Wednesday 30 April 2014

Morning Mumble: Tullow almost gifts its Ass(ets) to Faroe Petroleum (FPM) & SLP criticisms despite being a shareholder + a wise market to Ironveld.

Contributions via phone from Ian (put into English by Fraser): Faroe Petroleum (FPM) have, in my view acquired the North Sea Assets of Tullow Oil (TLW) cheap. It comes as no surprise with Tullow’s focus on Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. People with a longer term memory will remember TLW acquired these from TLW for around $200M in 2005, albeit I think it was the ‘Christmas cheer of 2004’. The positive is, the structure of the deal is as a result of production milestones.  FPM appear in the market for further acquisitions, I wonder if they’ll surprise us before the slow period in the markets. The Schooner and Ketch acreage may just have significant upside. Its suffered in essence by Tullow’s need to focus resources elsewhere so what that space.

Staying with (H)OIL: A long-termer post the acquisition of the OML Interests has finally got back to where it should be with an offeror coming out of the woodwork. Heritage Oil Recommended All Cash Offer By Energy Investments Global Ltd (Tony Buckingham) (320p A Share). The deal is done and congratulations to certain parties for getting this ‘offer’ to the table without any noise to market in the past 7 weeks!

Back to sobriety now: Its been odd for me, I've been reviewing my news channels and information updates which are essential. Whilst withholding the criteria of the searches I use and, I noticed a flaw in them (or omission) in respect of Inmarsat (ISAT). Whereby, I had been informed of the own goal of Russia focussed satellite launches however couldn’t put the dots togethers. Alas, perhaps I cannot be everywhere but its nice to be kept abreast of developments.

Sylvania Platinum (SLP) Quarterlies are out today. Its an old wart of mine, albeit I should not be complaining on the trades and Ironveld divestment. Its rare for myself to full short a stock I own considerably long, however the managements inactions on the Group based costs and lack of willingness to put their own skin in the game clearly shows their views. One thing parties may not be aware of is the ‘nil cost’ options. This is not only bad practice in my opinion, more so, excludes them from investment by a variety of companies (mainly insurance co’s etc). So don’t hold your breath when it comes to investor days, a lesson of old for myself. The results are pretty much as a result of the deteriorating rand, but I suspect SLP are not out of the woods yet. Perhaps holders will soon be asking the board to account for the such high admin and general expenses in light of the production model. Wonders will never cease..

With links to Sylvania (no position currently but have been long and short), and the recent share sale by the Chief Executive of 216,804 shares or circa £23K is somewhat of an indication of things to come; no wonder the SP lost all ofrms of support. Had the financing discussions been on track etc..and allowing for a CEO’s salary, one questions the need to sell stock…unless?

Sirius Minerals Plc Latest Crop Study Webcast is no surprise in itself, when first researching the company I'd just given up the day job & was trading/investing near full time I realised that research was key. Having found research into Polyhalite by various companies (Google will aid you), it comes as no surprise the encouraging results of the crop studies. The question still to be answered is what is the end user willing to pay for a new product? Time will tell, but certainly something to buy over the longer term?

Sadly I don’t’ have time to cover the International Personal Finance (IPF) Interims IMS or Globo or Wolf Minerals incessant seller...will it break the 16.3p?

Leggie, I’m sorry your cricket wasn’t up to par, sadly that’s what comes with following Nottingham :-).


Atb Fraser

1 comment:

  1. Fraser- Hi- Yes- Notts Outlaws did win the last domestic trophy tho and I just about made it back from Lords last Sept after that surprise, but their 4 day batting has been seeing their games finish in 2 days in the main, with some very well paid batsmen playing in a beach cricket style. Still, no more punishment of this type for a week or so :-))

    Re RUR- If they waive all the interest payments due ($5.5m) as detailed in the 5/2/14 RNS, this leaves $35.5m. If we assume they don't get all of this either say $33.5m, this will leave them with $8m in cash after the Birdsong loan is paid off (assuming no penalties). That combined with my valuation of their power assets (after taking the £53m off their balance sheet re comp claim) gives me a net asset value of 11.1p. I would assume the Chilean listing was being kept on hold until these payments are out of the way, and a rerating in line with the average Chilean listed power generator would add between 2p and 5p to the share price over the medium term. Todays news is of course overdue and not exactly positive but RUR need to move on and they should certainly scrap the prior mentioned special divi, as cash is surely better in their hands developing their assets rather than dispensed with now. Im long from 8p.

    Re HOIL- yes- done deal, no other parties likely and well done to all holders there.

    Re SXX- Polyhalite is a produce they have created a mkt for and their current offtake deals seem to be at just over $100 pt (although they have mentioned $150 pt in the past and they would like this to achievable in due course) and if you adjust for the recent change from pipeline to conveyor belt, the operating costs come down below $30 pt, showing a massive margin even at the lower fertiliser costs now in place. The Chinese are v v keen and I feel the odds of SXX themselves still be in place at the point of production are now pretty low. A Victor Kiam approach seems sensible (I liked the product so I bought the company for those youngsters here) The major issue is the national park approval, which I feel should be v likely now, the news being due at the end of Nov 2014 and then the finance guys get serious.

    Cheers. The Leggie

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