Member Info for Silverblade

Jefferson River Capital is one of two family offices financed by Hamilton (Tony) James, vice chairman for the Blackstone Group LP. According to Bloomberg, James's wealth, about $2.5 billion, is spread across at least two family offices, Jefferson River and Swift River Investments. Clearly close links with Blackstone - private equity. Interesting and something we should take note of. SB

Questions, questions….why did our CEO claim this was not required a couple of months ago, has this been done in anticipation of a successful FDA outcome and subsequent price spike (and if so the price discount looks very advantageous), conversely is this to bolster the company’s position based on further cost bursts and lower test sales? The management team are privy to info on Q2 trading and first few weeks of Q3 so are one step ahead of the market. Both Sinai and Mills have reduced their overall % holding after this exercise and we will have a new shareholder director from the new placing entity. Placing is significantly below last years - can’t imagine that will have gone down well. SB

EKF shareholders screwed on Monday, today its RENX turn. And it’s only Wednesday - plenty of time for others in the Harwood stable to get done over this week as well. SB

I think we can see from the share price reaction the TU has been deeply unsettling. There are many questions which have been raised and remain unanswered - the majority financial. Until there is further clarity on exactly what has transpired in H2 there is now a degree of risk attached to ekf that was starting to reduce after its rapid covid expansion and exit. I suspect we will have to wait until the full year results to find out what the real impact of yesterday news will be on revenue, earnings, cash for both 2022 and 2023. The further issues clearly relate to a BOD who appear to have been asleep at the wheel which is equally troubling. £100m in market cap wiped in a few weeks - £25m Harwood/Mills alone. Insider leaks/trading. All very damaging and in the public eye. It will take time to regain confidence - but in the first instance we need a clear and transparent set of audited accounts with an honest narrative to reassure investors there is not further trouble to come. SB

Based on yesterdays diabolical trading update performance from Vrci’s former stablemate ekf, it does make you wonder when/if we will hear from the team here. On the plus side it would be difficult to fare worse than ekf….it was a new low benchmark for poor investor relations and corporate mismanagement. Maybe Vrci is better run….SB

Very disappointing update. Decent core business but we are screwing up both our investment plans and acquisitions. Oh and BTW we have spent all the COVID upside money and in addition have some exceptional costs to close down all the capacity we brought on line to process tests (a simple side line but looks like we have managed to mismanage our foray into that sector) but thought we would wait to drop that nugget until we had lots of bad news to get out. Our CEO is useless and has clearly been running a bottomless investment pit but we will let him hang around as no one else knows what's going on in the US but on the plus side we will bring back our exec chairman who was paid (and others) a £2m bonus 18 months ago for getting the market cap to a decent yet entirely temporary level driven by unsustainable and costly COVID ramp up which has since capitulated as we evidence an inability to run our business. Well done EKF. A total sh_t show. But 2024s looking good eh. Amateur. SB

No problem unhooked. EKF purchased ADL Health from its management/shareholders (vendors) for $10m in October 2021 - the purchase price was paid to the vendors via the issue of 9m shares as the share price at that time was c.80p. ADL Health was a new company and had only been in existence for just over a year having been established to process COVID tests in the US in their certified laboratories - possibly what attracted EKF. The 9m shares were subject to a 2 year lock in period from October 2021. In addition there were some hefty earn out clauses payable over three years but only if that division made $5m EBITDA minimum - which based on our H1 accounts relating to laboratory services is unlikely to be achieved (imo). In a touch of irony after the share price collapsed in spring 2022, the company elected to purchase 9m of its own shares using cash on its balance sheet (buyback) at 40p a share and ultimately cancelling those shares - the logic being that the 9m ADL issued shares only cost 50% of the amount given the company purchased and cancelled the same amount for half the price. Whether any of this has any bearing on what has happened this week I cannot say - I was merely trying to think out loud what could have happened and could be completely off course! SB

C.20% loss of market cap in a week driven by sale of 8.5m shares at 41p (another 3.5m confirmed tonight in addition to yesterdays 5m). So just under 2% of company traded as we await a trading update. Messy. I did wonder if this is ADL holders exiting but they are still under a lock in period - they received just under 9m shares in October 21. Maybe next week will throw up some answers. SB

