Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:

Allegiance Coal Ltd (ASX: AHQ)

The Allegiance Coal share price has continued its decline and is down a further 22% to 14 cents. Investors have been selling off this coal miner's shares this week following the release of a very disappointing update. As Allegiance Coal has been unable to successfully ramp up production to previous expectations, it has been left in a difficult position financially. In order to keep operating, the company has established a $5 million equity facility.

LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH)

The LiveHire share price is down 5% to 38 cents. This morning this talent technology company released its quarterly update and reported a 10% increase in annual recurring revenue to $5.7 million. This was offset by a 22% increase in quarterly cash burn to ~$2 million. This leaves LiveHire with a precariously low cash balance of just $7.3 million, down 49% year on year.

NIB Holdings Limited (ASX: NHF)

The NIB share price is down almost 3% to $7.31. This is despite there being no news out of the private health insurer. However, it is possible that it has been impacted by some investors rotating out of lower risk defensive shares and back into higher risk options today.

Pendal Group Ltd (ASX: PDL)

The Pendal share price is down over 2% to $4.33. This may have been driven by profit taking after some strong gains in recent days. This has been driven by speculation and then confirmation that the company has received another takeover proposal from Perpetual Limited (ASX: PPT). Talks are ongoing and no deal has been reached.

The post Why Allegiance Coal, LiveHire, NIB, and Pendal shares are dropping appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

This comes after the talent and direct sourcing solutions company announced it has teamed up with ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions.

At the time of writing, LiveHire shares are soaring 33.33% to 36 cents.

LiveHire seals milestone deal

Investors are pushing up the LiveHire share price on news the company's strategic partnership will see it penetrate new markets.

In its release, LiveHire advised it has signed a strategic master services agreement with ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions on behalf of its TAPFIN division (TAPFIN).

The latter makes up part of the US$4.8 billion United States-listed ManpowerGroup Inc (NYSE: MAN).

TAPFIN is recognised as one of the four largest managed service providers (MSPs) in the world, per the release. The business manages more than US$20 billion in contingent spend through 103 countries.

Under the deal, LiveHire will serve as primary partner in offering direct sourcing solutions to TAPFIN's North American clients. This will be on a non-exclusive basis.

LiveHire noted that there is further scope for the agreement to extend beyond North America. This includes access into other countries across Europe, the UK, and the Asia Pacific region.

The contract is based on LiveHire's standard commercial terms. However, management is not able to put a value on the agreement because TAPFIN has not yet signed the first client to use the platform.

Nonetheless, LiveHire believes that due to the size of TAPFIN and its client base, the deal will be significant.

Commenting on the news driving the LiveHire share price today, CEO Christy Forest said:

We're thrilled to have completed a competitive process conducted by TAPFIN, and to work with the TAPFIN team to bring our joint direct sourcing solution to TAPFIN's clients.

About the LiveHire share price

Despite today's astronomical gains, the LiveHire share price is trading relatively flat when looking over the last 12 months.

The company's shares reached a 52-week low of 23.5 cents earlier this month before bouncing back to April 2022 levels.

LiveHire has a market capitalisation of roughly $80.28 million.

The post This small-cap ASX share is soaring 33% on strategic partnership news appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

At the time of writing, the LiveHire share price is 34 cents, 12.82% lower than its previous close.

Let's take a look at the quarter just been for LiveHire.

But first, what is LiveHire?

LiveHire operates a cloud-based human resources platform focused on the hiring process.

It operates in 2 segments, its Talent Community, a software-as-a-service, and its Direct Sourcing business, which allows large organisations to use Talent Community to source and hire contract-based employees.

The company has been listed on the ASX since 2016.

The quarter that's been for LiveHire

The LiveHire share price is dropping today despite the company's North American Direct Sourcing business reporting 700% more revenue than it did in the prior comparable quarter.

The business' revenue came to $576,000 over the quarter just been. While that was significantly more than the first quarter of financial year 2021, it was down from $686,000 in the previous quarter.

The business also onboarded 3 new clients, bringing its total number of clients up to 17.  All up, that's an estimated contract value of $5.4 million.

The company believes its Direct Sources business is on track to have around 36 clients by the end of this financial year.

The company's software-as-a-service business brought in 8 new clients over the quarter just been. However, it lost 5 in the process. As of 30 September, it had 141 clients.

