Portage Biotech Inc. (PRTG)

[mauiguy2]

Thanks for trying, TP. Obviously, it didn't take today. But, who knows.....it might tomorrow or next week. My purchase order of 100 shares at .125 is for an extended period, not just for today. Please keep your 100 share sell limit order for an extended period at .125 and let's see what happens.

If it doesn't take our buy/sell limit orders with the same amount of shares at the same price, I'm scratching my head about the 10,000 share purchase at .0001.

[Nightroads]

https://www.portagebiotech.com/ Lots to read here.

[Nightroads]

PTGEF has a new website up. I would suggest going onto twitter and follow Intensity an Sentien both owned by PTGEF. Intensity has been tweeting up a storm. They are also presenting at various conferences now. The price drop was most likely a signal that an uplist will come shortly. Remember a 120:1 reverse was approved. If that happens it should be in conjunction with an uplist. The latest PR last week hinted at leaving the OTC. I don't check this board often, so I won't be back for a few weeks. Here's to an excellent first Q2020.

[Tex18]

If only it would let you buy at .0001, imagine!

[TP-Money]

I put in a sell order for 100 shares. I've been trying to sell on TD Ameritrade for months with no luck, so I doubt anything will happen.

[mauiguy2]

We all know that the current price at .0001 was some kind of computer glitch or whatever. But, I'd still like to get the PPS it back to .125 for a couple of reasons:

1) My portfolio looks horrible! The PPS certainly doesn't belong at .0001

2) I'm curious if the stock can still be traded by lowly "peons" like us during the halt.

I've put in a buy for 100 shares at .125. Would one of the readers here be interested in putting a matching sell for 100 shares at .125?

I've had my buy of 100 shares in my account for the past 2 or 3 trading days,  but nothing has happened. Perhaps a seller also needs to have the exact 100 share sell for the buy/sell to take place.

Any takers? I'll let you know as soon as the trade occurs. Should be interesting if it happens or not.

[Virginia Prospector]

update today:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/portage-granted-extension-by-cse-to-cure-default-comments-on-otc-trading-and-provides-audit-update-300966063.html

[Tex18]

On the otc markets page it’s gone to full delinquent “grey market”.

You may be right, but last I recall seeing it was just a stop sign.

Anyone else know?

[mauiguy2]

Tex, it's just some sort of computer blip. Nothing to be worried about. But, a 99.92% drop is a bit alarming at first glance!!

That being said, my overall stock portfolio does NOT look good today because I own a lot of shares.

Sure wish they would get the accounting issues behind them. Very disappointing, to say the least.

[Tex18]

Well, full stop today. Shame.

Had some hope for this to be successful.

[mauiguy2]

VP, have you had any recent communication with the company?

[mauiguy2]

Ugh! Despite the various optimistic forecasts and the numerous "soons" we've been hearing for many months, I can't say that I'm real surprised by the latest. Very disappointing to say the least. Hard to believe that this is the same management team that brought us BHVN.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/portage-provides-default-status-report-201700247.html

Portage provides default status report
PR Newswire PR Newswire•October 31, 2019
TORONTO, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Portage Biotech Inc. (CSE: PBT.U, OTC Markets: PTGEF) ("Portage" or the "Company") is providing the following update on the status of efforts being made to revoke a failure to file cease trade order issued by the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC") on August 2, 2019 (the "FFCTO") against the securities of the Company. The Company is currently in default for failure to file its audited annual financial statements for the year ended March 31, 2019, interim financial statements for the 3 month period ending June 30, 2019 and accompanying management discussion and analysis for each period together with the related certifications (collectively, the "Required Filings").

At the time of issuance, the terms of the FFCTO provided that it could be revoked if the Required Filings were completed and filed by October 31, 2019. Unfortunately, due to the SalvaRx Limited acquisition completed earlier this year, the audit process for the Required Filings became unexpectedly complex (see the Company's news release of July 26, 2019). The auditors of the Company, Marcum LLP, have advised that certain accounting issues remain outstanding which are required to be resolved before they are able to release their audit report. The Company is seeking clarification on these issues. As a consequence, the Company will not be able to file the Required Filings until after October 31, 2019 and, as such, will need to make a formal application to the OSC to revoke the FFCTO.

As a further consequence of this delay, Portage risks disqualification from further trading on the CSE even after the FFCTO is revoked. The Company is using all of its efforts to avoid this outcome but there is no assurance that it will be successful.

Portage common shares continue to trade on the OTC grey market. Once the Required Filings have been made and the FFCTO revoked, it is the Company's intention to complete the filing of Form 15c211 with FINRA to activate trading on the regular OTC market.

The Company reports that since its last news release of August 26, 2019, there is no material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed. In parallel, we continue to advance our medicines and will be providing additional updates in due course.

[Tex18]

50% movement today?

[mauiguy2]

Thanks for posting, VP. We'll just wait and see if it actually happens. I'm a bit skeptical, though, because we've been waiting for "soon" a long time. Too long.

[Virginia Prospector]

I am sharing part of reply received from CEO Ian Walters a few days ago. Therefore, I expect to see news very soon.

