The frustration is real. I guess 'year after year' is also accurate.. but only just. Merger in mid 2017, so 2.5 years in ... there are definitely frustrated shareholders starting to second guess themselves and the company. But I have held companies for much much longer than that.. and eventually, when the business/industry is ready for it.. the market eventually catches on. Another stock I hold and post on here in HC is MSB, and I have been a holder for over 5 years accumulating over that entire period in small parcels.. and it is only now that the business and industry is ready.. 2020 is their make or break year, but before that... it has gone to $3+ and down to $1 a couple times in that period.. guess when I was buying.
If you listened to the call, Henry stated that the 20% growth is from existing partnerships in China and around the world. He then stated that they are looking to increase the number of partners with multi-year contracts, so he didn't put the dots too far from each other.
In 2019 they said SPS would grow at least 100%. It didn't reach anything near that... and shareholders were scratching their heads and wondering why management don't just "under promise and over deliver". I think management have figured that out too.
SG&A costs are coming down and it appears they still have scope to reduce it further. The silver lining is that if the business had taken off early and share price was much higher.. there would be almost zero emphasis on cost control. Costs would balloon out and years down the track, it will be too hard to cut it back. Right now, they are stream lining and focusing on cost reduction... in the long run, this will pay dividends.
I am looking at the market cap, and I compare where the business is today (post IC) and where it was last year... apart from SQ delay and the overreaction re coronavirus.. the business is in significantly better shape. Both the issues plaguing investor confidence are only temporary and will abate ... if you bought property or shares in Asia when SARS was around, you'd be sitting on some massive profits right now.
The amusing thing is that management are delivering on some massive projects.. the market doesn't quite place much value on it as the margins are low, and the big payoff (O&M) is still 18 or so months away... but the business is no doubt significantly de-risked given the amount of revenue that is locked away for the next two years... even at lower margins, the backlog in itself will mean any new business will eat away at the existing net operating cash outflow run-rate of approx US$5-8m a quarter (will be lower after IC and SQ revenues kick in - none recognised to date). With SPS margins of 30-50%.. they don't need to move the dial too much to break-even from a business perspective.
