certainly not everyone
by the looks of the dump I think we can conclude that most aren't
You're right about their media been woeful. They may argue that there job is to be out there winning contracts but these are the things that aid that process. I know if I managed a school and I got a missed call from readcloud, before calling them back I'd do a little DD. One of the first things you do as a prospective client is check reviews and considering how atrocious the reviews on their app are I wouldn't be too quick to hear them out, listen to their spiel and incorporate them into my busy week. The effect of oversights like this are unquantifiable and therefore may be underestimated but that's just a rookie move...unfortunately it appears to be the case here.
It isn't difficult to add a 2% discount/an absolute $$ discount/or anything immaterial to the following year's year 7's fees if the current students leave a review with certain KPIs skewing to positive reviews. Why wouldn't you utilise the market penetration you've successfully entrenched and leverage it to bring in more business?! They're not maximising the leverage on the work that has already been done! Sure, they're not a marketing company but marketing is most certainly a fundamental pillar of any successful company. It lends to the credibility and professionalism of a company and is conducive to a positive public image which makes sense for a public company looking to increase shareholder wealth. Afterall, isn't that what their main responsibility is? It's in the best interests of all of us and it's in the best interest of the directors seeing as they hold soo many shares. I understand that if you take care of the core business the share price will eventually look after itself but reviews are the core business!
The only thing that read well is that numbers on reseller and direct have flipped and that we are improving margins but it's impossible to look past the fact that VET numbers didn't increase. In fact I can't make sense of how they grew their AIET numbers soo greatly in previous years. You can clearly see on the COSAMP about page
About COSAMP - COSAMP that under 'Nationally Recognised Training' they had 3500 students in 2020, meaning that we basically had no growth in AIET.
Can we blame covid as a growth retardant in VET numbers? I would have thought that if we were already in schools, that despite courses having a 2 year cycle that we'd always have a new wave of students enrolling and with the extra emphasis on VET courses by the govt touted in past announcements that the numbers would increase. With that being said I can appreciate that it's a decent feat to have maintained the numbers with scope for some modest growth this quarter.
I know the VET space is untapped and fragmented and that it's a high margin opportunity for the co but I can't invest with confidence on the back of hopeful acquisitions. Plus, if we continue to invest and use up the cash in the bank we'll most likely need at least one more raise at some point. If we buy a business for 3-5m and they bring $500k-$750k EBITDA that wouldn't leave much to cover the cyclical cash flows.
On top of all this, the company will have little else to report for the next 9 months that could move the needle +ve significantly other than acquisitions. That's a long hopeful hold without knowing how the numbers are progressing and whether this year is an indication of a slow down rather than just a blip in the road. Inorganic growth will continue to give us '50%' growth but meh.
I was pretty demoralised after the quarterly but I'll revisit my expenses today and see if the long yearly hold is worth the gamble or not because that's what it mostly feels like
