Another great quarter from Smart Parking

200k on market trade - like this as a holder

Following @mikebrisy 's SPZ results update, am firming up thoughts to open a position on SPZ with excess cash from the unplanned exit from AD8.

Listened to the SM interview with Paul and Richard from Feb 2024. It is a bit dated, but still very useful to get an understanding of the business. Also went through @Strawman 's notes from 3 or so months go.

It is a very simple business to understand, thankfully! Have not fully digested the recent results, but wanted to document my initial thoughts and pause a bit prior to pulling the trigger on a starter position to get going.

Investment Thesis

• Huge TAM, theoretically "all car parks in the world in countries that have a friendly legislative regime around providing car/driver information" - SPZ is just starting in each of the countries that it is in, so growth ahead is huge
• Financials are very compelling - FCF $13.3m, cash $12.7m, revenue up 42% YoY, EBITDA up 47% YoY, EBITDA Margin a healthy 26.6%, already profitable with NPAT up 47% etc
• Sites have grown at a fast clip - 45% in FY25, across multiple countries
• US Peak Parking acquisition will accelerate the growth across the US
• Win-win for customer and SPZ - monetise car park assets at no/minimal capex cost to customer, in return for shared revenue to ensure "car parks are always available to genuine customer"
• Low-ish capex requirement per site (reminds me a lot of MTO!)
• Share price is now at the same price as the capital raise for the Peak Parking acquisition - not a bad time to join the party

The Risks

• Changes in regulatory framework can hurt - Qld, Denmark, de-risk by expanding to more countries
• Product is not super long-term sticky (as compared to say, SAAS software like XRO, SDR), customers can leave at the end of contract and go with someone else - de-risk with good service
• There are lots of competitors - de-risk with good service
• Technology does not appear to be uniquely proprietary to SPZ, feels like there are viable technical solutions which a competitor can provide - not a high entry barrier/insurmountable moat - - de-risk with good service
• High dependence on maintaining high human-based service to customers, it is not an install and leave situation like software - Paul talked about the need to constantly touch base with customers etc, ongoing dependence on good sales force

It looks like a very exciting business to own. But my niggling fear is that the moat is not as watertight as I would like it to be, which holds me back a bit, but hell I can be convinced!

Much appreciate if SPZ holders could glance through and point out anything missing or incorrect, particularly the risks.

Discl: Not Held, but looking to open position

Slightly surprised to have got this far into the day and not see any reports on $SPZ FY results. But, never fear, @mikebrisy was there!

With the help of my BA, I have summarised the results in some detail, including insights from the Q&A discussion.

As it is late in the day, I have not "corrected" managements various "underlying" measures, which extend into alternative presentations of the cash flow statement, which I find annoying. (I do all my analysis on statutory accounts - I'm old fashioned because I think these standards exist for a reason!!!!! Rant over.)

I'll structure my report as:

1) Financial Summary

2) Summary of Operational Performance by Country

3) Any Developments in the Business Environment

4) Future Outlook (spoiler - these guys will give guidance at H1)

5) My Overall Assessment

6) Conclusions

1) Financial Summary

• Revenue: $77.3m, up 41–42% on FY24 ($54.7m).
• Adjusted EBITDA: $20.5m, up 47% (FY24: $13.9m).
• EBITDA margin: 26.6%, up 110bps on FY24.
• Net Profit After Tax (NPAT): $5.4m, up 47% on FY24 ($3.7m).
• Earnings per Share (EPS): 1.45 cps, up 37%.
• Free Cash Flow: $13.3m, up 15%.
• Cash on Hand: $12.7m at June 30, 2025 (excl. customer funds) vs $7.2m FY24.
• Balance Sheet: Strengthened via $45m equity raise (Feb 2025) to fund Peak Parking acquisition; also secured new USD $10m + AUD $10m revolving/accordion facility.

From the Q&A: Management reiterated that the Peak Parking acquisition has already been EPS accretive (>25%) and is outperforming expectations, validating the equity raise strategy.

