- Report notes that NETE is showing surprising business strength despite lockdowns persisting in New York, California
- Once restrictions are eased, company should rebound sharply
- Agreement between NETE, Mullen outlines stock-for-stock reverse merger in which Mullen stockholders will receive outstanding stock in post-merger company
With its previously announced definitive agreement with Mullen Technologies, a Southern California-based electric vehicle company, still in process, Net Element (NASDAQ: NETE) is valued only on its card-processing business. With 45% of its customers in the restaurant business — a space that has been deeply impacted by COVID-19 — Net Element revenues actually improved sequentially, reported a recent Zacks Small-Cap Research report (https://nnw.fm/lq0Ov).
“Net Element is showing surprising business strength despite lockdowns persisting in New York, where it has numerous customers in the restaurant business,” the report noted. “Management claims the US economy is running on the sunbelt, and business could be gangbusters if shut-down states would just open up.”
The report went on to note that, while opening back up is impossible to predict, when it does, “we expect Net Element business to rebound sharply. With 45% of its customers in the restaurant business, this is the most important factor to improvements at Net Element’s card processing volumes. Another meaningful factor is tourism, especially in Florida, which is impacted by people’s perception of the safety of travel as well as the quarantine requirements in various states.”
In spite of the global pandemic, NETE Q3 2021 revenues came in at $16.7 million, up from the $13.7 million reported in Q2 2020 and down only slightly from numbers reported a year ago. In addition, Zacks noted that NETE’s North American sales were up 1% year over year.
With its eyes on the upcoming merger with Mullen, which Zacks expects to close in Q1 2021, Net Element plans to divest its payment-processing business before year-end, according to the report. Currently the global financial technology and value-added solutions group supports electronic payments acceptance in an omni-channel environment that includes point-of-sale, e-commerce and mobile devices. NETE operates a payments-as-a-service transactional model targeting small to medium businesses in the United States and other emerging markets.
Mullen Technologies is also moving forward on the merger journey and its plans to make and sell electric vehicles (EVs). Earlier this year, the company began construction of a pilot manufacturing facility and started taking pre-orders on its $55,000 MX-05 fully electric SUV model. The pilot facility will be used to assemble up to 1,000 MX-05 vehicles per year, with other models added as announced. The facility supports a process that includes general and battery assembly as well as R&D.
“We are excited to begin the build-out of our pilot facility and pre-sales of our MX-05 SUV in October,” said Mullen Technologies chairman and CEO David Michery (https://nnw.fm/nUtIT). “We plan on completing the build-out by April 2021 and to begin assembly of certification prototypes by July 2021. These vehicles will be used for homologation, which is expected to take 16 months and be completed by May of 2022, at which time we expect to begin delivering the first vehicles to the public.”
The agreement between NETE and Mullen outlines a stock-for-stock reverse merger in which Mullen’s stockholders will receive the majority of the outstanding stock in the post-merger company. The proposed merger is pending shareholder vote and regulatory approval.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.NetElement.com.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to NETE are available in the company’s newsroom at http://nnw.fm/NETE
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