Futuragene Share Discussion Threads

[red ninja] 26/6/2007 16:42

The Finals came out last year on the 26/6 nothing
said about an announcement date so far.

Hopefully this in not ominous...

[leadersoffice] 06/6/2007 07:38

Interesting to see what the final year results will mention. They should be released soon.

[red ninja] 27/5/2007 16:44

Related topic :

The Sunday Times, May 27, 2007

New biofuel gives the power of petrol
Ethanol could be eclipsed after a breakthrough by a Silicon Valley firmDominic Rushe in New York
IN 2004, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pumped $42.6m (£21.5m) into Amyris, a tiny biotechnology company based on the edge of Silicon Valley. The foundation aims to bring "innovations in health and learning to the global community" and in Amyris it thought it had found a company that could tackle one of the world's most deadly diseases, malaria.

Malaria affects 400m people a year, killing between 1m and 3m, mostly young children. Four years on, the investment is paying off. Amyris has found a way to provide a malaria treatment at a fraction of the usual cost. But, more importantly, in the process it has made discoveries that could revolutionise the fuels business.

The price of oil passed $70 a barrel last week, a nine-month high. In America, petrol prices have remained stubbornly above $3 a gallon (40p a litre). With the Middle East in turmoil, the dollar in the doldrums and global warming taking its toll, oil is not likely to get cheaper soon. It's little wonder that Amyris has become one of the most talked-about companies in Silicon Valley.

To date the interest in alternative fuels has focused on ethanol – alcohol made from plants.

Using technology developed for its malaria treatment, Amyris is turning sugar cane into fuels that offer advantages over both oil and today's alternative-fuel darlings, ethanol and biodiesel, according to John Melo, Amyris's chief executive.

As former head of BP's American fuels division, Melo knows a great deal about oil and ethanol. "Ethanol is a great start," he said. "It's what we have. It's been around for 2,000 years. We've used it to get drunk for most of those years. The fact we can put it in vehicles is not a novel concept, it has been around a long time and it works. But is it a great fuel? Not really. Does it help the planet? Not really."

He believes the real opportunity lies in a second generation of fuels that he hopes will reduce the world's dependency on oil while producing less harmful greenhouse gases.

Amyris's fuel is made from Brazilian sugar cane. Brazil is a world leader in ethanol, which now accounts for about 20% of its transport fuel. By using microbes related to yeast, Amyris is able to convert sugar molecules into fuels that are chemically closer to traditional hydrocarbon fuels.

According to Melo, ethanol is about 27% less efficient as a fuel than petrol. Amyris's standard petrol product is about 9% less efficient. When it comes to jet and diesel fuels, Amyris's products have the same, if not better, properties than fossil fuel, said Melo.

For example Amyris's jet fuel operates at -57C. Current fossil jet fuel operates at -40C. The difference allows jets to fly at higher altitudes, better for airlines using the polar routes, and for military aircraft looking at longer missions.

"The end game is to have a renewable product without compromise," said Melo.

Amyris is in talks with Virgin about using its jet fuel in the airline's fleet and has had meetings with the Virgin founder, Sir Richard Branson.

Melo has just returned from Brazil, where he said a number of companies were excited about using Amyris's technology to produce a fuel with higher energy content than ethanol.

Producing Amyris's fuel from Brazilian sugar also has the advantage of generating significantly less carbon dioxide than most ethanol plants, said Melo.

The whole process of using sugar cane is more efficient. The waste product from the cane harvest – called bagasse – is burnt to generate power for the ethanol mill and in some cases extra power to put back into the electricity grid. Bagasse also helps to fertilise the cane fields.

Sugar cane has its critics – especially when rain forest is chopped down to create land to cultivate the crop. But its environmental impact is far less than that of traditional fuel production.

If the Americas exploit current technology and their own oil supplies, Melo believes they could soon be self-sufficient in transport fuel.

Amyris is going for a target equivalent to $40 a barrel and expects to be there by 2009 with full production by 2010.

But to get to market Amyris will have to fight off not only the powerful oil industry but America's farmers, too. Ethanol has been a boon to American agriculture. Corn prices have soared and the oil companies have benefited from a 51 cent-a-gallon subsidy for mixing ethanol with fuel.

Biodiesel is narrowly defined in terms of a specific process, hampering innovation.

The status quo is a disadvantage to Amyris and other firms that are trying to create better green fuels, including a DuPont and BP joint venture and LS9, a Silicon Valley start-up.

"There are probably two or three oil companies in America today that are earning more money on ethanol than the whole ethanol industry combined," said Melo. "I don't think that was the intended consequence."

Amyris has some pretty powerful foes. But it has powerful backers, too. The company's board and financiers include Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who started his stellar career at Intel in 1974, and Samir Kaul of Khosla Ventures, set up by Vinod Khosla, a Sun Microsystems co-founder and one of the world's biggest backers of green technology.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's governor, has been using his muscle to support green-technology developments in the valley.