2) Summary of Operational Performance

Group Overall

• Sites under management: 1,799 ANPR sites (up 26% YoY). Including U.S. non-ANPR, total estate 1,938 sites.
• PBNs (Parking Breach Notices): >1.0m issued for first time, up 21%.
• Site additions: 437 new ANPR sites (gross), +45% vs FY24

From the Q&A: 71 QLD sites to be removed from the number in the "next 6 weeks".

Market by Market (My brief summaries in parentheses)

United Kingdom (Solid)

• Revenue: $52.5m, up 19%.
• EBITDA: $16.7m, up 17%; margin ~32%.
• Sites: 1,335 (+19%).
• PBNs: +13%.
• Comment: Remains largest market (c. 70%+ of group). Regulatory consultation in July 2025 viewed as supportive for higher compliance standards.

New Zealand (Going gangbusters)

• Revenue: $7.4m, up 62%.
• EBITDA: $3.2m, up 128%; margin 43% (highest in group).
• Sites: 238 (+47%); PBNs up 48%.
• Comment: Now scaled; strong inbound enquiries and strategic client wins with <1% market share, large runway ahead.

Germany (Now really starting to get going)

• Revenue: $4.0m, up 43%.
• Sites: 107 (+60%).
• PBNs: +37%.
• EBITDA: –$1.5m (loss narrowed; expected to turn profitable in CY25).
• Comment: Growth accelerating; won new multi-site contract (25 Burger King sites) in H2 FY25.

Denmark (Early days, and a backward step)

• Revenue: $1.3m (first full year since Feb 2024 launch).
• Sites: 48.
• Regulatory update: July 2025 law requires PBNs placed physically on vehicles. SPZ adapted with manual enforcement (supported by proprietary tech). This lowers PBN volumes per site, but increases per-PBN value (more infringement categories covered).

United States (Peak Parking acquisition – Feb 2025) (Gamechanger)

• Consideration: USD $36m (USD $32m upfront + up to $4m earnout), funded via $45m equity raise.
• Business: 139 sites across 7 states (Texas-mostly, Georgia, Washington, Florida, Indiana).
• FY25 contribution (4 months): Revenue $10.2m; EBITDA $3.1m.
• Performance: Revenue up 16%, EBITDA up 19% vs PCP; on track to exceed USD $4.5m CY25 earnout target.
• Integration: ANPR rollout underway; SmartCloud deployed; new sites opened in Indiana.

Australia (Dead)

• Operations  ceased (Queensland regulatory issues). 71 sites remain in portfolio.
• Sites to be removed from numbers in next 6 week
• Equipment to be redeployed to New Zealand (“an NZ Capex holiday”)

3) Market and Business Environment

• Regulation:
• UK: July 2025 consultation paper on higher compliance standards expected to be favorable for private operators like SPZ. Good news.
• Denmark: New enforcement rules require manual PBN placement, prompting operational adjustment but also higher-value notices.
• Technology: Continued investment in proprietary ANPR and SmartCloud platforms; upgrades improving recognition accuracy and reducing site hardware costs.
• Acquisitions: FY25 marked entry into the U.S. via Peak Parking; prior years saw smaller deals in UK (Local Parking Security) and Germany (ParkInnovation).

From Q&A: Management highlighted that U.S. has potential to become SPZ’s largest market, surpassing the U.K. over time. They stressed integration discipline and strong local leadership as key success factors.

4) Future Outlook

• Growth Target: 3,000 ANPR sites under management by Dec 2028, affirmed. (Likely early).
• Momentum into FY26: July 2025 revenue +73% YoY, EBITDA +60% (seasonally strong month but illustrates earnings power of larger estate). But don't get too carried away by one month's data.
• Capital & Liquidity: $12.7m cash and new debt facility provide flexibility for further acquisitions and tech investment.
• Geographic Expansion:
• U.S. – integration and expansion beyond Peak’s footprint (Indiana entry completed).
• Germany to turn profitable in CY25.
• Denmark adapting to regulation.
• Switzerland – new business established July 2025.
• Technology Focus: Continue ANPR/SmartCloud rollout, improve compliance yields, reduce hardware costs.

