Re Bango, BGO, I held a few years ago and there was lots of promise then similar to those Paul is highlighting now - it does feel like it just can’t break out and the anticipated growth in SP won’t happen unfortunately.
I agree, I have been following the story for many years too. They always sound positive but nothing has really happened, so for me, its just jam tomorrow so I wouldn't personally get involved with.
I've done a little research into the Quindell thing. AI tells me, "Slater & Gordon acquired Quindell’s professional services division for around £645 million in 2015" and they "ended up writing down a massive goodwill amount of approximately £558 million", which also resulted in class actions from shareholders. For me, the killer is from https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/slater-and-gordons-quindell-claim-settles-on-steps-of-court/5101866.article , "Court papers have already revealed that Slater and Gordon spent £31.7m on the ‘most rigorous’ due diligence over five months before the merger.". In an out-of-court settlement, S&G got £11m from Watchstone (formerly Quindell). Watchstone said they'd incurred £6.6m of legal costs, I doubt if S&G's legal costs would have been much less, so I'd say the legal battle was won by the lawyers.
Thank you for your podcast. You asked for feedback on Pinewood so I wanted to share my experience.
I am director and shareholder of a private franchise commercial vehicle (trucks and vans) dealership (we have 7 sites). We use Keyloop (previously called CDK or Kerridge - owned by PE) as our dealer management software (DMS). Our software is not good enough but nearly all other franchise partners use the same DMS as it is fully integrated into our brand partner. The cost of change is high (mainly time needed, integration issues with our brand partners’ software) so the prospect of us moving is unfortunately low.
The sales cycle will naturally be long as you’re changing the most important piece of software in your business (manages sale of vehicles, parts and labour hours in workshops and integration with your brand partner).
There may be lower hanging fruit with passengers car dealerships (which are simpler than commercial vehicles).
Hi - I don't have experience of Pinewood as our dealership uses Keyloop.
The Keyloop system for UK commercial vehicle (CV) dealers is based on old technology (eg not cloud based, hard to get data out, no Apps, ...). Keyloop has more modern software called Drive but it is used in the passenger car (PC) market.
Pinewood should be more successful now they are not tied to any dealership (eg Pendragon) - however changing your DMS is not an easy decision.
Worth adding that the PC market in the UK is much larger by volume compared to CV. Next time you take your car for service, ask them what DMS they use (the UK market is largely dominated by Keyloop and Pinewood), and get their feedback.
Re Bango, BGO, I held a few years ago and there was lots of promise then similar to those Paul is highlighting now - it does feel like it just can’t break out and the anticipated growth in SP won’t happen unfortunately.
I agree, I have been following the story for many years too. They always sound positive but nothing has really happened, so for me, its just jam tomorrow so I wouldn't personally get involved with.
I've done a little research into the Quindell thing. AI tells me, "Slater & Gordon acquired Quindell’s professional services division for around £645 million in 2015" and they "ended up writing down a massive goodwill amount of approximately £558 million", which also resulted in class actions from shareholders. For me, the killer is from https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/practice/slater-and-gordons-quindell-claim-settles-on-steps-of-court/5101866.article , "Court papers have already revealed that Slater and Gordon spent £31.7m on the ‘most rigorous’ due diligence over five months before the merger.". In an out-of-court settlement, S&G got £11m from Watchstone (formerly Quindell). Watchstone said they'd incurred £6.6m of legal costs, I doubt if S&G's legal costs would have been much less, so I'd say the legal battle was won by the lawyers.
Hi Paul
Thank you for your podcast. You asked for feedback on Pinewood so I wanted to share my experience.
I am director and shareholder of a private franchise commercial vehicle (trucks and vans) dealership (we have 7 sites). We use Keyloop (previously called CDK or Kerridge - owned by PE) as our dealer management software (DMS). Our software is not good enough but nearly all other franchise partners use the same DMS as it is fully integrated into our brand partner. The cost of change is high (mainly time needed, integration issues with our brand partners’ software) so the prospect of us moving is unfortunately low.
The sales cycle will naturally be long as you’re changing the most important piece of software in your business (manages sale of vehicles, parts and labour hours in workshops and integration with your brand partner).
There may be lower hanging fruit with passengers car dealerships (which are simpler than commercial vehicles).
I hope this is helpful.
Ali
Many thanks for the insight. What are the software limitations? What needs to be improved?
Hi - I don't have experience of Pinewood as our dealership uses Keyloop.
The Keyloop system for UK commercial vehicle (CV) dealers is based on old technology (eg not cloud based, hard to get data out, no Apps, ...). Keyloop has more modern software called Drive but it is used in the passenger car (PC) market.
Pinewood should be more successful now they are not tied to any dealership (eg Pendragon) - however changing your DMS is not an easy decision.
Worth adding that the PC market in the UK is much larger by volume compared to CV. Next time you take your car for service, ask them what DMS they use (the UK market is largely dominated by Keyloop and Pinewood), and get their feedback.
Thanks from me, I always appreciate insights from industry experience.