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Don't know enough to comment. Agreed however THAL need to start showing some positive indicators of working to wider shareholder sentiment going forward. Some interesting trades still intermittently coming through.
What's the likelihood of the intra party loan of $7.2m to trust from Thsl being paid back.? How will they fund the interest if the underlying asset (non dividend paying Thal shares) are collapsing in value? Doesn't make much sense to sell shares to pay interest ( as biggest tranche of trust shares were acquired at weighted average of £1.45!)..no doubt the interest burden will be ' rolled over' until we see a striking share price recovery:currently >70%.
Can you ever trust( or follow) an AIM stock's house broker so biased it's irrelevant .Look at their trackrecord on this one.
First half profits down on LY @ only $1.2m ...only after 'adjusing' for $0.5m R & D in new subsidiary...illusion
As investors scramble to protect capital it's hardly surprising this share is headed down: it's anounced that one of its biggest customers will be prevented by European sanctions from giving it bususiness( for now)...then the oil price crashes which will scare explorers away from seismic surveys ( as marginal contribution $ falling drsmaticalky).Thank goodness Thal has cash reserves to see it through longer term but not one to make money on unless they pull a new, big contract rabbit out of the hat.
Gloomy Aim market,bear oil market,Russian sanctions on a key customer slowing growth markedly,iffy property deal causing reputational damage(& cautioning new institutional investors),Henderson sell off under water on last 2 placings,possible $4.1m Ecuador write off....biggest /marginal shareholder now chairmain/ trust : yet to demonstrate putting shareholders first.Hardly a winning poker hand.Just because it's ' cheap' doesn't mean it won't get cheaper!
Oil prices slid to fresh more-than-one-year lows Thursday as concerns about high supplies continued to pressure the market. Both Brent, the global benchmark, and the U.S. benchmark are trading more than 20% below a recent high, meeting the definition of a bear market. Prices have slumped for nearly four months as global supplies remain ample.
THAL has an II slowly increasing their holding.
Smokey2,makes me question the due diligence ST really does on his IC tips.Thal chairman sells 1million shares@£2.70 at start of year( surely signals where he sees the top) then this ' employee trust' gets a couple of million shares at a weighted cost of £1.45( still cannot understand how half of them put in at £.26p!!!).Given the small number of employees I wonder who is most likely to be the future recipient of these shares? Still Mr market will take its revenge for a while.ST,Always start your share research with who the management are & who owns the company
Totally agree Ups1de. I took a 2.5k loss on this the day of the results. It was worth it not to have to see the ticker in my pf anymore. Should have listened to other posters much earlier. Anyway, onwards and upwards.
The new HQ deal smacked of favouring the chairman as there were several better ways to execute the property deal ( eg sale & lease back).However an even bigger question has to be asked about the Thalassa discretionary trust.Why set up a trust to buy shares in itself & loan it $7.3m ( @3% interest)).a loan that is unlikely to be repaid but mildly flatters p & l).Allegedly to reward / incentivise employees but as directors inc chairman take little salary could they gain disproportionately (& avoid NI)? How could trust acquire 1m shares at 26 p at a time when share price was north of £2. Any views? Not surprised Henderson continue to off load even if it might be painful having supported the £2.50 placing
was awful, and his reasoning for exiting a little spurious...but fair play for doing the digging and putting that in print.
done well recently?
B-E-A-UTIFUL....
Another telling example of poor concern for shareholder value creation. Reputational damage + slowing near term outlook will hardly attract funds/institutions. A few small investors might jump in but like jolly/ riddler I think we will see further lows.
