Versarien (VRS) shares have surged of late: last week, they lounged at 15p; yesterday, they reached 24p. This surge is all the more remarkable given the company’s May 12 warning: within a year, it could run out of money. My guess? The spike is driven by chatroom speculation and is, in effect, a concerted pre-placing ramp. In that vein, I have two questions for loathsome CEO, Neill Ricketts:
As its old auditor walked, and the new one needed more time, today’s results for the 12 months to March are unaudited interims – the prelims will be for the 18 months to 30 September. But one cannot dodge the numbers: even Neill Ricketts is forced to ‘fess that Versarien (VRS) may soon run out of other folks’ cash. Anyone holding the shares is, thus, certifiably insane.
In the six months ended 30 September 2021, Versarien (VRS) burnt £1.11 million in operating costs and a further £1.9 million in the purchase of intangible/tangible assets. The interim results presentation indicated there was a monthly cash burn of £0.4 million, but also cited cash/headroom of £6 million, which sounds impressive. However…
As Q1 limps to a close, it is difficult to see clearly through the fog of war. Mindful, doubtless, of the Covid aftermath - which bottomed almost exactly two years ago and led to a spectacular rally in stocks - investors have returned, and the sell-off seems to have petered out.
Of course ,for the diehard cultists it will all be different this time. Or next time. Or the year after. But it will not be. A hat tip to reader G for this table of Versarien's (VRS) track record up to the end of March 2021. When we update it with the next numbers it will look even worse.
You don’t need to be Greta, the doom Goblin, Thunberg to know that in today’s environmentally friendly RNS Reach (i.e not financially significant) announcement from Versarien (VRS), the loathsome bore Neill Ricketts is talking out of his fat posterior. Here’s why.
Changing auditors for a listed public company a month before the Group’s year end isn’t a planned event as planned rotations are indicated upfront in the audit report and accounts and the notice to the Annual General Meeting. As I pointed out in my note yesterday, such a late change is indicative of a tension between the company and its auditor’s even if that does not rise to the level of the auditors saying that there are no circumstances that the auditors wish to bring to the attention of creditors.
On 23 September 2021 the AGM of Versarien (VRS) voted to reappoint PWC as its auditors. Today we discover PWC has resigned and been replaced with the rather less top drawer BDO LLP. And there is more. This stinks.
Neill Ricketts of Versarien (VRS) will today be boasting of how he has settled his libel claim against Bulletin Board poster Ian Westbrook and that it is a triumph for him. Au contraire! Only now can I reveal what Ricketts really wanted out of this case.
Let’s start with a positive. Versarien (VRS) now separates its revenues and losses between graphene and non-graphene business as we have long suggested it should do. This avoids the need for Shareprophets to undertake an annual visit to Companies House to perform the analysis to reveal the low ongoing graphene sales and the scale of the losses that are being racked up in this business.
The shares are today trading at 29.5p, valuing this POS at c£58 million, but are slipping gently. The reason: Versarien (VRS) the AIM listed jam tomorrow stock run by serial ramper Neill Ricketts is, according to a City source, sounding out investors about a fund raise of £30million at 18p. The rationale?
I noted yesterday that a rapid turnover of Non Execs is never a good sign. Today we discover that James Stewart CBE who joined Versarien (VRS) as its non exec chairman on June 30 last year has had enough and is leaving on December 31. His departure is a red flag, his successor is another.
A company does not have to say anything on trading, on its prospects or on other matters at an AGM but it can do so and if it has anything good at all to say you can bet the ranch, especially with smaller AIM promotes, that it will say it. And that brings us to the Versarien (VRS) AGM yesterday.
