Member Info for Silverblade

Morning oogle - I think there may be some contagion here with another of Harwoods stable - RENX - fund raising this morning at a steep discount. VRCI down as well. I don't think EKF needs to raise money.........but some clarity in next weeks results would be good. Its burned through its £20m cash pile at an alarming rate and there is no confirmation on any commercial fermentation deals of scale to date post investment. SB

ART123 - the company has a dual listing on AIM and Nasdaq via American Depositary Shares (ADS) representing two UK AIM shares. Given Nasdaq listing the company is bound by dual listing codes.SB

Sharebel - just a point of clarification - the placing is taking place on AIM. US participants can request shares - but not in the form of Nasdaq ADS shares.

MAJW - my point was to do with a closed placing as opposed to an open retail offering. We have a difference of opinion on the rationale but that's the nature of investing. In the short term the company needed cash and we shall see if this approach works and if there is an appetite to invest at 20p/share. SB

Unhooked - good observations - was thinking similar. That said - this placing does raise some interesting points - specifically around the existing primary shareholders (Sinai, Harwood, Jefferson) in terms of what they know about the unsolicited approach and whether any numbers have been discussed. If so - are they allowed to participate in the fund raise; and is this why the placing share are only being offered to a select number of participants? There was no mention of these three parties taking up the placing which was unusual in these circumstances. Wil be interested to see later today if this is clarified. Having a longer cash runway should help negotiations with potential purchasers - bearing in mind they are raising the maximum possible amount based on current nasdaq 20% rule - with the suggestion that a second placing could take place following the AGM. Also stops a low ball offer forced sale. All medicare, reimbursement, FDA, insurance objectives should be achieved by end of 2024. Interesting times. SB

On the other hand.....isa allowance is now £25k a year.....so its not all grim oogle! SB

Company updating II's today on current progress. One interesting point to note is the panel discussion which includes a review on both Cadent and Angel trains. Cadent is in the news as both Macquarie and Federated Hermes appear to be looking to sell a combined 9.6% from their current stakes (Macquarie hold 26% in total and looking to sell 5%; FH hold 13% and looking to sell 4.6%). The sale value is being touted in the region of £1.3B. INPP own 7.25% of cadent which was purchased for a total investment of £430m. The macquarie deal would imply cadent is now worth in the region of £13B - more than double its 2017 valuation. I am not sure what value INPP currently has for cadent on its balance sheet but its going to be a lot less than the numbers currently being discussed - this adds double digit numbers to its current NAV if the valuation and sale goes through at current levels. I assume INPP are going to brief II's on the underlying value of its investment in cadent - and similar for Angel Trains - in an effort to stimulate interest in its shares. SB

Not exactly sure what purpose todays RNS served. It only reiterated last months Medicare update - confirming it was on an agenda and we should hear later this year if payments have been approved for a company that won’t exist. I assume last nights nasdaq frenzy assumed funding news was on its way, not another bit of news which was issued last month on how much the company might get paid for all the sales it never makes. SB

Apologies oldbut….I should have realised given your previous postings here! I have been surprised at the recent decline here in the last couple of weeks - I expected us to move into the £1.40 territory after the buyback announcement not move towards £1.20. Especially given the repayment of the RCF and effectively sitting on £100m of cash waiting to be invested. It’s getting close to a 7% yield. If I can free up cash elsewhere I will be looking to pick up some at this price. ATB SB

Definitely Looks like there is something afoot given lack of dividend announcement. 93p NAV plus 6p in dividends due this year - c.£1 a share. What’s that worth to potential purchasers - and what would shareholders be prepared to accept. Got to be in the 80-85p range imo - gives purchasers a c.15%-20% profit and a decent exit for shareholders from recent lows. Or hold fast and take money over multi year wind down, SB

Not so sure it’s hiding its NAV - it produces a bi-annual NAV similar to most other funds of this nature. £1.55 as at June 2023- next update due in March covering period to Dec 2023. At some point discount rates will start to reduce which will increase NAV - and as most funds the valuation assumptions are generally quite conservative. Loads of shares traded in last 48 hours - reflecting flow of funds out of sector and negative view of UK - combined with funds no longer actively investing. Although unusual timing given the buyback intro. Still think this is a decent hold - and once interest rates reduce and inflation gets closer to 2% the annual 2.5% dividend increase will do well here - plus decent capital growth upside imo. SB

It was unusual that a dividend announcement was not made as part of the quarterly update on 25th January. Then no mention a few days later as part of the Strategic Review update. Could be they will update in the coming days - or there is something in the background (an offer) - the terms of which may impact distributions? SB

