21 thoughts on “An Open Letter to the Board of Evolve Education Group

    • thank you!

      if anyone shares my opinions here, I would encourage you to write directly to the company (either the chairman, Mr Stevens; or the MD, Mr Scott) and echo my views. the company email address for correspondence is enquire@eeg.co.nz

      I don’t think you need to replicate this kind of long missive; simply stating support for this agenda, and/or the pursuit of strategic alternatives, given the languishing stock price + changing market environment for the business model, would be helpful in my view.

  1. Great letter as always.

    And happy that while not prospering right now, EVO has been healthy enough to start de-leveraging. Their bond has traded well too, even through the big downshift in global sentiment. Very nice asymmetry for us.

  2. Hi Jeremy, I was wondering if you’ve had any engagement with the Company or received any feedback since sending your letter? I am tempted to start adding to my position given the weakness lately, but I could also see this continue to trade lower in the current environment despite the undemanding valuation if the Board doesn’t commit to exploring a sale process as you proposed.

    • Sorry – yes, they have replied, mostly a boilerplate/stonewalling type reply. they said they would take my suggestions under consideration. but did not commit to doing what i requested (ie, putting up the strategic alternatives sign).

      whilst this is disappointing, i am reserving all options and considering the right next move. i imagine they will cut guidance (given tone of last announcement) in the next couple of months which will necessarily put a lot more pressure on them to do something more creative to rectify the situation. i remain engaged on getting the right outcome here for all shareholders.

  3. Hi Jeremy

    Checking in to see whether you’ve had any recent engagement with the company? At the moment, it seems it’s a waiting game with some near-term downside as the company likely reduces guidance and fails to announce value accretive steps.

    Cheers

    A/C

    • afraid no substantive response beyond the boiler-plate type interactions i previously reported. i am considering whether to get more aggressive here and what the right approach is given Mr Scott’s dominant shareholding. in the meantime i am waiting for the likely guidance cut/financial report as I believe there should be more ammunition/leverage from a position of relatively poor ongoing financial reporting.

      • I didn’t, I’m just reporting what the letter says.

        That said my guess would be they’re treating the capitalized lease obligations associated with the NZ business as debt for EV calculation purposes.

        I think the bond (partially paid off recently) was issued at the holdCo level so I’d assume it stays there.

        Not claiming expertise on any of this.

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