Member Info for Fevertreeman

I can tell you with some confidence that Bundred & Johnson both possess that engineers' certainty that they are right despite time and time coming up short. Bundred has batted away countless questions about operations in past 22 months, and Johnson clearly had no idea what was happening. And for good measure they both have a huge aversion to folks down south, their advisers, and shareholders.

But is he the RIGHT MAN to lead the company from scale up through to the sunny uplands of ever growing sales? Very different skill sets needed to run a growing international business than what he has to do to date.

I don't think that's the issue.....no doubt he does work hard, but he still ended us up in an almighty mess, and its not as Friday was the first time its happened....

Worth reminding listeners that 2 out for the three characters wholly responsible for this shambles still have their jobs (Bundred & Johnson) whilst the third (Cunningham) slipped out the door before it shut firmly on his CFO prospects elsewhere. Great that Maddoxks & Easton have come on board but only highlights the previous shambolic state of affairs that led to Friday’s mess.

Like a lot of investors here, the equity raise prospectus fails to answer the most critical question about management. Why would anyone trust Bundred and Johnson with yet more cash given their hopeless track record? And why should the architects remain as Chair & CEO given that they have had something like 70-100m of support over the company’s history and the result is we’re back close to the level of the EIS subscription? On and they have also burned thro the last cash we raised at 40p

!

We had some thin lines about more training and upskilling factory floor managers, but that doesn’t answer the management question. The lack of humility shown by both Bundred and Johnson is staggering - just look at Johnson’s comments around the problems. Absolutely no mea culpa, no apologies, no taking of responsibility. Until the Board and management issue is settled there is no point in investing if the same actors hold the powerful positions in the company. Until change at top is initiated O am sitting on sidelines

Odds on another equity raise from Adams then if monies wont be available to draw down before next bloody spring at the earliest?

Given that what he says about the banks he will know as being potentially PSI then I take no heed of it....could be 2 week could 4weeks, could be 2 years could be 4 years

Adams is a total CANT.... cant deliver on any timetable he has put forward over last decade, cant help legging over s/holders with successive equity raises, cant help telling porkies, cant help diluting s/holders

Adams would likely never be allowed to be both Chair&Ceo anywhere else...telling that RAB Capital sold down entire holding as I suspect they know Adams is going to (1) not deliver on the timetable again....and (2) drop another equity raise on s/holders in December

Don't forget only 2 weeks ago in the Q3 Update Adams again blustered about progress on all fronts at TK "... maintains the plan to launch the high-grade Tulu Kapi Gold Project before the end of 2023, ......"

Chances of Adams delivering anything but more can-kicking and untruths before end of 23 I would have thought were odds on dont you?

Adams has never met any sort of deadline in last decade, apart from raising cash from the next round of unsuspecting punters whom he has convinced tere is gold &copper in them tha' deserts. Actually, the great Pinocchio is the only person to have made any money, as he has taken a stonking salary and consultancy fees year in year out despite there being absolutely NO sign of any finance actually being raised. Shameful, but not surprising

And Cleminson?

The Board isnt buying ...no Cleminson and a pathetic contribution from Johnson the architect of this disaster

Honestly I haven't a clue. We have a situation where the management have burned through working capital that should have taken them comfortably through to situation where revenues were flowing etc..Instead Johnson used it all up trying to sort out the production issues that came out of nowhere (apparently). So perhaps wee should be asking Coco the clown and Bundred?

So what is your solution?

Completely agree with you. Cunningham jumped ship as you know leaving Maddock to pick up the pieces of what feels like a threadbare financial function. And it appears that was matched by a manufacturing operation geared to showcasing the tech for OEMs but as you suggested certainly not geared for actual volume production,.

So the question is: what actions need to take place to get this back on track. I was gobsmacked by Johnson's insuciant commentary banding about "single points of failure" as if this wasnt anything to worry about, after the furnace issue. And yet I recall a SPOF as being definied as something in manufacturing/process system that, if it fails, will stop the entire system from working.... and there it was in black & white.....wioth that fabulous adjective "insurmoutable" also allowed to pass the Board?advisers scruitny and make the trading update!

The arrival of Maddock and Easton has (hopefully) ushered in an era of professional management sorely lacking in the core areas of manufacturing ops and finance. But it is not enough, we need a change at the top, and whilst in a larger plc Johnson would be out the door after the multiple failings of last 24 months, it is the Chairman that needs to go as he has failed to manage the CEO, failed to manage the board , and failed in his duty to represent s/holders interests.

My nickname for Newland is Nero....say no more....the way forward from here....if they are not to go under then I suggest

1. Newland kicked upstairs to Chairman or failing that a new outside chair appointed

2. Replace the CFO with s/o capable of producing realistic figs that aren't then subject to the rose-tinted intervention from Newland

Berenburg is the house broker - i.e. they bat for the company & should be a reliable pointer for financials. But clearly Newland & Griffiths's utter incompetence in managing the financial forecasts means their own house broker is 30% short on their revenue estimates for FY24 . How on earth is it possible that your own house broker is 30% above Angle's own forecasts...The trouble is that no one has any faith in Newland's numbers. At a pitiful 6.6m revenues company is effectively telling market there are no big transformational deals over next 12 months.....

All of your facts are not disputed. The issue here is that there is a huge gap between what Nero Newland was confidently suggesting in the years up to and just after the FDA approval that have not happened. You also need to look at Newland 's appalling track record of expectation and financial management. These facts are:

1. Where is the sales momentum that Nero talked about in Sept last _ 20 + pharma services companies providing pipeline etc? We've had 3 tiny deals.

2. July 2022 Nero launches equity raise at 80p, raising £20m from institutions & retail. Yet w/i a matter of months we get a profits warning. Aegon immediately start to offload shareholding followed by others incl Baillie Gifford

3. Sept 7th Interims Results everything on course to meet FY 23 forecasts....4 weeks later..Nov 9th Trading update .oops numbers too high .

- Cash and cash equivalents at 30 June 2023 of £22.2 million (30 June 2022: £20.5 million) ; cash position at 2023 year end c. £15 million......burning through cash at rate of knots....

- Operating Loss for 2023 = c£21m.

- Commercial strategy all over the place: Nero repeatedly said US clinical laboratory accreditation is key plank of US commercial strategy (US co's want US labs in same time zone). Desperate measure to save £ Nero now shuts it down claiming all can be handled from the UK...really?

Completely agree - changes need to be made and quickly to assure the customer base & shareholders that there is not a systemic problem. That means (1) Replacing the chairman (2) Laser-like focus on operations, systems, people (3) getting finances sorted (4) recalibrating communications and making sure that we never have a repeat of what has been a disastrous string of announcements from Johnson.

What's ridiculous is that Emperor Newland having been repeatedly informed that trust in his leadership is wearing thin (look at how the big institutions have sold out after being misled by him) he continues to act as if nothing is happening, putting yet further downward pressure on the share price!!!! The two statements made 8 weeks apart couldn't be a starker reminder of Newland's continuing inability to be reined in