Member Info for MIKESM

And what about the adminstrators' fees for dealing with the claims? Once appointed they would be at liberty to charge as much as they could get away with, and that would undoubtedly reduce considerably the amount that would be available for those making a claim.... The New Business Scheme would be far more logical for creditors because....

Consider the primary REASON that Gary Jennison and the management team are going though all the hassle, rather than taking the much easier route of just shutting the company down. It's all in the name. AMIGO. A wonderful, memorably friendly brand name that is well established and that the public as a whole do regard fondly. It's so difficult - and expensive - to establish a name like that. In a world where demand for loans will now be greater than ever, it is worth fighting to keep AMIGO alive as a trading entity that, with the FCA oversight and newly innovative loans available in Amigo 2, will rapidly
re-establish itself.

Amigo grew from nothing in 2005 to a 1.6 billion pound company in 2016. That doesn't happen if the company's customers were unhappy, because a lot of them would have known about Amigo by word of mouth from friends and relatives who had happily obtained a loan. It may be that Amigo were sometimes too helpful to people wanting to borrow, but in the final analysis is it really so awful for a bank to be too helpful to someone who needs a loan? I am in no doubt that once they have received their redress payments there will be many, seemingly aggrieved, borrowers who will once again want to apply for an Amigo loan.

And that is another reason why the creditors should be voting for the company to remain in business, since having come through the whole High Court process Gary will want to keep its image completely untarnished going forward. Amigo, with the FCA looking over their shoulder, will want to be seen to deal with claimants fairly, whether or not an adjudicator is in the wings, unlike Administrators who are likely to look at maximising their own income and unlikely to care that much about the detrimental effect on claimants' interests.

These are the reasons why creditors, actual or potential, should undoubtedly vote for the New Business Scheme. It would make no sense to do otherwise.

Blueskyboy, as the CEO of a public company it is Gary's responsibility to accurately report Amigo's position, since he would be held to be irresponsible if he didn't. The fact that, despite all the difficulties, he is still in post, determined to put the company on track to again become a successful lender with Amigo v2, is what speaks volumes.

Blueskyboy, as the CEO of a public company it is Gary's responsibility to accurately report Amigo's position, since he would be held to be irresponsible if he didn't. The fact that, despite all the difficulties, he is still in post, determined to put the company on track to again become a successful lender with Amigo v2, is what speaks volumes.

JB65 - There never mind MONTHS, there hasn't been ANY news regarding Accustem or its products, StemPrinter or SPARE, since the demerger. It seems to me that the story about the technology being 40% more accurate than OnkotypeDX - "the market leader that had been sold for however many billions of dollars" was eyewash - no more than a ruse to escalate the share price prior to the end of October '20. With no progress whatever regarding the marketing of the product, with no further reference to any further trials to further prove its efficacy, with no Nasdaq quote, what on earth is there to sell? And watching the rapidly-aging Kunwar Shailubhai in his 'fireside chat' (what a bloody misnomer!) talking about Foralumab, 'fully human monoclonal antibody' and its 'FDA approved' study on a single person, was depressing. This was the same story that he has been spouting time after time, albeit on this occasion Milciclib is apparently now aimed at dealing with lung cancer, where previously it was the drug that would cure LIVER cancer. And it was for that reason that Tiziana announced some time ago that it was seeking a Japanese partner because liver cancer was more prevalent in that part of the world. Needless to say, there hasn't since been further mention regarding any interest from a Japanese partner.....

In the final analysis, what actual evidence is there that either Tiziana or Accustem actually has a product with any value whatsoever? None! The BoD have consistently proved themselves to be incompetent at best - I won't say what I am thinking 'at worst'.... I may be wrong, and hope I am, but invest here at your peril....

Jimmy, I thankfully have no personal knowledge of loan sharks, but imagine that they are individuals who charge a lot more than anyone else would and exert a lot of pressure on people who borrow to ensure they repay. I do not believe that violence necessarily comes into that equation - that is solely your assumption.

