[bitran]

Dear Logan ji,

DH is a long timer. I do not know her/him personally but she was writing in MMB 6-7 years back itself. So, please understand DH frustrations and do not take it personally. It is definitely not against you. A lot of people start talking that you belong to management as you support CEO mostly. It is also understandable, even I have been accused of management guy in the past when we post messages in favor of SKR.

There are so many positives for SKR but at the same time, I have to say, If a CEO cannot reward his shareholders in 7 years, we cannot justify him in any way. The issues that BCG is facing is not something unique. There are several companies who has cashflow issues, who is under litigation etc. None of these is a reason for its current penny status. Buying a few crores of shares from the market by SKR & his friends itself will have the capability to take this to 30+ level but there is no intent there. Personally, I was an ardent fan of SKR. Still believe he has lot of strengths but being a CEO also means, he takes care of his shareholders and he is failing miserably in that area. It is akin to a king who won the battle but has to sacrifice most of his people for that win. I don’t know, if the king can be happy standing on the bodies of his own people and if he can really be happy about such a win.

When the preferential warrants were allocated, most of us were in a dire state of stock. Not that, we are against the promoters & his friends hiking their stake.( I also feel, this dilution is a way to prevent a takeover ) We understand that they have gone through tougher times and if they feel, they should be rewarded, it is ok for most of us but what worried us even then was, the share price will not be allowed to go up until that activity is also completed. It means, minimum another quarter of long wait again. Our CEO talked about inflation point in 2019 Dec and still we the retailers are dreaming of that day. Our share price shuttles between 7-8 odd levels only.

Finally, as a common retail share holder, I am still waiting for the day it rewards me. When a minnow like affle is raising crores of money and its share price making high every day, Brightcom, a stalwart who visualized the adtech sector growth and trend decade back, is still in penny status and is giving ‘n’ number of excuses for being at that level. Longing for that day, when we feel proud about our investment in BCG….I hope that day is very near….

[bitran]

Well said Logan ji.. We need to see closures of pending issues at the earliest. This will help to improve the market sentiment and really want to see our company coming out of penny status. Really fed up of seeing this sub 10 range and continuous UCs & LCs. Recently there were reports about Inmobi IPO this year and atleast by then we should reach at a respectable valuation. As inmobi is softbank backed, there will be lot of noises and sector highlights at that time and we should be ready to capitalise on that sentiments to take the company valuation at par with its peers. Eagerly waiting for LOC announcement also as that gives a befitting reply to the naysayers and those who advocate cookbook theory.

[bitran]

Continued..
SKR is very proud of brightcom. There is no doubt about it. No shady company promoter will be promoting his company at every opportunity like him. Those in Hyderabad circle can relate to this. He hires from campus and provide employment opportunities to many. He is not afraid of taking risks and invests heavily in new areas and is not afraid of failures. All genuine qualities for a CEO. Unfortunately for us, he is not showing any sort of empathy or support to his retail investors. I could not understand why? Is it greediness to accumulate maximum shares before a bull run starts? Or ego that I made this company and don’t want others to enjoy the fruits of my labor? If so, why did he went for a reverse merger and made this a public company? I believe he was doing pretty well before also as Ybrant technologies.
Finally, my conclusion is the company is real and only thing it requires is to have the promoter works a little bit more on corporate governance and improve transparency. I always believed that he did not build the company to let it remain in penny status and it will surge for certain. The question is when will that happen? Many of us are waiting in the counter patiently for years. With these warrants also done with, I am very hopeful that things will improve soon. Who will gain anymore by suppressing the share price. There is no logic for that. My opinion is let us not create more negativity unnecessarily and destroy our own chances. Let us wait until AGM and hear from him the reasons for warrants and his future plan.
Note: Check the price of Pubmatic which is recently listed in US.. If SKR plays his card right, we really have a winner…

[bitran]

Hi All,

Please note this is my personal thoughts and probably my way of finding positivity in these difficult times to stay invested. Do not consider my views for your buy/sell/hold decision.

Yes, the warrants came as a surprise but to be honest, most of us were expecting that the promoters would buy heavily before the actual bull run starts in the counter. I strongly feel, even with diluted holdings, if all other things remains true, we still have the possibility of 10-20x share price appreciation.
It would have been more easier on us if at least some portion of the warrants were subscribed by promoter( Not considering the morality or ethics part.) Not seeing that is the most frustrating part. May be he doesn’t have money now and may buy back from some of these entities at a later point.(Not sure, if that is feasible though..)

