I'd say its more a case of expenses crept up a little from those things but also revenue per back office worker (Not sure anyone has ever thought to give that a fancy name before?) would be sliding. Hence the % increase.
I don’t have Support Office headcount details (do you?), so I can’t confirm whether or not the percentage increase in back-office headcount exceeded the percentage increase in Total Revenue. You may be right, though.
While I want the company to do well it is always worrying when the costs of non-income generating operations increase as a percentage of revenue. Costs into revenue generating areas can imply up-scaling and are less scary.
Sure, I am just not sure what sort of upscaling is feasible/advisable at this stage. What I personally see as being most beneficial (and urgent) for the Company right now is an investment into attracting qualified human resources who can contribute to inverting the negative trend in Occupancy, even if that entails a temporary increase in the Wages/Revenue ratio and a slowdown in further developments/acquisitions.
The results of such an investment would not be immediate, though, so in the mean time (and given the current NIBD/EBITDA dynamics) I’d personally also see debt reduction as a definite positive, even if that means sacrificing dividends for a while.
Just my thoughts. I too would like to see the Company do well, as I wouldn’t mind buying into it if/when there is some evidence of earnings stabilisation.
GEM Price at posting:
$2.08 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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