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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

Replying to the subject of this thread: McColl's haven't paid a dividend for a couple of years, and at the moment it's got significant debt, so I'd expect it to focus on paying down the debt before there's any realistic prospect of a return to dividend payments, but once it's got itself more sorted I'm hoping it'll surge back - but given that debt it's definitely a speculative investment.

correction: weekend is 29th and 30th

Yup, trading update was 28th, 29th or 30th of Jan all the way back to 2014. 28th and 29th are at the weekend, so 28th or 31st seem most likely this time round.

Thanks troken; meanwhile nice to see a small lift in the share price this afternoon although on pretty thin trade. Things might liven up a bit with the trading update (presumably) later this month.

Interesting snippet, thank you; could you provide your source please?

...indeed, do checkout the corresponding RNS for Robert Walters (RWA): "Matt brings a broad range of experience from different sectors and is currently Chief Financial Officer of Micro Focus International plc, ..."

I think that's a misunderstanding of the RNS: It does say he's been appointed as a non-executive director for another company (non-executive so not a 9-5 job, more a few meetings a year); it doesn't say he's leaving Micro Focus, so his position at Micro Focus is unchanged.

Why the divi pessimism? Basic/Adjusted EPS figures for FY 2019-20 were 5.5p/8.9p, for 2020-21 were 12.5p/11.2p. Whilst so far that's being spent on company purposes like getting the debt down (and a 1p dividend for 2020-21), that situation won't last forever. As the company regains its financial health I'd expect an increasing proportion of the EPS to end up as dividends.

I think it's a mistake to value companies purely on the basis of their share price and thus market cap: The other important factor is any net debt, thus I prefer to think of a company's overall cost to an acquirer as its Enterprise Value (EV) which factors in the debt. On that basis the cost to an acquirer probably hasn't changed much, since as the share price (so market cap) has revived the debt have shrunk, and important aspects of the debt have been simplified, esp. PFD pensions.
Whilst I'd prefer not to see PFD taken over (I look forward to a long term steady dividend stream), that remains a risk, and probably more so with the company's financials now being more straightforward.

Amused by the thread's subject text, the share price is now touching 180p, so that didn't take long! Capital Markets Day for Ilika on Friday, so maybe barnetpeter's "Back to 200 plus?" will also come true in time for Xmas...
More seriously, I like Ilika for getting on with its programme and now manufacturing batteries at a reasonable scale whilst progressing its greater ambitions, all the while taking care not to burn through cash too fast by making good use of JVs and grant funding; indeed with Stereax manufacturing this will also generate some revenue to offset Goliath costs.

https://www.thestar.co.uk/lifestyle/christmas/worlds-largest-mince-pie-factory-in-barnsley-south-yorkshire-run-by-mr-kipling-opens-its-doors-3481062
or in case that link gets squished, search for the title of this post to find it. Nice to see PFD products being made.

One possible explanation is that sometimes larger sellers wait for some good news to come along so that they can clear out a lot of shares; and/or the good results may have already largely been factored into people's calculations. Personally I think these results provide some good support to maintain a 800p-ish price - or higher. I will be interested to read analyst reports over the next few days to unpick the numbers.