From Q&A:

• Management suggested Germany is at an inflection point towards profitability.
• U.S. ambition: long-term plan is for it to outsize the U.K. business, but execution focus remains on integration.
• Management intend to adopt a more “regional approach” to geographic expansion, which are intended to limit overhead growth and leverage skills as new territories are added. Examples as follows:
• New US states from the US business
• Germany supporting Switzerland (DACH region, i.e., Ger., Austria, Swiss)
• Denmark supporting Sweden and Finland
• Dividend policy unchanged (no dividend declared; reinvestment in growth prioritized).

5) My Assessment

Overall, these are pretty good results.

US is transformational

Although it is early days and far to early to assess the success of the US acquisition, its inclusion represents a material broadening of the $SPZ portfolio. Pure is currently concentrated in Texas, but over 40 states provide access to “keeper details” and are therefore potentially amenable to the ANPR technology. While Paul says they don’t know how many potential sites there are in the US, he believes the country has "a billion parking spaces" and the business opportunity is “around 10x UK”.

And with $10.2m Revenue and $3.1m EBITDA from the first 4 months, Pure is already delivering an EBITDA margin contribution of 30% - clearly accretive to the $SPZ group.

I always find it challenging picking through the results after a significant acquisition. And with the inclusion of Peak Parking for 4 months, several aspects of the report are messy. But from what we can tell so far, it is looking positive.

UK and RoW is Growing Strongly – this is not just and M&A Story

At the headline level, backing out the US with $10.2m revenue and $3,1m EBITDA from 4-months of Peak Parking, means that on an organic basis:

·      Organic Review growth was 23% (vs. 41%)

·      Organic EBITDA growth was 17% (vs. 41%)

These are both decent numbers, representing an uptick in % revenue growth from last year (+21% last year), and % EBITDA growth (+8% last year).

All the countries are doing well. UK growth was strong, NZ is going gangbusters with a long runway ahead and some free capex coming in FY26 from the abandoned QLD business, and Germany seems to be sparking into life and will become profitable before the calendar year end.

The Setbacks

There are only two setbacks as far as I can see.

QLD

QLD was completely absent from the presentation and only in the Q&A did we learn that the sites are coming out of the site count in 6 weeks, and the equipment is being redeployed to NZ. (Now that’s disciplined capital allocation for you!)

But I do mark management down on not being up front and stating this more clearly in the presentation. Investors expect and need to hear the unvarnished story, and behaviour like that always puts me on alert.

Denmark         

Denmark, where it is very early days, has passed some regulation which means that the first notification of a parking infringement has to be a physical notice on the vehicle windscreen. Paul seemed to say that they will cope with this, but it does sound like it presents some margin erosion at the very least for the fledgling Danish business.

And so that’s a timely reminder that this business will always be exposed to the whim of regulatory change and the social licence to operate with the community. Which again brings me back to the good news that $SPZ is diversifying its country / jurisdictional exposure.

6) My Conclusions

I updated my valuation for $SPZ at the half year to a “thumb suck” estimate of $1.00. I don’t think there is the basis to materially revise this, until we get to see what a full year of US performance looks like, and to see what kind of organic growth it can deliver.

HOWEVER, once reporting season is over, I will give this a hard look, because the stronger organic growth indicates to me that Paul and team are likely to blow their FY28 targets out of the water. And so it is possible my re-valuation will nudge closer to the analysts (3) who are at $1.25. But let's see when I've done the work.

Even though with the issuing of new equity for Pure and ROE goings backward again, the fact that it is 9% this early in the business’s growth journey, I find very encouraging indeed.

This business has a healthy balance sheet, has delivered its 5^th consecutive NPAT positive year, and is delivering robust and growing operating cashflows. And multiple territories are growing rapidly with what appears to be rapid site investment payback economics.

I have been quietly accumulating $SPZ on any SP weakness over the last 6 months, and with it now standing at 7% of my RL portfolio, I am content to HOLD based on position size. Were I not in that position, I would be buying.