Talent Community's annual reoccurring revenue was $4.5 million at quarter's end – 3.5% more than it was at the end of the previous quarter.

The business' client retention also improved. It increased from 91% to 96%.

LiveHire reported it received $1.6 million of cash receipts over the first quarter.

It also saw its operating cash burn increase to $2.3 million, down from the fourth quarter's $1.6 million cash burn.

It ended the quarter with $13.2 million in cash, enough to fund another 9 quarters identical to its last.

LiveHire share price snapshot

While today has been a tough one for the LiveHire share price, it's been performing well this year.

Right now, it is 21% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It has also gained 6% since this time last year.

The post Why is the LiveHire (ASX:LVH) share price tumbling 13% today? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What LiveHire does

LiveHire operates a cloud-based, online human resources productivity platform for sourcing and recruitment teams. It aims to deliver talent on demand for companies of all sizes.

LiveHire currently has 112 enterprise clients consisting of 105 across Australia and New Zealand and 7 in North America. The company has operations in all three major workforce markets. These include direct sourcing of contractor talent, internal mobility and redeployment of existing employees, and recruitment of new employees.

What's driving the LiveHire share price?

FY 2020 was a big year for LiveHire as it entered the North American market and continued growing its revenue. Investors are driving up the LiveHire share price after the company reported solid revenue growth year on year (YOY) of 31.8% to $3.45 million. Of this, 84% of revenue occurred via recurring streams demonstrating strong customer satisfaction.

Another important metric to track with software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies is annual recurring revenue (ARR). This provides a 12-month forward view of recurring revenue, demonstrating the company's future prospects. On this front, the hiring company posted strong YOY ARR growth of 38% that was delivered mainly via Australian direct sales.

In terms of client growth, there were 43 client wins in the period across a range of industries, thus closing the year with 112 clients, which equated to a 42% increase. LiveHire is building a pipeline of clients through direct sales in Australia and partnerships in both Australia and the United States, with a focus on new client wins in both markets.

Some other highlights of the report included the growth in cash receipts up to $4.5 million, representing 43% YOY growth. This left LiveHire with a strong balance sheet and a cash balance of $21 million with no debt. As such, the company remains well funded to continue future growth opportunities.

Furthermore, the company's business restructure has been completed following its accelerated software development phase in FY 20 to open up international markets.

What now for the LiveHire share price?

Looking forward, LiveHire aims to use its recent US expansion to boost revenue. The US expansion, through its channel partners, should bring speed to revenue generation via the direct sourcing market. The revenue stream will grow as more customers are won and each contract ramps up to its full deployment. The LiveHire share price is currently trading 63% higher for 2020. If its expansion efforts continue to be successful, there is no reason why the LiveHire share price won't go on climbing. 

The post LiveHire share price 6% higher on strong revenue growth appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

2 ASX growth stocks with 10-bagger potential

LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH)

Many of the ASX 10-bagger shares of the past decade came from companies that either worked in, worked with or adapted electronic or internet technology. Altium Limited (ASX: ALU), for example, makes software to design printed circuit boards. Jumbo Interactive Ltd (ASX: JIN) took lottery sales online and then licensed the product to other lottery sales organisations.

When it comes to next 10 years, I think LiveHire is going to be a top ASX growth stock. In my view its share price is a strong contender to grow by at least 10 times. At the time of writing, LiveHire's shares are sitting at $0.24 each and the company has a market cap of just $71 million. I have no problem seeing this company grow to a market cap of $710 million.

In a crowded job market, the company has found a way to differentiate itself. It holds career CV's just like Microsoft's LinkedIn and hosts job ads like SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK). But it also acts as a recruitment platform for many top tier organisations. Its share price jumped up yesterday on news that it had secured a contract with the Victorian Government. Furthermore, the company had already secured a similar agreement with the Queensland Government.

Bellevue Gold Ltd (ASX: BGL)

I think one of this year's great, ASX growth stock no-brainers is Bellevue Gold. I believe this company's shares definitely have the potential to achieve 10-bagger status over the coming decade. A standout ASX 10-bagger share over the past 10 years was Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST). Northern Star paid back over 470 times the initial investment. This turned an initial investment of $10,000 back in January 2010 into over $4.7 million today. 

