Great commentary guys these past few days. I'm too busy to be able to contribute at the moment, but do come in and read the thread now and then.
I agree, that for all the news we had out of IOU, the 42% stake in IDSB felt like it came out of left field in regards to what we knew. Obviously management has a plan and felt this was a strong investment for IOU to make. There must be obvious synergies or they would not have done this equity investment - and please for those they are thinking we have just "spent" the money - we have not. We have invested the money, that hopefully over time will also increase in dollar value, while also providing us an income stream and a large pool of potential new customers for BNPL.
Personally I think we have a strong BOD and management team that has shown over the past year that they have the skills to build IOU into a powerful Fintech company for SEA. It's all stepping stones and building blocks, but if we go back over the past year and how they have built this up to where it is now, I think it is admirable. This is the reason I have stayed invested in IOU. It is the management team that right now I have no reason to doubt.
COVID has obviously put a roadblock on some of the aspirations they had in the roadmaps they have issued on what they wanted to achieve in particular quarters, but it also has shown their adabtability to still be able to keep this company moving forward. The full synergies with IDSB will be shown to us over time, though analysis from
@Ryzie,
@Stig,
@mondyinvest and others in this past week have all shown the possibilities of what this investment with IDSB could do for IOU.
It's still a long term hold for me. I've always said I am in as long as I see management performing and hitting targets. I feel they are still doing that, even though the targets have shifted. Solidifying our footprint in Malaysia for now is not a bad thing. I know we had grandiose ideas of conquering Indonesia, Philippines, possibly Vietnam or Thailand within the next few years, but taking the time to get the BNPL right in Malaysia will give us a better understanding of what works in the other countries in regards to marketing, etc, so that when we do start expanding the BNPL, the monies we use will not be wasted, but put to maximum effect.
Next 2 quarterlies are going to give us a true indication of where we are at with the BNPL and hopefully within that time frame we start to see what the benefits are from our investment in IDSB
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