focusIR May 2024 Investor Webinar: Blue Whale, Kavango, Taseko Mines & CQS Natural Resources. Catch up with the webinar here.
Coronavirus: UK sent 50,000 Covid-19 samples to US for testing
The government has admitted sending about 50,000 coronavirus tests to the US last week for processing after "operational issues" in UK labs.
The Department of Health said sending swabs abroad are among the contingencies to deal with "teething problems".
The samples were airlifted to the US in chartered flights from Stansted Airport, the Sunday Telegraph said.
Results will be validated in the UK and sent to patients as soon as possible.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said expanding Britain's virus testing network had involved setting up an "entirely new" lab network to process tests, adding "contingencies" - such as sending swabs abroad - were in place for when "problems arise".
SEE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52603566
We need AVACTA POC tests desperately!
Telegraph final part 3
Right now, investors are backing businesses in the race for Covid-19 treatments. Any company that gets a vaccine or a drug into Phase II or III trials is already witnessing a sharp spike in its share price. And, of course, any breakthrough in treating the virus is going to be massive. In truth, however, investors should be looking at pharmaceuticals and life sciences more widely. For the last decade, it has been outshone by the internet and the app economy. But this crisis will usher in a new global age – and one that will allow all its major companies to renew themselves and start growing again.
Telegraph part 2
First, the intense race to come up with a vaccine or effective drug will create new ways of working, collaborations and shortcuts that can be used against other diseases as well. Some of the drugs giants are already getting together on a vaccine – look at the tie-up between GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi for example, which GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley described as "unprecedented" – but once they get used to working in new ways it will spill over into all kinds of other research and products as well. Under pressure, change that might have taken a decade can suddenly happen overnight.
Next, regulations may well be re-invented. Over decades, and for perfectly understandable reasons, we have demanded higher and higher standards for new medicines. But perhaps it has gone too far, or at least not been designed in the right way? There is a fascinating debate underway, for example, about whether "challenge vaccines", where volunteers are inoculated and then deliberately exposed to a virus, rather than waiting for that to happen naturally, should be allowed.
We might feel uneasy about that, but if it speeds up getting a vaccine by six months, then arguably it is worth it (after all, we don’t mind young men volunteering to fight wars for us, and that is a lot riskier, so what’s the problem with them volunteering for vaccine trials?). The important point is this. We may decide in the next few months that the way we test medicines needs a radical overhaul, because faster testing is the only way out of this mess - and that will change the way the industry operates permanently.
Third, spending will be increased. Whatever else happens, governments are going to be spending much more on their healthcare systems, drug development and preventative medicine. We have just discovered what a massive cost an epidemic can impose on an economy. Set against the trillions in lost output, and in extra government debt, whatever we spend on medical care, and on research in particular, is going to seem modest by comparison.
Finally, the operating environment is about to get a lot easier. We are not going to be hearing a lot about greedy "big pharma" over the next few years. If a few companies make a lot of money from a Covid-19 vaccine, no one is going to mind in the least. Indeed, this might be the moment for regulatory change. Legislators might decide to allow patents to last for more than 20 years (perhaps in exchange for lower prices) to encourage investment and innovation – it is a little hard, to put it mildly, to understand why the copyright in a book lasts for 70 years after the death of an author, but the inventor of a drug only has exclusive rights to it for 20.
Right now, investors are backing businesses in the race for Covid-19 treatments. Any company that gets a vaccine or a drug into Phase II or III trials is already witnessing a sharp spike in its share price. And, of course, any breakthrough in treating the virus is going to
Telegraph part 1
Why Covid-19 will spark a wave of medical innovation
New ways of working will boost medical innovation and benefit companies, shareholders, and the wider population
There are three things we know always happen in a crisis. Poor leaders get found out, as voters in the United States may already have already started to realise. The initial response is always completely hopeless, as we have discovered once again in Britain. And finally, and most importantly, whether it a war, a natural disaster, or an epidemic, eventually it sparks a wave of innovation – because in the end human ingenuity always rises to a challenge.