Each year, I get more positive about this business  - which has quickly become a top 5 holding for me in RL!

Disc: Held in SM and RL

Another LinkedIn post announcing Smart Parking have opened for business in Switzerland.

I don’t recall hearing this being discussed in any investor presentation? (Or did I miss or forget something?)

Disc: Held in RL and SM

Just came across the post below on LinkedIn. $SPZ appears to be expanding via Peak Parking into the State of Indiana, US.

If this were Europe, it would be like adding a Denmark or a Finland.

Nice to see the business expanding its US footprint…. This is exactly what I expected to see and this is the first mention I think I’ve seen made to IN anywhere.

Disc: Held

Smart Parking is a lean, tech-driven operator with a proven model, solid fundamentals, and a genuinely scalable path to growth.

The business itself is nice and simple: it helps owners of parking assets (think shopping centres, hospitals, transport hubs etc) better manage and monetise their space. The pitch is straightforward: SPZ handles enforcement, ensures compliance, and increases space availability for actual customers, all while sharing in the revenue upside. In most cases, the client doesn't even foot the capex bill. It's win-win.

The engine behind this is Smart Parking's integrated tech platform: ANPR cameras, SmartCloud software, and automated enforcement via Parking Breach Notices (PBNs). The system tracks vehicles, detects overstays or breaches, and initiates enforcement. Critical to this model is access to vehicle registration data, which SPZ secures through legal agreements with government agencies. This end-to-end control allows for efficient scaling with minimal human intervention.

Importantly, it's working. Over the past four years, revenue has grown at a 21% CAGR, adjusted EBITDA margins have expanded to 27%, and free cash flow conversion remains high. FY24 delivered $54.3m in revenue and $14.7m in adjusted EBITDA, with $12.2m in free cash flow—an 83% conversion. The business model is capital-light post-installation, and new sites tend to pay back in under a year.

The strategic footprint is expanding. With 1,561 sites under management as of H1 FY25, Smart Parking has barely scratched the surface of a global opportunity: the company estimates over 240,000 addressable sites. It has already established operations in the UK, NZ, Germany, and Denmark, and entered the U.S. in 2025 via the acquisition of Peak Parking. The U.S. market is especially enticing—not only the largest in value terms but also deeply fragmented and inefficient.

The Peak Parking deal added more than 1,000 managed sites in markets like Texas, Florida, and Georgia, offering immediate scale and distribution for Smart Parking's tech. The AUD $38m acquisition was funded through a $30m equity raise at $0.88/share, demonstrating investor confidence and providing ample runway. With $7.2m in cash and $20m in undrawn debt capacity, the balance sheet remains conservative.

Operationally, the business is in rollout mode. Growth is both organic via direct wins of new sites and inorganic, through tuck-in acquisitions. The model is modular and replicable, and the company has demonstrated the ability to enter new geographies effectively, as evidenced by its rapid progress in Germany and Denmark. Management execution has been disciplined, with site growth averaging 31% per year since 2018.

While regulatory risk (especially access to vehicle data) exists, Smart Parking has a track record of navigating these hurdles. Queensland remains paused for now due to local policy, but other jurisdictions have proven workable, and the company continues to diversify.

This is not a winner-takes-all market. Despite some capable competition, the majority of the world’s car parks are still managed manually or with outdated systems. With a first-mover advantage in many regions, strong tech IP, and recurring revenue from long-term contracts, Smart Parking is positioned to capture share steadily over time.

At the current share price of $0.85, the company is valued at around $350 million. The trailing P/E ratio is high (~80x), but that reflects one-off impacts and a business in scaling mode. On a pro-forma basis including Peak, earnings per share are estimated to nearly double, suggesting a forward P/E under 40x. While still elevated, it's a more reasonable multiple given the company's capital efficiency, cash generation, and average profit growth of ~30% per annum. So it’s not cheap, but nor is it expensive if current trends continue.

This is a very easy to understand business, with excellent economics and a lovely track-record of disciplined execution. And there’s a lot of scope to grow. Happy to hold.

