AGM wrap

My notes and comments from the AGM
Obviously, all the meeting resolutions were passed.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to have a lengthy chat with MV prior to the start of the meeting agenda. One of the first comments he made to me was that he and the other directors and management were aware and sympathetic in relation to the current SP situation. It is of concern to them (LT expressed the same view in her presentation) and they are looking to implement the strategies that will reverse the undervaluation of the stock.
He was pretty straight with me on what that would take. First off, phoney moves like directors buying parcels on market just to create a positive impression don’t work. The market sees through that in about a nano second. Same to some extent for flooding the airwaves with fatuous press releases for every little piece of “news”. Eventually you get totally ignored, like the boy who cried "Wolf".
He said it’s primarily about a job of demonstrating value by way of the clinical trial results, then making the case to insto/fund managers who are genuine long term holders in the bio-tech space. No point in rushing in at this juncture to do that, until strong trial results support such initiatives. They have a limited amount of cash available for PR and need to use it judiciously. These funds have their own analysts and don’t rely on the brokers analysts when reviewing company investments.
MV seemed to feel the most likely trigger for “serious” discussions with pharmas of potential partnering on Cvac will be data driven. I asked which data and he seemed to feel it would be the interim CAN004 results, but possibly the final CAN003 overall survival results (1st half 2015) could see some action.
I asked him about the ramp up of patient recruitment for CAN004 and CAN 301, which seems to have been dragging on a bit. He said the pace of this will start picking up now that regulatory hurdles have been crossed in most jurisdictions. (Zee German authorities are generally a little pedantic and slow to grant approvals).

I also asked about Bergen and their propensity to dump their shares on market as soon as they got them. Without disclosing the confidential details of the deal, he advised there were strict limits on how much and when they can sell. Apparently Bergen are also long term holders of PRR (I didn't know that).

Prof Triebel’s presentation was very “sciency”. I felt like I was at an oncology seminar. A fair bit of the information about the LAG-3 technology sailed clean over my head.Two things that did manage to penetrate though.
1. The product licensed and partnered with GSK is targeting auto-immune disorders, which has massive market implications. I looked over at Stuart Roberts, the life sciences analyst for Ballieu Holst during this point and he was nodding approval.
2. MV also pointed out that the development milestone payments schedule for Immuteps product lines provides for instalments in the near/mid/longterm. The next instalment from GSK on IMP731 possibly within the next 6 months. (No amount mentioned, as you’d expect).

My main takeaway impression from the AGM:
A focussed board and management, that knows it has a big task ahead to restore investor confidence, but they seem ready for the challenge and feel confident the technology and processes are going the right way to restore and create value.

I hope other forum members who were at the meeting will also post their impressions and any information they gleaned.