The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Another route to the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmrvUwQNmso
(thank you, good find)
I notice that a Chinese company Betavolt is expecting to launch a small battery BV100 that has striking similarities to Stereax in terms of voltage and size (lower power output than Ilika though). Rather than being rechargeable it's nuclear - giving it a 50 year life, so it'll have a somewhat different, although overlapping usage profile. I don't see this as causing Ilika any difficulties, rather I see it as confirmation that there's a market in this space. The article is here on the Tom's Hardware site,
https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/power-supplies/chinese-developed-nuclear-battery-has-a-50-year-lifespan
and a spec sheet for Stereax is here,
https://www.ilika.com/images/uploads/general/M250_SPECIFICATION_V2.4_-_ENGLISH.pdf
@LWHL: Given that Ecotricity has tried to muscle in on the board (2017), make a takeover bid (2021), and retains 28.1% of Good Energy's shares ( https://www.goodenergy.co.uk/investors/shareholder-information/ ) I assume they still have a very active interest in the company. With the current price well below the September 2021 [failed] bid price of 400p / share, I feel the shares have a floor price close to the current price in the 'threat' of Ecotricity once again making a takeover bid: They remain in a powerful position to do so with that large shareholding.
With Toyota pushing solid-state batteries into the mainstream this hopefully generate a sense of "maybe Ilika are onto something" back here in the UK, so seems like a net positive for those considering investing in Ilika, also considering the patents you mention.
FYI here's an article I found discussing how Opentext is integrating Microfocus, perhaps of interest to anyone still visiting this chatroom,
https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/04/opentext_micro_focus_acquisition/
ITM's website has a helpful picture of the new planned building with the announcement, nice to visualise what's in the announcement,
https://itm-power.com/news/expansion-at-bessemer-park
I feel the share price drop to Jansen's comment is an overreaction; I would expect Ofcom to be more interested in 'running the numbers' than in interpreting statements like this, so I wouldn't expect their conclusions to change based on it... so I've picked up a few shares to 'trade' - sell again in a few days once the price has gone back up... but I'm conscious I've called such situations wrongly in the past.
From time to time I find it's worth checking on PFD's credit rating: Turns out it was raised last summer,
https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-upgrades-Premier-Foods-to-Ba3-from-B1-outlook-stable--PR_466590
(or search for "Moodys premier foods" if that link gets squished by LSE). Previous upgrade was May 2021, before that Sep 2020. So a steady improvement which is (1) a vote of confidence in PFD and (2) means that PFD can access or refinance debt at better rates. I guess Moodys come out with any changes in credit ratings a month or two after PFD publishes its final results for each year, so a few months to wait and see how they rate PFD this time...
GOOD already has lots of Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) customers/suppliers (see the recent RNS: 180,000), so despite selling off directly-owned generation assets, it's still a major player. Esp. worth noting is that the original (and to-date) model for FiT properties is that half of the electricity generated is 'deemed' to be the amount supplied to the grid, regardless of the actual amount exported or not. I guess that things have moved on and the technology is now better able to measure how much power actually gets exported, so great that GOOD sees that and is offering something to cater to it (esp. for people who are out during the day while their home's solar panels are generating electricity that's not being used in their own home)
Whilst the 2021 hostile takeover offer is fairly fresh in my mind, I got to wondering about the prior event. Looks like it was an attempt by Ecotricity to muscle in on the board rather than a full takeover, esp. see the RNS on 10th July 2017 "Requisition by Ecotricity of General Meeting", and/or checkout this article,
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/business/power-struggle-green-energy-tycoons-300394
(or search for its' title "Ecotricity acquires major stake in rival supplier Good Energy" if LSE suppresses that link)
also the RNS of 14th August 2017 with the board's recommendations to vote against Ecotricity's proposals,
https://group.goodenergy.co.uk/reporting-and-news-centre/regulatory-news/regulatory-news-details/2017/Notice-of-General-Meeting/default.aspx
Having held this share in the past I was surprised to rediscover it recently at a relatively low price so bought in. Meanwhile it seems to have some unique advantages - a clever position with Zap Map (although I don't really understand that market), and in particular a unique position in (and experience to provide) home generation with the new Feed-in tariff. Those both seem excellent. Whilst I regard Ecotricity as something of a wrecking-ball in terms of having now twice provided a major management distraction with hostile takeover offers, it nevertheless also provides a floor to the share price with the perception that they're likely still hovering, as speculated in this thread.
Whilst I'd hope to see GOOD thrive on its own, if it does get taken out by Ecotricity that would at least provide a good return on the current share price.
