Plant Impact Share Discussion Threads

[bigglesbingham] 16/2/2018 12:12

Awarded for failure extremely annoying!!!

[riddlerone] 16/2/2018 09:22

Too True glenglen

[pugugly] 16/2/2018 08:35

wan; You were right there was some value remaining but a very left field bidder - Does not appear to have much if any agriculture exposure at the moment - Gut feel suggests they may have taken a management decision to tip a toe into bio-stimulant market and picked up a scientific team on the cheap. Very interesting that not of apparent interest to Bayer or any of the other major agro-chemical companies.

[riddlerone] 16/2/2018 08:31

Shareholders as always get shafted and he gets a golden handshake

[riddlerone] 16/2/2018 08:26

You have to laugh at this part
"John Brubaker has entered into a settlement agreement with Plant Impact. The terms of the settlement are conditional upon the Scheme becoming Effective as of the Effective Date. John Brubaker will receive GBP290,000 shortly after the Effective Date as compensation for his termination as a Plant Impact Director and as Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to his current terms of employment. Under the terms of the settlement, John Brubaker will remain an employee of Plant Impact for a period of three months following the Effective Date on an unchanged base salary, after which period he will receive GBP72,750 as compensation for the termination of his employment (the "Incentivisation Arrangement"). Each of these payments is in settlement of any potential claims John Brubaker could bring against Plant Impact, its associated companies and their respective officers, directors, shareholders or employees

[bigglesbingham] 16/2/2018 08:13

Wan please can I take this opportunity to thank you for your superb posts over the years and was good to meet you (seems ages ago now). I'm not happy but ultimately they took a huge gamble which didn't pay off. Similar to many companies being too reliant on another company. Wish you all the best!!!

[here and there] 16/2/2018 07:29

Wan ker!

Management came in in 2010/11. Jones and Brubaker. A really great looking pair. Ultimately they have failed. A great shame. They got it badly wrong and gave up way too easily.

I wish all the best to the long term share holders. I met some of you and enjoyed sharing insights with you over the years. Horace, Biggles and Timbo in particular

[wan] 16/2/2018 07:13

All the talk of zero proved to be utter rubbish, fortunately I ignored the scaremongering and added substantially (several times) at under 6p, so I will have at least mitigated any losses.

Am I happy......absolutely not!!!!!!!

[cjac39] 15/2/2018 22:41

And it’s gone tomorrow

[wan] 15/2/2018 14:51

cjac39...Please be aware that, as I previously highlighted, Fidelity did not sell down post the placement. The announcement you refer to as selling was a holding reduction in percentage terms only i.e. the amount of shares held remained the same and the reduction you refer to was due to the dilutive effect of the placing.
FIL 2016 holding - 5,668,830 6.95%
FIL 2017 holding - 5,668,830 5.99%

However, I also highlighted that FIL has since significantly increased their holding (whilst others reduced) by circa 3% to nearly 9%
i.e. from 5.99% to 8.97% and 8,494,602 shares

RNS Number : 4037Z
FIL Limited
14 December 2017


In my view, 60p (and more) could be attainable, if we can stay listed and successfully bring to market some of the products that are in late stage development.

[cjac39] 14/2/2018 19:13

its clear that the days of 60p are long gone. the selling by fidelity post placing and the panicked selling of others post dec announcement has brought the share price to a level where anyeone interested need only pay a modest price. as to interest, both pre and post announcement, there were many suitors who are engaged inclduing bayer. of course this may fall over but the downside is not zero. many of the existing (non retail) shareholders believe in the story and maybe with reduced rnd could fund the company. so for me, park the apocalyptic maths about running out of money, but dont count on more than 2-3x from here.

