Member Info for Qd22

Wow, 29p. And I thought I had messed up when I took profits at 97p and it carried on up. But that's the macro for you.

Couldn't agree more BB.

The Italian government are convinced. You do NOT pave a whole motorway in an experimental material, you do a small area and wait and see. They've done that. They've waited and seen for years. Now they're getting on with it. As long as the earlier experimental areas continue to perform well as they age all is very, very good. IMHO. Potential market... stupendous.

If I wasn't invested here I'd still be v happy: they've found a use for the hard waste plastics that were previously unrecyclable. They can be re-used on site repeatedley. They don't need to resurface as often and when they do it's an easier job, and with much less carbon cost. The potential scale of this is huge. They'll be mining the tips!! LOL.

Hi Mike, maybe I've missed it, but where do you get 16,000 patients? The RNS mentions it being offered to 16,000 professionals and hence all their patients ("The Trellus IBD program will be the only resilience driven self-management training solution offered via this platform to over 16,000 gastrointestinal ("GI") professionals across the US for the benefit of the millions of patients they collectively serve."), but maybe I missed it elsewhere.

..... but I'm happy with the professionals!

And another good one today. Very solid. “Further strong organic sales growth and record orderbook”.

Given the state of the markets I especially like the last two paragraphs:

“ Following the acquisition of CDT in June 2022 and performance related earnout payments during the Period for Cursor and CPI along with some targeted increases in working capital to support growth in the second half of the year, gearing4 at 30 September 2022 was 0.8x. This is well below the Group's target gearing range of 1.5x to 2.0x, leaving good headroom for further acquisitions.

With a clear strategy focused on long-term, high quality, structural and sustainable growth across Europe, North America and Asia, a diversified customer base, a record order book and a strong pipeline of acquisition opportunities, the Group is well positioned to make further good progress on its key priorities.”

Prion25, a big thank you. Just spent an hour or so trying to follow leads from that. Hard to get anything concrete, and the individual companies virtually never get a mention, but at least I saw nothing to indicate that IQE is not still involved. I do get the feeling that the claims in 2018 were pretty hyped: after 4 years of research and labour and many millions of EU labour the Hiperion project still stops short that I can see of claiming what IQE claimed then. I also get a depressing impression that while the EU is at least trying hard to forge and finance collaborations of tech companies and universities/research institutions to solve difficult problems and get back into the game in areas like solar (if I understood it right there were at least 3 EU funded collaborations of companies just in the area of solar, one of which - Hiperion - IQE is involved in) the UK is nowhere to be seen. Scary, as ever.

Thanks for that useful info Basscadet.

Sounds like another "could be" technology for IQE. I'm usually much too trusting, but I receive it now with much, much, caution: whatever happened to solar? This from the 2018 annual results:

"Compound semiconductor technologies provide a route to highly efficient solar energy harvesting. The prevalent solar technology is based on silicon which typically achieves a conversion of less than 18% of the suns energy into electricity.

IQE has been at the centre of developing solar materials using compound semiconductors, which can deliver much higher levels of efficiency. This technology, which is also known as Concentrating Photovoltaics, or “CPV”, can already deliver efficiencies in excess of 45% and has a route map to much higher levels of efficiency."

They merged solar with other sectors and I think that's the last we ever heard of it. Much higher levels of efficiency than 45% would be taking the world by storm now! So would 45%.

So where is it? At least, what happened to it? As investors who put money into the company on the basis of information like that it concerns me that we are not told.

Agreed. For ease:

"Financial and Operational Highlights

Group net revenue growth of 65% to £274.0m (2021: £165.9m)Organic net revenue growth of 31%Adjusted profit before tax up 73% to £60.7m (2021: £35.0m)Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased by 68% to 44.1p (2021: 26.3p)Interim dividend up 25% to 4.5p per share (H1 2021: 3.6p)Significant new client assignments including Morrisons, VMware and VerizonAcquisition of Engine Acquisition Limited (“Engine”) in March 2022, which has been successfully integrated into the GroupIn May 2022 we launched a recommended offer for M&C Saatchi plc (“M&C Saatchi”), which valued the business at approximately £306m
Current trading and outlook

The Group’s strong trading in our first half has continued into the third quarter of our financial year. Whilst we are mindful of the current macro-economic and political backdrop, we remain confident about our outlook.

53% of the Group’s revenues are from the US market, with a further 7% of revenues coming from clients that bill in US dollars."

