George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
It’s also noteworthy that Yates/Hand bought c1m shares between them (being the only significant Director buys, and the only time Yates has bought since listing) for c£75k between during a 9 day spree starting just 3 days after Devyn converted to an LLC on 11/9/22.
Could easily just be coincidence I accept!
https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=EntityName&directionType=Initial&searchNameOrder=DEVYN%20L220005084000&aggregateId=flal-l22000508400-4eb7a6cf-05f4-4291-9c72-703b60fb5229&searchTerm=Devyn%20llc&listNameOrder=DEVYN%20L220005084000
https://www.lse.co.uk/DirectorsDeals.html?shareprice=ABDX&share=Abingdon-Healt
Interesting…thanks.
Devyn converted from Devyn Inc to Devyn LLC wef Sept 22, so it would appear we’ve been working with them ever since that conversion. Does make you wonder if an equity partnership in a Devyn subsid (FOFH) was always the plan.
April looks potentially good news heavy.
My bet is;
1) for a Loop/ABDX announcement re UKCA early next week.
2) an addition to the Boots own brand suite very soon - thyroid I’m guessing.
3) fair chance of Upfront UKCA and/or successful new funding round for them
And as a more off the wall prediction, I think we may see something more concrete about our relationship with Senzo, perhaps that the FOFH tests are based on its ALF platform, and I also have suspicions that something might be going on between ABDX and a company called Drummond Scientific in the States. Whether or not that turns out true, it is a simple fact that our involvement in US based entities, and reactions ABDX is getting from US based people, is increasing. Worth noting again that Yates said only in January that the US market is important and that 50% of our customers hail from there - that means 14/15 of our current projects are for US customers.
Pleasure Apre. Next one I’m looking out for is Upfront MRHA registration, which they are strongly signposting as being imminent (note, this may well be registered under Pockit DX when it comes).
I don’t really know how these things work, but Loop have been waiting for UKCA for a while and would, I’d have thought, been setting up sales for when it arrived. If that’s the case, it might better explain Yates decision to waive fees for equity in FOFH. Would seem a lot less strange if he knew he had a nice Loop manufacturing order waiting in the wings.
One other thing - incorrect Sepsis antibiotic treatment isn’t helping the massive global AMR problem, so that’s another value add for Septiloop.
BTW, FOS publish all decisions that are made by its Ombudsmen, which is the final “appeals” part of their process (so doesn’t cover all complaints it receives.
You can see all the Vanquis ones here, including if they were upheld or not.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions/search?BusinessName=Vanquis+Bank+Limited&Business=178
Long overdue consultation I think. I know plenty of people who work at FOS and I think it’s fair to say that they’re almost as sick of spurious and generalised claims from the CMC try it on merchants as we are. Vanquis alone are suffering from the sheer number of these, so imagine the sheer amount of workload FOS will ultimately have to deal with from across the industry unless the FCA puts a formal redress scheme (which we won’t be involved in) in place.
Final one from me, but just to note that after checking it’s clear that as part of the MRHA registration process a company MUST provide a copy of its conformity assessment. So there is no doubt that Septiloop, having now been registered, must have UKCA and can now be sold in the U.K.
Also worth remembering that the Health Ombudsman published a damning report on the state of U.K. Sepsis care in the Autumn, nicely titled “TIME TO ACT Severe Sepsis: Rapid diagnosis and treatment saves lives”, and in that report identified that NHS cost savings of £196m p/a could be achieved if that were to happen.
A great time to be launching this 3x more sensitive and 10x faster diagnostic into the U.K. market, and I think a great opportunity to get in or add here if you can before formal announcements are made.
https://www.ombudsman.org.uk/sites/default/files/Time_to_act_report.pdf
Really excited by this - to give a flavour of the market you need only look at this from the U.K. Sepsis Trust
“Every 3 seconds, someone in the world dies of sepsis. In the UK alone, 245,000 people are affected by sepsis with at least 48,000 people losing their lives in sepsis-related illnesses every year. This is more than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined. Globally, sepsis claims 11 million lives a year. Yet, for many patients, with early diagnosis it is easily treatable.”
https://sepsistrust.org/about/
On 16/3/23 Salignostics/Salistick became registered with the MRHA, leading ABDX to say in a 31/3 RNS - “ We were pleased to see Salistick™ achieve Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approval in March 2023 and will therefore be available for sale in the United Kingdom and we remain on target for an exclusive launch of Salistick™ on the Abingdon Simply Test™ website and on Amazon before the end of this financial year.”
