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@skid35: Natalie (Heslop) is Basu's P.A. - her email is: Natalie.Heslop@kromek.com
You should be able to email Basu and the CFO, Paul Farquhar, using the same format.
I would also suggest contacting Kromek's spinmaster, aka Harry Chathli of Gracechurch PR:
t: +44 (0)204 582 8787
m: +44 (0)7843 660 220
e: harrychathli@gracechurchpr.com
He was no doubt the mastermind behind issuing the announcement late on a Friday before a long weekend and seems to control all external communications.
I had a call with Basu and Farquhar a couple of months ago (Chathli was on the call too) and they told me they buy shares in the company whenever they're allowed to, but there are very limited opportunities because of closed periods. Well, here's a great opportunity to have some skin in the game and what do they invest? £5k. Yes, they're just SO excited about the “substantial opportunities with which we are presented”...
The lack of regard for long-standing shareholders is astonishing. Basu has overseen a huge destruction of value, yet it's never his fault. It's time shareholders voted him out - the company has some good tech and needs a much more commercially-minded CEO to lead it forward, if it's going to stand a chance of making it. Not sure of the best way to drum up support for a motion to get rid of him but the LSE and ADVFN boards would be a good starting point. The Chairman should go too - he's asleep at the wheel, just submitting to all of Basu's requests to keep funding his losing project.
The release of these laughable "research" artticles just prior to the announcement are just as offensive. Where is the FCA to stop these blatant market abuses?
For what it's worth, please contact the FCA regarding your insider dealing/market abuse suspicious. I already raised this with them and submitted an online form over the weekend. I'm not accusing Kromek themselves, but somebody in the cosy loop that Kromek has established, whether it was a broker, MM or another participant, knew about the financing announcement and acted on it.
Best of luck and let's keep the pressure on to see if we can help salvage something from this train wreck of a company.
Potential takeover target?: unable to comment on this. Could only say that, as a listed company, they are committed to remaining independent.
Engagement with shareholders: acknowledgement this could have been better and committed to holding an investor webinar/Q&A session. No concrete timing for this, but likely to be scheduled around the results. The company welcomes visitors to its County Durham global HQ.
Overall: strong, positive growth story in revenues, with 40+% gross margins. The Spectrum Dynamics deal from October 2022 continues to ramp up each quarter. Acknowledge shareholders’ frustration with the share price performance but feel this is largely outside their control. No forecasts or updates about when the business might become profitable.
Thanks again to everyone on the board who submitted questions in advance. The more searching ones were batted away or couldn't be answered, because of confidentiality reasons, but senior management is most definitely aware now (if it wasn't before) of shareholders' concerns and expectations.
I had a virtual meeting this morning with both Arnab Basu (CEO) and Paul Farquhar (CFO). Also present was Harry Chathli from Gracechurch PR.
Rather than colour this post with my own personal opinions, I’ve tried to provide an objective summary below of what we discussed. The call lasted only 30 minutes and we were only allowed to talk about publicly-available information, so apologies if your question wasn’t covered.
Share price: the company doesn't control the markets, so this is largely beyond their control. The company is back on a growth path with a strong trajectory and the drivers of its two main businesses, medical imaging and CBRN detection, are fundamentally strong.
Executive purchases of shares: “Senior management and the Board of Directors don’t have many opportunities to buy shares outside of capital raises, but whenever they can, they do.” CFO Paul Farquhar owns £5,000 worth of shares, in his wife’s name, which were worth £10,000 at the time they were purchased. Understand that shareholders are keen to see them have “skin in the game”.
Cash position: this is closely managed at all times. No cash was consumed during the H1 23 reporting period – the first time this has happened. Unable to comment about future requirements or capital raises. The company considers both debt and equity for the its financing requirements.
DARPA contract: this is coming to an end and there don’t appear to be any immediate follow-ons, but on a related note, Kromek was awarded a £5m biological threat-detection contract by the UK Government in November 2022, which will be delivered over a three-year period, and this does include an option for extended maintenance services after the initial term.
Sales: Strong revenue growth in both medical imaging and CBRN detection. The fundamentals of both sectors are strong (ageing population -> better and more cost-effective diagnostics required; governments reviewing their biosecurity strategies in the light of the Ukraine situation -> improved detection needs, especially in cities) and Kromek is now well-positioned to benefit. Unable (for confidentiality reasons) to provide any updates on the timing of any new contract wins/announcements.
Costs: the fundamental building blocks of the business are now in place and the cost base won’t continue to scale up as revenues scale up. Costs are constantly under review and the organisation is already lean. There is no wholesale cost-reduction programme planned.
China contract inventory: the inventory from the China contract, which was due to be delivered in 2020 does not have a shelf-life and will not “go bad”. It can be sold to other customers over the coming years, which would bring cash into the business and free up cash that is currently tied up in the balance sheet. China is starting to open up again now and a recovery in business there is expected. Previously, it wasn’t practical to travel there, because of the lengthy isolation periods required as a r
UPDATE: I will be speaking with Paul Farquhar, Kromek CFO, next Wednesday, 8th March. If you have any questions you would like me to ask him, please post them here or contact me directly.
Thanks to all those who have contacted me, either directly or via this thread, and for your patience. I appear to have reached a dead-end, as far as Harry at Gracechurch PR is concerned. However, I have been in contact with Dr Basu's P.A. and am currently trying to arrange a call with either Dr Basu or Mr Farquhar. No promises this will actually happen, but it's looking more positive than it did a week ago. In anticipation that this will take place, please have a think about what questions you would like me to ask on your behalf. Maybe we could also set up a Telegram group, so we can take this discussion offline, in a more private forum? This has worked well for some of the other AIM stocks I'm invested in.
First time poster, but long-suffering holder of KMK here! I've been trying for some time to contact Kromek, in order to set up a webinar for shareholders with senior management and the Board of Directors. "Investor Relations" at Kromek failed to answer any of my emails or calls, but eventually I succeeeded in contacting Dr Basu's PA and was referred to the Gracechurch Group, who handle the company's PR.
Before I take this any further, I would like to get a feel for the level of interest in such an event, given the complete absence of any shareholder engagement over the past several months (until more funds are required, of course). I'd be happy to host an online Q&A session, if any of the senior management team or BoD are prepared to crawl out of their caves and engage with shareholders.
The company's policy of overpromising and underdelivering has been a spectacular failure, and if there isn't a change at the top very soon, its future is going to be very short-lived. I think it's time for shareholders here to start playing a much more active role in the way this company is run, otherwise its potential is going to end up in the same place as the share price.