Bellevue is a gold exploration company with one of the highest grade gold projects on the planet. The mine is a proven, gold-rich resource that has been mined for over 100 years. Using modern exploration techniques and technology, Bellevue has uncovered an additional 2.2 million oz gold resource. It is also at far shallower depths than other West Australian underground mines. 

Furthermore, Bellevue has managed to secure several operational leaders from Northern Star. These are people who have done this before and been on board during the Northern Star share price's meteoric rise. I feel these factors, along with the company's continued growth using existing infrastructure, will all stack up to deliver exceptional share price growth over the coming decade. 

Foolish takeaway

While there are many ASX growth stocks with the potential to become 10-bagger shares over the next decade, LiveHire and Bellevue have stood out to me as the most obvious over the past 6 months. Both have very competent and proven management teams. They each have competitive advantages and differentiate themselves well from other market players. Moreover, both have steadily increased their share price over the year to date. 

The post 2 ASX growth stocks that could become 10-baggers in the next decade appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

About LiveHire

LiveHire is a recruitment platform that enables employers to keep digital track of candidates within one ecosystem. According to LiveHire, its platform can help save its enterprise clients time and money by streamlining the recruitment process and potentially even cutting out recruiters' sky-high fees. 

LiveHire was founded in 2011 in Melbourne and went on to publicly list on the ASX in 2016 at an initial public offering price of 20 cents per share. The company's client base includes leading brands like Vodafone, Asics, Nissan, and Xero Limited (ASX: XRO).

What did LiveHire announce?

Shortly before market open this morning, LiveHire revealed it has won a contract with the Victorian State Government to provide technology to help deploy staff into critical areas of need.

More specifically, the state government will use LiveHire's platform to profile, match, and engage current employees in order to transition them into critical roles across the state government.

According to the announcement, the Victorian government contract is approximately 8 times the average annualised recurring revenue per client across LiveHire clients. 

The initial term of the contract is 12 months, and the state government has the option to extend the term for a further 12 months.

Commenting on the contract win, CEO Christy Forest said:

"LiveHire has unique capabilities in search, match, skills profiling and personal communications, making our solution highly suitable for organisations which are now increasingly required to bring a more agile approach to workforce mobility."

"Similar to our work for other Australian State Governments, we will leverage our platform to assign well-fitted, available employees to in-demand roles from a newly created Talent Community for Victoria's Jobs and Skills Exchange," she added.

While today's announcement was welcome news for investors, it's important to note that LiveHire is on the smaller end of the ASX in terms of market capitalisation. Factoring in the 11.36% share price rise at the time of writing, LiveHire shares have a market capitalisation of just $74 million.

The post Small-cap ASX tech share rockets 23% higher on government contract win appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

LiveHire is a recruitment platform that lets employers keep digital track of candidates within one eco-system. It reports that it can help save its enterprise clients time and money by streamlining the recruitment process and potentially even cutting out recruiters' sky high fees. 

Today it revealed an operating cash loss of $3.7 million on sales of just $1 million for the quarter ending September 30 2019. It has $30.4 million cash on hand and is estimating cash outflows around $4.99 million over the December quarter. 

Some of its clients include oOh!media, Victorian Chamber of Commerce and from memory Xero Limited (ASX: XRO).

The stock price has actually halved over just 2019 though, I believe as investor enthusiasm wanes on the back of some churn and lower-than-expected sales. 

It has grown from 46 clients in December 2018 to 86 clients as at September 30 2018. While growth is going in the right direction it's coming off a small base and not really strong enough to attract me as an investor. Others may take a different view though. 

The post Why the Livehire share price rebounded today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they have dropped lower:

The GR Engineering Services Ltd (ASX: GNG) share price has returned to trade and dropped 19.5% to 70 cents. This morning the engineering company warned that its financial results could be impacted by Timor Sea Oil & Gas Australia going into voluntary administration. GR Engineering's assessment of the group's exposure is ~$17.4 million. This represents receivables and work in progress of $15.9 million and the finalisation of commitments to vendors and suppliers of $1.5 million.

The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price has sunk almost 9% lower to 26.5 cents. Investors have been heading to the exits despite an announcement on Monday revealing that the talent technology company has entered into four new or extended agreements recently across ANZ and the US. Investors don't appear overly optimistic that this will make a meaningful difference to its performance in FY 2020. Last year LiveHire posted revenue of $2.6 million and a sizeable loss of $13.8 million.

The Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) share price is down 1.5% to $7.20 after oil prices tumbled lower overnight due to weak economic data out of China. In other news, this morning the energy producer revealed that Dr Keiran Wulff will replace the retiring Peter Botten as the company's managing director in February. Dr Wulff is currently Oil Search's Executive Vice President, Alaska and President of Oil Search Alaska.

The Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) share price has fallen 2.5% to $1.38 after the gold price tumbled lower. According to CNBC, overnight the spot gold price dropped 1.8% to US$1,479.10 an ounce after the U.S. dollar strengthened. The precious metal has continued to fall during Asian trade, leading to the S&P/ASX All Ords Gold index falling 1.7% today.

The post Why GR Engineering, LiveHire, Oil Search, & Resolute Mining dropped lower today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) higher 0.45% to 6,500.60
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) higher 0.54% to 6,600.80
• AUD/USD at US 67 cents
• Gold at US$1,545.79 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$60.14 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was the Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) share price, the AI and machine learning business rose by 10.7%.

The share price of buy now, pay later company Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) went up by 9.3% after reporting more impressive growth in its FY19 result.

It was another very painful day for remote data business Speedcast International Ltd (ASX: SDA), its share price dropped another 33%.

Infant formula business Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) saw its share price decline 1.4% after reporting a fall in its FY19 profit.

The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price ended the day flat after it revealed its FY19 report to the ASX.

National Storage REIT (ASX: NSR) was another business to report today, its FY19 figures sent the share price higher by 1.3%.

The Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) share price was unmoved after it went into a trading halt to raise at least $1 billion from investors to fund investment opportunities.

Finally, the share price of Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd (ASX: VAH) fell by 6% after reporting another difficult period for the airline.

Here are some of today's top stories:    

• Why the Metcash share price fell 3.5% today
• Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp share price charges higher on guidance upgrade
• ELMO share price higher on artificial intelligence project news
• Are National Veterinary Care shares in the buy zone?

The post ALL ORDINARIES finishes higher Wednesday: 8 shares you missed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

What did LiveHire tell the market this morning?

LiveHire reported revenue increases of 59% year-on-year to $2.62 million for FY19, up from $1,65 million in FY18, while annualised recurring revenue is up 88% to $2.53 million.

Earnings (EBITDA) were negative at a $13.66 million loss (up from $10.04 million in FY18), giving LiveHire a net loss after tax for FY19 of $13.79 million. This was up 37% from FY18's loss of $10.10 million and translates to a loss of 5 cents per share (up from 4.1 in FY18).

Meanwhile, total assets reported at $39.32 million (up 14.9%) while total liabilities came in at $3.14 million (up 69%), giving LiveHire net assets of $36.03 million for FY19 (up 11% over FY18).

Outlook for LiveHire

In a pleasing sign, the company reported that user traffic on the LiveHire platform increased by 350% over the past year, which has been accompanied by software and infrastructure upgrades to accommodate this surge in demand. The company is bullish on its US market penetration so far, with product localisation now complete and live.

Whilst LiveHire has not provided any quantitative guidance for FY20, CEO Christy Forest described FY19 as "characterised by a brave transformational strategy to build new capabilities to help accelerate our entry into the US market", which the company hopes to continue into FY20. 

The post Results: LiveHire shares bounce after 59% revenue increase appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

LiveHire is an ASX company that (in its own words) is a "talent acquisition & engagement platform that revolutionises the candidate experience and enables businesses to thrive with talent on demand." Livehire was founded in 2011 in Melbourne and now has offices in Sydney and Perth.

What did LiveHire announce?

In its ASX market release, LiveHire announced it has signed a 'Referral partner Agreement' with US recruitment advisory firm Bayard – meaning Bayard will "introduce LiveHire's innovative talent management program to Bayard's clients."

Bayard is a New York-based recruitment firm founded back in 1923. It has a presence today across 17 countries and provides a range of services, including branding, media and digital solutions and metrics and analysis.

LiveHire hopes that this agreement will strengthen LiveHire's presence in the US market by "boosting the Company's brand recognition and accelerate sales growth… with the Company focused on supporting continued growth and geographical expansion."

As part of the agreement, Bayard is "eligible to receive a commission of the client's first year of hosting fees where it submits a lead that is approved by LiveHire that converts into a signed and paid client contract."

