I bought Fondia last month. What do you think about the company? The company is a different kind of law firm than others. Clearly more innovative than others and able to break old, bad processes and customs in the industry. I also believe in their digital investments. The legal field feels like something that should be handled by robots, not by human manual labor like in other law firms. Are there people from the legal field here? It would be nice to hear thoughts from people in the industry and other investors.
Addition: Is it true that other law firms consider Fondia a bit strange and even a “worse” player in the industry due to its distinctiveness? What do the toughest lawyers in the field think?
What kinds of things do you think robots will handle? Would you trust an AI’s analysis of your situation, or would you prefer it to be handled by a certainly competent lawyer who is familiar with your case? AI and automation can only be used to assist in analyzing the situation and to facilitate the process, but a lawyer is still needed. Some small and simple contractual legal matters might be handled automatically, but I don’t see much potential in them, as many people can handle similar matters themselves or more cheaply through other means.
Fondia’s personnel costs are quite minimal per person, so the clear intention has been to provide legal services as cheaply as possible. If you needed legal consultation yourself, would you try to get by as cheaply as possible? Hiring a proper and competent lawyer is ultimately a more secure and reliable option, and people are often willing to pay for that. I believe Fondia’s reputation in the field is based on this.
Specifically, automating processes with technology is a good starting point for me. Other law firms don’t go there because they supposedly offer high-quality service, but Fondia does things smartly by utilizing digitalization. It doesn’t have to be fully AI-based from the start, but gradually, first assisted processes and then eventually fully AI-based solutions.
Traditional legal services are also very unscalable compared to the Fondia way. The idea that everyone, even small firms, can afford legal services sounds good. Fondia’s internationalization also looks promising, and combined with a scalable model, I think it could hit the jackpot.
If there’s anyone here who has used Fondia’s services, I’d love to hear about the quality!
Hey, yesterday I found the company and looked at the financial statements and the Roast and the financial statement release, and it looked promising. I would say that the consensus is a bit overly scared by H2 18, for which the management gave their own explanations, which at least for me were quite convincing. As a result, I bought a good amount of shares. I noticed now on Fondia’s website that the company has 264 ldaas customers. My question is:
a) Does Jesse or anyone else have historical data on the number of ldaas customers or information on where said data is located?
b) Has anyone actively monitored the number of ldaas customers on the website?
c) Would it (in theory) be permissible for any company to comment if I happened to send questions about the number of customers and their historical data to the company?
a) Edit: Fondia’s website does indeed mention 264 LDaaS customers, but this has not been previously reported in the financial statements. It has been publicly stated that at the end of 2016, there were 185 customers using continuous LDaaS service, and in 2017, Fondia reported “over 200”. In addition, the company stated that in 2018, 21 LDaaS customers were acquired from Sweden.
b) We monitor Fondia’s personnel numbers daily from their website, but we have not systematically tracked the number of LDaaS customers mentioned in the website texts. The company publishes the share of continuous invoicing in revenue semi-annually, and based on this, it is possible to calculate the revenue from LDaaS service. If one assumes that in 2017 there were on average 200 LDaaS customers, the average invoicing was approximately EUR 39,000 per year per customer. If one assumes the same average invoicing continued during H2’18, then H2’18 would have had an average of 241 LDaaS customers. LDaaS revenue grew by 23% in 2017 and 21% in 2018, which is faster than Fondia’s total revenue.
c) You can always ask. It is possible that the information you are looking for is public and the company has published it in some of its materials (e.g., at a CMD or in an IPO prospectus at some point). However, companies are not allowed to disclose inside information to outsiders, and listed companies must follow a continuous disclosure policy, according to which sufficient information must be available equally and consistently. For this reason, listed companies generally cannot comment on such matters. However, if you do get access to inside information, remember that its misuse is a crime.
Seems a bit amateurish. You’d think a law firm’s board would understand how to make proper severance agreements with non-disclosure and non-compete clauses, and golden parachutes in the case of key personnel…
At worst, there could be really serious consequences, I wouldn’t touch it for a while until the situation stabilizes. That kind of service business is tied to people.
I pulled my own chips off the table a couple of weeks ago when I read Jesse’s latest report. I had been thinking for a while that the story was getting a bit flimsy, with the management team fighting among themselves and nothing positive to announce.
The day after I sold, a legal dispute was announced, and then there was the disappearance of LAAS customers. This amateurish tinkering is such that I won’t touch it with a long stick in the near future. A lot needs to happen for my trust to return, even though I didn’t suffer any losses from this.
Revenue grew to EUR 10.8 million (10.7), growth +1.0%.
The share of recurring monthly billing (LDaaS) in revenue increased
to 46% (42).
Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 0.7 million (1.6).
The operating profit margin was 6.1% (15.1%).
The period’s result was EUR 0.5 million (1.3).
The company’s internationalization progressed according to strategy. In Sweden,
the integration started in connection with the Jansson & Norin AB acquisition
proceeded as planned. The new CEO of the Swedish
subsidiary, Monica Söderlund, started
her position on June 10, 2019.
In the Baltic operations, the Lithuanian
subsidiary opened at the beginning of the fiscal year commenced operations
in line with the strategy.
Average personnel (FTE)* increased by 14.8%, enabling
the internationalization of the group and especially the growth of LDaaS customers.
Overall, the report was in line with our expectations and weak compared to the comparison period and the company’s historical level. Revenue growth slowed, and profitability was weakened by significant recruitments carried out last year. It is worth noting that the number of employees at the end of June was 163, exactly the same level as at the end of 2018. Due to this, our previous forecasts may face downward pressure.
Not many questions were thrown directly into the live broadcast. A hasty review and meaningless phrases that leave a big fog over the entire company. There’s plenty of faith in the company, but the results are pathetic by all measures. The money is flowing somewhere (wild guess: inefficiency). I strongly disagree with the CEO’s comment that Fondia is a good investment for owners at the moment.
The CEO’s ramblings reminded me mostly of Iraq’s Minister of Information. I sold my shares at 13.3 euros, probably one of the best moves in my investment career. The idea was to jump back in when the course corrected, but you can’t touch something like this.
Hey, what a sweet press conference…10 minutes, unplugged and ran away. No Q&A session (Didn’t dare to stay and answer??) It would be nice to hear from those who were there about how the event continued.
A LOT remained unclear and the company’s situation is currently not convincing.
Just before the press conference, the CEO announced that there would be no Q&A session this time and that questions submitted online during the webcast would not be answered during the webcast. This came as a surprise to us, as it had always been done this way before, and we had also prepared for it technically. Many of Fondia’s management were present at the event, and they openly answered all questions after the webcast. However, no one else was present to ask questions except for myself. It’s a shame that these questions and answers were not recorded
Well, this is positive to hear. With the sudden end, the situation almost seemed like an evasion of responsibility.
Will there be any publishable material from the Q&A session later? I think the company has a lot to improve in communicating the internal situation to shareholders.