The Covid-19 crisis is, at the risk of stating the obvious, the worst medical crisis we have witnessed in a century. But here is a bet, and one that matters to investors: it will also spark a much-needed wave of medical innovation. The last decade has been terrible for the pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry, with slowing innovation, defensive mergers, and dismal returns for shareholders.
However, that could be about to change because new ways of working will be discovered, regulations will be re-invented for a new era, and spending on healthcare will be increased. The companies that come up with treatments will be the big winners – but the whole industry will start to flourish once again.
Over the next few months, every developed country will work its way through different strategies, from partial lockdowns to social distancing to herd immunity, to cope with Covid-19. But it remains the case that the only real solution will be scientific. Until we have a vaccine, or an effective drug treatment, the virus will just come back again and again. There is no other way of beating it. One way or another, technology will have to rescue us.
The pharmaceuticals industry, although it wouldn’t want it to happen this way, could use a boost. Its giants have all struggled over the past decade, and while the biotech start-ups may have raised a lot of money, very few of them have managed to live up to the hype. Just take a look at the figures.
The MSCI World Pharma and Life Sciences Index, which covers all the major companies globally, has generated annualised returns over the last five years of a meagre 5.2pc against 5.8pc for the MSCI World Index. In the US, the pharmaceuticals majors have under-performed the Nasdaq by a massive 70pc since 2015. For a supposedly cutting-edge technological industry that is a terrible record. As old patents have expired, relatively few new medicines have been approved and the result has been stagnant profits. Covid could soon bring about change.
..........and is now also transferring Affimer reagents to Cytiva to develop a rapid saliva test for the virus!
The Company has, in only four weeks, generated a large number of Affimer reagents that bind the SARS-COV-2 virus spike protein, that do not cross-react with other related viruses such as MERS and SARS, which can be developed into a lateral flow test strip by Cytiva and others, and into other forms of immunoassays. The work has highlighted two of the key benefits of the Affimer platform - the speed of development and specificity of new binders. Avacta owns all the commercial rights to the Affimers and any tests developed with them. The Company aims to have a working laboratory test before the end of May and is now also transferring Affimer reagents to Cytiva to develop a rapid saliva test for the virus antigen suitable for mass screening of populations. The aim is to have this test ready for production as soon as possible during the summer.
Georgia's Oil Co. Prevails In Contract Fight With Frontera
Law360 (April 23, 2020, 6:11 PM EDT) -- The country of Georgia's state-owned oil and gas company says it has prevailed in arbitration involving the Texas-based Frontera Resources following a dispute that arose out of a 1997 production-sharing contract.
JSC Georgian Oil and Gas Corp. said Tuesday that on April 17 a tribunal upheld its interpretation of an underlying contract, at the same time also upholding the majority of its claims brought against Frontera Resources Georgia Corp. and Frontera Resources US LLC.
The arbitration had also involved LEPL State Agency of Oil and Gas of Georgia alongside Georgian Oil and Gas.
The tribunal concluded in the proceeding that Frontera Resources Georgia had materially breached the contract by refusing to relinquish the exploration area — the location of which wasn't described in the statement — back to the Georgian state, Georgian Oil and Gas said.
The award obligates Frontera Resources Georgia and Frontera Resources US to reimburse the amount of mineral usage tax that Georgia Oil and Gas had paid on the Georgian unit's behalf, as well as the costs incurred in the proceeding by Georgian Oil and Gas and LEPL State Agency of Oil and Gas of Georgia. Counterclaims asserted by Frontera Resources were dismissed, according to the statement. The company did not provide specific numbers.
"Currently, JSC Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and LEPL State Agency of Oil and Gas of Georgia are considering further steps aimed at enforcement of the award and implementation of the rights and remedies granted under the contract," Georgia Oil and Gas said.
Additional details about the award were not immediately available on Thursday. According to local Georgian news reports, an arbitration initiated by Georgian Oil and Gas Corporation and State Agency of Oil and Gas had to do with unpaid salaries to Frontera’s Georgian employees. It’s unclear whether the April 17 award relates to that proceeding.
