Story time
I’ve held onto this for a bit because one, I wanted to let enough time pass to see if anyone from the company was going to reach out but also because I didn’t want to add any negativity to what was already another challenging year for long time investors.
For those that are new here I’ve been invested in the company since 2010 with what believe is a sizable amount of shares (IMO for an average retailer), got crushed with the first adcom, was sky high after FDA approval, only to be destroyed again by Du. I’ve held strong and retained 100% of my position since Du and call it what you will, I remain optimistic that there will be a sale of the company. Maybe not at the numbers we all once projected but I do believe we will be surprised when it happens. With Denner being on board at the level he is, my guess is we are still 12-18 months away from a sale. End of this year would be a very welcomed surprise. Everyone knows the sooner the better, just hard to put a number on the US as it stands today (God bless Marjac and team for all your efforts!). EU exclusivity…tick tock, tick tock…
After the plethora of complaints about IR being non-responsive in mid-December I decided to drive over to HQ to take a look around for myself. On that day only three of (approx) ten designated AMRN parking spaces were occupied. Common practice says these spots are typically assigned to the executive team and it’s understood we are all working in a very different environment these last 2 years so not uncommon for office attendance to be minimal. At first I was there just to take a look at the office but sitting in the parking lot I had this “why not” moment so I parked and decided to go in and see for myself what the office was like, who was around, etc. The front door of the building was ajar thanks to the smokers out front so in I go and take the elevator to the top (3rd) floor. The elevators open and it feels like this scene from a movie where one enters Heaven, surrounded by clouds with soft glowing light shining upon me. It was very surreal and the office had a very clean feel to it. Staring at me right away was the receptionist from behind her desk, visible directly from the elevator bank. In the Amarin lobby is a large standing poster/advertisement of V, a few chairs and what appeared to be a very large office space which I could observe through glass surroundings, giving it a very open and crisp/clean feeling. I tell her that I’m a long time retail investor who lives in the area and I wanted to speak with someone from investor relations. She looked very confused and I could tell they didn’t get many walk in guests, if ever. She got on the phone, called someone stating that I wanted to speak with IR, the person on the other end (assuming) didn’t know who to direct me towards so she said someone would be coming out. I thanked her, asked her if she liked working there (yes) and if she’s been there long (no). I could tell she remained skeptical of my being there but being in Sales my entire career, starting out cold calling and knocking on doors to me this was just a routine cold call.
After a minute or two a gentleman comes out, introduces himself as someone from their Compliance team and asks how he can help. I couldn’t help but notice another gentleman behind him, almost standing guard as a security presence (had the look and feel of a bouncer). I explained I was a long time retail investor who lived nearby and I wanted to speak with IR about a number of questions I had - citing my family history of CAD and that I’ve been on V for years, explained that I’ve had a lot of trouble with ExpressScripts trying to substitute other medications, asked to discuss plans for a combo pill and/or authorized generic and wanted to hear from the company directly since there hasn’t been a lot of communication to the retail community from IR. I wasn’t asked to come in and sit down, I wasn’t offered coffee/water and wasn’t given his business card. Instead he said “and I’m not trying to blow you off” (which it now feels like he was) and says to me to leave my name/number/email and that he would make sure someone reached out to me. I left my information, wished him well for the holidays and went on my way. No surprise but I have not been contacted by anyone. Since my visit we’ve had a number of developments - the combo pill topic, new IR hire and of course Denner adding to his position. I share this because the lights are definitely on but still doesn’t appear anyone is actually home. There something so odd about this firm and I just can’t understand why the corporate culture hasn’t evolved a bit, especially after all the blows we’ve suffered. I’m still debating sending this story to KM with the new IR lady in copy. As CEO he sets the tone for the rest of the organization and should know his staff is underperforming, hence maybe the move of adding to the IR team. I’m at a loss for why he’s not more vocal, internally or external. If you want the company sold you need to act like a salesman.
My current firm has been through three rounds of private equity ownership and each time is the same story - new owners insert new management team, make a few moves, cut costs and/or add products via strategic acquisitions so to shine it up and sell it for a premium. All of these transactions had 12-24 month timelines to play out but I know for a fact the end goal was decided long in advance of the shining and the actual flip. So what’s our company’s end goal? It’s clear the BOD needs replacing and hopefully the recent addition along with AD coming in strong will help turn that into a reality.
Short of applying for a position in the company I don’t know what any of us can do to to better our situation. It doesn’t appear they are interested in engagement with retail. Someone suggested pooling together with AD to add a few million collective retail shares into his stockpile - can’t hurt in reaching out to him to discuss this option. Near term in the US we have Marjac, Healthnet continuing and possibly bringing Hikma back in with new evidence. I’m very interested in the next filings to see who has added, learning of early Germany results and when we can get China going later this year.
Questions I still have - where is IR staff located and why don’t we have anyone (maybe one now?) in our US HQ? Why do we still have such a big office space? Downsizing the office footprint makes a lot of sense especially since Covid.
DTG
