At it again! ENA non-exec chair Tony Leibowitz has picked up another 100,000 units at 25c ($25,000 AUD) in an off-market trade to bring his total to 14,316,083 fully paid ordinary shares (worth $3,793,762 AUD at the current price). Love it.
"Let’s take a minute to understand who this Tony guy is. He is one pillar of the famous trio who took a small sub $10 million shell and turned it into a one of the largest billion-dollar lithium players in the world in less than 5 years. That company is Pilbara Minerals and the famous trio is Neil Biddle, John Young and Tony Leibowitz. The trio was the most active within the company up to 2017 when they started to venture out elsewhere. In 2017 all three joined Bardoc Gold which has grown more than five times in value since then. Needless to say, Tony Leibowitz knows how to make money." Source: https://www.templargin.com/ena.htmlI love that this company has a stellar team behind it with
skin in the game and an
owner's mindset. That has major implications for capital management, strategy and growth. Together, the board and management hold more than 30% of all shares on issue (SOI) and the top 20 hold more than 70% of SOI (and rising).
Personally, I'm very content to continue to soak up shares here at a $24 million valuation (MC) given management's credentials, $60m+ in GWP, 30%+ YoY growth, $6m+ in TTM revenue and a recent shift towards consistent (3 consecutive quarters) cash flow positive operations. That values the company at circa 40% p/GWP. In addition, the recent early repayment of the loan suggests another quarter of CF+ operations is incoming.
For me, this is a long term game. This is not a disruptive business. It is an independent, steady performer with a strong model (MGA), and strong connections (Liberty) in a favourable growing industry with tailwinds (rising premiums associated with rising interest rates). A couple of years from now and ENA has a good chance to be paying dividends. Aside from a takeover of ENA, dividends (coupled with share price growth) are the best strategy for the ENA MD (Tom Kent) to reward shareholders and himself (he took a $2.5m
all-script deal at 30c/share to roll his business, TKSR, into ENA last year so he's not going away anytime soon).
Given the macro environment, I believe investors on the ASX will increasingly be seeking out cash-generative businesses in the coming months and quarters. I think insurance and ASX:ENA in particular is very well positioned to benefit from that...
