Member Info for mick-b

From Patisserie Holdings (LON:CAKE), we have heard of the existence of secret overdrafts propping up the company. The placing at 50p went ahead on Friday with 31.5 million new shares being issued - it could have been so much worse! The pre-existing shares will maintain ownership of 75% of the equity.

I've noted a couple of interesting comments over the weekend. Richard Bernstein from Crystal Amber - who wanted to be part of the rescue deal - has remarked that interest income was suspiciously low, given the cash balance the company was allegedly holding.

Elsewhere, Leon Boros has speculated that bills may have been credited to sales rather than creditors.

EBITDA forecasts for the current year have been slashed by c. 60%. Given that the earnings multiple attached to Pat Val's earnings will also be compressed, we can understand how a 90% discount might have been needed to ensure the success of the Placing.

The shares should come back from suspension by Thursday morning. Putting my optimistic hat on, I think 50p could prove to be a floor for the share price, assuming that the balance sheet is fixed and the chain is profitable (albeit at a lower level).

The problem is that the historic earnings numbers were probably a fantasy, making Patisserie Holdings (LON:CAKE) an inherently speculative proposition at this point. Financial analysis isn't possible with fake numbers!

Bring on the restatement of the accounts.

From Patisserie Holdings (LON:CAKE), we have heard of the existence of secret overdrafts propping up the company. The placing at 50p went ahead on Friday with 31.5 million new shares being issued - it could have been so much worse! The pre-existing shares will maintain ownership of 75% of the equity.

I've noted a couple of interesting comments over the weekend. Richard Bernstein from Crystal Amber - who wanted to be part of the rescue deal - has remarked that interest income was suspiciously low, given the cash balance the company was allegedly holding.

Elsewhere, Leon Boros has speculated that bills may have been credited to sales rather than creditors.

EBITDA forecasts for the current year have been slashed by c. 60%. Given that the earnings multiple attached to Pat Val's earnings will also be compressed, we can understand how a 90% discount might have been needed to ensure the success of the Placing.

The shares should come back from suspension by Thursday morning. Putting my optimistic hat on, I think 50p could prove to be a floor for the share price, assuming that the balance sheet is fixed and the chain is profitable (albeit at a lower level).

The problem is that the historic earnings numbers were probably a fantasy, making Patisserie Holdings (LON:CAKE) an inherently speculative proposition at this point. Financial analysis isn't possible with fake numbers!

Bring on the restatement of the accounts.

Is one crazy dude
lo‼️

I did mention a possible leak last Thursday when the S/P started to recover

HERE......

Leaks on our new CFO appointment Thu 20:14 COULD explain the strong performance today.
Confirmed by an RNS soon......

What a prize....the high profile CFO from ARM is quite some achievement. No wonder IQE took their time.
Great news.

Moving UP today

Morning WASSATT
Morning ALL
GLA

Correct again WASSATT.
The TRUMP threats of reprisals on the Saudi's
I should have put TRUMP in my heading to make it clearer
Best wishes as you return (again) to the hossy for more treatment m8

https://twitter.com/JavierBlas/status/1051463562399535104?s=19

In 1974 Welchman began writing about his work at Bletchley Park. The book he was writing was entitled The Hut Six Story. It was not published until 1982.
Welchman's book was the first and interestingly enough it probably remains the only serious book in print to describe technically how the Bombe worked and how Enigma messages were decrypted on an industrial scale. There were references to it in other books but not in the detail that Welchman went into.
The publication of the book led to the Cabinet secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, writing to the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher
The book was not banned but Welchman lost his US security clearance and was forbidden to discuss his book or his wartime work with the media. Three years after publication of the book, GCHQ Director Sir Peter Marychurch sent Welchman a letter in which he accused him of damaging security. His last years were difficult ones - he had FBI agents parked outside his house and believed his phone was tapped.

Sad end to a great man.
Full details here..
http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Welchman.html

Collosus was only programmable by using plugs and leads
Hence the first fully programmable computer was invented in the USA

Thomas Harold Flowers, MBE (22 December 1905 – 28 October 1998) was an English engineer with the British Post Office. During World War II, Flowers designed and built Colossus, the world's first programmable electronic computer, to help solve encrypted German messages.

