Ann: UK Business Update, page-42

Speculator,

I am not close any more to this stock, and am not a holder, but just want to comment on a couple of points you made, just for balance:

(1) As for your claim they muddied the waters. I do not believe they did. My take on this is that they deliberately muddied the waters by issuing a single press release with three pieces of negative news (1) Management Issues (2) less use of car parks due to bad weather (!) (3) delays in technology rollout. But the revenue effect was stated as a "combined effect" of -25% for "Q4". This leaves a lot of questions unanswered, including quite a crucial one as to whether the reduced revenue is now the new normal. There have been many comments on-line from many sources about how uncaring and brutal SPZ is to both staff and customers, and I wonder whether SPZ will have to soften its hard-line approach, which will undoubtedly hit revenue.

(2) It was a market update, for the UK arm of the company. Well, yes, this is true, but the "UK arm" of the company comprises 85% of the company's revenue, so this is not a small matter.

I do agree with you that this is not the end of SPZ, there is still a strong and growing business in place. There is perhaps a little reputational risk to be managed in the UK in the short term, however. By the way, you should not ignore regulatory risk, which I see as potentially quite a large looming issue.

What I am unable to do at the moment is put a value on the company until we know what the fall out will be. My own view is that ultimately this is a good opportunity to clear the air and establish a new framework for growing the business sustainably in the UK and elsewhere. Those with a higher risk appetite than me might see this as the chance to jump in now; personally I will not invest again until all the news is in the open and we can see a resumed revenue growth trajectory.

I empathise with your frustration, for years this company has been on the cusp of something very good. Its time might still come.