Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Absolutely time now that Bundred stepped down. Absolutely clear that Johnson and Bundred have hung us out to dry yert again by the continued inability to do the basics well.....frankly staggering that Johnson has the effrontery to make his comments as if its bloody obvious there are going to be problems. Absolute shambles of a management team that (1) has misled their shareholders (I mean ffs at what opint did they realise they couldnt make their own bloody numbers, numbers which they had assured us all were achievable)
Not great either way. We have world class tech with a big moat (currently) ; operate in a global duoploy; market trends are in our favour; we have a very large order book with some of the world's largest & most exacting OEMs......and yet. the company is struggling with concerns over financing and operational competencies....
If s/o , be it private equity or a global automotive supplier wants to buy a plug-in-and-play niche global tech business geared to very large global markets, then I'm afraid we have never looked more vulnerable to a bid.
Patience is wearing thin among a pretty loyal investor base. If they raise, then Bundred has to step down, as he has consistently over-egged the pudding & doesnt appear to have had a close enough oversight on Johnson.
If you were OEM 10, you would want to know before awarding the 100m contract that ST was confident of financing its expansion. Therefore Johnson et al must have had to present detailed funding arrangements to them. The question I'd ask is what is it that they said on the finances that gave OEM 10 confidence to pull the trigger, notwithstanding the fact that the contract kicks in down the road?
Reputationally, another lowball equity raise will not only effectively destroy the share price leaving ST highly vulnerable to a takeover. It will also destroy Bundred, Johnson, & the new CFO's reputation. The markets are largely not to blame for the share price being where it is - the blame lies squarely with Bundred and Johnson and the board for their inept handling of things. Let's hope that message has finally got through !!!!
you make a substantive point. in the past, both the chairman & johnson pooh-poohed queries about the robustness and rigor of the manufacturing process when pressed but as we know they fell flat on their face with the process issues, and we as s/holders have ended up paying for it as they threw several millions at trying to rectify the problems. so if teh oems are satisifued johnson would do well to explain the owners of teh company, what it is that has given oems comfort to award another 100m contract. really not helpful that he cant be more granular about this!
frankly, it has been a relief to get a proper coo on board and a new cfo. however, it is crystal clear that trust has been damaged, and that concerns remain about (1) depth of operational management skills (2) ability to expand & scale up production without more ****-ups (3) capability to produce at run rate needed to satisfy customer base w/o **** ups (4) quality control- again something that one of their recent rns mentioned as an issue
(5) finances: all very well trumpeting an 100m euro order if the cash is running out......shareholders were upset by the nature & timing of the last raise, they will be doubly furious if johnson & bundred pass the cap round again, having
used up a portion of the last fund raise to resolve operational issues of their own making.
TCM is correct to do this with Pinocchio because there is constant changed and shifts of verb tenses, adjectives, adverbs etc....I think that Adams stands just on the right side of legality but he is clearly a thoroughly unedifiying individual
Adams is uninvestable !
Does he speak English?
Very much in agreement. Relistened to the interims presentation, and was impressed by the confidence and clarity of teh management team. Well positioned going into tough period: strong balance sheet & cash flow; rewarding s/holders with progressive divi, and clear strategy. Share price doesn't reflect the quality of the business (now) or the management. IMO, an each way positive bet : markets recognise quality and share price responds OR market doesnt and Private Equity snaps it back up
How long have you held this? Dream on....Adams has been saying that for 5 years plus...mean while the only person benefitting is him, his consultancy contract in Cyprus, and his pension pot....the share price says it all
Adams is one of the least trustworthy characters currently operating. His track record is truly dreadful - the man is incapable it seems of telling the truth as most people would interpret it. His constant ramping re TP is there for all to see. He relies on an idiots version of pass the parcel where weary investors who 've lost a packet give up, and a new round of naive marks hoves into view and the story gets repeated. Not for nothing has RAB sold its stake imo. Outside of AIM Adams would never be allowed to hold a board position - and it is clear why....
Adams told us 3 years ago that thTK would be signed off and the project was good to go....then it was Xmas 2020...and then he hit investors with another equity raise.....then it was March '21, then summer '21..then Autumn 21, then it was going to be ready at close of '21 then another equity raise....the 1H '22 came and went and YES another Equity raise....and full funding would be in place definitely in June 2022, with construction starting in Oct and full funding signed off very soon...etc...You get the idea....he is utterly untrustworthy, and mean time thanks to the man's complete lack of scruples, he has managed to create a share capital baase of 5 billion shares......yes you heard right 5 billion.....
Anytime between Feb -May 2022
PLACING
full funding by June 2022
October 2022 construction will start
Mid November financial plan 2022
no now it's December 2022
No A month or so (may 23)
PLACING
No A few more months
Q4 2023
End of the year
Actually what we need is some of the hopeless NEDs and new execs to start buying the shares. If Newland is so confident of sucess why oh why are the directors not buying?
