire Beer Group Limited (EEE).

http://www.carparkingtechnologies.com

Previous discussion of this company can be found in the EEE thread: https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19935


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## catfish (28 May 2012)

*Re: CPZ - Car Parking Technologies*

Interesting company with some genious behind it (Morris). Everything seems ok with their growth goals. Management alway refers to the industry as 'highly competitive' and I am not sure of the futute profitability of the company. The market is pricing in either crazy growth of high future return on equity. Any thoughts on this one?


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## catfish (29 May 2012)

*Re: CPZ - Car Parking Technologies*

Genius*. haha ironic


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## System (3 July 2013)

On July 1st, 2013, Car Parking Technologies Limited (CPZ) changed its name to Smart Parking Limited (SPZ).


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## Country Lad (26 October 2013)

Has been awarded a few contracts recently and it appears their products are beginning to enter the broader market.

Came to my attention because of the rounding bottom chart.

Cheers
Country Lad


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## Blade Runner (6 November 2013)

Have followed this company for a while, Chris Morris on the board caught my attention, share price rose nicely after some good announcements and has now pulled back. I like the UK holdings from Town and City Parking. Can grow more but is in a very competitive environment.









Disc: Hold small speculative parcel. Not a professional advisor. DYOR.


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## galumay (6 November 2013)

Blade Runner said:


> Have followed this company for a while, Chris Morris on the board caught my attention, share price rose nicely after some good announcements and has now pulled back. I like the UK holdings from Town and City Parking. Can grow more but is in a very competitive environment.




Me too, but until they actually show some fundamental improvement in their financials I would only consider them a wild speccy. Their current numbers are awful, frankly.


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## greggles (18 April 2018)

Smart Parking broke through 25c on 23 February and hasn't looked back since.

They released a Goldman Sachs Small and Mid-Cap Conference 2018 presentation today that looks pretty impressive. The company has specialist propreitary technology and software that has the potential to be adopted globally. Could be a bit of a dark horse this one.


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## So_Cynical (18 April 2018)

greggles said:


> Smart Parking broke through 25c on 23 February and hasn't looked back since.




I sold out at 48c last week after holding for about 2 years, i have a feeling i may come to regret it.


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## greggles (17 May 2018)

So_Cynical said:


> I sold out at 48c last week after holding for about 2 years, i have a feeling i may come to regret it.



Not sure you're going to regret it today. Smart Parking has driven off a cliff. 

The company has announced this morning that it has terminated the employment of both the UK Managing
Director and Finance Director following an internal audit and review process which revealed breaches by its UK management team of the Board's corporate policies. 

The company also said that poor weather conditions in the UK have continued to adversely affect the use of Smart Parking UK's car parks and the issuance of parking breach notices in Q3 FY2018. April trading has also seen an impact due to delays in the roll out and go live process of new sites. Given the combined effect of these factors, the Board expects that issuance of breach notices is likely to be impacted in Q4 by approximately 25%.

This news did not go over well with the market. The SPZ share price is currently down a massive 50% to 22.5c. Ouch!


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## kid hustlr (17 May 2018)

lolol I mean you can not make this stuff up.


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## So_Cynical (17 May 2018)

The SPZ share price has a habit of jumping around, the ann isn't that bad and at its core this is a good business with potential, tempted to jump back in as historically buying the SPZ lows has been profitable..ill bang up a chart later.


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## greggles (17 May 2018)

So_Cynical said:


> The SPZ share price has a habit of jumping around, the ann isn't that bad and at its core this is a good business with potential, tempted to jump back in as historically buying the SPZ lows has been profitable..ill bang up a chart later.



Well, it's climbed back from a low of 20c to be currently trading at 28c, so perhaps you're right. It seems like the sell off was a bit of an overreaction. I did think this one had a lot of potential and was a little surprised at how hard it was dumped today. 

I look forward to your chart.


