Allied Minds Share Discussion Threads

[spectoacc] 23/4/2021 06:59

@kooba post #2473 - that sums it all up! Fair point that Invesco in particular have been a major block (as they are on everything, everywhere - often large holders who never support change).

[buffettjnr] 22/4/2021 22:48

Both but very small in CA

[kooba] 22/4/2021 22:15

Are you a shareholders in CA? Or AM ??

[buffettjnr] 22/4/2021 20:54

Completely agree on both counts @flyfisher

[kooba] 22/4/2021 20:43

Can see Lerdal joined spin , though Pignato still there , can see Rein on FW ..though Pignato still chair ? Cant see advisory boards on OS or Bridgecomm ..maybe me but seems Pignato still shows these directorships on LinkedIn. Is he representing AM ..I didn't think that was the idea??From the report and accounts showing Pignato was given almost $900k for loss of office but he was to be kept on in a temporary basis initially to 14th April 21 as CFO ..non board. Is he still there and what salary is he on ..still $500k ?? Is he or other AM directors taking personal directorship fees above and beyond their declared AM renumeration..difficult to tell. But maybe something that needs asking..current board structure does not seem aligned to shareholders interests.Note chair takes $164k in salary ..Must get me some NED roles!

[flyfisher] 22/4/2021 20:35

I am surprised any of you give credence to Crystal Amber, bernstein sold £5m of redde northgate last nov / dec at around 175 / 180, for a £9m loss. Redde has doubled since then. Just look at the dreadful performance of CRS and the charging structure. Both alm and crs need winding up.

[kooba] 22/4/2021 20:18

Think the problem is not CA as shareholder it has been Woodford and Invesco supporting a rubbish management and strategy hoping to protect their interests in AM investments...basically conflicted ..now there's so little left maybe not worth protecting anymore! Remember CA wanted wholesale change years ago and were not backed by those shareholders...might have been a different story if they had. Time for real change and focus on delivering value for shareholders not insiders.

[kooba] 22/4/2021 20:10

It worked pretty well with Leaf Clean Energy where CA held (i was small shareholder too) they brought in Mark Lerdal to head it up. The shares were almost worthless but It ended up being a legal case..Mark Lerdal took on large US corporate in US court and won..so did shareholders big time. He can walk the walk in the US and if CA wanted him to head it up then the track record is damn good.

[spectoacc] 22/4/2021 19:59

Brilliant if they get Lerdal in as Chairman but that entire CRS statement says as much about CRS as it does about ALM I fear. A comedy of errors, all of which were pointed out on this BB at the time, but also a continuation of years of similar errors out of ALM. CRS aren't a new shareholder, they've been major owners (& pumpers, via their reports) all this time, with their man Lerdal in for over a year (albeit as a non-exec). Hope for shareholders' sakes that CRS really do take hold of ALM now, and hope that when they do, there's plenty there to be recovered. Currently unclear where the next good news comes from.

[bobonumber1] 22/4/2021 18:33

I agree current bod are terrible. How much control would you want to give crs? A major holder / influence with their man in control.

[escapetohome] 22/4/2021 17:34

I support Crystal Amber. These mistakes are totally unacceptable. ( and so easy to avoid). People who make this sort of mistake shouldnt be in charge of a tech investment company.

[kooba] 22/4/2021 16:54

Talking of Bernstein ..CA fund update just out.Allied Minds plc ("Allied Minds")During the quarter, following the resignation of its Chief Executive, Allied Minds continued its practice of poor communications and the unacceptable lack of provision of financial information. This included a botched Capital Markets Day, to which invitations were only sent to analysts and not to investors. The Fund is aware of two (paid for) analysts who cover Allied Minds. Subsequently, investors were made aware of the Capital Markets Day, with only a few days' notice. The company's broker subsequently apologised to the Fund for this error.During the Capital Markets Day, important financial information was provided. The Chief Executive of Federated Wireless (which represents 26p of Allied Minds' house broker's estimated net asset value of 46p), reported actual Q1 revenues for 2021 and a financial forecast for the full year.Revenue forecasts were also provided by other portfolio companies. The Fund believes that this information should be provided to all market participants and not just to those that were able to access the Capital Markets Day. More than a week ago, the Fund requested that Allied Minds release this information without delay to all market participants. This afternoon, this information has finally been made available.Separately, earlier this month, paid-for research from Edison for Allied Minds was withdrawn, after the Fund highlighted an error with the percentage holding in a portfolio company. Earlier in the year, Edison apologised for a previous error: for several months, estimated net asset value had been materially overstated, as a result of not deducting the 12.6p special dividend paid to shareholders in February 2020.The Fund believes that responsibility lies with the Chairman of Allied Minds. In light of this, the Fund has written to Harry Rein to ask him not to seek re-election at next month's Annual General Meeting. If he decides to seek re-election, the Fund (an owner of more than 18%, of the issued share capital) will vote against his re-election and write to other shareholders to explain its reasoning. The Fund believes that Mark Lerdal, a non-executive director of Allied Minds, should replace Harry Rein as Chairman. Following his appointment as Executive Chairman of Leaf Clean Energy ("Leaf") in 2014 with support from the Fund, Mark Lerdal achieved an excellent outcome for all shareholders in the company. Like Allied Minds, Leaf was a London listed, US based closed end investment fund trading at a 50% discount to net asset value.Over the period, Allied Minds' shares fell by 31%.