Representatives for Frontera, which says it operates in emerging markets in Eastern Europe around the Black Sea, could not immediately be reached for comment on Thursday.
Frontera is among six investors carrying out oil production activities in Georgia, according to Georgia Oil and Gas. Frontera says that the "core" of its operations efforts is focused in Georgia, where it holds a license for an oil block in the upper Kura basin. The Kura is a river that drains into the Caspian Sea via Azerbaijan.
Frontera was mentioned by name in a letter sent by U.S. Congressman Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to Georgian officials earlier this year, in which he expressed "increasing concern regarding Georgia's continued decline from democratic values and the associated decay of its economic prosperity."
The congressman noted in his letter that foreign direct investment in Georgia is on the decline because U.S. and European businesses have been "subjected to harassment
Looks as if Interactive Investor ii has now made their Frontera Resources 'Inactive' and closed down their chat/messaging thread!
Versarien continue to pursue its strategy to acquire stakes in companies that are able to commercialise graphene applications.
Versarien report ongoing collaboration with the BIGT ‘Beijing Institute of Graphene Technology Co. Ltd’ and CIGIU ‘China International Graphene Industry Union’.
The idea was for BIGT to provide funding to the equivalent of up to 15% of Versarien equity.
This funding should now come from other parties in collaboration with BIGT and CIGIU to enable the transfer of cash out of China.
Gnanomat (62% owned) is showing significant performance from its graphene-enhanced energy storage devices and is in discussions with two supercapacitor manufacturers for “collaborations to introduce the company’s materials into the electrodes of the manufacturer’s devices.”
Graphene is also being shown to produce encouraging results in metal-air batteries, where we believe graphene helps with thermal and electrical conductivity as well as physical and anti-corrosion strength.
‘Versarien now expects to provide a loan of €300,000 this month to Gnanomat and continue to fund the working capital of Gnanomat, as it does in the normal course of business for all its subsidiaries’
Further work includes:
Agreement with MAS Innovation (Private) Limited - global apparel manufacturer which is almost certainly looking at graphene from a wearable technology perspective.
Graphene appears suitable for inks, coatings and flexible conductive pathways in clothing. It should be effective in thermal and wicking (moisture) management and impact protection.
Versarien signed a Commercial Partnership Agreement with MAS on 27 November leading to further discussions with international brands for the use of graphene enhanced textiles.
The company is also collaborating on the use of graphene in consumer goods for polymer structures in plastics.
The team will now move to a field test a pilot run of up to 20,000 bottles following laboratory testing and optimisation of the parameters for graphene in the polymer.
Versarien is also working in collaboration with AECOM on the use of graphene in construction materials.
AECOM has finished testing of its CNCT Arch with Network Rail and Versarien has recruited the AECOM project lead to spearhead commercial progress on the Company's behalf in the UK and other regions.
We expect AECOM to start instillation of its new CNCT arches on rail lines relatively soon to enable better and more reliable signalling and safety on rail lines. This should be of significant benefit to long-suffering commuters.
Versarien holds majority stakes in a number of businesses related to the advance and development of graphene materials with activities in Manchester, Cambridge, Cheltenham and the US.
A hugely turbulent year for FRR stakeholders but a new year and new leaf. So, I take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, healthy and a successful 2020.
For better or worse, we are probably nearing a conclusion to this Saga.
Timings?
January:
News on the Texan case - what information is going to be disclosed/discussed behind closed doors via the issuance of the ‘Proactive Order’. And will it lead to an overall resolution with Hope/OMF on the CLNs? Or Zaza and SM handing over $2m?
Arbitration - allegedly all issues resolved except one. Which one? Handing over 99% of the Block or 50% of the company? Some news on what kind of deal FRR struck to save its soul from the devil.
February
Bankruptcy proceedings continuing/concluding in NY in respect of liquidating FRCC
voluntary withdrawal from the Cali/Fiduciary
Closing of Finance Agreement?
This month is going to be critical, starting next week in Texas.
They are basically well known share Trolls who take great delight in pulling down companies in order to short their stocks!