“It is our plan to get trading back up, and to look for better exchanges to create more liquidity.

I am truly sorry for lack of additional news. We are crafting some releases now that will speak to these issues.”

[mauiguy2]

Here is email I got from kam Shah yesterday (Aug 22)
“We hope to have a press release shortly which will explain the situation
Regards
Kam”

We're now moving into the 2nd week of October. No word from the company in ages. The "soons" and "shortlies" never seem to materialize. It's discouraging. Shareholders approved the merger at the beginning of January. But, unfortunately, we continue to wait and wait.

But, as I keep reminding myself, the wait for the BHVN dividend was worth it. Hope it will be the same here.

[bbhuey]

In the 10 k it says that according to IRS rules they qualify as a PFIC because more than 50 percent of their income was passive.
In this case you can be taxed on past allocable earnings and future allocable earnings if one of the three elections are not made.
Looking at the 10k and past years Isee 2017 and 2018
as having a net profit in this case you would be tax on than and also for future years if it qualifies.
This can be a big exposure if the IRS wants to drop the hammer on the U.S shareholdets

[mauiguy2]

Like I said in one of my posts, I discussed it with my tax guy at our meeting this past February. I needed to pay the tax. Ugh!!!!!

By the way, why are you addressing this issue now? It was a 2018 dividend and should have been paid up by April 15. Did you get some sort of extension?

[bbhuey]

Hi

I was reading the 10 K and the tax treatment for U.S. holders in which the company did not go for a ruling on whether this company qualifies as a passive Foreign investment company like a foreign mutual fund if more than 50 percent income is passive investment income.If so then you would then be taxed on your pro grata share of earnings and profits at ordinary income rates and also pay tax on interest.If it is a PFIC you would have to make one of three elections and file form 8621 otherwise they can hit you on back taxes for past years.
I talked to Etrade and they treated it as a taxable stock spin off and as a nonqualified dividend.
I am still trying to figure out what to do and looking at form that is a taxpayer nightmare

[mauiguy2]

Unfortunately, bbhuey, it's taxable.

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146975307

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=146983128

https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=147977000

[bbhuey]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone knows how the treatment for the stock dividend is treated for U S shareholders.

I have it treated as a taxable spin off by Etrade
treating it as a non qualified dividend and then
Computing the gain or loss on it
the portage information statement dated
January 5, 2018 talks about this as qualifying as
as a passive foreign investment company.
in which you have to make on of three elections
but maybe able to escape this if you owned less than $25 K of Portage

[mauiguy2]

Nor I, VP. Management needs to get their ducks in line and be accountable (pun) to shareholders.

This kind of stuff is getting old:

As a consequence of the delay in the preparation of the Annual Filings, the Company also announces that the filing of its financial statements for the three-month period ended June 30, 2019, accompanying management discussion and analysis together with the related certifications (the "Interim Filings") will also be delayed and not released as required on August 29, 2019. The Company expects the Interim Filings to be filed shortly after the Annual Filings are filed.

[Virginia Prospector]

Not the news I was hoping for:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/portage-provides-default-status-report-300906943.html

[mauiguy2]

Good information. Thanks, VP.

Let's get moving, management team, and release your financials. Enough is enough.

[Virginia Prospector]

Kam Shah is the CFO of Portage. Here is his email if someone wants to contact him. [e-mail]

Also, good way to follow Portage is this twitter link. Twitter name “Quint” is a big investor and close to board members.

https://twitter.com/search?q=%24PTGEF&src=ctag

[mauiguy2]

Thanks again, VP. Your posts are always appreciated.

Tell us again.....who is Kam Shah?

Once again, it's a mixture of bad and good news, isn't it? The bad news is that it's just one more procrastination by the company in getting its paperwork in line. Gads, the acquisition of SalvaRx was approved by shareholders 8 1/2 monts ago on January 8. But, unfortunately, we've heard very little from the company since then. Plus, they haven't been diligent with their financials. Not good. I would never have guessed that this management team would be so slow in updating its shareholders and getting its act together.

On the other hand, the prospect of finally hearing some good news in the not-so-distant future seems very promising.

[Virginia Prospector]

It looks like Kam's timeline of this week may not be met. I'm not surprised.

Here is email I got from kam Shah yesterday:

“We hope to have a press release shortly which will explain the situation
Regards
Kam”

I was told the delay by new audit firm will strengthen balance sheet and will be positive with growth plans. Future filings are expected to be on time.

In addition to financial filings we will get a PR to detail update on future plans. Trading on CSE will resume once financials are filed.

[mauiguy2]

Hope you're correct. Thanks, VP!

[Virginia Prospector]

Per Kam Shah, full company update and financials expected this week

[mauiguy2]

Thanks for the info, VP.

PTGEF management needs to wrap up its paperwork and begin to move forward. They've been at a standstill for too long.

[Virginia Prospector]

I asked my contact for an update on Tuesday. Here is his reply:

“Well I put that question to Kam Shah a few days ago and the response I got from asking if the financials would still be out by 13th Aug was....’they will be out when Marcum complete them!’ So am wondering if the 13th Aug date was replaced by the ‘within 90 days’ as per the second suspension RNS!

