Member Info for Hedgehog100

Both of OTAQ's branches of operation are in sectors with a bullish outlook this year:

1. Aquaculture.
Surging food prices should benefit primary food producers such as salmon & shrimp farmers.

2. Energy (oil & gas, and renewable).
Surging oil & energy prices are creating boom conditions for producers.

So whereas for other sectors these inflationary pressures may be business challenges to be wary of, for OTAQ they are positives.

In addition, OTAQ now has minimal negative exposure to the passing COVID-19 pandemic, or to the Ukraine-Russia war and its fallouts.

So with a challenging stock market outlook for the majority of companies and sectors, OTAQ looks to be in the ideal businesses at the moment.

They are banned, but the period is just one month before the interim results, rather than two months before the final results.

So with the interims to be announced on 21st. April, this has enabled a brief window of opportunity for them to buy in between the trading update and the interims.

Sorry for any confusion created by my 10th. March post on the subject: it was only the next day that the interims date was announced, which will be nearly 7 weeks after the trading update (of 1st. March), as opposed to just under five weeks last year.

This has given the directors a reasonable amount of time to buy in between the two, which would have been challenging otherwise.

Yes, especially in the software sector, where revenues tend to be valued at more generous price-to-sales multiples.

And ESYS's revenues are 87% recurring, with high-growth potential, and from the leading global provider.

In addition, the cash increases ESYS's attractions as a takeover candidate.

18th Mar 2022 7:00 am RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding

Director/PDMR Dealing

essensys plc (AIM:ESYS), the leading global provider of mission critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and on-demand cloud services to the flexible workspace industry, announces that on 17 March 2022, Mark Furness, Chief Executive Officer, purchased 350,000 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") at a weighted average price of approximately 74.58 pence per Ordinary Share.

Following these transactions, Mark Furness' total beneficial interest in the Group has increased to 19,679,066 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 30.56% of the Group's total issued share capital.

Mark Furness is treated as acting in concert with other shareholders, being Barry John Clark, Ian Bryn Sadler, Michael John Guest, Michael Grant and Liam Joachim Kavanagh (the "Concert Party"). Certain of these shareholders have also purchased shares. As a result of these purchases, the aggregate number of Ordinary Shares held by the Concert Party has increased from 24,065,272 to 24,447,680, representing an increase from 37.38% to 37.97% of the issued share capital of the Group.

These purchases were effected under the terms of Note 11 on Rule 9.1 of the Code and therefore had no consequences under the Takeover Code.

The members of the Concert Party also hold the following options over Ordinary Shares: ...

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ESYS/directorpdmr-shareholding-wfudhpcyz28ehkv.html

18th Mar 2022 7:00 am RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding

Director/PDMR Dealing

essensys plc (AIM:ESYS), the leading global provider of mission critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and on-demand cloud services to the flexible workspace industry, has been notified that on 16 March 2022 the following director and PDMRs purchased, in aggregate, 64,100 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 74 pence per Ordinary Share.

Name Position Ordinary No. of Ordinary % holding
Shares purchased Shares held following purchase following purchase
Chief Financial
Officer & Chief
Alan Pepper Operating Officer 20,200 424,766 0.66%
-------------------- ------------------ ---------------- -----------
Chief Customer
David Kinnaird Officer 13,500 620,028 0.96%
-------------------- ------------------ ---------------- -----------
Jeremy Bernard CEO, North America 30,400 30,400 0.05%
-------------------- ------------------ ---------------- -----------

Details of the transaction can be found in the Notification of Dealing Forms below. ...

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ESYS/directorpdmr-shareholding-5pvrmhmp1aspi0n.html

Last month OTAQ also further expanded their team, in a move which further highlights the very bullish outlook for the company:

"OTAQ AQUACULTURE INTRODUCE NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER ROLE
03/02/2022

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Gareth Hammond as Business Development Manager for OTAQ’s Aquaculture division as part of our continued commercial expansion strategy.