of £13m at the end of June, so assuming the property did go for close to the asking price of £1.25m, then Thalassa had ample funds to make a purchase. Alternatively, a property purchase could have been part funded on a commercial mortgage whereby the interest payable would have been significantly less than the £120,000 annual rent bill Thalassa is now faced with. Moreover, shareholders and not Mr Soukup would have benefited from any upside in the property's value. It's also fair to suggest that the value of the property with the benefit of a tenant at the aforementioned rent is worth considerably more than the £1.25m asking price now that Thalassa has signed a 10-year lease. That's worth thinking about because Thalassa could have alternatively bought the property outright and then marketed the freehold on a sale and lease back agreement in the property investment market. That way the company could have made a profit from the purchase simply by signing a 10-year lease at a £120,000 rental and one that would have benefited all shareholders, and not just Mr Soukup. Poor communication To say communication from the company has been poor on this matter would not be an understatement, so it’s hardly surprising that investors have been unnerved post Friday's announcement. Furthermore, although the directors feel the related party transaction is fair, the fact that Thalassa has a cash rich balance sheet, and undoubtedly access to mortgage finance, raises questions about this transaction even if the property is the ideal place to base Thalassa's operations. I am not comfortable about this at all, and would understand if other shareholders felt the same way. So although Thalassa's shares are trading well below book value per share of 131p, and net cash accounts for half the share price, I feel it is going to take some considerable time to repair the damage caused by the nature of the Eastleigh Court transaction, coming so quickly after the revenue warning. That's perhaps one reason why the shares are now trading on 11 times earnings estimates for 2014. In the circumstances, I have decided to cut my losses and exit the holding with market makers offering to buy them back in the market at 114p.
Shares in Aim-traded Thalassa (THAL: 116p) fell 8 per cent yesterday and have now lost more than one third of their value since the marine seismic equipment provider issued a revenue warning at the time of its half year results in mid-September ('Thalassa sinks on revenue warning', 17 September 2014). At the time I noted that it would take time for investor confidence to return, but concluded that the investment case was strong enough to warrant maintaining my buy recommendation even though the shares had retreated to my original buy tip price of 138p ('Potential for seismic gains', 19 March 2013). As far as I can ascertain, the latest share price sell-off is down to an announcement made by the company on Friday morning regarding the relocation of its operations to a resplendent Grade II-listed property, Eastleigh Court, near Warminster. The property is located 20 miles from the city of Bath. Thalassa has taken a 10-year lease on 10,000 sq ft of office space at Eastleigh Court. This is hardly 'new' news as the company had already announced its planned relocation in a trading update in July. However, what would appear to have unnerved some investors is that Eastleigh Court was purchased by chairman and 12.5 per cent shareholder Duncan Soukup on 11 July through his own company Eastleigh Court Limited, so is a related party transaction through Aim rules. There was no mention of this separate transaction in the July trading update, nor for that matter in Thalassa's half-year results in mid-September. In fact, it only came to light in Friday's RNS announcement that confirmed that the company had entered a 10-year lease on the property on Thursday, 1 October. A related party transaction The property had been marketed by property firm Knight Frank in February this year at an asking price of £1.25m and the estate agent had invited final bids for the property by a deadline of 25 April. The National Trust had previously used the 13,400 sq ft premises as offices. In other words, Thalassa will be paying £120,000 of rent for a 10-year lease on around three quarters of the freehold property. The directors, other than Mr Soukup by reason of his interest in the property, consider that the terms of these leases "are fair and reasonable in so far as its shareholders are concerned". They consulted with WH Ireland, Thalassa's nominated adviser, when making this decision. Graham Cole, a non-executive director of Thalassa said: "We are delighted to have entered into the leases on this new campus which was chosen after an extensive search throughout the South West of England. The location and proximity to major transportation hubs will be key to attracting new staff and to maintaining the company's growth over the coming years." That may indeed be the case, but the obvious question shareholders will be asking themselves is why didn't Thalassa simply buy the property itself? The company had a low yielding cash pil
I've followed several of his tips in IC and they've all been a disaster
I recently bought into Xaar, what a big mistake that was. Take ST with a large pinch of salt I say.
The first, only and last tip I have taken from Simon Thompson. FML.
another huge fall?! Honestly has to be one of ST's worst performing tips, surely?
Looks fundamentally an interesting play given the sector needs lt & balance sheet strength. Unfortunately facing near term headwinds with delay/cancellation of Russian contracts & Henderson selling up. Frankly without taking an extremely pessimistic view you can produce an 80p intrinsic value if revenue growth stalls next 24 months.80-90p entry would offer excellent asymmetric risk return. Will certainly keep an eye on this one,
fun times... any holders, what did you originally buy at?
sounds sound
are peoples entry prices here?