UK 16:15 Monday, 26 October 2026
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Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from ShareProphets). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Last week AIM Cesspit listed Phorm (PHRM) was presenting to potential investors at the offices of its London broker Mirabaud. Among those to whom it presented was the bear raider Evil Knievil. I have a lot to say on this AIM Cesspit listed enterprise but let’s start by getting dirty.
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Comments
Hammywheel
Oh dear Tom, you’ve fallen for the guff spouted by the likes of BTCustomer and pengipete on ADVFN. A 10 minute read of that site would show you that they are treehuggers interested only in the demise of Phorm following the alleged (by them) peeking by BT of what they were viewing on their PCs eons ago. So slighted (frightened ?) by this were they that they’ve devoted every waking hour since then to attacks on the company, its directors, and anyone who is remotely attracted to the potential zillions of revenues it may garner.
I suspect the Evil one will be chortling as the price drops on your scaremongering and adding to his long.
Tom Winnifrith
Hammy
If giving a flying wotsit about basic civil liberties makes you a tree hugger I too am one. Do you regard 1984 by Orwell as a warning or a blueprint? I personally regard it as a warning. You appear to disagree.
As for the article it is based on what Phorm told Cawkwell which is errant nonsense.
Is Cawkwell adding to his long? I somehow doubt it. My guess is that he will be waddling for the exit as fast as he can manage. But the truth is that neither of us know. Right now asking him feels like intruding upon private grief. I shall ask him when the time is right which is soon
t
Hammywheel
Ah, but Phorm is NOW totally opt in and no more intrusive (probably oodles less) than Google. What the huggers are doing is in my view is just like saying they’d never buy a Mercedes because they made tanks in the war. They need to move on, Phorm has.
Tom Winnifrith
Hammy
With respect I have not addressed that issue yet. I shall.
But it strikes me that men who trample over Civil liberties once are not to be trusted. To use your analogy it is rather like inviting the late Herr Hitler back to run Germany today because he has learned from his mistakes.
You on the other hand have not answered the points I raise.
I shall move onto operational issues & the prime issue of cashburn valuation in the coming days and weeks.
T
Hammywheel
Cashburn valuation ? Not a problem : every time they need cash someone proffers an extra £10m. At exponentially increasing valuations. The inside news must be pretty convincing : China is quite a large market so I hear. PS I tipped this at a quid and rode to £35, then tipped at 2p recently. So quite happy for the huggers to keep up their “unpaid” (google……..) diatribe. Keeps me in sunflower seeds. As for all the Schillings nonsense, just an attempt to swat the annoying mosquitoes. Have you asked those who you say you “tracked down” (be honest, they contacted you didn’t they ?) what they were looking at on their PCs that they were so annoyed that Phorm and BT were peeking at ?
Tom Winnifrith
Hammy
Aha so burning cash like there is no tomorrow, failing to generate revenues etc is not an issue because there is always someone ready to fund this nonsense. You regard this as a sustainable business model. You are clearly a devoted follower of Buffett.
And now you join in the smears with the hint that maybe some of the critics were looking at dodgy pics?
Put another way, if you dare to criticise a blatant breach of privacy you must be into kiddy porn.
Saints preserve us.
Hells teeth man – please do go read 1984 and remember IT IS A WARNING NOT A BLUE PRINT!
t
Hammywheel
LOL ! Is this an investment, or a moral crusade ?
I’ve no idea what the huggers were looking at, other than it has driven them to spend their every waking hour since for 5 years+ trying to drive phorm into insolvency ! Trainspotting would be my guess….
Tom Winnifrith
Hammy
With a market cap of £60m, annualised sales of $56k and c 5 weeks cash left I would not describe it as an investment. Not sure how anyone could.
As someone now classed as a tree hugger ( I guess you do not read my personal blog :) ) I guess caring about civil liberties is a cause some folks will fight for
T
Hammywheel
Well if you want to stand up for the massive Google Giant Redwood (privacy !!!) against the plucky little Brit (sort of…) oak sapling Phorm then that’s an odd sort of civil liberty. Because Google already know more about everyone on the planet than Phorm ever will.
Hammywheel
PS Seems a lot of the anti-Phormers won’t be seeing this natter as they’re too scared of the privacy settings on your site Tom ! And now telling each other how to circumvent them. Chicken…egg… repeat !
wildrides
What goes around comes around ………… on a hammy wheel
pengipete
Kindly remove the defamatory reference to my long-standing and entirely reputable name in all posts in these comments and refrain from using my good name to sell your column inches.
You did not ask my permission to identify me in any respect and allowing the use of my username in that libellous garbage makes YOU equally guilty of libel.
You may not have posted that crap but you allowed that offensive bastard to do so – remove it immediately and do NOT publish any further libellous garbage.
BTCustomer
I too would be grateful if you could remove these defamatorycomments by “HammyWheel”. I am easily identifiable by many in this debate, and regard the content above referring to BTCustomer as defamatory. I am also puzzled about his references to a “Brit (sort of…) oak sapling Phorm” given that Phorm is a Singapore registered company with an American CEO. If you are interested in the contact details, lists of company directorships and a history of trolling activity in support of Phorm on forums over the last few years I have a good a archive. Debate about Phorm is fine, but five years of sustained personal targeted abuse is unacceptable.
Tom Winnifrith
Chaps making demands.
Please be aware that I am not in the habit of removing material simply becuase PLCs shout & threaten and ditto punters. This site believes in free speech.
If there is a specific comment which names an individual and you feel is defamatory email me with a specific reference & if that is fair I shall remove it.
Simply shouting take everything down really does not wash with me as a quick Google search “tom winnifrith sefton libel” will establish
T
Hammywheel
Which bits of what I said do pengi and btc disagree with ?
BTCustomer
Tom – I’m not making demands. “I too would be grateful if you could remove…” – is not a “demand” – its a request. I’m all for free speech and helping journalists get at the truth, and counter lies. I just don’t expect it to be the occasion for opening up yet another portal for further defamatory abuse, something I’ve suffered from for the last five years, mostly on advfn.com which is where I use the username BTCustomer. Your article above does not discuss me, and I fail to see why the comment column should. I’d be happy if the name BTCustomer is removed from the defamatory posts. I’ve never hugged a tree in my life, and I spend many of my waking hours on matters totally unrelated to Phorm. I’m also not the slightest bit “frightened” of Phorm peeking at what I see on my computer, just very angry. Non consensual DPI is bad enough, keylogging software sent to me by email is even worse. I do however have frosted glass in my bathroom window (to protect the neighbours).
But back to Phorm. As to revenue, Phorm have claimed a recent 125% increase in “revenue” comparing Q4 2013 with Q3 2013. Unfortunately they haven’t told us what the base figure for 2013 is so we don’t know what is increasing by 125%. We DO know that their last published interim unaudited revenue was for H2 2013, at $4.7k per month against cash burn of $2.3m/mth.We do know that they have failed to generate commercial levels of revenue in the USA, the UK, Korea, Brazil, Romania, and Turkey. We have NO information available to suggest that they are any less likely to repeat that failure in China. We do know that they have already burned $332m since 2003. We do know that their comms interception model is not permitted in the EU which is why the UK and Romania experiments failed. We know the Turks are strongly opposed to Phorm. We know they “de-prioritised” Brazil after promising it could make the whole group profitable. Why would ANY investor want to pump more milliions into a failed company with no registered patented technology in a challenging market like China?