Futuragene Share Discussion Threads

[someuwin] 23/2/2010 09:14

Interesting spot jv99.

I see the buysers are out again. I think something is happening here!

[jv99] 23/2/2010 08:13

This looks agreat prospect..just been googling around for some info generally. On the subject of eucalyptus, did anyone spot the brazilian governments ts commitment to use only eucalyptus for iron making. they will put it into law. is this likely to have a positive impact on fgn.

"Green steel for the Brazilian steel industry

Considered as an environmental villain, the steel industry may become an ally of the Federal Government in the challenge to reduce Brazil's emission of greenhouse gases. The proposal presented by the Ministry of Environment aims to produce the "green steel", which uses charcoal from afforested areas, instead of coal, to produce the pig iron (steel with impurity). As a result of the Brazilian proposal, the iron and steel industries will commit to use only charcoal in their high temperature furnaces.

Another point of the proposal conceives that the reposition of the timber used in the charcoal should be of 100% e will only involve exotic species like eucalyptus. This will ensure the preservation of the native vegetation. It is worth mentioning that one ton of pig iron produced from coal emits 1.9 tons of CO2, while the production of 1 ton of green steel removes 1.1 ton of gas from the atmosphere.

The news is good and specialists from the sector believe that, in the near future, the green steel will help the Brazilian steel industry to distinguish from its competitors abroad."

[someuwin] 22/2/2010 14:18

Buyers are chasing this one again!

[n_w_b] 18/2/2010 14:37

I've done a bit of digging on the Internet, looking into another one of FGN's Licensee's for the use of it's cel1 and cbd genes in alfalfa.

The following is taken from Evolution securities "Trade of the Decade" note posted in October 2009, Page 7.

"Land O'Lakes is the third-largest cooperative in the US with $12bn in annual sales. Roughly one-third of its revenue comes from animal feed and another third comes from dairy products. The company supplies c60% of America's seeds for alfalfa, a perennial crop used as cattle feed. Alfalfa is deployed across 25m acres in the US, with c4m acres harvested and replanted each year.

A Land O'Lakes subsidiary, Forage Genetics, produces transgenic alfalfa seeds using the Roundup Ready™ genetic trait4, licensed from Monsanto. This makes Forage Genetics the only company to have sold a transgenic perennial crop. Sales
commenced in 2005, but have been temporarily halted pending the completion of an
environmental impact statement (EIS) by the US Department of Agriculture.

Forage Genetics has signed an exclusive licence to use FuturaGene's cel1 and cbd
genes in alfalfa, and started its first field trials in summer 2009. If the trials go well, Forage Genetics could be selling seed containing FuturaGene's technology by 2012. Based on current alfalfa prices and the projected yield increase resulting from FuturaGene's technology, we estimate this deal could eventually earn FuturaGene a royalty of c$15/acre.

If transgenic alfalfa achieves the same degree of penetration as other transgenic crops in the US, FuturaGene could be looking at a potential royalty opportunity of $50m pa."


Unfortunately in 2007 a federal district court issued a ruling that halted planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa until the USDA completes an environmental impact statement (EIS).

However it looks like the planting may resume this year, following potential USDA approval.

February 15, 2010

USE OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED ALFALFA UNNECESSARILY HELD HOSTAGE
Protecting the environment in the 21st century will require the adoption of sophisticated agricultural technologies including biotechnology and genetically modified crops, according to a study by the Royal Society, England's most prestigious scientific body.

That's welcome news for America's farmers and consumers. For most of the last two decades the United States has been the undisputed leader in the development and adoption of biotech crops, says Gregory Conko, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Ironically, as an increasing number of farmers in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America take up these innovative varieties, burdensome regulations here at home have raised development and approval costs and kept many potentially important products from reaching the market, says Conko:"


..."The USDA issued its environmental impact statement (EIS) in December, and it states unequivocally that biotech and conventional alfalfa can co-exist peacefully."




Also:

"February 17 2010, Article # 15840

The comment period for a draft environmental impact statement evaluating the potential environmental effects of deregulating alfalfa genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide glyphosate, known commercially as Roundup, has been extended 15 days, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced yesterday.

This genetically engineered alfalfa is commonly referred to as Roundup Ready alfalfa. APHIS considered two alternatives in the draft environmental impact statement: to grant nonregulated status to the two RR alfalfa lines, or to maintain the lines' status as regulated articles. APHIS analyzed these alternatives with regard to their potential environmental impacts, socioeconomic impacts, as well as human health and safety impacts.

The comment period will now end on March 3, 2010. APHIS is seeking comment on the draft environmental impact statement and will consider all public comments submitted during the comment period before finalizing the statement or making any decisions regarding the regulatory status of Roundup Ready alfalfa. Preliminarily, APHIS concluded that there is no significant impact on the human environment due to granting nonregulated status to Roundup Ready alfalfa.

APHIS is also holding a series of public meetings where interested parties can comment on the draft environmental impact statement. Meetings took place in Nevada and Nebraska earlier this year. The final meeting, which will be held in Riverdale, Md., is now scheduled for Wednesday, February 24, 2010. The meeting will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the APHIS Conference Center, 4700 River Road, Riverdale, Md., 20737. APHIS has regulated the introduction (importation, interstate movement, and environmental release) genetically engineered organisms since 1986 and to date has authorized nearly 16,000 safe environmental releases of these plants and deregulated more than 79 others.



