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As a survivor of the shipwreck formerly known as Yougene, I thought it an appropriate time to look in to assess how your new board member is progressing.
It seems that one Lyn Rees, the man with a certain Midas Touch, may already be infecting SP performance even as he sits at ease at the top table of his new vessel.
There is a certain malaise visible in the direction of the SP since his arrival, which may be accurately defined as a downward trend.
This may or may not prove to be terminal. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future direction claims the tired cliché, but who knows with LR? History may be about to repeat itself, in glorious slow-mo. Women ‘n children first next time, please.
I believe LR displayed his contempt for ordinary shareholders a couple of years ago at the time of one of his (not) informative on-line ‘meet n greet’ chores. In response to a number of legitimate queries surrounding the retreating SP, he arrogantly announced he would restrict comment on matters over which he has influence.
Little did we know then that his ultimate ‘influence’ would decimate shareholder value to death.
He has secured his future and there’s an end to it. Why would he lower himself to now respond to the anger he has safely left behind? Despicable.
This latest indication of a pulse in the SP has all the vibe of a living being in its death throes. LR overseeing the last rites prior to switching off life support. And then moving on to the next patient, conscience intact.
If nothing else, you have to acknowledge the sheer seamless audacity and hypocrisy and dismissive arrogance of LR, commenting nonchalantly as follows, as if it’s business-as-usual for the shareholders he effectively destroyed:-
“This provides us with a good opportunity to further develop exciting market opportunities in NIPT across many key markets."
Half a p opportunities, anyone?
From this morning’s RNS I like Velay’s reference to “ Increasing long position”.
I am sure there is a dealer’s explanation which I have completely misinterpreted, but you never know…hope springs eternal and all that, at least till we bought into LR’s destructive vision.
It appears today’s rns amounts to an administrative rearranging of the deckchairs before the good-ship Ygen finally sinks below the waves.
On an initial reading of the announcement, one could easily be forgiven for incorrectly believing that the tweaking comes from a multi-national conglomerate (millions of new shares issued, millions of warrants being cancelled). Instead the reality is of a failed attempt to conquer the world by massively overreaching.
At least the Cap’n of the doomed ship is saved, available to work his reverse- magic elsewhere.
“ As we reshape the business to deliver improved profitable growth through and beyond the post-pandemic period, we are already leveraging our technologies and our teams' capabilities to good effect, capturing new opportunities and building on our existing partnerships. We thank our people for their support of the Group's continuing evolution. The consolidation of our operations will result in a more unified and efficient Group.”
The words of our dynamic leader barely 12 months ago in April of 2022. So LR, where did it all go wrong?
One of the most galling aspects of this whole car-crash in slow motion is the total absence of any proper explanation by the CEO as to how the company’s value and prospects were so cataclysmically destroyed. No apology, no self-awareness.
Pull up the drawbridge, Mr LR, ensure your own survival and wave to those less fortunate you have shamelessly abandoned.
Buying Ncyt at this point on the hope and expectation an investor can pursue the Ygen dream of one day attaining the share value heights appears pure folly.
First red flag is that the SP has broadly followed the same trajectory over time, that is in a southerly direction. They may presently have decent cash in the bank, but legal dispute has been mentioned.
Secondly LR is migrating across in his one-person lifeboat from the wreckage he leaves before him. He has seized a significant position on the board. How come? What tales have been sold to Ncyt? Are they in any way related to those sold to Ygen investors?
Hell hath no fury than a PI scorned.
I wonder if LR will have the time to squeeze in another Investor Meet before the company ceases to exist?
It would likely be an all-ticket affair, well attended by many shareholders who have remained with the company from the off but are left holding the residue value.
He could impart the depth of his business acumen, assisted with the alchemy of turning a 97% share price destruction into an unmitigated success. For one only.
He would no doubt be willing to explain to all eager listeners how you can steer a ship onto rocks and destroy it, but then launch a lifeboat-for-one to secure your own safety and survival.
What a piece of work.
“ The key problem for me was with financial stewardship and management! ”
Oh, GLT, just a minor failure on the part of LR, which like it or not, led us to where we are now.
LR’s pathway from seriously failed CEO to prominent Board member of the company he is migrating to has to be worthy of one of Houdini’s best escape acts.
There is a callous and brutal finality to his selfless act of self-preservation. Not only have almost all of the existing Board been cut loose (sorry, invited to resign), but it seems increasingly clear that the hapless man originally holding the purse strings, BH, was identified early on to be the necessary ‘fall-guy.’
So much for the temporary management parachuted in to save the. Company.
Oh, and lest we forget, the carnage and unnecessary destruction dished out to personal shareholders.
Take a bow, Mr 97%, a shining text-book example of how to get on in this harsh business world. Conscience not required.
I’m done.
Was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on today’s SP settling still below the Ncyt offer price of 0.522p? Does that mean at this stage at least that the market believes no counter offer is expected?
Post-Postscript.
