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| Share Name | Share Symbol | Market | Stock Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Axeon Hldgs | AXE | London | Ordinary Share |
| Price Change | Price Change % | Share Price | Last Trade
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00 | 0.00% | 12.00 | 01:00:00 |
| Open Price | Low Price | High Price | Close Price | Previous Close |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12.00 |
| Top Posts |
|---|
Posted at 29/4/2009 10:32 by m.t.glass Shock and awe at AxeonCreated: 29 April 2009 Written by: Alistair Blair Investors Chronicle The story of Aim-quoted Axeon, a manufacturer of new technology batteries, is brimful of the highs and lows of equity investing. Two years ago, Axeon was a developer of smart batteries with £3m of sales. It was making losses, but growing and had some impressive prospective customers, whose high opinion of its products convinced investors to keep the company afloat. Its big achievement was to supply the battery for the Modec "zero emission" electric van venture put together by Jamie Borwick, a former chairman of taxi maker Manganese Bronze. In mid 2007, Axeon announced an enormous acquisition, of Ristma, which sold £50m worth of batteries a year to Bosch and other power tool manufacturers. The idea was that Ristma's solid cash flow and distribution network would underwrite further development of the emerging Axeon range. Axeon financed the deal with a mixture of loans and new shares, with the loan coming from a hedge fund, Ironshield, which also took shares. The deal got off to a flying start. By December 2007, Modec had placed a two year order for £20m of batteries and enquiries for "road sweepers, city buses, city taxis, scooters, airport vehicles, urban delivery and motor sport applications" were arriving from all over Europe. More money was needed. Axeon raised £12m at 90p a share. And then came the bad news. Apparently, last summer, Bosch's power drill sales went into sudden decline. In September, Axeon advised that instead of making a profit in the second half, it would make a small loss. But by December, further deterioration in power tools meant that the outturn for 2008 would now be "considerably below" management expectations. Reasonable to good news on the emerging smart batteries business was to no avail. Hamish Grant, chief executive and founder of the company ten years earlier, walked the plank. Overheads were slashed and 200 staff laid off. The situation seemed bad but a long way from terminal. I have it on good authority that trading trends in the early part of this year were much less bleak than in the pre-Christmas period. Several well-informed investors, including two individuals previously closely involved with Ristma bought over seven per cent of the shares in December and January. One might deduce that, from long experience, they foresaw a recovery in the power drill market. In January, Axeon said its 2008 results would show a loss of "less than £3m" on sales of £61m. Net debt stood at £6m, and a financial covenant had been breached, but Ironshield had granted a temporary waiver, which the company expected to be renewed. On 2nd April, Axeon reaffirmed Ironshield's "continued support" and said its full results would be out by the end of the month, alongside a formal conclusion over the continuation of the waiver. With last December's shocks receding and the newsflow having stabilised, the shares perked up. They moved from 4p on 2nd April to 9p on Friday 17th and 249,000 shares changed hands at 12p on Monday 20th April. A near run thing, then. If only. I can tell you, because I have spoken to several people close to the company, that there was a lot of shock and awe at 1pm on the 20th, when Ironshield appointed Grant Thornton as administrators, on the grounds that the company was in breach of its loan covenant. And at around 2pm, Grant Thornton announced that it had sold the business to AG Holding, a new company specially set up for the purpose by Ironshield. Creditors would be unaffected, said the press release, but it concluded: "It is unlikely that the shareholders will make any recovery". Meanwhile, AG's press release crowed about Axeon's "promising and exciting future". It is pretty rare for a quoted company to be forced into a surprise administration by its lenders. Typically, you'd expect at least a few weeks of toing and froing whilst the various lenders come to a decision and give the management a chance to find a buyer who will offer at least a few pence to the shareholders. But Ironshield was the sole lender and no-one disputes the legality of its actions. Nor their ruthlessness. Shareholders baffled by the sudden unconditional takeover of their company should note that the takeover rules fall into abeyance as soon as an administrator is appointed. AG Holding was incorporated by Ironshield on 14th April. Between then and 20th April, over 2,500,000 Axeon shares changed hands. A new Insolvency Practice Ruling on pre-packed administrations came into effect in January to extend protection for creditors. Perhaps it needs an extra paragraph to cover shareholders. For registered subscribers, there is space to add comments |
