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The market has done phenomenally well today. All my holdings are up with the exception of SQZ (once again) which frustratingly is my biggest single holding.
It seems management needs to work harder to convince the market that SQZ is a sound investment.
Shares in Treasury do not receive dividends
"WTF is happening with the share price again today?"
I could have wrote that ad verbatim. To have returned to sub 180p after our results - where this years fortunes were laid out and due cognisance taken of Norwegian asset, I am a trifle flummoxed. Share buyback should have placed a floor under our sp, which now seems to be 180p not 200p, never mind back to 250p!! Perhaps my own reluctance to add more under 180p is where the market is to.
Perhaps they should have bought ECO like myself at 9p - back in Namibia !! If BP can hold shares in Serica, why don't we take positions ??????????
They also able to give these to the new CEO when it arrives by as a lovely golden hello
Maybe the answer is to offload uk assets to purchase Norwegian ones . Rather than an equity raise against little britains land assets
"WTF is happening with the share price again today?"
Could be a leak and/or Mr Market thinking we will use equity again for Norway !
I think this company needs the get its strategy sorted out and stop hypothesising.
WTF is happening with the share price again today?
Interesting post on social media spotted earlier ....
Serica's CFO Martin Copeland told Energy Voice: “There’s an element to which you think, if we’re going to have Norway, we might as well have the full-fat version of Norway and actually go to Norway, right?”
The buybacks would have more credence, if the purchase shares were being cancelled, rather than held in Treasury! The company will gain dividends on these of approximately £1.1 million
Buy backs historically have not had much affect on the company’s share price, specifically if the amount of Bb is small compared to the no of shares in issue and company’s market cap, the only way SQZ’s SP is going to be re-rated is if they invest in a good quality overseas producer , this is the key to future success
SQZ has the means to find and purchase or even enter into a JV with a good quality long term producer overseas, but first they need to install a high caliber CEO in place give him time to embed and then try to find such producer overseas which will increase the daily production to around 65K , which given we already produce over 45K ourselves is not such a tall order one such overseas producer which is so under priced is PTAL which produce around 25K per day and they have potential to increase that to much higher
DYOR
IMV, the buyback was too small and won't move the needle. Better to return cash to SHs as dividends and avoid any further UK investments which don't payback within 2-3 years.
Typically buy backs should provide an improved eps (earnings per share) over time and therefore a higher share price all things being equal. Buy backs should support an improved sp over time for longer term holders.
Dividend payments v buy backs is always a split debate and currently with a 23p total divi (14p final ex divi date upcoming in June) and a £15m buy back SQZ are satisfying both sides.
We await news on the possible Norway bid stated by Bloomberg on Friday, at least we know SQZ is pro actively seeking operations outside of the UK tax regime and who will be the new full time CEO ?
Dividends are good and can be reinvested over time but the share price will drop by the dividend amount
Hi all
Been reading up over the weekend on some new potential additions to my new ISA allowance and have been looking at SQZ. Can I just ask a question on the buy back and get an opinion. It looks like there is a maximum of £15 set aside which will be about 8m shares (original RNS mentioned more but then had a cap on the amount to be spent).
I can see buy backs of about 1.6m so far which will be held in treasury (500k transferred out today for employee options).
So a few questions / opinions.
Treasury transferring shares out for employee options - I can see this as good as prevents any further dilution - thoughts?
When buy back completes - which may take another 3 weeks at this rate - do we expect SP to drop a little as the buying is supporting the share price at the moment?
Why not pay dividends as opposed to buyback ? Do not quite understand the tactic unless it is to prevent dilution when options are exercised?
Not looked at a buyback before and the underlying reason so just interested in opinions.
" Hopefully the NSTA will communicate what this means to the thicko government, whoever is in power"
From now until after the election all policy will be drive by politics, after that we will have a labour government and policy will be driven by ESG and Woke ideology along with tax and spend bit like the conservatives but worse. Shell will probable exit the UK followed by BP and many others. But this won't matter according to Labour as we will have lots of cash generated from green industry and jobs if they can only find the money to fund all this c***.
