Fake News Fairfax Ham Attack !

"Son, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story", my father said to me, many years ago.

It is a great edict and one well embraced by journalists all over the country! And with a fixed cost base, declining readership and a massive increase in the supply of competing media content, who can blame journo's for "hamming it up a bit" in order to help out the top line.

Well, when it comes to ISX, it must be Christmas Dinner time in the Fairfax canteen because stone the crows there is a lot of ham in their reporting.

So, what happened yesterday, and more importantly how was it reported ??

1. Order of events

10.04am - ISX opens at 91c
12.30pm - ISX ASX release "iSignthis restates funds held on behalf of merchants"
12.31pm - ISX trading at 93c
4.10pm - ISX closes at 94c
4.18pm - ASIC email out ISX media statement "iSignthis restates funds held on behalf of merchants"

So a bad price action day for us ISX bag holders !

2. Ok so what were these announcements all about ?

ASIC had a win against two AFSL holders in the courts last year, resulting in a freezing of their assets. ISX was a service provider to these companies. In providing its service, ISX recognised a c.$4m asset and offsetting liability called "Funds held on behalf of merchants" on their balance sheet. ISX removed these items from its balance sheet and gave detailed account in their 30/6/2019 accounts.

ISX's announced this to market yesterday ("go read our accounts they already reflect this").

ASIC issued a media release summarising ISX's ASX announcement ("we are a good regulator we are doing stuff").

So, yesterday was much ado about nothing.

3. So how has Fairfax (which in my opinion has been incredibly biased against ISX) covered yesterday's events ?

Well, they produced two more appalling fake news stories !

=> "ASIC query leads to iSignthis price tumble" by Colin Kruger, Sydney Morning Herald

Um, no. Check out the order of events above. The stock actually closed higher after the ISX announcement came out. So no Colin, you are 100% incorrect and your story is misleading and deceptive. Fake news!

In Colin's defence, he is writing business for the SMH, a paper better known for Sydney gossip and house price updates. Colin's bio says he was the technology editor in 1999 and today 20 years later he is a business reporter. It would appear the tech wreck also claimed Colin's career.

=> "iSignthis says it's compliant, ducks questions" by Jon "Click Bait" Shapiro, Australian Financial Review

Um, what ? Duck's questions ? Geez that sounds bad ...

Shapiro writes "In response to questions on Monday seeking explanation of the flagged transactions ... iSignthis boss John Karantzis said he was preventing on commenting on the alerts"

For the 34,000 of you that read my post of yesterday, you will of course know (1) it is a good and normal thing that payments businesses report suspicious transactions (SMRs) to the authorities and (2) that it is 100% illegal to discuss an SMR (see note 3 below)

So lets revisit Shapiro's headline with this context "ducking questions? Um no. Actually, ISX is obeying the law. Another Fairfax false and misleading story. Fake news !

Jon's uncle Howard Shapiro was a legendary stockbroker with a great yarn ready for every occasion. Perhaps this trait runs in the family.

And perhaps the old edict above should read "don't let the truth get in the way of a good headline"

Anyone for bread to go with all this ham ?

Lion.



Notes:
1 - DYOR
2 - i hold plenty of ISX shares, i buy a few when they fall too much, and i sell a few when they go up too much

3 - https://www.austrac.gov.au/business/how-comply-guidance-and-resources/reporting/suspicious-matter-reports-smr