Takeover thread..., page-50

Thank you, I do understand where the income is from, but I don't understand how it can be profitable or have any prospects given the competitive, regulatory and economic challenges. If it was ever going to be profitable it has had a free kick over the past few years and they missed their window of opportunity to pivot or bolt on something else.

Chasing retailers, getting them on board and calling it a coup seems to be the industry norm, but if you look at the merchants' sites, they commonly offer up to 10 different short term or long term BNPL / interest free plans - I suspect that if they even care, they will just recommend the one that costs them the less or better still pays them commission. Zip announced a few weeks ago t was belting its fees to meet rising costs, wile competitors with fat Balance Sheets and low cost of funds are lining up to offer BNPL products at minimal costs to merchants. When Zip pulled out of Sezzle last week it maintained and possibly intensified competition rather than bulking up as was intended.

The customers pay application, monthly, late fees - it was always obvious despite the industry protestations that there was no cost to customers. It is a funny coincidence that this business pulled out of the UK almost to the day that the British government announced it was going to call BNPL a regulated credit product, which was a week after the Australian Minister For Finance said that if it quacked and walked like a duck then it is probably a duck. How many wood ducks can you expect to have anyway and why would they be loyal to you? Which means your customer list is worth nothing.

Nope, these guys have had their day in the sun and they have blown it. With the amount of capital they raised for marketing and establishment (that is all it ever was) they needed to find another way to make money on an ongoing basis. They haven't done it.

I see that the price has risen today - that is a great thing and I hope I am wrong and I will be genuinely pleased if so.