Ryan Mee, CEO of Fulcrum Metals, reviews FY23 and progress on the Gold Tailings Hub in Canada. Watch the video here.
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I saw your purchase notification Dartron - and your rationale for getting back in. Welcome back! I wouldn’t be surprised at either outcome given the lack of any update on the appointment of a permanent leadership team. Update next week apparently….SB
At least they all agree. How pleasant a chat board with no arguing.
SB, I have bought a few. "It cant go any lower"!! !!
Blimey - what an unusual consensus of opinion....SB
I am disappointed to observe that this update appears to validate an unfavorable situation. The absence of competent management, absence of a clear plan, and failure to secure new contracts are concerning. The financial situation is also deteriorating. It is truly unfortunate, and I hope for a turnaround. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to take control over the remaining board members and prioritize future success. If the stock price drops further, potentially below 20p, it may present a promising long-term investment opportunity. This is solely my opinion, and I hope to be proven wrong.
I am disappointed to see that this update seems to validate a very unfavorable situation. There is a lack of competent management, no apparent plan in place, and no new contracts secured. The financial situation is also being reduced. It is unfortunate, and I hope that the situation can be turned around. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to address the remaining board members and focus on what is crucial for future success. If the stock price drops further, it might present a good long-term investment opportunity, although this is just my opinion and I hope I am mistaken.
I am disappointed by the update as it seems to validate an unfavorable situation. The management lacks competence, there is no apparent plan in place, and no new contracts have been secured. The financial situation is deteriorating, which is unfortunate. It is regrettable, and I hope the situation can be reversed. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to take control over the remaining board members and focus on crucial aspects for future success. If the stock price drops further, potentially below 20p, it may present a promising long-term investment opportunity. This is solely my opinion, and I hope to be proven wrong.
The update is disappointing as it confirms an unfavorable situation. The management lacks competence, there is no clear plan in place, and no new contracts have been secured. The financial situation is also deteriorating. It is truly unfortunate, and I hope for a turnaround. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to align the remaining board members and focus on crucial factors for future success. Maybe, when the stock price drops further, it could become a good long-term investment, but this is just my opinion and I hope to be proven wrong.
I am disappointed to see that this update seems to validate a very unfavorable situation. There is a lack of competent management, no apparent plan in place, and no new contracts secured. The financial situation is also being reduced. It is truly unfortunate, and I hope that the situation can be turned around. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to assert control over the remaining board members and focus on what is crucial for future success. If the stock price drops further, potentially below 20p, it may present a good long-term investment opportunity. This is just my opinion, and I hope that I am proven wrong.
I am disappointed to see that this update only confirms a very unfavorable situation. The management lacks competence, there seems to be no clear plan in place, and it appears that no new contracts have been secured. The financial situation is also being reduced. It is truly unfortunate, and I hope that the situation can be turned around. However, it will require a strong CEO and CFO duo to bring the remaining board members in line and focus on what is crucial for future success. Perhaps, when the stock price drops further, it could be a good long-term investment, but this is just my opinion and I hope that I am proven wrong.
Quite a deal Hawker - just shows the appetite for the ever growing Life Sciences market. You would like to think that a forward multiple of 15+ should generally be achievable for this sector. One of the biggest issues here relates to the holding of Harwood - who remain a 29+% shareholder but below the 30% required to make an offer. They are essentially in control of the business who could make or break any deal - should such a day occur. As for a re-rating - perhaps nearly 8 months after removing our former CEO the business might think about a replacement...…probably worth getting someone in who can count as well. Perhaps the business is being touted for sale and we don't need a new team...…maybe we will get a proper update next month - management, fermenter customers, cost controls, strategy to recover lost shareholder value.....SB
So the M&A process that kicked off in June has resulted in Danaher acquiring Abcam, for what looks like 9x prospective '24 EV'Sales and 21x EV/EBITDA. Appreciating that it's a very long shot to think EKF may ever be sought after in quite the same way, I do think it wise to point out that the shares are trading on a very lowly and unloved (to use Unhooked's reference) 1.8x '24 EV/Sales and 7x EV/EBITDA. For good reason you may well argue, given the missteps by the board, however, the multiples must surely be tempting for the PE guys looking to invest, grow and sell the business later. Not my preferred route, but the shares certainly need something to trigger a re-rating, sooner rather than later.
