2021 AGM

I watched the AGM webinar after the fact, and offer the following observations to my future self.

1.     The chairman is a wet sock. A very uninspiring and dull presenter and speaker. Here’s hoping he is sharper in the boardroom. The CEO is good, he didn’t read from a teleprompter and provided value in his statements.

2.     The legal action with competitor Eagleview will likely continue for 12 months, more so as that is the average completion time for these types of things. The CEO reiterated it has very little impact on the other verticals and capture tech used by NEA. I suspect this will keep the price depressed should anyone be wanting to establish a position in NEA.

3.     A shareholder posed a question about future CR requirements. Frankly I through the reply form the chairman fits with my assessment of his performance. He talked around the question and provided a robotic response, and didn’t answer it at all! He missed an opportunity to justify the cash burn and what it gets us the shareholder and why a CR is/is not a possibility, etc.  

4.     The CEO spoke to the image and narrative of NEA. Many still think of it as only an aerial capture company, but they are now beyond just 2D capture. NEA provide AI insights (developed over 4+ years) and 3D content above the standard 2D content.

5.     NEA claims its camera tech is 5x better than their competition, meaning their capture costs are lower, as they fly less because they get more data per flight, and fly higher and faster. They can do this through their internally developed camera tech (a 2yr investment – HyperCamera3).

Disc. I hold in RL and whilst my thesis is not broken, it is bending, and I am actively considering selling for a better deployment of this capital. However, I weigh this against my mantra of “choose option 4, do nothing, and let the company do its thing”.