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There’s obviously some doom and gloom in the air, but someone always takes it too far into the realms of idiocy. Christ on a bike! If the shares are 4 decimal points to the right of a penny by Christmas I’ll buy every last one, take the Croda royalties and sell axis at the car boot.
There are distinct reasons to be unhappy here. One of them is that now and again Ashman does a presentation which sounds brilliant and settles the nerves and then achieves absolutely nothing in the meantime until he needs to do another presentation, and the cycle is getting tiring and insulting.
BUT the company is funded, we still have Croda coming, acne coming, oral trial coming and Dermatonics and UMG. Investors have every right to be highly disappointed - but I’d be embarrassed posting those figures with any kind of seriousness.
I’m a big fan of the potential within this company, but it’s impossible to disagree with you Bazzaman. The team are either letting us down with their lack of successful commercialisation of that potential, or they are simply not bothering to communicate any good work properly with shareholders; the latter being a previous issue and something we have been assured would not continue to happen.
I’m really surprised the board have left shareholders in a position where the SP is languishing in single figures for so long when it should be up at 30,40,50p. It is giving the impression they are helpless and if that’s the case we have to seriously question if their interests align with ours. Their wages are advantageous enough for them even if they achieve nothing.
We’ve been told so many times Croda is out of the control of the board, maybe that’s a good thing looking at how Axis/Acne is being handled. I’m starting to become bemused by the team that tells us they are amazing whilst producing practically nothing tangible. I’m sure I’m not alone in that I have been patient and understanding for a period of years now.
Elrico, do you mean UMG as a partner on Axis? No doubt they would do a good job of it in their home regions but does that not just make them a distributor, the route that we shunned for a global multinational years ago?
I also believe the opposite, SA has said a couple of times that the multinationals would understand low marketing budget equals low sales and that they are more interested in ensuring SBTX is not a ‘one trick pony’ before doing a deal. I’m sure acne is a much greater market that psoriasis. As is eczema.
I think the multinationals will see the delivery vehicle for the product is poor. It has long been a bugbear of mine that consuming the product is just a faff. I tried myself several times and never made it past a few days. I now use a different brand which is capsule based and take that product every day without fail. At the end of the last series of Dragons Den a couple pitched a food supplement containing vitamins and minerals supposed to help with libido and it took the form of a powder to mix in water. The feedback from the dragons was that the product needed to be easier to consume and they suggested tablets or gummies. The multinationals will know all this, however bad sales to date doesn’t exactly put SA in that excellent negotiating position he goes on about. He would certainly be in a stronger position if they sold more. I don’t fully buy the argument that it is all down to a really low marketing spend. For the combined salary of SA and MR along with the non-execs on board I would expect the ability to create something from nothing.
Was intrigued to click on an SBTX page displayed on the Investors Chronicle website which doesn’t display much information but says “The one analyst offering a 12 month price target expects Skinbiotherapeutics PLC share price to rise to 48.00 in the next year from the last price of 9.25.” I think that’s reasonable given what we know currently.
We should expect another investor meets company presentation in the next 2-3 weeks based on SA’s commitment to provide a bi-monthly update. There is a potential for any number of things to come from that. Here is to a good May!
Yes Madabout, there is something to be said for the facility to be almost halfway done in this timeframe. I’m pleased about it. I’d like to know how SA feels about it and if it influences his next moves on removing the company from the CLN which they have acknowledged the market reacted badly to. Well, I think we know it will have influenced things in that it will make it easier for SA to deal out of the agreement. I’ll look forward to asking about it at the next IMC presentation.
Very quickly, that’s how these shares move when there is no clouds, I’ve observed it as remarkable several times over the past few years. Even the resident trolls won’t rule out getting back in when the time is right, show me another BB where that is the case!!
Can’t believe what I’m reading!
TW spouts a rumour of what would be insider information with no source and that’s OK, but madabout quite rightly points out it could be absolute rubbish and he is expected to offer proof or a public retraction!
