Member Info for FriedmanSowell

I’d prefer SOH to TW, it’s not even close.

That being said, SOH is driving this into the ground.

He’s devaluing the company in a structured, concerted way. Employing his own son and using our money to pay for his (very expensive) MBA means that he has lost every bit of leeway he might have had. Constantly misleading shareholders over the years has also inevitably led to a point where he is simply not trusted.

It’s actually starting to look a bit toxic. And let’s not forget the absolute shambles at PBX that he has to take ultimate responsibility for from an Opti shareholder point of view.

I don’t think a US investor is exempted as the FCA rules generally apply to all investors in UK-regulated markets, regardless of origin.

Thanks for the clarification. Makes more sense. Frustration isn't good for my comprehension skills

I find the idea of this funding being enough to establish our own manufacturing based in the US as completely implausible. The US is an expensive country and this is a pittance.

I do agree it's a good idea for us to manufacture there. That seems to be the way forward but surely we could license someone to do that for us. It would mean a lower margin but we just aren't a bug enough operation at this stage to do it ourselves.

It seems to me this dilution is as well as STBX stock disposal not instead of.

SOH's poor execution and strategy has caused the company to sell off the house and the family silver.

Without results soon, this starts to look like so many AIM lifestyle companies that have come before it, particularly with the egregious cost of an MBA.

I'll echo that thanks.

The reason I say that is because that was one company in America and the contract was non exclusive.

You are right though, launching products in this space is notoriously prone to fail. That's why I think of it as a lost opportunity. We've spent time chasing small markets with limited publicity because as I said, people expect weight loss claims in products in those markets. Would have been good to see slimbiome in more mainstream products. The ingredient carries the weight loss claims and would have generated publicity off the back of it in my opinion.

In fairness though, it is easy in hindsight and from the comfort of my chair.

My criticism of Opti is borne of frustration, much of it warranted and news of developments elsewhere stirs that up understandably. The company is wide open for criticism at this stage regardless of what we may be on the edge of.

Thanks Mol, another missed opportunity eh. Those minutes are ticktocking away.

It’s also a bigger problem of strategy. We aimed for health food products and placed ourselves in that realm. Putting Slim in a chocolate biscuit, or anything else that goes into anyone’s shopping basket at the supermarket would generate a lot more interest.

People expect to see weight loss claims in health food, they’re ten a penny. Finding it in a chocolate biscuit or custard cream at Sainsbury’s is a whole different ball game. And if you trawled back 10 years on ADVFN you’d have found people talking about it.

So after years of waiting having been ahead of the game, we've been inevitably beaten to the punch.

It’s absurd to look at the sale of 1 tranche of shares and call it good for Opti because the price has fallen since then. If we’re going to judge the disposal of assets like that, we have to look at them in their entirety.

Thanks Wigster. Would be interesting and definitely beneficial as US manufacturing would be simpler for companies over there to order.

Possibly cheaper manufacturing costs as well considering the much lower energy costs.

Will the trade deal with the US benefit Opti if Slimbiome is manufactured in the EU?

Oh, and thanks Mol for keeping track of this for us.

Aquae, wouldn’t banks be a better option than continually selling off an asset that would be valued at over £35 m if he’d just left it alone?

Even if not. Very frustrating.

Little gimmicks like this new bar, which won’t make money but drain resources are what leads to us devaluing the company through sales of Skin.

Thanks for the information.

Only recently took a personal stake in the company because I was previously invested through Opti but clearly that's only going one way.

Didn't realise that companies have had access to the ingredient for so long and am a bit confused by the recent launch if that's the case. Clearly I need to read up a bit.

.with that in mind, I retract everything I posted earlier

Seems to me the time scales for this are wildly optimistic. I would have thought it would take years between an ingredient being released and appearing in products on the shelf. Especially with the big companies. Between the decision-making , and the production processes there would be a decent amount of lead-in time.

There are always outliers and hopefully this is one but I wouldn’t have thought cosmetics is an industry where they change ingredients without a huge amount of thought and consideration for the implications of doing so from cost, impact on the product, production, marketing etc… there are a lot of things to consider.

Not trying to be a downer, just the way I see it as someone with a small investment that I intend to grow as SOH continues to divest me through my Opti holding.

That's not entirely accurate because, PR consultant aside, they would need to be replaced and the recruitment process would cost money in addition to the salary for the new people.

The marketing consultant does seem like a complete waste of money and there doesn't seem to be any value in Opti trying to be a b2c company.

Shame about the political references here. We're all united as shareholders and I'm sure our respective political positions differ as much as the general population so not helpful to divide people along those grounds when we're all trying to focus on the company's wellbeing imo.

As for TW taking over, yes a disaster and not something that would happen I'd think so maybe there's something to be said for pledging my shares to force a bit of change whilst not voting for RW if it ever came to it as Aquae suggested.

I currently have 200000 of these bad boys, as Mol subtly pointed out earlier, TW has asked everyone else how many shares they've got but declined to mention his holding. Feels a bit slippery.

Not a massive fan of his and I think he shoulders a fair bit of responsibility for cosying up to SOH all these years but he's spot on here. Coats are not controlled efficiently and it has led to a huge devaluing of the company as a result of asset disposal.

Tempted to vote for this although not sure if warrants an EGM rather than a motion at the AGM whenever that is. Also, no way I'd want him to step in. I don't trust the dude.

As we learnt to our cost recently, an EGM costs a lot of cash.