Lucien Miers a.k.a the Bard of the Boleyn, Lucian is one of the UK’s best known short sellers. TW is Tom Winnifrith is founder and editor of the web site ShareProfits.com. A noted fraud buster and dubbed "The maverick Tipster".
Part 2:
Scale Up: He’s not worried about the scale up, because of the diversity, there is Nanene in two of the Big 5, Graphinks in 2 [ and presumably both of them in the 5th!]
VRS has drawn down money from InnovateUK to scale up Graphinks, and all the collaborators know the current capacity and know how we can scale up.
The much-mentioned 3T/yr capacity is 3 shifts per day for 5 days per week, so some spare capacity. New non-exec Susan Bowen is a scale-up expert and is skilled at holding NR’s ‘feet to the fire’, but of course is not personally involved in the production process, which is only known to three men, NR and two very long term colleagues, JT and SJ, rewarded with potentially life-changing share options, both knarly engineers.
Protection of IP is critical. China would love to have our technology
This is what caused the change of game in China. We were unable to deliver the deal by the AGM, as hoped, while making sure all our protection is in place, this is ongoing.
There are the levels of protection we are insisting on being in place:
* Patents, but which are vulnerable to abuse and circumnavigation
* The equipment is not a single machine but several from different suppliers.
* They would have control systems back to UK; any tampering, machines die
* The recipe - controlled by only 3 men including NR (as with CocaCola)
* Political oversight from the very top, from both governments. National embarrassment if something goes wrong locally. Strong sanctions for transgressors.
* WFOE formed in China with VRS subsidiary in HK, a supply channel to ensure IP control and security
* Maintenance done by VRS, machines leased to Chinese clients if possible
* If you mess up with the IP, you can’t have what’s coming down the line.
I’ve already posted about NR’s motivational priorities:
Duty to family, duty to company and its shareholders, duty to the BRITISH technology which is not to be lost or sold abroad.
We asked about his health. Stupid question some might say, as he looks pretty robust and totally on top of his game (to the extent of sporting a black eye from last week’s
rucking as a tight-head prop at the Drybrook RFC). However, he’s a big boy and says he’s aware of his own mortality, and is far more conscious of his health, with more frequent checks and much less global travel and more down time with family (as we have seen on Twitter).
This is just a distillation of the essentials. We had lots of wonderfully warm asides and funnies about buying an Aston Martin from a frustrated shareholder; he should really go on stage one day with all of this, and we know he’s going to write the book.
Bring it on, I say. What a great evening.
This report was posted by Mike on another thread.
"Versarien Investor Event 2 Dec 2019
Neill Ricketts came to the Pantmawr Inn, Cardiff for an Investor evening on Monday 2 December. The meeting was well organised at short notice by LTH ‘Schmally’ who lives locally. NR says he was expecting 5-7 people and was pleased when over 20 turned up, mostly from the local area, and including some guests. Neill brought Nigel Laughton with him to organise the Charity Raffle (which raised over £400), and also, to our delight, his Dad, who he described as a better rugby player than himself.
We started with a Q&A: My question - ‘On the recent deal with MAS we’ll be supplying Graphinks to the manufacturer, but we have the freedom to strike deals directly with some of their clients, which includes some of the biggest global sports brands. What form would these deals take?’
NR (paraphrased): Firstly is not just Graphinks involved with MAS, it could later be Nanene and other future products. This agreement will enable VRS to agree marketing deals directly with the MAS client companies, and any other clothing brand. MAS are cool about this, because we may in future bring new clients to them, as we are getting enquiries about textiles from companies who are not MAS clients. (NR explained this better in his VOX Markets video yesterday, describing the ‘pyramid’ process of contracting with a top firm in an industry, like MAS, and letting the lesser players come to VRS/MAS for their Graphene textile solutions).
