Tiny Qonnectis is at present in an embryonic stage, but seems to have an interesting product with great potential. Their flagship product connects energy and water meters to the Internet via Qonnectis' own server and users' website, providing 24-hour real-time accessibility as well as the opportunity for instant data comparison and updates as frequently as every 15 minutes. This avoids the costs of traditional meter-reading methods (i.e. reading by eye or the more recent "drive-by" technology). The new technology has already saved one early customer a reported 180,000 after it spotted a water leak and alerted the user. Early adopters include utilities such as Scottish Water and Generale des Eaux Lyon, plus public sector clients such as the NHS, the RAF and various District Councils (the list is numerous, so please see QTI's press releases for the whole picture). In November 2005 QTI announced a distribution deal with Compteurs Farnier of France, providing potential access to the USA and Canada in addition to the French market.

The business case for QTI seems strong: the product is inexpensive and provides cost savings both in terms of labour-saving and of cutting wastage. Sales include an element of subscription on a five-year basis; it seems logical that satisfied customers will both increase their number of meters in use and come back for further subscriptions after the five-year period has elapsed. The potential market is huge. The real question is, when will QTI achieve break-even?

CEO Mike Tapia previously built up the Talisman remote/drive-by meter-reading business, which was then sold to Severn Trent Water Co around 1997.

Does anyone have any figures on the Talisman sale, or perhaps on Compteurs Farnier? It would be good to get some idea of the current market.


EDIT: New charts added, 21Dec2007.

QTI would hardly have a 50% interest in the device and have national and international marketing rights if they didn't play a very significant role in the development. Thames has so far bought several batches from them (the last amounting 200k) so QTI are clearly responsible for getting them produced. They also probably played a significant part in the technical design.

Perhaps we should give Oilivergas the benefit of the doubt in that maybe he is not trying to de-ramp, but simply has not grasped the point that, until now, because of contractual constraints QTI have not been able to market Leakfrog to anyone but Thames Water!

Oilivergas, all,

I quote from the article to which Oilivergas has kindly provided links:

"Leakfrog is the brainchild of four Thames Water boffins and was developed for production in partnership with the Aim-listed company Qonnectis, which specialises in energy and water conservation technology."

I am quite sure that there is no cover-up, nothing sinister, no claims of QTI having invented something they didn't. QTI has helped to develop the product! Those of us who have been following this company for years are quite satisfied with the information which QTI has been releasing about Leakfrog over the past however many months. I would suggest that usually the information released direct from the horse's mouth is to be preferred to that which is reported at second hand in a newspaper, but that's just my opinion.

In any case, how could QTI be ramping if they are in fact selling their product, regardless of whom they are selling it to? Even if Thames Water owned the entire intellectual property in Leakfrog (and I am not sure that they do), QTI could still manufacture it under license and sell it at a profit, to the "inventors" as well as to third parties. Other customers will follow, but the evaluation of these things takes time.

Hope this heps.
ST

Spot on. Soul. Well put.

From today's AGM statement:
'Leakfrog has been extremely well received by the water industry since its
launch and negotiations are taking place with several UK water companies and
overseas distributors. In the first half of this financial year, we have also
seen continued sales of Qonnectis' smart metering products to existing customers
such as Scottish Water, and also to new customers such as further NHS trusts
(eg. Hammersmith) and Rangers Football Club. Sales in this period were
significantly ahead of the same period last year.

RNS released 14:45 and sp shot up 22% since then. Hoping for a continuation tommorrow. Is breakout on the cards?.

Very encouraging statement and the sp has responded accordingly but think it will take news of more Leakfrog sales to get it moving above 3.0p. Its unclear from the statement above whether sales of iStaq-based products in the first half of this FY 'were significantly ahead of the same period last year' or whether the comment applies to total sales (which we already knew - the Leakfrog sale to Thames alone was worth more than the sales for H1 of FY07).

Good comments, guys - thanks for the posts.

I just had a quick click on new customer, Larsen Water Management.

http://www.larsenwm.com/about-us-page.html

SERVICES

Contract Leak Detection
Water Auditing
Fire, Flow & Pressure Testing

Data Logger Field-Tests
Fuel & Chemical Pipe Leak Detection
Pipe Tracing
Leakage Monitoring
Installation, Commissioning & Servicing (Confined Spaces certified)
SALE & HIRE

We are suppliers of specialist equipment all of which are for sale/hire
Data Loggers
Leak Detection Equipment
Pressure Reducing Valves
Training


It looks as if it could be a good source of business for QTI, as it is a seller of leak-monitoring equipment, etc., etc., and so should be placing repeat orders if it's impressed with the products.

WDIK, PDYOR, etc.

I attended the AGM yesterday but was then seduced away for the evening so unable to log in again till tonight.

Very positive mood and clearly big opportunities for sales to all the water companies as well as direct sales to the end-user (e.g. businesses, NHS Trusts, football clubs).

It was great to see Leakfrog in the flesh its a neat gadget that clips directly onto a water meter. Enquiries are coming in from above-mentioned types of customers, both in the UK and from the Continent and even as far afield as Australia. QTI has three in-house sales staff who are responsible for developing partnerships and sales channels so the company is not risking big overheads in an increased sales force of their own. The move to smarter (but cost-effective) offices means that they now have suitable premises where high-level sales negotiations can be conducted. QTI will be attending relevant exhibitions, e.g. Ireland next month, UK in May, and EU later in the year.

Government moves to encourage utility monitoring will (in my view) only increase, and I am confident that QTI have a ready-made market for their products. The sp may dodge about a bit but its worth a long-term hold I reckon and thats coming from someone who can be a bit impatient at times!

Never mind QTI Toya, tell us more about your seduction last night. Only joking haha.

Morning Oily!

Morning.

Thanks Toya - was anything said at the AGM that would clarify the above point (369) about H1 turnover and was there any indication of when they expect to break even?

Jmac: no distinction was made between turnover from Leakfrog vs iStaq but the latter continues to sell and we know that the first order for Leakfrog was worth 200k so anything else in H1 would be attributable to iStaq. Not sure about break even point - thought they'd made a 2k profit in H1 following the 200k order, but may have got that wrong.

i dare say Toya was taking the CEO's inside leg measurement to inveigle her way to some hard fact

Does anybody know the price per unit for leakfrog in order to estimate sales potential? How many did Thames get for 200k?

Armshare includes a report on a meeting with MT on 15/1 which says that QTI maintains a 60% gross margin on Leakfrog if they sell it at 100. IF that is what Thames paid then they bought about 2000 units.
Even if QTI made a gross profit on those of 120k it's still difficult to see how they could have broken even in H1 without a big increase in sales of iStaq and a substantial reduction in fixed costs.

Morning all. Good points, everybody, and thanks to Toya for reporting from the AGM!

JMAC, you are quite right about the break-even. If QTI can make 60% gross margin across the board and all the other figures remain in-line, they'll need to do around 1.85 million turnover to break even. I have long maintained that the 2 million mark is what they'll need to hit to be profitable - the good news is that margins seem to be strong and this therefore seems to be attainable.


PDYOR, etc.

but Toya has still not divulged to the panting mob exactly what she gleaned from the CEO's inside leg

RNS out indicating Barclays Stockbrokers increased it's holding to more than 6%