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So assuming all the institutional votes were cast, it means that the PI vote was almost 100% against Marsden. Perhaps TFG see RM as a "useful idiot" in their grand scheme.

It will be interesting to see how they mobilise the PI vote for the EGM, or whether there will be market exercises before then that dramatically alter the shareholder population.

Aren't we all Fruits? However, Marsden is the Reg Varney of this piece, with P-B as Evel Knievel jumping a multiple number of buses. Ding ding.

Yup, slow and steadily down 98% over three years.

In any case Fruits, P-B's own network is closed on there. Connections only show up if they react to his posts. Perhaps you learnt your LinkedIn knowledge from RM?

That comment is laughable Fruits. Silent waters run deep and all that lol. He's simply not at the races and has taken his position for granted for a longggg time. I admire your loyalty, but I do wonder why.

Anyway, Marsden is yesterday's man. P-B, with Mankowski, will be running the show now, thankfully.

...in reaction to Mark Parry-Billings post on LinkedIn that he was looking for new opportunities. And the comments show how respected and liked the man is. And note "no ego" in making that post in the first place, makes a nice change.

It will be interesting to see how his 500+ connections in the pharma world respond when he updates his profile with the Chair role on there. They might start looking up this little company called Synairgen, and judging by the last two days' trading, the SP is pretty elastic on small volumes.

By contrast, Marsden has 36 contacts on there and is dormant, living forever in the business world of 2005 it seems. Couldn't care less before about projecting the company in the public realm and protecting the SP before, but perhaps there'll be a change of his cryogenically-frozen heart now his stake is affected..?

Thank you to all for the extensive feedback from the AGM, there was a lot of effort that went into that.

Equally, the actual questioning at the meeting was comprehensive and challenging. It sounds like - as per usual - the BoD lacked the humility to apologise for their role in the 98% drop in the share price, but all of the well-warranted criticism was conveyed and they had to hear it - well done everyone.

I'm amazed that Marsden has clung on - when Monk left and the accompanying RNS promised further Board changes (note the plural) then I didn't expect it to stop at Shaw leaving.

The determination to make the funding solution an inclusive exercise with the shareholders is a real positive because it provides an opportunity to reset the SP by direct intervention. In any case, the external (Chiesi?) involvement and funding commitment will raise the valuation of the company by far more than any dilution effect when we're already down at fourpence. My guess is that the actual equity raise may just form a marginal part of the funding package, but the direct intervention does enable an SP reset as mentioned. It will interesting to see whether there is "a sequence of events" leading up to the EGM, and whether the short-term trajectory of the SP is a consideration. Given that an EGM requires 14 days notice, then we should start hearing the proposals soon.

The most reassuring thing here is that both Monk and Shaw are now in the same boat as regular shareholders. To relinquish their Boardroom control over the company's destiny (and in the Pipmonk's case, forfeiting the employment mechanism that would have enabled him to receive "new" shares or options in any restructure) suggests there's a satisfactory deal coming down the track for existing shareholders.

Finally we're on the up methinks. GLALTHs!

Fruits, as you well know, TFG couldn't act to date because they couldn't break the familial ties in the Boardroom. They finally snapped with Marsden's shenanigans around a faux strategy to surmount the Going Concern hurdle, taking the Annual Report to the wire, and missing the AGM deadline. All of that was too much for the rest of them, ultimately they're more selfishly concerned with their personal liability than obeying the "thick as thieves" mantra.

Marsden should be gone anytime between now and the AGM. A narcissist does not voluntarily face the mildest criticism, never mind an avalanche of it. He's still negotiating but he won't attend. And since non-attendance is probably gross misconduct then he risks the sack and losing unvested options and 12 months notice pay, so he needs to get his negotiations over the line before then. Remember of course, he banks £7k for every week this drags on - £21k since refusing to bow out with Monk - so every extra day is kerching.

Parry-Billings has come in to run the show with Mankowski. Note how P-B didn't mention "RICHARD and his team" when he said how he was looking forward to working at Synairgen - it's standard fayre for the CEO and Chair to acknowledge one another in those appointment announcements, and they didn't.

Chiesi are a private company; their latitude to hatch something with TFG all makes sense. They both just needed the Synairgen Board to acquiesce, which has now happened.

So this is all being prepared for a transaction of some kind with Chiesi. It might start with funding a trial, it might go straight into a full-blown acquisition. They did a $1.4bn transaction in January 2023, they have the firepower.

As for ourselves, Phillip Monk is now in the same boat as us and his lawyers must have had sufficient insight to ensure that his equity position is protected. Ergo ours.

Hang on in LTHs, it's about to get exciting.

AIMHO DYOR

..and certainly not UK listed company governance - he's been in Italy for years.

He's the new CEO, come to oversee an operational transfer of the business (who would walk into this without a funding solution in place?). I imagine TFG are handling the actual transaction. And they want their £60m back of course.... £1 ps. Happy days.

AIMHO.

Karley - the job description gives it away. It's not just a ceremonial role signing off the Board minutes every quarter (as DocDan alluded to). Plus the guy is not really obvious AIM Chair material, out-and-out corporate governance doesn't major on his CV.

Familial ties broken.

Monk gone. Marsden still negotiating.

New CEO arrived albeit in the guise of an Executive Chair replacing a Non-Exec Chair.

