Why I’ve trimmed GetBusy (GETB)

I’ve been a happy holder of GetBusy for a while, but this week I cut the position back by about 50%. Here’s my thinking(more of a risk management than anything else).

The bull case hasn’t gone anywhere. SmartVault, the US tax document platform that is the real value in the group, is now plugged into every major professional tax application, including a co-built integration with Intuit’s ProConnect that went live last October. Growth has picked up nicely, the board reaffirmed guidance at the May AGM with unusual confidence, and on any sensible sum-of-parts maths SmartVault alone looks worth more than the whole company. Management’s incentives are clearly geared towards selling it one day.

So why trim? Because the risks have grown faster than the share price admits. Intuit, the partner GetBusy leans on most, has nearly halved this year on fears that AI eats guided software, and its new Accountant Suite roadmap now openly includes document sharing, file exchange and AI-driven client onboarding. That’s SmartVault’s back garden. Meanwhile GETB is up about 50% over the past year. One of those two charts is wrong, and I’d rather not bet the full position on it being Intuit’s.

There’s also the exit question. UK small-cap M&A is busy, but AI-nervous buyers pay lower multiples, which probably pushes any SmartVault sale later and cheaper than bulls hope.

I’ve kept a decent stake for the upside. Next tests: Intuit’s results in late August, then GetBusy’s interims on 8 September.