Peter Cook and Biota is the butt of jokes among the legal profession in Melbourne not just for his idiotic performance in selling Biota shareholders down the drain but also for telling shareholders the settlement will encourage GSK to market Relenza.
Immediately after the settlement GSK actively promote Relenza CALL OPTIONS for which Biota receives ZERO royalty payment. The pandemic stockpiling market had dwindled to a trickle.
In additional to the financial melt down, 3 other factors played a very important influence on the drought in the sales. Tamiflu shelf life had been extended to 7 years, Gillead and Roche marketing Tamiflu call options attractively to the authorities for replenishing Tamiflu stock and replacing expired Relenza stock. With the litigation shackle removed by Peter Cook, GSK is marketing Relenza call options aggressively to governments and corporations. In the current financial crisis requiring the diversion of government funds to stimulate the economies, governments when compelled to stockpile will find the call options a lot more affordable than buying Relenza. This is adversely reflected in the Relenza royalty drought in the last 2 Quarters.
In the face of these adverse facts, Peter Cook and his mates resorted to using share brokers reports to spruik Biota. These brokers spruiked Biota by distorting Biota’s cash assets and predicting $20m to $30m in annual Relenza royalties. What is even more amazing is the royalties were predicated on Relenza capturing 25% market share from the less than 5% current market share.
Instead of conserving cash to face the challenging financial times ahead, Peter Cook had increased executive remunerations. The number of directors were increased and according to some sources, the increase in executive remunerations for 08/09FY exceeded the 07/08FY increases.
For easy reference for 07/08FY: The total board and senior executive remunerations increased by 37% from $2,524,465 at 30 June 2007 to $3,459,148 at 30 June 2008.
Peter Cook’s remuneration increased 38% from $602,805 to $833,005 Damian Lismore’s remuneration increased 43% from $366,327 to $525,357 Leigh Farrell’s remunerations increased 57% from $279,319 to $437,395 The total number of executive options spiralled almost 4X from 578,721 at 30 June 07 to 2,153,418 at 30 June 2008.
For more details of wealth creation, read my earlier post: http://www.hotcopper.com.au/post_threadview.asp?fid=1&tid=734273#3262369
BTA Price at posting:
36.5¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