Gareth, who joins us from Vaki where he was managing their fish counter and net pen aeration UK and Ireland business for over five years, said “My focus is to promote and grow the Aquaculture business for OTAQ’s expanding product portfolio within the industry globally. OTAQ’s approach towards innovative technology and collaborative working with customers to find practical solutions that improve their operational efficiencies are key reasons for me wanting to join the OTAQ team. I look forward to getting involved.”

Our Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Beesley, who joined OTAQ in August 2021 said, “Gareth’s appointment is an important step in our overall growth strategy for the Aquaculture market. With his wealth of knowledge and experience in fish farming technologies and operations, as well as his enthusiasm to bring innovative solutions to market, Gareth is a great fit and we are very pleased to have him join the team.”

As well as expanding sales on OTAQ’s existing products such as our acoustic deterrent system Sealfence, underwater IP cameras and laser measurement systems, Gareth will be focused on the introduction of exciting new OTAQ marine technologies that will be coming to the market within the next 12 months.

For any queries relating to our product range and sales please contact Gareth.hammond@otaq.com

26/01/2022"

https://otaq.com/otaq-aquaculture-introduce-new-business-development-manager-role/

Recent Share Trades for Essensys (ESYS)
Date Time Trade Prc Volume Buy/Sell Bid Ask Value
17-Mar-22 15:46:31 74.21 100,000 Unknown* 73.00 75.00 74.21k O
17-Mar-22 15:22:24 76.00 100,000 Unknown* 73.00 75.00 76.00k O
17-Mar-22 15:21:19 76.00 100,000 Unknown* 73.00 75.00 76.00k O
17-Mar-22 13:10:28 74.00 200,000 Unknown* 73.00 75.00 148.00k O
17-Mar-22 14:45:48 74.00 100,000 Unknown* 73.00 75.00 74.00k O

Nearly 0.7M. in ESYS shares reported late today, which is over 1% of the shares in issue.

It looks like more institutional buying, & another big institutional '**************'.

Big trading volume like this often marks the bottom of a share price trough, before a significant move back up.

17th Mar 2022 5:56 pm RNS Director/PDMR Shareholding

Director/PDMR Dealing

essensys plc (AIM:ESYS), the leading global provider of mission critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and on-demand cloud services to the flexible workspace industry, has been notified that on 15 March 2022, Jon Lee, Non-Executive Chairman, purchased 27,322 ordinary shares of 0.25 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 73.20 pence per Ordinary Share.

Following this transaction, Jon Lee's total beneficial interest in the Group is 128,635 Ordinary Shares, representing 0.2% of the Group's total issued share capital.

Details of the transaction can be found in the Notification of Dealing Form below.

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ESYS/directorpdmr-shareholding-a42yyhiyi1n2xuf.html

"CleanTech Lithium: rare sustainable lithium miner goes live on LSE
17th March 2022 Stuart Fieldhouse
... The company’s listing comes at a time when lithium prices continue to rise. Lithium prices are soaring as demand from the automotive sector picks up. Lithium prices have quadrupled in value in the last 12 months. Industry analysts concur that inventory levels of lithium remain extremely low, leading to massive appetite for new, cost effective and sustainable resources.
CleanTech Lithium’s directors said they think the lithium market will continue to see a positive price trend: the long term forecast from Benchmark Minerals is for lithium at $15,000 / tonne for battery grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide from 2025 to 2040. Current spot prices are in excess of $60,000 / tonne."
https://www.thearmchairtrader.com/cleantech-lithium-rare-sustainable-lithium-miner/

So the long term forecast is for lithium at $15,000 / tonne from 2025 to 2040. Whereas current spot prices are in excess of $60,000 / tonne.
I.e. a 75% price collapse from the current inflated level.

And that certainly makes sense.
All cases I've seen of commodities multibagging in price this quickly have subsequently collapsed.

