SGH (ASX) SGH

Originally posted by Dr.Who ↑

It is a red herring to highlight NIHL as a cause of the downfall. Also the use of highly emotive language as in the example 'explosive growth' is typical of media attempting to grab attention and as a consequence manipulate beliefs. Be wary of headlines!

As an aside. To say revenue doesn't equate to profits is so simplistic and obvious is offers nothing to conversation.

A more factual account would be to downplay NIHL. It was recognised (and still is understood) that industrial deafness claims are on the decline. That was spoken about at the Quindell purchase briefing and why the portfolio was acquired at zero cost. In addition a moratorium was placed by SGH on taking new cases pending runout of existing cases. The explosive growth you infer was simply Quindell grabbing a larger share of a smaller pie. Doubt establishing liability - due to length of time and employer movements - is why nothing was paid to take on those cases. Granted there was an element of impact to SGH bottom line through costs incurred handling the adopted cases. Those costs form part of the warranty and no doubt the broader case against Quindell.

While instances of industrial deafness are in the decline. That was well known by all involved as it had been declining for years prior to Quindell purchase. Common sense could point to that due to improved Safety resulting from ever more stringent HSE regulations.

To play the 'I new it all along card' a commentator would be more credible if they concentrated on the quality of internal systems and the extent of public/political/insurance pressure to reel in compensation culture. That is where the downfall has occurred. An erroneous belief by the executive that they could overlay the success of its Australian operation to the UK. It would appear that through overseas expansion the whole company was stretched creating issues within the Australian arm to exacerbate the problem. All said with hindsight, I don't believe any of that was obvious early 2015. Neither did an array of sophisticated investors and banks that supported growth aspirations.

Making a point about NIHL is a red herring or naivety through not understanding the business and just relying on googling soundbites.

NIHL had no bearing on the purchase of Quindell, it was included to honour commitments to claimants in the system.

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He's right. I was there I remember watching SGH from the sidelines and the instos, analysts, journalists, lawyers were all pissing their pants talking about what a great deal the purchase was and how SGH would literally change law globally and Grech would be the Maltese Trump. No one saw it coming and the existing Directors and shareholders all gleefully rubbed their hands together too. Hindsight is a btch.