Promethean Share Discussion Threads

[gazzabutty] 07/9/2003 13:45

some news out all, what u think?

LONDON (AFX) - PPL Therapeutics PLC said it is considering various options,
including refocussing its business, an outright sale or winding up its
operations.
In a statement, the company said it will present various options available
to its largest shareholders, to secure their support for the future strategic
direction of the business.
The options being explored include restructuring as a business based around
its Fibrin I technology and to bring in complementary intellectual property to
broaden the product portfolio.
The company hopes to conclude these discussions as quickly as possible.

Also Bill McCall has already quit! Wind up option sounds good to me.

[ethics_gradient] 04/9/2003 07:23

U wot?

Is Dolly the Sheep getting treated for depression? Bit late for that! Maybe Ultrasis should issue a free Beating the Blues kit to PPL shareholders:)

[qazwsx123] 03/9/2003 10:07

I noted several important points made by penny share Ultrasis's (ULT) CEO in his inverview to the Wall Street Journal on 6 August 2003 (clearly set for a very strong recovery) as follows:

1) The market for ULT's products embraces three areas: medical/professional, corporate, and consumer (i.e. direct to the public).

2) In relation to all three, the "market opportunity is immense".

3) In relation to the first two, the market is "opening up tremendously at the moment".

4) In relation to the latter, ULT plan to "attack the consumer market aggressively" from the end of 2003 in order to "take us forward quite quickly"...(and stated near the end of the interview)... "to generate revenues more quickly".

5) The changes to the Company implimented during the past 18 months have been "dramatic".

6) ULT's solutions are "leading edge".

7) We should see an "exponential curve" from now on (presumably a rapid company growth curve).

All in all, I found this a very reassuring and exciting interview.

Audio link (starts automatically after about 15 seconds):

[gazzabutty] 26/8/2003 10:14

a small rise on no buys? Am i missing something

[drsmessguide] 20/8/2003 18:33

Just hanging on in there until the death throws

[gazzabutty] 20/8/2003 16:40

well the excitement is killing me!

Is anyone out there....out there.........out there....there.

lol

[gazzabutty] 10/8/2003 10:55

bill mccall is metages guy, he should help wrap this company up asap.

G

[ethics_gradient] 08/8/2003 16:08

Looks like the beginning of the end and price ticking up. Estimates range between 8p and 13p depending on the freehold values.

[gazzabutty] 11/7/2003 09:53

metage and us now control around 30%. Looks very good for a buyout at current, or indeed a sale of the company and cash return. In terms of investing, a very good opportunity imo.

Starting to rise today on what seems quite low volume, just wait until some news is released.

G

[hugepants] 03/7/2003 16:34

Anyone get the feeling Metage are mopping up all the sells? Im happy to keep buying at this price. Im estimating net cash of 5p after recAAT closure costs (2p per share = 2.5M - this is a guess, maybe more or less) and after ALL creditors and on-going cash burn to current date. Freeholds of 5.25p on balance sheet but write-down to 4p. If they borrow on property, or just sell it, they have 9p cash. This should last 3 years at current burn rate (0.3M per month)? So we have a bio with one product that importantly has enough cash to get product to market. Compared to other bios this one stands out as being extremely cheap.

[eugene1234] 27/6/2003 00:09

PPL Therapeutics (PTH): PPL delays talks after Cook taken ill
2003-06-26 (The Scotsman)

[landsker] 26/6/2003 19:44

shareholders should get at least 10p back if the sell of goes ahead

[cvolbrac] 26/6/2003 18:26

Very positive news - finally looks like the end is in sight...

[mjcrockett] 26/6/2003 17:50

....and the buyer is Metage, surprise, surprise. This brings their holding to 20.5% and should herald some radical changes.

It will be interesting to see the impact on the share price in the morning.

MJ

[mjcrockett] 26/6/2003 16:08

Yes a big trade indeed. It looks like 9.64% of the company, which does not tie up with any holding listed. We will have to wait to see who is involved. Is it perhaps significant that they changed hands at the offer price? i.e. it is not someone just dumping shares.

MJ

[hugepants] 26/6/2003 15:30

that was a fairly big trade. 10% of the company!!

[eebbee] 24/6/2003 00:38

I guess the word "liquidation" doesn't help!

[gazzabutty] 23/6/2003 16:30

me too. No idea, just bad sentiment i suppose, staff etc selling shares, quite rightly, ppl board have screwed us all over.

