Member Info for phenomenonnick

GedW spouting absolute nonsense yet again. Me Chris and RGO haven’t been exercising warrants, otherwise you would have seen an announcement. The other substantial shareholders don’t even HAVE warrants as they bought in the open market - much of their purchases around the current level.

I daresay low6 will meet listing requirements - but it’s only one of many investments. It’s completely dwarfed by the Pluto Digital stake - particularly in the light of today’s announcement which has swapped a £200k investment in December for an investment now worth many multiples of that three months later.

Hi Antelope. I do think SVV will continue to perform well, and it's worth noting the 20% exposure to it was only 13% when the broker note was written (with shares in issue rising 15% or so). However, I would disagree about the rest of your assessment. If these investments become tech unicorns 1% will be of material value. And my understanding is that we have over 1%. We also have 15% of DeTech Studios - and 2m YOP tokens which we were given as a sweetener on that deal prior to them launching, they were worth $0.05 each at launch and are $2 now. So those tokens alone are worth $4m and I would imagine we could exchange them at a modest discount for more shares in Pluto as that approaches what could be a very large IPO next quarter.

Pires shares have trebled since Christmas, I'm not saying they'll treble again in the same timescale but I certainly think they can make further progress from here. Mind you, I'd have to be confident - they remain over half my portfolio!

Hi Antelope. It's not stated for the SVV investee companies. And many of the exciting recent opportunities (Pluto, Low6 etc) where a percentage was either stated or could be easily calculated have done several funding rounds in fairly quick succession with the intention of floating fairly soon. So if you want to do detailed research there isn't one easy source I'm afraid. A good starting point is the Mirabaud note on the Pires website in the Analyst Coverage & Research part of the Investors section, but that's now fairly out of date. The team at Mirabaud moved and I'm hoping they'll update the note in their new place fairly soon. Plus results to 31 December 2020 are due by the end of April, there should be a decent update then. I'm optimistic we'll be over 20p at that point.

The important thing here is that RGO didn't sell Pires shares, they were just diluted down by the issue of new Pires shares following the acquisition by Pires of a stake in Sure Ventures plc. Most people can stop reading this post here!

For those more interested in the detail, Poppyseed I don't follow your statement that they sold 750k Pires shares since the 2 June 2020 notification. That notification was issued after tranche 2 of the Pires placing that was announced in April 2020, and RGO had 20,371,818 Pires shares, 22.8%. A few weeks later the third tranche was issued (as were the warrants). This took RGO to 26,149,993 which is the number they still hold. No further TR1 needed as they took roughly their fair share in the placing. But now there are a bunch more shares in issue, they're issuing a TR1 that their 26m shares is a lower percentage of Pires.

I don't see any sign that Riverfort have sold Pires shares, or for that matter that they have exercised warrants.

I'm accumulating RGO, was a small holder a long time ago, looks like a great stock these days at this level.

No worries. I have frequently made this mistake myself when reading TR1s - we’re all busy, hard to find the time to read them thoroughly. And although I went below 4% as a result of the number of shares in issue going up, it’s true that I have sold a few since my last TR1 five weeks ago. I sold about 750k, of which 500k went to another TR1 holder, and the rest went out in the market in tiny quantities on busy days. I remain hugely optimistic about Pires but I don’t have the wealth levels of the bigger players that Pires is now attracting. I do need to book a few profits to enable me to finally start to build a more diverse portfolio. But that’s a long term rebalancing which can take place over many months or years. I remain excited - about Yop DeTech and Pluto in the short term, and the SVV portfolio in the medium term.

Hi Will - yes on the basis it is today I've sent my revised TR1 in showing the decrease in percentage holding due to the higher number of shares in issue. I see Riverfort has similarly been diluted. Presumably the other TR1 holders will update too in the coming days.

Just noticed that Poppyseed made the same point (but more succinctly than me!) on the RGO board earlier.

Hi TT. I'm not sure I can provide a definitive answer, and I haven't spoken to the company about this recently and it doesn't affect me as I use AJ Bell. But here's what I believe the position to be:

Some of the big platforms seem to be looking for either a Key Information Document (required under the Packaged Retail and Insurance-Based Investment Products Regulations) or possibly a Key Investor Information Document (required under the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities directive.

You will note from the Sure Ventures plc website that they produce a KID which is available on their website. But Sure Ventures is an Investment Trust, with a fund manager.

I believe that an aim-quoted investing company (such as Pires or RGO), whose investments are in the control of the board, is not a collective investment scheme. It's just a company, making investments, with no special tax treatment (Investment Trusts don't pay tax on their investment profits for instance). So I believe I'm right in saying that Pires's view would be that the platforms are mistaken. There is a KID on the Riverfort website, but they preface it with this: "THIS PRODUCT IS NOT A RETAIL PACKAGED INVESTMENT PRODUCT WITHIN THE MEANING OF ARTICLE 4 OF REGULATION (EU) NO 1286/2014 ON KEY INFORMATION DOCUMENTS FOR PACKAGED RETAIL AND INSURANCE-BASED INVESTMENT PRODUCTS (PRIIPS). THIS PRODUCT IS NOT SUBJECT TO PRIIPS, AND, AS SUCH, HAS BEEN PREPARED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY."

I would suggest raising a formal complaint with the relevant platform and quoting this at them, and see if that gets you anywhere.

As Phoebus said just two messages below you, we have 2m and we swapped another 2m for a stake in Pluto - which itself looks ever more promising by the day.

