Singapore IPOs: Why I No Longer Cover Every Listing
Some readers may have noticed that I have not been writing about every Singapore IPO since last year. The simple reason is that life has become busier. Between my day job, an increasingly packed travel schedule, family commitments and desire to play more golf, I have become much more selective about how I spend my time. Writing detailed IPO reviews takes time — reading prospectuses, analysing financials, comparing valuations and understanding the competitive landscape. While I still enjoy investing and writing, I no longer feel the need to cover every IPO that comes to market. Instead, going forward, I will probably focus only on IPOs where I am seriously considering investing my own money or where there is something particularly interesting that is worth discussing. I suspect this will make the blog more useful as well. Rather than writing about every deal, I can spend more time sharing my thoughts on the handful that I believe deserve attention. That bring...
Comments
'Last financial year, Artivision earned full-year revenue of more than $277,000 and gross profit of $82,000. (http://938live.sg/portal/site/938Live/menuitem.43735da1634c4377d21b2910618000a0/?vgnextoid=6e665b3088c9b110VgnVCM1000001f0aa8c0RCRD&mcParam=6f33638896593110VgnVCM100000e101000aRCRD)
Thank you.
For Artivision, is there a way to measure its prospect other than its financial statements? What I do understand is that computer vision technology will be the next big thing and there are only a few companies that are actively developing this technology. For ArtiVision to be a singapore based company that is developing this technology, does it mean anything?
What are the things we should look for when we're assessing new companies, particularly those in high tech?
In a way, i'm also an insider because I do research in computer vision. What I lack is an overview of the market because i'm only equipped with a little technical knowledge. I guess i have to work on that somehow but I really have no background in business.
However, it is still exciting to know there's a singaporean company doing video analytics. I might be keeping a close watch on this company.
As another poster said, their technology is really no big deal. Other companies have been out there selling mature competing products for years. They cannot articulate how different their product is (better accuracy, faster response?). No point harping about the form factor (appliance) or what it can recognize (objects) when it can't articulate why people should pay for it.
This company should never have gone IPO. Or even be allowed to go IPO. Those who buy in at IPO are basically handing their money over to pay for the CEO, CTO etc and their drivers/cars.
I would speculate that some of the recent pre-IPO investors have gone in with the provision that the company goes IPO on Catalist within a certain time, so that they can cash out.
I am also guessing there might have been some inside view that this is the right time to take advantage of the newness of Catalist and the eagerness of sponsors and SGX to make it work. Which allows them to call this an IPO and pass the buck to clueless investors.
Even with a 12-month lockout, most of the pre-IPO investors are probably betting and hoping that the the share price will not drop beyond a certain amount. So most will still clear some profits. And definitely a windfall for the founders (at cost of 0.23 cents...)
I don't think there is any share divestment schedule committed by any of the shareholders, so look for the shares to be dumped after the lockout.
In the meantime, this is a penny stock purely for making money on the price movements, not about its revenue or technology prospects.
Michael