Tbf to Simon Shaw, he is willing to front up the shareholders at the coming AGM. I think the announcement today was to hit the 21-day notice deadline and come good on the “early October” promise. They obviously weren’t prepared to sacrifice that (as Shaw's final promise) and so Marsden’s brinksmanship has failed with today's announcement. Now the boot’s on the other foot – Marsden’s hubris won’t let him attend the AGM and face an avalanche of criticism, so now the clock’s ticking for him, unless he plays truant. But that’s high stakes – miss the AGM and risk being fired for gross misconduct with no 12-month notice payment nor many of the other goodies that are currently on the table? Hmm.

Anyway, enough of that self-serving clown. Instead, we have a new quasi-CEO who just happens to have merged businesses like Synairgen with BP. And interestingly, for his latest employer, twice; an employer who still holds him in high-esteem noting their Comms Director’s comment on LinkedIn. I do wonder whether his “departure” from Chiesi was orchestrated to provide a window of independence and avoidance of any conflict-of-interest accusation before he takes Synairgen on a silver platter back to Parma, having come in and done a bit of DD first?

Anyway, great news today. Well done Simon Shaw for doing the right thing at last and facilitating a way forward.

DocDan - I agree with your analysis of TFG's original investment thesis, but post-Sprinter they moved quickly to invest further to protect their position, so I don't think they've ever viewed this as a write-off. They have just had to bide their time, and now the AR/AGM shenanigans and dwindling financial position have been the catalyst for action.

Anyway, we'll all know within the next fortnight whether there's anew CEO inbound.

"I don’t see any reason why TFG wouldn’t back them"

TFG blocked them raising any further capital. And they haven't given them a penny themselves. So they haven't backed them at all.

Dippfs - perhaps a 98% crash in the value of their investment, together with a review of this "best in class" management team's achievements over the last three years, might have caused TFG to revisit their thinking?

Pmjh - just my interpretation of the latest RNS. I could be completely wrong. The main "tell" for me was the absence of any comment on Monk's departure by Marsden. Then the logic of clearing the decks before a new CEO comes onboard adds to the rationale. And, of course, the comment about further board changes.

If Marsden doesn't go then I will be in tears. And I promise not to come back on this board.

Fruits - I was sorry to expose your extremely limited understanding of the practical application of corporate governance in these fast-moving situations lol.

DocDan - of course my theory is only a guess. But what I do know for certain is that the auditors go through the narrative in the Annual Report with a fine toothcomb to ensure there is no contradiction with the figures or disclosures such as the Going Concern statement. Therefore the directors cannot be flowery about the value proposition where the company is incapable of realising it. For me, the original broad-spectrum anti-viral potential is back on the table for a BP acquirer.

If we get a BP exec in as the new CEO, the market will stir.

DocDan - my interpretation, which I know was different to yours, was that the company was simply trying to get through the Going Concern sign-off and having to match a stated strategy to the funds available. Reading Karley's quote carefully, they didn't rule out the concept of alternative treatment uses, they just recognised Synairgen's capacity limitations.

Basically, the overriding GC requirement narrowed down the stated strategy; but the art of the possible still remains.

Have shareholders been misled by omission? It would seem so by your's and many others' interpretation, but I don't think the company could care less; they satisfied the auditors and that's all that mattered to them. By contrast, I think that the incoming CEO will launch a charm-offensive with the retail base - because ultimately we are needed to vote a transaction through.

It's game on again.

The execs have two contractual relationships with the company, as director and as employee. The first can be terminated by an ad-hoc Board meeting at any time by telephone if necessary, but the outgoing director usually has to agree as it's actually quite difficult to fire a director in company law. The employment contract can be "paid up immediately" or whatever like any other employer-employee relationship termination is dealt with.

For all we know, the entire process could have been both initiated and completed in the last week.

I would imagine that TFG are now calling the shots and want a BP-friendly CEO with a remit to do a deal with BP. An existing BP executive probably fits the profile and it will have taken a couple of months to secure them. But the latest RNS suggests things are virtually in place. A new CEO doesn’t want to initiate a bloodbath hence the dealing with Monk’s exit prior.

Alongside RM’s departure, I suspect that out of the NEDs, Flic Gabbay will go – for some reason the Head of the Remuneration Committee doesn’t fancy AGMs. Amanda Radford may also have had enough after the last-minute audit sign-off debacle and call it quits. Call me a heretic, but I actually think Holgate should go. As the custodian of the science, like Monk, during these past four years of the world’s largest ever pandemic in history, the failure of it to contribute by keeping a broken corporate vehicle on the road is an indictment. The latest RNS emphasised the continuity cover through Mankowski I note.

Whether the CFO goes is a guess; he hitched his wagon to Marsden’s which doesn’t bode well, but TFG and the new CEO (who would usually want their own CFO pick) might just keep him in position to avoid operational disruption, particularly if a BP deal is largely being architected by TFG anyway. Last but not least, the final scene is where a new Chair gets appointed and SS falls on his sword before the AGM. There won't be so many familiar faces at the AGM.

This will get exciting now; the multi-viral potential will come back on the table and the strategic retrofitting of the ventilator-only trial to an auditor-friendly financial forecast will become a thing of the past.

Where’s the poster who draws the rocket?