The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Look at who owns Kromek:
https://www.kromek.com/investor-relations/shareholder-information/significant-shareholders/
I knew the management owned a tiny percentage but I was surprised to see former Kromek directors own more than CURRENT directors. I’d refer you to skid35 for details on that.
I remember when the biological pathogen detectors were being developed and the research notes by brokers were talking of £500m market for them and Kromek would get a 20% share of the market… I remember all the unique and excellent IP Kromek talked of. I was suckered in (luckily got out before it crashed). But I always had in the back of my mind why aren’t the management buying shares, why is the ceo taking a tiny amount at the fundraising at 16p. Well it’s all clear a few years later. It was all bu***it. Today we see more “excellent news” yet still no buying, anyone wonder why? Kromek is at a near record low 6p. I find it pretty offensive that a founder &ceo owns such a tiny share of the company and hasn’t bought any as the price tanked. If I saw a board member invest £100k plus I would radically change my view of Kromek. Till then, I’ll assume all they have is more bu***it in the tank.
A little background on why the move to ASX was made. Looks like the board were taking action to improve performance.
https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2023-03-02/mtr-metal-tiger-plc-corporate-update-aim-cancellation-and-notice-of-general-meeting
Disappointed to see what was billed as the next big thing by Kromek (biological pathogen detectors) barely acknowledged as even part of the business of Kromek. There is still no satisfactory explanation of what has happened here. It was central to their £13m fundraising, they conducted multiple interviews regarding it, yet it’s barely commented on now?
Regarding £13m fundraising-
“These funds in the short term will enable us to accelerate the commercialisation of our biological threat detection technology” - Kromek, feb ‘21
We are now 2years down the road from this statement.
So was there no technology 2years ago to commercialise? Or has the commercialisation been a failure of biblical proportions?
Here’s the long term view of oil outlined by the manager of Blue Whale fund to cheer you up! I favoured Trinity oil which too is suffering. I expect both share prices will move up again just as fast as they dropped!
“ But the energy sector itself is now far more appealing. The biggest driver of its renewed appeal for investors are the indicators of supply challenges from the three largest oil producers – the US, Saudi Arabia and Russia.
In the US, the shale revolution in early 2010 was one of the most significant breakthroughs in the 100-year history of the oil industry. We believe it is unlikely to be repeated, whilst economics and growth profiles are deteriorating as high decline rates, cost inflation, and depletion of the best wells all begin to bite.
In Saudi Arabia and indeed OPEC as a whole, we believe the record of consistently missing production quotas demonstrates their “spare capacity” is close to being exhausted. Coupled with worsening US relations, this is likely to bias OPEC towards limited supply growth.
Clearly, for Russia, geopolitics are worsening. The withdrawal of Western technology and oil field services firms from Russia will weigh heavy on supply, whilst Western nations taking a stance against the war in Ukraine is leaving the Russian oil industry painfully lacking investment.
Finally, a general lack of investment globally with total industry capex slashed by around 50% over the last 8-10 years has put pressure on the sector. Another telling stat is that enrolment numbers in petroleum engineering courses in the US are also down approximately 50% over the same period.
Whilst we do not attempt to forecast the oil price, all the above leads us to believe the price is well supported at these higher levels.”
Anyone here familiar with how companies in South Africa suffer from extortion from organised crime in SA?Here are a few snippets from the Financial Times with regards to the issues one of the largest SA companies have had to deal with. https://www.ft.com/content/f9b9b804-176f-48e5-9be9-7856a4209605https://www.ft.com/content/73a5242b-9fb4-47b0-a201-ebacea7cb071Personally I have concerns regarding the recent death and RNS. I have no knowledge whatsoever regarding the death at Jubilee and the situation surrounding it. I don’t see SA as a region I want any further exposure to. I’d advise all to look into the increasing lawlessness in South Africa and if it’s a region you want exposure in. I’ve heard examples from South Africans that sound more like doing business in war torn Somalia than a respectable democratic nation. I have <1% portfolio exposure here and will be unwinding this and Sylvanian over the next few months. I won’t be commenting any further here.
My analysis of mick33 is someone who is overly invested in Kromek and wants to see, and find evidence, that backs up his rapidly failing investment. He’s emotionally and financially overly attached to Kromek, and can’t come to terms with its apparent failure. So he’s digging out whatever he can to prove, mainly to himself but others too, that he hasn’t been sold a dud to console himself.
I don’t think he has any inside information or links to Kromek at all.
That’s my Mystic Meg analysis. BTW mick33, it’s spelt mystic not mistic…
I had high hopes for Kromek and believed strongly that the biological pathogen detectors were a game changer. I was always suspicious the board had such small ownership. When claims were made that repeatedly didn’t relate to the reality of Kromeks situation I sold. Luckily I got out before I made any losses.
Results, let me guess…
Business is progressing well. Sales up. Still loss making. Need more cash to fix temporary hole and the sunny uplands are almost here, just wait that little bit longer. (I know that’s what we say every time. But this time it’s true. Honest.)
“ Both contracts have been secured with Kromek distribution and procurement partners”. Looks like the tie up with Smiths Detection is doing well. Commercialisation of Kromeks products has always been its weakest point. Outsourcing this - hopefully with more of Kromeks products should do well
Back to trading at around nav. Was trading significantly above nav this time last year.
Simon Thompson’s current article is very prominent in the investors Chronicle online edition. It’s his only tip for the weekend. I should think, based on this, the share price may have further 9% gain on Monday. Kromeks previous weak share price has been based on it being loss making, and the likely need for further even more painful fundraisings. If it does need a further fundraising, which isn’t for sure, it won’t be quite so punishing based on Kromeks return to profitability.
I should think Kromeks share price now has a good chance to return to 20p, hopefully the worst is behind Kromek now and it should be able to maintain a 50% discount to the brokers fair value of 26p. I’d say Kromeks value should return to 13p until there’s further evidence of success
So in summary, I see Kromek as a high risk investment. Primarily because of its track record, and guidance of management which is so unreliable. I’m very irritated management claimed the bio detector worked well but are still talking about its development. We need to know exactly what’s going on with the bio detector development. Management are very mysterious about this, which would suggest it’s not going well.
However, I see the share price increasing from these lows and sales are gathering pace. Once Kromek are no longer loss making investors can sit comfortably while game changing developments such as the biological pathogen detector.
I need my head checking skid35! I re entered Kromek at 8.6p with a small purchase of 30,000. I think it’s undoubtedly a high risk investment. I’d summarise Kromek with the following positive /negative points.
Positive;
Very volatile share price
Steady stream of new orders
Huge game changing potential of bio detector
Possibility of becoming profitable this year
Lot of IP
Continuing support from Investors Chronicle boosting share price
Negatives;
Weak management
Management, who I’ve decided, are pointless listening to as what they say and do are rarely the same.
Failure to ever make a profit
Little buying by management even at 8p