It's a thought at any rate...
Interesting info unhooked - thanks - and agreed Vig. To the outside world it appears the EKF is now being run by one individual - Julian Baines - which from a governance perspective for a listed company is completely unacceptable. This is clearly now having a disruptive impact on the company's shareholder base with fund managers not willing to invest given such a regime and even worse pulling holdings. For now Liontrust and Gresham remain large II holders - presumably they are having direct conversations to satisfy themselves there is not more to this than what is evident to the rest of us. The H1 results in Sept provide an opportunity to try and 'reset' the current malaise which surrounds the company - the issue is I am not sure whether our current executive chair has the desire to mend the loss of trust experienced by corporate and private investors here. We shall see. SB
Ash worth Lord each many our sentiments.
They have to face investors on a call in September and it could be a feisty one.
Ashworth-Lord's Free Spirit Fund bailed out of EKF in July. They cited long-standing concerns over the BOD (governance, remuneration and 'something of a revolving door at executive management level'). Source: Free Spirit's August factsheet.
Unloved indeed.
Just saying it as I see it unhooked. I don’t like being so critical especially given I have a reasonable holding here but until I see actual evidence of an improvement I just don’t buy this transitional nonsense. All the company is doing is upscaling part of their historic operations with covid upside cash. And yet somehow this is classed as transitional and misses all the other red flags which are all too apparent to those who post here and elsewhere. Look at core progress in the last five years in the ‘ hot’ diagnostics space - way below average imo. SB
I regret that this update appears to confirm a very poor scenario.
No competent management.
No apparent plan in place.
No new contracts in place it appears .
Reducing finance.
What a shame, I hope it is turned around but it is going to take a very strong duo of CEO and CFO to put some of the remaining board in their respective boxes and get on with what is crucial to future success.
When it drops another few pence or even below 20p may be a good long term investment.
Just my opinion I hope I am incorrect.
I see the same warning signals. Instead of Q4 revenue from life sciences we are now warmed up for 2024.
The reason being both dependant on contracts and capacity being in place contrary to previous guidance.
And the departure of the key person who going to deliver this didn't warrant an RNS.
As for governance clearly news has leaked (not for the first time) that this was coming.
I like the idea that heads should roll, but ironically we don't have many left on the bod.
I love your posts SB - a man who asks the right questions.
No permanent senior management team in place which didn’t even merit an update (despite being led to believe one was forthcoming); ever decreasing cash position (12 months ago we were sat on £21m); with 30% of cash locked in Russia; risk that our 2023 PBT no longer covers dividend as no update on FCF; slowing sales in POC (below 10%); cost cutting across the business; no customers signed up for increased life sciences capacity; and what appears to be missed timeframes with commissioning of fermenters. Apologies for negative comments but this update does nothing to reassure shareholders the business is on the correct trajectory - with no acknowledgement on the loss of investor value. Poor. SB
Happy to change the title to 'Loved EKF' (lol) - itching to do so in fact - but let's get some proof positive first, because confidence has been shaken.
Thinking the title will change to 'Loved EKF' from Q4 onwards, tuck away and trade some Rolls Royce to keep you busy in the meantime :). Valuation is just silly now at 7x FY24 EV/EBITDA and over 6% FCF Yield, and the forecasts have very little in for Fermentation, so there's plenty of room for positive surprises ahead. This said, I very much agree the board has let the side down here and frankly, one or two heads should roll as a result, and I think the shares would comfortably be back in the 45p-55p range, had they not dropped the ball.
Yep, my take also. Nil confidence that Q4 target for expansion will be hit and no customer contracts confirmed in place.
Lame.
Today's trading update promises great improvements sometime in the future..... market reaction speaks volumes.
Trouble is - based on previous experience - market is expecting poor H1 results. Firing your CFO added to the previous note that further restructuring costs were coming down the road does not make for comforting reading. To have lost so much value in such a short space of time with a core business that does ok is pretty much unacceptable. I would say the business should be sold but I’m sure that would be a screw up as well. Major shareholders and NEDs should be embarrassed about what is going on. SB
26p to sell this morning, this share is a continual disappointment. What will it take for the company's shares to break out of this very depressed range?
If I could just shut my laptop down and then look again in a couple of years, I suspect that this (and many of my other shares) would be in perfectly good shape. If only I had the patience!