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Eqtec is now valued at only £43m, which is probably the value of just a few of their deals but of course any placement at these levels rebases the share price considerably and it appeared DP had averted this issue by its loan. DP knows that a placement cannot be on the cards as it will impact everyone so i am sure DP and team are working overtime to get these projects financed and those in development operational. It is time to forget the pipeline and close deals to avert difficult choices in 6 months. If DP can close 2 decent projects this year we will have plenty of revenue to not require a hefty dilutive raise in the New Year but we have good levels of cash for now so it is allow DP and team to get these projects off the ground. i am very confident we are at a turning point in the history of a company that will grow significantly over the next 2-5 years but today they have some growing pains that need close handling.
Fund raising has its place of it enhances the value of the company but if it just keeps the current book running then it's just dilution and should be resisted. Now is the time when the BoD show they are a cut above. Modest promises which are achieved is what is required.
No. No more fund raisings sub 1.5p.
The company should start to live within its means.
It has a great product but is being brought down by foolish spending, running up debt, and trying to drive expansion that is not responding at the speed the company would like.
Money is tight everywhere and it's going to get an awful lot tighter.
Many companies will go to the wall.
EQT is way out of order and if it doesn't change now it could be one of them.
Further fund raising shouldn't be necessary this year. Best thing for future fund raising would be for Wood to take 1or 2 bn to raise up to £10m. Small change for them but life changing for EQT.
I’m here for the duration too aandi but you have to admit it’s been very frustrating to see some of the decisions. Not being unkind and hope I’m not an arse - my comment was posted with a wink. Have always appreciated your detailed postings as said several times on here, wish I was as positive but I find it concerning for sure.
. . . and yes I enjoyed my breakfast with thanks ;-)
Can see both sides of the debates here:
AIM growth company will inevitably have growing pains and need to borrow. Similarly there will be "unknowns" which trip up project timelines.
Financial planning has been poor (seemingly optimistic and short term) whilst project execution has failed to meet promulgated timelines.
As an alternative illustration, Aviva results out this morning and a 10% uplift in SP - not for any new information but they have come in on target for profit, debt reduction and dividend. Today's market rewards accurate forecasting but doesn't seem to believe your promises until you deliver on them.
There may be a significant lag between the health of the company and the SP reflecting that.
I'm holding but not adding until we complete a few things and sort out loan repayments.
Aandi - you make fair points but I am starting to have doubts. Great technology, potential contribution to green energy and even good idea to eventually just license the tech. BUT... Timescale, cost, revenue, profit????
That will be why Northfork is to be a showroom then for America and not a MDC.....
"Some of those forecasts were likely made pre war." : Yes pre Falklands most likely !
"Look all around the Aim, there are companies failing all over" : I think that is the point we are seeing companies not adjust to the situation, spread themselves financially thin then struggling to recover the situation, DP's attitude to spending seems to have no bounds.
North Fork is an absolute disaster of a money pit, But we are in so deep now we have to keep committing funds $6.4M already, a possible $4.5M more for a project that will produce $4M revenue at god knows what margin, its likely to be a decade before we see any kind of return at least.
The use of North Fork as a MDC, what does that show investors? that it takes decades to commission and decades to get your return.
North Fork should have been cut loose, but DP's ego wouldn't allow it, so we have to keep paying but see little or no progress.
Loan to equity value currently sitting at what, 10%. Hardly a bankruptcy situation.
Revenue quadrupled last year and hopefully will double or more this year...
Look all around the Aim, there are companies failing all over, spiraling out of control. We took out a loan to get us into H2 safely, and now raised funds with a 10% dilution which shareholders granted the company the rights to do...
This is what growth companies do. Unfortunately we are in a bear market and the market doesn't like 6 months without a financial close.
Every detailed broker note has included the risk warning that there may be issues getting financing to progress projects, we all knew those risks. So has the end of year reports, and the interms. We all know the risks.
The forecasts are only targets, guides, and the company keep us informed of what is happening along the way. It is clear and there is plenty of data which shows spending for 2022 is expected to be in the region of €25m. Some of those forecasts were likely made pre war.
If this takes off and all projects work and start to come online, this multi bags all the way to £200m market cap easily, recovering lost ground.
I'm hear for the duration and hopefully you are too. Try being nice maybe? Too many arses in the world already.
Enjoy your breakfast
‘Those calling for Numar's head I guess haven't ever changed jobs?’
???????? unsure what that has got to do with wanting to know why he hasn’t been visible in explaining some very poor decisions. Is that calling for his head? . . . it’s asking for accountability and answers from an FD to serious concerns I’m sure very many PI’s have.