With currency so dire it's good they remind us of the $ revenue.

Trek, MPAC has popped 25% and I'm the only poster!

Market depression has set in.... Which I should think can only be a good sign.

[MPAC have signed a massive deal with FREYR, who are doing possible $3billion supply deals with energy storage companies. "...an initial three-year period, for the exclusive supply of the casting and unit cell assembly equipment to the battery cell production line at FREYR's Giga Arctic factory in Norway".]

"Mpac Group plc, a global leader in high-speed packaging and automation solutions, announces that it has signed a framework agreement with FREYR Battery ("FREYR"), for an initial three-year period, for the exclusive supply of the casting and unit cell assembly equipment to the battery cell production line at FREYR's Giga Arctic factory in Norway.

FREYR is a developer of clean, next-generation battery cell production capacity, incorporating 24M Technologies (''24M'') SemiSolid lithium-ion battery platform technology. Mpac was prequalified to participate in the competitive tender for the framework agreement following several years of cooperation with 24M on industrialising and scaling battery cell assembly. Mpac will leverage 24M's innovative battery casting technology and in-house expertise and experience in automation and mass production systems to construct and install the equipment."

This is BIG - IMHO. Freyr is big: “We believe this is one of the largest industrial investments in Norway in the post-war period. Some say it is the biggest,” Freyr CEO Tom Einar Jensen told NRK..... - see my post July '21 below.

https://www.energy-storage.news/norways-freyr-battery-signs-us3-billion-off-take-deal-with-energy-storage-industry-customer/

$3 billion deals going on - and MPAC is involved in it through exclusive deals. And it's not foot-in-the-door, it's "come in and take your coat off": ""Mpac has a proven track record in delivering complex industrial machinery, and after careful assessment, we believe that they have the best technical solution for our Giga Arctic project," says Einar Kilde, EVP Project Execution, FREYR. "Our collaboration began with our CQP, where we learned that our two companies are well-aligned in our ambitions for speed and scale in producing clean and sustainable battery solutions.""

Re the CQP: "Previously Mpac was awarded the contract to design and build the development line for FREYR's Customer Qualification Plant (CQP) in July 2021 and this project remains on schedule for shipment in December 2022."

Seems overdone IMO. Topped up.

Thanks jlovie

For me, annoying. Day before yesterday I was looking at a top up, I like the company, but had no money in the right account. Now probably I'll come out in the red, plus lose my stake in a promising company in this key field.

Anyone got recommendations in this field?

Agreed.

Topped up a bit. All those new contracts that weren't RNS'd should get a mention at least in the outlook figures - and the Millingtons have also been topping up a good bit in the meantime. Good cash. I also wonder if the recent driver shortage has meant that companies are looking hard at how to maximise performance and ease for their teams.

PS. and it's interesting who the largest shareholders are: the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and Christopher Mills. The former should know what they're doing in this field, and the latter appears to be investing in his own name rather than the investment vehicles he manages: North Atlantic Smaller Companies Trust. I used to hold that, and it's a good trust.

A LOT of buying happening at this low level yesterday and today. Anyone know why?

I topped up the other day, at 8.65......hoping...... :)?

Thank you, Bigears for that informative and helpful analysis.

Great share, and I've done so well out of it, but I needed money (for CNS, which seems to me like CER several years ago and with a vital product for now), and this is very expensive. Still got half. Sir Humphrey called it a "brave decision".

.... and I'm in today.

Sold a load of Cerillion to do it, which Sir Humphrey might call a "brave decision". That's done so well, the only problem is I'm not quite sure why. Here I really can see why: great progress on all fronts, coming into profitability (a nice stage), unlikely to need to raise soon, fallen nicely recently! [Sorry, peeps :)]

And I can't help wondering if they have the product of the moment? The Ukraine conflict - correction, WAR - has been spilling onto the internet, primarily I hear in DDoS attacks. Which are so easy to do.

I'm no accountant, and wouldn't know how to value this, but I do love the charts.

I'm curious about the large and increasing holding by Sabvest. I know nothing of them except they've been around as an investment group in South Africa for over 30 years and have "interests in ten unlisted and three listed investments". Of the 3 listed investments only the one, CNS, is outside SA. Were we just too good to miss? :)

Thanks - that reminded me to top up at Shanta! :)

This is already one of my largest holdings. Does anyone know if they hold Shanta shares?