You have calculated the amount someone would repay on a £10,000 Amigo loan over five years, but you have failed to reflect on the fact that Credit Unions and CDFI's often charge a similar amount of interest, if not considerably more. The fact is that the default rate on loan repayments is an issue that has to be factored into the interest that has to be charged for any lending organisation - and that, by their own admission, includes the socially-motivated lenders.

You state: "I agree with you 100% that people will seek credit for things they need". However, that's not strictly true. Historically, the dictum was " Don't buy what you can't afford, so save up for something and then buy it." But that's simply not the world we are living in today. The issue is that the people who need to borrow - whether from Credit Unions, CDFIs or the Amigos of this world - don't have the financial standing to qualify for the mainstream banks' lending criteria that enables the standard interest rates you believe should be charged to apply. So on the basis of your argument, nobody other than those who would qualify for a standard interest rate mainstream bank loan should be entitled to a loan.

And your statement that "Once credit is better targeted only at those who can afford it, there would be no need to charge such high levels of interest" reminds me of the edict that "Banks only want to lend to those who don't need to borrow money".

The reality is that a large proportion of our UK society is made up of people for whom borrowing is, more often than not, a normal way of life - whether for a car, a washing machine, a mobile phone or whatever, and no lender would provide someone with a loan if they didn't believe the person they were lending to had the ability and intention to make their loan repayments.

As far as Amigo following FCA regulations is concerned, the issue was one of the company following the regulations but falling foul of new regulations when applied retrospectively. An impossible situation for any company to deal with.

In the final analysis, I firmly believe that Amigo, assuming the SoA is sanctioned, will ultimately prove to be a very well run organisation that going forward will provide good quality, friendly service to all its customers - both old and new - in full compliance with FCA regulations.

Jimmy, I rarely post but do read what others are saying so I am fully aware of your position. But, though waste of my time it may be, I must come back to you on your comment re breaking legs/ violence. It may or may not be that unregulated lenders or loan sharks use the threat of violence to obtain repayment, but I didn't say so - you did. And it may be that prudent borrowers might be the only people who can legitimately qualify for any loan. But if someone wants a new washing machine because they don't have a local launderette or to get their car fixed to get themselves to work or their kids to school they may consider it 'prudent' for them to get a loan from the best place available to them - whether Amigo /equivalent, or their local credit union or CDFI who may charge a considerably higher rate of interest - or the bloke in the pub whose a friend of their mate. You, Jimmy, may consider that maybe such people, if they couldn't afford it, shouldn't be given a loan by anybody, indeed they shouldn't actually be asking for a loan. But despite your antagonism towards Amigo you must realise the realities of the world we are living in, and that no amount of regulation will prevent anyone, regardless of personal circumstances, trying to get a loan for something they need. And in most instances, there will be someone ready to lend to them. My preference would be for Amigo, fully in accordance with FCA regulations, to be available as a lender of choice, along with socially motivated lenders with equivalent interest rates, rather than the bloke in the pub. In the real world we are living in, what would your preference be?

Itisagame, as we both know Amigo is not, as described in this article, a high cost lender, but a mid-cost lender as categorised by the FCA. Wonga were charging up to 5,000% interest and Morses Club 500% - both most certainly high cost. But socially-motivated non-profit lenders such as Credit Unions often charge 43% interest and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) charge 99% and more. Amigo's historic 49.9% interest rate is therefore clearly in the same category as the socially-motivated lenders....

The demand for loans from the financially excluded is increasing while the number of FCA-regulated lenders which serve this sector of the market is plummeting. The ability of Credit Unions and CDFI's to meet the demand falls well below what is required. It therefore becomes increasingly apparent that a company like Amigo, as a major, committed lender willing to work closely with the FCA. needs to successfully continue in business . If not, the incidence of people borrowing from alternative, unregulated lenders and loan sharks will simply increase, a situation that would clearly make no sense whatsoever..

Leddach Jack, I would say that with so much public evidence of investor dissatisfaction with every aspect of the company's mismanagement, broken promises, the lack of trials, the frankly scandalous Accustem situation, the likelihood of major investors desire to buy shares in this company must be minimal to nonexistent. If you and I hadn't bought shares when we did, on the wave of enthusiasm for Tiziana's future prospects, would we be buying today? I don't think so. I thankfully sold my holding in the company at a 50% + loss on the day the move to Nasdaq was announced, having lost all trust in the director's intentions, and though I still hold my Accustem shares I am not holding my breath that they will ever be worth anything. Your thoughts?

