Ekf Diagnostics Share Price (EKF)

Has been very quiet here for a while unsurprisingly, as there has been little news. Quietly topped up on the dips, but people piling in today which is hopefully a better sign, although maybe still range bound. Would need 34p to be considered a real break out I suspect. That requires an update

In meeting today, the opening shot from Baines was rather a panicked plea that his plan was all about focus and growth. I do wonder whether perhaps his pitch to institutional investors did not go completely smoothly.

They may have supported a dividend break, but I cannot believe they are happy with his snails pace execution.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of days and whether there are signs of IIs backing this as a recovery share.

I just have a nervousness about their operational capability as it becomes clearer that that there were more issues than we realised in the ongoing business as well as the updated fermentation business. And for sure timescales to get this up and running and selling the capacity have been vastly underestimated.

We could really do with quarterly updates this year.

Re: corporate governance. It was exactly this, james188, which caused one of Ashworth-Lord's funds to sell out of EKF a few months ago. They cited corporate governance issues and 'something of a revolving door' at management level.

Re: divi suspension. It's now clear that they intend to use the cash saved to build up a kitty to fund future sexy investments & acquisitions. After their previous wasteful splurge, which has precisely gotten us into this mess, that is v worrying.

I don't know what to do here. Nothing hasty. Give it a few days/weeks for the penny to fully drop... but when management are such poor allocators of capital and they don't know it, it's a good reason for selling out.

This may be the most frustrating company that I have ever invested in. The core business looks decent, but there have been multiple management missteps/knee-jerk strategy changes over the last few years which have damaged the company hugely. Add to that the complete lack of stability at board level and sub-optimal corporate governance. Only one year ago, Mike Salter was stated to be a key part of management (having been sacked as CEO for good reason) and the company did not even bother to issue an RNS when he left, using the excuse that he had announced first on LinkedIn. Not nearly good enough.

The IMC presentation this afternoon as upbeat, but the credibility of management is on the line and we need to see results, rather than empty promises (of which there have been far too many). Shareholders are now being asked to back management to deliver growth and to accept a dividend pause. It had better deliver. I asked the final question on IMC as to whether the board had discussed strengthening the board by splitting the chair and CEO roles. I believe that it should. The response that this issue had not even come up in recent discussions really concerned me. As things stand, the company is uninvestable for me. I have reduced my exposure at a painful loss, but still hold. That is under review.

Disappointing...that's an understatement. Todays lacklustre, late issue RNS is completely symptomatic of why the shares have tanked to their lowest level in years. The life sciences business is meant to be an exciting, dynamic and innovative space where companies develop new products alongside market and end consumer demand with a skilled management team driving shareholder value and navigating the companies place in the bio-tech sector. EKF appears to be limping in completely the opposite direction of where it needs to be in just about every category where I would measure success, pushing out growth into another meaningless time period where it now looks there is yet another failed investment - if this is what the business is aspiring to, they really should just put the business up far sale. SB