There’s director buying and then there’s DIRECTOR BUYING!

just shy of a million dollars on market picked up here

Going back a couple of weeks, it is interesting to observe that with the SP fall in $SPZ following its lofty heights, it failed to raised the targeted total of $5m through its 1-for-24.35 Retail Entitlement Offer.

There were only 270 retail applications for about 1.35 million new shares, leaving underwriter Canaccord Genuity to pick up the balance as set out in its underwriting agreement (which of course it will have done for a handsome fee!) The price tag was $3.8m

In a rare lapse of process discipline (i.e., failing to wait until the closing date) I paid the full $0.88 for my entitlement. But then again, so did three-of-four of the Directors, including CEO Paul Gillespie.

Although details weren't given about the Institutional Placement(other than to say it was fully underwritten), it was claimed to be successful, which was unsurprising at the time given that the SP at the time was around $1.00, being ahead of the offer price of $0.88.

Of course, this was just before the "risk-off" correction we're having, driven largely by US-led trade uncertainty,

All that said, with today's price sitting below $0.70, I am thinking whether now is the time to top up. I'm a relative latecomer to the $SPZ party, having joined just over a year ago. $SPZ is a RL position for me of 2.5% (cost base), and 3.4% (today), so there is room for more and this looks like a good opportunity.

I've just posted my valuation ($1.00, range $0.75 - $1.25) with the caveat that you can get pretty much any number you want!

And of course, we can take no notice of the Canaccord Genuity hiking their Price Target by 14% to $1.25 on 18th March, as they would have that view, wouldn't they. (But it is interesting to note that their PT just clips the top end of my range so, while I see it as optimisitic, I don't see it beyond the realms of plausibility.)

Disc: Held in RL and SM

Smart Parking’s H1 results get a tick from me – a reasonably strong half. Acquisition excluded, we saw revenue increase 20% (vs pcp) and total sites increase from 1424 to 1561 (vs FY24), with modest growth seen in the UK, NZ and Denmark.

Germany continues to present problems, minimal improvement since H2 FY24 off a low base. I think this market in particular was a major learning curve for management that likely contributed in a big way to their approach in the US, making a significant acquisition to assist with entering the market.

In short, I think this result was more of the same for Smart Parking. No surprise that we are seeing increases in growth capex (almost double pcp) – but well and truly expected noting their trajectory/growth. Every half year and FY report that passes, concentration risk decreases (at least I hope so -- key to my thesis). In FY24, UK sites were 79% of total sites. This decreased to 76% post H1, or 70% including the US. That is positive.

The big talking point was the acquisition of Peak Parking. Plenty of great discussion already on here, so I wont repeat any of that – only to emphasise @Wini's point that this is out of character for the business. Valuation is on the exxy side, but it does sound like they are acquiring a high-quality business and management team. If this team stick around, this could be a real winner for Smart Parking and allow them to hit the ground running noting they are a developed, mature business that already manage 134 sites across various US states.

@Wini, agree with your point also that Smart Parking could shape up to be a fundie favourite in time. Ongoing diversification (i.e. the move into the US) as pointed out by @mikebrisy, will only help in this regard too. This acquisition might also allow them to position themselves as a key global player over time. I still maintain Smart Parking has the potential to be a business worth 1billion (plus) and this acquisition probably edges them forward slightly in achieving that.  

As usual, time will be critical in determining if this acquisition is a winner, but I am left encouraged. Things to watch (I will revisit in 12 months):

1. The existing management team in the US (will they all remain?). Founder has been there since 2019, while Director and Controller have been there since 2021.

2. How Smart Parking incorporate their IP into what is a different business model and what changes they make, if any

3. If Smart Parking can maintain (or improve?) Peak Parking revenue/EBITDA growth, as seen over the past 24 months. 

4. How they tackle growing into other states, noting Texas has 80% of total US sites. 

Valuation update to follow. 

This morning $SPZ announced their 1H Results as well as the proposed acquisition of US-based Peak Parking LP for US$36.0m with an associated capital raising via an entitlement offer and a fully underwritten institutional placement.