Emporer's New Clothes Cloudy. I watched that GC video amongst a flurry of similar interviews and believed every word. But nothing he said has been delivered and, though I hope I am wrong, I don't expect anything will be. I sold at a 50% loss on the day of the RNS informing UK investors that our shares were being taken away. On the basis of what happened with Accustem I didn't trust these guys not to do something similar with my Tiziana shares and seeing what has transpired I am delighted I am out. I wish everyone still holding Tiziana shares great good luck, and the same to my fellow Accustem shareholders. But what has happened to that valuable, proven a Stemprinter/ Spare product and the specialist team who were going to be running the company? ??

It is regrettably my experience that Tiziana appears to be built on constantly shifting sands. There appears to be no solid foundation. Ongoing broken promises, unmet, ignored target dates. Always jam tomorrow.
What do they do all day? They draw their money from the millions of dollars raised - and devise the text for the next investor presentation that will kick the can a bit further down the road... ??

Sporty, re your post from Friday, I am with you... Too much Smoke and Mirrors, Emperor's New Clothes. Is there any actual proof about Foramulab or Milciclib's efficacy? Has anyone actually seen Stemprinter or SPARE, these supposedly valuable Tiziana assets that nobody was aware of until we were told by GC that they needed their own full LSE quote with the offer of shares when it was stripped out of Tiziana... What happened to the Full London Listing we were promised, or the subsequently-preferred Nasdaq listing? Great stories, but where's the substance?
Having been invested for 18 months, and seen the corporate HQ re-domiciled out of the UK to Bermuda, then the news that UK shareholders were to summarily lose their LSE listing/ sterling assets and US investors were to lose their existing NASDAQ listing too, with the promise of 'New Tiziana' shares, I thought the time had come to accept a heavy loss and get out at 53p while I still could.... That the 14 days during which nobody could trade their shares has come and gone with no NT shares appearing doesn't surprise me....
I truly hope that sooner or later the promised New Tiziana shares will materialise, and that Foramulmab and Milciclib will be the wonder drugs we have all been hoping for. And that Accustem will be the valuable, world-leading prognostic wonder we were told a long time ago it was, because I still have my shares. But the fundamental rationale that led me to believe in the company - GC's substantial shareholding, and that his interests therefore aligned with mine - is now, for me, questionable. For GC appears to be alone in his shareholding, with neither Kunwar S nor Howard W appearing to have any significant interest, and his millions of shares were largely those he retained when the company was formed, - he didn't buy them. But he does have access to the millions of $ the company has raised and for some time, in the total absence of any factual evidence of what the cash is being spent on, I do wonder where it is going? I would be delighted if someone could allay my misgivings by addressing my concerns with some solid FACTS, not repetitions of the company's hot air and unfulfilled promises... Anyone?
By the way, I may well have missed something... but has anyone actually seen GC recently?

While all us LTH along with everyone else are keen to see Amigo announce the terms of SoA2, we should all recognise the reality that has in all likelihood been slowly down the process. I regrettably have absolutely no knowledge about what is happening 'behind the scenes' but surmise that ongoing discussions are taking place between the customers' committee and their independent advisor about the alternative potential solutions that, following the conclusion of their meetings, have been proposed by the board. It was inevitable that there would be differing views and it would take time for a concensus to be reached. But regardless of the time it is taking I am confident that there will most certainly be an agreement because the customer committee will be in no doubt that the alternative to no agreement is zero compensation... So let's all just relax in the knowledge that the outcome will be known sooner rather than later... Patience is necessary, and will be rewarded in due course when the current issues have been resolved and Amigo 2.0 is up and running.

