This quiet ecommerce solutions provider let the cat out of the bag today with a half page advertisement on Page D13 of the Sunday Star Times advertising for staff. Well worth a look; www.estaronline.com
Disclosure - shareholder
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This quiet ecommerce solutions provider let the cat out of the bag today with a half page advertisement on Page D13 of the Sunday Star Times advertising for staff. Well worth a look; www.estaronline.com
Disclosure - shareholder
looks an interesting company.
i think internet business is the future.
good customers.
must be growing to need more staff.
are they profitable?
scotty.
don't tell anna but estar had a huge half page ad on front page of
employment section of ch ch press.11/11/09.
looked impressive.
anna
i agree with you. certainly impressed me.
thank you for the synlait alert.
it is good to see some companies doing well.
Shareholder letter received today:
"At the EstarOnline board meeting held on Friday 5th February it was resolved to pay a maiden dividend of .005 cents per share. This dividend will be payable on shares recorded held; as at 5.00pm Friday 19th February 2010. Payment will be made on the 17th March 2010 and will come with full tax imputations. After payment has been made the company is still left with very satisfactory cash reserves.
The board is very appreciative of your continued support as a share holder in EstarOnline. We are confident of the company's future and its ability to pay ongoing dividends. But, we are not in a position to give guidance as to the frequency or amounts of future payments."
This article appeared on page A11 of The Christchurch Press today:
EstarOnline will pay a maiden 0.5c dividend on March 15, after building up cashflows, chairman and shareholder Stuart Nattrass says. The unlisted Christchurch e-commerce solutions provider has 28 staff and about 190 shareholders who can trade shares amongst themselves. The shareholders include Allan Hubbard.
An excellent result for year ending 31.3.10 in the mail today:
NPBT $501,864 up from $439,696
Cash position up slightly at $713,481(after paying fully imputed .5c divi).
Top line revenue up 22.2% to $3,209,160
Now have 30 staff members (up from 24)
New clients added to the existing impressive client list include: Les Mills, TS14+, Virtu, Kimberleys, Rugby World Cup 2011, Health Post, Blue Illusion, Teacher Direct and Allium. In addition EstarOnline will be partnering with PayPal.
Current quotes are: buyers @ 7c and sellers @8c with last sale @ 8c.
Depends, at this rate they will meet the prospectus numbers they suggested when they floated 11 years ago by 2015. For those who paid $1 a share there is still some way to go before 'success'
I have reread the annual report.It is certainly very positive.A growth company in the growth area of E commerce.From the tone of the report I think they are very much "in growth mode".Taking on extra staff gives the game away. I note they were very pleased to have paid an inaugural divie and enjoyed the comment"an advent I hope becomes a more regular occurrence"Do not we all!!!!!
Is this a listed company?
Hi there h2so4
EstarOnline Ltd is an unlisted public company . It holds the register of shareholders and there is also a list of buyers and sellers. Go to: www.estaronline.com - Contact - Investor Relations for the buy/sell quotes and info on how to trade.
In the Chairman's letter to shareholders dated 30th June 2010, he says that "In the first week of July we will have 5 staff attending the Online Retailer conference in Sydney Australia. We believe this conference is the second largest of its nature in the world. EstarOnline presented at this conference last year, and we expect a very high level of customer interest and inquiry to follow".
I suggest that you contact the company to arrange a meeting with their staff in Sydney. As a shareholder, I have found them easy and friendly to contact.
Cheers
Don't touch with a barpole, there are a lot of innovations that are going on in this sector.
Here today, gone tomorrow.
EstarOnline has reported that their staff are all safe and that they have moved from their Christchurch Central City site which suffered significant damage during the Feb. 22nd earthquake. They have moved to new premises at the Riccarton Golf Park complex and it is business as usual. Apparently their servers and network performed "much to plan" and remained operational during the catastrophe. This is great news in these very difficult times down here in Christchurch.