One site I look at occasionally is Compound Semiconductor magazine. As well as an interview with IQE's new CEO, there's also a good piece from a Canadian company about GaN. I'm conscious that IQE is still a "jam tomorrow" share, but I think these 2 articles suggest that the jam isn't far off,
https://compoundsemiconductor.net/article/115839/IQE%E2%80%99s_crystal_clear_vision_for_growth
https://compoundsemiconductor.net/article/115902/GaN%E2%80%99s_inflection_point
(always do your own research etc)
I've made my usual mistake of holding onto a share when its price is falling - but I did sell some of my IKA holding when it was above 150p; I've held IKA for a long time and assumed the only way was up. I've recently topped up, since at the current 26p (LSE suggests this translates to a market cap of £41m) I think it's a bargain share (do your own research etc): Despite the recent profit warning it shouldn't be too long now before we start seeing the results of Ilika's Stereax miniature batteries going into commercial products (esp. medical). Stereax has a number of unique properties which means Ilika is in a strong pricing position, so I feel that side of the business justifies the current market cap (or more) on its own and has high barriers to entry for potential competitors. The other side of IKA is the large Goliath battery project where Ilika is a small fish in a big pool, but again with some unique advantages; I feel it's too early to know how successful this side of Ilika will be.
I've also been watching the news around Aluminium-Sulphur batteries recently - which would likely constitute a threat to Ilika unless they also explore this chemistry - but my current view on this is that considerable further development is needed before this type of battery is commercially viable: I'd actually be very happy to be wrong here since the benefit to humanity of batteries made from relatively common elements would be huge. A good paper I found on this type of battery is here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42004-022-00693-5 (search for "Advances and challenges of aluminum–sulfur batteries Klimpel Kovalenko" if LSE scrubs the link)
No, 1.2p was the final dividend. No mention of a dividend being paid with these half-year results which is consistent with PFD not paying interim dividends, at least since its return to paying dividends. I don't expect those to resume until PFD has achieved its debt-reduction target. Re. that 1.2p here's the key sentence from the results,
"A final dividend of 1.2 pence per share for the 52 week period ended 2 April 2022 was approved by the shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting on 20 July 2022 and was subsequently paid on 29 July 2022."
I thought it'd be interesting to see what effective interest rate you get by investing in (or holding on to) MCRO at the moment. I make some assumptions:
* the deal doesn't fall through
* for easy calculation I'm guessing the deal completes mid 2023Q1, specifically 4 months from now (mid February)
* the share price is about 518p (this seems to be a typical pre-close price on Friday, I'm ignoring some high after-the-close prices)
At completion each share is bought at 532p, so a difference of 14p in 4 months. That's 2.7% in that time, equivalent to 8.1% per annum (back-of-an-envelope calculation multiplying by 3, I know compound interest is a bit more complex than that but the figure should be about right). That seems like a better bet than the building society, assuming you agree that the deal is not going to be derailed, completes by the time above, and the bonus item is that there's still the chance that a late higher offer could come in.
Always do your own research (DYOR) etc
At the current price of about 5p I'm happy to hold:
current market cap about £15m
operating expenses each year about £3m
"...Royalties payable to Evgen on sales are in the low to medium double-digit range in all scenarios..."
so for me that suggests the current share price is adequately supported with existing deals particularly the recent Stalicla deal, but I expect to see other deals, each one should ratchet up the share price :-)
@CR888: Well I'm currently sitting tight. It seems extremely unlikely that the deal will fall through so I'm discounting/ignoring that risk; I think there is a genuine and significant chance of another bidder which would give the takeover price a significant boost so I'm holding out for that. If that doesn't occur then I expect the price will gradually drift upwards towards the offer price as we approach the [yet to be announced] effective date in 2023Q1. I look back on other takeovers (Morrisons is fresh in my mind) where other bidders don't necessarily place counter-bids straightaway, instead biding their time until close to last-chance-to-bid deadlines, and also to give themselves more time to review the target company, its existing bidder(s) and their own prospects of a successful bid (or upping the takeover price for their winning competitor)
I see that quote appears in Shares Magazine (hopefully LSE won't mangle the link),
https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/why-investors-are-chasing-sigs-shares-higher-despite-it-making-a-loss
(if mangled, put 'co' and 'uk' after 'sharesmagazine' and find it there)
Just seen that Jaywing are presenting at the "The Cenkos Virtual Growth & Innovation Forum" - search for that, or use the link below if it doesn't get mangled by LSE,
https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/register/event_details/376