Although LiveHire "considers that this agreement is strategically material due to Bayard's brand, market share, and extensive reach and trusted advisory into LiveHire's ideal prospect customers globally… LiveHire is not able to determine the total revenues expected from this agreement at this point in time due to the indefinite term, contingent nature of client opportunities and commissions being decided on a case-by-case  basis. Accordingly, LiveHire does not have a reasonable basis to determine a material economic impact on the Company."

LiveHire shares are now trading at the low end of its $0.30–$0.71 52-week range.

The post Why the LiveHire share price is dropping today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Over the quarter it finished with a net 6 new enterprise clients as it continues to invest heavily in sales and marketing efforts. It now has 79 enterprise customers in total that represent $2.53 million in annualised recurring revenue. 

The post This is why the Livehire results could disappoint investors appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) higher 0.39% to 6,443.90
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) higher 0.91% to 6,525.20
• AUD/USD at US 70 cents
• Gold at US$1,331.99 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$62.47 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was the Graincorp Ltd (ASX: GNC) share price which rose by 5.7%.

A rising oil price sent the Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price higher by 4.5% today.

The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price went up more than 4% thanks to a partnership announcement.

The share price of Marley Spoon AG (ASX: MMM) rose 70.5% today in response to a partnership with Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), the Woolworths share price has risen by 0.4%.

The Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX: MFG) share price rose 4.6% in reaction to the company's May 2019 funds under management update.

The share price of Syrah Resources Ltd (ASX: SYR) dropped 3.9% due to announcing that it was downgrading its production guidance.

Finally, the St Barbara Ltd (ASX: SBM) share price dropped 1.9% after a retail entitlement shortfall.

Here are some of today's top stories:    

• Why your earnings potential is just as important as your portfolio
• Cannabis company Creso Pharma up 36% on takeover approach
• Is the AFIC share price a buy?
• Can the Telstra dividend keep up with its share price?

The post ALL ORDINARIES finishes higher Friday: 8 shares you missed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Rizing will also earn commissions when one of its clients signs up to pay for Livehire's platform. 

Rizing is reportedly the second-largest SAP SuccessFactors client in the world and "serving 40% of SAP SuccessFactors 6,700+ customers globally". Somewhat confusingly, this suggests Rizing has 40% of 6,700 clients to target in pushing the Livehire platform.

The post The Livehire share price is heading higher on a partnership announcement appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Four shares climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they are racing higher:

The Dicker Data Ltd (ASX: DDR) share price has continued its solid run and is up a further 4% to $4.74. Investors have been fighting to get hold of the company's shares this week following the release of its first quarter results. Dicker Data has had a strong start to FY 2019, achieving total revenue growth of 21.1% to $386.9 million and profit before tax growth of 46.7% to $13.5 million. This was driven by the strong performance of all its vendor partnerships.

The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price is up 5% to 49 cents. This gain appears to be a delayed reaction to the company's positive announcement on Wednesday. That announcement revealed that its Talent Community Connections1 (TCC) have surpassed the critical mass of 1 million. LiveHire's platform has also recently expanded into the US with its first series of channel partner led implementations. Management advised that it expects TCC ecosystem growth in the US to quickly surpass Australia.

The Pushpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: PPH) share price is up over 4% to $3.75. Today's gain appears to have been driven by a positive broker note out of Deutsche Bank this morning. According to the note, the broker was pleased with its performance in FY 2019, though it was disappointed to see its CEO resign. However, it believes the company has significant operating leverage and has lifted its earnings forecasts and price target materially.

The TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPM) share price has climbed 4% to $6.29. As with Pushpay, a broker note appears to have been the catalyst for this solid gain. A note out of Ord Minnett reveals that its analysts have upgraded the telco company's shares to an accumulate rating from hold with an improved price target of $6.90. Ord Minnett appears to believe the company has a good chance of overturning the ACCC's merger decision in court.

The post Why Dicker Data, LiveHire, Pushpay, & TPG Telecom shares raced higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

However, they are inherently riskier than their large cap peers, so investors must choose wisely when it comes to investing in them.

Luckily, brokers have been busy looking into the small cap space and have done a lot of the hard work for you.

Three small cap shares that have been rated as buys are listed below:

LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH)

According to a note out of Morgans, its analysts have an add rating and 85 cents price target on this talent technology company's shares. After a disappointing FY 2018, Morgans appears optimistic that LiveHire's refocused sales strategy could lead to strong returns for shareholders in the future. Especially after the release of a solid half year result last month which was driven by higher average yields from new enterprise customers. I think LiveHire is an interesting company, but it's a little soon for an investment in my opinion.

