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Looks like a similar story with Element ASA (Norwegian firm ELE.OL). - Death spiral financing put in place with EHGOS- Alpha Blue Ocean acting as investment manager- Element BoD tried to terminate agreement- Court action- ABO trying to push through BoD changes (including David Sefton)Similarities with ICON are uncanny...https://newsbeezer.com/norwayeng/do-you-want-to-get-out-of-death-spiral-loans-it-goes-beyond-just-about-every-shareholder-no-matter-how-you-turn-and-apply-it/

Hey Chris
So what does this mean for ICON now and going forward?
The Q I can't answer is 'Why would OTT buy the 18% in the first place?'...

It is nice to see some passion from the BoD and I do think they want to make IOCN a success...

I would also recommend any investors in ICON to read the Administrators Progress Report.
It looks to me like David Sefton has done a very good deal. I look forward to reading the final Administrators Report in May 2021 (unless administration completed earlier).

I read this as a classic case of someone buying a distressed asset, stripping out the dead wood, and implementing a more streamlined and cost effective operating model. He has pounced at just the right time re Covid...
Buying for £4m, with the transfer of zero creditors - maybe pensions - is a great deal in my opinion.

I understand that all employees transferred (via TUPE). Does anyone know if there was a re-structure?

I would also recommend any investors in ICON to read the Administrators Progress Report.
It looks to me like David Sefton has done a very good deal. I look forward to reading the final Administrators Report in May 2021 (unless administration completed earlier).

I read this as a classic case of someone buying a distressed asset, stripping out the dead wood, and implementing a more streamlined and cost effective operating model. He has pounced at just the right time re Covid...
Buying for £4m, with the transfer of zero creditors - maybe pensions - is a great deal in my opinion.

I understand that all employees transferred (via TUPE). Does anyone know if there was a re-structure?

Sbuild - you need to look at MCAP rather than share price. No need for any updates.

Lemon - this is untrue, almost everything in your post in incorrect / exaggerated.
Please can you share why you believe JOE is in administration?
ICON are not getting £100k per month, it is well over that.
Also, I am confident you have not '11-bagged' in the 8 days of 2021...

I think people on this board should take heed before believing Lemon's posts... Be very careful.

B009
Of course I hope they win more contracts.
I'm not invested in ICON because I am happy for them to sit on one or two retainer contracts and constantly worry about debt!!!
I believe the BoD want to grow the company and are actively pursuing this agenda. They are clearly ambitious and want to create something that far exceeds UniLad. With no EHGOS, they now have to prove themselves...

My expectation is for the BoD to aggressively grow the client base and increase revenues significantly over the next three years. With EHGOS gone and conventional financing in place, they now have a solid base and should be able to grow the share price rather than dilute - I'd hope the BoD purchase shares at some point to cement their ambition.

The partnerships with JOE, Lovin' and Premier Sports prove their business model works, and I believe they should be able to deliver several other large contracts this year as well as one-off campaigns.

This is a start-up marketing/tech company, there are no comparable fundamentals yet, so the only valuation methodology that is appropriate is future potential.
I think you, and several others on this board, can't get over the debt position and previous dilution. If they can outgrow the debt and consistently grow YOY, I am confident the share price will rise to 0.05p+.

B009
So your point now is 'lack of transparency' is preventing this increasing in value - again, there has been a lack of transparency over the last 9 months and the value of ICON has increased. This argument doesn't stand up.

I think you misunderstood my post. I think the JOE 25% profit share will NOT have a negative impact. It will either have no impact or a positive impact on sp.
Can you expand on the observations you've made over the last year as to why you have a negative assessment of ICON?

With regards to SYME - please can you explain the similarities between ICON and SYME and why you are comparing the two?
I do not expect a 1000%+ rise in the same manner of SYME. I believe ICON will be a slower and more steady rise as and when new contracts are won and the balance sheet improves.

B009

Just to get this straight, your assessment for the potential success of ICON is based on two things:
1) What is the remaining Debt?
2) What is the threshold profit when Joe has to pay 25% share?

I don't agree with your premise - the value of ICON has consistently increased since March, from just under £1m MCAP to c.£4.5m today. It has spiked numerous times due to positive news most recently mid September to c.£7m.

I also don't agree with your premise because:
1) We have never known the exact debt position.
2) We have never known profit threshold for JOE.

I DO agree, however, that if the debt position is significant the sp will suffer.
I DON'T think that the profit threshold for JOE will impact sp negatively - it can only have a positive impact or no impact.
My question for you is how can you make your negative assessment when you don't know the answer to your two questions??

Reprobus
Please tell us where it states ICON can issue 28bn shares as a result of the outcome of the AGM?
Do you know the maximum number of shares allowed to be issued at one time by a Main Market company?

Sohtabutt
Please enlighten us as to what happened with WDC?
And also, what are the similarities of ICON today to WDC?
Please also inform us as to why this WILL go down to 0.01p - i.e. technical analysis / fundamentals / inside knowledge of material news?

DLA Piper would only have been brought in by EUA if an 'informal' offer(s) was going to be tabled.
The Interim Report published 30 Sep states they recently engaged DLA, so I assume this means maybe start of September... And they will be paying for DLA services (not cheap).

