Merchant aren't that smart Timster, they took a large position...

Merchant aren't that smart Timster, they took a large position in this didnt they, when it was clear it was a long shot to ever be viable as a business.

I've been looking at this lately as a cashbox given its in play, but still way overvalued at this point. A couple of thoughts:

You guys are lucky to have Merchant, at least someone prepared to have a go and try and salvage some value. Joanne is the largest shareholder and there are no institutions to take the board to task, so Merchant have stepped up. They appear to be building their shareholding to get more leverage but thats all thats propping up the price. Merrchant are a small fund, established only 3 years and backed by high net worth investors. They have a relatively young team, and appear a bit reluctant as activists by the tone of their press releases and leaving key board members in place. Just that they are forced to do something.

They have got Matt Walker on board as a pitch for credibility, but they dont have a specific proposal about anotther company to vend in and they won't control the board. The risk for shareholders is the new board d8thers for months fighting over strategy, will 3 members of current faction versus 2 new, and runs down the cash trying to give the current failed product more of a chance. Its got no hope.

There is also the chance that they overpay on some dud acquisition in due course, which in spite of reputations, in the bane of managements with excess cash and pressure to do something.

Lots of risk of wasted funds ahead. I'll put some thoughts on valuation in a following post.