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Conversation 187: With a P/E of 7.7 and an Enterprise value/EBITDA of 3.8 is the AVA Group misunderstood?

CEO Rob Bloomfield told me that there may be an issue around the group’s visibility and profile with investors. He believes some big contract wins could help in this regard. However, he says a company shift to more innovative use of Machine Learning and AI, applied to AVA’s 2.5k installed existing systems, along with a shift to licensing and partnering deals with local suppliers, is showing the way forward for the group. He cites a recent tender contract win with the Indian Army, to protect their fiber optic critical communications network as an example.

He also believes this approach will result in more recurring revenue and an opportunity for AVA to generate SaaS-type offerings based on learnings from ML and AI system updates.

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Phil Carey Phil Carey

Conversation 180: Straker Translations. Is it time to pay attention to this hybrid SaaS business?

With 13% YOY revenue growth [86% of which is recurring] and a group turnover of >$27 million, Straker Transcriptions is in an acquisition growth phase. CEO Grant Straker says the business is in the mood for acquisition-driven growth, with $7.3 million cash and $8.0 million of new loan facilities. Straker Translations has developed a hybrid translation platform that utilises a combination of AI, machine learning, and a crowd-sourced pool of freelance translators. The company’s cloud-based platform manages the end-to-end translation process, leveraging AI and machine learning to create a first draft translation and subsequently matching the customer’s content with one or more of the approximately 13,000 crowd-sourced human freelance translators for refinement.

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