Proteome Sciences. AGM Statement.

Richard,

I'm not a shorter or a basher, but for humanitarian reasons to save us from multiple posts, I'm prepared to put my neck on the block!

Firstly, let me say that it is not a question of being "wrong" but the intangible issues of likelihood and timing.

Your calculations show that PRM has a potential conservative value of £53 (currently 70p). Someone else here says you produced a similar valuation for Minmet at £10 (currently 1.25p) and I also hold shares in Celtic Resources for which you projected £18 (currently 185p). There is a pattern here, isn't there? I don't know what upset the applecart at Minmet (although I think I read somewhere that you felt duped by the management) but at CER you built a plausible valuation based on known resources to which you applied production rates, sales, costs and a view on the price of gold. What came along was the unexpected (in the form of an attack on a key asset by Russian raiders, Court action and threatened dilution by Russian jv partners). I think that's what's missing from your calcs; it's not what you know, but what you don't know (or expect) that will determine the price. If it was as simple as defining a market, claiming a market share, calculating an income and a consequent capital value then, however gormless the stockmarket is currently about proteomics, someone else somewhere other than on this board would have come to the same conclusions and this would have been reflected in the price. It still may be, but clearly everyone is waiting for evidence that PRM can grab a share of ANY market before lowering the odds on your calcs coming right.

It's also a bit of a fudge to refuse to accept timing as an issue. It's certainly an issue for the share price as deferred potential value is worth significantly less than current known value. It's also the ultimate defense that will get you off any hook - even if my greatgranchildren meet yours in 60 years' time and complain that they are still holding PRM stock worth 70p, will the Dawson kids(!) bleat "Ah, but Great Grandad never said when"! On that basis you can rest happy that you'll never be proved "wrong"!

Regards, Ian