Futuragene Share Discussion Threads

[leadersoffice] 29/8/2006 08:10

Interesting....Buying...Looks like MM's have been keeping this share price down in preparation for something, but what remains to be seen.

[harry punter] 27/8/2006 09:14

well when i make a statement i want everyone to hear if i feel its valid - but i take your point you have made fully on board ;o)

[rosco46] 27/8/2006 09:10

Geeeeeeeeeez guys Im reading the same posts on every bb I visit...its getting a bit boring now

[harry punter] 27/8/2006 08:00

i think you read the situation well stewart -- ;o)

[stewjames] 26/8/2006 19:41

Hmm. I suppose thinking about it that what happened with FGN provides one scenario. As controller of the company, you may be dissatisfied with the funding possibilities available and believe they significantly undervalue the company, so you surrender a little control cheaply to grab a listing and enough cash to keep you afloat, gambling on a good reception when the shares are listed. If that comes off and the price rises substantially, you have more bargaining power to raise the cash you really wanted in the first place at a higher valuation.

That would be logical I suppose. It still probably requires that the company doesn't qualify for a listing, but that's not unusual. (since you'll also have to give away equity to the shells shareholders, if your company qualifies for a listing you'd likely be far better off paying out the less than 1M required to list and place) It also still assumes that private equity investors are being either too stupid or too greedy to offer anything near fair value.

[stewjames] 26/8/2006 19:23

OK, Harry, let's say you're right about Voss and the company reversing into them is worth significantly more than the suspension price. That means the current owners are giving away shares significantly below their "true" value. Why would they do that? I can really see only two possible reasons:

1) They need to raise their profile in order to attract funding.
2) They have funding agreed in principle, but only if they are a listed entity, and they do not qualify for a listing any other way than injecting into a shell.

In either case, if it's such a marvellous opportunity, and surely in a sector flush with money and potential investors, why are they having to raise money in such an expensive fashion (in terms of the amount of control they will surrender)?

Yes, the same comments applied to the overnet situation. But as far as I'm aware, Futuragene is unique, an aberration. Can you point me in the direction of any other such success stories, even on lesser scale?

[harry punter] 26/8/2006 13:32

have a nice bank holiday punters



regards harry and the boys in dark glasses \o/

[vuelands] 25/8/2006 20:34

This is just a rally in a major bear market do not get sucked in.

[dymaxion] 22/8/2006 17:00

Hi Harry :-) you don't know anyone that can ping him for me on the PBB... I've lost martyn's email... cheers D

[harry punter] 22/8/2006 16:53

is the story dead --

[harry punter] 22/8/2006 16:51

Breakthrough may bring life to barren earth

Scientists say GM will answer agriculture's greatest challenge but critics insist problem is too much irrigation

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday May 21, 2004
The Guardian


Agriculture is facing a crisis. Mass irrigation is turning swaths of fertile ground into salty wastelands. Already a third of the world's irrigated land has been rendered useless because the soil is too salty for crops to flourish.
And the problem is rapidly worsening. Each year a staggering 10m hectares (25m acres), goes. If the problem cannot be fixed, the world will struggle to provide for its increasing population.

Some scientists now think they have the answer to what has become agriculture's greatest challenge. Yesterday a group of world-class researchers in the US announced that their company, FuturaGene, had developed the means to make plants fight harder for their survival in harsh environments.

Instead of putting new genes into the plants to help them survive, the scientists have found a way to make certain genes already present go into overdrive, beefing up the plants' defences to salty soils, cold weather and drought.

If the plants perform as well as hoped, it could dramatically change agriculture. Regions where crops have never been viable, because of extreme cold or frequent drought, could be useful farmland. "The real goal is not only to be able to plant in places where right now we can't grow anything, but to get more out of the land where we can," said Bruno Ruggiero, the president of FuturaGene. "Cold, drought and salt significantly damage yields. And if we can get more out of the land, that means limiting the need to cut down forests for farmland, and using less water," he said.

The prototype tomatoes developed by FuturaGene start greenhouse trials in the next fortnight. If all goes well the company will push ahead with variations of rice, alfalfa and corn.

Not everyone is convinced. Critics say the scientists are throwing technology at a problem that could better be solved by thinking about what causes it in the first place.

Saline soils are more widespread largely thanks to irrigation. The worst effects are seen in hot regions where rainfall is scarce. As fresh water is poured on to land much of it evaporates, leaving behind traces of salts. Ironically, the more the soil is irrigated, the saltier it gets. "Anywhere it's hot and getting hotter, this whole issue is just going to get worse. It's a really big deal," said Chris Leaver, a plant scientist at Oxford University.

Salty soils damage plants by dehydrating them and playing havoc with internal chemistry. The best way to prevent soils becoming too salty is to flush with more water; but when the world is facing an ever-pressing water shortage - 40% of the world's water is used for irrigation - flushing salt from soils is unsustainable and is rapidly becoming too expensive to contemplate.

The result is that agriculture is stuck firmly between the rock of less and less land to farm and a hard place of ever more mouths to feed.