I'm not clear on the cash position Dartron. The comments in the H1 2023 presentation to 30 June 2023 relating to cash balance (£9.2m which excludes Russian cash of £2.4m) do not align with those in the 26 July 2023 trading update (" Group cash, net of bank borrowings, was £6.73m as at 30 June 2023. This figure excludes cash held in Russia which totalled £2.39m at the period end"). Which gets you back to the original c.£9.2m. The presentation then quotes cash at Sept 2023 as £9.1m (ie no cash generated in prior three month period); then remove £5.45m for the Dec dividend and add some net profit for the 6 months to Dec 31.......gets you back to c.£4.4m as at 31 Dec which for me still includes some Russia monies as noted in the 26 July update accepting some are no longer 'locked up'. And if the year end target was £2.4m - what on earth was still burning cash for that assumption to be made? Unless they are messing around with definition of cash v cash/equivalents? I expect a company which has messed up so much over the last 18/24 months to be much more diligent on how it reports fundamental information. Smacks of lazy and lack of attention to detail. 100% agree vig - what a waste of an RNS. 34 target is just so bizarre from our own broker its nonsense. SB

What a largely uninspiring update today. Couldn't even be bothered to reiterate prior guidance on anticipated 2023 financial performance (£53m turnover, £10m EBITDA). Likely breakeven/minor net profit for last year. Current £4.4m cash position a concern given c.50% likely locked up in Russia subsidiary - down from £20m in 18 months largely as a result of fermentation investments and ADL fiasco. Significant risk dividend (£5.4m in 2023) will be cut this year imo. Still no detail on new customers or likely sales/revenue. Back to communication school for learners for ekf....SB

I'm the same unhooked - way over my head in Renx despite selling some last year. We all got blindsided by the focus and success on FDA - and I include the company and its core shareholders in that comment as well. On reflection I should have balanced my healthcare holdings more evenly - something I am now in the process of addressing hence the move to try and pick up some of the vrci retail offer (not that there is much of a discount but I guess I would rather any investment I make was to the benefit of the business) - details were issued today. Mills picked up 3m+ shares and Julian Baines another c.300k. Still a bit of a gamble I agree but market cap is still very small compared to the rewards if they can get all three tests into the market, continue thermo relationship and build an effective sales strategy (Renx take note.....). SB

Morning both - I also noted the VRCI news this morning - I'm pretty sure I will apply for some additional retail shares assuming a 9p offer price - although it will be interesting to see if its pro-rata to existing shareholdings or an open offer with a pre-determined number of shares available. Mills/Harwood taking up placing rights. He also went into ekf for another 100K shares a couple of weeks ago. I'm surprised we have heard nothing from RENX on fund raising - there are lots of reasons for the delay - some good, some bad and some disaster scenario. What is clear is that time has almost run out - Harwood and Sinai need to sort this out asap. Best case scenario for me now is that existing shareholders retain a % of a recapitalised business - that % could be as low as 20% but its better than nothing. SB

Based on todays RNS we can assume that the £200m OFTO realisation has been received and used in part to fully pay off INPP's corporate debt (£80m) and commence its £30m share buyback programme - with c.£1m spent yesterday. Will be interesting to see the pace of spending and impact on price - I also wonder if the company has an internal target on what an acceptable discount to NAV would look like. £100m of further equity investments due to close in near future from remainder of OFTO realisation. Progressive and pragmatic approach from company which should see positive impact in coming weeks and months alongside wider macro benefits later in year with (hopefully) falling interest rates. SB

I think any upward movement will be linked to upcoming dividend announcement and general sector uptick today - and I guess any increasing share price could be viewed as a capital return which is different from the return of capital anticipated later this year. SB

Perhaps Investec/Rathbones felt a bit exposed with 100m shares....or perhaps not. We shall see. For me - a share which at 70p is likely to issue dividends of 7p this year which are 1.2 times covered by earnings, plus a proposed capital return of £50m (c.5p a share) , plus the prospect of capital growth from a low base/significant NAV discount, plus a commitment to significantly reducing its £104m credit facility (possibly even paying it off in full) - GCP offers a substantial double digit return this year imo. SB

Good grief. Getting into the NGS website to see if there are any further details on the upcoming LCD determination typifies what is happening here - layers of bureaucracy to access basic info. CMS will probably publish on the 8th Feb. The fact the meeting is being held on 29th February gives some hope the business might still be around at that point - although of course it had to be on the one day which only pops up once every 4 years....SB

Hi unhooked. Like you and no doubt others here I am feeling a bit of an idiot for remaining invested when it has been clear the company had failed to commercialise its product - gaining FDA approval was a significant achievement but in tandem and bearing in mind the cash burn more attention should have been paid to sales. I think Sinai and Mills have major questions to answer if they take the business private - lots of IIs will get burned who have been supportive and assisted in fund raising. Mills has already alluded to the difficulties in securing funding - perhaps trying to soften the blow. Likely to be a case of what might have been. Doesn’t make it any easier does it….SB