Charles Frischer, KPT Capital LLC, Clutterbuck Capital
Management LLC, & Robert Clutterbuck, who have a combined
ownership in excess of 25% of the outstanding shares of GetSwift
Limited (ASX: GSW) (‘GetSwift’ or the ‘Company’), released the
following letter stating their support for the Company and its
senior management.
The text of the letter follows:
Dear Fellow GetSwift Shareholders:
We write to you as several of GetSwift’s larger shareholders -
Charles Frischer (CF), the founder of KPT Capital LLC (KPT),
Clutterbuck Capital Management LLC (CCM) and Robert Clutterbuck
(RC), respectively. While all parties act independently in relation
to the GetSwift shares, which they respectively hold or otherwise
control and also in relation to GetSwift generally, each of us wish
to update you on a number of important matters, since the letter
sent by CCM and KPT’s founder back in March 2019.
Three years ago, a small Australian last-mile logistics company,
named GetSwift, completed a capital raise in the United States and
Australia. We had spent a considerable amount of time in 2017 in
due diligence to understand the early adopters, clients, and
underlying technology behind this opportunity. Ultimately, the
authors of this letter made independent decisions to initiate
material investments in GetSwift. Since that time, a number of
widely publicized (and, from our perspective, skewed or biased)
events have taken place. Most notably, amid several publicly
announced commercial arrangements and partnerships, GetSwift’s
share price enjoyed breathtaking momentum - taking it higher, but
only to retreat just as quickly.
SaaS contracts, which are the conventional contracts for
tech-based logistics firms, are typically pay-as-you-go and can
usually be canceled at any time. These terms and conditions are not
unique to the SaaS contracts to which GetSwift was (and in many
instances, remains) a party, and can be found within the broader
sphere of SaaS model businesses globally. From our perspective, at
most, many investors saw GetSwift’s early announced commercial
partnerships as validation that some very large players were in the
early stages of evaluating, and then hopefully engaging at some
point, GetSwift’s technology. Relevantly, SaaS products are only
scalable once they become embedded in a client’s workflow, at which
point they become expensive to remove.
This letter comes amid a civil claim being pursued by the
Australian Securities and Investments Commission against the
company and two of its directors, which, according to news reports
and announcements, will be followed by a shareholder class action.
As the current proceedings are open to the public, we have been
following along very closely. In its early years, GetSwift was a
young, potentially high-growth, technology company with 8
employees. In our experience, virtually every successful technology
company in the world progresses through an “infant stage” where
optimism, enthusiasm and confidence in their future success can be
overwhelming. We are pleased to have seen the developmental steps
GetSwift has taken since those early times, including in terms of
having continued to invest in its corporate governance processes
and structure.
While not lawyers ourselves, in our following of the court
proceedings, the excitement, which the GetSwift team felt about the
company they were in the process of building was palpable. This is
common among many entrepreneurs we have worked with in our careers.
As investors, we hope that the regulatory matters can be dealt with
expeditiously, and the company and its management can re-direct
their attention back to growing the business.
As we evaluate GetSwift’s current prospects, we must look at
GetSwift’s progress over the course of the past year. Shareholders
have started to see meaningful adoptions of GetSwift’s technology
taking place. Evidence of their software adoptions has emerged both
through analytics software as well as through announced rollouts
across fast-food chains in the Middle East, Heineken in the
Philippines, Mexico, and beyond, in addition to the various
farm-to-table deployments across the United States and other parts
of North America.
Shareholders have seen the company announce three strategic
acquisitions: through Delivery Business Pro (farm-to-table),
Scheduling Plus (workforce management), and Logo (data centers and
government certifications). We understand that GetSwift now employs
almost 250 individuals (and growing) across the world, versus a
work force of 8 people in 2017 – which is demonstrative of the
strong growth trajectory, which the company has enjoyed. Reported
revenue for the first calendar quarter of 2020 was A$8.7 million, a
greater than 700% increase from the same quarter in 2019. This
“run-rate” annualizes to approximately A$35 million and, according
to the company’s last quarterly report released to the ASX in April
2020, the company expects revenue growth to continue.
While many in the press look back on the events that took place
several years ago, we believe it is more important to take stock of
the many accomplishments that GetSwift has made, particularly in
the face of the significant distraction caused by lawsuits. In
hindsight, the press could not have been more bullish on the ascent
as they are bearish off the lows. Our experience leads us to
believe that it is through these perspectives where we can invest
our capital to help build strong, long lasting, viable
businesses.
We consider that the observations that the Company’s recent
revenue growth is, in part, due to Covid-19 are shortsighted. The
unfortunate global pandemic has simply accelerated a movement that
was already in motion. As a result, we believe GetSwift to be in
the right place and time to prove their ability to scale
aggressively. Most notably, the Company appears to be diversifying
their revenue streams across small and medium businesses in
addition to Enterprise clients across multiple verticals.
While independently held and managed, the combined ownership of
CF, KPT, CCM and RC exceeds 25% of the outstanding shares of
GetSwift. Other large US holders, totaling collectively over 10% of
the company ownership, have recently contacted one or more of our
firms to express their support of GetSwift’s vision.
Furthermore, one of the largest and most sophisticated asset
managers in the world, Fidelity International, recently confirmed
their approximate 9.5% ownership stake in the company. While
certainly not speaking for Fidelity, we believe that since they
were the largest investor in the A$4/share equity raise for
GetSwift in 2017, returning to the top of the shareholder register
is quite likely also an endorsement of their belief in
GetSwift.
If we were to tally the shareholdings in the company of
GetSwift’s senior management, CF, KPT, CCM & RC, and other US
holders that have contacted us, the total ownership represents
(without taking into account Fidelity’s stake) over 65% of the
shares on issue.
As long-term supporters and shareholders, we look forward to
moving past the legal proceedings and shifting focus to GetSwift’s
strong growth potential. Our observation is that GetSwift has
evolved from a company that possibly had potential to participate
to some degree in the last-mile solution, to one that is on the
cusp of potentially being a truly meaningful player in that space.
Additionally, besides the dramatic acceleration of revenue growth
over the past year, GetSwift has put in place an improved corporate
governance structure.
From where we stand, the positive momentum at GetSwift is
attributable to the quality of their entire team, but the catalyst
of their growth and success revolves around Bane Hunter, CEO and
Joel MacDonald, President. We believe both are essential to the
operations and leadership at GetSwift to hopefully propel the
company into a meaningful global brand. We continue to strongly
support both of these leaders and believe their involvement is
vital for our future success.
We urge you to show your support along with us.
Robert T. Clutterbuck Managing Partner Clutterbuck Capital
Management LLC
Richard Leahy Managing Partner KPT Capital LLC
Charles Frischer
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200625005919/en/
Robert T. Clutterbuck rtc@clutterbuckfunds.com
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