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Just listened to the presentation again - a worthwhile exercise, and I found his comments about getting the sp up by 'delivering on time and on budget' interesting.
The problem is that none of us know what either 'on-time' or 'on-budget' actually means. In other words, shareholders and the market have no means of judging performance in this respect and therefore I can't see how this would help the sp. In fact, we haven't got a clue about what work he's even referring to, let alone knowing if it's on-time.
I'm still trying to make my mind up about the presentation. What did he actually tell us and was it worth the effort?
I re-listened to the pres again yesterday whist working too Add and thought exactly the same thing. What are the specific milestones and when will they be delivered? There aren't any, literally nothing!!! ( other than the exploitation and investment protection agreements by year end ).
As far as I'm concerned that tells me everything I need to know, we're dressed up for some sort of sale. The two interesting points I took from the call were that we've got plenty of cash for the next 12 months+, and a number of NDA's signed and an active data room. This has been mooted for some time but the first time we've heard this form the company itself. Scot said himself 'it's all part of the process', but didn't say what the process was but lets face it he meant it's 'all part of the [sales] process'. Nuff said - it's just a waiting game now and I wonder if one of the Chinese suiters will strike during this seasonally weak period???
One question for any sensible posters, does the investment protection agreement need to be negotiated by SOLG or could it be done by any new owner of ? Let's face it, either of the Chinese suiters are probably better at dealing with the Ecuadorian government than SOLG as they surely have far more leverage so these agreements not being in place shouldn't be a blocker from them making a bid???
C
Hfm, I reckon the IPA is of great value to us, so it has to be our number 1 priority.
I think you have to look at the presentation as a box ticking exercise.
The company had been quiet since announcing the Cornerstone merger and PIs were rightly growing restless.
There was nothing in the presentation to sell the company. In fact, the company hasn't done anything to attempt to sell itself to smaller investors for at least a couple of years.
It sacked it's IR, dialled back on conference appearance, etc.
I agree that Scott was waffling. He has done a bit of that in his time as interim CEO, knowing full well he hasn't set any firm targets on which his performance can be measured. Yet another example of the company treating it's shareholders with contempt.
This is why we're going to be looking at winning bids of 30-45p and not 60-75p. The rot has set in and there's no real way to arrest the slide but to hope for a full on bull market, and that's not looking likely any time soon.
It's grim, but we hang on because not many companies have a Cascabel.
As far as I remember the only deadlines the company have committed to are the two agreements with the Ecuadorians - by year end. To me that speaks volumes about the timelines we can expect here before any meaningful action.
Fully expect the 'regional prioritization' charade to continue for most if not all of the year and no drilling to be done.
Expect some progress/updates on tailings site and environmental considerations, but again no timelines provided by the company on these.
SM, don't forget the Prospectus said a finance recommendation related to the SR would be put to the board by end of H1. Of course, Caldwell didn't mention this and ignored my question on the subject. I think we can assume it's disappeared into the long grass.
Hi add, yes they did, and I think they committed to that update when they were confident of hammering out a deal for Cascabel in the first 6 months of this year. Bob's bullish comments, the whole "fast and smart" schtick. I recall Bozi and others (inc. myself) saying that end of H1 was a reasonable timeframe for an offer to materialise post merger.
My assumption (heaven forfend we make assumptions...) is that the political situation and the two license negotiations are what is currently blocking Jiangxi/whoever making a move that would result in an offer being put to shareholders. Makes far more sense from where they are sitting to let the incumbent weather the political storm and get those two deals over the line.
This is why Scott has had to pivot somewhat and why we're now talking about optimising Cascabel in fairly vague terms (we have no idea what form this update will take, and no timeline for its delivery). Still a believer that things will come good here, particularly from these levels.
Add, I agree the IPA and exploitation agreements are of great value, but do we think they are a blocker to a bid?
Good question and I'm of two minds.
They're absolutely not a blocker.
Anyone who had reason to believe the IPA was likely could use this time to make an opportune offer, but they know it likely won't be considered.
So they'd rather wait for the insurance which will be better received by their own shareholders.
The issue with where we are now is that If SOLG gets the agreements signed without delay then shareholders will expect an offer immediately, and they may be disappointed all over again.
The question we should be asking ourselves is whether there is much lower fruit on the tree.
If a super major took a dart at SOLG then the outstanding IPA / Exploitation agreements red tape stuff would just get signed off as part of that deal and if they don't then the major player walks away. Lasso wouldn't let that happen.
SOLG specified a while ago that they still require various land purchases which involve relocation of various locals. Outstanding land issues (obstructive ones) are often the things Super majors dislike but Chinese are not so worried. The latter wouldn't have bought another 1% in SOLG shares if they were overly bothered about anything related to SOLG. I reckon they'll string out discussions for a while yet while they grab another 1% or more. Remember, every 1% ownership in SOLG is in effect 1% of Alpala. Franco took a profit share of 0.5% for $50m. The chinese recently bought 1% of SOLG (30m shares) for approx £5m. They are well happy mopping up stock by looks of things so why would they rush?
If future take out/bid prices are near 52p levels (that's cheap) then buying as many shares as they can without causing major share price rises is the name of the game for them. Why pay 52p when you can pay 17p?
Oh, and you need a bunch of chinese kids to play on the Internet and bash various forums to dent sentiment and generally put pi's off as retail investors can be pain and send share prices rallying away from 17p levels if they get a sniff of excitement. The greenline brigade probably cleaning up fish guts from the market stalls during the day...
Fortissimo. Your post.
"If a super major took a dart at SOLG then the outstanding IPA / Exploitation agreements red tape stuff would just get signed off as part of that deal and if they don't then the major player walks away. Lasso wouldn't let that happen."
Correct me if I'm wrong. But lasoo won't be there to not let it happen. So you have just based another of your BS essays on pure fabrication.
Not even assumption, purely bs.
And as for all of these agreements being signed by year end. Keep in mind it's solg saying this, they have now been trying to get them for 2 years. Then keep in mind some of the many other things solg have said are going to happen. Then keep in mind how many actually happened
I suppose the interesting part about the presentation was the number of times he said he couldn't comment. In other words, what he didn't say was far more interesting than what he did say.
I'm not sure of the relevant Stock Exchange rules, but it's normal for a company which has publicly stated it's undergoing a strategic review to announce if that review has drawn a blank. In fact, I think they are obliged to do so.
What can we infer from this?
Addict. This board will infer 100 different scenarios. Most of them more crackpot than the last one.
And as for you posting that the government are not that dumb to not realise were running out of time.
Have you thought that maybe they're brighter than you think. And are very well aware were running out of time. They've been stalling for 2 years, only 6 months left on our licence. Maybe not so dumb
Ftjny. Now that you've been shown once again what a clown you are. I expect we will be hearing about your trusty filter bin and how many you have in it. That's your usually pattern.
Yaaaaaaaawn