The customer is always right

$LDB.MI insights, maintenance due diligence

The discovery process is underway, Michele and the team are executing, and $LDB.MI is up more than 90% since I shared Lindbergh analysis with dear Mikro Kap readers last October.

I have some more exciting data and news to share with fellow shareholders. Last week, I spoke with a fund manager who was able to interview an executive from a large customer of Lindbergh’s. These two companies have been in business together for over a decade, so I believe this information is both valuable and unbiased (from a Lindbergh investor's standpoint).

Also, I doubt you'll uncover these types of “intangible insights” simply by reading regulatory filings.

Anyways…he offered to share his key meeting notes with you all. For that, I am grateful!

(both of them choose to remain anonymous)

What are your general thoughts on Lindbergh?

• Thinks they are a very good company. Likes how they started out as a small company but now is a listed business. Their development has been solid.

• Regarding Lindbergh’s owners—thinks they have a willingness to always do better and collaborate with customers.  

Is Lindbergh helpful to you guys?

• Definitely. For us, they are a very important partner. They have been selected methodically.

In-Night Service

• For us, the in-night service is crucial. It’s one of the most important services. It’s an important service because they can handle our spare parts and deliver them all over Italy. Italy geographically is not easy for deliveries. Having a partner who is always precise and knows how to work with us is important.

How necessary are they - if the economy gets tough, might you want to do it yourself?

• There’s no chance at all that we can do these services ourselves. Because it’s very, very difficult to do this service. It’s not our core business. This is not an option even in an economic downturn. It’s very difficult to establish the logistics.

• They were also the only player offering waste management services - it’s very difficult to handle because when you start dealing with waste, in Italy at least, you have to work with a lot of people. You need to track them, record it, etc. Very difficult. Every one of our technicians are producing waste (oil, etc.). Luckily, they developed a structure to handle this waste. This differentiates them from their competitors.

Do you know Michele and Marco?

• They are very serious people. They are very into their jobs, and they know what they are doing. They are good people with good ideas. I particularly like Michele’s way of thinking – his way of solving problems. He’s always keen to find a way to solve the problem with us. He’s always open-minded about finding solutions together – he doesn’t turn down ideas quickly. I would say that’s a good management team.

Competitors? Are there similar companies out there?

• I hear they don’t have a lot of competitors.

• Could DHL get into this space? They can if they want to but probably not willing to because it’s difficult to handle these deliveries and especially manage the waste.

• There are small companies that handle waste but that are not able to handle the last mile delivery.

What do you not like about them?

• Overall, I’m very happy with them, but if I need to nitpick, in the last three years, they’ve had more lower level employee turnover. But I understand it’s not easy to find the right person.

What more could Lindbergh do?

• Thinks there’s more opportunities for Lindbergh.

• We trust a partner who we’ve worked a lot with in the past. It’s hard to get new partners used to our flows and systems. It’s easier to collaborate with one partner than 2-3+. This is what happened here. Lindbergh is interested in more business and they’ve demonstrated they can handle it. Every time our company had new things to do, something to develop, they’ve always been first in line trying to develop them first.

What would happen in a recession?

• When business goes down for us, it shouldn’t be a lot different for Lindbergh because in-night service is paid for delivery, not per kilogram of delivery. A box is a box. Also when there is a recession, there might be less equipment sold but more older equipment in the market requiring more technicians. This would require more help from Lindbergh.  

Lindbergh’s Pricing?

• Thinks it’s quite fair.

Anything else?

• Thinks in-night delivery has potential to be developed more.

(End)

To avoid biasing anyone, I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions on this.

Circular Economy

In other news, Lindbergh just announced a 3-year agreement with LVMH to become a one-stop shop for recycling waste and materials for LVMH’s Maisons and suppliers in Italy.

The contract's exact terms have yet to be disclosed, but given that LVMH is the crème de la crème of French luxury and always values quality and brand protection over cost reduction, I expect high margins and another boost for the Waste Management BU.

Link to the full press release: link

As always, thank you for reading!

disc: $LDB.MI recently surpassed $RCS.MI and is now my largest holding.

This is NOT investment advice. All content on this website is for entertainment, informational, and educational purposes only and should not be considered to be advice of any nature. Due your own due diligence.