What we don’t know is has the seller stopped; and if their selling was connected to some activity we are as yet unaware of - possibly linked to the TU. Until these issues are cleared up we will likely remain in a nervous investor market here. I have been an active buyer last few weeks in anticipation of a decent update - timing eh……SB

Revenge is a dish best served and all that!! The move has certainly spooked the market. Just when ekf was moving in the right direction for a change. SB

Goes some way to explaining the bloodbath earlier this week if these are catch up trades. Just over 1% of the business sold at 41p a share - if it’s one of our declared 3%+ holders we should find out who was selling - if not we might never know. Still a strange coincidence with a later than expected trading update - we will find out soon enough if there is a connection. SB

Did you mean the 250K shares trade yesterday Dartron - raised about £110K? Or was there another? Something appears to be up. SB

The last week has been pretty poor here vig - like you I added some shares in anticipation of a decent update. Its low volume trading but its still grim to watch - no reason to think anything is up although based on previous years an update would have been issued by now which in itself is no reason for such a marked decline in a week - unless there are whispers.....sure all will be revealed or not soon enough. SB

On the face of it - good progress despite the macro trading environment. However - as I have noted previously - why are we invested here? The company is trading at less than 4 times EBITDA; has a market value less than the Nordalk acquisition alone (£400m) - not to mention the £150m additional acquisitions. The management team are focused on driving eps because this is the key to unlocking 25m share options based on the results to 31 Dec 2023 - which reach full vesting at an eps of 8p - so don't be surprised if that's achieved this year. I am all for management incentives - but as shareholders we are invested in an undervalued company with no actions from our BOD to address this issue. We are heavily in debt - and the recent interest rate rises are going to start to hurt this year, and big time into 2024 - the term loan repayment has a significant ramp up from £18m this year to £27m next year and a large chunk of that will be required to service the debt - almost £12m per annum based on my calcs at current rates - hence the crucial refence to leverage being below 2.0x otherwise our interest payments increase. So any acquisitions would need to be funded in cash or a placing - and bear in mind last placing was 85p - so I think any substantial purchases unlikely. I liked the business model - but an wondering exactly what returns I expect to see an investor in the business - £100m EBITDA and no mention of buybacks, dividends - or shareholder value considerations. SB

Let’s hope so Chelsea. Would be interested to see how ADL has performed - there were some heavy performance related payments due late last year linked to EBIDTA for that division which look like have been missed. Also keen to see cash flow taking into account ongoing investments - and year end cash at hand. 2023 should be good here. SB

The NAV RNS last Friday appeared here although did not appear on the main RNS release page from what I can see. The gap between NAV at 113.6p and current price is much higher than our peer group - with an independent third party valuation even higher than that. 7% yield still market leading - with hopefully capital growth to come in coming months. SB

Really expected an update this week - looks like next week instead. Similarly might have expected a bounce into the update…..so todays movement a bit disappointing. Will be interesting to see how H2 fared v H1 - it will be down - key issue is by how much. SB

Just to let you know you are not talking to yourself donmac! As you say we are due an update and hopefully a positive one at that. Pity Vrci didn’t manage to get a place in the CKD consortium announced by Renx this morning - but looks like CKD is getting some overdue focus and those in this space should benefit from the early patient diagnostic led approach. Here’s hoping anyway….SB

Looks like the market may have got wind of some news donmac and doesn’t look favourable. Still early days here. SB

Looks like a few of us have been adding Hawker - in anticipation of the 'milestone heavy short term' updates referred to by James McC on their earning calls on 30th Nov 2022. In addition to FDA, LCD - there was reference to a large US health insurance company onboarding testing into their own physician network; the ongoing work to create 'super majority' coverage in Illinois, New York and North Carolina; updates on VA system integration; and evidence that tests are being issued and paid for by insurance companies as part of physician led disease management. If they can hit all of these - this could be a great 2023 - and will allow the company to undertake its funding requirements from a position of strength. Still risk here - but lots to look forward to. SB