Righto. I actually missed the meeting due to a Christmas event. I have now seen the recording though, so I can offer my viewpoint.
Generally, minimal info was given. Very little on growth updates. No financial updates. A whole lot of "we are doing so well".
He's trying to straddle being a bank and transaction stock. Fill two niches. He's trying to sell it as a point of difference, but there are others out there that already have that capability, even if they're outsourcing part. He pointed out that bank businesses like CommBank can't email you when you receive funds, but failed to mention that transaction businesses like Paypal have been doing it for years. He pointed out that Paypal don't have banking facilities, but they're a transaction stock. So his plan is to be both bank and transaction businesses at once. He's selling hope to shareholders based on "we're trailblazing". He is selling that we'll fill a gap, but it isn't a gap. Paypal have contracted out the banking portion, but they're already in the gap. So are a few others. This isn't a problem though (more info to follow).
It looks like he's trying to target the gambling industry, to be a payment facility there. Again, not revolutionary - Sportsbet already have eftpos cards linked to your sportsbet account, and so do a bunch of others. He's just trying to do the same thing. That said, this isn't a problem. We're still fairly early, and a lot of businesses are still yet to set up their digital accounts. Much as he's telling shareholders we're so special and unique, that's just because it's sexier than saying "look, we're versatile, and we have a couple of ways to get a foot in the door. If we can pick up 2% share of a couple of markets, we'll make plenty of money". That isn't exciting, but it's actually true, and could result in a reasonable business.
Plans to expand to US or Brazil. I think this is probably indicative of his plan to have fingers in a lot of pies. He's not interested in becoming the go-to for anything. He's interested in getting a couple of percentage here and there. Some prefer to do one thing or two things well and be the leader. He seems keen to do 18 things OK. Nothing wrong with Brazil or the US as markets - anyone who hasn't looked at the Brazil market might think it's an odd choice (and it is another odd expansion given the current "everything Europe" focus), but there's no denying that Brazil is a huge growth market. There is plenty of money to be made there. Again - he's looking at a small share in a lot of things, rather than a big share in a few.
Tophatting the company is a simple move and a perfectly fine move. Of course, we already had a holding company, and we just ditched it to cover his backside, but now we want another one. I thought he told us that ditching ISX would make us agile and streamline, but apparently that also was just talk.
Listing on TSX, LSE or EuroNext - if we're on the main boards, that'll be just fine. They are top tier exchanges. This was supposed to happen first half of 2022, but you'll have noticed that he's already pushing that out. He didn't admit it, but all of his timeframes indicated second half 2022. He also indicated that we'll probably be done with the ASX and ASIC cases by then, which he skirted around. If we were going to be done around then, and he's so sure we were going to win, then why the hell did we demerge? He's created complexity (read: accounting fees) for shareholders, and moved us at our lowest ebb. If he expected to win (hint: he doesn't), he'd have waited until the cases were done (another 6 months, after a 2 year wait) and then strategically conducted a move from ASX to LSE. It would've been easier for shareholders, and a far better share price. Of course, if he doesn't expect to win, he's done an excellent job of protecting himself.
He also got a question from a holder who thought that post demerger, they'd be able to sell. What do you know - it's almost like holders didn't understand the implications of the demerger.
He got a question about where to now for our Australian holdings, given that every holder has shares in both. He ducked it. Said it wasn't the right forum to discuss that. But apparently twitter is. Rubbish. He's left us with junk holdings in Aus, and won't talk at a shareholders' forum about them. That said, I suppose he can't say that he expects to lose the ASIC case, and regardless of what happens with the ASX case (which will come down to documentation), ASIC fines will bankrupt ISX Au.
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