Member Info for Hedgehog100

The directors have specifically chosen to switch to part payment by options, with the effective price set in advance for the year ahead (at 1.075p per share), rather than part-payment by shares, with the price fixed later.

Which means that there is no incentive for them to keep the share price down.

And it suggests that they think the share price will rise during the period in question.

NickE Posts: 449 Price: 0.825 No Opinion
RE: hardly glowing feedback 16 Jul '21
"The issue of STAR being unduly negative might be for the above 'realism' reasons but they have to watch their negative tone as cynics might point to the fact that two thirds of salaries / fees of the Chairman are being paid in shares each month. Obviously the lower the share price the more shares received. I doubt that but ... ..."

Nick,

You haven't picked up the the change from part remuneration by shares to part remuneration by options.
And interestingly, no one else has flagged up the significance of this change, which as approved at the 15th. July AGM.

24th May 2021 11:48 am RNS Director/PDMR Shareholdings, issue of equity & TVR
"... Issue of shares in lieu of director fees
The Non-Executive Directors of Starcom, Michael Rosenberg, Avi Engel and Martin Blair (the "NEDs"), are each owed salary and fees, as to £59,557 for Michael Rosenberg for 18 months to 31 May 2021 and £34,800 for each of Avi Engel and Martin Blair for 14 months to 31 May 2021. The NEDs have agreed that 60 per cent. of that amount can be satisfied in Ordinary Shares. Accordingly, an aggregate of 9,686,775 Ordinary Shares (the "Fee Shares"), representing approximately 2.76 per cent. of the current issued share capital, will be issued to them as set out in the table below. The Fee Shares will be issued at 0.8p per share, being the most recent closing offer price for Ordinary Shares.
The remaining salaries and fees owed to the NEDs of, in aggregate, £51,663 will be paid in instalments over a 12 month period starting on 1 July 2021 or earlier if cashflow permits.
In addition, and to help conserve the Company's cash position, the Non-Executive Directors are proposing to receive Ordinary Shares and/or options for part of their fees for the next 12 months. The details of these proposals are still to be finalised by the Board and further announcements will be made in due course. ..."
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/STAR/directorpdmr-shareholdings-issue-of-equity-tvr-bwscavdgij9yk7p.html

23rd Jun 2021 11:11 am RNS Notice of AGM and proposed grant of options
"... Proposed grant of Fee options
At the AGM, resolutions will be proposed for shareholders to consider the grant of share options to certain directors as detailed below.
... The number of Fee Options granted has been calculated based on an issue price of 1.075p per Share, being the mid-market closing price on AIM on 22 June 2021. The Fee Options will vest one year after grant date and can be exercised from that date until 10 years from date of grant. If a director leaves before the end of the vesting period a pro rata entitlement will vest and the remaining options will lapse. As the Fee Options are being granted in place of salaries and fees, the Fee Options are exercisable at nil cost. Pursuant to the Company's share option scheme, the Fee Options will be subject to certain customary good leaver and bad leaver provisions. ...
htt

Interesting that the above article flags up unauthoried access as the main cause of ransomware attacks.

So it looks like OSI have the right product at the right time:

"Privileged Access Management without the complexity

... Our team knows the security threats facing organisations and the challenges of fitting a PAM solution into complex infrastructures of any size. We’re flexible to tackle these challenges. And we’ll do what it takes to get you up and running quickly

SAUNDERSON HOUSE CASE STUDY

"We had Osirium PAM up and running in under a day.
Dave Pritt, IT Infrastructure Manager, Saunderson House ..."

https://www.osirium.com/osirium-products/osirium-pam

"The Proliferation of Ransomware Attacks: Protecting Critical Infrastructure

Ben Goodman · August 3, 2021

I watched the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing about ransomware called “America Under Cyber Siege: Preventing and Responding to Ransomware Attacks” with mixed emotions. I am glad to see there are impressive, dedicated professionals like those who testified before the committee on the case, focusing on the areas where additional legislation could help prevent future attacks. I’m glad to see there is awareness, but if we're going to see real change we need to achieve a better collective understanding of the underlying problems behind the eye-catching ransomware headlines. ...

On the one hand, the fact that ransomware attacks have entered the public consciousness enough to demand a senate hearing is encouraging. Ransomware has become the boogie man in the closet. ...