Posted at 22/4/2009 07:47 by propane Sorry for you all, just came across this snippet......SE reveals Axeon loss of £800,000 Published Date: 22 April 2009 SCOTTISH Enterprise has revealed that it had invested £814,562 in Axeon, the Dundee clean energy group which was placed in administration and sold to its largest shareholder on Monday. A spokeswoman for SE said it was "seeking talks... to ascertain the current position". On Monday administrators Grant Thornton warned investors faced "a 100 per cent loss". |
Posted at 21/4/2009 14:46 by frankiestheone i've written off my investment in this, what else can you do. BUT i think that something has to be done to stop this happening again, for the good of small investors that put their hard earned money into trying to support british industry |
Posted at 21/4/2009 07:47 by simonshack hedgefunds again..these vermin should be wiped out not investors |
Posted at 21/4/2009 07:04 by frankiestheone l think we should all spend a little time today contacting the relevent authorities, SFO and alike, higlighting what has happened here. It's not just not about losing money on an investment,It's the way in which it was carried out. if people are aloud to get away with "legalised fraud" then small investors should have some sort of protection. some action needs to be taken for the good of the whole industry, after this, small companies will find it harder to get people to invest and what good will that be |
Posted at 21/4/2009 03:58 by simonshack notice how the city vermin suck investors in by raising the shareprice...how many got stung?MT GLASS? |
Posted at 20/4/2009 17:01 by robson1974 No, i guess shaming them is the only alternative to them showing some charitable inclinations. I suspect existing Axeon employees and management might want to protect their jobs at New Axeon so would not want to cause a fuss. But these distressed debt investors have thick skins and appealing to their 'moral' side is normally worthless as they do not have one for professional purposes. |
Posted at 20/4/2009 16:32 by boffster You could argue that by acting in this manner Ironshield are effectively working against the advance of green technology by screwing over investors and thereby stifling future investment. Wouldn't be good publicity would it? |
Posted at 20/4/2009 15:14 by boffster Look at the bottom of the 'Investor Relations' page on the axeon website.Kind of apt? |
Posted at 23/2/2009 05:09 by m.t.glass Axeon looks to power aheadPublished Date: 23 February 2009 By Hamish Rutherford (scotsman.com) AXEON is expected to unveil a new lithium battery today that could double the range of electric vehicles the fruit of a two-year development programme. The Dundee-based clean-energy company also told The Scotsman that Axeon saw no reason to suspect its lead investor would not extend its credit lines beyond the end of this month. In early 2007 the company, which is developing batteries for electric cars, delivery vehicles and buses, received funding from the Energy Savings Trust to develop products that use a new version of lithium-ion technology. When it announced the programme, Axeon said the new technology was cheaper, safer and could offer a threefold increase in life compared with earlier lithium-ion batteries. Today it is expected to reveal that the new batteries will "significantly" extend the range of the Modec delivery vehicle, which uses Axeon's batteries. Axeon predicted in early 2007 that, using the new technology, the range of Modec vehicle's could be more than doubled from 100km, to around 250km, with the vehicle able to accelerate from a standing start to 80kmph in 18 seconds. Meanwhile, the company played down the significance of the fact that its principal lender had only agreed to waive breaches of its loan covenants until the end of this month. Earlier this month Axeon warned that it was set to post a £3 million operating loss for 2008 and that it had been granted waivers over its bank debt until the end of February. New chief executive Lawrence Berns has held meetings with its principal lender, Ironshield Capital Management, in recent weeks. But a spokeswoman said the meetings were simply regular contact it kept with leading investors. The spokeswoman said: "They're (the investors] very supportive and we would have no expectations that those covenants would not be extended." Axeon has built an impressive range of potential customers, developing batteries for manufacturers ranging from Daimler Chrysler for its Smart car, to German sports car specialist Ruf. But Axeon's development has been hit by a slowdown in sales of batteries for the power tool industry its largest market and a slower than expected growth in sales of electric vehicles. Berns said that on taking a prudent view and a major cost-cutting drive, he believed Axeon could achieve at least break-even in 2009. |
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