On the positive side, his friends are raising the stake. They are accomplished entrepreneurs themselves. If this is so bad, will they throw good money into this bad venture? I don’t think so. Comparing karuturi to Brightcom is really unfair. Brightcom is a global brand with offices in 22 countries or more whereas Karuturi was cultivating in Africa. Look at the number of Brightcom and affiliates employees in linkedin. Their Israel division alone is more valuable than the entire market cap of the company. It is audited by E&Y and some of our friends have seen that documents. Jacob Nizri and Brad Cohen who are in the management team are accomplished entreprenuers.So many standard third parties have certified and vouched for Brightcom and even rated it as an alternative to google Adsense. Recently, he onboarded Peshwa Acharya also to the board. A person of Mr. Acharya’s stature will not join a shady paper company for certain. Recently there was a statement from Mr. Acharya in linkedin that he is proud to be on board of BCG. Will anyone talks like that for a shady company? No way..So, the business is real for certain.

[bitran]

Hi Rahul,

Thanks for highlighting the Lepton CEO connection with SKR. I was sort of joking when I yesterday wrote if there are any other wealthier friends in his IIT batch. Subrato Saha is also Muskaan owner and he, raising stake via this PW is indeed very positive. We should consider all these as promoter stake only. Don’t know how many more like this but there should be definitely more.

In one way, we should be glad that he is allotting the warrants to his close friends and associates. That means the promoter is confident of the company prospects and he really might have cash issue to subscribe himself. Maybe this time, the promoters can get the dividend and use that to buy some shares from the market. Not sure, if that is a priority for SKR or he has other important plans with the money. Only problem is some investors look for promoter stake in the company to invest and since that stake going down may not be appealing in that perspective.

However for us, this gives a bit of confidence that he is genuinely trying to sort out things but his execution is very slow and so is transparency with investors. Some of those may not be intentional but it appears so to retail investors as many track the company with eagle eye and try to dissect each and every minute detail. Ex: why they did not upload the investor list together with the dilution notice? I don’t believe there is any hidden agenda there as there is nothing to hide in the list but it is casual omission or they did not feel it is important but that resulted in so many conspiracy theories even among us.

Additionally, I would urge SKR to be transparent and honest with shareholders. If he has told earlier that, they might have to dilute the equity due to cashflow issues since LOC can delay, we would not have felt this cheated. I don’t think there was much of a burst out when the company gave preferential issue to Muskaan and others. Honesty is the best policy rather than trying to cover up things. He is a master in carefully worded answers and he could have easily convey such a possibility in a very subtle way.

Now, what happens to LOC, Axis etc. Guess, we need to wait until AGM to know the status unless they report it to exchange before that. In the mean time, let us hope the share also catch up and give the investors some much needed reason to cheer…

[bitran]

@tanv,

We all know that SKR is a smart man and that is why we invested in his company. Honestly, I do not have any problems with promoter increasing their stake even if it is at face value of 2 Rs. There is no doubt about the sweat, determination, hardwork they have put in and so, if they feel they deserve a bigger pie, why not? The problem is in the way in which it has been done. Anyway I hope atleast from now on, he shows some empathy to his retail shareholders. Hoping for the best.

[bitran]

@Odyssey,

This is pure speculation and read it only for fun. As Logan ji mentioned, if company do not share proper details, investors will speculate. (May be SKR likes to read these funny stories for time pass and hence he purposefully not sharing the investor details ;))

1. SKR has to give equity to someone. So, when dilution happens, promoters also needs to subscribe so that they have controlling stakes. ( Else in future how can they come up with these sort of wonderful, shareholder friendly measures and expect to get approvals ;))
2. LOC might be delayed or cancelled and they want money to settle Daum. So, the equity dilution.
3. LOC is ready and they are ready to inform to the broader community. Once that happens, share price will increase for certain, before that increase the promoter stake. They do not have entire money to buy from market as most of their money is stuck in the company. So, go for warrant together with an investor as warrant means only 25% initial money.

Now who are the investors?

Some investor whom SKR has convinced to invest in the company. Could be a big global/local investor, Lender of LOC (Financial Institutions), Muskan (to compensate for PO ) or any of his friends ( Does he has more wealthier friends in his IIT batch ;)) It could also be Daum wherein they accept equity instead of cash. Any sort of permutation combination from the above is a possibility.

He may even surprise us with something new which even we missed to speculate just like this equity dilution. It was nowhere in scope. We always thought, he will buy back from market when he gets the LOC money as LOC money was always “Almost ready for long time”. May be he knows about this dilution but not revealed to investors.