Not exactly ambitious,....but at this point I'll take any positive vibes out there. What would be good nmow is to see our new execs writing some cheques for shares
Adams has never met any deadline he has set over the last 10 years, apart from where it concerns his own pay & rations.....
What on earth is happening here? This is tipsheet stuff in terms of pretending to be a real company:
1. D Pond gives s/holders a running dialogue about his holidays, with occasional interventions assuring folks that finance is being worked on....and has been for a number of years...with no result
2. Leaks and rumours galore drive the share price (not helped by Pond's comments imo). Company itself i.e. CEO rarely seems to say anything
3. RNS comes out with another nothing statement, share price declines...rinse and repeat
I know all that. Spent many years advising boards of listed companies, so this aint my first rodeo, and I know how it works on the inside of many companies, how boards operate, and how managements run listed companies. My point here is that many investors (incl the big institutions ) trusted that Nero undwerstood the market intimately (after all, he had a ready answer for everything up to just after FDA approval, when he then didnt), had created very close commercial relationships with the customer base, and had properly planned & stress-tested the commercial strategy once FDA approval came through. In addition, there was an expectation that our Board led by Selvey would have done their job properly by ensuring that Nero was properly interrogated & held to account and that the management strategy and team to deliver it was fit for purpose. None of this happened.
Instead, it appears that Newland had no idea what to do next. In the echo chamber down in Guildford, it seems to be a case of him believing his own hype, hence no attempt to strengthen the management team over that period, or to consider Board changes. Rather, Newland blithely assumed that his 50/60+ discussions with potential customers would rapidly crystallise into commercial orders and interest would soar. Blaming industry conditions at time of profits warning last Jan was farcical and depressing. It clearly revealed that he was either blind-sded by his own monofocus or had
no clue about what was actually happening at the industry coalface where it mattered. Assuming fast commercial conversation and giving investors that impression was particularly dangerous given the industry's historic conservatism, but he ploughed on remorselessly. As a result, all credibility has been shattered: he was IMV absolutely right to raise more cash on the back of the approval, but he undid all that effort by shafting shareholders with a profit warning, not long after. That was a disaster for his credibility, especially as it showed management weren't on top of things and could not be trusted to deliver. Since then it's been downhill all the way. Newland is in danger of becoming a latterday Clive Sinclair (but without the knighthood) with a great product that no one wants but he was convinced would revolutionise personal transport. Newland still has time to turn this around but frankly the omens are not great.
Lots of small caps have been floored by this market, but for most it hasnt been down to the comprehensive failings of management, which is the case with Angle. Newland has yet to give any realistic assessment of prospects or a realistic timescale for revenues and deals, for the simple reason is he clearly hasn't got a clue....ther e is no road map because he is totally lost it appears, and unable to admit it. Very happy to be proved wrong, but when was the last time we had anything resembling a positive development : I dont count robbing Peter (cutting back future R&D) to pay Paul (conserving cash to keep lights on) or the miniscule deals with development companies he has struck that barely deliver revenue let alone profit
I feel genuinely, genuinely sorry for the staff at Angle who have to work for the shower that constitutes the CEO, CFO, and Board of Directors. The employees deserve better frankly for all their effort and hard work, and yet are saddled with Newland as CEO and a Board of Directors who couldn't give a flying fig about the company.
Hilariously one of the highlights of the results was the strengthening of the Board incl new chairman...just that he was already one of the existing supine, couldn't care less, I'm not invested NEDs. So he just swapped seats with Selvey as he scuttled away, having failed comprehensively to do his job properly. As for our 2 new NEDs, not a single share purchase!
In September 2023 Newland "In the second half, momentum is expected to accelerate further as major streams of work to demonstrate analysis of Parsortix CTC harvests utilising major third-party molecular systems are completed generating new large scale revenue opportunities."
Second half one should remind him started on July 1st....and now we are at October 19th......and where is this acceleration in momentum (apart from the dreadful Garth Selvey sprinting for the exit door in Sept after his dreadful dreadful chairmanship)......If momentum means increased attendance at scientific junkets and conferences around the world (san Antonio in December) I'm pretty sure investors will disagree Andrew !
Perhaps because some of the more senior bods have share options as part of their package that are currently massively under water; perhaps because they have had to endure the same b/s internal updates from Nero Newland as shareholders have; perhaps because they see no support coming from the board in terms of share buys; perhaps perhaps perhaps
Utterly absurd that none of the NEDs have dipped hands on pocket nor the newly minted senior hires. Shameful ( and depressing) that the Board is not properly aligned with shareholders in any respect . Newland continues to prove an unmitigated disaster as CEO and the staff there must be wondering what happens next