Hmm lots to address here:
WillH - my read is that some SURE shareholders have swapped their shares in SURE for new shares in Pires. The premium is a partial reflection of the value gap that has been created - both are companies whose Net Asset Value understates the current position as it's backward looking based on old valuations of tech firms whose next funding round will likely be at a punchy premium.
Terrier - I really wouldn't worry about the warrants. Ignoring mine, Chris Akers, Riverfort's, all of which will likely be retained until summer 2022, there are only about 13m left to exercise. This is, for instance, fewer shares than have just been issued to former SURE shareholders. Presumably there's more risk of them selling into future rises than warrant holders. Overall though looks a cracking deal to me and I'm optimistic and pleased with progress.

It'll be less than that. 53m issued. 10m issued already. 31m held by me Chris and Riverfort, leaves 12m left to exercise. At least some of those are other long term holders who will just tuck them away and see how things look nearer the expiry date in the middle of next year. And some exercises will be people who move the shares into tax priveleged wrappers. Bottom line, I don't see the remaining warrants as a meaningful barrier to the share price making progress.

There were 53m warrants issued in total. However, about 60% are long term shareholders (including TR1 holders Riverfort, Chris Akers, and me) all of whom are unlikely to exercise until Q2 of 2022 and might well not sell then - after all, would be pointless exercising and selling warrants when you still own shares. I'm assuming warrant exercises to date will mostly be placees who have sold their original shares and are taking more profit.

My understanding is that investee companies get charged enough to cover the cost of the time spent on them. Also that we aren't only looking at opportunities which are minority stakes. Agree we need to expand rapidly for the business model to work, but that is the plan. You need to look at lots of businesses to find one which is right. You're right that cash shells with no cash are valued higher than this! A bit of patience will I'm sure reap rewards.

Can relate on the home schooling! I would definitely invest in Pluto pre-IPO if I had the opportunity to do so. Both my funds are TR1 in Drumz - the largest Drumz holding is my Twitter identity.

Hi there. In short:
- initial entry was 6p in 2016 but I have bought maybe a hundred times. Lowest buy 2p in the April 2020 placing, highest buy 11.2p a week ago.
- Pluto is unlisted, I don’t think it’s possible to compare the two. Do you have access to Pluto pre-IPO? Pires is an easy way to get exposure to it. Investing in it directly is obviously much higher risk and a different proposition
- yes heavily in Drumz. I run two pension funds, it’s the biggest holding in the smaller of the two funds
- not on Telegram and already not got enough time to look at investments - I’m CEO of a business which is larger than Drumz or Pires and have a young family. Until I retire don’t have the bandwidth for lots of direct conversations, sorry. I look at this board and the Drumz one pretty often and if you tag either stock’s ticker on Twitter I often engage there. I’m in a handle of Twitter groups and struggle to keep on top of the direct messages from engagements that start there.

Sorry not to be more forthcoming but at the moment I need to engage on my terms with what time I can spare. Best of luck in the meantime!

Hi Yash,

Sorry, I don't have a price target. I don't really work that way. But this stock is the one I put more faith in than any other: I do have a hard rule that I sell a few when my Pires stake is more than 75% of my portfolio, and I buy if it's below 50% of my portfolio.

I do note Chris Akers has a price target of 30p by the end of April, and if Pluto is making good progress and crypto remains in favour I see no reason why newsflow there or from low6 or both and a fair wind couldn't make 30p achievable. If not by April then at some point this year. And of course the SVV portfolio has lots of gems whose value could be realised at any random point, through future funding rounds or from disposals (like the Artomatix one that got Pires most of its cash back within weeks of investing).

I am by instinct a value investor who buys undervalued stuff and waits until the market notices, and honestly I've been blindsided by the transformation here since Chris Akers invested last April. I knew the market would come to recognise the SVV portfolio in time, but I did not expect the crypto play. Barry Downes of SVV is on board at Pluto so I'm highly confident that will go well, I've only met him once but I thought he was tremendous. And the board are highly trustworthy, unlike many AIM plays. Well - the three I've met, I don't know David the new director but he's done great things at EQT.

If I were coming to this fresh I don't think I'd stick 50% of my portfolio in it, but given my understanding of the various players backing this I'm more than happy with my position. Hope that helps.

Iceman I think it’s roughly 7% after this latest fundraising. It will doubtless get diluted down though which I suspect is why they aren’t highlighting the percentage. It’s growing in value which is what counts ultimately.

Hi Yash. Warrants were issued at the end of June and are two years, so end of June 22. There were 53m issued. Not masses have been exercised - but Riverfort, Chris Akers, and me plus a bunch of other long term shareholders account for about 60% of the warrants. I doubt we will exercise anytime soon. So there may not be too many to come over the next 12 months.

Certainly not personal - I'll challenge anyone here who's being negative about Pires without substance :-)

This reads like a generic description of your view about fundraisings and doesn't feel it's adding much illumination to assessment of Pires as an investment. Last year's fundraising led to an instant near-doubling of the share price, and from there the share price has trebled. So it now trades at FIVE TIMES the fundraising price. What level of performance would in your view justify the fundraising?!

Pires may well raise further funds in the near future. With wealth generation at this pace, it will surely find plenty of willing investors.

I imagine when we're at 30p inside three years you'll find something to carp about how the annualised return is worse than it was in 2020 and 2021.

No pleasing some people!