Hi there Percy.
Interesting that you should mention Ballantynes as it is a EstarOnline client. Interestingly, the new MD at Ballantynes was the former CEO of another successful EstarOnline client - EziBuy, probably the most successful online retailer in Australasia.
It will be interesting to see how she developes the online business.
We live in interesting times!
Cheers
I have received the full year result to 31st March 2011. Even though they have had to abandon their Christchurch CBD premises due to earthquake damage, they have still managed to grow the business and remain profitable. Under the circumstances - an excellent result. To quote from the Chairman's letter:
"The underlying performance of the business continues to improve. Our customer base continues to grow, and their individual investment and spend in this area continues to grow. Revenues improved $535,063 from the previous year with cost of sales up by only $295,419. Gross profit at $910,423, ($670,779 for the previous year), is the best indicator of the underlying financial improvement occurring in the business.
Final reported post tax profit of $245,860 is $105,308 less than previous year. So, despite the top line improvement our bottom line result is less. All this slippage can be explained by responses that the company has had to make in order to remain a going concern. Also, under accounting rules we have had to reflect that our office fit out at Hereford Street has been written down. The fact is that whilst we believe all of this is recoverable in addition some of the other monies spent will also be recoverable under insurance cannot be reflected in this period of reported result.
The most direct impact that this had on shareholders, is that unfortunately we are not able to announce and pay a dividend with this year's result. Whilst the underlying performance would support a dividend, the cash out lay to manage the earthquake events has meant it would be imprudent to pay a dividend.
Australia continues to be our market of focus. The success of clients like Country Road and JB HiFi, (to name two), and our role in their success is something that we can build on. We have recently made a senior appointment to head up our office, based in Melbourne. In addition we are investigating with a number of counterparts the possibility of partnerships in Australia that will give us distribution capability. We of course will keep you updated on any material outcomes that may arise from these discussions."
Yes,I agree with you SCOTTY,a very pleasing result.Pleased they had good retained earnings to tide them over.I see the balance sheet, and cash position are in very good shape.
Yes. $515,586 on interest bearing deposit with BNZ plus substancial insurance money still to come.
They are also looking for staff:
- Software Developers X 2
- Business Services - Customer Support
- Technical Support Specialists
- Web Designer
- Business Analyst
- Executive Assistant
All these jobs are advertised on their site; www.estaronline.com
The Christchurch earthquakes can't stop EstarOnline from going from strength to strength. A 1c fully imputed divi on the way next week. Business continues to grow in excess of 20% p.a. with more staff being employed and an office opened in Melbourne. Still only trading at 8c!!
See on the company web page today www.estaronline.com that there are 500,000 shares for sale @10c. At 10c the capital value would be just over $8m. They are now ex the 1c fully imputed divi.
Cheers
I have had shares in this little beauty since listing and have acquired most of my holding on an average down basis,
including stumping up I think it was 2 cents some years ago when they were desperate. My average cost is now around
6 cents per share and I've recovered a good % of this via the two divvies, so still holding, watching closely and with high
hopes that this may be the ten bagger, or greater that will finally secure my superannuation. Go Estar
Hello sailor1.
Good to know you are on board.Estar have recently increased staff numbers to 43,so I think your superannuation is "well positioned" for further growth.
Hi sailor1 and percy
I see that this is your first post sailor1 so welcome aboard the Sharetrader Forum. It is a very good forum with a number of good posters full of good and useful ideas - not always agreeable!! I have found it very useful when making investment decisions and the discussions have probably saved me from many an investment mistake over the years.
Very pleased to see that you like myself and percy is an Estar holder.
When I first bought into Estar there were only 6 staff in total and now as you point out percy there are 43. Have just looked at their site and see that they are still looking for 2 more staff;
- Ecomerce Sales Consultant
- Business Services - Customer Support
Cheers
Thanks for the welcome aboard Scotty & Percy. Have followed the share market for over 40 years and have only ever invested money I could afford to lose.
