What’s the Story Quarantine Glory?
20th November 2020 |
First off, quick apology for not getting your regular update to you yesterday. I had to unexpectedly take the day off.
I’m back with today’s update and there’s a few things to cover.
This morning I was chatting with a close friend who lives in Australia. He’d been in Dubai and Abu Dhabi working in the Indian Premier League.
Fortunately for him, he’d managed to get one of the last seats on a flight back to Australia out of Dubai. There was a real risk he might not have got a flight at all, meaning a chance of being marooned in Dubai while his wife and son were back in Victoria.
Nonetheless, the only flight he could get was into Brisbane. Which is about 1,000 miles away from where he lives currently. Rather than being allowed to then fly home to his family, he’s been made to “quarantine” in a hotel in Brisbane for 14 days.
He’s just got halfway through. His description of what it’s like is astonishing… and not in a good way.
What he described is akin to prison. He’s allowed to go “outside” into a small courtyard about 5m by 5m in size. He has to call up to book his outside time. If it’s all booked up, he doesn’t get to go outside.
He chocked open the door to his room to let a bit of fresh air in the other day. Until the police came to his door threatening him with a huge fine if he didn’t close the door. He is delivered meals to the door (which he says are garbage) each day and cannot leave the room (which you can’t open the windows for as it’s a hotel room of course).
Everything he was telling us about was a description of prison. This is the world we live in, and it’s a world that frankly sucks. It will change, and things will return to a way that we were used to before Covid-19 and that in itself will create opportunities.
But there are also by-products of this year that I think will also stick around and that will fast become accepted as a normal part of a world that’s vastly different to what we’re experiencing now.
Talking with my mate this morning I realised exactly what one of these legacies from 2020 will be. Luckily for him, his “prison” sentence is about to expire, and our chat this morning helped lift his spirits.
As we spoke, he mentioned that one of the benefits of being in forced isolation was that he’d been able to get loads of guitar practice in.
He’s always been pretty handy with the guitar. I, on the other hand… well let’s just say when we used to live together, I was always the designated bongo player…
We had a funny reminisce about our days before the world was so messed up. About how we had travelled the world together some 12 years earlier and never in our wildest dreams anticipated this would be the state of the world we’d live in today.
I laughed at the idea of how we hopped from city to city on trains and flew across from city to city – even boat hopping amongst the Greek islands. He joked about playing Oasis songs on a rooftop in Barcelona with half a hostel around, all of us half-blind on Estrella Damm beers.
When he mentioned Oasis I had to bring up the concert I’d be going to in a couple of weeks’ time. Oasis songs were always our go-to as we all knew them, mainly from the “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory” album of the late 90s which was huge in Australia (and everywhere) at the time. Fortunately for us, he was good enough on guitar to play them.
As we talked about it, I told him I’d just bought a ticket for Liam Gallagher’s concert. He of course questioned how I’d be getting to any concerts in lockdown. I explained it was a “virtual” concert that would be live, but just accessed through the MelodyVR (LSE:MVR) app.
He said he was going to check it out and probably get a ticket too. As did my other mate. And so have a few people at the office who I’ve also mentioned it to.
We’ve obviously been following MelodyVR in our portfolio for a while. And it’s been able to pull in some big names and deliver some great virtual concerts which this year have never been as important.
But without doubt this upcoming Liam Gallagher concert will be huge.
As I say, I’ve even gone and bought a ticket for it and will be watching the live streaming of the gig on 5 December. Gallagher is a global megastar. His name is one that’s known all over the world, a real household name.
The gig, an exclusive “down by the river”, will be on the Thames, as Melody VR explains:
The show, echoing unforgettable moments from the Sex Pistols and The Clash, will see the British rock legend accompanied by his full band performing on a barge travelling along the Thames, against a backdrop of London’s most famous landmarks.
I can’t wait for it, my mate will be out of quarantine by then in Australia and will be getting on to it. It’s even possible that hundreds of thousands of people around the world might all be tuning in for this one concert that’s exclusive to MelodyVR.
Now, yes the stock is still in a trading suspension. And I’ve been getting a few emails asking what’s going on. Well it’s all due to the reverse takeover (merger) with Rhapsody International (Napster).
I expect the deal to finalise hopefully in the next couple of weeks. On Monday, MelodyVR put out an announcement and in that noted that it expects it all to conclude in a, “short period of time.”
Not overly specific, but nearing the end it seems. I believe the momentum MelodyVR has built in the period of suspension could see the stock pop once it beings trading again and that as we head into 2021, this is fast becoming one of the most exciting stocks in our portfolio.
What it’s shown is that the idea of a live concert at home isn’t all that strange an idea. In lockdowns and quarantines, it’s actually crucial for people to still access this kind of entertainment. It’s also proven it can be done well and in a way that people enjoy.
I see it as a long-term trend that will only gather more acceptance. Sometimes you do want to enjoy a live concert, but don’t always want to go to the arena (or can’t go to the arena) for it. What MelodyVR is doing is giving everyone, everywhere, a way to enjoy and experience the music they love in a way that previously has never been possible.
I’ll keep you updated on the suspension, but if you’ve not got any MelodyVR stock or you’re eager to top up, you should keep an eye on the company as well because we set a buy-up-to limit on it of 5p, which once it comes off suspension it could easily punch right through.
What to expect from Frontier Tech Investor
As mentioned at the top, I was off yesterday, and obviously I’m now back on deck and sending through your regular weekly update today.
As you will have also seen, we sent Akhil Patel’s monthly Frontier Tech Investor update to you, which I hope you enjoyed.
Now this brings me to a reminder of what you can expect from your subscription to Frontier Tech Investor.
Part of the reason is due to a few people questioning why I recommended Mitchells & Butlers and The City Pub Group to you last week. After all, neither are what you’d consider to be “tech” stocks.
The aim here is to find and uncover the best stocks, predominately small-cap but occasionally mid-cap stocks, that exist in the UK market. There is and will always be a natural tilt towards technology stocks which is evidenced by recommendations such as, Blancco, Corero, Frontier Developments, Gfinity, Immotion Group, MelodyVR, Velocys and others.
But it’s not the only realm of stock recommendations we provide. That’s why in our portfolio we also have stocks like Aston Martin, Marston’s, Ocean Outdoor, Warpaint and your latest two.
My view is that to limit ourselves to just technology would be doing you a disservice. Frontier Tech Investor is supposed to be as encompassing and exciting as it can be. That means all stocks where I see an opportunity will be considered. There will always be a strong preference to tech stocks, but they won’t be the only kinds of stocks we limit ourselves to.
Bringing you a greater range of potential opportunities can’t be a bad thing can it? That’s why we also give you access to e-letters such as the new Sam Volkering’s Crypto Network and Akhil Patel’s Frontier Tech Investor monthly update.
It’s why you now get weekly updates instead of the previous monthly ones and why I continue to deliver stock recommendations to you each month, sometimes more than one.
We’ve added more content, delivered more recommendations and aim to present to you more investment ideas you can potentially profit from. I also believe that the best market opportunities for a long-term investor right now are here within the UK markets, which is why we’ve consciously taken a very specific focus to UK stocks.
Not everyone will necessarily agree with this. I understand. But my view is that the best most exciting market right now for big, exciting investment ideas and opportunities in tech, in crypto, in all industry, is right here in the UK – and that’s what we’ll focus on and deliver to you.
Regards,
Sam Volkering
Editor, Frontier Tech Investor
