C - with respect ........ I believe that statement is not true. It is just no point wasting breath at the moment as we wait for news on UK and Canada rollout. All criticism has to be respected as everyone would love to be on Afterpay multiples - lets see what the strategy day throws up. If its peanuts I stand corrected but I will have my jaffas ready for the show.
Everything I am reading is saying there is plenty of room for many more than 3 or 4 players worldwide however no room for unprofitable ones - a minor rise in funding costs and its all over for those who tried, capital rose twice yearly and thought someone will ultimately bail them out making them millionaires.
Wylie publicly said how good a job RJ has done after the last results turning the company around .......... and who do we think came up with the strategy of Humm, Bundll etc plus the marketing concept. As one CEO left a new one came in and the Flexigroup world changed for ever in double quick time. Appears Covid will also prove to have been an accelerant of online adoption. (pity that some of our big merchants only accepted initially instore but that seems to be changing as online becomes universal) - who ever thought they would need to ration parcel delivery.
If people do not like the current strategy and want to constantly blame the CEO, want to make fast money, clearly this is not the company for them. I would be very skeptical that the CEO is all power in the first place she has to justify the way forward like most CEO's. Maybe some things have not gone our way but looking back at the old Flexi what is better as we look forward. Suggest we also consider how the staff feel working for Humm and what they have produced. They are up for so many awards at the moment apart from those already won. They appear a very happy hardworking bunch with an aligned culture.
I am down hundreds of $1000's on current investment (did make a lot selling when it was of higher value) but do I think of selling now - no. Been on this ride since 2013 so have plenty of experience as to the ins and outs of what has happened. Yes it hurts no dividend BUT that is what so many wanted "invest for growth" which is the right strategy if you believe BNPL is reaching game changing events like Afterpay & Square merging.
I am quite happy to ride the long game here as we initially see what has been happening in UK & Canada. We are clearly stuck in no-mans land at the moment not being a true singular BNPL or a traditional finance company/fintech. Another example appears to be Latitude who have a value of $2.5B v's our $470m. All BNPL on ASX are taking a bath price wise and will not recover if they need funding to survive and most do.
The next leg has to be M&A - I believe we have a clever enough board with enough invested and being added to I might emphasise, to infer the target is possibly in sight. Cannot see how buying another BNPL would work but left field partnerships like Virgin FF rewards is a sign of the possibilities I had not considered. Luckily I do not think Humm per se is on others radar at the moment however I am sure we are on the hunt to overnight create multiples of value. Some are clearly getting out but there is always buyers.
The world has been very unstable with Covid and we are still standing profitable, with growth engines able to fire, surely highly under valved and a stable team managing the company/board. Gee I hope I am right - but thats investing - bad and good comes from left field. Apart from it being a VERY slow game I am still trusting in a home run to win the game.
Do your own research everyone - but if you forget about the share price what an interesting ride we have been on and what is to come...........
HUM Price at posting:
90.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)