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## So_Cynical (18 May 2018)

greggles said:


> I look forward to your chart.




I held this for over 2 years watching it bounce back every single time it fell hard, it comes back all the time, panic selling would take the price down and the contrarians and value punters and investors would take it back up, Smart Parking have a very smart product and its very easy to see the global applications for it.

Got to love how the bottom line is so consistent, with today's fall to 20c (intra day) thats 7 times that support line has been touched and bounced off.
~


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## greggles (18 May 2018)

Good call So_Cynical. Smart Parking is currently trading at 33c. Anyone who managed to get in yesterday in the early 20s has made out like a bandit. These kind of huge sell offs can present great trading opportunities if you can time it well and not get caught up in a company that tanks and ends up being a terminal case.

In the case of Smart Parking, it was a sell off that was drastically overdone, although it's sometimes difficult to see this while it's all happening but much easier in retrospect. I suppose the lesson to be learned is: if you've done your research and understand a company well enough, it makes it easier to grasp the potential impact a negative announcement may have on their operations. Traders aren't interested in this and that's why sell offs can go overboard so easily.


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## So_Cynical (18 May 2018)

greggles said:


> I suppose the lesson to be learned is: if you've done your research and understand a company well enough, it makes it easier to grasp the potential impact a negative announcement may have on their operations. Traders aren't interested in this and that's why sell offs can go overboard so easily.




This is very accurate greggles, traders trade price action, it is possible to "know" a stock and thus predict price movement with a high level of confidence and a reasonable level of accuracy.


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## greggles (3 July 2018)

I took my eye off SPZ and it has cratered again, reaching a low of 17c a few days ago. I note that a couple of funds have been offloading shares during May and June which could account for a lot of the selling.

It looks like it's starting to turn back up again. You still interested in Smart Parking @So_Cynical?


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## So_Cynical (3 July 2018)

I took my eye off it as well, some large volume - im fully invested again anyway.


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## peter2 (6 August 2018)

Reversal opportunity after higher low and BO-NH (123Low pattern).


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## peter2 (7 August 2018)

@Lone Wolf 

I noticed the improving daily chart with the 1st higher low and subsequent BO. I'm interested.
I see the huge price dump (0.50 -> 0.25) and I'm almost happy to pass on it. 
BUT I decide to read why the price dumped so hard. Just for interest. 

I read that the poor earnings and delayed roll out of their tech system was due to bad weather. For me that's a delay but nothing wrong with the business or management. This business delay was also reported with the dismissal of the two top executives (CEO, CFO) in the UK for unprofessional conduct. I can understand why sellers thumped the price down hard, but did they go overboard? Not really, because price fell further soon after. 

The business and share price are now back to where they were at the beginning of the year (2018) before the huge move from 0.25-> 0.55. I'm thinking that if this is so, then there's potential to see the same move again. The outlook for the business should be the same, although I don't expect the price swing to be as quick as last time. 

Price only has to get back to 0.30 - 0.35 and I'll be happy with that. I've not overlooked that this trade is a reversal opportunity and that means risky but could pay-off well. 

IMO investors are running around trying to find acceptable "value" opportunities and this may be one.


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## Lone Wolf (8 August 2018)

peter2 said:


> I read that the poor earnings and delayed roll out of their tech system was due to bad weather. For me that's a delay but nothing wrong with the business or management.




I know some guys from the UK who would argue that failing to plan for bad weather in the UK counts as bad management.

Thanks for the clarifying your thoughts. This one just looked a bit different to your preferred reversal trade, but I see where you're coming from now. My initial concern was that it'll drift around in a range for a while until enough water passes under the bridge. But if it doesn't get on with it you can always exit.


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## greggles (25 February 2019)

SPZ hasn't fared well since the last post in this thread was made in August last year. All it has done is head south, declining from around 25c then to a low of 9.8c today.  The company's H1 FY19 financial results were released this morning and it was a bit of a mixed bag.







