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The Annual Report has been well-produced and reflects well on the Group. But I do have some howevers.....

I note that CEO, Phil Cartmell is being paid very well and has acquired very substantial share options for himself. Does the success of TPG revolve around the personality of its CEO ? The BOD is relatively small especially as Simon Kings has not been replaced.

I note too that ex-Director Simon Kings who left the company February 2018 was given a termination payment of £161,000 but lost his almost 10millions of share options as well as his job. I don't recall reading about this in any RNS last year ?

Was this a spat between him and Phil Cartmell and if so, does this in some way explain the lack of follow-through on the acquisition trail we were led to believe was happening ?

Thanks for link Amber.
It's interesting that Boots are going in at the same high price as CPT - I think I was expecting it to be lower - closer to the £199 Fertility show offer in November 2018.

I messaged CPT to ask about forthcoming pricing of the product but never had any response.

Whichever way you look at it, Lombard Odier is often described negatively - another share I hold (Futura Medical) they have a big holding and are knocking the stuffing out of any rise in that share recently.

Can we move on please Egg with substantive posts on Rene ?

There's a CELL & GENE seminar in Barcelona 23-25th April - I see Reneuron are presenting briefly there and are 3rd tier sponsors. Could this presage the news we're hoping for at the end of the month ?

I think you're reading too much into this as a few RNS back they were holiding 6.15% before going to 5.85% and now 6.03%.

Today, we learn that Legal & General has lowered their holdings slightly to 5.98% which explains the 1millions plus sale on 15th.

To me, these type of deals indicate confidence these institutions have in TPG but may also reflect my own opinion which is this share is likely to trade in a narrow band for a while yet. Acquisition news will be the drive forward - assuming we all think it a well-judged acquisition.

It's difficult not to agree with you Hawkhead - even though I want it to be otherwise.

Lombard has sold over 12,000,000 shares since the fund raising late October holding then approx 26% and now in such a short time having reduced it to 16.92% which means they still have almost 35millions. Right now, they control what happens to this share price.

. . . but it's by Michael Hunt CFO and then he sells the bulk so he ends up with a few free shares.

Hardly inspiring !

Thanks Brycen

Lack of transparency - you're right Curiouser - that is what it is.

Winnifrith was bemoaning the recent placing but has since been promoting the share I think - but I haven't seen his write-ups on it either way.

Thanks Canaries for confirmation of holdings.
The difference is in Woodford's Equity Trust fund perhaps ?

Whilst checking the above - I stumbled on the short favourable piece recently written by the Financial Times:

Quote: Matthew Vincent April 9, 2019
Has Neil Woodford’s luck finally turned ? For the past two years, the fund manager once feted for eschewing tech stocks in the dotcom bubble and bank shares before the financial crisis, has been shunned by investors. His Equity Income fund has more than halved in size from £10.2bn in 2017 to £4.7bn now. His Patient Capital Trust has tested the saintly, still trading 20 per cent below its 2015 listing price.

It is not surprising, then, that he has been accused of “losing it”, while losing business from clients such as Aviva, Jupiter and Charles Stanley. This week, wealth manager Quilter said it was removing a fund mandate from Mr Woodford and giving it to Artemis. Even the man himself has admitted “fund managers like me appear to be incapable of delivering good outcomes” — before insisting “I remain focused on capturing the opportunity that exists in parts of the market that have been left behind since we voted to leave the EU.”

Focused, perhaps, but seemingly unable to see the writing on the wall. But now there comes some better news?.?.?.?from people who literally can.

ReNeuron, the £54m stem cell research company in which Mr Woodford holds a 35 per cent stake, has reported a breakthrough in its eyesight treatment and an £80m licensing deal in China. Trials of its hRPC retinal therapy have found a significant improvement in patient’s vision: “equivalent to reading an additional three lines of five letters?.?.?.?on the EDTRS eye chart”. And new data show this effect lasts. Now Fosun is to license and fund both hRPC and ReNeuron’s stroke therapy CRX, with milestone payments rising from £6m to a potential £80m. It is a much-needed boost for the company after a US group pulled out of a licensing deal last year. ReNeuron shares rose 30 per cent.