[bitran]

Drpram #9601,
If every promoter think likes this, what would be the situation of our market. There is no problem if promoter subscribe to warrants as we need to recognise their efforts but there is a way to do this with justice to all stakeholders. Atleast, minimum they should have publish the name of the investors to whom the assignment is happening. We have to fight to know that? Is that fair? Having said this,In the interest of all long term holders, I hope what you said is correct and now we see the share price rising to a respectable level. It is true what Mr.Nair also mentioned it is difficult for market to ignore when someone invests close to the market cap in a company. This time, I really hope there is no further hidden agenda…

[bitran]

@SKR, ( If you are reading this )

If there is a reason why the management is doing this, we have the right to know. Most of us will understand if the promoters needs to increase the stake as they have toiled hard for the company but we really do not appreciate you leaving us to second guess things. The dilution is very hard on retail investors who did not get anything out from the company for long. Some of them are staying with the company for 7-8 years. All other similar companies are flying high in this bull run and BCG under Rs5. Can you think about the opportunity cost for the retail investors? We believed in each and every word you uttered in the past conference calls. Don’t you feel, it is your responsibility to reward the shareholders? How long we have to wait to gain anything out from BCG? If rewarding the shareholders is not a CEO’s responsibility, then it is whose responsibility?….

[bitran]

One word.. Disappointed. Felt like being slapped hard on the face by Promoter..

Putting my emotions aside, tried to think hard on why SKR has done this? He knows for certain that the company is very much undervalued. Then why giving away this much equity to another person/entity?

1. He is trying to bring some strategic partner onboard and they negotiated hard for a decent stake. When giving them the required equity, promoter percentage may go down and hence he also needs to increase the promoter percentage which resulted in this much dilution.( May be the PO team who invested at Rs10 already should also be given a stake to compensate or are they the strategic investor?)

2. Why at this price? The investor could have bought a certain percentage of shares from open market. With the price anyway under 10 and even under 5, there will be lot of equity to accumulate. The moment the share cross 15-20, many retail investors will book profits. ( Or is that the intention? Give them some X% equity and let them pick the remaining from open market and thereby raising the stock price to a respectable level? In such a case, the strategic investor average would be higher as they have to buy from open market for remaining quantity. To compensate for that this price of 7.7?)

3. Why do he require this much money now? PO money is locked for Axis settlement & LOC money for Daum settlement. Or Is it that they want to settle Daum, even before they get LOC and LOC is delayed or cancelled? Or this equity is for the lender who gives the LOC?

4. Why can’t he explain the situations openly with investors in conference call? Why do we have to second guess on his actions? Where is the corporate governance?

[bitran]

Logan ji,

Let us not worry about onboarding new investors and stability of share price. SKR confirmed that it is his responsibility and he will do that. We need to trust him ( Yes, it is very difficult based on what we have gone through..) But I am not sure, if you have noticed. Few years back, his rant was business is doing good and he cannot say anything about market and it will take its own course. From that rant to yesterday’s “Bringing new investors is my responsibility and you will see actions fairly soon” is a very welcome change.

I believe that time has come for SKR to act on the share price. He build a 2500+ crore empire to not let it lie in penny share category. Due to some unfortunate situations, company went through some tough times and he is doing the cleaning up now. A little more is left, which I am confident, he will complete. His ambition is to rub shoulders with big guys and we will see that. In yesterday’s call also, he mentioned that we are number 1 is some areas.

When we ask about different verticals in Digital and their revenue contribution and splits and Onomagic; I was very sure he will not answer that. I thought, he would not even pick those questions but he did but did not give a direct answer. Do you think it is difficult for him to voice out couple of sites name which we own? No, then why? I have an intelligent guess but I do not want to speculate in public forums. Let us give him this quarter to do the finishing touches. In the mean time, I am waiting for a dream run in our company which can start any time soon. Only time will say, if I was right or this was a mere illusion…

[bitran]

@Valuebuyer, Thanks for pointing out about huge equity. Fair point but at the same time do not underestimate SKR. He has the capability but only problem is so far he has not shown any interest to his shareholders which I am hoping will change. If not, tough luck for us…

[bitran]

Additionally, I feel that, there were some questions raised which were really not appropriate to be asked to a CEO. As an investor, I am also as frustrated as many others about the delay in settling couple of issues and the pathetic state of share price, but at the same time, I feel that this is not the way people should ask questions to a CEO. They should have refined the questions properly. Not sure, if that was a deliberate attempt like that of what happened in message boards where miscreants tries to create ruckus.

While some of the answers were not up to the expectation, I was sort of satisfied with the updates shared by him. I am giving him the benefit of doubt that he cannot be as open and transparent as still there is ongoing issues which the company has to settle and giving too much of rosy projections may not be in our best interest.

