Ouch indeed. My condolences as I'm someone who originally bought...

Ouch indeed. My condolences as I'm someone who originally bought in around the $2 mark. However if were going to learn anything from this it's important to come away with the right lesson.

• A company's share price is -to a degree- irrelevant to it's performance. It matters only in so much that it provides the company with liquidity and access to funds. In Shine's case this is somewhat relevant (since funds are needed to acquire businesses) however compared to where it was in early 2015 (when it was approx $3) in 2019 based on underlying earnings Shine is now a larger and more profitable company. Though it does have more debt, broadly speaking SHJ - the company - is performing stronger than it was in 2014/15.
• The price you bought at in 2014/15 may have been over-valued since Shine were being less conservative in their reporting of earnings. Whether Shine has done anything untoward in it's reporting is yet to be determined in the coming Class Action against the company. Additionally there was high expectations from investors in the sector (resulting in speculative valuations and higher share prices). The lesson to be learned here is that more research should be done to understand reporting prior to investing -to smell out the bullshit as it were - so that a more informed decision can be made. Caveat emptor.
• The price in 2019 may now be under-valued - which may or may not change in the near future

When you say that you have learned "not to invest in professional services companies who grow by buying up other smaller businesses in the same industry", is there a reason you hold this view?
i.e. beyond the base fact that the share price has tanked from when you bought in