Most of my present holdings are small, low cap speculative stocks and I've always been a keen follower of precious metals, but also look to stocks with good yields.
The 12.5% dividend yield on Estar is fantastic. What do you think the chances are of them going back someday to the main board? This would have to be good for the share price don't you think?
Also hold on ASX: AZM, GDY, KGL [this one looks really good to me]
on NZX: GEL, HGD, CRP, NZE [great yield over the years on this and have had my initial investment at 8 cents well paid back].
Cheers
Sailor
You certainly are a believer in "may you live in intersting times" with you "collection" of interesting shares.I know the NZ ones, but had to look up the Aussie ones ,as I had not heard of them.On charts GDY and KGL look as they are on the rise.Look forward to you sharing you thoughts on them,with us.As well as the NZ ones.
Estar's future ,and chances of main board listing.? I don't know.What is interesting is that their market cap is only $8mil.With their "Rolls Royce" list of clients including Ezy Buy and JB Hi Fi ,their excellent staff ,and being leaders in on line e- commerce, I don't think they will be able to stay under the radar for too much longer.I therefore think we will be taken out some time.Until then we will enjoy nice divies and have pleasure watching the progress of this exciting company.
Hope we are not "taken out". I'd prefer to hang in for the ride but you're quite possibly right on this. For me some dilution via an issue, with shares offered to existing shareholders at a slight discount to market, would be preferable. I guess time will tell.
I follow my ASX shares chat-wise on Hotcopper, have maintained my portfolio for both the NZX and ASX for some 15 or more years on the old NZ Herald site, now www.findata.co.nz.
Naturally I do follow the charts, but, with an accounting background, am more of a fundamentalist at heart.
Hi Sailor
The EstarOnline 1c divi is a little misleading as it is really last years divi (.5c) which was not paid due to unexpected eathquake costs and this years .5c giving a total of 1c. The details are covered in the "Shareholder Dividend Letter" which is on the www.estaronline.com site and gives guidence on future payout policy. With the business growing at 20%+, future divis look pretty attractive to me. As you say it would have to be good for the share price if it were to list.
Regards
There is a very good article on EstarOnline in the Christchurch Press yesterday written by Alan Wood:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/bus...n-growth-curve
Any idea how hard it is for Estaronline to fill vacancies for their growth? Surely the money is better in OZ for the staff they are targeting.
Hi slimwin
I see on their web site [www.estaronline.com] that they are currently looking for support staff:
- Business Development Manager.
- Business Services - customer support
- Reception/Admin/Accounts
I have regularly attended the EstarOnline agm's and have always been most impressed by the number of staff who are shareholders. They are all very bright, keen and supportive of the business. I have also met the management and a number of the staff. They are a great bunch who obviously all work very well together - no dought a great environment and a good place to work in.
Other than support/sales staff in Australia my understanding is that all the tech work is done in Christchurch. This is the big strength of an IT business, you can do most of the work from home. Take a look at their client list and you will see what I mean.
I bought into this then find out my neigbours, daughters, boyfriend works for them. Small world. He's only been there a couple of years but they're always busy and always hiring. That's gotta be two ticks.
Will do. I'm pretty new to investing in shares and need to see what goes on behind the scenes so to speak.
Cheers.
Estar results out. Looks good. What do others think? Another dividend? I'd really like to get to the AGM if I can make the time.
Thanks Percy
Will do my best. Might see you there.
Cheers
A great result with EBIT well up at $1,134,731. The Financial Statements are on the Companies Office Site:
http://www.business.govt.nz/companie...9211/documents
The www.estaronline.com website has been much improved and well worth a look.
Thanks for the links SCOTTY.
The balance sheet strength is excellent.The growth is excellent.The sector they operate is growing quickly.
So, us sharehoders are at the right place at the right time.
