Member Info for lordloadsoflolly

So rather than dilute existing shareholders with yet another cash raise, they sell off a million shares in one of their more promising holdings.

Thereby diluting existing shareholders via the back door.

It's called selling off the crown jewels to keep the lights on (so that Clifford can enjoy Christmas with another well-earned £250k bonus). No wonder his surname's Gross - 'cos that's exactly what this is.

Thefrogster - spot on! But maybe rather than sticking it in a bank, stick it in whichever SAFE savings vehicle offers the best interest at the time. Sometimes credit unions & building societies offer more than the banks and they give you exactly the same degree of protection up to £85,000.

The 50:50 option is also a sensible way to hedge your bets, assuming you know you won't need access to ALL the capital in a hurry.

Thanks Badsterman - I take absolutely no pleasure in being proved right, as I remain a holder here.

The main reason for that is that I still believe we might eventually turn a corner. But I doubt Lucy or Microsalt will be the main catalyst for that, even if it eventually happens.

My main issue with TopCatz (who I filtered a while back) & some of the other cheerleaders on here is that they seem to take any criticism of TEK so personally. And their upbeat posts fly in the face of reality - namely a share price in the single digits.

When I believe the company’s got something right, I say so.

Conversely, when I think its strategy’s gone awry (i.e. talking about investing in new AI projects, when it hasn’t made a success of any of its existing ones yet) or when it has plain misled investors (e.g. over special dividend timescales), I won’t hold back.

Sadly, I haven’t said much in favour of TEK’s management recently, because there simply haven’t been many positives to highlight in my opinion. Which is why I won’t be averaging down, unlike some on here who say they’re toying with it. I regard that as a dangerous game, unless you believe management have purely been knocked off course by external events (not so here) or have learned from their past mistakes & changed course (also not so here).

CaptainPicard - entirely your decision of course. But I’m just curious as to why you’d keep your “money away from shares in general”?

I can quite understand why you might want to swap from SMT into something lower risk & less volatile (some form of broad index tracker for example).

But I’m interested as to where you plan to invest the money instead (assuming you don’t mind us knowing)?

But you can’t work that out with any degree of certainty IMHO.

So little point in speculating on it.

Never mind everyone. TopCatz & his mates repeatedly told us last year that if TEK drifted as low as 25p or so, that would be the bargain basement bottom. And he confidently predicted TEK's share price soon reaching 40p+.

So presumably the current 8p Ask & 9p Bid are just a bad dream, from which we'll soon all wake up.

The cheerleaders here have also heralded Microsalt's now-delayed IPO as the real breakthrough, that'll genuinely turn TEK's fortunes round. I remain highly sceptical, for the reasons I outlined in my post yesterday. But we'll see.

Gotrader - what does it matter? One fund sells, another buys. Tells you very little IMHO.

Ignore me or not. Bovered?

Regardless of whether you filter(ed) me, you might want the current share price to be your guide.

Lemos’ latest add is encouraging - & no doubt responsible for much of the recent SP rise.

I suspect he’s accumulating on a minimum 1.5 - 2 year view, as I doubt the figures will start looking very pretty until at least then (assuming they ever pick up - never a given with IQE!)

If I didn’t already have an overweight holding, I’d have been be tempted when the price dipped below the mid teens. But as it is, I won’t be swayed unless there’s an opportunity to add below 12p. And even then, I’d want to a) understand why the price had fallen back again & b) be fairly confident this move was only temporary. Just been caught out too many times with this company….

I'd say the two biggest issues facing Microsalt will be:

a) how much capital will be needed to establish it as the leading low sodium salt brand

b) whether, by bringing production in-house, it can compete on price with the existing competition. At the moment, its salt shakers are RIDICULOUSLY expensive and it's never likely to gain mass traction with consumers or enough of the big food companies unless it's price-competitive. And before the usual cheerleaders wade in, yes I know Microsalt has already attracted a few big food companies. The emphasis being on "a few".

Ubik_Fresh - the evidence increasingly suggests rapid interest rate hikes in the US & elsewhere have tamed inflation for now.

But what we don't yet know is whether any further world events are imminent, to knock things off course again. The world still feels a fragile place right now, with a lot of discontent & racial/religious infighting bubbling under (& sometimes boiling over).

Hopefully things will settle down again soon. Either way, it'll take a few months before there's any sustained improvement in global market sentiment. And that's assuming we don't get another war/pandemic to derail everything again. For now, I'm cautiously optimistic though. But if Trump were re-elected in 2024/5, all bets would be off.

All I'm saying is it's plain daft at this stage to conclude Lupuzor is "a good drug there is no doubt about that".

There's still PLENTY of doubt about that, until the FDA & revised P3 trial results conclude otherwise.

FlagStaffIR - it's common knowledge that reducing sodium reduces blood pressure and is therefore to be encouraged.

But that doesn't mean Microsalt is a slam dunk. There are several far cheaper low sodium alternatives already on the market. And whilst they contain potassium chloride, their customers generally like the taste and don't seem to care unduly about the ingredients (as long as the product's safe, cheap, tasty & healthier than regular salt).

When Tate & Lyle tried commercialising a product called Soda-Lo that was far closer to Microsalt's crystal size & structure, they failed. That doesn't necessarily mean Microsalt will. But it should make any potential investor at least want to know why. After all, Tate & Lyle is not an under-capitalised Micky Mouse sort of enterprise

Lambo222 - there's still PLENTY of doubt whether Lupuzor is "a good drug" or not.

Sure, its intentions are good and its safety profile appears to be fine.

But it failed its last P3 trial endpoints. So unless it gets past that hurdle second time round (fingers crossed!), we're unlikely ever to see it commercialised.

In which case, it wouldn't be "a good drug", it would be a non-existent one.

I think you have to be careful to distinguish between the impact of inflation/interest rates on SMT’s own debt & its likely impact on some of their holdings.

Higher interest rates will generally disproportionately hit growth stocks, which SMT heavily focuses on. That said, I agree it WAS good judgement/luck (?!) that led SMT to fix borrowing at very low long term rates.

I’ve actually found Director trades a fairly UNreliable guide over the years.

Strange, but true.

I guess when they sell, you never know whether they just needed to raise funds for something else (rather than them sensing an imminent price peak).

You’d have thought at least their BUYS would be a useful indicator, as they’ve the inside track. But I’ve sometimes found these too to be a total red herring. So I pay them less attention these days & increasingly go with my gut.

Farris - good. Just checking!

Hi Farris

Golden rule no 1: never let your own investment decisions be influenced by other people's buys & sells.

Thanks MrAmericano - some interesting comments from the managers there, especially relating to P/E ratios.

But of course, paying a premium in the hope of higher than average future growth can also backfire. Only as good as the managers’ judgement….

Walp - Agreed about Suella.

She just likes being controversial to stay in the limelight. Probably doesn’t even believe half the rubbish she spouts herself.

I can barely wait for her to be our Opposition Leader, whilst Trump becomes the first POTUS to operate behind bars….