It would be easy to focus on the acquisition – exciting that it is – however, in this straw I will focus on the operational performance for the half, leaving the proposed acquisition as a separate matter.

1H FY25 Highlights

Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $31.9m up 20.0% to pcp
• Adjusted EBITDA of $9.5m up 26% to PCP and Adjusted EBITDA Margin of 29.8% up 139 bps
• EBITDA of $9.19m up 34.6% to PCP
• "Adjusted free cash flow" (excluding growth capex) of $6.4m up 60% to PCP
• Cash of $8.5m up 17%
• EPS of $1.12 ($1.11 diluted) up 70%

Operational Highlights

Good growth in all markets, with accelerating PBN growth in the UK +18% (vs +13% in pcp) and strong growth in the profit contribution in NZ.

Losses in Germany continue to narrow, and a good start in Denmark.

My Observations

This is a good operating result. $SPZ have delivered another year of +20% revenue growth, with operating leverage driving strong EPS growth of +70%,

The UK continues to be the engine room driving almost 80% of revenue and 88% of adjusted EBITDA.

It is pleasing to see a meaningful contribution coming through from NZ, and it is still early days in Germany and Denmark, although German with sites up to 72 from 43 in the PCP, only added +5 from the EOFY 2024.

On the other hand, Denmark has gone from 11 contracts and no reported operating sites at EOFY24, to now have 21 up and running.

The new growth markets of NZ/Ger/Den are starting to make a more material contribution with aggregate PBNs growing +43% in the half vs. the PCP, compared with the more mature UK growing at a still decent (and in fact accelerating) +18%.

On cash generation, $SPZ’s curious “Free Cash Flow” of $6.4m (defined on slide 32), compares with the FY value of $12.2m – so it seems only a modest increase on a pro rate basis. The historical 1H/2H split for 1H FY24 was 49.3% of cash receipts, so their doesn’t seem to be a strong seasonal effect.

The seemingly impressive operating leverage and strong NPAT growth hides two factors. First, a currency tailwind giving a windfall of $0.74m, offsetting significant expenses growth: raw materials and consumables (+20% - in line with revenue growth), employee benefits expense (+28%), D&A (+35%), rent and leases  (+52%) and other expenses (+18%).

In isolation, these cost increases might appear to be a cause for concern. However, it is important to understand that these expense lines include the impact of the expansions into Germany and Denmark, and doubtless too, the costs for a year of prospecting for acquisitions in the US.

Overall, then, the net cash generation of +$1.3m is a good result. Cash contributions from UK and NZ, more than covering the net costs of getting started in Germany and Denmark and the hunt for acquisitions.

My Key Takeaways

The business continues to allocate capital from profitable core operations into expanding the business. All markets are growing – UK and NZ strongly, Denmark is off to the races, and Germany is making slower progress.

CEO Paul Gillespie reiterated the strategic goal of achieving organic growth of doubling the business to 3,000 ANPR sites by December 2028. Achieving that from today’s total of 1561 (including the suspended 71 in QLD), represents a CAGR from end of 1H FY25 to 31 December 2028 of 18%. This can be considered in the context of the latest growth rate of 28% (to pcp) and with the US soon to provide a new beachhead for growth.

Tomorrow, I’ll write up my appraisal of the proposed US acquisition deal. But, operationally, the meter at $SPZ is ticking along nicely.

Disc: Held in RL and SM

SPZ released 1H25 results this morning which on balance were fine, a little weaker than I expected but largely due to operating losses in Denmark and Germany before those geographies scale up.

However what dominated the result and the conference call this morning was the acquisition of Peak Parking based in Texas for the measly sum of $56m. 8x forecast EBITDA is nothing to sneeze at either!

It is a step change from the previous acquisitions made by SPZ:

UK - NE Parking (517 manual sites) for $520k

UK - Enterprise Parking Solutions (68 ANPR sites) for $1.54m

Germany - ParkInnovation (46 manual sites) for $2m

UK - Local Parking Security (72 ANPR, 54 manual sites) for $5.8m

Of course everything is bigger in Texas, including acquisitions!

