If you ever wondered why it is that Crowdcube never manage to get their pitches' projections even close to what actually happens, then you should take a look at their own development.
Now this projection was a while ago - when they first raised money through their own site, so you might forgive them. Unfortunately their ability to publish realistic projections has probably got worse in the last 3 years - it has to end somewhere.
So the projection for 2014 by Crowdcube on its own pitch, on its own website - clearly fully vetted and verified by the Crowdcube out to lunch department was as follows -
Sales £4.4m with net profits of 3.7m which if I was an investor and I believed a word of it, would be a truly excellent result - Well Done Lads.
The actual filed accounts to September 2015 show turnover way down at £2.6m and losses for the year of £4.8m. Their GPM has fallen considerably and their running costs have gone from just over £2m to £6.3m. The company has made ever increasing losses, which was certainly not in any of their projections. Unless of course they have put the wrong figures in the wrong boxes. Yes that would explain it.
Another year like that and the Board will be returning to its own trough for a refill. They currently have enough cash (from the last raise) to get through this year to September 2016 if they don't increase their losses like they have year on year to date. Any vultures circling?
So you see it really should come as no surprise that as they cant get their own figures to align, they cant prevent anyone else making them up as well. It's what happens when a couple of marketing guys try to run a business.
They probably got all their pals to pledge to get them over the 60% mark or even pledged themselves and added in a phantom institutional investor to raise the cash.
ReplyDeleteThe blind leading the blind is one thing, but the informed inner circle heavily manipulating the crowd is quite another. If we look at regulatory risk as a speed limit on a motorway, these guys are doing 105 MPH. If they have the juice to get out of the atmosphere, they'll be fine, otherwise they are heading for one hell of a fireball.
But your forget that the valuation has increased dramatically to £50m. So we do not care if the sales are nor met we are still making big bucks.
ReplyDeleteI have to hope you are pulling my leg? Otherwise your are clearly certifiable. The paper value is just that - paper - ie worthless. If they never get a profit situation, then you can kiss goodbye to it being worth more than £1.
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