What is VRS’ relationship with the City? (we got a bit side-tracked into this)
NR: ‘We must be the most unpopular quoted company with the City, because while sticking with the AIM rules, I don’t play their games. We don’t control the deal flow, so it happens when it happens, so we don’t mention big names prematurely which would just send the share price higher - the metrics will catch up eventually. This is completely at odds with the way of the West Coast where I spent some time, That was bonkers, and it’s not our style although my way does not suit the likes of Lucien Meirs’. [hence the attention from the TW brigade; the naivety of some investors who follow them seems not to be lost on NR]
The Big 5. As quoted by NR (and now modified on his advice!) these are:
* Textiles
* AECOM polymers and concrete
* Oil & Gas
* Aerospace
* China
These are the ‘quickest to market’, but behind these 5 are 30 other priority targets with about 100 coming along behind.
Part 2 to follow!
Fozz - is it really grim reading? What the liquidator is facing here (in term of gathering the information) is faced in 99% of cases where a company is ‘In administration’. Papers are all over the place, people not to be seen, equipment/computers missing, reconciliation of bank statements, phone bills etc. Also consider why did Hope rush to fire the Directors of FRCC and now he (via FTI) is saying they are not ‘playing ball’, what the ‘fk did he expect? Having said that, it is also clear SN and ZM are dragging their feet and drip feeding information to FTI.
But a liquidators job is very hard, putting together all the pieces ‘after the event’ is painstaking and expensive. FTI petitioning the US through this latest submission process is essentially trying to expedite the recovery process but will cost money which the FRCC does not have so Hope is funding.
Also you should challenge some of the above statements because on numerous occasions they ‘we believe’ or ‘we understand’; these are assumptions and cannot be accepted in a court of law without supporting facts.
Nevertheless, the above document was useful because it did fill in afew blanks, particularly on the ongoing Arbitration and the transfer of the PSA to FRUS (which now becomes the most critical issue now, both to us and Hope).
As far ZM not reaching out to shareholders, it is now abundantly clear that he cannot given the multiple legal proceedings.
So in conclusion, still very bad situation but if they can resolve the PSA dispute, I think the pieces will start to fall in place, including financing or a farmout. FTI are only concerned with recovering money for Hope and if you gave them the cheque, they will be gone. But I can’t see that happening given the Texas and California cases.
Not great but not grim either. Grim was last year when we got delisted, got a bloody nose (unfairly) in Cayman and a slapped knuckles by Jg Seeborg.
Still could get worse… or better.
No direct comms since January is something I don’t believe FRR was anticipating when they told us that they would continue to inform shareholders via RNS-Reach service and hold regular investor meetings. So what’s changed? I think the case in Cayman was mishandled by our legal team, and when it became clear to SN+ZM, that their team had been infiltrated by the enemy, they legged it to California. Perhaps that is why they are holding back the payments to them? I speculate of course. But just to be balanced, Judge Kawaley was also hoodwinked and his initial judgement did us no favors. However my theory has some credence because FRR declined to Appeal in the Cayman’s, which would have been the natural process but didn’t choose to because they could not trust anyone in the Caymans.
Nevertheless, this prolonged silence has created doubt and frustrations amongst the faithful, which is completely understandable. Against this, we know that company is still fighting on many fronts: 1) In California where it has secured more time to complete its due diligence via the Discovery Order. And 2) In Ukraine where is has officially lodged a complaint in the local court and escalated it to a number of US Authorities. These are signs of life and therefore, we need to let them get on with it until such time, they feel they can engage with the shareholders. When will that be? I really don’t know. But I think FSHG should continue to politely ask for a 1-2-1 with Zaza when he is passing through.
Anyway, the big significant unknown is the situation with the US$2.2M debt that was owed to YA by 1st July. Just getting some indication that this has been dealt with, could be a massive positive on many fronts. I do believe YA are the linchpin to the ‘illegal interference’ claim and market manipulation that took place back in late Sept and October. I definitely recall the unexplained big volume days – c.800m exchanged hands in a matter of few days; did Hope jettison 500m shares that we was expecting from Mssrs SN and ZM?
On a final note, seeing the increased troll activities across a number of BBs, in what is supposed to be a very quiet period, says a lot……
Always thought the DoS was a procedural submission and I never really gave it to much consideration. Once FRCC was put in to voluntary liquidation last May, it kicked-started a standard process and our task became hugely complicated and expensive. FRR tried to stop the VL in California via the TRO but failed miserably. The complication being that FRR had to move the PSA to a new entity and quickly.
