GetSwift AGM 2017, Can it really conquer the world?

2017 has been a pivotal year for GetSwift (GSW:ASX) with management believing the best is yet to come for this small Australia tech company.

Let me kick off my thoughts on GetSwift Ltd (ASX: GSW) Annual General Meeting by saying that if you’re looking for an executive chairman who can sell a story, look no further than GetSwift’s Bane Hunter. If he’s doing as good a job on prospective clients as he did on the attendees at its AGM then the company is in safe hands.

I joked on the CTHGPRO forums if I was in a church at the end of Bane’s sermon, I would have jumped to my feet and yelled “hallelujah brother”!

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not knocking Bane’s ability, in fact from what I can gauge, he’s a prized asset and for a company that boasts zero marketing staff, he seamlessly steps into that role.

So what did I learn at the AGM?

Firstly I was happy to see Bane kicking off proceedings by addressing a question many investors have regarding GetSwift.

Why would a company pay GetSwift Ltd when they could build it themselves ?

Let me start by saying if you hear an analyst ask this question, withdraw your money from their care and run not walk, as far away as you can. Why? because they obviously have zero real world experience.

Having worked in various companies across various industries, implementing company-wide software is far from easy. It takes considerable time and money. I am yet to see any large implementation go smoothly with many mistakes and miscalculations along the way. So when GeySwift comes knocking and says it will take on these risks and you only need to pay as you go, well-travelled CEOs and CFOs are definitely sitting up and listening.

Another key difference over an in-house approach is the intelligence gathered by GetSwift operating across different sectors and countries, which the team at GSW were keen to point out  is funneled back into software improvements.

Next came the presentation slides which can be found here

I will let you make your own mind up about the presentation.  The key takeaway in my opinion and a point that was made a few times by management at the AGM is that GetSwift is now being sought out by Fortune 1000 companies in the US as word-of-mouth spreads.

Question time

Before I go any further, I would encourage all shareholders to attend AGMs and to ask questions. Too many times I have attended AGMs and I’m the only one left to ask questions.

I kicked off question time by asking for specific examples of how GetSwift had improved its software over the last 12 months from intelligence gathered ?

To be honest, I am not sure my question was addressed completely. You know when someone says that’s a good question, they are trying to think of an answer. Without giving specifics examples, management answered that they had learned how different industries operated and offered new functionality in its software.

The next question that came from the audience and asked how the NA Williams project was progressing?

While the company was limited at what they could say in regards to market sensitive comments, they indicated the project was on track and an announcement about the progress would be made early in the new year.

The next question came back to me and I asked if they could explain the 1 billion transactions (NA Williams) as I was struggling to understand where those numbers came from?

I was pleased to learn the 1 billion figure actually came from NA Williams itself when they engaged GetSwift. Both the chairman and managing director admitted they also doubted those figures when they first heard them. This led to them spending sometime in the US with NA Williams at their delivery sites and on delivery trucks to get a better grasp of how many transactions would be involved across all divisions of NA Williams.

The next question was around small companies vs larger deals and where that was headed?

At the moment around 60% of transactions are from smaller companies but as deals are signed and come on line Getswift was expecting it to end up 80/20 to larger implementations.

The final question and perhaps the most telling was one asked about the current trading halt and the announcement of a “significant deal”.

The chairman said that while he was unable to give any specifics until it was released to market (tomorrow) he joked many readers of the announcement would experience a jaw dropping moment.

The AGM concluded with an update that a number of key appointments would be announced shortly from well known international companies. GetSwift management believes this validates their faith in the company.

Conclusion

I have written a few times that I like to keep my distance from company management so I do not fall under the spell of a great storyteller.

Having said that I was happy to see management was prepared to address the questions that the market has for such a young company. As a shareholder of GSW I look forward to finding myself nursing a sore jaw around 10am tomorrow morning but my 20 odd years in the market has me very skeptical indeed.

 

Do you have an opinion on GetSwift?

I would love to hear it!!

Please join me on my new forum. Just click here.

Disclosure:
Please Note: None of the above should be considered investment advice. These are my own opinions based on a number of years market experience. Please do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor if you wish to invest.

 

Why you need to know GetSwift quick smart!

It is not often that Australia produces a company with prospects of a worldwide audience but in GetSwift Ltd (ASX:GSW) we might just have one.

Well I never thought I would be excited by a company run by an ex-footballer but it has happened!

Former Brisbane and Melbourne AFL player Joel Macdonald in my opinion may well control one of the most exciting stocks on the ASX if not globally at this very moment.

I was not surprise to learn in the company’s recent capital raising that overseas investors were not only keeping a close eye on his company but were also prepared to invest substantial cash into the idea.

So what is GetSwift and why do I like it so much?

You would have to have been living under a rock not to have heard about Amazon’s upcoming arrival in Australia, along with the dire predictions for the Australian retail sector when the US giant hits our shores.

What is particularly worrying for Australian retailers is Amazon’s ability to deliver quickly and cheaply. This means for Aussie retailers to survive, they will need to be able to match such a service.

Through adversity comes opportunity

In a nutshell GetSwift provides retailers with software that manages dispatch and delivery services to their customers.

The company’s slogan might give you an idea of why I am excited by GetSwift’s prospects.

“Dispatch like Uber, track like Dominos, set routes like FedEx”

Chairman Bane Hunter describes GetSwift’s advantage in this manner.

“GetSwift is a cost effective way of tackling the threat from Amazon, Foodora, UberEats, Deliveroo and other global technology companies attempting to capture this space, and charge retailers a significant premium for the benefit of what is becoming an expected service,”

But it isn’t just large retailers that can benefit from GetSwift’s software. Small shop front retailers will benefit from delivery drivers with excess capacity who can log in and pick up jobs from GetSwift’s platform similar to the way UberEats functions.

In theory this means any corner store could start to compete with Amazon on delivery times at a cost effective price!

Do you have an opinion on GetSwift or how Amazon will change retail in Australia?

I would love to hear it!

Please join me on my new forum. Just click here.

Disclosure:

Please Note: None of the above should be considered investment advice. These are my own opinions based on a number of years market experience. Please do your own research and consult a qualified financial advisor if you wish to invest.

Please note.

There have been some lies spread around the internet that this page was removed because of Getswift’s fall from grace. This is far from the truth, a few pages were switched off a while back including the famous George Costanza (reverse thing) page 🙂 because they were causing the website to slow. With an upgrade in hosting plans and updates in the forum software I am now able to switch all pages back on. I find it strange that such lies were spread when my second article on GetSwift has remained up on the site since it was written back in 2017 plus Get-Swift is far from my worst performer. Anyway haters gonna hate as they say. If anyone has concerns please feel free to contact me directly at cthgpro@gmail.com.