Investors express annoyance with Seeing Machines

Following my last blog, institutional investors have fired a shot across the boughs of management by voting against the remuneration package of CEO Paul McGlone.

Approximately 31% of votes cast were against his ā€˜Termination Benefitsā€™ package, which had rather soft targets. Still, if good news isnā€™t forthcoming in the very near future I think he may be glad to have got them in the bag.

In my experience if several IIs are prepared to publicly vote against such a package, many more would have been annoyed by the CEO getting a bonus before delivering the goods.

Fleet fixed

Speaking of deliveries, I firmly believe that fleet is fixed and upwards of 20,000 Guardian units have been installed worldwide. However, the company insists on not releasing this material information to all investors – though it was inadvertently leaked by a distributor in Chile.

Instead, like a tired politician, they are chanting the mantra of ā€œLetā€™s get the interims done,ā€ while bandying about a 16k figure that is 5 months old, as if it has any meaning.

Worse, the information on the distributorā€™s website has been doctored in a rather rough and ready way. It now reads (in translation): ā€œGuardian saves lives in more than 24 countries in the world, monitoring more than 20,000 vehicles in mining and commercial fleet vehicles.ā€

So all of a sudden weā€™re supposed to believe no new Guardian units have been installed in 5 months? Also that fleet and CAT are no longer split?Ā It’s the worse cover up since Boris Johnson insisted that the NHS is safe in his hands.Ā 

I appreciate management want to surprise investors with good news but if price sensitive it needs to come out in a timely manner. How about a pre-Xmas trading update? Consider it a stocking filler to your long-suffering investors – whoā€™ve just awarded the CEO the biggest present of his life.

As an aside, itā€™s worth remembering that institutional investors, being a little old fashioned, really do value integrity and openness. For example, theyā€™d be annoyed if the company held back news on say, a new Tier 1 distributor, if it was deemed material.

The writer still holds shares in Seeing Machines.

Seeing Machines to surprise on upside

I spoke with 2 fund managers last week about Seeing Machines. I wonā€™t reveal their names here but what they said reinforced my opinion that the revelation that fleet is well and truly fixed, coupled with proof that breakeven is imminent (when the Aviation licensing deal is signed), will really move the share price in the very near future.

The first fund manager knew and liked Seeing Machines but, because he runs a large fund, canā€™t invest in companies below a Ā£200m market cap.Ā 

The second fund manager used to hold Seeing Machines but sold because it appeared to have too many issues and there was no sign of breakeven.Ā 

Their views are probably replicated ten times over with other fund managers, which means that there is a large weight of money ready and willing to come into SEE once it effectively communicates the fact that fleet is fixed and breakeven is coming very soon.

Admittedly, there must also be holders who have lost patience, particularly as the company appears to be in no rush to provide detailed updates on the progress on Fleet. Iā€™m personally tired of hearing the figure of 16,000 fleet installations given out for months on end.

Fleet

My own view, as revealed at the CMD, is that Fleet installations must be at least 20,000 right now. Itā€™s therefore great to discover that this figure appears to be correct,Ā since it has been publishedĀ on the website of Seeing Machines’ Latin American distributor in Chile. It hasĀ on its homepage the words: ā€œGuardian salva vidas en mas de 30 paises del mundo monitoreando mas de 20.000 vehiculos en tiempo real.”Ā Translated into english it means: ā€œGuardian saves lives in more than 30 countries in the world by monitoring more than 20,000 vehicles in real time.ā€

Screen Shot 2019-11-21 at 13.58.00

Given this is the case, why isnā€™t Seeing Machines communicating this to investors and the wider market? Moreover, why isnā€™t CenkosĀ upgrading its projections?

Instead, the market is still being provided with the laughable estimate from Cenkos that fleet will only deliver revenue of A$20.9m for the full year 2020, based on uber conservative numbers that are even below Seeing Machines unrealistically low estimate of 27k-30k installations.

This is what Cenkos wrote in its note of 23 September, 2019 ā€œā€¦.our Fleet connection forecasts are based on connections below the guidance of 27k-30kā€.

One might reasonably ask for these projections to be updated. Still the questions remains, why havenā€™t they been updated? Okay, Cenkos is the house broker and is pretty dependent on Seeing Machines for a steer, so why haven’t they had it?

Reading an old blog post on Safestocks, I was reminded how management priorities differ from those of private investors.

There is an additional reason, I believe. Naturally, a prudent new CEO wants to have something up their sleeve to impress the market. Letā€™s not forget that Seeing Machines has disappointed investors many times over the past 5 years. The onus really is on him to deliver and keep on delivering.

The good news is that I think that is what is in store for investors in Seeing Machines. In short I expect fleet upgradesĀ by the interims (at the latest) and then again for the finals.Ā  Forget estimates of 27k-30k fleet units for this financial year, backed by uber conservative figures from Cenkos. The actual figures for installations should be nearer the 35k mark, which will blow away the existing estimates.