Revenue is down $2.5 million when compared to the prior corresponding period and the company experienced a $600,000 loss in H1 FY19. On the positive side the company is growing its sites under management with 200 additional sites in the pipeline and has invested a lot in technology and people to position SPZ for long term sustainable growth.

The question is, how different is SPZ now compared to what it was when it was trading at 25c? Not a lot as far as I can tell. Some missteps have resulted in lower revenue in 2018, but with 200 more sites in the pipeline, there is a better than average chance that revenue could grow strongly in 2019.

I've got a feeling that 10c might be the bottom for SPZ, at least for now.


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## galumay (25 February 2019)

I guess it depends whether the growth in customers leads to revenue growth, and how that flows to the bottom line. There is nothing so far to confirm there is a profitable business in there!


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## greggles (25 February 2019)

galumay said:


> I guess it depends whether the growth in customers leads to revenue growth, and how that flows to the bottom line. There is nothing so far to confirm there is a profitable business in there!




Fair point galumay, and I am certainly watching SPZ from the sidelines. They were profitable in FY18 but were not in H1 FY19. It remains to be seen what 2019 will bring.


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## greggles (26 August 2019)

SPZ on the move today after the company revealed that in early August it received an unsolicited offer from ParkingEye Limited to acquire the company for 28.4c per share. The Board unanimously concluded that the proposal was not at a price that reflected the fundamental value of the company and was not otherwise on terms that were in the best interests of all SPZ shareholders.

In addition to this offer the SPZ Board has received various unsolicited preliminary non-binding proposals to purchase specific parts of the company's business. The Board also concluded that none of those other proposals were at prices or otherwise on terms that were in the best interests of shareholders.

It's interesting that the SPZ Board didn't think that 28.4c was a fair price for the company considering it has been trading between 10c and 15c for the entirety of 2019 and the FY2019 financials that were also released today showed a decline in revenue of $3.7 million when compared to FY2018.

The company has yet to be turned around but management is valuing the company at greater than 28.4c a share. They had better start delivering on that valuation. It might be a good first start to turn the company into a profitable one.

At least the share price is finally heading in the right direction as a result of today's news, up 23.1% to 16c.


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## galumay (26 August 2019)

I am bemused! Hard to see that decsion being in the interests of shareholders! Makes me wonder what the incentives for management are, it doesnt look like they are linked to shareholder value!


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## Knobby22 (26 August 2019)

Well I am pleased, if another company sees that SPZ is worth north of 28c then I am happy to keep holding. I got in at 12c recently after attending a lunch where it was mentioned.


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## Clansman (26 August 2019)

galumay said:


> I am bemused! Hard to see that decsion being in the interests of shareholders! Makes me wonder what the incentives for management are, it doesnt look like they are linked to shareholder value!




I recall The Reject Shop getting an offer at $2.70 a share last year which was turned down.
TRS now trades at $1.86.


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## galumay (26 August 2019)

Clansman said:


> I recall The Reject Shop getting an offer at $2.70 a share last year which was turned down.
> TRS now trades at $1.86.




Thats why I mentioned the incentives, I am not interested in SPZ so i cant be bothered looking into it, but in these cases you have to wonder.



Knobby22 said:


> Well I am pleased, if another company sees that SPZ is worth north of 28c then I am happy to keep holding. I got in at 12c recently after attending a lunch where it was mentioned.




Fair enough, hopefully the other company was correct in its valuation!


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## peter2 (6 September 2020)

It's been another disappointing year for SPZ since the last posts. The COVID lock downs in the UK meant that no-one was driving their cars to the shopping centres. Revenus for SPZ fell substantially. 

The self serving management team didn't do the shareholders any favours by rejecting the takeover offer. 

UK lock downs have eased and SPZ has seen a significant rise in revenue from parking fines. 

I've included SPZ in my small cap/micro crap portfolio. The daily volume is so low that I shouldn't even post it. Hoping the past bidder makes another offer.