During his testimony, Eric Goldstein, Executive Assistant Director for Cybersecurity at The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, made it clear: “Most ransomware attacks generally do not use zero-day vulnerabilities or exquisite tradecraft, but rather exploit known security weaknesses or a failure to adopt generally accepted best practices.”

Our recent 2021 Consumer Identity Breach Report found that the majority of breaches (43%) are caused by unauthorized access. Through this unauthorized access, criminals can insert the tools that enable a ransomware attack. So if we want to prevent the use of ransomware, we need to focus on preventing unauthorized access.

So, where should we focus on reducing the threat of unauthorized access and ransomware by proxy? Let’s start with access itself. Over time, members of a workforce at organizations accumulate access to systems and services they may need to do their job, execute a project or interact with their co-workers. As people change roles, finish projects, or move out of organizations, their access is often left behind, creating unnecessary risk and attack surfaces for bad actors to exploit. We also can’t forget standing administrative privileges and service accounts used by systems, services, and things. There is simply too much unnecessary access out there for attackers to take advantage of and bring entire supply chains and industries to a screeching halt. ..."

https://www.forgerock.com/blog/proliferation-ransomware-attacks-protecting-critical-infrastructure

SentinelOne's revenue for its year ending 31st. January 2021: US$93.1 million.
Its losses increased from $76.6 million to $117.6 million.

And its current market cap. at its share price of US$55.3 per share is US$14.176 billion.

Which puts it on a PSR (price-sales ratio) of a whopping 152!

From Verdict:

"CYBERSECURITY

SentinelOne IPO sees cybertech triple market cap to almost $11bn

Eric Johansson 1st July 2021 (Last Updated July 1st, 2021 15:41)

Cybersecurity company SentinelOne almost achieved a $11bn market cap in its public debut on the US stock market on Wednesday, tripling the $3bn valuation from November. The 2020 valuation had followed from the close of a $267m funding round, according to GlobalData.

Sentinel One’s initial public offering (IPO) saw its shares jump by 21.4% and be sold under the ticker “S”. The starting price for the SentinelOne IPO had been $35 for the 35 million shares sold on the debut. However, the price skyrocketed to $46 on the day and closed on $42.5, Reuters reported.

The cybertech firm uses artificial intelligence to protect laptops and smartphones from being breached by bad actors.

What has been hailed as “the largest cybersecurity IPO of all time” by Forbes is a story eight years in the making. CEO Tomer Weingarten, CTO Almog Cohen and Ehud Shamir founded SentinelOne in 2013.

Since then the Israeli startup, which is headquartered just 2.7 miles away from Alphabet’s Googleplex in Mountain View, has grown into an international powerhouse that lists car maker Aston Martin among its clients.

SentinelOne counts Tiger Global, Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, Vista Equity Partners’ Vista Public Strategies, Third Point Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures among its investors

Despite its history, it was only in February 2020 that SentinelOne broke the unicorn barrier by securing a valuation above the $1bn mark after a $200m Series E cash injection."

"But when DARK ended June at 767p, it's PSR was about 37, which for OSI would equate to a s.p. of about 180p per share.2

AMENDMENT: " ... when DARK ended July at 767p ..."

DARK's recent results -

12 months ending 30.6.20:
Revenue US$199.076M.
Net loss US $28.672M.

6 months ending 31.12.20:
Revenue US$126.514M.
Net loss US$48M.411M.

DARK's 2020 revenue equates to about £145M. at current exchange rates: i.e. a PSR (price-sales ratio) of about 28.

In comparison, OSI's 2020 revenue was £1.43M.

So if OSI was valued on the same current PSR as DARK, its market cap. would be about £40M.

I.e. about 136p per share.

But when DARK ended June at 767p, it's PSR was about 37, which for OSI would equate to a s.p. of about 180p per share.

Though it's easier for a small company like OSI to grow its sales more rapidly than a large company like DARK.

A few very large contracts for OSI could potentially double its revenue, but realistically that couldn't happen with DARK.

DARK's market cap. of £4Bn. places it on the fringes of the FTSE 100 index.

The current smallest constituent of the FTSE 100 is WEIR, with a market cap. currently only a few percent higher than DARK's:-

Code Name Currency Market cap (m) Price Change Change %
WEIR WEIR GROUP PLC ORD 12.5P GBX 4,243.36 1,623.00 -11.50 -0.70%
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/indices/ftse-100/constituents/table?page=5

DARK therefore potentially has a good chance of promotion to the FTSE 100 later this year, which could bring even more attention to the cybersecurity sector.