Megaport Ltd (ASX: MP1)

A note out of Goldman Sachs reveals that its analysts have retained their buy rating and $4.75 price target on Megaport's shares after the quarterly results of data centre operators Equinix and Digital Realty pointed to increasing demand for its offering. Goldman believes the trends from these results are supportive of its buy thesis and notes that the migration to cloud-based infrastructure by corporates globally is continuing to drive demand for a broad range of connectivity solutions. As Megaport provides an on-demand virtual connectivity solution for corporates, the broker expects demand to increase as more workloads migrate to the cloud and require a broader range of counter-parties to connect with. It is a high risk option but I agree that it has significant potential.

Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL)

Another note out of Goldman Sachs reveals that its analysts have a buy rating and $1.30 price target on this ecommerce company's shares. According to the note, the broker has concerns that Google algorithm changes could impact its second half performance, but remains positive on the company's medium to long term growth drivers. Goldman expects Redbubble to benefit from improving network effects, new product launches, its partnership program, the ongoing penetration of new geographies, and an improvement in member experience driving recurring engagement. I like Redbubble as well and think it could be worth considering as a patient long-term investment.

The post Top brokers name 3 ASX small cap shares to buy today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The numbers are inflated slightly by the acquisition of the Hypefish business that completed in June 2018 with more than a US$1 million of ARR delivered by Hypefish as at December 31 2018. Livetiles will issue 6.77 million shares to the Hypefish vendors as the ARR means it has hit its first earn-out target in the acquisition agreement.

Livetiles software allows enterprise or commercial government customers to build an intranet system that lets employees easily connect to multiple other third-party platforms and potentially improves efficiencies and the functionality of the digital workplace.

Source: Livetiles website

It also recently signed a deal with Microsoft Inc. to help improve the Artificial Intelligence (AI) functionality on its platform and it has signed an agreement with sales partner in N3 Inc. to effectively outsource or grow some of its key sales efforts.

It reports that the N3 team has already built a sales pipeline worth $50 million to Livetiles.

"Importantly, we have also continued to build a very large pipeline of sales opportunities, driven by the N3 sales and marketing channel and our unique global partnership with Microsoft. We remain focused on converting this large and growing pipeline into new customers in FY19 and beyond," commented CEO Karl Redenbach.

Should you jump in?

The stock is up 11% to 38.5 cents in response to today's news which gives it a market cap of $211 million on 9.2x ARR, but the concern is that much of the growth is coming from ballooning costs.

In fact the operating cash loss for the quarter ending September 30 2018 hit $11 million, with a forecast for the cash loss for the quarter ending December 31 2018 to come in at $13.1 million. The large staff costs being attributed in part to the deal with N3 Inc. to boost its sales efforts and reach.

Livetiles had cash on hand of $32.1 million as at September 30 2018 and is likely to divide investors, given growth is being delivered but at a significant cost. I'd watch it from the side lines for now.

Yesterday we saw another software company in Livehire Ltd (ASX: LVH) report trailing quarterly revenues of just $924,000 despite it having a market cap of more than $140 million, although its cash outflows are far more manageable.

The post How Livetiles Ltd just tripled its SaaS recurring revenue as share price soars appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

For the quarter LiveHire reports it grew annualised repeat revenue (ARR) 25% to $2.05 million, with average recurring revenue per client (ARRPC) up 15% to $32,007.

A back of the envelope calculation suggests LiveHire currently has around 62 clients and it reported that it added a net 5 clients for the quarter when accounting for churn (lost clients) which it blamed on smaller clients leaving as it focuses on winning larger clients worth more to the business.

The group offers enterprise users including DuluxGroup Limited (ASX: DLX) oOhMedia Limited (ASX: OML) and I believe Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) an online (cloud-based) platform that lets existing and potential employees leave their digital footprints to help human resources teams' improve recruitment processes.

It's in a competitive space though with cloud-based recruitment, human resources and talent management tech platforms springing up everywhere at the moment, including the likes of U.S. giant Workday and even the ASX's own Elmo Software Ltd (ASX: ELO).