With such punitive and uncertain fiscal conditions, it's no surprise that there's a lack of interest in drilling licences. Hopefully the NSTA will communicate what this means to the thicko government, whoever is in power at the end of this year. No drilling, no development, and far earlier cessation of production for most fields. The tax revenue will stop, tens of thousands of jobs will be lost, and we'll need to import all our hydrocarbons at considerably higher environmental impact.
Good news!
We have not been offered any licences in tranche 3, presumably because we did not bid.
Not exactly a list of nobodies but there's a definite lack of interest from the big players
https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/media/t40pqogd/tranche-3-awards-by-company.pdf
"Before you consolidate, you have to put a value on the assets, and it’s very difficult to do that if you don’t know what the fiscal regime is going to be,” said Mitch Flegg, the former chief executive of Serica, who has become an adviser to the company."
Pity he did not think this way when buying TW!
Thanks for the link flexmw. Lets hope that the weakling bp bod will support him in his views and be more vocal. Then maybe the war crime supporters of politicians will see sense going forward.inmv and omho.
‘Windfall tax weighs heavy on North Sea producers‘
Before you consolidate, you have to put a value on the assets, and it’s very difficult to do that if you don’t know what the fiscal regime is going to be,” said Mitch Flegg, the former chief executive of Serica, who has become an adviser to the company.
https://www.ft.com/content/ceb1d4af-c1c5-4909-aba4-f967aaaba1c3
Sval Energi would be an excellent acquisition.
However, ads Sval are already partnered with AkerBP you would think they'd have an advantage (and deeper pockets)
A price tag of around $1bn rumoured.
aimo
I'd be amazed if this is true. Sounds a bit too adventurous for Serica. Easier to stay in the comfort zone and keep paying windfall tax.
On the 3rd of May the NSTA offered a further 31 licences in the latest phase of the 32rd oil and gas licencing round.
Some applications are still under review, so more licences may be offered in future.
I guess we'll find out next week if we are one of the "lucky" ones.
Oil and gas firms are being framed as the “devil incarnate” as general election rhetoric ramps up, a top North Sea dealmaker has complained.
Andrew Austin said is firm Kistos Holdings (AIM: KIST) is one of several which has pulled out of deals due to political uncertainty and that the windfall tax is being seen as a “victimless” crime as the UK gears up for an election.
Speaking to The Herald, he said: “Part of the problem is both parties are rightly trying to chase the 18 to 24 year old vote and in their minds climate change and oil and gas companies are the devil incarnate, therefore taxing them is effectively a victimless crime; that’s what’s driving it on both sides of the house.”
Investment ‘off the table’
Mr Austin, who built up his former company RockRose Energy into a £250m business, said committing fresh capital to projects in the North Sea “is definitely off the table” until there’s certainty as to “the Government and the Government’s position”.
There have been four changes to the windfall tax since 2022 under the ruling Conservative government, while Labour, which is leading the polls, has promised a “proper windfall tax” should it win power.
Last month, the CEO of Hartshead Energy told Energy Voice the uncertainty on Labour’s plans have led to it cutting project team jobs.
Meanwhile the party’s pledge – which includes cutting investment allowances while hiking and extending the levy – has led to warnings it will kill off North Sea investment.
Kistos’ partner in the West of Shetland, TotalEnergies, told Energy Voice last year that the uncertainty is impacting potential Final Investment Decisions for their projects in the region.
Mr Austin told The Herald that the windfall tax is not making Shell or BP the victim.
“The victims are the small independents who effectively have become the mantle-holders for the North Sea as the majors and super-majors have exited.
“You’ve seen it with Harbour, with Ithaca with Serica and us. These are the guys that are getting hurt.”