Sang, Amongst the other irregularities are that the trial was stated by GC in a video interview to be on seriously ill hospilized patients who were at risk of going on to ventilators. In the event the trial was actually on non-hospitalised patients with mild covid symptoms, one or more of whom recovered and dropped out of the trial. The trial was supposed to be on a total of 30 patients split into three cohorts, one third would receive a placebo, one third a combination of dextamethazone and foralumab and one third foralumab in isolation. It appears that the 'combination' cohort were only given the second drug for three days, so the announcement that Foralumab given in isolation produced better results must be viewed in that light.

Roker, it would be impossible for DC and KS to do much worse a job of running the company or dealing with shareholder communications. For Stemprinter and SPARE - these supposedly highly effective and really valuable prognostic tools - to have been spun out of Tiziana into Accustem without a single subsequent word of news of progress is unconscionable and places great doubt on the veracity of what we were told prior to the demerger. As with Tiziana. At every turn the investor webinars simply repeat what we have heard time and time again, and over and over timescales and promises are missed and broken. The whole enterprise has the air of the Emporer's new clothes - a wonderful fairy tale that we all want to believe, but with no real substance behind it. I may be wrong, but time will tell. Suffice to say I got out, with a heavy loss, at 53p when the move from LSE was announced and, like you, don't expect the Accustem shares to ever be worth anything.

That's really not a joke Bluebelly. After Accustem nothing would surprise me about the disgraceful way GC deals with shareholders....

Why is it that having a dual listing on the main London market and Nasdaq is holding the company or its share price back? The fact is that the share price on both exchanges will react to the way the company is run and the progress it is making with Foramulab and Milcilib. The fact is that there has been a lot of noise - a great story - about the wonderful benefits both could have, but despite continual promises, no actual progress is being realised. I believe that the share price has fallen through the floor since the Accustem demerger because the market is becoming disenchanted with Tiziana and GC.

Re Accustem... Looking at it in retrospect, why was it actually necessary for Stemprinter and SPARE to be removed from Tiziana? We were told at the time that the prognostic equipment had been proven to be 35% - 45% more accurate than the industry-leading Oncotype-DX product that had been sold for $2.5 billion. That sounded fantastic and everyone assumed that with a product that was already established to be so much better that logically it would be attracting, in short order, worldwide interest. The issue of shares in Accustem to holders of Tils shares at 29 October created something of a buying frenzy with the shares going up to circa 180p. But I now ask myself, who was taking advantage of that share price and selling? Some people were obviously doing so. Maybe they knew something we didn't?

Added to which nothing we were promised has happened. No main London listing by last November, no Nasdaq listing by the first quarter of this year. Not a word about specialist recruitment, no office, no proper online presence and no news about this supposedly wonderful product. Now they want to take away from UK investors their sterling based share assets and at some time in the future replace them with Nasdaq shares? In my opinion, the company needs to concentrate solely on proving they actually have a product, ANY product, that actually does something beneficial. Last year's Brazil covid trial wasn't what it was purported to be, and if the promise that Foramulab would prevent patients from becoming seriously ill, avoiding the need for ventilators and preventing death, wouldn't it be apparent that constant rapid progress would be made with further trials? Just promising they will be starting 'soon' isn't enough, and using 'covid' and 'supply difficulties' as the excuse for slow progress, as Kunwar Shailubhai has repeatedly done, really doesn't stand up to examination, as the creation of vaccines so quickly proves.

My view is that UK shareholders interests would be best served by retaining the London listing and having some, admittedly minimal, say in the UK. If shareholders vote YES in sufficient numbers to persuade a High Court judge to sanction a Scheme of Arrangement then any control that currently exists will be lost and you will be relying on Bermuda-based GC and the American market to look after your interests... I would question the logic of

Shiraz,
I have no wish to give you a heart attack or to worry you. But the reality is that the proposed Scheme of Arrangement is extremely unlikely to be approved by the end of October - or anything like it. This is a publicly listed company whose UK shareholders may not wish to have their sterling assets taken away and replaced with dollar-based assets, - a proposal that involves both inconvenience and currency risk for UK residents. They would have to vote overwhelmingly in favour of allowing this to happen, and the High Court would be the arbiter that in the first instance a) decides whether the proposal should be allowed to go forward for a shareholder vote, and b) subsequently considers whether or not to sanction the proposal after the result of the vote is known. This is a process that generally takes months, not weeks. And apart from anything else Tiziana ALREADY ENJOYS its Nasdaq listing, so where is the real benefit of losing its main London listing?