In answer to your statement as I’m sure you’ve placed me in that group . . . indeed I have changed roles more frequently than some professions, tends to be looked as a positive on the CV in the sector I work in. It has given me many years of experience of managing services in the public and private sector.
Aandi go to sleep at a reasonable hour and make sure it’s a glass of milk only ;-)
‘got 20+ years to wait’
The rate it’s going we may see a uk project financial close just after you retire, thats if the goals don’t move again
Save the planet !, all DP’s hot air is adding to global warming not reducing it !
Each to their own.
This is in my pension pot and got 20+ years to wait. I would rather they don't sit on their hands and expand, try to save the planet than tip toe around disgruntled shareholders after quick gains.
@Aandi: The EQT BoD could stab you in the eye with a blunt pencil and that would still be "ok with you"
They take out an ill thought out "bridging loan" and that is ok with you, they have to raise additional cash just months after that for "unforseen payments" and that is ok with you.
When cash is short the thing to do is to tighten your spending not just simply borrowing more !
This isn't a Putin megalomania problem it's a Palumbo megalomania problem, he doesn't understand the concept of spending only what you can afford.
https://sec.report/lux/doc/3107962/
Some bed time reading on Ebioss, Eqtecs former parent company. They liked to own projects 100%, and they liked to sell biomass pellets.
There is also a plethora of information out there on the internet about European and UK governments closing down on favourable feed in tariff rates. The green doors closed and it became survival of the fittest. Add in a bit of debt, maybe some technology teething problems and the electricity price drop from 2014-18. Everything of course came to a head in 2020 with the Corona virus and $5 a barrel oil for a few days, and then the green energy markets hit a bull market run with everyone staying at home and wanting to save the planet, become private investors.(Aim, balloon, pop)
Then the war started and woooosh, the price of oil (and gas) became political and on the agenda, but all the free liquidity was gone through cost of living rises, inflation and interest rate hikes.
And that nicely takes us to where we are today with backlogs, commodity prices and risk averse infostrcture investors.
Those calling for Numar's head I guess haven't ever changed jobs? Where I've come from it takes 6 months to be proficient, a year to be good. Not sure how good I would be in any job if the whole industry had dropped 50% or more and the company were at the mercy of a single institutional investor.
I'm not putting one shade of blame anywhere Nauman Babar.....
If he could have foretold the forest fires, gas crisis, green energy market slump, maybe he could have raised another lump of cash fast this time last year but maybe he thought COP might actually be successful?
When there is no money available on the markets, what do we want the BOD to do? Sell assets at fire strike prices? NB probably did not want to raise cash at all or at least if so to raise above 0.5p but Amati put him in cheque there.... A falling share price (market) plus a delayed financial close (war?)was always going to hurt us plus Amati selling out, I fail to see what he has done wrong! Keep growing the revenue mate! Looking forward to the interns! You've raised cash twice (if including the loan) but that's ok with me, we are a growth company!
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Electricity_price_statistics
Funny how ITM share price drop in 2022 45%, eqt drop 62%.
That cash cushion clearly not doing much for investor confidence against a market wide crash...
Not sure that ITM is a reasonable comparison, when considering financial stability.
ITM : 2022, Net cash at year-end of £364m (£176m)
EQT : No pot to p*** in
ITM staff wages last year, £10.8m. Revenue was £5.5m I believe (including grants), with a loss of around £27m
https://itm-power-assets.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/ITM_Power_Annual_Report_2021_c6ed6e1b63.pdf
"Amati selling that destroyed the share price from around 1.1p"
Chicken and the egg which came first?
Amati offloading a sub £100M mcap company or the mcap falling below £100M ?
Lack of delivery has destroyed the mcap very little else.
There were some second hand computer keyboards thrown out of the EQT office last week, because the D E L A Y keys have been worn out !
"Working towards the goals and growing the revenue."
We wait to be impressed, the only thing that seems to be growing EQT revenue at the moment is the begging bowl !
And the only thing they seem to be gasifying at present is investors cash !
Quite sure it has been Amati selling that destroyed the share price from around 1.1p
Please keep up the excellent deramping computer share!
I’m buying some shares next week…. More multi bags possible sub 0.5p than at 1.5p
Page 21
https://eqtec.com/wp-content/uploads/EQTEC-270422-Initiation.pdf
https://biofuels-news.com/news/velocys-contracts-worley-to-deliver-technology-package-for-waste-to-fuel-projects/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1464285917302420
What are all the engineers doing?
Working towards the goals and growing the revenue.
Page 3&4
http://www.alignresearch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Eqtec_Align_Update_April_2022.pdf
"We can’t possibly expect them to carry out the work of a well established EPC or engineering company carrying out Front End Engineering Design"
Agreed, so what exactly is the payroll currently funding ?