It ill becomes for twix to offer an endorsement of the BOD as evidence of positives to come. The poster who averaged-down ad nauseum, lost a shed load (paper loss at this stage), and then hangs his faith on ‘the BOD knows best’ wholly discredited belief. Not even the tiered Taiwan deal inspires.
With regard to LR’s stratospheric salary, contractual agreements could well mean he legally continues to draw the same for as long as he remains in place. And there is yet no indication he has taken a salary hit personally, either on a voluntary basis or from pressure from his peer board members. We will I suspect, have to wait for the next annual report to see whether the glove-puppet Remuneration bods have grown a spine and reduce massively.
In the meantime LR remains in situ. The most likely scenario playing out is that he refuses to step down and the Co can’t afford to remove him clinically and without a demand for 30 pieces of silver.
Quick, sell Taiwan!
The ongoing thorny issue for many PIs here is the continued retention of the CEO. Six months on from the disastrous money raise/ share dilution to near oblivion and LR remains in post.
Why?
A brief trawl through the basics of company law shows that a director has certain responsibilities but also considerable protection. If he is asked to leave before his term of office has expired he has a right to sue for damages, that is good old-fashioned Compen-say-shun. On his last-declared annual salary this may be a risk the Co. cannot afford to take.
It would be for the company and/or its shareholders to prove the contrary, often on vague or contentious business concepts such as a failure to exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence; or his duty to promote the success of the company.
Whether any attempt to invite LR to depart with immediate effect has been made has not been disclosed and remains speculative. Equally, I cannot believe the Co. can be happy with its ongoing parlous state and view LR as the leader to revive its fortunes.
One can only hope that the next AGM might finally rouse all shareholders to demonstrate their dissatisfaction for the current status quo at the top to remain unchallenged.
Can’t believe this but I find myself agreeing with Twix on this one. Peace has broken out (temporarily).
Corporate mismanagement and/or incompetence is unfortunately a common occurrence nowadays, more so on Aim where often delusional individuals step up to the plate with a vision of conquering the world but woefully failing to deliver.
The gargantuan failure in this instance could and should have been addressed root and branch by the chairman, supported by the significant institutional shareholders flexing their muscles and removing forthwith the two root causes, not just the one.
Talk of litigation amongst a quorum of rightfully disgruntled teddies, six months down the line, has a futile feel to it and with no guarantee of ‘success’, whatever that may mean.
The temp. brought in to steady matters should by now have had the time to review and evidence strategy and progress.
I fear that as long as the elephant in the room remains in post as CEO, the market will continue to value the company accordingly.
What a slick PR performance today from the Pantomime Dame, posing as cabin-crew from her previous incarnation with EasyJet and assisted by two corporates to help with the drinks trolley.
A gathering of MPs trying to spear the prey before them with a ‘killer’ question is rarely the best way of extracting information. The Dame sensed this from the outset and the three participants were allowed to waffle largely unchecked and control the agenda, painting in broad strokes an imaginary picture of a happy, content utopian workplace.
In particular, the internal complaints procedure was conveyed as a multi-layered infallible system where no employee could possibly have anything to fear in raising a grievance, whether anonymous or not.
This was and is a myth, because it ignores the massive power imbalance in this case between ‘celeb’ and desperate employee, the latter being naively young, likely to be on a very short-term contract and absolutely desperate to work in the television ‘industry.’ Was the boy really going to complain about the big cheese who had taken a shine to,him? Really?
The Dame’s oft quoted disclaimer of ‘Let’s wait for the KC’ kept her off the hook for today. In fact at one point I was half-expecting a renditioning of KC and the Sunshine Band: altogether now, “That’s the Way I like it, uh,uh,uhhuh…’
And as a shareholder? Wonderful news to.know my hard earned losses are contributing to Schofield’s ‘counselling’, paid for by ITV itself. What an inspirational insurance policy for ITV to endorse, in the event Gordon the Gofer came to any harm.
Just a final note on the latest RNS - did anyone notice LR’s comments at the conclusion where the best he could offer was the tame “ We look forward to developing a lasting relationship with INEX…”
Are these the words of a man who sees negligible value in the deal he has just struck, or are these the mutterings of a CEO who knows his days with this company are rapidly coming to an end?
Only the ticking clock will tell.
Whatever the appropriate valuation of this company might eventually be, the market is clearly signalling that it remains underwhelmed by the latest ‘deal.’
The amount of cash thrown out initially (delayed pending Taiwan regulatory requirements) is far from transformational, especially when considering the CEO’s hyper-inflated earnings in the last accounts, a reward for failure if ever there was one.
Will the deal keep the wolf from the door? Massively growing revenues would be a more reassuring solution.
I am always concerned when I read company announcements which descend into corporate speak, especially the one ending “… prolong the available cash runway and rebuild shareholder value over time.”
Questions which immediately spring to mind include ‘How long is the runway and what is the risk of a final crash and burn landing scenario?’
And ‘why should any investor now trust the person who was ultimately responsible for the destruction of shareholder value in the first place, to now reconstruct that value?’
And over what ‘time’ period is this expected? (Not another five-year plan one hopes).