Member Info for Fevertreeman

If its Sneller then all hope is lost

We know there is value here because of the product , the order book & the queue of OEMS that want it. At issue is the competency of the Board and management and cash burn -both interlinked! Cunningham jumped ship last year, Bundred has been pushed out by popular demand, leaving just Holly Johnson. If I were the Board, forget engaging h/hunters for new chair, what's needed is a new CEO who can restore confidence and grip this business. Holly best off taking a sideways move to head up customer relations etc....

Hit send by accident...you get the drift!

Johnson's statements on operations since June last year bsolutely damning - he seems incapable of giving a realistic assessment of the state of the business, and is not a credible CEO.

27 June 2023 AGM RNS: .. Kevin Johnson will advise that manufacturing output continues to improve BUT HAS NOT YET REACHED TARGET LEVELS".............

- The PRODUCTION DIFFICULTIES described in the first quarter trading update HAVE NOT RECURRED but the Company has CONTINUED TO EXPERIENCE INDIVIDUALLY SMALL PRODUCTION DISRUPTIONS THAT HAVE SLOWED THE RAMP UP IN OUTPUT

- REITERATES PREVIOUS GUIDANCE FOR 2023 & 2024

31 July 2023, Pre-Close Trading Statement/Ops Update

Outlook: THE REVENUE EXPECTATIONS FOR 2023 &2024 ARE UNCHANGED. The PROUDCTION PROBLEMS OF LAST 6 MONTHS have inevitably had COST & CASH IMPLICATIONS. . Reflecting the Board's expectation of continuing operational performance, GROSS CASH at 31 December 2023 is now expected to be NO WORSE THAN £1M LOWER than previous estimates. The Board still expects the Company TO BE PROFITABLE IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2023

What is extraordinary (and reprehensible) is Johnson's refusal to give proper explanations about what is going wrong/on. Whilst I get the commercial sensitivity issues, the vague nonsense in that dreadfully worded RNS that appears to caveat everything except the £23m revs forecast (ffs) doesn't cut it.

Newland’s “hype & hope” strategy is wearing thin.

Apparently so......

Johnson exhibits the worst traits of the over-promoted CEO: blind faith in his own infallibility ; inability to accept when he’s wrong ; failure to consult/ share thinking ; distrust of outsiders esp advisers & investors;

Totally agree - I know that the general level of literacy in Liverpool is lower than the rest of the country , but this was yet another dreadful RNS that, given the general antipathy displayed by Holly Johnson towards the City, might sugggest advisers couldn’t give a toss

That is some performance by Bundred and Johnson isn't it....move along nothing to worry about in November has the sp stable c25p followed a few weeks later by panic stations and 10p raise, followed by today's omnishambles...

Johnson lacks honesty , detail and clarity.....he has never set out the scale-up problems clearly, he pretends all is well when it isnt, he feigns surprise when things dont go to plan, he missies his own forecasts, then refuses to budge on what appear olympian forecasts based on current performane, and views s/holders with barely disguised contempt.

You are so right about the process change! They develop a great much-needed product that has OEMs

queuing up and giving orders, and then Johnson can't manage the scale up. The lack of planning appears breathtaking: COO appointed far too late; no articulation of HR talent programme, a lack of proper QC.etc

Completely agree ! Johnson has to go - no hiding place for him now. The Board should be contacting h/hunters - if s/hing isn’t done then Easton and Maddocks may well throw in towel, as he and Bundred have totally legged them over. Johnson has comprehensively failed as CEO, and clearly doesn’t have the management skill set to manage the expansion as the multiple mess ups have shown. What’s worse Imb is that he seems to utterly clueless about how to manage shareholders . The RNs is another car crash!

Bundred should have been fired a while back! Proved an utter disaster as Chair the moment the business moved in the key scale stage: incompetent, arrogant and out of his depth as a listed company chair! Todays’s RNS show the only competent person appears to be Easton; shareholders have been absolutely skewered by Johnson and Bundred. The RNS is hopeless!

Bundred should have been fired a while back! Proved an utter disaster as Chair the moment the business moved in the key scale stage: incompetent, arrogant and out of his depth as a listed company chair! Todays’s RNS show the only competent person appears to be Easton; shareholders have been absolutely skewered by Johnson and Bundred. The RNS is hopeless!

Couldnt agree more!

The other issue is FUNDING FOR WHAT? Newland comprehensively shafted his institutional investors at 80p, and then produced a profits warning, followed by missed trials announcements, shutting the testing facility in US, and losing in only proper link into the US institutional market, Jefferies. Id he is going to raise cash at this parlous sp, he has to have a commercial plan/very good news, in order to convince people to support him. Since he has burnt so many fingers, what is the plan Andrew?

For starters, neither our esteemed CEO nor his CFO, nor any one on the Board has dipped into their pockets sinc ethe sp dipped from Newlands- ludicrously hyped cure for cancer RNS in January. Then we have the conundrum of Newland's confident 3x revenues in current year when we haven't had a single commercial contract so far (I dont count Eisei as it was a hangover from 2023).....

birkenstocks is valued at us8,7bn and docs is valued at £820m. extraordinary valuation gap explained by the toxic aversion to uk market, the **** ups of management at docs over last 24 months, and the massive valuation premium for us listed stocks. birkenstock had revenues of euros 1.5bn in 2023, and dear old dr martens £1bn or euros !,17bn, so there is very little difference in revenues; birken has adjusted net profits of euro 207m ; docs had net profit of £129m (euros 150m)...................conclusion that docs is massively undervalued, and that imo it is hugely vulnerable to a swoop by birkenstocks or others...nike perhaps?

And as a further aside, are those jobs advertised in GUildford new roles, or replacing people who have given up on Newland and Griffiths and feel as legged over as the rest of us