Eating Grass
17 Nov 2016
At last a Flow ambassador came to my house in Scotland. Survey took 5 minutes. He said house completely unsuitable as too big. We have 23 radiators. Apparently Flow boiler can only heat 8 radiators. I am a bit shocked. This goes against what I believed from Flow presentations that the boiler was ideal for a bigger house. I assumed the more gas burnt the greater the amount of electricity generated. Either we investors have been fooled or the Flow ambassadors have no idea of all the options. He said he was annoyed that Flow kept sending him to completely inappropriate properties and he blamed the on-line vetting process. Something does not add up. Seems Tony Stiff has done a poor job with training and promotion.
shadow22
17 Nov 2016
Hope the price holds up today. At least the elephant in the room is being dealt with, one way or another. Halved my holding yesterday in case of turbulence.
46Gillingham
16 Nov 2016
Full RNS .... Please im out earlier in the year 16 November 2016Flowgroup plc(“Flow” or the “Company” or the “Group”
UpdateFlowgroup plc (AIM: FLOW), which provides a range of innovative energy technologies, energy supply and energy services, announces an update on its home energy, smart boiler and microCHP businesses.Flow EnergyOur Flow Energy business continues to perform well and in line with management expectations. We have delivered greater than 150% growth in customer fuel accounts this year and it is pleasing to note that this part of the Group is achieving over £127million revenue in annualised sales.Consumers are facing price rises this winter as the energy market is experiencing a significant rise in wholesales costs, with electricity prices having risen by around 65% since August for this winter period, accompanied by a 30% rise in winter gas prices since the middle of the year. Our hedging strategy provides protection against rising wholesale energy prices for both our customer base and our business. We have also taken steps to protect our gas costs against adverse weather conditions over this winter when demand is most volatile, either as a result of cold or warm periods.We believe that current market conditions favour more established providers like Flow with more robust energy trading strategies, systems and processes, and we believe we can continue to grow this part of the business in 2017.Smart boilerFollowing the launch of the Flow Eco RF in September 2016, we have been pursuing sales through our Flow Brand Ambassador (FBA) network, via our energy customers and with social housing networks. Whilst still at an early stage in the launch cycle, sales via our FBA network have started satisfactorily and management will provide further updates in due course.The feedback from our FBAs on the quality of the product and the benefit of our heating and home energy bundles has been consistently positive. A test campaign to target our energy customers for Flow Eco RF sales has produced positive results, supporting our belief that our energy customer base has the potential to be a sustainable channel to generate boiler sales. The social housing market is producing significant opportunities where we believe the Flow Eco RF can deliver benefits to both social and private landlords, with substantial savings for large landlords due to the increased efficiency and reliability of the product, as well as the remote diagnostic capability, which reduces servicing costs. We are in active discussions with a range of social housing providers all with networks of thousands of homes.MicroCHP updateDECC reviewIn May 2016, the then Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), now part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), published a consultation document (the “Consultation” which included a review of support for the microCHP Feed-in-Tariff (FiT), whereby the number of qualifying microCHP units would be capped at a much lower level, thereby reducing the support significantly.Due to the implications of this Consultation, coupled with increasing manufacturing costs due to the fall in the value of Sterling against the Euro and US Dollar, in the Company’s half year report announced on 5 September, we stated that we had initiated a strategic review of the microCHP business. We also announced that we had slowed down the production of the Flow microCHP boiler and reduced the level of sales and marketing activity to offset the risks of carrying a large inventory of boilers that could be potentially uneconomic to support in the UK.We had expected clarity from Government in early Q4 2016 on the scope of ongoing FiT support for microCHP. However, this has not been forthcoming and indications from BEIS are that any revised scheme will now not come into place until April 2017, which suggests that the review is taking longer than expected and may not report back this year. This continues to be a frustration, as our manufacturing re
Global Nomad
16 Nov 2016
rns - mix of positive and negative seems like flow continues to have to balance parts moving forward and others having setbacks if not negative issues. The sp has been recovering of late but I am not sure if they are out of the woods yet. I am currently 60% down on my holding and looking for a point where i feel comfortable in averaging down. Will watch the response to this RNS and then take a view. There still feel as if there are too many if's and but's and maybe's although the communication of the reality of the position is a good thing.
Lifesfullofupsanddowns
26 Oct 2016
Large Buys On the up.Is there news coming?
pik20e
13 Oct 2016
i Switched I just switched to FlowEnergy, mostly to find out what I am invested in. Having been scammed in the Globo fraud you cannot be too careful!I had an initial glitch on the web site which rejected my application "Please choose a valid gas payment method" although I had selected "Electricity only". Has anyone else had this problem?After 2 working days, a pleasant seeming Naomi in their "Customer Services" sent her "Warm regards" and urged me to try again. No problem this time and I was otherwise impressed by the web site. My £1,400 annual E-ON bill should now be just below a grand.Hopefully this will not be my only return on these shares but the long promised boiler seems an inordinate time in delivering on promises...The electricity generating capacity of the boiler does not seem that compelling without government subsidy and before viable battery energy storage exists. Maybe they should knock it on the head and stick to energy supply?
