Member Info for Russellba

Great RNS. Biggest single deal to date. If this doesn’t move SP up I don’t know what will

And the CEO has bought a further 250,000 shares at around 64p

If offer is expected by 12 September it must mean that things have been going on in the background for quite a while now in terms of the amount of due diligence to plough through along with Darktrace having to prepare forecasts etc.

I agree Sheltie. Those selling shareholders were basically the big original investors who still own the vast majority of shares now along with management and employees. So they have already demonstrated they are happy at prices between 410 and 750. So those new investors although they bought big chunks won’t have enough power to influence the sale of the company and at what price

Placements were
6/8/21. 620p
1/10/21. 750p
27/4/22. 410p
This wasn’t new money. It was IPO investors and Employees selling to new investors.

Clued - I don’t have a price in mind but just caution to the excitement while the SP has been in the doldrums for ages.
If there is more than 1 interested party then there could be a bidding war which will be great. If not then I can see the founding shareholders accepting a take it or leave it bid because they will all cream it anyway. Let’s see how things develop

Agreed. Best scenario is always to have more than 1 interested party. Then the fun begins!

My concern is that most of the large shareholders and management have shares at IPO prices and will sell the company at a discount to its future worth. They will probably even accept 600p and ride off into the sunset leaving private investors with averages above this underwater. Just an alternative view.

The more important guide Rotto was the purchase of 16,500 shares by Non-Exec Chris Jones on 21 Dec which was right on the limit of the close period. He knew what was coming and so I topped up too!

He’s not a Board Director. The option exercise has nil cost so all profit.
They have to cash in at some point.

I think that although the RNS update this morning was positive, the caution I have is that they weren’t more positive about the second half of the year. So they say that H1 has exceeded expectations but that H2 will be in line with original guidance, implying that the full year uplift will be principally attributable to the uplift we have just seen for H1.

The broker note projections seem very bullish. Turnover up to 24m from 9.3m. With EBITDA of 6m. That’s a return of 25%. The increase in revenue in 2021 was 4.8m and yielded an increase in EBITDA of 0.6m (12%).
I sense that the 1.3m of revenue originally to be part of 2021 has been deliberately rolled into 2022 as it would not have made much difference to the 2021 figures so better to get new year underway with a ‘freebie’
Gerry said in the interview that if brokers notes were misleading he would have to put out an RNS to make projections clear.
If we hear nothing then my thoughts about an ultra bullish brokers note are unfounded and we are in for a great year
Interested to hear other thoughts

Still making losses despite huge increase in revenue.

..and it’s showing as a Sell instead of a buy!

Update - I called IG re the block on my account to buy this share. They asked me a few security questions and have unlocked the block. So I can now invest.
They mentioned that it could be to do with the cannabis aspect. Anyway all good and saved me from having to open an account on a different platform. I’ve dipped my toes in with 15k shares
Once again thanks for the feedback on this problem.

Thanks for your feedback. I will give them a call and see what’s going on.

I’m having problems buying in. I use IG platform and it says ‘This is a complex instrument and ineligible to be traded’
Does anyone know what the issue might be?

I agree with your estimations although it seems odd that the trading update is so obtuse. Feels like an exam where they tell you what the cash balance is after having g paid down £5m of debt, now work out what you think the profit is!
One positive for me is that it shows the business is resilient to conditions with or without COVID and cash generative.
Let’s wait for next update and hope they flesh out the numbers a bit more and see if we passed our exam!

What are we all expecting is good news re Mike Lynch extradition situation? Is it if government agrees to extradite? Or if government decides not to extradite him? Either way I guess there will be appeals and further uncertainty

Sheltie - Any exhibits from DT and major players?