Ann: UK Business Update, page-33

Teddyward,
In answer to the question what was the trigger to lighten?

I guess several things, and to be clear I actually sold out completely at the end of 2016, then re-bought in late 2017 and sold again completely in April 2018.

So, in no particular order, all of the following are factors:

* Loss of several large contracts including Matalan. One wonders what a company has to do to lose a Car Parking Management contract?
* Lack of management disclosure over some high profile sales leads - whatever happened, for example, to Westminster City Council? They really should have been closing more deals than they have been
* as someone stated in this thread, the major source of income is Parking Breach notices -that's not technology sales, nor Parking Fees, but Parking FINES. Not a nice way to be earning my pension. It's basically debt collection.
* there are plenty of competitors out there, both in technology and Car Park management. The industry is probably ripe for consolidation but I'm not sure that SPZ have the "best" technology (needing to dig up the road to put in a sensor seems a little heavy-handed)
* SPZ are not at all popular in the UK (in common with other car parking companies) . As I noted earlier there is legislation in front of Parliament to more tightly regulate the industry. This might actually help SPZ in restricting some even more shonky operators but until the legislation is passed it remains a risk.
* And finally, I re-purchased in Dec 2017 on the back of some announced technology sales which I felt sure would flow through to the accounts released in February - which is exactly what happened. Having seen the price double to 50c that was a good enough trade for me. I wasn't convinced enough that the revenue growth was baked in enough to continue holding.

On the opposite side of the fence of course, is the involvement of Chris Morris and Penny Maclagan who know how to run a good business (viz Computershare). I bought into SPZ (actually Empire Brewing at the time) just on the back of these two's involvement when EEE was just a shell.

By the way, I also agree with the observation that announcing that Audit and Compliance have found cause to terminate the contracts of the UK Managing Director and CFO but not explaining why, is not good enough, and the ASX needs to issue a "Please Explain".