There are already reports that battery companies are struggling with these prices, with the lithium cost now a huge proportion of the batteries cost.

The lithium sector at the moment looks like a bit of a bubble.

That said, CTL looks interesting, and could potentially move up a bit in the short term if the lithium price doesn't collapse first.

So it may be worth a brief trade if you can buy at or near the 30p placing price, but not a buy-&-hold stock for me at the moment.

The ESYS s.p. looks to have levelled off, with volume now picked up again this week, which sets a strong basis for a significant move up.

Progress towards a peaceful end to the Ukraine-Russia war appears to be happening, and let us hope that this does indeed happen soon, to end the appalling loss of life and destruction.

From an investment perspective, this would also provide a boost to markets and economies around the world.

And shares like ESYS, which seem to have been disproportionately and unfairly hit more, should receive the biggest boost.

DOTD hit an intra-day low of just 52.5p on Monday (7th. March), so at its current 90.6p DOTD's rise since then is actually 72.6%.

A similar recovery for ESYS could take it to about 128p.

Thanks to Carmarthenshire on ADVFN for flagging up this new Twitter post today:

"Mathew Thomas@mathewthomas484

#ESYS

Agree with all the chatter on twitter, this 1 has dropped too low ?

A gap fill 116-124p would be a nice target ?

8:18 am · 17 Mar 2022·Twitter for iPhone"

https://twitter.com/mathewthomas484/status/1504371623717179394?s=21

Minnowtech have just further expanded their team, following on from their significant expansion last year:

"MINNOWTECH ANNOUNCES HIRING OF DANIEL NAFARRETE AS AQUACULTURE R&D TECHNICIAN
3/15/2022

?Nafarrete brings his technology skills and experience to applying Minnowtech’s sonar-based system at a shrimp farm in Kauai

March 15, 2022, Kekaha, HI – Minnowtech, an aquaculture technology company that enables shrimp farmers to calculate shrimp abundance for optimizing feed and harvest, today announced the hiring of Daniel Nafarrete as Aquaculture R&D Technician, located at the company’s Kekaha office on the Hawaiian island of Kauai."

https://www.minnowtech.com/news

This supports the likelihood of 2022 being a very exciting one for Minnowtech, as it moves strongly into its commercialisation phase.

Which of course is great for OTAQ, Minnowtech's partner and part-owner.

From 2009, but still relevant now:

" ... It is often said that salmon sells well in difficult economic times. This seems to be true also in the EU during the current economic downturn. Probably the reason is that salmon, despite the significant rise in prices, remains a competitive and attractive seafood product, and given its high penetration in both the food service and retail channels, especially at the medium-level price segments, sales are hurt less than those of other species that are targeting more price-sensitive consumers. ..."

https://www.fao.org/in-action/globefish/market-reports/resource-detail/en/c/338161/

"Global demand for Scottish salmon sees a near return to export sales record

By Calum MacLeod - calum.macleod@hnmedia.co.uk
Published: 12:27, 11 February 2022 | Updated: 12:29, 11 February 2022

Scottish salmon exports recovered to near-record figures in 2021, according to new figures released by the UK Government.

Cementing its place as the UK’s biggest food export, salmon overseas sales increased to £614 million, up 36 per cent compared to 2020 and only marginally below the £618 million recorded in 2019.

The official HMRC figures have demonstrated the strong global demand for Scotland’s unrivalled farm-raised salmon. ..."

https://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/scottish-salmon-bounces-back-to-near-record-world-demand-265797/

Looks like the drop was just silly games from the market makers.

There was minimal sell volume, and the dip was well bought in to.

Most of the fall has already been recovered.

16-Mar-22 15:16:11 75.00 50,000 Unknown* 68.00 72.00 37.50k O

ESYS's largest customer, Industrious, raised US$200M. just three weeks ago, which bodes well for its expansion plans ... in partnership with ESYS of course.