Hi Percy, slimwin and sailor1. Don't forget the AGM tomorrow - Hope to see you all there. It would be good to meet up.
Cheers
Hi Scotty. Can't make it as I'll be away on holiday for a bit.
Keen to hear what the future holds if you can give us a bit of a summary
Thanks-Mark
Percy
Got your private message and have replied, but not sure whether this went through.
You could call me though on 035736588. I will be there tomorrow.
Cheers
Gidday Scotty & Slimwin
I will be there, and have suggested to Percy that it would be good to put our heads together somewhere nearby beforehand over a coffee.
You could call me this evening on 03 5736588 if you think this is a good idea.
Cheers
Hi Slimwin
Yes it was a good positive meeting today. Here are some of the highlights from the ceo's presentation and directors comments:
- Now 46 staff with 3 based in Aussie and 3 away on maturnity leave.
- 50% of revenue is now derived from Aussie.
- 2016 target is to double sales to $10m with EBITA of $2m.
- Increase promotional spend (Trade Shows etc).
- Estar is in competition with Global Giants such as IBM,Demandware,Hybris and Oracle.
- Have high security standards which are giving the Company commercial advantage.
- Annual transactions now total A$400m
- Developing partner strategies.
- First Q is ahead of budget.
All good stuff
Cheers
Thanks SCOTTY.
An excellent meeting.Directors setting out their objectives,and sharing their strategies on how the company is going to achieve them.
The CEO and The Board want staff,and shareholders on board . With everyone "on the team" I feel this exciting, strong company is going to be most rewarding to customers,partners,staff, and sharehoders.At the right place,at the right time.Good clear honest communicating made it a refreshing AGM.The directors were easy to talk to. Enthusiasum,energy,vision, direction,makes the future something to really look forward to.
Good to catch up with you and to meet Sailor.
Yes, all good stuff yesterday I thought. Good to meet both Scotty, Percy, other shareholders, directors and managing director, and particularly interesting to talk with some of the staff after the meeting. Many of them seem to be shareholders as well and the whole atmosphere was charged with positivity and serious motivation.
Good stuff gents, thanks.
I guess the only downside of that is the quality of their competition but it sounds like they have a competitive edge on security.
Proof is in the pudding and with growth in sales like that they must be doing things right and customers can see that.
Apparently their biggest difficulty is getting the staff numbers up. They are currently looking for software developers and a business developer. Jobs are advertised on their site: www.estaronline.com
Hi All, newbie share Investor here,
This company peaks my interest, but i just wonder whether I should be looking at a more "stable proven performer" for my first share investment? My only exposure to shares at the moment is via KiwiSaver.
Your thoughts appreciated.
Cheers
Skiwi
Welcome Skiwi.
.
The company is in the growing "buying on line" sector.
The company is majority owned by Directors,management and staff.They know the company and have "their own" money at stake.
The company has an excellent client list.
The company is in a strong financial position.The balance sheet is in excellent condition.
The company is paying a dividend.
The Directors and management communicate openly and honestly.
I am sorry I can't advise whether you should buy Estar or someother company,I will leave it to to decide for yourself.[But if you decide not to,you are nuts.!!!] lol.
I would think you [or anyone] considering investing in Estar are best to contact the company and get a copy of their latest accounts.Time should also be spent reading up Estar's web site.
Estar is not listed on The NZX or the Unlisted market.The company arranges /facilitates the trading of shares between shareholders.The company maintains their own share registry.
Not being a listed company means there are more/or higher risks in owning Estar shares, compared to say Ryman [listed]
There are 80,237,846 shares on issue so you are right on market cap at $8mil.[same as Postie plus].
