$ARGQ Pros and Cons
Anyone that has run a business knows sometimes there are setbacks. When you totally change the whole direction of a business it takes time to get the new business started. Hiring new staff, working on contract negotiations, dissolving your old business to name a few. Ok on to the Pros and Cons as I see them.
Pros First.
1. They have an excellent financing agreement totally unheard off on the OTC. To be able to obtain funds at a .02 cent floor is amazing. Granted they have made many mistakes with the money I will get to them in the cons but all is not lost since they did acquire one fund.
2. They finally dissolved their Dubai business which was costing them needless money. Now they can fully concentrate on their fund advisory business.
Management Said: In March 2019, Management decided that it made overall economic sense for the Company to close its employment placement services business in Dubai; hence, in order to fully concentrate on its core business of Independent Financial Advisory services and consultancy business, the Board of Directors decided to initiate liquidation proceedings of the Dubai subsidiary “GE Professionals DMCC” and discontinue the related employment placement services business. As a result, Dubai subsidiary operations for the three months ended March 31, 2019 and the comparative periods presented are treated as discontinued operations in the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements. The consolidated statements of operations only comprise the continuing operations. Net income from the discontinued operations is presented on a single line after the net income from the continuing operations.
3. They acquired their first fund advisory company Cheshire Trafford in August 2018. It has taken a while to get the fund up to speed it seems based on the low revenue thus far. Remember when a deal is first announced that doesn't mean it will pay dividends right away. It may take a quarter to get a feel for how the deals are producing revenue that means that the revenue in quarter two should be much higher. This will be a stable revenue stream that the company needs.
Management Said: By leveraging the licenses that we now own, we can significantly increase our business and revenues at very little extra cost and improve profitability. We intend to market the Company as a United Kingdom licensed entity for various Appointed Representatives (“AR”) and also Introducer Appointed Representatives “(IAR”). In 2018, Aurum Wealth Management Limited was approved by the UK Financial Authority “(FCA”) as an AR of Cheshire Trafford UK Limited and in early 2019, Global Alternative Administration (The Pension Admin Team) was appointed as an IAR to Cheshire Trafford UK Limited. "Our management has been at this quite a long time," said Smith. "Particularly in the business we are in right now, collecting funds under management. We previously built a business very similar to the one we run right now. We built that from $0 to $2.2 Billion dollars by acquisition and organic growth at a difficult time. The market is now much more favorable allowing easier access to targets."
Smith went on to say he and his team are going down the same path again with Argentum 47, Inc. Jolly then said, the last time Smith was on he discussed expanding and marketing, Cheshire Trafford UK Ltd., and asked for an update.
"It's a bit of a sleeping giant. We have $39 million dollars under management right now. We anticipate that in 2019 we will probably grow that $39 million to a figure, if not $100 million, probably not far off it and the plans to do just that are already in place and in motion," said Smith.
He went on to say they have 3 or 4 initiatives that are in place and are allowing Cheshire Trafford to push itself out into wider markets. He explained with $100 million under management, with the 1% business model that Argentum 47, Inc. operates, they would have a passive income of $1 million a year with the Cheshire Trafford subsidiary plus any new business fees due.
3. Creditum IPO - This is a big one. Being involved with an IPO on a major foreign exchange will bring needed market exposure to $ARGQ.
Management Said: The Company intends to continue its mandate to assist its client, Creditum Limited, with the listing of the company´s shares on a recognized European Stock Exchange. Creditum is a client of Argentum 47, Inc., our Company was retained to assist them with a "Big Board" European Stock Exchange listing in exchange for an interesting equity stake… this client is now shaping up. Valuation looking very good.
Now to the Cons
1. They tried to acquire 4 fund advisory companies over the last year. They were able to acquire one of those advisory firms but the other three had various issues. Hopefully, management has learned what not to do based on these failures. There were lost costs such as audits and various fees here trying to acquire these three funds FWIW - Here are Managements reasons why they didn't acquire those three advisory firms.
Isle of Man Fund:
Management Said: On May 30, 2018, the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority (FSA) approved the eventual change of control of an Isle of man based financial advisory firm albeit Management has decided not to acquire this Independent Financial Advisory firm as better and cheaper business propositions are currently in Management´s sights.
Two Malaysian Funds:
Management Said: Due to various delays beyond Management´s control, the Company decided not to acquire the two Malaysia advisory firms.
Ok, that's it for me now we wait for the growth of Cheshire Trafford to be apparent as well as the Creditum IPO to get started.
