Wynyard Group capital raising?

[iluab]

Not sure why Sam Morgan wouldn't get in there and take it over himself and stump up some dosh, if he believes in the company so much. Likely he would be a huge asset and get them right back on track. Wynyard 2.0. Wynnix (Wynyard/Phoenix)? Wynyard2, with a motto of "Going the extra yard".

Agree totally, the rightoff would otherwise be big for them and local management like the Morgan's might be just what's required to turn it around, pick it apart, put it back together as desired. They own 6.19%, they could come away with a majority holding for bugger all, I think most shareholders would accept a write down of 50% at this point. Equally. I think Thiel owns 6.6%, between them one would think they could work out some loose chump change to make it happen.

[Yoda]

Agree totally, the rightoff would otherwise be big for them and local management like the Morgan's might be just what's required to turn it around, pick it apart, put it back together as desired. They own 6.19%, they could come away with a majority holding for bugger all, I think most shareholders would accept a write down of 50% at this point. Equally. I think Thiel owns 6.6%, between them one would think they could work out some loose chump change to make it happen.

I would think the company is actually dependant on the software coders. If the best brains have left, then all confidence may be lost , no matter how cheap it is. Would you buy the software now ?

[Baa_Baa]

NBR (paywalled) ... "Bankruptcy for Wynyard’s North American units - Court filing initiates liquidation procedure in US"
Tue 15 Nov

[blobbles]

I would think the company is actually dependant on the software coders. If the best brains have left, then all confidence may be lost , no matter how cheap it is. Would you buy the software now ?

Depends on who and what is left. Sam Morgan could easily hire someone he knows in the business to do a review for a month and see what is worth saving regarding the product or if it is salvageable (poorly maintained/hard to understand code etc). Run a review at the same time on the staff and see who is worth saving...

Think about the amount of code that has gone into their products. Likely this is a massive tower of IP up for grabs. Starting a new company on a such a tower of IP is soooo much better than having to start from scratch, particularly if it is well documented/maintainable etc (which is why you do the review). Plus a ready market...

The company was run incredibly poorly. THAT was WYNs failure. Management were out of control spending other peoples money. You get that aspect under control and you have a company with a good product and a bright future. We know the market is there, the customers are willing.

Seriously, I don't believe they would need a lot of code monkeys to keep some of their products going. Many (even large) companies that produce software have only a small amount of coders doing the real work and a tonne of juniors behind them and a lot of support people. Find a good programmer and they are 10x more productive than an average one. WYN probably has 3-5 really good programmers and a lot of support people. Take these programmers, put a few direct support people around them and you would probably only spend ~$2m a year for a year or two until your product is refocused and ready for relaunch. Then go again, but without idiots at the helm. Ensure you have strong development leadership that is engaged with sales and hence customers.

If I had such a large investment in WYN that some of these guys do, I would be seriously looking at it. When Sam Morgan is a former software guru himself and has the contacts to do the above, it makes a lot of sense. Though it would be a decent risk, if you have the finances behind you to do it, it may be one that pays off in the long run.

[Dentie]

What amazes me is why big "experienced" holders like Morgan and Milford etc either didn't (or couldn't?) recognize the poor management or, at the very least, perform basic analysis on the historic financials. All arrows seem to be pointing downwards over a decent period of time.

[iluab]

What amazes me is why big "experienced" holders like Morgan and Milford etc either didn't (or couldn't?) recognize the poor management or, at the very least, perform basic analysis on the historic financials. All arrows seem to be pointing downwards over a decent period of time.

Hi Dentie, isn't though amazing that Harbour Asset Mgt still have a 10% or so stake in the company.

I bought a few shares in WYN quite recently, I effectively bought the August strategic review and the plan to turn the company around, new directors and mgt, slashing of cash burn, closing of some early stage markets to concentrate on momentum in other markets, it all seemed good with 10m in debt financing secured if so required.

I would not have bought if they had not clearly told us that they expected to be cash flow positive at years end, but, just a few weeks later they were in voluntary administration.

Such is the way shareholder and prospective shareholders were manipulated or deceived, surely a company outlook cannot go from "cash flow positive at years end" to "bring in the admin" with just a few weeks, they must surly have known.

Wynyard are probably the worst at this I've experienced, perhaps equaled only by Pacific Edge, and in my view they deserve a class action suit, and even legal proceedings against certain Directors for misleading the market.

[Snow Leopard]

Kissing frogs.

Investing in companies such as this which are currently losing money is like kissing frogs.

If you kiss enough, one of them may turn out to be a prince/princess/rather nice looking Tiger.

But a lot of them are just frogs.

Best Wishes
Paper Tiger

[Dentie]

I bought a few shares in WYN quite recently, I effectively bought the August strategic review and the plan to turn the company around, new directors and mgt, slashing of cash burn, closing of some early stage markets to concentrate on momentum in other markets, it all seemed good with 10m in debt financing secured if so required.

I would not have bought if they had not clearly told us that they expected to be cash flow positive at years end, but, just a few weeks later they were in voluntary administration.

Such is the way shareholder and prospective shareholders were manipulated or deceived, surely a company outlook cannot go from "cash flow positive at years end" to "bring in the admin" with just a few weeks, they must surly have known.

Wynyard are probably the worst at this I've experienced, perhaps equaled only by Pacific Edge, and in my view they deserve a class action suit, and even legal proceedings against certain Directors for misleading the market.

It's disgusting behavior. I hope you are researching the likelihood of success with the bolded bit above!!

[RupertBear]

Is there a time frame under voluntary administration that Wynyard have to report back to the market with a progress report or can this just dribble on indefinitely?

[Earthling]

What amazes me is why big "experienced" holders like Morgan and Milford etc either didn't (or couldn't?) recognize the poor management or, at the very least, perform basic analysis on the historic financials. All arrows seem to be pointing downwards over a decent period of time.

How do you know that Milford didn't see these things?
At a client update, a couple of Milford staff responded to a question about Wynyard. From memory, they said something like the following: that Milford were selling "throughout", that they went from holding 17% of the company to holding 6%, and at the end, 2%, that the loss when Wynyard finally succumbed was less than the gain from another company (Fletcher Building I think) on the same day, and that Milford had been working with the company to try to save it.