I guess my concerns with it not being on an exchange is:
-lack of liquidity (while Xero also lacks this (only 4,000 traded on friday) there is more visability)
- Cant see share price history
- can see depth
- insider trading risk higher ( I assume they have a high founder, employee shareholding ratio so what is to stop them taking up the offers when they know there is bad news coming). If I were to invest, I would look at their rules for something like this. Do they have lock down periods around year end. If they win/lose a big customer do they have to announce? etc
- what is to say they are lining up the orders in order. Ie. if a buy order came in high, what is stopping an insider from taking it rather than the person who indicated their interest at that price months ago.
I would need to get comfortable with these sorts of things first. How much would an 'Unlisted' listing cost them which would formalise some of these points.
In the US, the Tech start up scene has Second market which runs monthly(?) auctions for shares being sold, normally by employees who have exercised their options. It would be good in NZ had something like this. (maybe there is but I am not a HNWI, so dont get in on it)
Valid points.
Lack of liquidity is a problem with all small cap stocks.Estar is the same.
Depth,Scotty did bring this to the company's attention at the AGM and pointed out how the unlisted market showed depth and history.I can only hope they bring follow suite.
Insider trading; I suppose this is happening all the time as more staff buy shares.
As at 31/3/2012 top 20 held 67,329,536 of the 80,237,846 shares on issue.
Director ;S.J.Nattrass 27,806,153.
Director P.H.Morrison 16,492.478.
3rd largest ; CEO.S.M.Clark 4,250.000
4th largest;Manager A.Brown 3,027,348.
Comfortable;.I have spoken to the directors and many of the staff.As per an earlier post I find they communicate openly and honestly.
I would recommend this company as "an excellent investment" if I were asked.
There are no options on issue.
Research/homework/talking to the company/results in superior returns.
S.Nattrass was "fired" by SCF's Alan Hubbard as Nattrass's rescue plan called for Hubbard to step aside.Hubbard went along with Forbar's hopeless plan.Nattrass's plan was reguarded as the one that had the most chance of sucess.
Pike River Coal.Nattrass's expertise was on the finnancial side not the mining/
Nattrass was not reelected to Fontura board.The on line trading platform he was responsible for resulted in cheaper prices received to start with.Should the reelection been held a couple of months later when farmers got used to it and fell in love with it he would have been reelected with the most votes.I find him an honest straight shooter.
Well said Percy. I have met Stuart Nattrass through EstarOnline on a number of occasions over a number of years now. I also know a number of people who have known Stuart since his student days at Lincoln. He is well regarded and respected in both his business and personal life. I would not have stayed in Estar if I did not have full trust in the Board and Staff. I have been in Estar since the original IPO some 13 years ago. Yes, it did get off to a shakey start due mainly to Flying Pig which went belly up owing Estar a lot of money. Estar survived but it was not until Stuart Nattrass and Peter Morrison got control by recapitalising the company that it took off with Stuart Clark the CEO at the helm. Both Stuart Clark and Manager, Andy Brown are the IT brains and also significant shareholders in their own right. As Percy said, many of the staff have also bought shares.
Any investment is not without risk and yes there are more regulations and controls with a listed company but you still have to have both buyers and sellers to make a trade. They are not always there when you want them in a listed company. The Investor Relations section on the www.estaronline.com site does need improvement in terms of market depth and trade history which I did bring up at the AGM and I think this will be addressed. One big advantage with the "inhouse" system is that there is no brokerage. For me it works ok and I am a very happy shareholder.
More concerned when they start sellling :0
No options on issue - no wonder they are having trouble attracting staff. Issue options at market price and in theory they are free (ie. replaced the bonus they would otherwise have got but saves you cash) and gives the employee an incentive to make the company worth more. In my opinion, options work better with a smaller company than a bigger company as individual employees can actually have an impact on the results. Common, if not expected in a small tech company and especially since this company has liquidity, even better (most small companies would ban selling to outside investors).
With staff numbers increasing to 45 there have been more buyers than sellers.As staff numbers are steadily increasing I see the pattern of more buyers than sellers continuing for a number of years. I do know of one staff member, who has left the company and has moved out of ChCh, has recently added to her large holding.
