Prelude Trust Share Discussion Threads

[hvs] 22/4/2008 15:23

There is value here.

[rhuvaal] 20/4/2008 11:08

Robert Hook has a lot of shares... he can't be indifferent to the outurn of PDT

[rivaldo] 15/4/2008 15:34

Indeed, a nice expression. My caveat to that is that there are different drivers in charge now.

Good news from Kiadis and Lime Micro:



"Kiadis Pharma Receives Orphan Drug Designation for Rhitol(TM) From the FDA

AMSTERDAM, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Biopharmaceutical company Kiadis Pharma announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its product Rhitol(TM) Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of chronic Graft versus Host Disease (GvHD). This complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation is highly disabilitating and can become life threatening when the patient is unresponsive to steroid treatment. Rhitol(TM) has completed a multicenter phase I/II study for patients with severe steroid resistant chronic GvHD. A phase III study is anticipated to start in 2008.

"The decision by the FDA to grant Rhitol(TM) orphan drug designation in this area of blood cancer with unmet medical need advances our efforts to develop an innovative treatment" says Dr. Manja Bouman, Chief Executive Officer of Kiadis Pharma.

The FDA's orphan drug designation is reserved for new therapies being developed to treat diseases or conditions that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The orphan drug designation provides for an accelerated review process, tax benefits, exemption from user fees and a seven-year period of market exclusivity in the United States after product approval."



"Single Chip, Multi-Band, Multi-Standard, Reconfigurable Transceiver IC Announced
4/14/2008
Guildford, UK - Following the launch of its 2 to 4 GHz MicroTCA transceiver platform at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lime Microsystems has achieved a single chip multi-band multi-standard reconfigurable transceiver IC. The first test chips back from the foundry have been tested and meet the original requirement for a highly frequency agile transceiver IC, operating from 375 MHz to 4 GHz. Sending and receiving data has been demonstrated successfully in each of the vital frequency bands required for WiMAX, 3G and LTE operation, paving the way for the adoption of Lime's multi-standard transceiver architecture in small cell base stations.

The transceiver and its associated reference design can be digitally configured to operate the required frequency bands, with 16 user-selectable bandwidths from 1.5 MHz to 28 MHz. This means it can transmit and receive data across all WiMAX bands (including those used in different geographical areas), as well as those used for W-CDMA and HSPA, and those that are planned for LTE. This removes the need for individual transceiver chips for each of the different bands, and allows a small cell base station to be reconfigured rapidly and simply. The resulting reduction in bill of materials minimises costs and inventory for OEMs.

The transceiver IC is presently undergoing an evaluation phase, where selected key customers are consulted for feedback on the specification of the design. The final chip design can then be fine-tuned to incorporate their specific requirements, before ramping up to full production quantities.

"We are very excited to have achieved success across the board at the first silicon stage," comments Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of Lime Microsystems. "The current evaluation phase is essential, for two reasons. Firstly, it gives us a chance to optimise the design according our customers' requirements. This means our offering will meet their needs exactly, with a fully optimised and cost reduced solution. Secondly, it allows selected customers to get a heads up on what our chip can do, so they can begin integrating it into future femtocell designs. We expect to be sampling the optimised design to the rest of the market during Q4 this year."

Lime successfully demonstrated the transceiver's reference design at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February."

[timtom2] 11/4/2008 08:16

bitochon - "impressed by the car and ignored the driver" - great expression and sums it up perfectly.

[bitochon] 10/4/2008 18:18

Good to hear from you rl. I have been in this share since 2000. My purchase price varied from £1.73 to 51p. I sold out at a couple of months back at roughly break even. Put the money into CRA and MDX. I had high hopes for this trust over the years, but I guess I was impressed by the car and ignored the driver...........Anyway, good luck to all those left standing.

[rivaldo] 08/4/2008 21:56

Exactly FSE - and hopefully the major shareholders are pushing for the right option, namely a wind-down with minimal management input fees/charges, as I too believe there are still a number of tasty investments in the portfolio.

For example - DisplayLink news today:



"April 08, 2008 10:15 AM

DisplayLink Provides USB Display Technology for Samsung 22-Inch LCD Monitor with Tandem 7-Inch Monitor

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DisplayLink announced today that its USB display technology is providing core functionality for the Samsung SyncMaster 2263DX, a 22-inch LCD monitor with an attached 7-inch tandem monitor.

DisplayLink's USB Display Technology provides the hardware and software that connects and powers the 7-inch tandem monitor to the main monitor by a simple USB cable -- without the need for additional power connections. This provides the flexibility to allow the 7-inch tandem monitor to be positioned above or on either side of the main 22-inch monitor. DisplayLink software enables users to easily switch between portrait and landscape modes.

The SyncMaster 2263DX has attracted significant attention from reviewers and users alike, and was an Innovations Award honoree at CES 2008. Its unique 7-inch tandem monitor provides extra screen space without consuming desktop space. With its compact size, the 7-inch monitor offers surprising utility, providing ample space for instant messaging, media players, Skype, calendars, or application toolbars.

