My complaint to the ASX that Starpharma may have breached continuous disclosure rules has been finalised today.
The good news is that apparently there is nothing to see. Starpharma losing almost 50% of its value in less than 4 weeks is of no concern (unless you happen to be a holder).
A summarised response to me was that it’s not uncommon for a company’s securities to experience a downturn. Such downturns can be caused by market-wide factors like depressed economic conditions or a downturn in sentiment affecting all companies (nope the ASX is still near record highs), or sector-specific factors (nope the healthcare sector is doing quite nicely) or company specific factors such as a loss of confidence in the entity’s management (yep well I can agree on that for sure).
I have voted NO, NO and NO against the AGM resolutions. I am not willingly accepting a new director that has been endorsed by the very board of directors that has been unable to meaningfully commercialise condoms for men, BV cream for women and also a nasal spray which supposedly combats the very virus causing a 1 in 100 year global pandemic.
To recap, the trend of the shareholder vote AGAINST the Starpharma Remuneration Report over the last 4 years is as follows:
2017 - 1.83%
2018 - 3.58%
2019 - 6.32%
2020 - 17.72%
2021 - ????
29th October 2020 Starpharma raised $49m at $1.50
20th November 2020 AGM share price was $1.39
Today we are at $1.05
I think even the patience of institutional holders has worn thin. All the longer term holders want a return on their investment through either dividends or share price appreciation. They (and we) are getting neither and as a result a first strike (25% or more) at the AGM is looking more and more likely.
If shareholders are happy with the painfully slow progress of the Starpharma portfolio, happy with part-time Jackie as CEO, happy with the Board of Directors leading us into the most recent debacle (Viraleze), happy with shareholder communication and are happy with the lack of share price appreciation over the last few years, then sure, vote FOR the remuneration report and other resolutions this year.
I have voted AGAINST.
DYOR
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