This Mornings RNS14 Jan 2021 13:30
Very disappointed to see this mornings RNS, but to me, not totally unexpected. My concerns were raised with the announcement of DR stepping down from the CEO role, in June of this year and handing over "stock market relations", (or somesuch) to TY, with immediate effect at the end of last year.
DR has made considerable progress for the company as CEO, with the emphasis being on overturning KA's approach to the financial model, and taking a non-dilutionary, strategic partnership and licence fee approach, going forward.
I'm reading that there was a difference in opinion regarding the financial model since the merger/takeover of W2T.
If the equity raise is purely to accelerate the building of the Protos plant, so it can be the shop window, and PHE reverts to DR's financial model for future projects, all well and good, but we'll need to wait and see.
Telephoneman posted this morning that on a shared revenue basis (assumed 50%) the future revenues per plant would be multiples of the licence fee, but from this mornings RNS:
"The Directors consider that these steps are beneficial for the Company's future and are likely to bring forward the date on which licence fee income, which is expected to constitute the principal portion of the Company's future revenue, will start to be received."
So, even though we may be carrying 50% of the capital cost, the £500K per annum licence fee is still the " principal portion" of future revenue - not much in terms of shared revenue then for PHE, or is the licence fee going to be significantly increased if PHE continues to make a 50% contribution to capital cost.
It's all gone a bit murky here since TY and the White family have got involved and will remain an ex- long term shareholder until the mists have cleared. I'm happy with a 20x return on my initial investment and will stay on the sidelines until clarity returns to the financial model.
I note some discussion about the Protos plant being up and running commercially by end March, ................seriously ?? within 10 weeks ???
The sub-station has been ongoing for 6 months at least and still not finished.
That appears to be a mis-understanding around the words in the RNS, regarding getting financial closure by end of first quarter.
Quite happy to keep an eye on site and report back on progress, the exercise does me good.
PHE has an excellent piece of technology which has potential on many fronts and will deliver significant benefits over the coming years.