Finally, I do not know, if I am trying to read too much from his statements as I am an investor and want the share price to go up. However, to me, it looks like we are very close to the end of tunnel and may see light soon. Couple of statements where SKR talks about onboarding new investors and bravely mentioning it as his responsibility points towards that. Stock action on Muhurat day trading surely accentuates that belief.

Again, please do not take my word for your buying or selling decision. Take everything what I said with loads of sacks of Salt 🙂 Do your own research and take informed decision. Good Luck to all my fellow investors.

[bitran]

Hi All,

My Diwali wishes to all.. Hope this year, we see a new BCG rising from the ashes like a Phoenix and surprising everyone in the best positive way.

Regarding Conference call, SKR has given a decent update on various issues. Glad to notice that he has picked up all or most of the questions shared from this forum. Some of the answers were evasive but he promised to share updates in couple of weeks time on couple of those queries. LOC seems to be at final stages and might happen soon. I am expecting it before AGM on Dec 28 and guess, that is why they delayed AGM till the very last. Axis again seems to be delaying but as per him, they are working on that and also doing payments in the interim. I hope they will complete it this quarter itself and do not drag it further. Consolidation of subsidiary is linked to LOC and will be done when LOC is materialized. Growth of this quarter was subdued due to some additional expenses. However, next quarter is expected to be much better.

Regarding buyback, he mentioned consideration of buyback will be taken up at appropriate time after all issues are settled. ( I do not know, why certain people are keen on buyback. See, SKR might maximum offer 20 Rs for buyback or to the very max 30, whereas if the share performs well, it can go to 200 or even 2000 😉 I truly believe this has the potential to cross Affle once the current issues are sorted and LOC will give the required ammunition for growth and share price appreciation which everyone is keen on.))

[bitran]

Some questions from my side.
1. All other digital marketing companies did well this quarter but we have a lackluster performance. Any specific reason?
2. Onomagic- Owned and operated publishers. Can we know atleast a few owned sites in this category? What is the revenue contribution from onomagic?
3. Can we get an approximate revenue split across various verticals in digital? For ex: SSP,DSP, Onomagic, any other like DMP? Do we have any specific brand name for DMP?
4. What are management plans/initiative to improve the share performance? Issue s are being dragged unnecessary. What is the update from last analyst meet?

[bitran]

Hi All,
I also agree to the perception that the conference call was pretty decent. The key point to note is where SKR mentioned that the impressions had grown from 30 billion to 80 billion. That is huge growth even with out LOC.

However, what hit the investors is the time frame of 4 months which he mentioned for the LOC to come through. Many believe that the share price will rise only after LOC and Daum settlement and hence this resulted in a lot of negative vibes across groups and forums. Most of the investors were dejected and negative reviews started flowing. Since many of the investors are traders, their thought process was to sell and buy back when the share price fall further or when the share starts showing upward momentum.

My take is, Market always takes into account future earnings and prospects. A multinational company having a litigation is nothing new and that too when a settlement agreement is there with Daum, there is no need to be worried about it. Axis is also a done deal and just waiting for the official closure. The management also seems to be keen on settling the past issues and look forward.

Having said this, it is very easy to understand the retail investors mentality ( including mine) and their frustrations. When stocks like affle, Tanla and many others running wild like there is no tomorrow, BCG which has huge potential is still lagging much behind. Many of them sold Tanla and bought BCG in the past and it is heart breaking for them to see the current state of affairs.

We should applaud SKR for the grit he had shown when the company was going through tough times. At the same time, he need to realize that it is high time he need to take strong actions for the share holders to see some decent price appreciation. A CEO is ultimately evaluated based on the value he created for shareholders. He has already started making right moves but much more is needed. I hope and believe, he will do the right thing and take the company forward, both in business front and also from shareholder perspective.
Good Luck to all the investors.

[bitran]

All, my message was primarily to project how valuable BCG is when we consider the entire group and not only brightcom. Yes, there is lack of clarity on certain fronts but it is very much possible that management wants to test the waters first and want to wait until there is sizable revenue out of it to communicate openly. Additionally, all knows that Oak will be selling and hence they might have thought of not revealing all their trump cards as anyway share price is in penny. Hope management attention come to the investors plight and they will do the needful to improve the market sentiments and share price.

[bitran]

@Saul Goodman, Thank you for your detailed articles. Itz enlightening. Just wanted to correct on one point wherein you said BCG is an SSP. I beg to differ on that. Brightcom is a SSP but BCG as a group contains many entities which includes Boldwin which is a DSP and recently they acquired Vixi tv. So connected tv also is part of BCG. Then, I also suspect they also own a list of publishing assets which may be consolidated into a single umbrella. Add Lycos also to the list. We need to get clarity on all these in the next conference call. Feel free to correct me if I got this wrong.

[Author]

Posts