"Samsung is now the world's leading manufacturer of LCD displays for the PC market, and DisplayLink is helping them stay at the forefront of innovation with our one-of-a-kind USB display technology," said Dennis Crespo, executive vice president of marketing and business development for DisplayLink."

[hvs] 08/4/2008 20:44

Anyone buying NOW will make a PACKET.

Nice to hear from from people who SOLD OUT though.

[russianlinesman] 08/4/2008 20:09

Gents

PDT has caused emotions to run high over the years, and nearly always the root cause has been bad management. If a long-term holder sells at 70p when the 'NAV' is 121p, you can be assured that that person did not do so lightly.

I sold my PDT shares maybe 18 months or more ago, after patiently watching a promising portfolio come to nothing for 5 years. When I sold my last shares, the price was 1 Pound against an NAV of 145p or something. I too wondered whether this was the right time to sell, but at the end of the day, there is a great benefit to the emotional well-being which you achieve by cutting your losses.

FSE has posted on PDT probably since I first held, so must have had his shares for 7 or 8 years. I hardly think that he's gloating if he admits he's sold now.

Come on, we've all lost money on this company, which has paid management fees of in excess of £10m over 10 years. 6-figure salaries for all those years for Hook and co, whilst the value of the fund went down. They have been the only winners from PDT.

Sad thing is Prelude will probably put most of us off VC investment for the next 10 years.

The NAV is not a real number - never was - and they will not be able to sell this portfolio for it. If they sell the investments one by one over 3 years, the management fees will eat away more of the fund.

[fse] 08/4/2008 13:46

>hvs.... No I own my own company in Canada.
As I said I hope the investment works out for you.

[hvs] 08/4/2008 09:47

FSE,

Do you work in the CITY ? Money for doing nowght. Your below comment says it all . Us country bumkins blue collar workers are just just plain thick.

>hvs.... why be ignorant no one is gloating.
What in the world is your problem or are you just plain thick !

[ralva] 08/4/2008 09:44

Cerrito. re your 585---I stand corrected, you are quite right. I don't, however, think this is of any significance whatsoever as the Trust holds 100% of the "A" shares, not the ordinary shares. Not really worth anything as the nots in the AR state "the trust's investment in Esprit Capital Partners Management Ltd of £20 is valued at cost"

[cerrito] 07/4/2008 22:56

ralva your 480
Page 46 of the 2007 AR shows Prelude having 20% of the equity interest in Esprit Capital Management- the Manager

[fse] 07/4/2008 21:26

>rivaldo.... yes it was a difficult choice but I put the money into BVC and CRA, there is a lot of stuff around thats trashed at the moment so I sold cheap and bought cheap.
My worries here are that management could sell it on and its taken into a much larger fund which may or may not be welcome to some of the larger holders but for the long term small investor all this waiting could go for little.

I also became disenchanted with the situation at ZBD which is one of the larger holdings. The Tesco news though is encouraging but they really need to get this product into the market place as any lead time they may have had is rapidly shrinking.

As I say the Portfolio looks encouraging but management should really be brought to heel on this one.
They remain on my watch list and I would consider buying back if I saw a change in attitude from management to facilitate realising some of the value that is in here.
I know they are promising action but I have my doubts.
They might consider that shareholders would be delighted to get a small premium to the share price and that might be fine with the larger holders as per my comment above.

In any event best of luck to you and hopefully it will come right.

>hvs.... why be ignorant no one is gloating.
What in the world is your problem or are you just plain thick !

[hvs] 07/4/2008 20:55

Why sell and GLOAT if the PORTFOLIO is STRONG ?

[rivaldo] 07/4/2008 20:48

Good luck FSE. I understand what you say, but am surprised about the timing - with news due about the strategic options and the price at a low relative to a 121p NAV I'd rather hang around and take my chances, especially with the portfolio still seemingly strong.

Some new ZBD coverage:



"While some firms struggle with older infrastructures that impede flexibility, pilots are already going on to bring real-time price changes straight to the shelf. Tesco is among several retailers that have trialled digital label technology from ZBD. The digital labels are made from a low power consumption electronic paper material that is updated via a wireless network. They can hold several images in memory at once, and only use power when they change the image on the 100dpi screen, giving them an estimated battery life of five years, says ZBD.

The monochrome screens can display not only prices, but other retailer-defined data such as bar codes, ingredient listings, and even the number of miles that food traveled before reaching the store.

Retailers are interested in the labels as a way to change prices instantly at the shelf. Retailers are hoping to use it for instant price reductions on perishable items, for example. Tesco executives have already extended a pilot from a store in Leicester to its High Wycombe store, for example."