Livehire claims its platform and talent community or eco-system provides it an advantage over rivals in different spaces, but the declining share price over the past year reflects the fact that top-line growth has not been as strong as expected.

For the quarter revenue will come in at just $924,000 versus an operating cash outflow of $2.78 million, with the group having no debt and $25 million cash on hand.

However, it seems its chief challenge is revenue growth, with even the ARR of $2.05 million for the quarter hardly an inspiring amount given the group is supposed to be a hot tech start-up.

The low ARRPC also suggests the group is not charging much for its product, with it describing its ARPCC as being related to its building a "low acquisition, rapidly deployable solution for infinite scale". Going for market share with competitive pricing makes sense, but if a product cost is rather low and subscriber growth is still not flying along, I'd be inclined to ask why this may be.

According to its most recent Appendix 3B filing with the ASX it has 266.6 million shares on issue (with another 52 million shares subject to voluntary escrow) so if we're generous and just use the number of shares currently on issue in calculating its market value we arrive at a figure of $142 million based on a 53 cents per share price.

This is around 36x annualised trailing revenues, so we can see the stock looks on a high valuation based on some simple valuation metrics even adjusting for cash on the balance sheet.

Of course it's coming off a small base, but it'll likely have to invest more to grow its sales and keep its technology best-in-class, with the market still seemingly pricing in success ahead for the business.

The post Why the LiveHire Ltd share price has lost 58% over the past year appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Three small cap shares that have caught the eye today with solid gains are listed below. Here's why they are on the rise on Monday:

The Bidenergy Ltd (ASX: BID) share price has climbed over 3.5% to $1.03 after the energy spend management platform provider announced that it has entered into a five year agreement with the Australian division of Cushman and Wakefield. The agreement will see Bidenergy provide end to end energy spend lifecycle management services for the supply of electricity and natural gas, water and council rates to its customers. Upon completion of on-boarding, this agreement will add approximately 10,500 meters to the company's meters under management. This will bring its total meters under management to 33,000.

The LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) share price has surged 9.5% higher to 51.5 cents after the talent technology company announced that it has secured an enterprise agreement with one of Australia's leading energy infrastructure and distribution organisations, Jemena. LiveHire will host the Talent Community for the entire Jemena organisation, providing it with an end to end talent acquisition and engagement platform. Management advised that the enterprise agreement represents annualised recurring revenue (ARR) of more than twice the current average ARR across its clients.

The Nuheara Ltd (ASX: NUH) share price has pushed 3% higher to 7.1 cents after the smart personal hearing devices provider announced a retail partnership with Specsavers Optical Group in the United Kingdom. The partnership will see Nuheara's range of smart hearing buds trialled in the Sussex Specsavers store with a view to increased roll-out over 2019. With nearly 2,000 stores globally, this partnership could be lucrative for the company if the trial is a success.

The post These small cap ASX shares are on the rise on Monday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Here's a short recap of the Australian market:

• S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) lower 0.19% to 5,657.70
• ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) lower 0.22% to 5,736.70
• AUD/USD at US 72 cents
• Gold at US$1,239.46 an ounce
• Brent Oil at US$61.03 a barrel

The best-performing ASX 200 share today was car dealership business Automotive Holdings Group Ltd (ASX: AHG), its share price rose 4.1%.

Another ASX 200 share on the rise was Charter Hall Group (ASX: CHC), the property business rose 4%.

Scentre Group (ASX: SCG) shares rose by 3.8% after the ABS reported that Australian retail turnover increased by 0.3% in October.

The SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) share price fell 4.7% today following international share market declines and a negative broker note.

Shares of buy now, pay later business Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) dropped 5.3%, making it the worst performer in the ASX 200 today. It was also a punishing day for fellow tech business Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) which saw its share price fall 4.1%.

Asaleo Care Ltd (ASX: AHY) shares rose by a huge 45.6% today after announcing the sale of some of its leading Australian brands like Handee and Sorbent.

Finally, the share price of LiveHire Ltd (ASX: LVH) finished up 8.3% after announcing its latest large agreement.

Here are some of today's top stories:

• Leading fund manager reveals 7 investment themes from 2018
• Large ASX blue chips could be fined billions of dollars
• Goldman Sachs thinks the worst may be over for BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto
• Is the Telstra Corporation share price in the buy zone?

The post ALL ORDINARIES finishes lower Thursday: 8 shares you missed appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.