[wan] 14/2/2018 17:32

Glen...You will note that my main thrust was that the 'much' larger players like Sumitomo, and indeed Arysta Lifesciences (who already own a stake in PI) and Syngenta are all very interested in the crop enhancement category and of course they are conducting their own R&D efforts, but Sumitomo has yet to have any resulting products that address their stated intention to enter crop stress management at both the vegetative stage and the flowering and fruiting stage. That aside, of course large players both partner with/have exclusivity deals and/or buy smaller companies in order to access their technology.

But seeing as you mention it, and to try and put things into perspective, Sumitomo are so large they would hardly notice they had purchased PI, even at 60P!

[glenglen] 14/2/2018 16:13

This looks good Wan and supports your side of the argument. I take it that the PI Board are talking to Sumitomo about this and if not why not?? Two possibilities here:
1. Sumitomo buy PI (@ 60p per share would be nice....)With their commitments as you stated they match that of PI's so a merger of sorts, on face value, would make sense.
or (here it comes...)
2. Sumitomo don't need PI (and don't need to spend 6p a share) because they have a product and technology that they developed themselves and the resultant product does the same thing as PI's.

Am I being naive here or just pragmatic?

[wan] 14/2/2018 08:57

As I highlighted recently Sumitomo Chemical has piqued my interest, because like PI they are developing chemicals for use in agriculture.

A found time to look a little deeper into Sumitomo's most recent Results and also their recent Presentations, which reveals an interesting commitment to the following -

"Development of Plant Phenotyping Technology and administering agricultural
chemicals and materials under abiotic stresses"

"Accelerating the selection of candidate compounds and materials"

"Identifying optimal formulation and application methods"

And overall they are committed to;

"accelerate the development of agricultural chemicals and materials that effectively promote crop growth in a stressful environment"

This further demonstrates that the big players are definitely more than just interested in the area of Crop Enhancement and see it as an important element of their future growth strategies.

For anyone interested in the Presentation (which covers more than crop sciences) -

[wan] 13/2/2018 14:40

Glen...To be clear, PI has no debt/bank overdrafts, aside from a invoice finance facility of £1.0m with HSBC Bank, which last year was not draw upon and I doubt it is drawn to any large degree currently.

There is income coming in, but in light of Bayer's U turn, the revised revenue of circa £6m will not provide adequate resources to function at the level PI are currently operating at.

So the banks do not feature, but PI do need healthy cashflow/cash to function e.g. pay wages/paye, leases/rent, suppliers, shipping and marketing etc. Obviously the intensive level of research and product development PI are undertaking significantly increases the cash requirements, hence we are feeling the effects of Bayer's decision and we are thus in the current situation of needing a resolution before April. And ideally a resolution that would be sufficient to get us to the point of realising the significant revenue potential that the Board envisages.

[glenglen] 13/2/2018 10:19

Noted Wan. In all of this I am neither criticising nor questioning your uptake/points of view. The optimism you are showing is something that is welcome but I have this feeling of pessimism based on experience and as an accountant. There is a need for speed in negotiations as, if there is no income coming in, the company will reach insolvency. Should that happen then it will not be the shareholders like us who matter but the banks who will want to have some answers if they are looking to keep the company as a going concern.
So the imminent conclusion in the next few weeks will be interesting and hopefully positive for us as shareholders - I will pray your optimism is correct as believe me, I do not want to lose any money.

[wan] 13/2/2018 09:27

Glen...You are asking for a lot of complex issues to be concluded very quickly and clearly we are not at a resolution yet, but a conclusion is obviously imminent in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, PI's website states that first applications of Veritas on cotton is already underway in Brazil.

[glenglen] 12/2/2018 16:03

We all know what insolvency is I hope - when a company cannot meet its financial obligations with its lender(s) as debts become due. Simple question to ask is if there is any new income coming in - NO. So how is this company going to survive??
Talk talk talk that's all we get - very little walk walk walk.
I follow on with what has been asked - very early in the New Year i.e. 2018 so what's happening and WHEN is this going to happen? I would love it for Wan to be right with his optimism but there is no new buyer, Messiah or saviour is there?

