mobile companies health check

What follows is all my opinion. I'm happy to be corrected on any points. I just though it would be useful to have a health check on these companies.

Here is the financial information which I have been using to compare a select basket of these mobile payment/advertising companies. From this I can see which companies are under-priced when compared to peers as well as those which are priced highly based on expectations for growth as opposed to having a track record of growing a company in the most effective way.

One has to bear in mind that future growth cannot be fully accounted for. However the recent performance can point to a trend.


MKB - A very poor performance over the 2nd half of FY 2013. However, they have struck a landmark deal in the US. It should be kept in mind that 'landing a deal' and 'delivering shareholder returns from a deal' are two very different things. I see no track record of management which suggests that they will deliver shareholder returns.

MKB is due to list on Nasdaq. History shows that US listing of Australian companies does not translate into shareholder returns - see UNS, PRR, SSN. There is an argument that the shareholder returns are made on the announcement of plans to list on Nasdaq.

SMA - There has been remarkable growth in this company over recent months. Highly leveraged to the China Mobile app market. Lack of diversification into other markets counts against them. However, should they continue to deliver growth, the market will rerate them accordingly.

MNW - Solid growth over the 6 months to June 30, and has continued since. I do question their very low EV/Revenue and wonder whether MNW is at best - fully priced

MBE -From this data, MBE clearly has been the most effectively managed company. What appears to count against MBE is that it's growth rate lags behind some of it's peers - which is due to a decline (move away?) from their Premium SMS billing business . I believe that management should provide the market this breakdown so that the market can see the true growth rate of the M-Payments division and price the company on future growth as opposed to historical performance.

A positive from this is that there is no froth built into the share price. The share price is backed by solid growth and performance across all metrics. Another positive is that unlike it's peers, MBE has solide exposure and growth to not just one, but two rapidly expanding sectors - Mobile Payments and Mobile Marketing .

For the risk averse who also want rewards.

ADJ - Revenue have been declining. Equity is low. Cashlow is highly negative. The price has risen due to a takeover of a profitable business. This is a positive and is being reflected in the share price. However, one should look back at how ADJ failed with a previous business in FY 2013. No track record of success.