Options.You may be right,however I do not like seeing options being issued.Usually means the focus of the company changes away from shareholders to management and staff.
Quote fron CJ: -no wonder they are having trouble attracting staff. /QUOTE]
Not true.
EstarOnline has attracted and continues to attract excellant staff. It just needs more of them now due to the companys fast rate of growth.
My comment refered to your post #70:
I may have interpreted wrong as rereading it now it seems it they are hiring quickly that the issue is the supply of good talent - having said that, better remuneration cant hinder.Quote:
Apparently their biggest difficulty is getting the staff numbers up. They are currently looking for software developers and a business developer. Jobs are advertised on their site: www.estaronline.com
Percy - staff maybe buying now and agree that is a good indication. But will you know when/if the staff start selling and will their be any depth left by the time you find out (provided the company keeps growing this may never an issue). What rules does the company have in relation to staff selling shares.
Options plans can be good or bad. my view is they can work better in a small business where the share price (and hence the reward) is more influenced by individual actions rather than just the rise and fall of the market (ie. give a telecom employee a few thousand options and their return will be determined by things other than their efforts. Give a few thousand options to a developer in a small company building their next project and he will share in the gain if the project delivers a new income stream)
[
Percy - staff maybe buying now and agree that is a good indication. But will you know when/if the staff start selling and will their be any depth left by the time you find out (provided the company keeps growing this may never an issue). What rules does the company have in relation to staff selling shares.
I do n't think there are any rules for staff buying or selling.As far as I know they just inform Amy they want to buy /sell and she arranges it.
I will not know when/if staff start selling.Should they move to depth,it would be helpful.As the company is targeting to double in the next 3 or 4 years I would expect more people being attracted to buying ,rather than selling.Then the SP will be interesting,as will be the size of divies being paid.
Thanks to all the replies, it was exactly what I was looking for. I learn a lot more from robust debate rather than a buy or not buy recommendation :)
While I'm motivated to direct invest myself, i reckon I'm at least a couple of months away from gathering enough info to make my first purchase.
(it will probably take me that long just to read all the posts here ;)
To read the EstarOnline, CEO Address to Shareholders at the 16th Aug. 2012 AGM - go to:
www.estaronline.com/investor-relations
Further to your reply on TUA Percy..
Have perused pages 1 to 6 and find that it is mainly a mutual admiration club of 2 expanding to about possibly 6 !!.. :-))
This does not mean that I will not continue researching this interesting company. ..
Thanks for the heads up..
This thread is a bit like life;the haves and the have nots.!!!!!!
The haves own shares in Estar and are looking to increase their holdings, as they are comfortable with the company and see a bright future. [I currently have a buy order in for another 100,000].
The have nots.Who, as history has proved , wait in hope and miss out.
The up graded investor relations page of estaronline.com is a big improvement.Selling depth,and 3months trading history is now shown.
The CEO's AGM presentation is a must read for anyone who wants to understand Estar more.
I note on HVN Harvey Norman thread on Aussie forum some very interesting comments from KW .Another must read,to see the affects online retailers are having on traditional retailers.
Jonathan Lebed Percy ?? :-))
It is your enthusiasm for this company Percy.. It has shades of a Pump & Dump.
But I speak in jest :-))
Enthusiasm.Yes very much so.Like the sector,like the strong balance sheet,like the directors,management and staff,and love the divies.
Pump, yes I am on the bid side to buy more shares.
Dump,No I have never sold any,although a few years ago I transfered most of my holding to a daughter.
30/10/12 100,000 7.5c
Anybody we know?
I was surprised someone would sell that low.
www.estaronline.com/investor-relations
This site has recently been updated:
- Good depth of buyers/sellers.
- The Chairmans 6 Monthly letter to Shareholders.
- Continuous disclosure note dated 10.12.12 - Christchurch earthquake claim finalised and trading platform update.