Surgical Innovations Share Discussion Threads

[gbh2] 26/9/2014 09:51

You need to get out and spend some time sitting at the Board Table of a few small companies, very little time spent on what share holders think or do!!

[meijiman] 26/9/2014 09:31

So gnnmartin on the back of your reasoned post above do you think the current management running this should continue or should they be replaced? Clearly if your reasoning is correct then Chris 'the guitar man' Rea is partly calling the shots here. His hand has been strengthened immeasurably by the shambles which has arisen. But as I have pointed out there are no institutions on board to demand changes at the top -that will have to come from Getz, John and now Rea.
Meanwhile the cosy lifestyle goes on...
'ere Mabel can you book me those business class tickets for the January laparoscopic conference in Hawaii, and while you're at it just note I will be attending the surgical instruments seminar in Bangkok in March -business class flights please'...........

[argyle underclap] 26/9/2014 09:23

Gnm - v good post

[gbh2] 26/9/2014 08:53

Well put Nigel, couldn't agree more.

[john148] 25/9/2014 21:52

One option. Approach the Dragons Den and offer 75% of the company for a loan of £50'000. Sorry, I meant £500.
Apologies for my sarcasm.

[jmf69] 25/9/2014 21:38

Very reasonable argument John but I would guess that applies to distributors globally and just the USA. There is no reason why anyone would be buying this at the moment but I still think/hope the new lap3 kit will help turn the corner.

[gnnmartin] 25/9/2014 21:17

I think I understand what has happened, and here is my guess. SUN signed up distributers in the USA, and each distributer was required to guarantee some minimum level of sales. The distributers were not able to sell through at the rate they & SUN had expected, and so approached year end without having placed their guaranteed minimum level of orders. This meant that at the year end they placed an order for a bunch of stuff they hoped they would be able to sell in the next year. That was the reason why in December 2012 there was a surge of orders that could not be fulfilled in calendar year 2012. The same happened in December 2013. The fact that the distributors had guaranteed a basic minimum level of sales let the board think even as late as the AGM that they were able to assume the sales in the year would be acceptable this year, and hopefully new products would produce growth.

My assumption is the Chris Rea has challenged the strategy, and been the trigger for changing the distribution channel in the USA. That rework force SUN to acknowledge that there was a lot of unsold stock in the USA. When SUN negotiated modification to the rights of the distributors, they had to let them off the hook of all that unsold stock.

So while I think it is shocking that SUN gave such an upbeat message at the AGM and such a downbeat message at the interim, it is understandable. It is bad indeed that SUN did not work out what was happening. Hopefully Chris Rea has put them on a better course, but it will be some time before we can see whether the new strategy is going to work, and it is going to be a very long time before the markets will have faith in SUN.

I did suspect what was happening, but did not sell out partly because I am very impressed by the enthusiasm of the SUN team, and partly because SUN themselves were so upbeat that I was able to hope I was wrong.
Nigel Martin

[bashor] 25/9/2014 10:03

Ah yes that's what growing a business is all about, building stock

[gbh2] 25/9/2014 09:55

Seems to me it was "Growth" in stock rather than actual sales!

[bashor] 25/9/2014 09:33

My 8 year old could give these clowns a run for there money, quite shocking how they can release a bullish AGM statement only 3 months ago

from 24th June
"We continue to build upon last year's strong growth both in the UK and US"

[meijiman] 25/9/2014 09:24

It did cross my mind that the Guitar Man has ideas on how to push the industrial sales. Since the orders from the aircraft engine company there has been little news -i think this area still has good potential.
As another aside you will note an appalling results from Inditherm -chucked their eggs into the NHS basket and found it wanting. Another total shambles from a local company -and their Chairman has half a brain as well.

[gbh2] 25/9/2014 09:20

The FD should go if he didn't spot this coming 6 months ago!

[pugugly] 25/9/2014 09:19

Market cap of £13M from a loss making coy with t/o of say less than £4 million is still FAR TOO HIGH. I personally cannot see an IFRS3 profit in the foreseeable future.

The least worse opition for shareholders (imo) is to sell now and take a loss - the next less worse option is to hang on and hope for a Vulture takeover at a lower price - The worst downside could be liqidation - which unless the BOD take drasic action could be highly likely.

NB I was considering for a potential recovery but now very much to the bottom of the watch list. [Interest only]

[meijiman] 25/9/2014 09:11

well clearly he will not be non-executive in the conventional sense -sitting over audit and remuneration committees and the like. Might be a good idea if he was -remuneration of the chairman, ceo and FD should be nil.

[mandate] 25/9/2014 09:09

There is overlap with Guitar Man's technology

[argyle underclap] 25/9/2014 09:05

I think The Guitar Man is more an invited trouble shooter than an investor. Hence a place on the board.

I mean, why else would he get involved.

It would not be for the money.

[gbh2] 25/9/2014 08:49

They've been mesmerised by their own bulls*it imo"

[meijiman] 25/9/2014 08:44

Amazing that one of these clowns is not walking the plank.
Still this is not a normal company with powerful institutional holders who can demand change at the top.Hopefully the Guitar Man will realize he has been legged over and demand changes.(no longer a holder but concerned watcher)
The whole strategy here has unravelled. The cancelling of the new facility suggests a degree of amateurishness that few companies possess.

[mandate] 25/9/2014 08:37

Good idea - get the fundamentals right first.

[gbh2] 25/9/2014 08:36

I wonder what the Chief Financial Officer has been doing this last year or so, maybe worth spending a few quid on a new calculator for him!

[argyle underclap] 25/9/2014 08:23

New Facility - Scratched.

Possibly.

:(

Update on new facility

The Group has explained previously that it had secured a GBP5.05 million Regional Growth Fund Grant as part of a project to relocate to new premises. The new premises would include a 10,000 sq. ft. clinical training centre, a generator of revenue in its own right and intended to act as a catalyst for developing best clinical practice as well as acting as a platform for SI's current and emerging technologies.

However, given the recent performance of the business, this project will be critically reviewed with key stakeholders over the coming weeks which may lead to it being terminated

[gbh2] 25/9/2014 08:21

I'm not selling up and I'm not a bad loser when to comes to losing cash when/if a company go's through a bad patch but the almost weekly 6000 to 12000 selling that's been going on this last year really bugs me now!

[mandate] 25/9/2014 08:15

@bjfanc - agree

[argyle underclap] 25/9/2014 08:09

If the BOD truly only became aware of such a drop off in revenues earlier this month i'll eat my hat.

[gnnmartin] 25/9/2014 08:04

Shocking. :-(
Nigel Martin