The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
Letting the court cases run their courses is definitely the most viable option for Sycurio and Livingbridge, in my opinion. They already know that they won’t get the management team to stay, so they have to hope they can trigger a management exodus from PCIP by wearing them down. The hope would be that new people would bring anew perspective on a 90p bid and a quiet life will be the clincher. Fortunately for us, PCIP seems to be as solid as ever.
I locked in future dividends before a drop in interest rates. Even if the yield comes down to 5%, it is a good share to own under a Labour government. £1.42 will be the next pause, I reckon... but then I'm biased too.
My daughter tells me that Docs are the must-have shoe at her school... which means it is a well recognised brand from 11 up. Imitations will not do, apparently. Not many opportunities to buy a famous brand like this.. So, cut the dividend and pay off debt (already factored into current price) close shops (straight to bottom line) return to well-made, simple designs (reducing design and production costs). In effect, a reboot that's entirely achievable in the right hands. So perhaps...
well, judging by the employee discontent and staff turnover, it’ll be hard to bring in a team that will last long enough to understand the true nature of the **** up, let alone fix it for livingbridge. so that narrows it down, i reckon.
So the appeal goes in at the last moment (because Sycurio can't be seen to cave) and, despite what their lawyers say about it carrying no weight in the US, it clearly does affect the mood music. They would be crowing about it if it had gone their way. This is the moment when Sycurio needs to look most strong and confident and play the US v UK card. And this the moment when PCIP mustn't blink. It's that 'end of the beginning' thing...
The market seems to thinks they will go ahead with the appeal, so they can argue in the US that the case isn’t over. It’s all about trying to convince the judge that they have a case, which is why Sycurio are delaying everything as much as possible. They are hoping PCIP will spend all their reserves on the case and not on the business. In the long run, it’s unsustainable for Sycurio. In the short, it’s still going Sycurio’s way… however pyrrhic that may be. I definitely sense a buying opportunity here… when they go to appeal, but PCIP need to stick to their guns and we have to be patient.
My thought on the lack of announcement, for what it's worth, is that the UK judge will have been aware that the court case was about to start in the US and therefore was always likely to withhold any announcement here to avoid conflicting the US. So it's more likely to come when that's over. Nothing more sinister than that (hopefully).
I have been watching the big numbers of shares going through as unknown trades since early January and I'm wondering why. The directors' buys appeared, but there's about 3m more shares gone through as unknown trades, with more today. It feels as if someone has their foot on the brake while they collect - but in this market, who knows? Did I miss the analyst's meeting?
I would have though management have pushed off the analysts meeting that far because they'll know the outcome of the patent case by then. By law, each side has two weeks to decide what to do (appeal or not) after the judge's findings. On that time scale we must be in the latter stages of it now... either way.
Just checked the UK court case number. Original applications made on the 9th Nov with continuing exchanges on the 22nd. PCIP have moved for dismissal on the grounds that the patents are too vague and were in pre-existing technology.