I am excited to see, therefore that on 14/3/24 Loop Diagnostics/Septiloop achieved MRHA registration, which I am VERY reasonably assuming means that Septiloop, like Salistick, has now achieved UKCA and can be sold in the U.K. market.
Neither Loop or ABDX have said anything about this yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long and I would imagine it will give a very nice little shot in the arm of the SP! Remember, Septiloop is one of the products that ABDX has taken through tech transfer, scale up, and into manufacturing.
https://pard.mhra.gov.uk/manufacturer-details/110414 ((Salistick registration)
https://pard.mhra.gov.uk/manufacturer-details/117995 (Septiloop registration)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z32joS9aD4 (See slide at 11 mins in)
Further on this, but a week or so ago Upfront presented at the Cambridge Enterprise Venture Partners Investor showcase, and this would seem to be their full pitch presentation (which is far more detailed than anything I’ve seen before).
It makes for interesting reading!
https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/240305-Upfront-LVOne-full-deck-1.pdf
For those interested, a bit of reading from the European Centre for Disease Control from earlier this month, highlighting the increase in STI’s (including Syphillis, one our new tests), and commenting about how early testing is crucial. Just seems to me that the “embarrassment” factor might stop many from going to the docs, another reason why discrete at home LFT testing might benefit.
https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/sti-cases-rise-across-europe#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20number%20of,and%20chlamydia%20cases%20by%2016%25.
If these new tests are built on the Senzo ALF platform, then that might well explain Yates decision to invest because everything I’ve read suggests that historically LFT’s have struggled in the STI market because achievable sensitivity was too low and that is precisely what the ALF platform addresses.
I enjoy it Metatron - gives an old fogey something to do!
As I say, I do have a suspicion that these new tests may be built using the Senzo amplification platform. I’ve already given some reasons why in earlier posts, but another is that this lady regularly began reacting to ABDX posts from at least 4-5 months ago, and she very quickly reacted to Abingdon’s LinkedIn post about our new relationship/investment by commenting; “ Congratulations, Chris and team. Desperately needed tests for individual health and public health.”
Why is that relevant - well she is an IVD consultant who has been advising a company called Bioadvance Ventures since 2022, a VC company that counts Senzo as one of it’s investee companies.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cfinkmdte/
https://www.bioadvance.com/portfolio/
By trawling through various US state registries I’ve now found Find Out From Home LLC, registered in Delaware on 9/8/23.
https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx
Morning Lucksin.- don’t get me wrong, I am still very positive about ABDX for very good reasons and, yes you’re right that getting a foothold in the US STI market when STI infection rates there are a huge and growing problem, is a boon. But whilst £500k may not be a huge sum, it does represent more than 10% of our last years total revenue and I think it only reasonable for any shareholder to want a little more comfort about the companies and people were investing in, particularly when we’ve been so focussed on getting to cash flow positive. So I was disappointed ABDX couldn’t be more forthcoming.
But strangely, it’s Yates willingness to make this play when break even is so paramount that gives me the most comfort. I just can’t see him doing it unless he was forced to (and if that were so I’d have thought he’d drives much better deal), or that he sees huge potential.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/sexual-health/sexually-transmitted-infection-rates-rose-older-people-cdc-rcna145332
For info, I wrote to ABDX For more info about Devyn, FOFM, or Yannick Namia given none appear to have much, if any, online presence. Disappointingly, ABDX simply replied to say that parties they’ve contacted with are registered in the USA - they gave no other pointers or comfort, despite our potentially waiving £500k in fees to acquire equity.
From what I’ve been able to ascertain from my own searches, Yannick Namia is a bit of a serial entrepreneur in the health and well-being space, who says his businesses have turned over €100m. He had a business, Devyn LLC, registered in Austria which he voluntarily liquidated last year - it apparently had €710k capital assets on liquidation. During Covid he ran a home testing service company in California, and now runs business promoting sexual education and health. He also has a business, Devyn Inc registered in Florida, which became Devyn LLC in 2022. I am assuming this is who ABDX contracted with. I can find nothing about FOFH.
So, it looks to me like we’ve been developing tests for a serial entrepreneur about which I can find little, and are intending to spunk £500k fees for equity in his business. I still think these tests might well have something to do with Senzo, and very much hope that Yates sees significant potential for a £500k fee waiver, but I have to say that Abingdon have been extremely poor when responding to my simple requests for comfort and clarification in this respect.
Comments made about FOS Fee consultation. For those unaware this might be useful
Basically a proposal to charge CMC's the fee, given the account for 20% of cases brought but over 50% of cases not upheld.
https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/news/financial-ombudsman-service-reports-performance-improvements-consults-plans-reduce-costs-businesses