Galileo Inn. Share Discussion Threads

[jubjee] 03/4/2003 08:30

chaz99,

they will get another months salary!

[nav_mike] 02/4/2003 18:20

Website is back up - thats nice of them

[chaz99] 02/4/2003 17:53

The directors won't get everything sorted by 30th April, they've not stuck to any other deadlines.

[mrkournikova] 02/4/2003 14:57

Hi,

It needs reitterating what sreddy mentioned yesterday that reviewing the position of the Company as to its ability to continue as a going concern means that the auditors remain unconvinced as to the likelihood of Galileo being around in 12 months time. The auditors clearly have their reasons for this and appear stricter than Enron and Worldcom auditors. Perhaps we should switch to Arthur Anderson.

But on a serious note Galileo are clearly going to be working over the course of this month to convince the auditors that it can continue as a going concern. This might involve, as the Guardian suggests, trade sales of the % ownership of the investee companies. Obviously not ideal but if it keeps Galileo up and running then so be it.

Or the other possibility that is not lost is that the indicative approach made for Galileo Innovaton at 1.25p per share still stands and proves to be the best option for shareholders.

Paul Davidson is ever the optimist and I don't believe that his being out in Spain is ideal for Galileo. Davidson was immediately dismissive of the 1.25p approach, however he does have the money, should he wish, to buy Galileo. Not an ideal situation for shareholders but again it ensures that no one is left with nothing.

The all important issue surrounding Galileo is its cash position. Paul Davidson is surely more sensible than to lie about Galileo's cash position...don't you think? But it is worth remembering this is Paul Davidson we're talking about.

ARTICLES

Wednesday, November 6th 2002, DAILY MAIL

Davidson says the cash pile is intact

Friday, March 14th 2003, DAILY TELEGRAPH

Two pounds would be better

Wednesday, April 2nd 2003, GUARDIAN

No chance of {Galileo running out of cash}

The RNS put out yesterday gave a date that the directors believe the situation will be resolved by 30th April. Davidson echoed that date in his comment to The Guardian that Everything will resolved by the end of April. Davidson is ever the optimist. However it might well appear that the directors are cautiously optimistic as well claiming that there is only a delay in the publication of the Company's report and accounts.

Let's all be honest, from the information available to us, the sums that have been done and the comments made by Paul Davidson it would appear that Galileo's cash position is not in question. The question is Can Galileo continue as a going concern. My knowledge of Galileo would suggest that the auditors remain unconvinced as to Galileo's unique business module. The IPO markets are dire and if Galileo are unable to float investee companies then there is no point in their existence. I believe that we are going to see trade sales...and the directors hope to announce these before the end of 30th April. I don't believe there will be a trade sale of Sense-Sonic, rather I believe that the floatation will be postponed.

We're not in an ideal situation here. We're at the mercy of the auditors. However the directors are aiming to get this predicament sorted by 30th April and that Galileo can continue as a going concern. If this means that for Galileo to continue as a going concern it has to be taken over then so be it.

All will be made clear by the end of the month. We hope.

MrK

[minuteman] 02/4/2003 14:01

Mike never mind that, what about the 5mill cash that we had?

Even if 1.5 mill is written off, still leaves us will 3.5mill less admin.

Guess we'll just have to sit it out. PD says that the money is in tact according to the article, may just be as I said earlier that that the floatations are impossible, and thus GAI's reason to exist. Hopefully it will see us getting over 2p / share back

[bluemerle] 02/4/2003 11:30

Hope you are right sreddy. I am in PRM as well, a super share, no fears for that.

[sreddy] 02/4/2003 09:02

PRM up another 9.5p. Now only 2p to go to make up for GAI.

But really, I certainly don't think all is actually lost in GAI.

[nav_mike] 02/4/2003 08:29

If we can believe a word the guy says, thats quite reasurring (I Think...LOL)

[rivaldo] 02/4/2003 08:16

From the Guardian this morning. Nice to see Davidson can sort this out from his villa in Spain.

"A company set up by one of the country's most colourful entrepreneurs and chaired by former chancellor Norman Lamont was suspended on the stock exchange
yesterday amid fears that it was on the brink of collapse.

Galileo Innovations, run by Paul Davidson, the Cheshire entrepreneur known as the Plumber, told the stock market yesterday its directors were "reviewing the position of the company as to its ability to continue as a going concern".

This is usually regarded as a precursor to a company admitting it has run out of cash, but Mr Davidson insisted there was "no chance of that happening".

Speaking from Spain, where he is developing a property business, Mr Davidson, chief executive of Galileo, said: "Everything will resolved by the end of April.

"How many companies haven't got going concern issues? Look at Marconi."

Galileo, which aims to back inventors, has received at least one takeover offer and is considering a trade sale of three businesses it had been lining up for individual stock market listings.

