Small Cap Value Report (29 Jul 2016) - KOOV

Good morning!

I'm feeling light-hearted today, and have begun humming Christmas carols - a sure sign that the nights are drawing in. I get that from my Grandmother - Mrs Scott senior was well known for her stoical approach to the Blitz, under the flightpath of the V1 rockets. She warbled hymns, as an antidote to Hitler's rockets, her favourite being, "O Jesu' I have promised, to serve thee to the end", delivered with gusto, at high pitch and volume.

Apparently the neighbours in Grays (very close to Tilbury Docks, a key target of the Luftwaffe) knew that Granny was reaching peak stress when she began singing hymns at high volume, a bit like Hilda Ogden. The Doctor, who lived next door, in a double-fronted Edwardian house, prescribed her cigarettes, to settle her nerves.

Thankfully they avoided a direct hit throughout the entire war - or rather, there actually was an almost direct hit on the telephone exchange across the road, but the bomb didn't explode - apparently the slave workers urinated on the fuses, corroding them, which was why so many WWII bombs that fell on London failed to explode. I possibly owe the origins of my life to them.

Did you know that females are born with all the eggs they will ever have? So technically I was not actually born in 1968. The egg which contained my genetics was actually created in 1937, inside the body of my maternal grandmother. Sadly, I never met her, as she died before I was born, after a series of heart attacks. (that was a different grandmother from the one that sang hymns during the Blitz).

How did I get on to that? It doesn't really matter.

Koovs (LON:KOOV)

Share price: 70p (down 12.5% today)
No. shares: 149.7m
Market cap: £104.8m

Preliminary results to 31 Mar 2016 - I think this is an absolutely terrible share, and anyone who buys it at this valuation is completely out of their mind, in my view.

Turnover was only £5.2m, and the operating loss was an almost unbelievable £17.1m.

I'm not going to waste any more time looking at the numbers. The company is trying to become the next Asos, in India.

I just think it's crackers. It almost went bust earlier this year. I honestly think that anyone who holds this share is round the bend.

KOOV reminds me of POWA, and CrowdMix - both of which were unicorn things that went bust, with delusional management, and monstrous cash burn. Good luck if you hold this crock - you'll need it! I reckon it will almost certainly go bust - overheads are ridiculously high, and profits are lamentable.

It's easy to create ecommerce sites. The difficulty is driving traffic to them. Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO) (in which I hold a long position) shows how it's done. KOOV is just a joke!

I think investing is all about backing the right entrepreneurs. One of the most successful investors I know, and a great friend over the last 16 years, is David Stredder, of Mello fame. David's investing mantra couldn't be more simple - management, management, management.

He just backs the right people, and lets them get on with it, and it's been a brilliantly successful, and amazingly simple investing approach. Although David does possess remarkable people skills, which the rest of us can only listen, and learn from.

Why did I mention this? Can't remember specifically, but I think it was to do with Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO). I have been massively overweight in this share since the plunge to 29p, and it has served me very well since, in the rise to 68p.

I know Mahmud Kamani, joint CEO, and he's a brilliant entrepreneur. He may not be your typical CEO, and at city events he seems agitated and almost disinterested. However, if you see him in his own environment, he's "on it", 24 hours per day. There's nothing like seeing a CEO in their own environment. Retail is detail. Everything matters.

When a unicorn tech business went bust, I contacted Mahmud, and much to my surprise, got a reply very quickly, saying,

They all think it's easy.
Everyone is looking for a free ride.
They need to work hard, and expect nothing.
They all spend their time just trying to get free money.

Wise words - so thought I would pass it on - from a massively successful entrepreneur at Boohoo.Com (LON:BOO).

Regards, Paul,