thehog2
12 Oct 2016
Gossip update Yesterday PM I was called by a young lady from FLOW asking if I was still interested in a boiler.She didn't seem to know which boiler she was calling about and seem shocked that I knew how many microCHP had been installed. To be fair to her, the line was terrible and there was the usual call centre noise in the background.I took the opportunity to register my interest in the Hybrid boiler. I will undate the BB when I hear anything further.TH2
thehog2
05 Oct 2016
Re: New Tariff 46G,Sorry for the late response, I've been working on my latest clock which arrived today and forgot to reply.You make very good points and basically I have no argument with your assessment. However, I see it from a different view point(s).Originally my only interest in the company was due to wishing to obtain a microCHP boiler. I have effectively given up on this as, unless the Government changes it's mind on Feed-in Tariffs, it's not viable in the UK. Maybe their Italian venture with it will bear fruit, but that's in the future.They may still establish a small profitable boiler business with their other products. Personally I will certainly be having a close look at the Daikin Hybrid, as a hybrid it would appear to do what other heat pumps don't, and truly integrate with a gas boiler, plus it will have been designed for a wet system. Whatever the exiting heat pump sellers say, they are really only suitable for underfloor heating. I have looked at these things from all angles, while waiting for a microCHP, and would be very happy to have one if they do what they say on the box. I won't be alone in this, and many of their potential targets will be Which? readers.So with their other high quality products, a niche business could be established, it's survival will probably depend on cash from the power business continuing to be available. With the need to reduce their cost base the jury has to be out on this.Coming to Power, this where I still think shareholder value can be achieved if they are doing what I suspect they are.As you have correctly written "This sector has become commoditised with falling margins a few years back 15 players now 40+ going after the same number of customers." But most customers have never switched, and I suspect very few have used any of their providers CS. Most remain loyal due to inertia and many others are serial switchers. There is also a band in the middle who, like me, rarely switch (I'm not a Flow customer) and they are clearly the preferred clients for Flow. This has to mean a ready secondary market for a client book which is currently producing a 12% margin and growing strongly. The company maintains it's prediction that the power division will be profitable next year, and even if the return per contract drops back due to even lower prices, with their current growth rate they should have a pretty impressive book.So you have probably seen where I'm going with this. The contracts will have a value in the secondary market and I suspect would already fetch more that the current sp.So given that I do not have a fortune invested here, I think a hold and an occasional small top up while waiting for the company to sell itself to a rival is worth the gamble.I can always sell one of my clocks if I'm wrong 
But neither clocks nor Flow comments should be seen as investment advice.TH2
PIE-EATER
05 Oct 2016
Re: New Tariff I am a little concerned as the majority of people in my experience don't talk about their fuel bills and service from their energy provider in the same way they talk about holidays, football, golf or restaurants - they will tend to move to FLOW based on cost. As a result of the comparatively small profile of FLOW in the "general" energy market (not enlightened people) then a small external change in the situation can have a big impact. Yes that can be good, but is more likely not to be the case (VAT ruling etc) I came into FLOW as the boiler was a potential game changer for me....not because of the energy provision. The potential benefits have been dramatically watered down, through no fault of FLOW, over the last 15 months. Do I believe FLOW has a future? YesDo I believe FLOW will recover quickly? NOResult, I sold out earlier today with a heavy heart but I am confident there are better investment opportunities elsewhere at the moment. I am definitely not ruling out returning to FLOW and suspect that one of the (few in my eyes) benefits of Brexit will be the governments ability to be more flexible on green taxation / subsidies and the impact on the boiler. Given how long I have held it, if I have got it wrong then I have lost a little (a couple of hundred quid).....if I have got it right - who knows?GLAPE
46Gillingham
05 Oct 2016
Re: New Tariff TH2 I think we need to differ on this one. There reputation on CS was built while they had very slow growth in energy customer numbers over a couple of years up to 2015 they reached 70k fuels in supply very manageable .Most of their growth in fuels under management has come in the last 12 months when they have been the cheapest c200k.These consumers will switch when and if a cheaper/better deals are available most will never talk to their CS team.This sector has become commoditised with falling margins a few years back 15 players now 40+ going after the same number of customers.Flow urgently needs to sort out its cost base and improve its margin NOT go for fuel growth with consumer who will walk when they have a better offer and are acquired at a very low margin.
thehog2
04 Oct 2016
Re: New Tariff 46G,Just my thoughts. Flow claim high retention rates at the end of deals due to good customer service. Every new contract can therefore, in theory, bring value to the company for a considerable time. Rightly or wrongly, I think the value of their book, if sold, exceeds their mkt cap so this can still be a good investment.Let's hope I'm correct. TH2
46Gillingham
04 Oct 2016
New Tariff I see Flow have launch the cheapest energy tariff in the UK which will drive up the number of customer very quickly. The issue is being the cheapest reduces the margin....So for a company running out of cash not sure this is the smartest move??
46Gillingham
20 Sep 2016
Re: Arden Guidance Send me your email address and I'll send you the artical
shadow22
17 Sep 2016
Re: Arden Guidance Can't find the Arden forecast anywhere so it's difficult to comment. Seems at odds with Energy side profitable in 2017 and as the only which recommended supplier I don't think they are having to give energy away.They've been absolutely, dare I say it, categorical in their assertion that there will be no fund raise. If they can surpass a million customers as forecast then the current share price offers a huge upside, perhaps 4 to 5 times where we are now.
46Gillingham
09 Sep 2016
Re: Arden Guidance Sorry should read...Pre-Tax loss £24.4m loss per share 7.7p