It's impressive technology, and impressive management, said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of New Energy Finance, a London-based researcher. "We are moving out of an era when there are only two transport fuels – petrol and diesel – and both come from the same source, to a period of great competition, innovation, and diversity of solutions.

"Whether we emerge at the other end with one solution or whether there will be multiple solutions coexisting forever remains to be seen," he said.

[red ninja] 16/5/2007 16:52

Up today.

I don't think you can predict it'll keep falling as its potential is looking good even if that is far from guaranteed.

Anyway I had a bite yesterday.

[vuelands] 14/5/2007 18:17

This is just going to keep falling untill the fundermentals change. No prospect of that for ages.

[harry punter] 26/4/2007 07:59

its interesting dupont never came back and bid for futuragene -- apparently they made an offer prior to the overnet deal a few years back --you cant rule a possible deal or joint venture happening sometime in the future - -

[harry punter] 26/4/2007 07:56

Financials Trades Level2


DU Pont(E.I.)DE Nemours DuPont settles Hawaii growers' lawsuit


HONOLULU (AP) - Six Hawaii nursery operators who claimed a contaminated
fungicide made by DuPont Co. damaged their crops have settled their lawsuit
against the chemical giant, lawyers said Wednesday.
The two sides reached the confidential settlement involving the fungicide
called Benlate on Tuesday, one day before U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway
in Honolulu was set to start jury selection for a trial.
Warren Price, a Honolulu-based lawyer for DuPont, said he couldn't disclose
terms of the agreement.
"It was very much of a win-win. We're glad it's resolved," Price told The
Associated Press.
Stephen Cox, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Honolulu Advertiser his
clients also were pleased with the amount.
"It was a good business decision for everyone concerned," said Cox, of San
Francisco.
The six growers, plant and ornamental flower farmers from Oahu and the Big
Island, were seeking as much as $30 million if the case had gone to trial.
The case dates back to 1994, when the Hawaii growers settled with DuPont for
a combined $10 million in product liability cases.
Afterward, the farmers said they learned the company withheld evidence of
widespread contamination of Benlate with the herbicide sulfonylureas. So the
growers sued DuPont again.
DuPont had challenged the Hawaii growers' right to file the lawsuit and
appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. But the nation's top justices
last June refused to hear the appeal, clearing the way for the lawsuit to go
forward.
DuPont began manufacturing Benlate in the 1950s but decided to halt
production in 2001 in the face of mounting crop damage claims. The company has
paid more than $1 billion in settlements and legal fees on claims associated
with Benlate.
The six Hawaii growers include former state Sen. David Matsuura and his
brother, Stephen Matsuura, along with Mueller Horticultural Partners and
Fuku-Bonsai Inc.
Cox said his clients were seeking the difference between the $10 million
original settlement and the fair amount of a settlement had the withheld
evidence been disclosed, he said.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[harry punter] 26/4/2007 04:27

i think mark pritchard summed it up well - its a long term project -fgn will have another day

[leadersoffice] 23/4/2007 19:48

Another AIM stock for the dust bin. No updates nothing

[harry punter] 28/3/2007 04:47

off topic Minster pharma


MpM market cap is well over £40 mill now---we have distribution rights for our GSK compounds -- decent brokers and financial advisers----- plenty of institutional share investors (I mean punters) to give us all the cash we need to get us into the billion pound plus global market place \o/ --all we really need now is regulatory approval -----no probs punters \o/ £5.00sp here we come \o/

regards harry and the boys in dark glasses

ps Nasdaq listing next year

[jayesbee] 24/3/2007 16:14

have they got a new website?
havent been there for months but if i remember correctly the last one was horriffic!

looks rather splendid now

[leadersoffice] 21/3/2007 23:33

Interesting how this has been creeping up... ever so slowly but creeping up all the same!

[jayesbee] 16/3/2007 13:48

behaving well despite recent stock market problems

[artful dodger] 09/3/2007 22:23

hey this a biotech witha china angle!
once the market wakes up to this fact, there will be no stopping us!

[capricorn_1] 06/3/2007 08:27

In the absence of any financial update from FGN themselves one is somewhat in the dark (hence the continued drop in price). An update on the affect of further cash burn and the resultant NAV coupled with a positive outlook would be interesting IMO. However, my assumption was based more on technical analysis, which suggests downward support points at the 30p-mark, which the share has just bounced off of, plus another point closer to the 20p-mark. I was simply suggesting that after such heavy falls these could be entrance points, but of course only sustainable if encouraging news follows soon. In other words, still a speculative punt IMO.

[jayesbee] 05/3/2007 16:55

capricorn_1

what upside do you see at these prices tho?

[capricorn_1] 05/3/2007 09:52

Artful, I remember our discussions about OND some three years ago. I bailed at 116p, and then watched the stock (by then FGN) rise to 200p. I can't believe you didn't bail around that point. Perhaps setting yourself an exit strategy each time you buy might be a good idea.