Personally, I think FRR have either secured new financing or a JV deal but is being held up until B12 PSA has been secured in a new entity (Frontera Resources US?). Thursday’s court Order gave FRR some breathing space, maybe to finalise these arrangements, although whether this transfer is legal or not, well, let them argue this in the Georgian Courts.
Remember a creditors main motivation is how to best recover his money and not to takeover the company. Hope’s actions reminds me of that kids story, The Farmer & the Enormous Turnip. Hope thinks he is in a strong position and can just ‘pluck’ FRR out of the ground and keep it all for himself. Well, it seems this turnip is pretty deep and it will take him lots of money and energy to get it out.
As far as the Cayman Lawyers writ is concerned, I distinctly got the ‘feeling’ (from reading the court dox) that there was some collusion going on between them and Hope’s team; advising them to sue SN & ZM and to do it now! Again, just supposition but is it not a coincidence that just when Cayman writ was issued, bang-wallop, a new summons gets issued in Texas. Talk about putting our guys under pressure.
Anyway, at the end of the day, I still think we have a mountain to climb but we now have two instances where the Directors have issued their personal guarantees for the company’s obligations. The Caymans lawyers may face some delays in getting their money but they are hardly losing out with a whopping 20% interest rate on the outstanding amount, I am certain they will get paid sooner or later.
Anyway, I am more concerned about the YA debt, if no news there, I would be delighted.
All in my humble opinion.
cazbraz...Thanks for that appreciated. It's a bl**dy maze currently just trying to understand the certificate situation. will keep watching! cheers
How do we know they are back on crest. Can this be confirmed?
I know it should be Argentina [instead of Georgia] but after reading the Judge’s comments on the fiduciary case, that song just kept coming in to my head.
Anyway a few thoughts [for what they are worth - probably not very much]: Clearly the Judge thinks the case presented by the FRR legal team was weak [I thought it was good].
We knew getting a preliminary injunction would have been difficult as proceedings had already started in the Caymans. Strangely, Judge’s comments have probably provided FRR Legal Team with enough guidance to go back and prepare a much more stronger case. Also, he seemed really upset that FRR did not disclose the Caymans case, although what difference that would have made, I don’t know [as that case was mutually withdrawn without prejudice]. But with hindsight, FRR should have said something on the Caymans as TRO and the preliminary injunction were directly related to actions in Caymans. But this omission definitely crystalized Judges negative thinking towards FRR.
Anyway what I find a little more difficult to understand is that, I thought the onus was on Hope to prove that his actions were ‘equitable’ to all stakeholders, but not this Judge - he apparently wants FRR to prove that Hope actions were not for his own benefit. Seems obvious that any Creditor sitting on the Board has to a act in an fair and independent way, and should recuse himself in discussions where he is conflicted but apparently not with this Judge.
More twists and turns to come me thinks. Yes, the signed submission of Solvency is a big positive, as is BP ramping up activities in Georgia. Coincidence? Perhaps. Pointing to a deal? Very likely.
Stay tuned for the next big turn…
SB's 2nd post just now...."Lots of jittery shareholders nerves around Fozz but our solace (for now) should come the fact the Directors are fully aligned and are fighting this court case hard with Hope, with top notch lawyers. In fact I think FRR lawyers played a bit of a blinder in California. Consider this, FRR’s preliminary submission was ‘light’ (deliberately?) and Hope’s legal team responded with a robust rebuttal, but in their response, they did not address the primary allegations of breach in his fiduciary duties, which is what this case is about! Finally, FRR team countered with a damn strong response quoting relevant test cases and legislation. It will be interesting to now hear how they intend to re-address or justify Hope’s own admission that his primary focus on the Board was to protect OMF debt. This case could potentially become another test case where a Creditor takes on a Board position to protect his own interest (and what NOT to do). If he is found guilty, they will throw the book at him because the Court cannot allow any Creditor to behave in a toxic, self serving (but privileged) position."