[bobonumber1] 22/4/2021 16:51

Better late than never. Hopefully improves sentiment. Bernstein is under serious pressure so expect some fireworks running up to AGM

[kooba] 22/4/2021 16:12

The recording of Allied Minds' CMD is now available on its website.https://vimeopro.com/instinctifpartners/allied-minds-capital-markets-day

[bobonumber1] 16/4/2021 20:39

Lerdal is on Spin. Rein on fed and Falling on bridge and orbital. All are NED's

[kooba] 16/4/2021 14:18

They are all non execs I understood..Rein is retired from the venture partnership he was in.Be interesting to know the division of responsibility. It shows Rein on board of Federated Wireless along with I believe AM legal council...but Federated Wireless website and anything you look up about the ex ceo Joe Pignato still shows him as Chair of Federated Wireless in his capacity as ceo of AM. Either things aren't getting sorted properly or things aren't being updated.He also shows him on the board of other invested company's still I believe. But not sure if any current board member is on Orbital or Bridgecomm ..can't see from their respective sites.

[spectoacc] 16/4/2021 14:02

Non-exec, presumably thanks to Invesco's policy of not voting on things that are manifestly in the interests of their investors.

[buffettjnr] 16/4/2021 13:59

He has been rather silent....

[kooba] 16/4/2021 13:31

What about Mark?? I guy that has an excellent track record in securing value for shareholders out of listed Uk blow ups that have US assets..check Leaf Clean Energy out.

[buffettjnr] 16/4/2021 10:24

It won’t take 2 years. I have faith in Harry and Bruce.

[escapetohome] 16/4/2021 10:12

I take a contrarian view , when all the indicators are pointing to sell, thats when i start to get interested. Go against the herd, then welcome them when they rush to buy in!!! Ive a 2 year view here, and im in profit already

[ugandalad] 16/4/2021 09:53

Share rising when Stockopedia (SO)which rates this a sucker stock have dropped the Stock rating from a lowly 19 to a barely rated 3. Spectoacc's contribution today has added to my concerns re SO's ratings largely as I was over influenced by Simons analysis and didm't research this very well. I have decided this is well outside my current risk profile so I've baled. There are other personal reasons for the decision.

[jotoha2] 16/4/2021 07:38

Thank you Specto , amazed that CA have invested here , thought they were smart cookies , I followed them into DLAR which has returned over 400% in less then a year , will look into this bunch to see what may be the attraction for CA.

[spectoacc] 15/4/2021 14:14

Tax losses must be an angle - surely. But fact remains - ALM has regularly looked an absolute bargain, and every single time has proven to be a value trap. There's a wonderful note from 2015, when ALM was £5/share, saying what a pile of dog poo it was. I bet even they didn't see 25p coming. Good luck to holders, it undeniably looks cheap. But if anything went awry at Federated.... Edit - found it, for anyone interested. Don't need to read far: hTTps://www.kerrisdalecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Allied-Minds-Report.pdf

[kooba] 15/4/2021 13:50

Well if they could realise current Nav in the short term I'd take it too ! Doubtful.If i was CRS and had sat through the value destruction and money being thrown into the likes of Precision Biopsy ,Sci Fluor and now Spin only a months later to see these businesses hitting the wall i would be chippy !I think they have just about run out of companies that can blow up ...for now.A further effort to reduce costs..as previous poster cites the listing cost..would go down well, otherwise 8% of market cap is going out every year..thats a rather high management cost for what are now pretty passive investments.Wonder if this whole shooting match is now looking a tempting bite for PE to take out..would all the hundreds on Ms of tax losses be useful?