Darktrace (DARK) demonstrates the very bullish environment for ransomware plays like OSI.

DARK floated in the spring of this year at an IPO price of 250p.

Since when the shares have surged to their current s.p. of 582.5p: market capitalisation £4.06 billion.

"Friday 30 April 2021 4:10 pm
London IPO: Darktrace shares surge 40 per cent on market debut"
HTTP://www.cityam.com/london-ipo-darktrace-prices-shares-at-250p-as-it-aims-for-1-7bn-market-capitalisation/

"Industry outlook

The market for privileged access management (PAM) software is currently worth US$2.2bn and is forecast to grow to US$5.4bn by 2025 (source: KuppingerCole), with demand driven by regulation, the shift to the cloud and adoption spreading to smaller organisations. The complexity of established solutions means fewer mid-market businesses use PAM software than enterprises, so this is a market ripe for development.

LAST UPDATED ON 17/08/2021"

https://www.edisongroup.com/company/osirium-technologies/2659/

Interesting that smaller organisations have been slower than larger ones to adopt PAM software, due to the complexity of existing solutions.
This provides a market opportunity which plays to OSI's strengths.

I.e. OSI's easy and simple deployment of its product, which can be done in a day.
And the fact that OSI is a smaller company itself, so is likely to be more amenable to smaller organisations.

Darktrace (DARK) in contrast, a £4Bn. cap. company, is targeting large companies like Ted Baker:

“The threat of ransomware was a key driver in our adoption of Autonomous Response technology.”
Leon Shepherd, Chief Information Officer, Ted Baker

https://www.darktrace.com/en/ransomware/?utm_source=cpc-google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=campaign_ransomware_uk&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpf2IBhDkARIsAGVo0D1OApFl3WAcEGaw-2yEjEASliJCL3BOz0XiM_8ko62S5EUyc7xB4ysaAkAyEALw_wcB

" ... Importantly, X-PLO2RTM offers cost benefits to users, too. That’s because they can swap out the filter cartridges to enable higher capacity oxygen flow without having to buy a new device; like upgrading memory on a laptop. The result is significantly more affordable oxygen therapy for the life of the patient. Belluscura's management team plan to spend £3m of the £17.5m proceeds raised in May’s IPO launching X-PLO2R – the first units will be distributed before the end of September and the company has four distribution agreements in place across East and MidWest America. A further £8m is earmarked to progress additional products within the range for launch later this year and early in 2022.

Investors have been cottoning onto Belluscura's progress, hence why its share price has soared 70 per cent from 53p to 90p since Tek’s half year-end, the effect of which is to add a further US$8.3m (6.3c a share) to the company’s NAV. ...

Tek’s 15 per cent stake in Belluscura is now worth £15.4m, or more than half Tek’s own market capitalisation of £28.8m. There is ample scope for further valuation gains, too. That’s because Belluscura's house broker Dowgate Capital believes that by 2023 the £103m market capitalisation company will reach profitability and be cashflow positive based on 12,000 units sales. Having hit that inflexion point, analysts are predicting the company could be selling 22,000 units (based on 5 per cent share of the POC market) in 2024 to produce revenue of US$47.9m, cash profit of US$11.4m and earnings per share (EPS) of 6.5p. With gross margin around 50 per cent, the operational gearing of the business is such that profits and EPS would treble in 2025 based on 50,000 unit sales.

Belluscura financial forecasts 2021 to 2025
2021E 2022E 2023E 2024E 2025E
Units sold 150 2,000 12,000 22,000 50,000
Revenue $0.2m $3.0m $19.8m $47.9m $109.9m
Ebitda -$2.3m -$4.6m $1.1m $11.4m $33.5m
EPS na na 0.1p 6.5p 18.2p
PE na na na 8 3
Net cash $17.4m $9.8m $7.9m $17.3m $44.6m
Source: Dowgate Capital (27 July 2021) ..."

https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/ideas/2021/08/19/a-smart-technology-play-offering-material-upside/

"A smart technology play offering material upside

A little known small-cap investment company focused on high growth technologies in food technology, autonomous vehicles, smart eyewear and respiratory medical devices has delivered eye-catching valuation gains.

