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The most positive viewpoint is that NTOG think MAGP is a good play and they've been able to negotiate a decent stake for themselves by exploiting the departing CEO's desire to exit his position, thus giving them a good "in" price. And that they'll hold for a reasonable period of time. Since Snead clearly wants to sell his stock it may be better for MAGP for NTOG to be holding that, as opposed to Snead dumping his stock on the secondary market (compete with a slew of 10%, 9%, 8%, 7% etc TR1s to reinforce the overhang being worked). The worse case scenario would have been if Snead aggressively dumped his MAGP stock (for whatever personal reasons, I can't speculate) which would have been very nasty for the MAGP SP if there is a visible forced seller in the market. At least now that has been averted and the stock is in the hands of someone else. Whether that ends up being "out of the frying pan, into the fire" we shall see.
I agree that there seems to be a certain degree of "messaging" around how this was done. NTOG released an RNS under their own ticker at 1:15pm on Friday stating that they had bought a 10% stake in MAGP. Formally speaking that is a material holding for them and as such they were obliged to inform the market without delay, which they did. That's fine, and it's right for them to issue their own RNS because it is a material transaction for NTOG (irrespective of whether there are DTR substantial shareholder disclosures to be made). As a 10% shareholder they are also required by the DTR rules to tell MAGP that they have got a substantial shareholding. It is then up to MAGP as to how they disclose that to the market - either by their own RNS, or perhaps simply by thinking that since NTOG have already done so then they don't need to. At the very least it would be good practice for MAGP to release a notification under its own RNS ticker to assist its own shareholders. Did NTOG tell MAGP directly, or did they simply release their RNS and let them find it? Formally speaking it could be argued that NTOG has informed the market of its stake and has discharged its DTR obligations, so maybe MAGP feels it doesn't have to issue an RNS. We shall see on that front next week. "Should" NTOG have waited until MAGP issued an RNS before it informed the market? No, strictly speaking. The obligation is on NTOG (as a listed company) to inform the market without delay of price-sensitive information like a major transaction. "Could" they have coordinated with MAGP if they had wanted to, in order to get back-to-back RNSes released? Oh I'm sure they "could" have, had they wanted to. That this didn't happen is probably significant. What does surprise me is that we didn't get a separate RNS from MAGP the same day - there was another 5 hours of RNS feed that day they could have used, even if it was for a quick "The Company notes the RNS released earlier today by NTOG regarding ..." sort of thing. That might be as trivial as a staff absence and being caught unawares - we shall see next week if there is an RNS on Tuesday morning. It certainly does feel like MAGP were caught on the hop though and didn't know anything about the purchase until the RNS landed at 1:15pm. If they were not informed directly by NTOG (e.g. by email) then one can see circumstances where they might have missed it at the time of release. All very interesting and you could read a lot into this, if you were so minded. The next step for me is whether there is a RNS from MAGP on Tuesday.
All this does is add fuel to a fire that Magp didnt need. There could have been many reasons for SOS to leave that wouldn't necessarily have spelt bad news - indeed, it was initially indicated that he would remain a shareholder. For him to have sold his holding at such a massive discount (although I totally agree that such a big chunk would have been difficult to shift at any higher price than 0.06p) for me smells bad. I'm truly sorry to say that it exposes a rift within the BoD that must have lead to his departure. If not, surely to God, Rita and co would have done what they could to buy him out at a modest premium to the relatively paltry sum of £125k. To not have arrived at a deal, or if Rita was blind sided, not even sought one, has to indicate a major breakdown in the relationship. I sincerely hope that this is a mere blip and given the freedom to move in the direction that she sees fit, Rita can now take the company forward. I have said before that she is long overdue releasing a strategic statement about the future of the company. Like never before, that time has come. I sincerely wish everyone here all the best. Investing is difficult enough on AIM without this kind of crap. GLA
Your first point is very good Baks. I had not clocked that it was published by NTOG rather than by MAGP. Of course with the holding being above 3% they must let the market know but surely they should report to us and let our Bod then release the news in our own way. This might sound like splitting hairs but actually the wording can be very important as you have yourself pointed out and don't really need me to comment further. The use of the word acquisition for example - it is clearly phrased in a manner to try to benefit the sp of NTOG rather than MAGP - I mean the whole script is really!! I can't see RFW being anything other than furious with the way this has been reported. I certainly don't see NTOG as having significant influence at all on MAGP either however. 10% simply isn't enough. She will continue in the same manner of the last few months I'm sure. Happy to hold. All the best