In addition, I expect such upgrades to be preceded by an RNS announcing an aviation licensing deal with with L3 Harris and/or CAE, that provides an upfront payment and ongoing royalties. If it lives up to the billing from Paul McGlone in a recent interview I expect it to bring forward breakeven from the end of calendar year 2021 to June 2020 this financial year.

That news, when eventually delivered, willĀ cause a huge re-rating as IIs, who’ve lost interest or sat on the sidelines, jump into this stock.

For long suffering investors in Seeing Machines vindication is close at hand.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.

The Pretenders are dead, long live the King of DMS

At yesterdayā€™s Capital Markets Day for Seeing Machines it was standing room only, as Colin Barden an independent analyst at Semicast Research presented the news that investors in Seeing Machines have long waited to hear: though the coronation has been delayed, it will be the King of DMS.

It was hard news for rivals but, in one slide, Barnden presented his projections for the market shares come 2022. He estimates 40-45% for Seeing Machines, followed by 15-20% for Mitsubishi Electric. All other rivals are left lagging far, far behind, with Smart Eye in particular estimated at 5-7%.

That said, I saw no evidence of complacency from the Seeing Machines staff, quite the reverse. McGlone, in particular, came across as a man determined to deliver profitable growth. He certainly doesn’t look like the sort of guy who will let a rival eat his lunch.

Paul McGlone, CEO, Seeing Machines

Paul McGlone, CEO, Seeing Machines

The growing interest in its DMS technology was clear from the host of analysts I met at the event: Sanjay Jha of Panmure Gordon, Lorne Daniel at FinnCap, Caspar Trenchard at Canaccord Genuity and even one from Steifel (there may well have been others). Iā€™m sure the house broker Cenkos was represented but house analyst Jean-Marc Bunce was the invisible man on this occasion.

Fleet

Probably, a wise decision on Bunceā€™s part as Iā€™ve been trying to find out why heā€™s taken such a conservative stance on fleet. In his note dated 23rd September he states on page 1: “We believe the guidance for 27-30k connections at the end of FY20 is conservative and underpinned by a strong pipeline.ā€

Yet on page 4, he contradicts this, becoming ultra conservative, when he writes:Ā ā€œā€¦.our Fleet connection forecasts are based on connections below the guidance of 27-30kā€.

I wondered why he decided to do this and also upon what number of fleet connections he actually based his projected revenue figure of A$20.9m? By my calculations to arrive at A$20.9m he must have used less than 18,000 installations, which does appear excessively low.

Yesterday the new CEO, Paul McGlone was in combative mood as he faced down attempts to extract projections on the number of Fleet sales for 2020, sticking to guidance of 27-30k. He even declined to provide a current figure. I assume this is because Seeing Machines hopes to upgrade at the interims and doesnā€™t want to spoil the surprise. Personally, I donā€™t particularly like surprises even to the upside.

The reduction in the unit cost of Gen 2 Guardian by 21% announced yesterday must surely drive increased uptake from fleets as will the increasing number of distributors and deals with insurers.

Mike Lenne, the Human Factors expert who heads up Fleet does appear to be its secret weapon when it comes to persuading Fleets to use their technology to improve safety. HIs calm, analytical approach should pay dividends and puts Seeing Machines in a league of its own.

It was the first time Iā€™ve met Tim Edwards, one of the original brains behind the technology along with fellow co-founder of the company Sebastien Rougeaux. Edwards comes across as a very modest man, particularly for a genius who jointly developed this life-saving technology.

Aviation

While CEO McGlone and Pat Nolan, who heads up Aviation, were chided slightly for building up expectations re. an aviation licensing deal with CAE and L3 Harris, I got the impression such a deal is at most a 2-3 months away. Weā€™ll see I guess. The great news is that end users (such as Alaska Airlines) are now requesting that manufacturers of full flight simulators now have eye-tracking from Seeing Machines.

Auto

As for Nick DiFiore, who heads up Auto, Iā€™m expecting him to deliver a lot. Volvo for one, VW for another pretty soon. Followed by Japanese OEMs. Oem decision-making has been the main reason for delays up to this point but See does appear remarkably well positioned with Xilinx to grab market share from Nvidia and Mobileye. The fact that Fovio can identify an incapacitated driver makes it a shoo-in for Volvo and parent Geely may well have decided it needs it too.

The US market really needs to hear this in its own accent and so it was good to be told by Paul McGlone that it will be getting a US broker. I do hope it is Morgan Stanley. Iā€™ve long wished to read/hear Adam Jonas extol the virtues of Seeing Machines.

Overall then, while I would have liked more opportunity and time for detailed questions, I feel that further patience will be handsomely rewarded here. Of course, every investor should do their own research.

The writer holds stock in Seeing Machines.