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Seek's full year results were pretty nasty. They were always going to be.
Group revenue was up just 3%, with 2nd half billings down 65% at the nadir.
EBITDA was down 9%, which translated to a 51% fall in NPAT (excluding significant items) due to a big increase in depreciation and amortisation.
The market reaction led to a 9% drop in share price (at time of writing), presumably due to some very cautious messaging from management.
CEO Andrew Bassat said "The current Macro outlook is highly uncertain. Our near term profits will be impacted by COVID-19..."
I've always rated management and regard them as one of the best teams on the ASX. A frank and direct assesement is welcome, and preferable to a bunch of spin and unreasonable near term forecasts that would hardly be better than a thumb suck.
These guys have always been very long term focused, and I don't think the business is in any structural trouble. It'll likely take a couple of years before the business fully recovers, but in 5 and 10 years i anticipate this to be a bigger and better business, continuing to hold leading positions in its chosen markets.
That being said, even after today's price drop, shares are only 15% from record highs and trading on a P/E of 76 and a P/S of 4.4. Too rich for me
Results presentation is here
A lot to take in in this one, any thoughts?
Seek to Transfer A$1.22 Billion of Assets to Growth Fund
11/08/2021 9:05AM
By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY--Seek Ltd. will transfer the bulk of its investments to a new independent fund in a move that the online employment marketplace said should increase capital access for its early stage ventures.
The ASX-listed firm said it would transfer assets independently valued at 1.22 billion (US$896.7 million) to the Seek Growth Fund, which will be led by former chief executive Andrew Bassat. The assets comprise Seek's holdings in Online Education Services and 14 early stage ventures.
The fund plans to raise another A$460 million to fund future investments, Seek said. Seek will invest A$200 million and the fund will target the remainder from other investors.
Seek said it expects to own about 85% of the fund after the capital raise. The fund will operate independently and collect fees for managing Seek assets including its stake in Chinese jobs portal Zhaopin.
Disc: I hold in real portfolio
A stalwart, but it is hard to make sense of the valuation at these levels, especially with the organisational restructures, divestment of the Zhaopin interest, and management movements announced recently. The accounting is messy and complicated too as a result of these changes.
I retain a core holding, but have been taking profits on the edges.
Just a note to say that I prefer using Indeed over Seek to find workers.
I am a low spending customer, I don't know if it would be different for high spending customers.
A few years ago Seek operated more of a fixed fee model - not sure if it's the same now, whereas Indeed used more of a google bidding model.
Appears to be a good set of results from SEEK - However coming off a low base with COVID for the last couple of years.
FY22-Half-Year-Results-Presentation.PDF
Increased dividend.
I hold in RL
16/05/22
Goldman - SELL, target price $26.60