Thursday February 14th 2019

Thursday February 14th 2019

Robot lawyer - Luxury menswear - IT support

DoNotPay | Pretty Green £22.7m | Redcentric £104.6m

News about 3 UK growth companies and/or accelerators + turnover in the GRID marketplace 5th – 11th November 2017:

DONOTPAY: robot lawyer - London
Stars back British coder Joshua Browder | Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times. November 5, 2017
DZ profile:
Business: a robot lawyer / bot that automatically challenges parking tickets
Launched: 2015
Location: Hendon, London
Founder: Joshua Browder, 21, developed donotpay.com while still at school in London. Now a student at Stanford University in California. He was recently named one of MIT Technology Review’s “35 innovators under 35”, an honour previously bestowed on digital pioneers including Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
Investment: last week secured $1.1m (£840,000) in a funding round led by the prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ. Other participants included GREYLOCK PARTNERS, where the LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman is among the investors, and partners from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, one of the tech industry’s top law firms.
News: Browder will use the money to expand into other sectors, including divorce and immigration. It is also being used to fight property taxes in Britain and America and to sue the credit agency Equifax over its huge data breach. Browder pledged to take a salary of just £1, “until the law is free for everyone in America and the UK”.

PRETTY GREEN: luxury menswear - Reading
Revealed: Liam Gallagher's fashion firm Pretty Green gets £10m boost from new backer | Joanna Bourke, The Evening Standard. November 8, 2017
DZ profile: Pretty Green Limited
Business: luxury menswear label. The retailer has 30 shops and concessions in the UK and sells goods such as £200 parka jackets.
Launched: 2009
Location: Reading
Founder: former Oasis frontman, singer Liam Gallagher. The retailer was named after a song by The Jam.

Staff: chief executive, Richard Ralph
Financials: It will shortly file accounts that show turnover increased to £22.7m in the year to September 2016, from £19.8m a year earlier.
Investment: ROCKPOOL INVESTMENTS said it has just completed a deal to buy a £10m minority stake. Rockpool’s other investments include interiors business HOUSE OF HACKNEY and accessories brand KNOMO. Gallagher remains the largest shareholder, while footballer Joe Cole and other private-equity investors also have stakes.
News:

1. Ralph said part of the investment will fund store openings in the UK and potentially overseas ...following strong trading in London and online this year.

UPDATE:
Liam Gallagher's fashion firm Pretty Green outlines Brexit plan | Joanna Bourke, The Evening Standard. 8 January, 2019.

2. saw turnover jump to £38.2m in the 16 months to January 2018, up from £21.2m in the previous year.
Pre-tax losses narrowed to £1.5m from a £5.6m loss. It did not pay out a dividend.

Aim stocks face succession questions | Chris Tighe and Andy Bounds, FT. November 10, 2017

Planned management succession, with established directors leaving a successful business on a phased basis, is the corporate ideal. Constant churn of top leadership — in the boardroom or in the coaches’ dugout — rarely engenders confidence. However, companies are led by human beings and the unexpected happens. There are cases of sudden ill health, fraud or potential reputational damage from behaviour in or outside the company. Globalisation means directors may face difficulties working in one country, with spouse and children in another. Leaving to spend more time with your family is not always a euphemism for boardroom rows.

Three northern Aim stocks illustrate different aspects of the management change challenge

IMMUNODIAGNOSTIC SYSTEMS. See past article (updated) or Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings Plc DZ profile.

REDCENTRIC: IT support - Harrogate
DZ profile: Redcentric Plc
Business: IT business which provides web hosting, consultancy and IT support. Works for the likes of the UK government, PIZZAEXPRESS and HOWDENS, the builders’ merchants.
Launched: 1997
Location: Harrogate
Staff: chief executive, Chris Jagusz
Financials: £4.3m pre-tax loss in the year to March 2017, revenues £104.6m. It still had £33m net debt in September.
Investment: AIM-listed 2013
News: It has been year since Redcentric shocked the market with an accounting scandal….. Now is saying goodbye to the man who steadied the ship after the shares sunk more than 60 per cent. Fraser Fisher, the chief executive who survived the accounting problems revealed in November 2016, is off for a fresh challenge. His successor, Chris Jagusz - who most recently ran AZZURRI, a private telecoms provider - was announced in October and starts on January 1.

Off-GRID:
RENEW - Engineering services business - specialises in infrastructure maintenance and consultancy, which has recurring revenues, rather than building projects. Revenues £525.7m to 30-Sep-16.