Member Info for Thompi

I don’t know Moni, I do find it strange that HL, the biggest stockbroker in the UK, were not involved in the corporate action. I’m not sure about dodgy, perhaps just badly handled? Mind you, I never received a satisfactory response from HL to my three enquiries. Nor a response from POLB to my email on the 4th May, which I have copied below-

“Dear IR,

Ref Distribution in Specie Shares & Lock-up Expiry

My broker is Hargreaves Lansdown and I hold my ORPH & POLB shares in a nominee account. Hargreaves Lansdown did not notify me of the offer to sell my shares at 5.9p. I have queried this with HL as I understand from fellow investors that Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Interactive Investors & Fidelity all managed to notify their nominee clients of the corporate action offering to purchase their shares.

I received the following response from HL “Due to holding in nominee form, you wouldn't have received a form of election directly.” Please can you provide an explanation as to why some brokers were able to facilitate passing on the corporate action to their clients and some were unable to do so. If the problem lies with HL then I will contact them again as I was effectively excluded from the offer.

Could you also please advise why there is delay in shareholders being able to trade their in specie shares after the lock-up expiry. I understand that the stock is not “live” on any of the investment platforms.

Best regards,”

I still find it strange that HL didn’t pass on the 5.9p corporate action to their clients. I didn’t really buy their explanation that “Due to holding in nominee form, you wouldn’t have received a form of election directly”. I wrote back asking for an explanation as to why they hadn’t been able to facilitate passing on the offer when most major brokers had been able to do so.
I finally got a reply that completely avoided the question and I must admit I have given up, which is probably what they were hoping for.

Hi Moni, just checked on HL and I haven’t received my POLB shares yet.

HL haven’t received their allocation either and in their words have “chased accordingly”.

Each to their own strategy Goinglarge. Personally I don’t think we will see 75p-80p again, surely FDA approval has got to be soon. Wouldn’t necessarily be surprised to see the SP go sub £1 with the current market malaise, but not sub 80p. Time will tell, but I wouldn’t want to be not invested.

I agree Oscar & Conman. I have held firm after the CRL and will look to top up when I can. I am prepared to be patient.

Justin Waite has his critics but he did keep the spotlight on POLX, especially in the run up to the 5th October last year and I always took time to listen him.

The forward looking statement/post period comments in the Results will be interesting on the 18th. Onwards and upwards…..hopefully.

That’s progress Myboycasey. Short term at least it looks like a shrewd move and I totally respect the decision you made.
Mid-long term I hope POLB comes good. HL didn’t give me a choice, but I would have still held onto my shares. Despite some reservations I’m intrigued to see how it all plays out. ATB

About sums up my thoughts too Ricky.
I remember CF talking about the spin outs possibly by Christmas 2020 and yet here we are in May 2022. I haven’t totally lost the faith either, so I’m hanging in there, but CF’s credibility has taken a knocking.

Hi Dote,
HL are being very inconsistent in what they are saying. They told me on the 26th April-
“ I can confirm we have a timeline for the distribution in specie and we are awaiting the shares in from this. Due to holding in nominee form, you wouldn't have received a form of election directly. If you are wanting to sell all, or part of your holding, you are able to do so now as the stock is live on the platform after it's lock-up period.”

Not sure how they can say they are awaiting the shares and then say they are live to sell? Also not sure how or why the UK’s biggest stockbroker platform wasn’t notified of the offer, when it would appear most other brokers have been in a position to notify their clients. It’s all very bizarre.

I have written to both POLB & HL (again) asking for clarification. Goodness knows what response I will get. Bit of a shame really because it does not reflect well on any of the parties involved.

I have messaged HL again ref my POLB shares. Mainly because they still haven’t replied to my message I sent them on the 27th April querying their statement to me that “If you are wanting to sell all, or part of your holding, you are able to do so now as the stock is live on the platform after it's lock-up period.“
My original message was to ask them why HL clients had been excluded from the corporate action giving holders the opportunity to sell their shares at 5.9p.

The lock-up expiry is beginning to turn into a collective embarrassment for Croft, ORPH and POLB, not helped by misinformation from HL.

Thanks Elrico. Seems a bit of a strange comment regarding sending actual certificates for safety reasons rather than electronically. I would have thought it would be the other way round and that transferring them electronically would be more efficient and would negate the risk of certs getting lost in the post etc.
Bit of an inauspicious start to things unfortunately.

Thanks for the update Moni. Flipping heck, what are Croft using? Pigeon carrier?
From the POLB website “ As announced on 27 April 2022, the share certificates will be posted by the Company registrar in the next few days.” I could have understood the length of time 30 years ago, but in this day & age it seems very slow.

Thanks Noel.

Mo has done a brief interview with JW this afternoon.
https://audioboom.com/posts/8077631-mo-khan-ceo-of-open-orphan-discusses-their-new-substantial-contract-and-nomad-speculation

Same boat as you NS1, a LTH who had faith in CF’s words, even up to last summer.
Yes, I am responsible for my investing actions, yes I could have sold at 47p, but I had some trust in CF. Not any more, his “exuberance” and massive over optimism with his timelines still surprise me and his credibility has been seriously damaged. I am glad that Mo is CEO now.

Good summary Roley. Just to add that it is with an existing top 5 global pharmaceutical client. ORPH are obviously good at keeping their customers, who are some of the most prominent names in the industry, happy and securing repeat contracts.
Very positive news.

Thanks Rich, it explains some of the loss today, over 5% looking at the intraday chart.

Toddler04 , your post did make me smile, but I like Moni’s posts. I don’t always agree with them but I do respect his opinion even if he is having a bit of a wind up.

Sorry, wrong thread, the previous post was meant as a reply to Olderandwiser.

I also got a ban for posting the telegram link.

There are some very knowledgeable posters on all three boards if we include ADVFN. The disadvantage with LSE is it’s a bit clunky and limited for sharing links and attachments.

The point surely is though, HotChip, is that you should be able to listen to your CEO with a reasonable expectation that it’s not a large amount of guff.

Hind sight is a wonderful thing and I made a mistake adding last summer in the mid-high twenties. The problem is that once bitten twice shy seems to be holding back many holders from cost averaging down myself included.