Sapan Gai, CCO at Sovereign Metals, discusses their superior graphite test results. Watch the video here.
We don't need 7 days, we have enough cash in the bank already to clear it.
The debt restructure involved banks, the Philippine government, the two major shareholders and the BOD. Everything was written down and signed.
The "assurances were given either on an informal basis or for a limited period only" statement refers to MTL Luxembourg's initial stance that the Mezzanine debt facility rate should be reduced to 7% with effect from 2nd November 2022 (and here is the important part) upon completion of the elevation of the Mezzanine debt facility to secured status in a timely manner.
The timely manner was dependant on the two major shareholders, the Philippine government and the BOD.
Lots and lots of signatures involved.
"Are the board really up to the job of defending shareholder interests?"
A board that, since hiring new CEO Darren Bowden, has successfully renegotiated the debt that was crippling the Company and have now practically repaid said debt without the debt for equity that the two major shareholders were asking for.
A board that, since hiring new CEO Darren Bowden, has turned around the performance of the mine to the steady state producing mine that we now have.
A board that, since hiring new CEO Darren Bowden, has seen the share price rise from 0.5p to 5.85p in just over four years.
A board that, since hiring new CEO Darren Bowden, has formulated a pathway that drives the Company forward with additional income streams and resources that will guarantee the future of the Company.
To paraphrase Monty Python "Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health ... what have the Board ever done for us? Brought peace"
Mac19 - The original Mezzanine was much lower initially but was added to incrementally whilst the Company couldn't make the payments to the old Senior debt facility.
RHL are claiming that the Company defaulted numerous times but MTL Lux are seemingly claiming the opposite.
It was pointed out elmonths ago by myself that the major shareholders could use the paperwork delay as a get out clause to wriggle out of lowering the 15% rate.
When the Senior debt facility was repaid less the £1200 mentioned there was $81m Mezzanine debt outstanding at 2nd November 2022.
What they are asking for is already covered by cash in the back as at 30th April - approx $8.8m
According to the above agreement, if the Company defaults on the debt repayments then the interest rates increase by 5% per annum.
From the Final Results for the Year Ended 31st December 2022 RNS posted on 16th May 2023 - "During FY2022 the Group made regular monthly loan repayments such that, except for a nominal circa US$1,200, the New Senior Debt has been fully repaid. This nominal amount was left in place to ensure various securities remained in place until the mezzanine loans are elevated to the status of secured borrowings (the "Elevation").
The majority mezzanine lender, MTL Luxemburg, Nick Candy's investment vehicle, (holding 70.7% of the Mezzanine Debt), has confirmed in writing that, subject to completion of the Elevation documents within a reasonable period (expected to be before the end of Q3 2023), the interest rate on its portion of the Mezzanine Debt will reduce to 7% per annum from 15% per annum from 3 November 2022 (being the date that the Company could have fully repaid the Senior Facility, but for the requirements of the elevation)."
MTL Luxembourg confirmed in writing that the interest rate would be reduced to 7% but has now gone back on that.
RHL are claiming that the Company had defaulted on numerous occasions and that the default interest is accrued from 5th October 2023. This opens up a number of questions. MTL had not made any payments to the Senior debt facility since November 2022. If RHL are not claiming this is a default then they must have accepted that the Senior debt facility had been repaid, therefore the interest rates on the Mezzanine debt facility should have been reduced.
Also, how has MTL defaulted on numerous occasions starting with 5th October 2023 and onwards? As the payments were being made every quarter I can only assume that the following condition within the debt restructure agreement has not been followed - "There will be no set fixed principal and interest repayment schedule, instead the Company will be required to pay a Quarterly Payment to the Lenders within 5 business days of each quarter end (being 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December);" So were RHL expecting a payment on 5th October 2023? 30th September was on a Saturday last year so 5 business days later would be Friday 6th October. Surely RHL should be claiming that the default interest rate should be accrued from 6th October 2023 if the quarterly payment date had been missed.
As posters have already pointed out, when the Company has paid $81m of debt since November 2022 then the $6.35m that the major shareholders are claiming is still owed is a merely a drop in the ocean when compared with the £300m free cash flow that is still left to mine.
I would be happy for the board to pay this and then we can move forward with no further niggling doubts.
No doubt another buying opportunity coming up today.
The debt was cleared 25th March.
Cash in the bank at 31st March $1.1m.
FCF running at approx $21m / quarter so cash in the bank at 30th April would be around $8m.
Earlier comments re. capex for new mine. We have already paid for the processing plant, fleet of mining vehicles, office buildings and equipment, etc. This will all be packed up and transported to the new mine site.