As they make up only 0.9 per cent of the Patient Capital Trust, they are not going to close the performance gap. But, alongside other positive newsflow, they may close the sentiment deficit. Endquote

Just to correct a few things from earlier posts:

Edison were previous to 100:1 share consolidation, consistently forecasting a share price nearer to 9p - which equates to £9 a share.

PC01 - Director dealings today were approx £217,000 at prices 225p - 236p so not £2m - but in my many years holding this share, I can't remember any previous Directors purchases - we were always complaining that they never bought any and were relying on some very fat share options.

Re. Woodford holdings, I too thought it was around 30% but in the recent publication of the assets of Woodford Patient Capital Trust it shows only as 15.2% - perhaps more is held by another of his Trusts ?

I'm not sure about this placing - coming so soon after last August's placing. Also, about the discount being offered so soon after they were heavily promoting themselves at the London Investor Show end of March when the price was around 3.75p

We have very little information where the money is going or indeed know how much has gone.
The Chairman has been given multi millions of options - I can't help but feel uncomfortable with the way this share is going.

Thanks for the link jupiter.
I thought Michael Hunt was less dour on this interview than he has often been in the past - a good sign perhaps ?

The market makers widened the spread and effectively frightened recent buyers to sell which feed on itself. I'm inclined to think it will stabilise and then move forward again.

The Board has indicated we'll get an update on the latest cohort of patients using our RP treatment before the end of April. It has to be good of course - but I guess we're all hopeful on that result - and this will be the catalyst for further improvement in the SP in my opinion.

Woodford Patient Capital Trust annual report ended 31Dec18 was published this morning.

http://go.pardot.com/webmail/42952/828206040/d86460ea7c70bd343c0d444a562c7e06

In the download, it shows its holdings in RENE as 15.2% (which is .24% of Woodford's portfolio) but no other mention is given.

Davidpqz - here is a link to the Washington Post article - you may have to click further to get the free post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/fda-sends-letters-to-20-companies-in-attempt-to-rein-in-stem-cell-industry/2019/04/03/7e01556e-564e-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html?utm_term=.de97720f7c52

Rene is not in involved in this lower level of action but the article does point to the somewhat reckless market of healthcare solutions in the US.

Hi Truro - I agree with your comments.

I suspect the BOD will be disappointed with the lack of market reaction to their statements both pre-results and the two RNS since. Whilst I don't see the liklihood of a SP fall-back (apart from general stock market malaise), I also can't see any real sp growth either.

Funds were raised and the share value was diluted seemingly for no good reason - sitting on a cash pile is an indication of lazy BOD thinking.

Was anyone able to see CPT's presentation Sarurday Morning at London Investor Show please ?

My travel plans got screwed when trains cancelled early Saturday because of someone on the lines :-(

I'm not so sure that my definition of "exceeding market expectations" is the same as CEO, Phil Cartmell.

I'm likely to be shot down in flames for taking my contrary view but the fact is we fund-raised £23.9 millions July 2017 at a share price of 6.5p -and which I paid into. But look where we are now all this time later. As TruroTrader said he bought in more a week ago at 6.12p.

I see that the Westek website is still outdated whilst the TPGroup itself has been updated but is rather garish/simplistic - not what I expect from a newly classified Aerospace/Defence business.

I am a LTH from the Corec days when the sp was much higher. Yes, management has turned the business around but I don't see the evidence of dynamism yet. Dividends can wait in my opinion because it's the acquisitions, if any, or significant order wins that will push the sp forward.

I worry that this might trade sideways for a long time to come.
I worry too that some Institutional Investors may tire of this share.

I think we were led to believe first information might have been nearer mid-year.
Could RENE at last be waking up to the need to keep the market informed faster ?