The average time for an FSP to conclude to offer acceptance is 93 working days.

If DLA were engaged at the beginning of September, then we are on day 90 today (+/- 3 days for bank holidays etc.). So well within 'normal' range for an FSP.

The FSP is continuing. No news otherwise.
No formal offers yet. No reason to think otherwise.

B009
It looks like there was a c.940m vote 'against' every Resolution.
EHGOS have c.940m shares.
It also looks like OTT didn't use their 5.7bn of voting rights... shame.

Resolution 9 received the same % of votes as Resolutions 1-6... maybe just 'automatic' voting... who knows.

Thanks Silver for the clarity.
That makes sense.
Shame about Resolution 7 - very close on the voting...

I think there was an error in RNS.
It should be resolutions 7 & 8 that were not passed?

Redhammy
My personal view is that David Sefton and the BoD took over WDC BECAUSE it had the EHGOS financing in place.
It was an easy way to fund the business with zero risk to the BoD and zero investment required.
It was **** for shareholders and they knew it.
But to be fair, if I was DS, LH, JQ I'd definitely have done the same - guaranteed salary for 18 months.

Because of the above, due diligence was unnecessary.
It was cheaper to take over WDC as BoD and inherit the EHGOS financing than pay c.£400k to list a new company on AIM (even more for main market).

Regarding Directors pay. I think for a company that now brings in £1.5m+ per year and is becoming profitable, the current remuneration is about right - £120k. During the early days, salaries were too high - see point below.

At the early stages of the company I think the business model was a pure gamble - throw £1m at a group of very talented young guys with proven experience in a growth sector and see what happens. It will either fail miserably and they suffer minimal reputational damage OR if may succeed... (similar to what happened to the band Nirvana in late 1980s / early 1990s).

I think the gamble is working.
They now care more about shareholders, and want to attract money as investment.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Positive or negative. It's healthy to discuss.
I think everyone on this board agrees that the previous EHGOS financing was awful. This is now gone - so positive.
I think everyone agrees that there is an unknown level of debt owed to EHGOS. This is a negative until more details arise and/or we pay it off.
Since March, the MCAP (value) of ICON has increased from under £1m to c.£5m. This is positive.
In the last month, we now have two large shareholders on board - OTT (intentions unknown) and Shah (positive).
They also did a placing - negative on sp but positive for business.

My opinion is that the BoD have had their hands tied for much of the past 18 months - they had to take the EHGOS financing or go bust - given that choice, they had to go with it.
Covid hasn't helped either, but they survived - ironically because of EHGOS.

I believe they have turned a corner. No more variable convertible debt. Healthy cash flow from placing. Share price relatively stable. Significant retainer contracts in place. Profit share from JOE etc.

I don't want to see further shareholder value diluted, so personally, I've voted against Resolution 7 and 8 to try and prevent further significant dilution. Results will come in January. I urge you all to do the same.

I await the next 'red dot' and hope that we get more good news - new contracts, information on debt, more large share holdings, maybe even BoD purchasing shares!

He once owned 15% of ICON (WDC days).
Maybe he'll come back.
Maybe Shah is the new Aftab?!

Akr40
This all depends on your valuation methodology...
- P/E ratio = maybe 0.005p or bankrupt
- P/S ratio = maybe 0.01p - 0.05p
- TAM = anything up to £10
- 3-year growth potential = maybe 0.03p - 0.09p

2RGJ
Your investing approach should also be based on your risk / reward appetite. As Oap1952 says, diversification is important, and a safe investment is an index tracker - but this approach is low risk / low reward. And not exciting to a new investor.

If you are young (under 30), I think you should take more risks.
You can only take more risks by investing in individual stocks or using more complex instruments such as options, CFDs, spreadbets - but make sure you understand these.

My 10 pearls of wisdom:
1. Take a LOT of time researching the global economy - everything is linked, and cyclical (history manifests).
2. Understand the key events / factors that impact markets - Repo, Base Rate, monetary policy, fiscal policy, politics, OPEC, focus on US / China as they lead the markets.
3. The financial economy (markets) is NOT the real economy (high street).
4. Look to the future - understand what will be important / investable in 6-12 months. Otherwise you're too late.
5. Never listen to TikTok traders - or anyone selling the dream about a share.
6. But do listen to / read opinions and thought leadership pieces - make up your own mind.
7. Focus - narrow down your search by choosing a sector, country, and then research businesses (see point 4).
8. Be agile - there will be incredible short-term opportunities that arise (i.e. Covid stocks NCYT) that can rise very quickly. Don't be afraid to move money at a loss if an opportunity comes.
9. Set targets - after researching a stock, have a plan of % return and stick to it.
9. Don't be too greedy - making a 25% gain in one week is great. Take it and move on (see point 8).
10. Accept volatility - markets / shares move around a lot. Up down. Sideways. Have conviction.

I'll shut up now...

2RGJ - Highly unlikely.
If it hits £1 per share (assuming no further dilution or consolidation) that would value ICON at £37bn.
The same value as Santander, or slightly higher than Vodafone...