MIDAS SHARE TIPS UPDATE: Sales message firm Dotdigital nets a slice of profit
Pepperoni pizza is Britain’s favorite takeaway and Thursday evening is the most popular time to order. Mondays and Tuesdays are much slower.
It’s no surprise that these are the days when customers are inundated with promotional emails or text messages. Unwanted, annoying and intrusive, these messages can often annoy as many pizza lovers as they attract.
Dotdigital aims to make the process more personal, for the benefit of companies and consumers. The company has developed cutting-edge technology that helps companies better understand their customers so they can communicate more effectively online and in real life.
Tasty Offer: Dotdigital has developed cutting-edge technology that helps companies better understand their customers so they can communicate more effectively
The group works with more than 4,000 organizations worldwide, from car manufacturer Volkswagen to English Heritage and from Papa John’s pizza to the NHS. Charities also subscribe to Dotdigital’s software, including Guide Dogs for the Blind, which uses the kit to match dogs with the right owners.
CEO Milan Patel also recently developed an artificial intelligence tool, WinstonAI, that can review marketing material to make sure it makes sense, convert emails into text messages, and query data so that consumers receive messages telling them be interested.
Revenues soared during the pandemic as the company benefited from a surge in online shopping and used its technology to send out vaccine reminders and other pandemic-related updates.
Patel warned investors that growth rates would slow, but when they did, the market reaction was brutal, exacerbated by early-stage growing pains in the US, the resignation of the chairman for health reasons and the departure of the chief financial officer to take other interests to pursue.
Shares fell from £2.87 in 2021 to just 65p last summer. They have since been restored to 88p, but should go further. Results announced last week for the year to June were encouraging. Turnover rose 10 per cent to £69 million, profits were up 6 per cent at £15.4 million and the dividend was increased from 0.98p to 1p.
There is a new chief financial officer and a new chairman, John Conoley, who started his career at IBM in the 1980s. US growth is back on track and the company is also expanding in Europe and Asia.
Brokers expect strong growth in revenue, profits and dividends as companies focus their marketing spend on digital channels, such as emails and text messages, where they can track success.
Research shows that for every €1 Dotdigital customers spend with the company, they generate a return of more than €4 through cost savings and profits over a three-year period.
The group is also a leader in its field, consistently invests in research and development and is constantly looking for acquisitions that will increase its appeal to customers.
Midas judgment: Midas recommended Dotdigital in 2015, when the share price was 37p. Times have been tough lately, but Patel is firmly in control and the prospects are bright. At 88p the shares offer good value.
Traded on: GOAL ticker: DOTD Contact: dotdigitalgroup.com or 020 3953 3072