Member Info for fleccy

"I posted in September that I was using my Bt dividend to buy Asml . Fleccy didn’t agree"

Abject I just took a look back to Sep to see what I apparently said, when you mentioned ASML in the "Breaking up is hard to do" thread and I can't see anything I said about your investment in ASML, can you enlighten me on what I said and where I said it?

"The audited 2024 accounts disclose €41,000 as remuneration recognised for Francesco Gardin in that year. They do not show £195k consultancy fees or a £100k award being paid or accrued in 2024. If those sums had been recognised in that year, they would be required to appear in the remuneration table or related-party note"

I pasted the relevant section from the Final results and linked to those same results, they don't get anymore recognised than that. Do you even know what you're talking about? Or just twist the narrative to suit your vested interest point of view?

Here it is again:

"The Company’s board (excluding Professor Gardin), to reflect the level and nature of Professor Gardin’s input into the Company’s research programmes, agreed to increase the monthly consultancy fee payable to Infusion from £12,500 to £16,250 with effect from 1 January 2024. The Company also awarded an additional fee of £100,000 to reflect the contribution made by Professor Gardin to the Company’s research programmes during 2024"

Just incase it needs explaining a monthly consulting fee means it's paid monthly; And 12 x £16,250 = £195,000. There's nothing colloquial (informal) about statements written in the Final results RNS's.

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/QBT/final-results/17100247

Daniel we obviously have different investment philosophies, in the end it all comes down to making money. Sure we made a losing trade when we sold those Vodafone shares, but the loss was more than offset by the gain on the Lloyds shares. Take the emotion out of trading and as I said in the first sentence of this post, "in the end it all comes down to making money". I can't help the fact you appear to be incapable of seeing other people's trading point of view, maybe you need to alter your thinking to see things in a less emotional way. We just play the hand we're dealt and hopefully win the game, you only lose when you lose money and I can happily report that we're showing a substantial paper gain on our investments, as well as earning significant dividend income. In chess you often sacrifice pieces to win the game, the same could be applied to trading different stocks on the stock market, you make your move and hope the strategy works in your favour.

Mikey the bottom line is that the money I listed found its way to Gardin through various means, to suggest that Gardin only received €41,000 is what's misleading and false. It's like me saying I only earned £40,000 salary, but the £170,000 I earned in overtime, plus another £100,000 bonus, doesn't count toward my annual income; I'm quite sure the HMRC would take a different view. Just because the money from QBT finds its way to Gardin through different vehicles and shows in different parts of the accounts, doesn't mean it doesn't count toward his remuneration.

Energy and Water are monopolies and regulated in a different way. Funnily enough the Grid providers do well out of the regulatory regime:

"In the UK, Ofgem uses the RIIO model (Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs) to determine earnings.

Allowed Return on Equity: Ofgem sets a fixed percentage that the company is allowed to earn on the equity used to fund its network assets. For the upcoming RIIO-T3 period (2026–2031), Ofgem has set a real allowed cost of equity of 6.12%.

Regulatory Asset Value (RAV): The return is calculated based on the RAV—the total value of the physical infrastructure (cables, pylons, substations). As National Grid invests in new infrastructure, its RAV grows, which increases its absolute profit.

Efficiency Sharing: If National Grid delivers projects for less than the budget set by Ofgem, it keeps a portion of the savings as extra profit (the "Sharing Factor"), while the rest is passed to consumers via lower bills"

"Anyway, Ofcom will not go out of their way to protect BT from competition - however unfair it might be"

OFCOM's primary interest doesn't appear to be fair competition, it's more geared toward holding down customer prices. It isn't any wonder that the UK doesn't have any hyperscalers, the regulatory regime doesn't allow it.

We've discussed this before Daniel, as far as our portfolio valuations are concerned we haven't lost on anything. We're now showing a combined paper gain of nearly £200,000 across our holdings. Offsetting a capital gain using a loss is a well established investment strategy, as far as those two trades were concerned we made an overall capital gain of £2,357.58 on the day.

Sure Lloyds and Vodafone have both gone up significantly since then, but so have the BT and BP shares we purchased with the proceeds.

Lets be honest they have form for not delivering anything substantive. In the meantime Professor Gardin is doing very well.

I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with me about Snoopz. I didn't say a merger wouldn't happen, just that the FT has form for releasing stories like this that come to nothing. I also didn't make any reference to CityFibre, or suggest that a takeover wouldn't be approved, what I suggested is that OFCOM will face a dilemma when deciding how to proceed with regulatory change. Arguably a combined company the size of VMO2/NexFibre/Netomnia would present a significant competitor to BT and BT would likely argue that the current regulatory environment is unfair on BT shareholders.

We're now showing over £19,000 paper gain on our Vodafone holdings, may the ascent continue.