And DisplayLink news:


"DisplayLink Opens Seattle Office
Growing Company Seeks to Recruit High-Level Software Talent in Region

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DisplayLink today announced that it has opened a new office in Seattle. The office will serve as a base for network display software development, while supporting projects with area partners such as Microsoft and Intel.

DisplayLink offers unique opportunities for Seattle software engineers. Unlike the region's many Web 2.0 startups, DisplayLink is a venture-financed, pre-IPO startup that sells both chips and software. Its technology is already widely available in products from Samsung, Toshiba, LG, Kensington, Belkin, and many other leading brands.

"The key to continuing DisplayLink's impressive growth is finding creative, capable, and forward-thinking software talent to match our hardware innovations in USB display technologies," said Bernie Thompson, vice president of software platforms at DisplayLink. "Seattle is a hot spot for this kind of talent, and DisplayLink hopes to attract the same level of high-quality personnel that has made world leaders out of companies such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon."

DisplayLink's Seattle office will be headed up by Bernie Thompson, who has worked on the leading edge of software development for over 15 years. He was previously a Software Development Manager at Microsoft, responsible for the core USB and Bluetooth teams. Among his diverse professional roles, Thompson has served as President of the Linux division at Applix, as the Microsoft engineering liaison for the graphics chip maker S3, and on the OS/2 development team at IBM."

Finally, Lime Microsystems:


"07-04-2008 [UgensErhverv.dk: Redaktionen]
Single-chip multi-standard transceiver

Following the successful launch of its 2-4 GHz MicroTCA transceiver platform at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Lime Microsystems has achieved a single chip multi-band multi-standard reconfigurable transceiver IC. The first test chips back from the foundry have been tested and meet the original requirement for a highly frequency agile transceiver IC, operating from 375MHz to 4GHz....

....The transceiver IC is presently undergoing an evaluation phase, where selected key customers are consulted for feedback on the specification of the design. The final chip design can then be fine-tuned to incorporate their specific requirements, before ramping up to full production quantities.

- The current evaluation phase is essential, for two reasons. Firstly, it gives us a chance to optimise the design according our customers' requirements. This means our offering will meet their needs exactly, with a fully optimised and cost reduced solution. Secondly, it allows selected customers to get a heads up on what our chip can do, so they can begin integrating it into future femtocell designs. We expect to be sampling the optimised design to the rest of the market during Q4 this year, says Ebrahim Bushehri, CEO of Lime Microsystems.

Lime successfully demonstrated the transceiver's reference design at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February."

[fse] 07/4/2008 13:11

>hvs... I am sorry that you have taken that attitude. I posted a lot on the PDT thread over the years and had high hopes that we would see exits and IPOs etc.
I thought it only reasonable to explain why I exited the investment due to concerns over the way the trust was managed and not the investments it holds.

To say people who do not own shares in a company should not post is patently absurd.
Good luck to those still invested and I hope you see a change in attitude from management. As I already said there are some decent holdings in the trust but investors need to keep an eye that its not all frittered away.

[ralva] 07/4/2008 12:10

The 20% which Cerrito refers to is the "carried interest" i.e. the management gets 20% of the profits after acheiving a stated increase in the NAV----don't worry, their perforamnce has been so bad that there is zero chance of the management getting anything. My worry is that the starting point will be rebased to the current NAV which would allow the management to take 20% of any profits from here on in

[hvs] 07/4/2008 08:05

I did FSE ,

But to post after you have NO INTEREST says it all. I am a GIt.

[fse] 06/4/2008 22:21

>hvs... what an idiotic and absurd remark to make.
I have held shares in PDT for many years and I have taken a loss on the disposal which was a decision that I did not take lightly.
I am hardly gloating over my mistakes !

You say "I am confident we will get an offer above cuurent share price for the lot."

Hopefully you will but I have stated my reasons above for throwing the towel in.

You also said this !


hvs - 4 Apr'08 - 19:15 - 574 of 578

Nice one Orange,

There is much more value here than the share price suggets.

The GITS who manage this have to be SACKED.

[cerrito] 06/4/2008 22:08

I did not read FSE's comments as gloating but reflect the risk one takes in buying shares like this.
The 2.5% annual management fee is a bit on the high side even taking into account the nature of the assets it is invested in and for me 2% would be more appropriate.but one knew that when one bought shares and indeed I see that this was approved as recently as April 2006. The Trust also has a 20% equity interest in the Manager but could not find in the footnotes the book value of this so does recoup in theorey at least some of the fees it pays.
The £56k admin/secretarial fee is par for the course
The performance fees are on the high side but of course it is academic as they have never been triggered.
Director's fees are par for the course and indeed perhaps a bit low.

[hvs] 06/4/2008 11:53

FSE,

Are you gloating that you SOLD out ? Cause it sounds like that.

I am confident we will get an offer above cuurent share price for the lot.

[hvs] 04/4/2008 19:15

Nice one Orange,

There is much more value here than the share price suggets.

The GITS who manage this have to be SACKED.