New Cashwerkz chief executive, Jon Lechte, has hit the ground running, giving an investor presentation on Friday that included a plan to “sprint to make a profit”.
When the term deposit and cash management marketplace released its December half results, the financial report was qualified. It said: “The ability of the group to continue as a going concern is principally dependent upon receiving additional funding support and managing cash flow in line with available funds.”
Cashwerkz lost A$3.6 million during the six months to December, following a loss of $7.3 million in the 2018/19 year.
Net operating cash outflow was $2.8 million. The company had cash and cash equivalents of $2.3 million remaining.
Since then, the company has reported that Adcock Private Equity, its biggest shareholder, “will ensure that the company has adequate capital for its operations during the current period to ensure any uncertainty is removed”.
Lechte’s appointment was announced at the end of last month, after the company had been without a CEO for six months. His CV includes time at fixed income broker FIIG Securities and UBS.
The company’s plans include expanding its product offer to include the sale of bonds to wholesale investors. It aims to have the bond offer in the market by September.
It is looking to increase the number of partnerships with financial planners and it also plans to offer its term deposit platform as a direct-to-retail service.
Longer term, it plans to offer foreign currency debt securities on its platform.
“The objective will be to move the Cashwerkz business to a profitable state in the very near future,” Lechte said.
Cashwerkz was launched in 2016 as an investment platform that allows institutional and retail investors to switch between term deposit providers without having to verify their identity each time they move their accounts.
At the end of December, the company had $1.08 billion of investor balances on its platform, invested in a range of bank term deposit and at-call accounts. More than 4000 investments were made on the platform last year.