The £300m of FCF that will be generated by the current reserves over the next four years could pay for all that equipment with cash to spare but why should we? We have already purchased it once, no need to buy it all again.
From the 27th March RNS - "RHL Group advisers have communicated RHL Group's belief that the higher 15% rate is applicable until repayment, which potentially amounts to an additional US$1.9m owed in interest payments to date."
This we already knew.
The most worrying part of today's RNS is the following :-" During Q1 2024 most aspects of the process plant performed adequately"
Adequately!! Why aren't the derampers jumping on this sentence?
/s
Thanks for the laugh Mr Sparra, I enjoyed that one.
Nick Candy's mates : Qatari PM and various Russian billionaires, all wanting the SP to be 10% lower so they can get their £10k worth of shares and make a quick 15% profit.
Brilliant.
Are you Jimmy Carr in real life?
He hasn't dumped them onto the market. Check the volumes.
Somebody seriously wants in. How do you accomplish this with an illiquid share?
Buy a tranche in a cash raise? No cash raises needed so can't do that.
Buy on the open market? Try buying 50m shares without driving the SP into the stratosphere. Won't be doing that.
Buy privately from a large shareholder? Large shareholder gets fair value, new shareholder gets fair value. Win - win for both shareholders.
Somebody has just bought 50m shares in MTL and people think it's time to bail. Wow.
So somebody bought Mr Candy's 50m shares. They were not sold on the open market.
Not enough to trigger a TR1 but a sizeable chunk for a starting position.
Somebody clearly wants in.
He/she doesn't affect the SP in any way.
Nonsense posts over last two months while SP has risen over 150%.
DYOR!! A very common acronym on share chat boards Lee.
The newly invested will have already completed their research before making their wise decision to invest in MTL. Not, therefore, the type of person to sell up based on the unverified, hysterical babbling of nonsense pushers.
Anyone just looking in will likely have found out about MTL from conducting their own research and are possibly looking for links to further golden nuggets (pun intended) of information.
Nobody makes investment decisions for their hard earned money based on what a random, unknown person posts on a chat board.
Hands up all those people who would invest money based purely on the post of a random, unknown person on a chat board.
See, even the people in straightjackets at the back of the room aren't crazy enough to put their hands up.
When it comes to making investment decisions my choices are based on the following level of importance :-
99.9999% - my own research
0.00009999% - what my cat tells me
0.000000001% - posts on chat boards.
I often ignore my cat. I mean, what does he know?
Being invested in a steady state producing mining company can be quite boring.
Watching the share price climb from 0.5p to 5.8p over a four year period is, quite frankly, dull.
Reading RNS's every quarter showing debt being paid down at phenomenal rates is practically yawn inducing.
Reading future RNS's every quarter showing that cash in the bank is increasing at the rate of £20m each quarter and adding 1p to the SP each quarter is going to be like counting sheep, you'll be asleep in no time.
We need some fun. These idiots are just what we need. We can laugh at them. Poke fun at them. Highlighting their nonsense gives us the chance to prove just how well MTL is doing.
We might not understand their level of stupid but we should appreciate their determination to maintain that level.
Not one person invested in MTL will be affected by anything these clowns say. They don't affect the SP in any way whatsoever. The only people they can influence are the gullible and stupid. Those type of people will not have had the intelligence to invest in MTL in the first place.
So embrace the nonsense.
Trolls bring it on.
Facts are wasted on trolls who can't even spell "MILLION" properly.
Apologies Tygra, just making a point.
This should bumb this thread back up.
With the first post in this thread, almost 24 hours ago now, the SP was 4.7p
At the time of posting this, the SP is shown above.
What went wrong JW?
Will you be apologising for trying to put potential investors off and missing a 150% rise in the share price over the last month? No? I thought not.
The Chairman does not run the company. Darren Bowden is the CEO and he has stated no need for a cash raise at these low prices.
There is approx £300m of free cash to be generated over the next 4 years at current gold prices. The forecasts that you have previously referred to were based on $1950/oz price of gold. Gold is $300/oz north of that point.
Your case for £300m being used to fund a new asset is based on what? The way your cat looked at you last night? You have provided no detail to back up your claim. MTL have spent £180m on the current mine. The processing plant will be dismantled and transported to the new site at the end of the current LOM. The fleet of mining trucks will be used at the new site. There will be very little Capex needed to have the new site set up compared to the current mine. Will you provide any facts to back up your claim? Of course you won't.
The company has had a £100m market cap in the past and there were no Institutions investing back then.
If the Abra tenement can confirm an additional 15 years of steady production then the Institutions will come looking. They will be having to buy in at over 10p per share when that happens though.