The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
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Brondby/Green - very measured and sensible observations. Completed agree that this could have/should have been presented in a much more positive/constructive light. I do hope CIZ takes note, acknowledges the comms gap and sets a new course.
Confidence has taken a battering for sure, due to the disjuncture between the last two RNSs.
Last but one RNS implied clinical trials imminent.
This one; we'll start trials at some unknown point in the future after mabs/reagents have been scaled up. With a new company that has never been mentioned before and no reference to previous mabs/reagents that previous RNSs had stated as a breakthrough. Oh, and we've raised funds at 2p with existing investors rather than at 2.1p with our agreed loan facility. No explanations.
This could all have been presented so positively. Existing investors showing confidence. Bringing on someone new (who? and why?). We've chosen not to sell CDT instead becuase we believe it will in future provide far more value to shareholders, scale up of mabs is a key necesssry stage before trials and its taken some time to find the right supplier, etc...
Now some of this may be down to PIs (myself included) not understand the sequencing of events, or the difference between lab development reagent manufacture and production scale reagent manufacture, and the need to use the production reagents in the test validation etc. But isn't that what he's meant to communicate to investors?
Part of it is also their lack of any need of PI funds (mostly institutions), part may be Allan not wanting to say or commit to anything that might change in future, and which would then mean he's got to given further details. I can understand why they don't want to give running commentary on operations. Part may be commercial sensitivity. But if it is, can't you say that?
Anyway. I still think this can succeed, but timescales now 6 months I'd say. May be too far away for some of our recent investors who hoped for a quick turnaround. But could be a painful drop in the interim until we get more explanations.
Allan’s communication is deplorable
I think that’s all fair comment Morpheus…
I don’t think Ciz are off track re commercialisation, they are ticking the boxes, it’s just that it’s not been clear to shareholders.
My assumption was mAbs/reagents sorted, just doing clinical tests. Next RNS would be results, SP climbs, drops off a little, then placing to generate funds to take it to commercial launch…
In practice, developing mAbs etc… that are going to be used in the test is more time consuming than expected, so progress isn’t where we thought it was - the last 48 hours is the result of that poor engagement. As mentioned yesterday, 3 mins of insight (of a 9 min Directors Talk) after 6 months of silence doesn’t cut it…
The clinical test repeat should be fairly straightforward (AS words), so hopefully move forward at pace from here.
I very much doubt the reaction from shareholders has been lost on them, suspect it’s surprised them, but no harm in some kickback at being taken for granted.
Annual results in 3-4 weeks time…suspect they’ll use that as a platform to give a more detailed forward looking statement re timelines etc… to try and recover the position from this week, but time will tell…
The annoying piece for me is the damage it does to shareholder sentiment…been damaged unnecessarily and takes time to recover…
I have sent two messages to the company via the website but had no replies. It kind of reinforces the point about lack of communication. Something similar said on Twitter/X as well. I confess that the RNS was a shock and caused me to question where CIZ is going and how long it will take. One of the key considerations of going public was access to funding so a fund raise is fair - I have no doubt there will be another before we hit markets. But it's the lack of a roadmap/updates that irks and leads to the perception that PIs are taken for granted. My holding here is clearly not on a par with others although I have added more this year. But really happy to fall behind any move to force through a 304 if this lack of comms continues. To state the obvious, this is not just about funding DC's research. It's about commercialisation. And we need to be kept informed particularly as we see an increasing number of other tests etc hitting the market (even if ours is different, it adds to the perception we are lagging behind. And perceptions matter to the market). Bit of a brain dump. Hope AS reads some of this. But I somehow doubt it. And breathe!