I also believe the Accustem situation may influence the court's decision, where neither the promised full listing in London by last November nor the Nasdaq listing in the first quarter of this year has happened. (Confirmed in an interview link below) The considerable value shareholders were told was attached to Stemprinter and SPARE, having apparently had the prognostic technology proven to be 35%, 40% or 45% more accurate (depending on which director is talking in which interview!!!) than the market leader in tests carried out at the Royal Marsden, has to date not been realised. There has been no public mention of any further tests or product marketing, and at the last time of asking we were told the company lacked appropriate management, and has neither a proper office nor professional web presence. I obviously want Accustem to be the valuable entity we were told it was, and have the advanced technology we were told had been proven, since I hold thousands of its OTC shares. But my instinct tells me that by now there really should have been a proper listing and concrete news about the marketing of the proven technology.... I am also disappointed with the ongoing lack of actual progress with Foramulab and Milciclib despite the incredible stories about their potential wide-ranging benefits.... The Emperor's new clothes?

Here are links to just a few of the very many online interviews from last year (see the dates) that set out the timing of what was supposed to be happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huO0XlaY-DE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMNHLCPFH-k
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-11-02/tiziana-enters-human-trials-for-covid-19-treatment-vide

Shiraz,

The proposal to remove the shares from the LSE etc is subject to approval following a two stage Scheme of Arrangement High Court process that I believe will take a lot longer than the end of October to resolve. There is also uncertainty about whether or not the SoA would be approved. Check it out.

Shiraz, TILS is no longer on AIM but has a main market listing..... Liquidity isn't an issue.

Another reason to be sceptical... The fact that it was the court that allowed the demerger of stemprinter and spare - Accustem - to be demerged from Tiziana specifically on the basis that it was to be listed on the main LSE by the third/ fourth quarter of last year. The judge who will be considering whether the new SOA is acceptable will be aware that didn't happen, and that to date shareholders have no shares that can be traded on any exchange. The fact that so many UK shareholders already have an issue with not being able to trade Accustem shares outside the UK (together with the added currency uncertainty) means that issue would also apply to new Tiziana Nasdaq shares. Add to all that the fact that the company already enjoys a Nasdaq listing and IMHO it becomes even more unlikely that a judge would countenance the company taking away the UK listing from its shareholders - particularly when it was only last year that that listing was transferred from AIM to the main market!

As I have said previously, it appears to me that Mr Cerrone is constantly playing corporate games with Tiziana for his own pleasure. Who knows why?

The fact is there semms to be a decided lack of meaningful progress with the company's monoclonal antibody assets and with no news whatever being provided to shareholders with regard to new management assembly, marketing or anything else to do with Accustem everything about both companies appears to be a possibility of 'jam tomorrow'.

I know that GC owns 30% of Tiziana - it is one of the reasons I invested and until 48 hours ago held shares in it. But his interest derived from the fact he started the company, not that he bought the shares. He is a wealthy man and if Tiziana has a real breakthrough then he will be even wealthier, but otherwise he is able to play with it and take his salary and bonuses...

Unlike GC the primary scientists, KS and Howard Weiner, don't appear to have significant shareholdings. As I have said before, KS seems to have washed his hands of anything to do with Accustem despite the fact that he was the CEO of the company that owned what we were told by GC was a valuable asset that didn't need to taken away from Tiziana. The reason for doing so, we were told by Gabrielle Cerrone, was so that its full value could be realised for shareholders via that full London listing without any effect on Tiziana's value.... But apparently the company has no management and there has been no further news about the product that we were told had proven in a Royal Marsden trial so much better than the industry leader. Surely that should have led to an immediate marketing 'push'?

Are my misgivings unfounded? I hope they are, because I would love to see the wide-ranging benefits potentially promised by Tiziana's assets delivered for the world's MS, Covid, Alzheimers, Crones and Cancer sufferers - and for shareholders to see their investments skyrocket - with me buying back in along the way! But I have felt i