The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Wow this evening’s RNS’s are most welcome.
Cannacord Genuity Group and Amati Global Investors taking big chunks of Itaconix.
I must admit I had been debating whether to sell some of my shares but I will be holding onto them hard now.
Don’t forget the last RNS was released at 12pm.
I think future plans will include reducing the reliance on China. Geo- politically the US - China relationship is continuing to deteriorate and raw material supply must be secured or there is no business. I favour the bio-refinery JS has mentioned in the past.
Excellent news. Hold on to your hats this morning!
I have submitted the following questions:
Question 1:
In the past John has talked about one day having a bio-refinery. Are there now plans to take this forward or alternatively are there any plans to invest in a new production facility in Europe?
Question 2:
With the recent appointment of Paul Leblanc will there be an indirect or direct working relationship with Bemis?
Well we will get our opportunity to ask next Wednesday!
The fact that the share price has held up following its recent rise suggests there is optimism that a financial package will soon be announced.
We won’t get the detail. They only share what they want to when it suits them. It’s always been opaque what private investors get to see. They are a predominantly private company and we are just a very small slice of their pie.
Could it be that they’ve agreed a price for a new equity raise which is higher than the current share price?
Hopefully financing announcement on the way
@Mickey thanks for the tip on caracal. Just bought 250,000 shares. If that financing agreement comes in…
No idea what effect each RNS will have but I think it’s a dangerous game to sell in and out in case you miss the next RNS
Looking through Steward1’s helpful list of potential upcoming RNSs below, one would imagine RNS announcing delivery of diamonds should be coming soon:
• Signed High Court order - check
• Delivery of diamonds
• Valuation of diamonds
• Sale of diamonds
• Confirmation of diamond JV
• Plans for re-starting diamond mining
• BP output and sales to confirm now in profit
• Other potential in Zim?
Yep!
“We are delighted with our oversubscribed placing with new and existing investors, raising approx. £10.3m, plus an open offer. This supports our continuous improvements. With our ingredients now also used in over 140 consumer brands around the world, we are positioned to lead in the low-carbon economy”
There is also a link to the Shares Magazine commentary.
Hefty buys going in following mini sell off on the lunchtime RNS. This week shaping up to beat last week’s high of 1.1
Placing removes a lot of the risk and worry for investors. Company had no problem raising the cash. Solid base to build on. Very exciting times
Verney lol
Yeah their updates have always been opaque. They share enough to keep you interested but never the full picture. They are AIM listed but very much run like a private company. I guess that’s a reflection of how little of the company is actually in the hands of private investors such as ourselves. But as I say a small slice of the cake is better than nothing!
The FinnCap research note also published on Friday is the closest you get to a proper outlook.
Hi JD
Regarding my comment about being ahead of market expectations, their revised broker forecast revenue after the H1 update was $5.2m.
It certainly wasn’t ahead of my expectations which were circa $6m - $6.5m given the H1 revenue as you’ve rightly pointed out.
Anyway feels like the start of a new chapter now.
Amidst all the focus on the enormous £10m plus placing the trading update was almost forgotten about. Within this it highlights why such a large placing was required:
$5.6m revenue beat the market forecast of $5.2m but truth be told I and I think others were expecting a bit more. A notable disappointment was Home and beauty revenue which actually declined in 2022 from $0.5m to $0.3m. That is particularly disappointing when they are quoting an addressable market of $200m. Yes it’s early days but clearly they have not successfully marketed that side of the business at all in the past 12 months.
The other disappointment was that gross margin only slightly improved. I’m guessing by 1%. It was such a small improvement they didn’t bother to quote what it was!
Therefore after several itty bitty fund raises I was relieved to see the company go for it big style. I’ve made a list of what I consider the main advantages of this and I’m sure other LTHs can add plenty more:
1. Long term assurance and removal of doubt about “will there won’t there” be a fund raise in the medium term.
2. Funding at a level to deliver the lofty revenue growth targets JS has talked about.
3. Funding to support the expansion into Europe.
4. Funding to support product development and more importantly marketing. In particular Hair Care has been identified as a massive addressable market in the RNS.
I think hair care is particularly important as it has the potential for much higher gross margins compared to ingredients for detergents.
5. Funding to drive Super-absorbents forward. The RNS says this hasn’t even started yet. I imagine the addressable market is as big as detergents if not bigger.
As LTHs we can now sit back and watch the company’s expansion with peace of mind that they have the funding fire-power to deliver everything they have talked about.
As to what this means for share price? I expect to see a steady progressive and sustainable uptick in share price moving forward rather than the erratic movements in share price we have seen over the past couple of years.