BUT he didn't make a fortune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Flowers

"Young" Entrepreneur of the year
He co-founded IQE in 1988 lo!

Seriously though this is a prestigious award for Drew and IQE

The 'Yankee' cray gangsters, which can be up to half a foot long, also pass a deadly disease - to which they are immune - to our native crayfish, which are only three inches and less aggressive.

American grey squirrels carry a pox that kills our native reds as well

Only native species introduced now...like the Beevor and red kites
Even the return on our top predator (not sidmadrid) the lynx is being considered

Another WASSATT classic m8

Enjoy your own bed tonight
ATB

JUST SEEN YOUR POST...so ignore my BOO request

NO m8... we all jest here

What's your prediction for BOO in the coming months, as I'll still interested.
In the forthcoming Budget Hammond could introduce some sort of online tax to help our shops compete
January is the next BOO update btw
ATB

Back in the day I was a Ford's programmer for 30 years and worked on databases...this is a decentralised database but with bells and whistles ..

ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR YOU

What is a 'Blockchain'
A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions. Constantly growing as ‘completed’ blocks (the most recent transactions) are recorded and added to it in chronological order, it allows market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central recordkeeping. Each node (a computer connected to the network) gets a copy of the blockchain, which is downloaded automatically.

Originally developed as the accounting method for the virtual currency Bitcoin, blockchains – which use what's known as distributed ledger technology (DLT) – are appearing in a variety of commercial applications today. Currently, the technology is primarily used to verify transactions, within digital currencies though it is possible to digitize, code and insert practically any document into the blockchain. Doing so creates an indelible record that cannot be changed; furthermore, the record’s authenticity can be verified by the entire community using the blockchain instead of a single centralized authority.

Read more: Blockchain Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp#ixzz5TpZniQHR
Follow us: Investopedia on Facebook

MORE....

How Does Blockchain Work?
Picture a spreadsheet that is duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. Then imagine that this network is designed to regularly update this spreadsheet and you have a basic understanding of the blockchain.

Information held on a blockchain exists as a shared — and continually reconciled — database. This is a way of using the network that has obvious benefits. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, meaning the records it keeps are truly public and easily verifiable. No centralized version of this information exists for a hacker to corrupt. Hosted by millions of computers simultaneously, its data is accessible to anyone on the internet.

🍻

A blockchain is a chain of chronological blocks.

Blockchain Technology Technical Explanation

A block is an aggregated set of data that is collected and processed to fit inside it through the process of mining. Each block is identified via a cryptographic hash and timestamp. When a new block is formed, it will contain a hash of the previous block, so that blocks can form a chronologically ordered chain from the first block ever generated in the entire blockchain (also called the Genesis Block) to the newly formed block. This process is repeated over-and-over again to grow and maintain the network.

🍻

I was curious to learn about the Finance Director's history. This is his bio on the Patisserie Holdings website:

5bc075e5920a9CM_Bio.PNG

Ok, so he has been involved with the company for 12 years. Is that a bad thing? I wouldn't say so. Although it could be argued that it's unusually long.

But the two other AIM-listed companies he worked for ended badly for his investors.

The seafood restaurant chain Fishworks Plc went into administration, while the loss-making gym chain Healthy Living Centres delisted with its share price close to zero.

There is also a link with Gary Ashworth, who was involved in forcing Interquest off the stock market and into private hands. Paul Scott nominated Interquest as "the small company which seems to worst treat its outside shareholders" and described management as "incompetent, and not to be trusted".

Some links between all of the characters:

Luke Johnson was the Chairman of Healthy Living Centres with Chris Marsh as FD.
Gary Ashworth was the Chairman of Interquest.
Luke Johnson was an investor and a director of Interquest.
Gary Ashworth was the Chairman of Fishworks while Chris Marsh was FD and Luke Johnson was an investor.
The ties are clearly very deep between all three men.

What does it all mean? Could investors have avoided Patisserie Holdings (LON:CAKE) on the basis of its connections with Interquest and other businesses which ended badly for the private investor?

I don't think so. It's all a bit circumstantial so far.