The scientists behind FuturaGene, including Ray Bressan of Purdue University in Indiana and Hans Bohnert at the University of Illinois, have patented a suite of genes to make plants more hardy. One of the most significant, SOS1, pumps salt that gets into the roots back out into the soil before it can do any damage.

FuturaGene is not the first to modify crops to withstand saline soils. In 2001 a team at the University of California, Davis, developed plants that stored salt where it cannot cause damage. Unsurprisingly, FuturaGene thinks its method is better. "If you stop the salt getting into the plant in the first place, it will be much stronger," said Dr Ruggiero, who claims his plants can tolerate soils four times more salty than conventional plants.

Ultimately FuturaGene hopes to develop plants so hardy they can be irrigated with sea water, although the reality is a long way off.

Carlo Leifert, a plant scientist at the Tesco Centre for Organic Agriculture at Newcastle University, says GM is the wrong way to go. "It's by no means a long-term solution. The Americans are the worst with respect to sustainable soil management. They are creating a problem, then looking for a technological fix to get 10 or 20 years more profit out of the same land.

"Instead we should be educating people how to use irrigation more efficiently."

The FuturaGene trials will show whether GM is at least one way to tackle the problem. If the plants perform well, they will have to go through intensive testing with the US food and drugs administration. Then, public opinion may play the final role in whether they are produced commercially.

FuturaGene points out that since they are simply magnifying the effect of existing genes in the plants, instead of introducing new genes from animals or insects, the public will be less concerned about their GM crops.

[harry punter] 22/8/2006 16:48

that senile old man you will be lucky vuelands if you can get him out of the bookies or the pub - let alone answer an on-line nutter like you m8 lol

[dymaxion] 22/8/2006 16:38

CALLING DODDDY.... ARE YOU THERE?
CALLING DODDDY.... ARE YOU THERE?
CALLING DODDDY.... ARE YOU THERE?
CALLING DODDDY.... ARE YOU THERE?

If so please get in touch mate.
Cheers, (work "at" spencergoh.com)

[vuelands] 19/8/2006 18:34

Harry Im not speculating I challenge you to try me the boys in dark glasses are furious about your antics and by the way this stock keeps falling despite your pumping. FOR EVERYBODIES SAKE COOL IT.

[harry punter] 18/8/2006 15:14

the boys in dark glasses growth portfolio

MPM -minster pharma @1.6p---target 15p --40p
VOS--vossnet/newco @4p--------target 200p--300p
FGN--futuragene ---- @38p --------target 170p--250p
ENK--European nickel @40p -----target 100p
ZOX -zincox ------------@220p---target £5---£7.50p
GFM griffin mining --@ 80p ------target 100p
MNA monterrico ----@205p -------target £5---£7-50p
MXP max petroleum --@111p ------target 175p--200p
SRG spring group ----55p -------target 100p--125p

[leadersoffice] 17/8/2006 19:51

Harry we know all about MPM we are shareholders... its been this price since it came to the market and until some positive news and I mean postive we will have to wait. But you dont need to ramp it on every site... come on please Harry...give it a rest. Its boring

[harry punter] 17/8/2006 10:40

i have been rambling on for two years about this company -- successful phase2 trials will put this company and its shares in the big league --ask yourself would nomura's have taken a little aim listed company onto its books as a corporate client if minsters didnt have a great potential future -- ;o)

[harry punter] 17/8/2006 07:04

imho minsters share price should steadily improve from this trading level --figures are due to be released soon -and we should get an up to date progress report re the current trials and our company's future prospects - i am very confident in glaxo smith klines existing patents and sooner or later the stock market will share my optimism for these/our compounds

regards harry and the boys in dark glasses

[harry punter] 16/8/2006 07:31

another boring day ahead for locked in caledon and vossnet punters -- imho punters should take a look at minster pharma MpM -a million at 1.6p will make punters a good return over the next twelve months dyor

regards harry and iraj parvizi \o/

[mcsean2164] 14/8/2006 03:21

StewJames,

Investor relations are dire, the last news and events listed on their website date from march 29, 2005. Are they actually doing anything, is their any working staff, why has no interim information been released, etc.?

I had considered investing but am delighted I did not!

[harry punter] 13/8/2006 11:48

Vuelands - 13 Aug'06 - 00:30 - 3986 of 3988


Harry get your head around a number of well known players who the SE are well aware of who are involved in FGN ,MPM VOS.and others, its no good trying to deny it. Sue me if you dare,Ive got all the information to confirm Im 100% right. See you at the FSA and all your friends names will be revieled.

Vuelands - 13 Aug'06 - 00:35 - 3987 of 3988


By the way, this stock is only rising ahead of what will prove to be very disappoinring figures, with Dr DOlittle saying nowt once again.WHAT A BUMMER

harry punter - 13 Aug'06 - 11:19 - 3988 of 3988 edit


your speculating vuelands -- futuragene ran into a few problems and is seeking a replacement ceo =its a long term project - i have every confidence taking a two year view and am hoping to buy more at around the 10p level --minsters we are awaiting news re the clinical trials -- what can paul sharpe say other than he is confident of the outcome --everything hinges on the trials and the results wont be known for another 9 months -- although we may hear some encouraging news re other compounds the company is planning to take through to production ;o)