Forum Archive Index - October 2000

[Derek <dkw@paradise.net.nz>]

As someone intimately involved in R&D I have to take issue with regard to
FFS selling off its main R&D interests. It is often said that when a
company gets into trouble that R&D is the first thing to go, in my opinion
it should be the last thing to go since in the modern world it is not
merely a luxury but a necessity.

One of the claims of FCL was that the market is not giving FFS credit for
the R&D side of the business.

To me this is clearly an absurd argument as it completely misses the whole
point of having R&D in the first place. That is to keep up with the play
and hopefully develop innovations which allow a company to break out of the
commodity cycle and into something more lucrative. To say that the market
is not giving FFS credit for its intellectual property and therefore to
sell it off is akin to saying that since the market is not giving FFS
credit for investing in it's future therefore why invest in the future?
Well, the answer to that question is, that if you don't you won't survive
(or will be bought up for a song).

As a FFS shareholder I would have been far happier paying a bit more for
the rights issue had they kept the biotech side of the business than paying
for the rights issue as the company currently stands.

Regards,

Derek



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