07 April 2023
By Maynard Paton
Notice of general meeting summary for System1 (SYS1):
- Confirmation of a vote on 21 April to i) appoint former director Stefan Barden as executive chairman; ii) demote founder John Kearon from executive to non-executive, and; iii) retire two non-executives.
- Data and Data-led revenue advancing 33% during FY 2023 and 50%-plus during Q4 2023 suggests SYS1’s mooted 25% growth target is achievable.
- My conversation with Mr Barden revealed his data-platform sales focus, plans for a £100m-plus exit and the reasoning behind SYS1’s $1 billion market-cap ambition.
- SYS1’s proposed new US advisory team emphasised Mr Kearon’s advert-creative sales approach, which I now believe explains the group’s lowly revenue and lack of profit.
- Shareholders have, according to Mr Barden, a “now or never” decision to support SYS1 becoming the “definitive” marketing-data platform with a potential 5-bagger outcome. I still support the proposed board changes and continue to hold.
UPDATE 17 April 2023: Following the publication of this blog post, Stefan Barden/James Geddes and SYS1 have referred to its contents within this RNS announcement issued on 13 April 2023. Mr Barden has since provided a further statement that is now published at the end of this blog post.