Comparing AFT to PEB (or WYN) is insulting
Actually I thought they were great - due to the lack of interest on here, and in the market (very illiquid), didn't see the point in mentioning highlights, like gross profit up 31% and a profit almost certain in FY19 - not that this would be their first profit of course, they have been very profitable in the past. This is far from a "loss making start up". I thought I was looking at Ryman when I saw the 18 years of consecutive revenue growth on page 3 - from $1m in 2000 to over $80m this year - and probably around $100m next year. Come 2021 - some analyst (who has a price target of $2.86 on it) reckons it will be in excess of $150m, with a PE of around 10 (at current share price). For a company with growth around 20%, year on year for the past 21 consecutive years, that sounds cheap to me... Mr Market still not convinced, and so need another few years of delivering - but going off that track record, I am pretty confident. Oh and its not Edison, their price target is $4 something.
So what's holding it back? Track record? Incompetent management? Lack of growth opportunities to sustain impressive growth? Another capital raising? Hmm, I doubt they will need more capital, but perhaps Mr Market isn't too sure... what I do believe, after being a holder since IPO, is that AFT listed too early (jokes on me for participating in the IPO lol). The big holders (being Hartley and CRP, who control over 88% of the shares), have shown absolutely no interest in selling - so the big (potential) buyers (aka insto's) have shown no interest in buying - hence nothing really happens, and when it does happen it is pretty jerky and seems to revert to around $2.50 (AFT is up over 5% in the past 52 so the NZX 50 website tells me).
Both Hartley and CRP probably hold as they believe they can take the company even further, and don't want to be a takeover target before 'they are ready' - fair enough, it is probably trading at a price way under what they think it is worth given a few more years (interesting to see management not only anticipating in the SPP a year ago, but also buying even more on market).
It would seem, with an impressive track record (and many, many more opportunities to come - just read the annual report, lots of 'gems' in there) - it is only a matter of when, rather than if (as it is with PEB), the profits start to roll (back) in, and the share price has to rise, but until the company can 'prove it', and until someone decided to let liquidity open up a bit more, I can't see how the share price will climb much over the coming year, maybe 2, maybe even 3 years... but after that - this is probably one you don't want to miss (and it probably isn't going to get much lower than where it is now).
Another 63 shareholders, +7.2%, on the register so at least a few more people seem interested