No reason for a long delay though. Should still only be days away max.”

[mauiguy2]

I gotta admit that I'm a bit disappointed in what's been happening with our stock recently. There's been a delay in the financials and now a halt in trading. I expected more from our management team.

Basically, nothing tangible has happened since the merger. I had expected a lot more......so much silence from the company

Anyway, I remain long and strong. Hopefully, we'll be hearing some positive news in the not-so-distant future.

[mauiguy2]

Keep posting, VP. We need as much information as possible on this board.

[Virginia Prospector]

A friend of mine contacted Dr Ian Walters most recently.

I got a message last month from Ian due to an email I sent to Greg Bailey and will follow up with Ian soon.

Kenny Soulstring, who introduced me to Portage in 2016 is also contacting Ian soon so I expect further updates.

[mauiguy2]

VP, thanks for the post and thanks for the link. It's appreciated. Were you the one who actually contacted Dr. Walters? Or, was it another individual that contacted him?

[Virginia Prospector]

Dr Ian Walters, new CEO of PTGEF was contacted June 27th about the lack of progress to date. I was encouraged by his reply received June 28th:

“We are working to resolve all the things that you mentioned. Please be patient, and you will see progress.”

Also, follow PTGEF progress on this link:

https://twitter.com/search?q=%24PTGEF&src=ctag

[Nightroads]

One of the companies they have invested in is Intensity Therapeutics. The company presented data 14-15 in NYC. You can find more on Intensity's Twitter.

[mauiguy2]

Dr. Walters certainly has excellent credentials. Let's see where he can take PTGEF.

After a change in CEO's, stocks often drop. Good to see PTGEF move up on the news even though volume was light. Moving up on news is always a lot better than moving down!

[Virginia Prospector]

Portage gets new CEO:

https://seekingalpha.com/pr/17500019-portage-announces-change-ceo

[Virginia Prospector]

It's traded on the Canadian Stock Exchange. You can buy and sell but until management is ready to uplist there is not much demand.

PTGEF is working on many more BHVN's so I'm keeping my shares.

[az0064]

Is this stock no longer traded? I’ve held for years and I wanted to try to get out

[Tex18]

I could have sworn they had to divest their shares to stay listed on the Toronto exchange or something like that and they decided to distribute their shares hence the reason for the dividend

[mauiguy2]

BHVN closed at 64 yesterday. So, now it's gone up almost 40 points since the dividend. Pretty amazing!

Does anybody know if PTGEF management still owns some of their BHVN shares? At one time, they owned a ton of shares. I'm unclear what happened to all their shares after the dividend.

[Nightroads]

I agree with you. You can find an interview with the Intensity CEO by ForbesBooks, that highlights the company's progress. And that's just Intensity. SO I expect good things from this stock.

[mauiguy2]

I'm smiling a bit at myself as I type this message because I never make it a habit of posting a lot on a little used board. But, here I go again! Sorry!

BHVN rocketed up $10 today to close at 58. PTGEF's BHVN dividend occurred when BHVN was in the 26's. So, the value of BHVN has more than doubled since we received the dividend. Plus, the value of PTGEF had gone up a LOT before the BHVN dividend was issued.

PTGEF is trying to do the same thing again for shareholders with other companies now under its wings. Since PTGEF management is a proven commodity due to its success with BHVN, I'm pretty shocked that our PPS is sitting at .085. It simply doesn't make sense to me.

Anyway, good luck to all, including me!!!

[mauiguy2]

Not sure if I've ever done this with any stock, but I bought all the shares traded yesterday (Tuesday). I bought all 30,000 shares at .085. I just feel good about the company, management and where they're headed.

However, like the rest of you, I wonder why management has chosen to stay as quiet as they have. I know they have a big plan. I'd like to have a hidden mic in the room during one of their meetings or tap into the phone line during an important phone conversation!

[Nightroads]

https://twitter.com/hashtag/BIOCEO19
I haven't had time to test this link yet. However it is a 25 minute interview with Lew Bender, the CEO of Intensity Therapeutics. It's worth giving it a listen. Just a small fraction of PTGEF's portfolio, and rather exciting waiting for continued clinical successes from this one.

If you can't link to it, you'll find it on Intensity's Twitter. Interview by Forbes_Books.

[Tex18]

Thanks Maui. I’m getting mine done this Saturday.

I agree, I think management has a plan, just would like more color on it.

[mauiguy2]

I know management has a plan. Wish they would be a bit more open about it, though. But, I will remain patient. I keep looking at my BHVN shares. Therefore, I have a lot of confidence that management will again do the right thing for us.

Oh, Tex, I forgot to tell you about the outcome of my tax appointment. We certainly discussed PTGEF/BHVN. Bottomline, I needed to pay tax on the full BHVN dividend. Just glad that BHVN has continued to move north. Hope our PTGEF shares will do the same in the not-so-distant future.

[Tex18]

For sure Maui. Wish theyd but out more about the Salva Acquisition and their plans for this year and next. Anything really.