As for FGN now, I'm keeping an eye on them, and IMO they could be a good catch if the current downward trend goes much further, which in the current turbulent market wouldn't surprise me...

[artful dodger] 02/3/2007 12:45

i have held these since ond days
always were a boom or bust and i haven't traded them as i reckoned i couldn't ever call the top/bottom.

wish i had sold at or near the top though! i have no other share that i have held form bomm (ond) to bust to boom (fgn) to bust again.. doh!!!

[pugugly] 02/3/2007 08:21

tony_hawk - leadersoffice

Thank you both for your input. Reading between the lines of Pritchard's response it would appear that a major problem could be profitable commercialisation before the money has to be topped up.

If I uncover anything else I will post again.

[tony_hawk] 02/3/2007 04:59

Apologies if the above is out of turn, an industry pro's perspective would be most valuable... :)

Am getting slightly anxious about my insignificant train wreck of a portfolio and this is hardly helping. I'll get me coat!

[leadersoffice] 02/3/2007 04:34

Dear

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to your query. I am travelling on business at the moment

I must confess that I too am frustrated with the share price. I am a significant shareholder in the business and believe the long term prospects to be very bright. This is not reflected in the current share price.

Agricultural bio-tech is a long term business. We are working with our genes in a range of plants and trees and the basic research can take years to prove out. That said we now have research facilities in the US, China and Israel and believe we are making significant progress.

I believe that the acquisition of CBD was very significant step forward for the company. The technology is at an advanced stage with a major on-going field trial in Brazil and we hope to be able to make an announcement on progress in the near future. This technology is complementary to FuturaGene?s and means that we can now look to engineer crops with specific traits with specific with significant yield enhancement.

I hope this gives you some comfort that your investment is not lost and that we can rebuild some shareholder value in the not too distant future.

Yours Sincerely


Mark Pritchard
Chairman
FuturaGene PLC

[leadersoffice] 02/3/2007 04:33

I sent this email to Mark Pritchard last week. This is the reply I have got back from him. At least he did respond:


To Mark Pritchard Chief Executive.



I have shares in this company and I'm starting to regret ever buying in to it.. You may be listed on the AIM market and therefore a high risk company and I accept that point.



However can you reassure me why and if I should continue to invest in this company or have I lost all my money. We hardly get any communications from you, your website was dire until a few months ago ( it is looking a bit better now I admit) but perhaps a RNS or something to keep us informed or are you one of these companies that doesn't give a damn about your shareholders. I would have thought the directors have a beneficial interest in making sure this company performs well and delivers returns to shareholders. Well the company's share price is dire. Halved last year and looks like its set to repeat that again. What are you doing about it??





I hope you can be bothered to reply.



Very disgruntled shareholder









London

United Kingdom

[leadersoffice] 02/3/2007 04:28

I have to now confess that I have been proved wrong. I have received an email from Mark Pritchard Futuragene PLC Chairman. Nothing New but at least he did reply. Here is a copy of that email:



Dear Mr Harrison

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to your query. I am travelling on business at the moment

I must confess that I too am frustrated with the share price. I am a significant shareholder in the business and believe the long term prospects to be very bright. This is not reflected in the current share price.

Agricultural bio-tech is a long term business. We are working with our genes in a range of plants and trees and the basic research can take years to prove out. That said we now have research facilities in the US, China and Israel and believe we are making significant progress.

I believe that the acquisition of CBD was very significant step forward for the company. The technology is at an advanced stage with a major on-going field trial in Brazil and we hope to be able to make an announcement on progress in the near future. This technology is complementary to FuturaGene?s and means that we can now look to engineer crops with specific traits with specific with significant yield enhancement.

I hope this gives you some comfort that your investment is not lost and that we can rebuild some shareholder value in the not too distant future.

Yours Sincerely


Mark Pritchard
Chairman
FuturaGene PLC

[tony_hawk] 01/3/2007 19:41

My biotech is extremely rusty now but I'm willing to have a quick crack PUG re: FGNs IP. The technology is not all new. The papers are dated 2001/2 etc I vaguely remember salt tolerance testing being carried out ten years ago. Its horses for courses naturally.
The energy biofuel products look interesting at the moment especially in Brazil (been assuming locality) but the efficiency of cellulosic biofuels production is low. Environmental stress resistances are always handy.
Specifically you wanted to know "is it fit for purpose" and superficially the IP seems fine, well directed at a niche market. Does it work? Bloomin' hope so! Perhaps we should be taking comfort in their cageyness as I can't see the technical barrier for a competing, perhaps less scrupulous lab basically copying it!
I think what we're seeing has to be the chinese fallout, very relevant in this case.
If I were going to stick my neck out it looks like a buying opp. I won't be though. A quick look at the interim accounts worries me, I see lots of pictures and very, very few numbers. My 2 cents FWIW.