G'Day FolksWith regards to Commanders Half year Report,...

G'Day Folks

With regards to Commanders Half year Report, following are some things for you to think about :-

(a) Amanda mentioned that Vendor Terms had tightened for Commander. This was because the companies that provide Credit Insurance reduced the amount they were prepared to cover for Commander accounts. It would be reasonable to assume that the Credit Insurance providers will again review the amount they are prepared to cover for Commander accounts, given that the half yearly report is now out. You can form you own view as to whether or not there will be a tightening or easing of credit insurance for Commander.

(b)Amanda mentioned in her reports the recent wins for Commander. To achieve a balanced view this needs to be compared with the number of customers who have recently moved away from Commander - none of that information was provided. I believe that a significant amount of customers have moved away and continue to do so.

(c) Under the Value Proposition for Corporate Business, Amanda states that Commander is providing Comm's and IT solutions to that market segment. Given that Commander has virtually closed its IT Solutions Business (with the exception of Managed Services), you need to ask yourself, how many Corporate customers would truly consider Commander now for IT products and services. I would suggest very few.

(d) Amanda's report mentioned that growth had been achieved in the Franchise model. I would like to know what if any growth has been achieved organically, as opposed to growth which has been achieved because more franchises have been established.

(e) Amanda's report mentioned that the "Commander workforce is newly energised". I think you find it very difficult to find many Commander staff who would currently describe themselves as energised.

(f) Amanda's report mentioned that "supplier confidence" is returning. I would like it if Amanda could provide some specific examples as to how she arrived at this conclusion. It is my current opinion that Commanders major suppliers continue to actively move their business to other partners, where it is feasible to do so.

Like all of you, I will be watching this on-going (mandatory) sell down of assets, very closely. It will difficult to maintain any sort of reasonable morale in an environment, where you know that the business unit you work for, could be sold any day. you would alos have to think that it will be difficult to obtain a good sale price, when the sale is known to be mandatory and where funds are increasingly hard to obtain, let alone the cost of rising interest rates.

Regards

Tails