Its shares were suspended at 1p after it failed to publish its report and accounts for the financial period ended September 30.

The entrepreneur first attracted publicity a year ago when the financial services au thority launched an investigation into the flotation of Cyprotex, another company in which he was involved.

The FSA's investigation is continuing into an unusual spread bet taken out by Mr Davidson just before Cyprotex was listed on the stock market last year.

Mr Davidson said that he would begin the process today of taking legal action against the City firms involved in the flotation of Cyprotex, including stockbroker Gilbert Eliott, which managed the flotation, and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, which was involved in complex share trade related to the spread bet.

Both firms declined to comment yesterday.

Cyprotex yesterday issued its first annual results since becoming a public company and admitted that its losses for the 14 months to the end of December 2002 had widened to £3.3m, compared with £386,000 for the preceding seven months.

Cyprotex also admitted that the £6m spread bet had tarnished its reputation. "The board is actively seeking a res olution to this situation and believes that achieving this will enhance the group's prospects," Cyprotex said yesterday.

Mr Davidson, who said he owned 35% of Cyprotex and another 18% as a result of the spread bet, added: "Cyprotex is a great company. It's been ruined by greedy, fee-chasing parasites."

He admitted: "The spread bet has put me back. It's ruined my reputation."

A former pipefitter rather than a plumber, Mr Davidson, who is well known in the Prestbury area of Cheshire, made his fortune from a device which makes it easier to join pipes together.

Oystertec, the company which sells these pipes, known as Oyster Converters, is also quoted on the stock market.

He continues to cite former Matalan boss Angus Monro as a friend despite a public falling out last year while his fortune has been diminished by his stock market ventures. Galileo has fallen from over 20p to 1p while Cyprotex trades at about 2.5p, down from levels closer to 20p."

[croasdalelfc] 02/4/2003 00:09

Looks like others are in the same boat....from thisismoney.co.uk



A clutch of AIM-listed* companies had their shares suspended for failing to report within the six-month deadline. Surgical devices maker Lombard Medical was frozen at 2.12p because it has still not published its results for the year to 30 September. It has also failed to update shareholders about bid talks. If a formal offer is not forthcoming, it is unlikely the banks would extend or increase its banking facilities, which are repayable on demand. It raised £2.5m last year to help develop products for treating heart and circulatory conditions, and has yet to make a profit.

Shares in Galileo Innovation were suspended at 1p for a review of the company's ability to continue trading. It, too, has failed to meet the deadline for publishing its results for the year to 30 September. Arthur Shaw was another casualty of the time limit on reporting, with trading in the shares suspended at 0.21p. The group, which has disposed of its engineering activities to pursue its objective of becoming a media operation, says it will soon become the subject of a reverse takeover. It has secured short-term financing.

[swiftnick] 02/4/2003 00:02

Sreddy: you make a useful point. A delay to the accounts due to uncertainty of adopting the 'going concern' basis of preparation is not quite the same as suspension 'pending clarification of the company's financial position'.

Nevertheless it's not good news. It also puts the directors' management of the company's financial affairs under very serious question. Either they have loaned more than the company can afford to the investee companies, or given out overdraft guarantees which, if called upon, the company could not cover with available resources. To have allowed matters to reach this point looks most unfortunate.

[army9] 01/4/2003 23:43

You need back up boys!

The artillery have arrived and there is a word on the street that all is not lost.

Sensonic have 1.5 million of our dosh approx 1.5p per share - this co has indicated a readiness to brave the market - i.e within 2 months of the 27th Jan

Every prospect the path finder will be signed off - Co will enter into friendly discussions for overdraft facility to tide over this 3 month turn around.

The Directors including Mr Davidson are not crazy - they are entrepreneurs lacking the city refine.

The product is still good despite the communication being poor in transmission.

Alpha1 delta are you out there?

Lets rally not divided boys.

Cubes101 - I think you may not be crazy but keep the full metal jacket shut for the moment.

[barn owl] 01/4/2003 20:19

It is predicted that 70,000 firms will go to the wall during the next 3 to 5 years in the UK. GAI may be one of them!
Beware of penny stocks and the AIM market in general. There is plenty more out there quoted and non-quoted.
Please DYOR.
Good Luck.

[grebo] 01/4/2003 14:07

Sreddy,

Valid points, but why then did the directors not voluntarily get the shares suspended some time ago and announce what they were doing ?

Even now they seem to have no interest in letting us shareholders know what they are doing with OUR company.

All,

Regarding the letter that some received about the offer, I have been in touch with my broker, TDW. They claim that they have not received any such letter from GAI. If anyone receives any further communication from the company can they let us know on here so those that don't get it can hassle their brokers to obtain same.