August 19, 2021
By Simon Thompson

• NAV surges 56 per cent to US$51m in latest six-month period.
• Value of 15 per cent stake in Belluscura has since soared 70 per cent to £15.4m since the half year-end.
• Portfolio company, Lucyd, launches crowdfunding at double Tek’s pre-money valuation in its interim accounts.

TekCapital (TEK:22.25p), a £29.1m market capitalisation company that holds a concentrated investment portfolio focused on high growth technologies in the food technology, autonomous vehicles, smart eyewear and respiratory medical devices, has released eye-catching interim results.

Net asset value (NAV) surged 56 per cent to US$51.1m (39c a share) in the six months to 31 May 2021, buoyed by a thumping US$8.6m (£6.2m) paper gain on Tek’s pre-IPO holding of 17.1m shares in recently floated Belluscura (BELL: 90p), an Aim-traded company that is developing and commercialising IP in the medical devices space. Belluscura's first product, the X-PLO2RTM, is a lightweight FDA cleared portable oxygen concentrator (POC) that has been designed to replace larger, metal oxygen tanks and heavier POC devices. Weighing less than 1.5kg, it is the world's first modular POC and generates more oxygen by weight than any other FDA cleared POC in its class.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that 328m people globally have Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), of whom 65m have moderate or severe symptoms and 90 per cent are typically middle-aged or older adults who smoke. COPD is the third leading cause of death in the world, symptoms being breathlessness, a persistent chesty cough, frequent chest infections and persistent wheezing.

Analysts estimate the POC market could be worth US$2.4bn (£1.75bn) within three years, up from US$1.66bn in 2020, a high growth market and one that is growing even faster due to Covid-19. Indeed, WHO plans to purchase 184,000 units at a cost of over US$100m to distribute worldwide, having so far distributed over 30,000 concentrators and 40,000 pulse oximeters and patient monitors across 121 countries.

The medical portable O2 market is expected to grow to US$2.4bn by 2024
2018 2019 2020 2021E 2022E 2023E 2024E
Revenue $1.40bn $1.51bn $1.66bn $1.83bn $2.01bn $2.21bn $2.41bn
Source: Global Insights ..."

https://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/ideas/2021/08/19/a-smart-technology-play-offering-material-upside/

Interesting that KZG has been weak in the second half of this week, whereas IRON has been strong.

Both are due a funding update - each now nearly three months since their last ones.

But I think that IRON's update is likely to be the more positive.

KZG has big attractions, but there are certain issues that are delaying their funding deal that don't apply to IRON.

15th Jul 2021 11:00 am RNS AGM Statement
At the Company's Annual General Meeting at 11.00 a.m. BST today, the Chairman will make the following statement:
"Since we reported our annual results in March ...
We expect to be able to publish financial results for the six months ended 30 June 2021 in the next month and we look forward to updating shareholders on our progress then. Present indications show unaudited revenues for that period of around $2million including $1m of SaaS revenues." "
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/STAR/agm-statement-tix4hufqu2od72x.html

Foxhill,

No, the results are not three weeks late.

Depending how you interpret the phrase "in the next month" the results were expected to be announced by 15th. August, or else by the end of August.

And any such announcement in August would be within just two months of the period end: which is actually very impressive, and indicative of very good financial controls.

Most AIM companies with an interim period to the end of June would not normally release their interim results until September, with many waiting until near the end of September deadline.

And many have been taking even longer than that since extensions were allowed due to the pandemic.

https://www.walkermorris.co.uk/publications/corporate-matters-february-2021/reporting-deadlines-for-aim-companies-extended/

"There aren't many shares I've found with any prospect of becoming a five or more bagger but IMHO, Belluscura could join this club, if it approaches Inogen's rating. There are high risks and there wont be much value in BELL if production from its suppliers fails."

Thanks Storm, you're welcome.

Stuffee perhaps hasn't made that point very well, as there's no risk that BELL's product doesn't work.
What he means is that any mass manufacturing process can potentially be disrupted due to operational risks such as industrial accidents and labour disputes etc.

But as BELL is outsourcing its manufacturing, to a number of contract manufacturers, that in itself shifts the main manufacturing risk burden from BELL onto its suppliers.
And means that BELL can concentrate on the non-manufacturing matters, which it is best at, while the manufacturing is carried out by companies with more manufacturing experience and expertise.

