Member Info for BIGBangs

Although I have not got the faintest idea of the logic behind any of the decisions taken to date and the situation is unusual even unprecedented, I disagree with Yuri in so much as, if JB sells more than 29.9% of AMGO to another company or another company acquires same through the market then they would have to make a bid which JB could still block probably block certainly if it did not have Director support therefore hostile. I don’t think we know the wording to TRG’s agreement but it is likely that if they sell a large % to another company they will be bound by the terms of existing agreement. It could be that if TRG’s holding falls below a certain % then the obligations fall away in which case JB could presumably sell into the market until that threshold is reached, remove the obligations of the agreement then try again to wrestle back control, potentially even adding shares at that stage. The BoD want to stay on, so they will not be looking to sell at 20.9p or anything like that unless of course, as has been suggested they were offered incentives (legal but dirty) - I believe the company is worth a lot more by any method of valuation and certainly in comparison to its peers. To sell small % off market (or indeed through the market) to satellites would not circumvent the listing rules as they would seen to be acting in concert. Anything could happen next, madness grips this share but on balance I am holding and probably adding in the hope that one day sanity will prevail and the SP will reflect fair market price. I am very interested in what Mr. Cunningham does next and how he must be now be considered as an insider if he wasn’t before which would take some convincing for me at any rate. ATB

Surely this is exactly what JB was suggesting and what the board - now with shareholder approval, have rejected?

The threat to sell 1% a day was, in my view, a bad move by JB. It left a bad taste and all it achieved was to encourage people that might have been on his side to either sell on fear of the SP falling following the vote which was always going to be stacked against us or vote against in the hope that they could then pick shares up on the cheap following an irrevocable sell order. Owning over 5% of the shares voted against myself I am shocked and disappointed by the result of the AGM but it just goes to show whatever feeling you may get as to the state of play by reading these boards is just unreal and that assumes that everyone is telling the truth about their positions. I have no idea what is going to happen next or how I personally will respond to a falling or rising SP - I just hope that if JB sticks around he makes a better fist of getting control of his company than he has done to date. ATB

Well that was fairly decisive - it would appear that everyone apart from the people that post on this board are in favour of the BoD and we are totally out of touch.

No fireworks today. It was 27 January that the BoD announced that they were putting the company up for sale after TRG indicated their willingness to sell - at that time the SP was 68p having fallen from £2.75 under their stewardship from the previous June. After months of trying they managed to come up with an indicative offer of 20.9p (less than the cash balance) and they were frustrated when JB would not countenance such a ludicrous price. Whatever the outcome tomorrow the BoD need to accept that they have failed and need to move on - whether they like it or not the major shareholder has to call the shots as to the direction of the company - shareholders own the company and Directors are just well paid employees - please leave and find yourself another job where your goals for a company match that of the owners or better still set up your own company and do it yourselves - either way you are better of with a new venture and we are better off without you.

Kairos go form a declared position of zero to 5.13% that represents significant confidence in a positive outcome.

Well D33 although my figures were a little lazy and his actions to date have not protected his position I still believe that JB is concerned about the future of this company and its true value. We/he have a difficult hill to climb to win the vote - the board may have lost all credibility but decline to do the honourable thing and release control, pretending that they are trying to act in the best interests of the company and its stakeholders, most of us do not believe this and hope they find a honourable way to resign before the meeting on the 17th. Despite protestations and scaremongering to the contrary AMGO remains a successful, cash rich and profitable company worth far more than the derisory 20.9p initially proposed by the board and if you are invested and want to see value we can just hope that JB can secure the control that his 61% shareholding should provide. I think we will see significant change following the meeting. ATB

Yuri, at the end of the day JB has witnessed the value of his shareholding reduce from c£800 m to c£30 m - he has a very big incentive for the company to succeed and the SP to rise, very pleased that you voted.

Noticed that I got the figure wrong - only 39% of the shares are available to vote!

D33 - That will depend f you hold your shares in your own name or in a nominee account. Contact your broker and get your vote registered. The board and their team will definitely be voting and they only need 50% of the votes cast.

HH - 16.5p - you put me to shame - I have reduced my average, hold a stupidly large number of shares again but my average is still mid well over 30p - I brought too many when they announced the company was up for sale - normally a wise move but not this time!

I am fervently hoping that JB will have empathy for the small shareholders who are massively down on this share at least in part to the way he has handled the process. He signed the agreement which restricts his voting rights, he went to twitter to attack the company of which he remains by far the largest shareholder, he must have agreed to the company being put up for sale and the process managed by the Board that he has no faith in and indeed supported the appointment of all of them to their positions. He will have crunched the numbers and will realise that of the 49% of the shares available 20% at least are controlled by the board or the consultant it has appointed meaning of course that they only need to garner a further 12% of the company, less if people don’t use their vote, leaving us with a battle to seize control. We, the small shareholders, nursing huge losses have accepted his call and support him, now it is up to him to sway the other big players to go against the status quo, oust the board and set us back on a the road where our SP reflects the true value of the business. Use your vote.

JB wants all of the board to go -as far as I can tell no change to JB’s threat to sell 1% per day. You still need to vote if you want to remove board - not voting is effectively a vote in favour of the board.

To be clear you carry the provision from year to year until such a time as the company feel the provision is no longer required and you then take some or all of it back into profit.

The cost of complaints was £26.4 m this will have been reflected within the £53.5 m qtr 3 results. To mitigate that they had provided in previous reports a pot of money or provision to pay this - in effect some of the cost was forewarned and provided to effectively reduce tax liability on what would otherwise have been declared profit and alert the market to anticipated costs that had not yet hit. It would appear that they now intend to Increase the provision to £35m to reduce the potential tax liability on the year end profit and importantly alert the market to the potentially increased costs of the way they are running the company.

Profit before tax is declared after taking into account any provisions made - tax being payable on the provision if and when it is taken back to profit.

Hi B - there are no disclosed shorts - all of the pain is self inflicted. Now we are not part of a formal bidding process holders are no longer required to notify the company of their changing position - normal rules apply - notification if 3% threshold is crossed and any purchase or sales that moves across a percentage threshold following that.

Well over invested here but am adding on today’s fall, the company is worth more butThen again I have been banging that drum since 60p. ATB

I never expected the dividend either but the board seem to take every opportunity to twist the knife. If they are unable to lend on acceptable terms then they are not fit for purpose.

BR - sorry missed your question. As has been suggested there is no vote yet to accept the 20.9p as that is not yet a formal bid and JB already declared against. My online vote was on the original proposal of TRG (JB) to remove the Directors. I can only attest to the ii procedure that I have followed but I would anticipate that everyone should now be able to vote. ATB

B - I don’t think JB is against us. He has found himself in a corner and needs our help. Without it the board will to shaft us with 20.9p although they seem to be getting a much better deal for themselves. He could have asked in a more positive way but we have to choose, accept the BOD’s offer or give JB a chance. ATB

RB - I use interactive investor and have voted using their platform - if you are with them it is under corporate actions, I would assume other brokers offer a similar facility. ATB