G

[mjcrockett] 23/6/2003 14:45

I would have thought "liquidation" was a nice word, when the assets involved - cash and property alone - are worth much more than the share price. I am amazed that the share price is not moving up. Am I missing something?

MJ

[gazzabutty] 23/6/2003 10:50

good news by sounds for shareholder value? why the fall?

[silentaction] 22/6/2003 16:36

PPL set for break-up, even liquidation if institutional talks fail - report
22/06/2003 14:06:34
LONDON (AFX) - PPL Therapeutics PLC, the biotechnology company that cloned Dolly the sheep, may be broken up or liquidated unless the board succeeds this week in a last-ditch attempt to persuade shareholders to back a survival plan, the Sunday Telegraph said without citing sources.

Geoff Cook, the chief executive, has called a series of emergency meetings with PPL's leading shareholders, including Aberforth Partners, Metage Capital, RAB Europe Fund and Invesco Perpetual, to discuss options for the business, the paper said.

He is keen to placate shareholders, angry that the company's value has dwindled from 100 mln stg when it floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1996 to a mere 7 mln, it added.

The Sunday Telegraph claims accountants at KPMG were asked as long ago as early May to carry out a strategic review of the business, including a possible sale.

[gazzabutty] 21/6/2003 13:43

sounds like we tore them apart! McCall didnt get the nod, however a consultation period with shareholders begains next week to decide the company's future.

from the Scotsman

PPL faces liquidation or sell-off

ANDREW BEACH

DIRECTORS of PPL Therapeutics, the fallen star of Scotland's biotechnology sector, will begin talks with shareholders next week to choose a future route for the company, with liquidation or sale firmly on the agenda.

At what participants called a stormy AGM yesterday - held behind closed doors with the media barred from attending - irate private investors took the company to task over the collapse of its flagship product and the announcement that up to 90 per cent of staff faced redundancy.

However, PPL maintained the support of its key institutional investors, which allowed it to see off a challenge from its third biggest shareholder, hedge fund Metage Capital, which had sought the appointment of a new non-executive director, Bill McCall. McCall's election was defeated, with 50.8 million votes against and 27.8 million in favour.

However, rogue shareholder Paul Scott, who failed in his attempt to wind up the Dolly the sheep company earlier this year, called the poll result a "major protest vote". "The management can't draw any comfort from that," he said after the three-hour meeting.

On Wednesday, the company stunned markets by announcing that German drugs giant Bayer had put on hold a project to commercialise recAAT - a lung disease medicine made from the milk of genetically modified sheep. PPL said it would now concentrate on the development of Fibrin 1, a refrigerated tissue sealant that speeds up blood clotting during operations.

After yesterday's meeting, PPL chief executive Geoff Cook told The Scotsman he had outlined to shareholders the company's options for the future. "The first option is to build the business around Fibrin 1. The alternatives are to sell the company, or to liquidate it and return cash to shareholders."

He said the company would start a "consultation period" with shareholders next week. Meanwhile, accountancy firm KPMG was working on a strategic review of the business.

Tom Sharp, a business analyst from Metage who attended the meeting, said management would have to "put something very coherent in front of shareholders" to justify continuing with the development of Fibrin 1.

"The history of PPL is littered with failed products," he said.

Cook said that at the meeting he was asked "some very direct questions, many of which related to the valuation the company was given when it floated".

He went on: "Some of the criticism was I think a little unfair. The sector as a whole has taken a real battering, and also the current management team has only been in place since the start of last year, and we have worked to extract value from the company.

"But there were a lot of pointed questions as to whether we had destroyed the company's value and whether the company had a future.

"I laid out the options, and really it is now up to shareholders to decide on the company's future. The company is consulting with shareholders and is looking for a clear steer from them as to what is the preferred route."

Scott told The Scotsman that he and other private shareholders at the meeting "absolutely tore into the directors".

"The board are clinging on to their jobs - they are laying off 90 per cent of the workforce but not a single director has resigned or taken responsibility." He said the company should look for a buyer as soon as possible. You can't have a listed company with only 25 staff and just one product. The whole thing is a dreadful situation."

[gazzabutty] 19/6/2003 23:44

shareholder value should be maximised soon. Tomorrow will be very interesting.

G

[ccraig69] 19/6/2003 12:17

Looks like the only hope for any money back is to vote Bill in. It could be worth 12p a share as a brake up. Looks like the managment have lost any credibility now

[vpmd7afto] 19/6/2003 11:11

Think Paul S mentioned something about the value of the sheep being about 1 mill...............don't think you'll be able to sell transgenic sheep for any kind of food.
VP