Might Industrious even been tempted to take over ESYS at ESYS's current lowly price?

The success of Industrious during the pandemic is testament to its high levels of customer satisfaction, which in turn is a strong validation of ESYS's technology.

Technology that can help to give its customers a competitive advantage, and succeed even in challenging times.

14th Oct 2021 7:00 am RNS Customer Renewal

"Major renewal and expansion with largest customer, Industrious

Framework to support Industrious' global expansion plans

essensys plc, the leading global provider of mission-critical software and technology to the flexible workspace industry, has renewed its strategic partnership with Industrious, the Group's largest and fastest growing customer.

The new global framework agreement consolidates all existing business between essensys and Industrious and establishes the framework for essensys to support Industrious's global expansion plans.

essensys currently serves 111 Industrious locations, comprising in excess of 3 million sq ft predominantly in the USA. The Group has recently supported Industrious's establishment in the UK.

Mark Furness, CEO of essensys, said:

"We are delighted to renew and expand our existing partnership with Industrious. Industrious is an example of our strategy to grow with our leading customers, by supporting their expansion plans. Industrious was one of our early partners when we established our US operation and we have worked together for over four years. This contract renewal reaffirms our joint commitment to provide great customer experiences using our technology. Our recent fundraising to expand the business globally will allow us to continue to support Industrious as they expand their operations both in North America and internationally.""

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ESYS/customer-renewal-leyljetrfgmm9rc.html

"2.22.21 — 3 minute read
Industrious Announces Milestone Investment From CBRE
BY INDUSTRIOUS PR TEAM

We’re thrilled to announce that CBRE has invested more than $200 million in Industrious.

This investment represents a significant minority stake in the company and is our largest fundraise to date. It’s also the clearest indication yet that Industrious is the leading platform for sustainable and strategic growth in the workplace-as-a-service industry.

Putting Industrious and CBRE’s complementary capabilities behind a shared vision will create the world’s leading flexible workplace offering. And while Industrious already has the highest customer satisfaction in the industry, this partnership will extend the scope and scale of Industrious’ offerings, making it the workplace provider of choice for the Global Fortune 1000 and beyond. ..."

https://www.industriousoffice.com/blog/industrious/industrious-announces-milestone

Thanks to Mr. Simmons for this useful post on ADVFN a few days ago:

Mrsimmons 10 Mar '22 - 14:01 - 49 of 57 0 2 0
"I agree the cash pile is all earmarked for investment in heads and product so it wont' last more than 23-30 months. The investment question here is whether this will generate enough new business to turn the Group profitable in the medium/long term and generate steady cash flows. Obviously first 6 months they are slightly behind. They must have done some market research which suggests that their offering is going to win in the marketplace. They now need to execute. From memory they are targetting 70m revenues in 4/5 years at 65% GM is £45m less Op ex of c,£20m generates a steady cash flow of £25m. No real working capital here as well which is good."
https://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=44440912&from=49

£70M. of revenues, and £25M. of net operating cash inflow, could give a market cap. of about £1 billion.

Which indeed DOTD was valued at recently on numbers lower than that.

And as at last summer, DOTD had 30-bagged in ten years.

That's the level of ESYS's long-term mutibagging potential.

With ESYS's downside looking very-limited, then the risk-reward ratio is looking compelling.

15th Mar 2022 7:00 am RNS Lipid inCode pilot

... FH is an inherited monogenic condition which affects an individual's ability to regulate and remove cholesterol from their blood. FH affects approximately 1 in 250 people in the UK population and globally. The NHS Long Term Plan sets out to expand access to genetic testing for FH, which causes early heart attacks and sudden cardiac death. Individuals suffering with FH have a higher risk of heart disease and death at a younger age. For individuals suffering with FH it is important to lower their cholesterol to healthy levels as early in life as possible, often requiring medicines such as statins or more aggressive treatment to help better control cholesterol levels.