Cheers

[jubjee] 01/4/2003 13:14

From todays manchester evening news

manchester regional news
Galileo shares suspended on AIM

Patricia Roberts

TRADING in shares of Galileo Innovation, the incubator business of north-west entrepreneur Paul "The Plumber" Davidson, have been suspended.

Shares closed on Monday at just 1p, and the future of the Wilmslow-based company, whose chairman is former Chancellor Lord Lamont, now seems in doubt.

In a statement, the directors of the firm said they were unable to announce its results for the financial period ended 30 September 2002, because they are reviewing the position of its ability to continue as a going concern.

Soon after it was floated on the Alternative Investment Market, in February 2002, shares stood at 22p, giving it a market value of almost £20m.

In mid-March Mr Davidson, its chief executive and major shareholder, dismissed a 1.25p bid approach from an undisclosed source, which would have valued it at just over £1m. Speaking from his home in Marbella, he told the MEN then: "It's too low. It's a great company."

Galileo takes stakes in fledgling businesses and provides working capital and support, with the aim of floating them later.

The suspension of the shares comes on the same day that another of Mr Davidson's companies, biotech firm Cyprotex, announced losses for the 14 months to 31 December of £3.35m, against £386,752 for the preceding seven months to 31 October 2001, though revenue for the 14 month period was £647,770, up from £98,614.

Mr Davidson, a former pipe-fitter who lives the lifestyle of a multi-millionaire after making a fortune from a radiator pipe-connector which he invented. He owns 35 per cent of Cyprotex, which floated last year at 29p and was then worth £26.25m. Today it shares stood at 2.75p.

01/04/2003

[mrkournikova] 01/4/2003 12:06

Yeah need to get to bed.

Well let's see what later today brings. I'll be making a few phone calls and see what I can dig up.

MrK

[sreddy] 01/4/2003 11:33

There is a subtle difference between suspension 'pending clarification of the company's financial position' and a delay to the accounts due to uncertainty of adopting the 'going concern' basis of preparation.

GAI are obviously having going concern discussions with the auditors as part of the normal accounts production process. The auditors have specific work plans to address this assumption and need to tick off the relevant boxes. In these nervous times for auditors and the markets, GAI could be having difficulty getting them to accept that the future flotation of investee companies is probable rather than just one uncertain possibility. Without this flotation assumption and given the working capital absorption by (some of) the investee companies, there would be discussions as to whether the group could be sure that they would be able to satisfy their financial obligations as they fell due within the next twelve months. Discussions would be going on as to how to give the auditors that comfort before releasing going concern accounts.

At the same time, I suspect the directors will have already been considering plan B, given that plan A (the flotations) is not achievable in present market conditions. I am not sure what plan B is, but it could include placings to raise funds for investees, an equity issue by GAI, a sale of GAI, a trade sale of one or more of the investees, flotations at really cheap prices, and even placing cash draining subsidiaries into administration to protect the remaining cash of GAI. All of these alternatives give hope that value can be salvaged for investors.

Now that the shares are suspended, there is not much to do but wait (and watch PRM go up).

If GAI does go down, then I will have to put aside 15p of the PRM rise to cover total GAI losses. Up 3.5p so far today, only 11.5p to go.

[cubes101] 01/4/2003 11:19

Lets pray for unity,less of KR and a world that allows outsiders to prosper-

It's GUNNERWELBURN or BUST IN THE NATIONAL 16/1.

By floks!

I'll waste no more time here.

To the enlightened few life was less bleak as the rain softly fell on the Cheshire countryside.

[moneypit23] 01/4/2003 10:44

I'm sorry, but this is all very petty. Please all rise above it - "I told you so" isn't going to get anyone's money back.

[knopfler] 01/4/2003 10:41

cubes,

i believe when any set of results are signed of they must confirm (directly or indirectly) that the company can continue to trade as a going concern.

therefore if gai had posted results back in jan they may have been able to continue to trade (maybe)

what i think they have done (as posted before) is intergrate into the results revenue for the floated companies, thus showing a healthy profit. when the floats failed to materialize the accounts required adjusting. this resulted in the delay in releasing the results to the point that it became impossibile to get them signed of as a going concern.

of course loosing £5m in such a sort period displays incompetence of gargantuan proportions, such that i havn't the imagination to even speculate as to how they could have accomplished it.

[kennethrich] 01/4/2003 10:37

TO GREBO
As cube said we were all wrong the company is fine
Just would like to correct him.....
Where sreddy? Gone quite
I said a month a go these lot will go bang and be in breach got told I was a Pratt who is the Pratt know maybe you might all listen now

[grebo] 01/4/2003 10:31

Whoops, ok above comments redirected to cubes.

As for you KR, what's your point ? Just trying to gloat ?