Maelor Share Discussion Threads

[pheasant1] 31/3/2008 12:26

This stinks.

5th April 2007, Maelor buys Acorus for £13.25m; Maelor NED Peter Murray is a major shareholder in Acorus. Deal funded by way of a highly dilutive private placing through Noble & Company; Maelor NED John Gregory is chairman of Noble VCT.

8th May 2007, Maelor board awards itself 8.4m options at 10 pence.

28th March 2008, Maelor announces that it intends to acquire SEPI AG for £14.25m; Maelor chairman Geoff McMillan is a major shareholder in SEPI. Deal to be funded by way of yet another highly dilutive private placing through Noble & Company, at a discount of more than 20% relative to share price on 27th March 2008; Maelor NED John Gregory is still chairman of Noble VCT.

Why is it that Maelor is the only customer for Acorus and SEPI - both deadly dull clunkers with little future, IMHO. Why is it that the only funding route open to Maelor is private placings at substantial discounts to the current share price ?

[waxman3] 31/3/2008 10:45

At least--no easy ride here I am affraid

[burrmj] 31/3/2008 10:43

always watching this company even though sold out long ago (and to think I held nearly 3% !!) when the 10p placing happened. I feel sorry for all small holders after another sell-out at 10p the trading range for this company will remain 10p - 14p equilivant for the next 5 years at least IMHO

[redrenault2] 31/3/2008 10:07

Teh mgmnt are a waste of time - not long term enough - all they are waiting for is to sell the company in a trade sale .. may as well buy a proper pharma company !!

[rcktmn] 31/3/2008 08:45

I sold this morning...had anough.. slight profit.. gone into HMB instead !
Good luck to all remaining holders.
Knowing my luck MLR will probably double in the next 12 months!

[waxman3] 30/3/2008 10:41

You cant say THAT I DID NOT WARN YOU ALL.

JUST ANOTHER SHAFTING FOR THE PRIVATE PUNTER.

THESE WILL SETTLE AROUND 60P AFTER THE CONSOLIDATION.

I GOT OUT AROUND 13.75 14.50P.

ONE THE LEAVE FOR A FEW YEARS BUT KEEP LOOKING AS THIS MANAGEMENT HAS LITTLE INTEREST IN THE PRIVATE INVESTOR!

[tackems] 29/3/2008 10:24

Isn't it amazing how the 'fat cat' NED's seem to be throwing their own businesses onto the Maelor table and walking away with nice fat cheques!!

Was it really worthwhile to grow the company like this and is it really in the best interests of the shareholders?

[gogoneko] 28/3/2008 16:51

Given the prospect of further dilutions to fund expansion and little increase in share value for the next three years it doesn't matter what the company calls itself, there are much better returns to be had elsewhere.

No wonder Liontrust were so willing to dump their shares with a 40% profit... to be repeated in time for the next dilution I wonder!?

[steeplejack] 28/3/2008 16:10

The placing discount at over 20% to yesterday's closing price is larger than you might have hoped but i'm sure the broker has done a bit of quiet enquiry to find out what an acceptable placing price for interested institutions would be. I reckon if you rang up Noble and told 'em you were a holder they'd cut you into the placing.
MLR had a rights some years back at 25p from memory and it was near fully taken up.Thing is,rights issues are time-consuming and expensive,underwriting etc.This was partially why they went out of fashion.The other reason though was because the company could invariably get a better issue price by book building through the day with institutional buyers.Ironically,all i'd say here is that the broker must be running scared of these markets because really the placing price should be NOT LESS THAN 12p IMHO.
As far as the new management is concerned ,i'd guess they're keen to build a new institutional client base given the company's past track record and share price performance.Anyway,one thing is clear IS Pharma will be a much better company than Maelor ever was!

[redrenault2] 28/3/2008 14:48

yeah but thats what i am saying this mgmnt are not much better than the last lot !!!!

[soldi] 28/3/2008 11:53

A more creditable way to raise the money would have been to do the placing at HIGHER than the current sp, which some companies have done from recall.

[redrenault2] 28/3/2008 11:27

Nilla - get a private client broker like Seymour Pierce, or WCWB and they will execute your biz in the market properly .. and get it done. The stocks not going any where for a while...

[abc125] 28/3/2008 11:12

Will the shares held by directors be subject to the consolidation? I would not be surprised if they weren't!

[nilla159] 28/3/2008 11:09

Tried to sell 100,000 with Barclays online but they will only allow you to sell 10k.However you can buy 150,000 through the same portal.So they move down the market size to keep us aboard - Shafted again.

[soldi] 28/3/2008 11:09

Well I have sold off. In my experience, the share price eventually always moves back to the placing price (or even lower!) so will buy back at a more opportune time!

Good luck to those still holding.

[rcktmn] 28/3/2008 11:03

down we go ! sooooo predictable...still in profit a bit so will continue hold on for long term gains (again!)

[steeplejack] 28/3/2008 08:57

All very true.The death of proprietary shareholder rights has been the bane of private investors for many years now.In truth ,the rights issue is almost a thing of the past.Sadly ,you have to divorce the recognition that we've been shafted by yet another deeply discounted placing from an evaluation of the benefits of the deal going forward.

[gogoneko] 28/3/2008 08:50

This time last year the acquisition was part-funded by an oversubscribed issue at 10p, I really don't believe paying just 11p today is justifiable considering the company performance in the interim period. During the past year private investors have been buying this share on the back of tips and recommendations while the cheap shares fed to institutions have been dumped. Private investors have just had their shareholding diluted and so there's minimising of earnings and shareholder value for these investors - not what's written in the acquisition document!!

[steeplejack] 28/3/2008 08:31

I suspect that the company wasn't that keen to come back to shareholders so soon but the state of the banking market probably decided them to go for it.Patience required but they're heading in the right direction.

[rcktmn] 28/3/2008 08:19

Grim isn't it !

[gogoneko] 28/3/2008 08:15

They also seem content with more deferred consideration, such that on top of the £4m remaining to pay off Acorus from profits annually until 2012, they've now got another £5m to pay off. It's just another form of £9m debt to pay off from profits effectively so I don't think this is good for shareholders, it'll be interesting to see what others make of it.

[rcktmn] 28/3/2008 08:04

agree...can't see the share price doing anything spectacular..ever! it's sideways or down!

[gogoneko] 28/3/2008 08:00

Sounds like another tranch of shares being issued on the cheap to selected investors, just like the last acquisition which hasn't delivered any improvement in shareholder value even if the business is getting better.

I'm certainly not impressed that the 13m new shares were issued at the equivalent of 11p!!!