"Therefore the fact here is that the posts are misleading, and thus reported"

I'm still awaiting an apology Mikey, my last post linking to:

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/QBT/final-results/17100247

Proves my post wasn't misleading, the only doubtful figure is the €41k one, at the very least Gardin received at least £295,000 through Infusion fees and Bonus payout.

"

Related Party Transaction

As announced on 1 August 2024, the Company entered into a consultancy agreement effective from 1 January 2022, with Infusion (2009) Limited (“Infusion”), an English company controlled by Professor Francesco Gardin, the Company’s chairman and chief executive. Under the consultancy agreement, Infusion provides the services of Professor Gardin as chief research officer.

The Company’s board (excluding Professor Gardin), to reflect the level and nature of Professor Gardin’s input into the Company’s research programmes, agreed to increase the monthly consultancy fee payable to Infusion from £12,500 to £16,250 with effect from 1 January 2024. The Company also awarded an additional fee of £100,000 to reflect the contribution made by Professor Gardin to the Company’s research programmes during 2024.

In addition, Professor Gardin assigned to Infusion his rights to a payment of 10% commission in respect of funds recovered from SIPIEM and Sosushi, Mediapolis and Geosim (four of the Company's legacy assets), as set out in Francesco Gardin’s original July 2015 letter of appointment, reconfirmed in April 2021.

The awards made under the consultancy agreement and the assignment are treated as related party transactions under the AIM Rule 13 of the AIM Rules for Companies. With the exception of Francesco Gardin, who is involved in the transaction as a related party, the directors of the Company consider, having consulted with the Company’s nominated adviser, that the terms of the transactions are fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned"

https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/QBT/final-results/17100247

If in doubt ask AI

"where did the Total Yearly Compensation of €41,000 come from

The figure of €41,000 (approximately £35,000) represents the reported cash-based total compensation for Professor Francesco Gardin as disclosed in the company's financial profile and executive pay reports for the 2024 period.

While this figure appears small relative to the high-value R&D he oversees, the breakdown explains the discrepancy between "reported" annual pay and his actual earnings:

Prorated or Deferred Reporting: Annual reports often reflect the actual cash disbursed within a specific financial calendar window. For example, Yahoo Finance and Simply Wall St report his direct pay as £35,530 (approx. €41k).

Consultancy-Based Structure: Most of Gardin's compensation is paid as "consultancy fees" to his private firm, Infusion 2002 Limited. In some filings, these are categorized separately from "Director Pay," leading to different figures in public financial summaries.

Historical Context: In previous years, these consultancy fees were much higher (e.g., €288,000 in 2023). The lower €41,000 reported for the 2024 period may reflect a specific reporting period or a temporary shift in how his fees were accounted for before the board-approved increase to £16,250/month in early 2

This may or may not happen, anyone remember when Virgin Media were definitely taking over TalkTalk? Or all of the other times when takeovers and mergers were almost certain to happen, but came to nothing?

In my opinion if it turns out to be true and gets approved, OFCOM will be plunged into a dilemma about the regulatory position of BT/Openreach. NexFibre and VMO2 might be listed as separate entities, but everyone knows they are one and the same. InfraVia Capital's share of NexFibre might muddy the water slightly, but with VMO2 the only tenant on the NexFibre network the picture is quite clear.

"In addition, the figures quoted are internally inconsistent (a claimed £195k consultancy fee plus £100k award cannot reconcile with “€41k total compensation”)"

I expect the €41k is separate to any consultancy/bonus fee's and likely an annual basic wage. If you add it all up it isn't far fetched to assume he earned in the region of £330,000 in 2024.

"The Board of Directors (excluding Professor Gardin) awarded the £100,000 performance fee to reflect his leadership in the company's research and development transition from lab-based testing to real-world commercial applications during 2024.

The specific milestones and research achievements cited include:

Advancement of "Method C" AI Oracle: The successful development of a software-only version of Method C, which demonstrated a 30% increase in Bitcoin mining efficiency during live tests.

Real-Time Mining Transitions: Transitioning the company’s AI models from simulating historic blocks to mining current Bitcoin blocks in real-time with a commercial mining pool.

ASIC Design & Collaboration: Commencing joint analysis and design collaborations with major ASIC manufacturers for the integration of QBT’s proprietary technologies directly into mining hardware.

Intellectual Property Expansion: The filing of new patents, including those for "Binary Decision Trees" and proprietary logic gate architectures.

Strategic Recruitment: The appointment of high-level industry expertise, such as former Intel executive Jose Rios as a Strategic Adviser, to oversee ASIC chip production.

Legacy Asset Recovery: Significant progress in the Sipiem litigation, where the Venice Court of Appeal awarded over €6 million in damages, with initial cash settlements and property confiscations beginning in 2024"

"Was the 2024 £100,000 performance award approved by a shareholder vote

The £100,000 performance award granted to Francesco Gardin for 2024 was not approved by a specific shareholder vote; rather, it was approved by the company's Board of Directors (excluding Gardin).

