Itaconix Share Discussion Threads

[dexdringle] 13/7/2018 12:00

"Shareholders subscribing for their full entitlement under the Open Offer may also request additional Open Offer Shares through the arrangement described below (the "Excess Application Facility") pursuant to which Eligible Shareholders may apply for an amount of Open Offer Shares in excess of the entitlements allocated to them to subscribe for Open Offer Shares pursuant to the Open Offer ("Basic Entitlements")"

Is it me or does this make absolutely no sense ?

I am a long standing shareholder. 25,000 shares. What exactly can I expect my options and likely outcomes to be regarding the open offer / excess application ???

[dexdringle] 13/7/2018 11:53

..........which they will do of course because 60% of them (NW and Co) have already agreed to have their boots filled.

This is looking like a total stitch up for existing small shareholders.

[timbo003] 13/7/2018 10:47

>>>DD

Weird though it may sound, I assumed the existing shareholders would have priority before 'new' investors were able to buy at 2p ?????

You assume correctly (Companies Act 2006)

However, at the meeting on August 2nd, shareholders will be asked to approve a resolution to waive these rights

[typo56] 13/7/2018 09:24

dexdringle: "If Timbo applied only for his 635 for every 1,000 standard placing allowance..."

That's the open offer ratio, not the placing.

You won't have received any details from your broker until now on the open offer - only confirmed last night.

[timbo003] 13/7/2018 09:01

It was my maiden purchase although they have been on my watch list since they presented at the Proactive one2one meeting last year.

The placing was via a book build (see the RNS released yesterday), so I phone the broker at around 07:30 yesterday after I had read and digested the RNS and put my order in.

I note regarding the placing element of the fund raise they stated "Proposed Placing of a minimum of 104,875,000 new ordinary shares ("Placing Shares") at a price of 2 pence per share......"

and in the second announcement they stated that it has conditionally raised c. £3.4 million before fees and expenses by a Placing of 107,300,000 Placing Shares...... so it looks like they raised slightly more than they originally intended through the placing element of the fund raise.

Everything is dependent on the outcome of the general meeting on August 2nd, so none of these shares will be issued before August 3rd.

[dexdringle] 13/7/2018 08:35

.....but I have still yet to receive any contact from Charles Stanley about any of it......

If Timbo applied only for his 635 for every 1,000 standard placing allowance then why would he be surprised to have been allocated the amount he asked for ?

Surely only requests for shares in excess of standard placing allowance would potentially be scaled back ?

[typo56] 13/7/2018 08:07

dexdringle, timbo may clarify but I think he has taken part in the placing, not the open offer. If you apply for excess in the open offer I don't think you would know for at least a couple of weeks what fill you've received.

[dexdringle] 13/7/2018 07:50

My holding is on the Charles Stanley platform but they haven't contacted me yet re the placing. Yet timbo003 has already applied for his ?

[pireric] 13/7/2018 05:21

Not generally a good sign if you get your full allocation. Suggests lack of demand

[timbo003] 13/7/2018 00:19

That was a fairly impressive sum invested by the incoming CEO in today's fund raise, 23.5M shares costing £470K. I suspected he would subscribe for a decent amount given the knock down price, so accordingly, I decided to go for a few in the placing myself and much to my surprise, I got all that I asked for, without scale back.

I am now hoping they will come with EIS tax breaks, so I will make enquiries about that tomorrow.

[dexdringle] 12/7/2018 17:35

Hold on. It has been agreed that Neil Woodford and the other two largest shareholders can more than treble their holdings by applying for 2,286 new shares for every 1,000 shares held whereas ordinary shareholders are only allocated 635 new shares for every 1,000 held.

So those three who currently own 48M shares between them (62% of the current company) get 85% of the shares being issued in the UK (92M of the 107M new shares). They then own (between them) 140M shares which is 57% so they are just about square % wise.

That leaves just 16M new shares to be distributed among the holders of the other 29M shares (38% of the current shares in issue) hence we only get offered 635 shares per 1000 currently held. So we get diluted down from 38% to 18%. And, mysteriously, someone else gets to own around 25% out of the blue.

I’m surprised that it is legal to offer some shareholders new discounted shares on better terms (ie more of them) than other shareholders. The offer of shares to US based shareholders (who are presumably currently also among the 38% but who are also going to get the mystery 25%) at what must be hugely preferential terms is a further mystery.

I presume they’ll trot out the old “we had to offer certain parties preference otherwise the company would have gone bust and everyone would have lost everything” toss.

What a disgrace !

[typo56] 12/7/2018 17:00

Basic entitlement only 635 open offer shares @ 2p for every 1,000 existing shares, but you can apply for excess.

What a mess!

[geraldus] 12/7/2018 12:07

I would hope NW would press for a board shake up.