SPZ management has earned the benefit of the doubt and I'm sure the lofty multiple the business trades at made the decision to acquire an easier one. That said, there are things shareholders will need to keep an eye on because unlike the acquisitions above the integration of Peak won't be as simple.

The business doesn't operate with SPZ's traditional parking breach notice business model. They charge a management fee to customers to manage their complete parking solution including valet, event management and consulting services. SPZ disclosed 20 of Peak's existing 134 sites have already expressed a desire to implement breach notices in their existing parking solution so there should be some immediate synergies on that front.

However it requires a change to the Peak business model where currently customers pay for any capex installed on their sites (boom gates, ticketing machines, etc.). SPZ has seen great success with the no capex model for customer, installing their ANPR system for free but then collecting the full benefit of any parking breaches (the customer benefits from better turnover in their parking site). On the call, the SPZ CEO said there is no one in the US using that model and they will remain flexible and use the model that best suits the customer.

In the end it became clear that despite Peak not being a "plug and play" acquisition like others in the past, SPZ management are very excited for it as the business has grown very strongly over the last few years all organically with an entrepreneurial management team committed to staying on and driving that further. But realistically today's announcement is bigger than Peak, it is confirmation that SPZ is ready to take on the gigantic US market. It will be a challenge and we will have to wait and see whether the Peak acquisition was the right one but nonetheless it is exciting to see them attack the US opportunity.

Welcome as it is I find a 14% jump in SP on no news in weeks a bit disconcerting… is this just a case of small volumes? (900,000 shares traded) or is an institution building a position? Or something else entirely?

So SPZ is being spanked for it's drop in NPAT. It's fallen 13% at time of writing despite:

Increasing revenue 21% year on year.

Really good growth in sites.

Increasing free cash flow.

I am confident in the business so for me this is an opportunity to top up. I just have... Does the increase in costs and drop in NPAT reflect a lack of discipline? To me, it's the cost of a growing business and there will be up years and down years while the business grows. I would expect as the business matures it's larger footprint will smooth some of that out.

The key thing here is I don't see a new regulatory risk which would be a real orange flag.

All of that said, always keen for alternate views.

Coming so soon after a trading update, SPZ's AGM was held this morning without a great deal of fanfare or controversy. A couple of new updates were given though. Smart Parking held 930 sites under management as at 31 Oct. That's up from 839 from 30 Jun and puts them on track to meet and beat their target of 1500 sites by Jun 2025. To add some context to that, according to them there are 150,000 sites available in markets they currently operate in - so their target is to manage 1% of those sites.

It also appeared that cash had rebounded in October and management included a waterfall to show movement of cash in the first four months of this year. They also forecast capex spend to be $4.5-5.5m in FY23. The nice thing about that spend is that it immediately starts paying for itself; it's not building capacity that you then have to go out and try to get someone to pay for.

A couple of other notes from the meeting:

• About 20 sites from the NE Parking acquisition (517 manual sites) have been converted to ANPR. Even they acknowledge it's not going as quickly as they would like but they don't need much more than that to justify the acquisition. I don't think of NE Parking as an acquisition per se - it's more like they paid a nominal sum to add a lot of sites to their pipeline and it may be a couple of years before they exhaust the pipeline.
• They're not yet seeing more challenging economic conditions being reflected in either traffic volumes or delinquency rates. In fact, October was a record receipts month for the U.K.

[Held]

Just doing some due diligence post-half year reporting and came across this disclosure about an acquisition SPZ had then recently bought (the disclosure was in 2012 for an acquisition made in 2011). I'm not sure I've seen a more brutally honest summary of some of the issues facing the business - if you've seen a better one let me know! They couldn't even fit it all on one slide (the third dot point on the second page is particularly funny/scary):

Fortunately SPZ has come a long way in the past couple of years under new management. There are risks that I want to look into and write up over the next few weeks but overall I see this as a business that finally has clear short and medium term targets, is on target to deliver on those and will eventually get rewarded for that with a re-rate.

[Held]