Australian (ASX) Stock Market Forum

SPZ - Smart Parking

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.:p

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.
 
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.

screenshot-stocknessmonster.com-2019.02.25-15-27-41.png


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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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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.

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!
 
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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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.

spz2011.PNG
 
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.
 
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.
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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.
 
Another yearly pick.
I think this is a good growing company and will do well.
Also like the idea of getting money out of Poms.
 
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