CVD is a broad disease classification which encompasses conditions such as coronary artery disease (causing angina, heart attacks, heart failure), cerebrovascular disease (causing stroke, and some dementia), peripheral vascular disease (causing limb ischemia, and some chronic kidney disease) and venous thromboembolism. CVD is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide accounting for one in every four deaths in the United States. According to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), by 2030, the global cost of CVD is set to rise to US$1,044 billion, from approximately US$863 billion in 2010, and is both a major health issue and global economic burden.

GENinCode has a vision to assist clinicians and inform patients in interpreting cardiovascular risk, and to improve public health using the predictive capability of genomics. High genetic risk patients are assisted in making lifestyle choices and can receive targeted treatment to improve outcomes. Over the past 15 years GENinCode has made a substantial investment in its research, bioinformatic data, technology, and product development to assess disease risk, in order to help clinicians and patients prevent the onset of CVD.

Matthew Walls, CEO, GENinCode said: "The AHSN NENC pilot marks the beginning of our Lipid inCode® diagnostic testing for hypercholesterolemia and familial hypercholesterolemia sufferers and we look forward to supporting the NHS in reaching its goals to diagnose patients with hypercholesterolemia."

Professor Julia Newton, Medical Director at AHSN NENC commented: "We are delighted to pilot Lipid inCode® to advance the diagnosis and treatment of hypercholesterolemia and familial hypercholesterolemia. With the added benefit of easy sample collection, improved test turnaround times and at reduced costs to the NHS, we welcome this approach to help support and deliver the NHS 10-Year plan to reduce the onset of cardiovascular disease."

For more information visit www.genincode.com

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/GENI/lipid-incode-pilot-pnh8nrtv4j0n0jh.html

15th Mar 2022 7:00 am RNS Lipid inCode pilot

NHS pilot for polygenic testing of UK patients suffering with hypercholesterolemia and familial hypercholesterolemia

Oxford, UK. GENinCode Plc (AIM: GENI), the predictive genetics company focused on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, announces a collaboration with the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria ("AHSN NENC") to pilot the use of its Lipid inCode® test for the diagnosis of hypercholesterolemia (high levels of cholesterol) and familial hypercholesterolemia ("FH").

There are 15 Academic Health Science Networks ("AHSN") across England, established by NHS England in 2013 to spread innovation at pace and scale - improving health and generating economic growth. Each AHSN works across a distinct geography serving a different population in each region. The AHSN NENC leads a national AHSN programme aimed at identification of FH and lipid management, in collaboration with the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) and the National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE).

The launch of Lipid inCode® marks the introduction of GENinCode's first UK polygenic product aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of hypercholesterolemia and preventing the onset of cardiovascular disease ("CVD").

Following the successful completion and positive results of its NHS clinical study1 of the Lipid inCode® test, the AHSN NENC collaboration will undertake a short term pilot using Lipid inCode® in primary care and community practice to help in the detection and diagnosis of people with high cholesterol, a known important risk factor for the development of CVD. Improved detection will also support better treatment and preventative care. Lipid inCode® offers genetic testing for the causes of high cholesterol, with rapid results and a comprehensive report provided to clinicians. Lipid inCode® will be offered at a reduced cost to the NHS to help support its declared ambition to detect 25% of people with FH by 2024.

In the UK around 7.6m people live with heart and circulatory disease, which causes 25% of all deaths annually in the UK. CVD can be reduced by identifying and treating individuals at risk, and the NHS 10 Year Plan (2019) sets out significant ambitions to address the CVD prevention, including identifying individuals with hypercholesterolemia and particularly those with FH. ...

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/GENI/lipid-incode-pilot-pnh8nrtv4j0n0jh.html

Thanks for that Swissydog - intriguing.

It almost sounds like Breakthrough Device Designation and the FDA response to pre-submission could come at the same time.

I.e. a potential double FDA boost to GENI in one package.