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## Knobby22 (6 September 2020)

I forgot all about this company. Thanks for the heads up. Peter2.


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## peter2 (20 November 2020)

I sold this spec position assuming the second wave of COVID lockdowns would reduce revenue significantly. Bad decision, as the price continued to go higher. Yes, their revenue has been hit again with the new lockdowns but that hasn't dampened investors demand for the stock.

I'm speculating that someone is accumulating SPZ for a future take over.


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## The Triangle (6 March 2021)

Interesting SPZ are going to be buying back shares.  I don't usually like share buybacks but this is _potentially _a good idea as my thinking is that covid has probably hurt the parking industry in the UK and this is hopefully a cyclic down period. Still, SPZ should be spending excess cash generating increased sales and penetration in different markets and - you know - generating a profit??? rather than financially engineering their earnings per share. Also, I'll point out here that I'm completely 100% skeptical of their business model. Historically things have not gone that great. Seems like a company that could be taken over, stripped down, and run very differently. I mean - how hard is it to profit from giving someone a ticket????

2021 HY they made money - _but _- only because of a $6million VAT adjustment. Take that out and they would have lost money.  Page 22 of the recent annual report says all I need to know about SPZ
2020 they lost money, 
2019 they lost money, 
2018 they made a half cent a share, 
2017 they lost money, 
2016 they lost money.

They need to show a legitimate profit over 2 reporting periods for me to get interested.


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## Knobby22 (7 March 2021)

The Triangle said:


> Interesting SPZ are going to be buying back shares.  I don't usually like share buybacks but this is _potentially _a good idea as my thinking is that covid has probably hurt the parking industry in the UK and this is hopefully a cyclic down period. Still, SPZ should be spending excess cash generating increased sales and penetration in different markets and - you know - generating a profit??? rather than financially engineering their earnings per share. Also, I'll point out here that I'm completely 100% skeptical of their business model. Historically things have not gone that great. Seems like a company that could be taken over, stripped down, and run very differently. I mean - how hard is it to profit from giving someone a ticket????
> 
> 2021 HY they made money - _but _- only because of a $6million VAT adjustment. Take that out and they would have lost money.  Page 22 of the recent annual report says all I need to know about SPZ
> 2020 they lost money,
> ...



I bought a very small holding to make sure I keep my eye on it.
They did get a takeover offer last year and they did have management problems. Covid has also been bad for business but that's ending.

Could be time to come good.


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## signalFollower (22 February 2022)

interesting a few years on and the company has acquired a number of UK sites and also have an on-market Share Buy-Back on the go

admittedly I have only been following SPZ since 2021


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## signalFollower (3 March 2022)

today's announcement of a second approved on-market Share Buy-Back for $2.5m commening on the 11th of March is a pretty good sign as a continuance of the buy-back un-used funds and also following the efforts of onboarding the acquired sites too.

using Eclipse (ECX) as a reference chart example, this should see Smart Parking (SPZ) gradually ticking up over coming months - IMO that is.


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## Knobby22 (3 March 2022)

signalFollower said:


> today's announcement of a second approved on-market Share Buy-Back for $2.5m commening on the 11th of March is a pretty good sign as a continuance of the buy-back un-used funds and also following the efforts of onboarding the acquired sites too.
> 
> using Eclipse (ECX) as a reference chart example, this should see Smart Parking (SPZ) gradually ticking up over coming months - IMO that is.



Hmmm, and directors buying shares also.


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## signalFollower (3 March 2022)

Knobby22 said:


> Hmmm, and directors buying shares also.



well spotted, I missed that in my quick hectic read of the buy-back announcement.   yeah that's some pretty good buying.  I always lie to see when insiders put up actual cash to buy on the secondary market


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## peter2 (23 August 2022)

Reasonable set of results as Europe "learns to live with Covid" (no more lockdowns).


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