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We’d have all preferred an early response, but 14 days is a very tight deadline to provide a comprehensive response on a delicate issue such as this, and no doubt having to wait for legal advice will also have slowed down the process.

But in the end it’s what, presumably today’s, RNS actually says that really matters, in terms of restoring investors’ confidence. If nothing else, it'll make fascinating reading…

metalmania - you've answered your own question.

Could still get an RNS today - no need to issue before 8am as there's no trading in DX anyway.

It's vital (for shareholders' peace of mind) that this RNS is not bungled, so I don't blame them or their legal advisers for using all the time available to get it right.

“Valuation is now riding almost exclusively on one early stage biotech clinical trial”

Avacta is therefore worth, say, £1bn or nothing.

With a market cap of around £100m, the market is saying the chance of success is c10%. Is that reasonable?

Those who think the current SP should be at least double are saying the chance of success is 20%+. Is 20%+ any more reasonable than 10%?

There is no right or wrong answer. Each to his own!

WTF is savi??

Lloyd is very highly regarded by Gatemore, and rightly so. I'd be gobsmacked if he was forced out.

The chairman's position is the most vulnerable one - after all, he's the one in charge of corporate governance.

Frog - the "very good reason" for resigning may be GT's lack of resources, and an attempt by them to save face. They already have a bad reputation, as do many unfortunately in the audit profession these days, and they may be blowing up this corporate governance issue out of all proportion in order to mask their own shortcomings. They are only human, after all.

Certainly Liad Meidar, through the reassuring statement issued by Gatemore, is playing it down.

Anyway, we won't have to speculate much longer, hopefully...

“as GT have backed out of doing the audit, which other auditor would want to take it on?”

We're still in the dark: we await the “Reasons” (for GT’s resignation), and DX’s commentary on them. DX have only around a week from now to send us the Reasons, but they won’t want to do this before their own commentary is ready.

A prospective auditor will have to weigh up the two opposing versions of events. As long as he can satisfy himself that he can accept as reasonable DX’s position, he won’t mind, or be prevented from, acting.

Failing that, he may take the view, again disagreeing with GT, that the issue is not so significant as to prevent him from acting.

Finally, the fact that heads have rolled at DX, should help smooth the way.

So I don’t think this will be a problem, but if it were, and it led to a delisting, a premature sale of company may be the only viable escape route, ie the only way any of us, PIs or IIs, can get our money out. Gatemore clearly think the shares are worth double their value at suspension, though I’m sure many PIs would be happy enough with 40p+.

Yes, the subliminal message to shareholders from the RNS is that the audit issue is a minor detail (!).

It cannot distract, though, from the fact that we desperately need more clarity on the audit issue, and a credible assurance that they expect audited accounts to be available well before the deadline of end June - starting with the appointment of an auditor!

How can it boost the SP it it's suspended?!

Was never a main board director.

His investment company is mainly just an innocuous vehicle for holding his DX shares.

I vaguely recall the £5m convertible loan from Lloyd to DX, which was part of the rescue by Gatemore and the new management team.

It's the increase in the SP of DX which accounts for most of the astronomical increase in retained earnings.

So nothing to see here!

I suppose with Gatemore on (the) board, then depending on what more we are told in the next week or two, the current situation may well precipitate a sale of the company earlier than expected. I'm sure there'd be no shortage of buyers.

Yes, we've discussed all this already. What we still don't know is DX's reasons for disputing GT's version of events. For this we must wait a few more days for another RNS. We also need early news of the appointment of another auditor.

Since the top banana of Gatemore is also a director of DX, this statement must come close to amounting to an additional, clarificatory RNS. I would take its positivity to be reassuring therefore.

2022 may well pick up, but it hasn't been a great start:

"Carnival is to cut two ships from its fleet as the effects of the pandemic weigh on the industry.
The cruise firm's Carnival Ecstasy and Carnival Sensation will be leaving its fleet this year.
Some of the routes the two ships used to sail on, which include Florida to the Bahamas and Alabama to Panama, will also be cancelled.
Meanwhile, two other cruise liners based in Australia, the Carnival Splendor and the Carnival Spirit, will see their itineraries for the June-to-October season slashed.
The news sent the shares down 4.2 per cent, or 57.8p, to 1331.6p"

Perhaps if GT really were overstretched, they were looking for an easy way out, and this “corporate governance” issue has given them just that?

sister - reappointment wasn’t quite unanimous, but it wouldn’t in any case have been the right moment to get rid of them.

Also, we mustn't forget that this shambles originated following the 6/10/21 RNS where DX said “owing to [GT’s] internal resource issues and GT's need to replace the Statutory Auditor, GT cannot meet its previously agreed audit timetable”. I suspect GT’s own alleged shortcomings will be part of DX’s defence.
.

With the caveat that we’re still in the dark, and that DX dispute GT’s version of events…this sounds like DX’s Partygate, where some relatively minor (certainly in financial terms) “inappropriate behaviour” has been made worse by an unnecessary “cover-up”, or at least a lack of co-operation.

However, though it pains me to say it, the reputation of auditors is not good these days, and I suspect GT should take at least part of the blame for this fiasco. They may be trying to save face by resigning. Who knows? We must wait another week or two for further clarification by RNS…

For me, the bottom line is that DX need to appoint another auditor pdq: if the shares are suspended for six months, the securities will be cancelled from trading, unless an extension has been granted by AIM. Maybe the sudden resignation of the auditor at such a late stage would qualify as an “exceptional circumstance” warranting an extension, but I would hope in any case that the company will manage to file its accounts well before the end of June and avoid having to rely on this.

So it turns out to be positive news - a reduction in audit costs.