Chair’s Letter To Shareholders
19 November 2020
Dear fellow shareholder,
I look back at a year full of events impacting the world, but also CLINUVEL. More so, I look forward to an even more eventful 2021 for our Company, one in which I wish to see us grow aggressively to a household name in both medical and broader retail markets.
The recent Annual General Meeting was organised through online streaming and can be viewed as a webcast on the Company’s website. I prefer to hold a traditional meeting where I can see and interact with shareholders in the room; maybe this will be possible next year with vaccines from Moderna and BioNTech appearing to advance and offer some protection.
I very much liked our CEO’s comment stating that the Company had never been “in a better financial and operational position”. This is something we build on with energy. I note that the majority of shareholders applaud our recently published strategy, but a few feel they have to protest against the Company. We move on and leave the minority behind.
The Board likes the split of the Company in three Divisions. There is now a path to build a CLINUVEL Agency, to make the Company more visible and explain the relevance of our technologies to many audiences. This is not only modern, unusual, and forward looking, but also the strategy that fits our Company. In my own group of companies we go digital, and I know that CLINUVEL will also benefit from this vision.
I believe that CLINUVEL needs to invest in the future, use its cash wisely and expand the Company. Risk taking is necessary as an entrepreneur and essential to building out our Company. In his role as CEO, Philippe Wolgen has a clear vision for the future. As a Board we have much confidence in his plan, carefully thinking in each step and able to keep his team and attract new managers. The Board is very much involved in this process, unlike many other Boards where one has a solely supervisory function. With CFO Darren Keamy we have a catcher working together with our pitcher; they work in tandem and complement each other. In my Chair’s address to the AGM I explained that as a Board we support our entrepreneurial CEO all the way, since his track record speaks for itself. If we can enable him to spend more time thinking, to be more strategic and spend fewer working hours on operational affairs behind his desk, the outcome for us as shareholders will be even better. In order to achieve this, we are aggressively enlarging our management team. By the end of quarter 1 2021, I think the Group will have a top Communications-Branding-Marketing Division (CBM-division) completed and be able to put the Company in front of a global audience.
In DNA Repair we have an exciting program, and for the first time I hear from my direct group of colleagues and friends that they are following CLINUVEL closely. Our CEO calls this strategy “giving more relevance to CLINUVEL’s causes”, reaching far more people than orphan diseases.
With the SCENESSE® stroke program in 2021 and everything else CSO Dr Dennis Wright and Philippe are preparing, there is much to be done and new audiences to address, as the technologies are now being applied in other applications and markets. In our Board discussions, we talk often about releasing the strong focus to diversify the Group. Philippe always pushed to do this but at the right time, and the time is now.
I see many companies and management teams in Europe panicking and needing to find finance, because nobody could anticipate the crisis. In CLINUVEL we have a team that looks forward, and keeps reserves for the bad days ahead, resulting in financial stability for the Group of companies.
I am more energised than ever before about the plans and value creation in this Company. I can see the excitement of our staff presenting to the Board of Directors. In 2021, we have a great year ahead with many events to look forward to. If CLINUVEL operates like the previous 12 months, expands the Company’s technology and builds the CBM Division, there is very little risk I can see.
I hope you stay with us on this journey.
Yours sincerely,
Willem Blijdorp
Chair
CLINUVEL PHARMACEUTICALS LTD