[dexdringle] 12/7/2018 12:00

... I must admit, I'd be happier if the directors said they were not going to draw incomes until there was sufficient profit to cover those 3 x over.

It'll be interesting to see what Neil Woodford does now.......

[m190812] 12/7/2018 11:29

Itaconix, under John Shaw in US, couldn't make a profit for 7 years and was a dying company. Revolymer in UK, under Roger Pettman for 7 years, couldn't make money out of chewing gum and it was a slowly dying company which burnt through nearly 50 million GBP (!). Kevin's idea to combine two companies, both of which had never made a profit in all the years of their trading, into one even bigger loss making company did not make sense to me - especially as the new company looks exactly like Itaconix did before the merger (Revolymer disappeared totally). Kevin has not been able to make money and divested the only part of the (Revolymer)business which actually produced turnover (the nicotine gum (which was a growing market) turned over ~1 million GBP (at a cost of goods of just over 1 million GBP (as they used the most expensive toller they could find - go figure). The nicotine gum seems to be doing very well for Akalon - I wonder why that is?)). All the while the executive team have paid themselves very well. Kevin's salary in 2016 was just under 400,000 GBP and Rob's was not far off that figure according to the annual report. All in all the senior team - CEO, CFO, CTO, CCO, BDM, etc by my estimated figures took approx. 1.5 million GBP a year in salary and bonuses (around a third to half the whole company loss per year - the remaining went to ~30 other staff). I sold my shares 2 years ago when there was an upward blip and they were at 84p - I waited several years for this blip to happen. Revolymer/Itaconix have had enough years to get their product on the market and make the right decisions - I am intimately knowledgeable around their products, history and management. I personally would not want to subscribe to any shares - that is my personal view - DYOR. "If you're riding a dead horse, it doesn't help to buy another dead horse. Two dead horses are still not better than one dead horse"

[geraldus] 12/7/2018 09:49

Yes dex,in a similar position to you.Speed on commercial grounds is glacial and as you say will they require more cash.In the same boat as directors who bought higher and Woodford who bought a lot higher but no consolation to me.Good luck.

[shrout] 12/7/2018 09:47

The new management setup seems confident it can make inroads into a number of markets. Whether that's bravado, pipe dreams or reality is hard to tell. I've waded through as much of the two RNS's as I can manage without going boss-eyed and I'm just pleased they have a possible fund raise in place, albeit at a big discount, and a plan for future success.

Most likely I'll take part in the offer, but this has turned into a punt pure and simple. An "it's all over" statement will be hanging over ITX for quite some time to come I feel.

[dexdringle] 12/7/2018 08:31

Is there anybody there..........?????

Assuming the fundraising goes through what are the chances of new that money, plus the cash already in the business, simply paying the ITX staff and directors for another 12 months before another "ahhhh, sorry chaps, it didn't work and all the money is gone and it's all over" statement ?

The fundraising looks like it will be 1.4 shares for every 1 held @ 2p. So a massive dilution at best with the new shares representing at least 60% of the shares in issue post completion.

PS am holding 30,000 shares at an average cost of 28p per share so, needless to say, this isn't going too well for me....

[dexdringle] 09/7/2018 13:43

Another crock of $hit AIM stock.

Honestly, I don't know how the people running these companies get away with it.

[battlebus2] 31/5/2018 10:11

Fundraiser very soon imv so hopefully at a reasonable discount

[m190812] 31/5/2018 09:28

Operational Update

Itaconix, a leading designer and manufacturer of specialty polymers, announces that it is implementing a restructuring of its UK subsidiary to focus the Group's resources on growing revenues of its core products. The majority of Itaconix's activities will be consolidated into its US operations, thereby improving the link between product support and manufacturing. Only certain key individuals in marketing and product support will be retained within the UK business. The Board's decision follows the ongoing successful execution of its strategy to launch and grow the sales of its performance, bio-based ingredients, through collaboration with market leaders as exemplified by the recent announcement regarding AkzoNobel Chelates and the ongoing relationship with Croda.

Whilst the full financial effect of these changes will not be achieved immediately due to the costs of implementation, the cash fixed cost base of the Company (excluding capital expenditure and working capital) is forecast to fall to GBP3m - GBP3.5m per annum from 2019. The Board remains confident, subject to the availability of further funding, that the Company is well positioned to continue to deliver revenue growth through 2018 in line with expectations.

[divinessence] 16/5/2018 10:54

Assets and net cash is worth more than the current SP?

[shrout] 16/5/2018 10:32

Glad I retained an interest here. Looking forward to following the long-term story, hopefully back into profitability.

[battlebus2] 16/5/2018 10:14

If Nobel see the fruits of our product we can expect further contracts I bet.