My conclusion

So with the possible resumption of sales this Spring, FGN could be looking at revenues going forward of $50m pa for Alfalfa, according to the earlier Evolution article.

DYOR.

[safman] 16/2/2010 14:30

though i'd remember him from somewhere, he owned a stake in gold oil a few years back. Not sure if he still has the stake.. owns a few horses, a entrepreneur ..
and he is loaded..

thats all i remember..

saffy..

[safman] 16/2/2010 10:28

Heard of him before in some other AIM stock many fathoms ago.. but good to see him increase his stake on this..

saffy..

[n_w_b] 16/2/2010 10:25

RE RNS just released:

So Dubai based investor Iraj Parvizi has a stake of 8,809,500 ordinary shares representing approximately 15.67 per cent of FGN.

The last RNS I can find, about his previous holding is

Which showed himto hold 5,912,000 ordinary shares representing approximately 15.67 per cent of FGN.

Thats an increase of 2,897,500 shares sinnce the previous announcement.

[leadersoffice] 10/2/2010 13:23

Interesting, lets change the header: 'The Future's bright... The Future is Futuragene'

[n_w_b] 10/2/2010 12:23

Another 1m trade at 11:27; also at 76p.

[n_w_b] 10/2/2010 12:06

As I've mentioned before, I can't believe one of our partners hasn't taken a stake yet. IMHO

[safman] 10/2/2010 11:06

yeah, a breakout....

saffy..

[someuwin] 10/2/2010 11:05

Something's going on here!

[someuwin] 10/2/2010 10:48

Can only buy 1500 online.

[n_w_b] 10/2/2010 10:07

1million trade at 76p...Buy that's pushed the price up recently, or a sell to fill a bigger buy order?

Someone's after a stake. IMHO

[n_w_b] 06/2/2010 08:59

Taken from this weeks Investors Chronicle's Cover story and main feature on Page 25 entitled "CASH IN ON CROPS"; FGN mentioned as a way of investing in the agricultural space.

It talks about the lack of land for agricultural food needs, due to the population increase and how GM could be used to solve the world food shortage to come in the future.

Samples taken from the article, well worth anybody picking up a copy for the full read, or subscribing to IC advantage to read.



'With global population growth placing ever-greater demands on the world's food supplies, agricultural investments could be an important store of value for your portfolio.'



...'Merrill Lynch has said it believes agricultural commodities are still in the early stages of a long term bull run'



...'US agribusiness giant Monsanto has the largest share of the GM crop market, but there are numerous agri-biotechs around the world, including the likes of Futuragene and Plant Health care, that offer UK equity exposure to this major trend. The ISAA expects adoption to rise sharply, and estimates that increased concerns over food security and the growing awareness of the environmental benefits of GM will see the number of biotech countries and plantings double by 2015 as new GM strains are introduced.

Mr Chandler(of Rabobank) says that GMO's are also being developed that allow crops to withstand even the more extreme weather conditions, such as drought or floods, that are usually responsible for supply shortages.'


The last paragraphs referring to one of our technologies, plus ours works in cold climates ;-)

The articles also mentions how land is being taken away from food producing, to producing Biofuels. Another one of our technologies.


Then on Page 48 of the IC they mention buying Sarasin Agrisar Fund. There's a list of the top 10 investments the fund has; no mention of FGN, although they have a 3.1% holding in Plant Heatlh Care that was mentioined with FGN in the other article as UK stocks to buy for exposure...maybe they'll be buying some FGN soon.IMHO

"The Agristar manager has direct access to the Food and Agribusiness Research team at Rabobank, Sarasin's parent company and the world's leading bank focused on the agricultural sector" So that links in nicely with the previous article with comments from Rabobank's Mr Chandler.



So where's the largest market in the world...China...and who's anouncing partnerships, patents and working with the forestry department ;-)


Then there's our Poplar and eucalyptus projects that are in trails in Brazil that make trees grow quicker and are more dense.

Very exciting times ahead, especially when the word gets out in the investment community.

[safman] 05/2/2010 16:57

a nice steady rise is good for the portfolio...

saffy..

[n_w_b] 05/2/2010 16:41

Nice to see it ended up on a aweful day in the Markets; contiuing it's breakout.

[n_w_b] 03/2/2010 20:13

With all the partnerships that they've been announcing recently, I wouldn't be suprised to see one of them taking up a stake in us.

[leadersoffice] 03/2/2010 17:56

Well judging by the last couple of hours trading maybe... anyway, a nice rise.
FGN certainly bouncing back

[n_w_b] 03/2/2010 16:33

Chart breakout and on no news. Or is there something in the pipeline?

[n_w_b] 25/1/2010 22:58

"FuturaGene, the plant technology group, held firm at 70½p on news of a licensing deal with Chinese seed producer BioCentury Transgene. "

[n_w_b] 21/1/2010 20:19

And another 10k purchase, at full offer, after the close.

[someuwin] 21/1/2010 11:10

A few buyers about today.

[n_w_b] 13/1/2010 14:28

That would be nice...although I'd expect them to be bought out and maybe part of Monsanto(or similar), before they're allowed to get that big.

[someuwin] 13/1/2010 13:41

Will FGN become another Monsanto?

(Monsanto current market cap $46 Billion)