I can't really see any likelihood of the sort of production failure that would be anything more than a blip.
If one supplier is having a problem, then the others should be able to ramp up production to meet the shortfall.

And if demand is so high that BELL temporarily struggles to meet it, then that is a nice problem to have!

Thanks Onebagger.

That 14.6.21 OSI video interview is well worth a watch and listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HttRp6mON5k

Here are a few key points from it:

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they moved to virtual marketing.
- Was more targeted & effective, & saved money.
25 new customers in Q1.
Serving multiples sectors.
- Including blue light services.
December 2020, it was announced that NHS Digital would receive big ransomware protection funding.
- Current protection simply not good enough.
- Ransomeware attacks far more common.
- PAM (privileged access management) is officially recommended as protection from ransomware.
- Homeworking in and since the pandemic has rapidly strengthened the need for.
- Including the need for automation.
OSI's solution can be deployed in just one day.
Working to partner with Cisco & Microsoft etc.
IP protection.
Ahead of the competition.
Easy & simple to deploy & use, & quality customer service.
Short & medium term outlook: accelerating growth, huge expanding market.

My overall impression: very capable & convincing - great market opportunity & future.

And thanks to Diversification on ADVFN for this useful response:

diversification 16 Jun '21 - 17:41 - 14 of 62 0 1 0

"What’s stopping Inogen Inc from buying Bell? They are an immediate threat to its market share and with Inogen market cap at many multiples to Bell you would of thought it would be a relatively easy target.

For what it’s worth, you can see how any commercial news would rerate this stock to a similar level to what you have seen in other stocks from IPO such as TGR. We just need something to catch the markets eye."

https://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=48469161&from=1

Thanks to Stuffee on ADVFN for this useful post earlier this summer:

stuffee 1 Jun '21 - 12:25 - 11 of 62 0 5 0

"I've been researching Belluscura. The Admission Document, hxxps://www.belluscura.com/admission-document is pretty comprehensive and helpful with useful background on the industry. I'd like to add a few points to some of the helpful posts above.

It has developed Portable Oxygen Concentrators (POCs) which suck in air from the atmosphere, absorb the nitrogen and emit nearly pure oxygen. POCs are principally used for medical purposes for patients suffering from COPD, including pneumonia,asthma and Covid. Its first product, X-PLO2R received full FDA approval in March 2021 and is expected to commence sales, initially in the US in the second half of this year. It has full patent protections and is sub contracting manufacturing to two or three specialist US medical suppliers. It is in the process of appointing US distributors, where it has evidently received numerous enthusiastic proposals.

Its POC is fully portable, weighs around 3lbs, battery driven, produces 4l of Oxygen per min and can be carried in a satchel. It expects to launch further products over the next year - full details and pics of products on hxxps://www.belluscura.com/company-products.

POCs are the fastest growing part of the Oxygen suppliers, competing against the heavy bulky oxygen cylinders, Trade forecasts suggest POCS will enjoy growth of 10%+ pa over the next few years. Within POC suppliers, Inogen is the principal competitor with a 26% US market share. Bell's X-PLO2R device is considered lighter, more powerful, quieter and more convenient than Inogen's principal G3 device; I suggest it could become the market leader within two years.

Inogen, which self manufactures has sales of $300m, no profits yet and a market value of $1.3bn.

Belluscura, which raised £17m from its IPO, has a market value of just £60m with its shares at 54p. It obviously has the risk of mass production problems with its suppliers. It hasn't yet sold a POC and interesting that Inogen hasn't yet made a profit, possibly due to its production problems.

There aren't many shares I've found with any prospect of becoming a five or more bagger but IMHO, Belluscura could join this club, if it approaches Inogen's rating. There are high risks and there wont be much value in BELL if production from its suppliers fails.

Interesting that Section 7 of Part V of its Admission Documents lists some smart investors in BELL following recent placings,including Nigel Wray (12%), David Poutney (10%) Ch Exec of Dowgate, Lorna Tibian (1%) Director of Dowgate and former leading media analyst."

https://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=48469161&from=1

Great research Dave, thanks.

My get feeling is that the deal could well have been finalised.

In which case, will the company wait until September (just 8 trading days away after today) before announcing it?

On the basis that early September would be better than now, in terms of garnering market attention.

Let's wait and see!

Either way, Ironveld could soon be 'IRON, like a lion, in Zion'!