[pugugly] 10/2/2018 06:31

wan:- I have seen too many companies in "offer period" and too many leaks where the share price has either risen or fallen to take too much notice of formal announcements - A salvage bid at higher than current market cap might come through - and for your sake I hope it does - but I would not bet my farm on it - Hence having exited at a much higher price some time ago I would not gamble and get back in now. Hence my comments above.

How early is very early - We are already 12% of the way through 2018.

[wan] 10/2/2018 06:20

Pugugly...Your message receiving and interpretation capability is flawed!

Plant Impact are in an "offer Period" as defined in the Takeover Code.
"The Board is engaged in discussions with certain parties about the sale of the Company, and it now intends to conduct a formal sale process within an accelerated timetable, with the aim of announcing the outcome of the process very early in 2018."

Put another way, there is a process underway and your analysis that there is no one is interested is total rubbish!


Excerpt/reminder;

In the light of yesterday's communication from BCS, and in order to maximize the value of the Company's technology assets, the Board of Plant Impact has now decided to formally investigate all potential strategic options for the business. These options include refinancing, potential divestment of selected assets, or the sale of the Company. The Board has appointed Peel Hunt LLP ("Peel Hunt") as its financial adviser for this process.

The Board is engaged in discussions with certain parties about the sale of the Company, and it now intends to conduct a formal sale process within an accelerated timetable, with the aim of announcing the outcome of the process very early in 2018. Parties with an interest in participating in the formal sale process should contact Peel Hunt using the contact details set out in this announcement.

It is currently expected that any party interested in participating in the formal sale process will be required to enter into a non-disclosure agreement and standstill arrangement with Plant Impact on terms satisfactory to the Board and on the same terms, in all material respects, as other interested parties, including those with whom talks are underway. The Company then intends to provide such interested parties with certain information on the business, following which interested parties shall be invited to submit their proposals to Peel Hunt, with a view to concluding the process very early in 2018. Further announcements regarding timings for the formal sale process will be made when appropriate and as agreed with the Takeover Panel.

The Takeover Panel has agreed that any discussions with third parties may be conducted within the context of a formal sale process framework as set out in Note 2 on Rule 2.6 of the Takeover Code. Accordingly, it has granted a dispensation from the requirements of Rules 2.4(a), 2.4(b) and 2.6(a) of the Takeover Code such that any interested party participating in the formal sale process will not be required to be publicly identified as a result of this announcement and will not be subject to the 28 day deadline referred to in Rule 2.6(a) of the Takeover Code for so long as it is participating in the formal sale process.

Following this announcement, the Company is now considered to be in an "offer period" as defined in the Takeover Code, and the dealing disclosure requirements listed below will apply.

[pugugly] 09/2/2018 21:27

Market cap under £6 million (plus debt) If (imo) there was any significant value in the current and development products it would have received a hostile takeover bid from a vulture at say £10M plus debt and shareholders would have grabbed the offer like a drowing man - BUT no bid or rumours of one that I am aware of - message recived is any entities that might have an interest are waiting like vultures to pick what they want from the bones when they have been passed to a liquidator.

[cerrito] 09/2/2018 19:54

Glenglen, you refer to the silence on the board at the current time.I try and pop in every three days or so but
We will need to wait a few more weeks to see what developments there have been since Dec 13, especially with regard to any sale; having sold down shortly after December 13 and with the current share price the value of my holding is very small; there is no tangible information on which to base a realistic conversation.

[wan] 09/2/2018 10:18

Glen...I hear where you are coming from, but given that Bayer had told PI that they would not be able to conclude a new contractual arrangement for Veritas® distribution until Q1 2018 at the earliest, the fact that the Brazilian antitrust agency has not delayed further and approved the merger, in my view assists the situation (Bayer did not know whether further measures would be required, which in my view complicated the situation).

Regarding Veritas/Fortalis, at least there is evidence that PI are being active/proactive.