Under AIM Rule 13, the award was classified as a related party transaction. The following details clarify the approval process:

Board Discretion: The Board (excluding Gardin) independently agreed to the award to reflect his contributions to the company's research programmes during 2024.

Fairness Opinion: In accordance with AIM rules, the Board consulted with the company's Nominated Adviser (NOMAD), SP Angel, and concluded that the terms were "fair and reasonable insofar as its shareholders are concerned".

AGM Scope: While shareholders voted on standard resolutions at the 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM)—such as adopting the annual report, re-appointing auditors, and re-confirming Gardin's position as a Director—there was no specific resolution on the ballot for this one-off performance fee.

Gardin's compensation continues to be a mix of fixed consultancy fees and performance-linked incentives, including a 10% commission on future legal recoveries from legacy assets.

Would you like to see a breakdown of the specific milestones or research achievements that the Board cited as justification for this award?"

"How much money has francesco gardin earned from running qbt

Professor Francesco Gardin, the CEO and Executive Chairman of Quantum Blockchain Technologies (QBT), receives compensation through a combination of consultancy fees, one-off performance awards, and significant shareholdings.

2024–2025 Compensation Breakdown

Based on company filings and final results released in June 2025:

Consultancy Fees: As of 1 January 2024, Gardin's monthly consultancy fee (paid to his firm, Infusion) was increased from £12,500 to £16,250 per month. This equates to an annual base consultancy rate of £195,000.

Performance Award: For his contributions to research programmes during 2024, the board awarded him an additional fee of £100,000.

Total Yearly Compensation: Reported total compensation for the period ending December 2024 was approximately €41,000 (roughly $48,980 USD).

Recovery Commission: Gardin is entitled to a 10% commission on any funds successfully recovered from legacy asset legal claims (including SIPIEM and Sosushi)"

Rob my personal view is that there's a lot of market/sectoral manipulation, so a lot of "growth" stock valuations are so high that there's no chance future earnings will materialise to a level the share price suggests. I think the manipulation is subtle and in the background, with vehicles like passive investment funds used to magnify prices well above fair value. I don't trust investment funds myself, even though many investors have recently done very well out of investing in Global passive investment. The problem with these investment funds, in my opinion, is that they're heavily skewed dependent on stock weightings within the targeted indexes and therefore open to manipulation by big money controlling the markets; An example might be Palantir with a trailing P/E over 350 and an estimated forward P/E over 160.

I think the World is changing and the markets may change with it, up until now the US Equities have pulled in a lot of Global investment money, apparently currently in the region of $20 Trillion. Due to Trump rhetoric there's a possibility that cash may trickle out of US equities and find its way into other markets, because vested interest big money wont want to turn a trickle into a flood I expect there'll be a ramp up in the US exceptionalism narrative, in the meantime the same big money may quietly rebalance their own investments. What I'm saying is my own opinion and highly speculative, do your own research.

Like I said Daniel, you do your thing and we'll do ours. If you think Growth is the way to go then buy pure Growth stocks in preference to value dividend investment/reinvestment stocks. Mathematics around ex dividend day has nothing to do with it, it's about understanding fundamentals and investing where you see value. Just because a stock drops on the ex dividend date doesn't mean you lose out long term, I've actually seen Vodafone and other stocks close higher on their ex dividend dates. If a dividend paying stock drops in value over time, with the dividends staying the same or increasing, it's a no brainer to reinvest dividends where you believe the stock is undervalued and cheap.

Growth investing carries more risk and has limited choices. If a growth stock drops in value all you can do is sell at a loss, or stay locked in until such time the price recovers, assuming it does recover. Your Vodafone dividends, should you have decided to reinvest, would have bought you more stock when Vod was 70p than it would today at 107p, you don't get that with pure growth investing. Personally I'd rather invest relatively high in value dividend stocks and have a choice to spend the dividends on stuff we need, then reinvest any surplus; In the last 18 months we've fitted solar, battery, heat pump and Plantation shutters on windows/French doors all paid for by tax free dividends, you can't do that while you're waiting for Growth stocks to realise a return.

As far as still having stocks in a standard share dealing account, for us it's a result of having a lot of stocks in my wife's name when the dividend allowance was £5000, meaning she could earn up to around £16,000 tax free without admin charges back then; And more recently the CGT dividend allowance was £12,300. With hindsight we'd have invested more in ISA's when the allowances were higher, but we are where we are. Over recent years we're actively reducing the stocks in my wife's standard share dealing account, but it takes time and required gain/loss offsetting to avoid taxable gains. Currently we can't offset due to all the stocks being in paper gain, so how much we sell going forward will depend on capital gain alone.

What best describes QBT's performance to date?

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