Does anyone remember how TW behaved towards SA or is it OK when it supports your own narrative?
TW mentioning a placing absolutely reeks of him deciding that’s what needs to happen, and then knowing SA will ignore him now he has made a t!t of himself, has started the ball rolling in another way.
For what it’s worth, I actually hope it happens, clears the CLN, maybe even raise something towards the next acquisition which SA says is much smaller, and removes the elastic band from the waist of the share price just in time for Croda news. I’d be quite happy with that. I’d be interested in counter views from other LTH’s though…
No Farris, he has moved on apparently. The timelines since the Manchester meet have shown that he was probably employed somewhat prematurely for the creation of own brand products and/or shampoo and toothpaste. But we’re on the cusp of the exciting times now, good things come to those who wait!
Leapfroggy, I think your target SP will work out to be in the correct range if we proceed through the year as expected. Maybe the market is beginning to see that. A 41% intraday increase is phenomenal and shows what is possible. Can’t wait until that Croda news hits. We’ve made 3rd place on the LSE Market Report Share Risers which should draw some eyes onto us tomorrow.
Oh to be a troll on an internet board of an AIM company one isn’t even invested in. Isn’t there so much more to life Oleric?
For what it’s worth the piece is fantastic. I’m stunned that isn’t disallowed in the Croda contract but the piece is clear that it is possible. It is news about Croda itself I’m next interested in now we know it’s merely months away, but any bits of side news on anything else in the meantime will be gratefully received!
Waggy, I do think you’ve got a fair point on the CLN, but I also take SA’s point that with barely any income the company didn’t have many options for the first acquisition. And how now we have the productive asset of Dermatonics other financing options are open to us. From the figures given, if conversions happen at the same rate the agreement will have worked out to be a cheap one, and although it may go on a while it does give investors that understand the situation properly the chance to squirrel away some shares that are being artificially held down. If SA converts the financing to a term loan or similar that wasn’t previously available then I would be very impressed with the agility. My overarching point is that although it has had a bad effect on sentiment, anyone with half a brain can see it was never a ‘death spiral’ and if it has all blown over this year it will be quickly forgotten about and we will have benefitted to the tune of a great business in Dermatonics.
I’m really pleased with the presentation and its contents. It’s not exactly been a transformation, apart from downwards, but I’m really encouraged by the clarification on the Croda doubts held by TWs sheep, the executive pay cut which I think is fair and necessary and the other minor updates mentioned. This business was valued at £100m on the hope of an Axis which launched well enough to break the company even. That did not happen though it remains a smaller and growing iron in the fire, but the combination of Croda commercialisation, on top of the Dermatonics sales and the Axis sales should get us to break even and remove us from the ‘jam tomorrow’ territory. I’m confident this will get us back to the 100m valuation. If the management team can sort the financing out and keep adding positives to the activities going on in the pillars then a 50p share price is realistic this year IMO. Much more if Croda goes down a storm.
Madabout, absolutely fantastic post. There is a witch hunt going on, led by TW because he has taken offence, and it absolutely needs to cease for the board to gain some breathing space. However, when people have invested four, five and six figures into the company based on the outlook of a management team who have delivered nothing but a massive loss on those investments, one can’t really be surprised. Your list of points are required as a minimum to reassure shareholders, and if they are not reassured they are going to look to see change.
two good points toyin, it seems people by nature see a couple of bad things and jump to the conclusion that everything must be bad. this company still has a hell of a lot going for it, but the board have performed poorly recently and so people are becoming worried that this poor performance will infect all areas of the business. it’s understandable really. i’m still a believer but i don’t have the ****nal to defend the management anymore, this has been going on quite a while now and the end of the month reaches the end of the ‘this company will be transformed’ time period. i think this is the time for sa and mr to own up to struggling and either step aside or allow the company a load of extra months of ‘runway’ by halving their salaries until a defined sp and sharing a clear plan. tc, i don’t believe the largest shareholders will sell and move on, they have power and direct access to sa and each other, they could negotiate him out if they wanted.