Thanks for sharing this info. I was not aware of all of the woes...

Thanks for sharing this info. I was not aware of all of the woes at PIL. But this is a red flag.

5GN is a company that I 'want' to like.

• As I think it will hold up well in the current environment (increased telework, data security, migration to outsourced MIT and servers etc).
• Management own signifant % of the company (MD around 16%) though I am not sure what they paid for their shares unfortunately (might all have been from options and compensation packages).
• Jason Ashton on the board - ex Big Air from all those years ago.

However, the issue for me is these "roll up" type businesses that are n heavy acquistion sprees. Buying up little operators on 3-4x earnings, and then the market values 5GN on 12x etc. I don't like acquisitions in principle, and it also makes distilling the underlying earnings of the company and organic growth much harder. I think of companies like Experience Co (bought everything that came their way), Vocus, and even Big Air got a bit carried away with this path....

However, I suppose there is at least some strategic rationale for 5GN, in that they now have datacentre footrprints in major cities, and can keep expanding their service offerings to cross sell. But for me, it is just too early to wade in. So will sit on the sidelines for next 6 months.