Member Info for chilting

mrc
Green hydrogen production only becomes viable when it can be produced in high volume.

Therefore, it will rely on the continued provision of renewables - in the case of the UK wind turbines - the industry leaders are predicting that with the current push for wind power, that by the end of this decade green hydrogen will be viable.

The interesting bit is right at the start of this interview.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHu4IbfUbI8

“At Amazon we like things to work in five to seven years. We’re willing to plant seeds, let them grow and we’re very stubborn. We say we’re stubborn on vision and flexible on details.”
Jeff Bezos

Sounds great to me - and it works.

Sipp
I think that BP would say that they are an energy company now, they understand that to have a future they have to adapt with the times and that means embracing renewables and becoming a leading force in their development.

Its simply not an option for any North Sea Oil company not to become involved in the new renewables technology in some form over the next ten years or so - as you say Enquest's best option is as a facilitator in maybe carbon capture. The politicians are likely to cut off new oil licences at some stage, well before the oil runs out.

I don't actually trade shares, although I would if I saw a spike coming, my interest is in long term investment, hence my reluctance to buy back into Enquest - renewables are very relevant to the future of Enquest and NSO.

Who said this?
“At ??? we like things to work in five to seven years. We’re willing to plant seeds, let them grow and we’re very stubborn. We say we’re stubborn on vision and flexible on details.”

Who would agree that this observation could be applied to Ocado?

If you don't understand this statement, then you will never understand Ocado.

I guess, this UN organisation should be the one trying to bring Western Nations into line on unfair pricing for manufactured goods.
But, I have to admit that I had never heard of the International Labour Organisation until I did a google search.

https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm

I think probably another reason for the recent drop is very simply that OCDO was overbought last year during the pandemic - with the spotlight on online that was only to be expected.

Now, the pandemic is having a negative effect because it has delayed the signing of new deals.

I have no doubt business as usual will be resumed in due course - the patent case is just a red herring.

Valueplay
You say that Ocado could have remained as just an online grocery retailer, but I think that they would have been taken over a long time ago if this had been the case.

The tech that they have developed would have been far too valuable to just leave with one relatively small retailer - Ocado have had to run with their tech themselves and develop it for the global market.

The fact that the company started trading just 21 years ago out of a portacabin speaks volumes for their expertise and the quality of their tech.

To clear up one issue - romaron is quite correct to say that green hydrogen isn't a viable option for energy production - simply because it is to expensive to produce.

However, this is all set to change.

As the provision of renewables increases - in the UK that means more wind turbines - the amount of power being produced increases. By the middle of the next decade it will be a viable option to use the excess power that is being produced, over and above what is needed for immediate use by the national grid, to produce green hydrogen.

The production of this green hydrogen should simply be seen as a way of storing energy from the surplus being produced by renewables. The green hydrogen that is produced can then be stored to eventually convert back to electrical power when needed or fed into the gas grid for distribution around the country.

Maybe that would be the case if Ocado was simply a supermarket but it is just 10% supermarket and 90% tech company - new tech is expensive - profits from retail trading are reinvested to finance the tech side of the business.

I guess if investors don't understand the concept of a growth company they would have difficulty understanding this approach to business.

Anyway, you don't have to take my word for it - Ocado raised a billion pounds last June in a equity and bonds funding round, without even breaking sweat.

Very true, Jan - Thank you.
Hopefully one day, there will be an opportunity for all of us to make some money here, or at least recover losses.
Personally, I lost patience - Good luck to you and all the other long term holders, including romaron.

I think that for good or bad, bad in my view, that electric cars are set to shut out cars with hydrogen fuel cells - the investment made by the the big manufacturers makes that a 100% certainty - even range extenders for cars seem to be a non starter as battery life is constantly improving.

So the UK Governments decision to limit funding to marine, heavy commercial and rail is a very practical one - I would add Buses and Coaches to that list.

Hydrogen fuel cells will have to prove their worth in commercial road vehicles first and then as a network of filling stations to service these vehicles, we could see the first hydrogen fuel cell vans and cars on our roads but it will be a slow development - maybe 10 -20 years before they start to make an impact,

What a boo-boo!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56506859

Well, that told me.

The point is though, that volatility does create opportunity and higher volume creates volatility.
When Brent is rising this can only be a good thing but I have to concede that when Brent falls the pain will be greater.

But then maybe ENQ should just be seen as a traders share???

It will be interesting to see if some of the former PMO NSO investors, who Linda Cook of Harbour described as not natural LTH's, now descend on ENQ - that could have a significant impact on the SP - an increase in volume is just what ENQ needs right now.

Ocado Retail are efficient - not inefficient.

The technology from Takeoff, seems very similar to what Walmart are also developing - basically they are bolting on a mini distribution centre to their local stores. Some UK retailers such as Tesco seem to also be having the same sort of ideas.

The problem is that, although the solution may work, is it actually profitable in the long term?

The operation of multiple mini fulfilment centres with all the logistics and stock duplication that involves, plus addition stock duplication in the bricks and mortar stores, would seem to be frankly rather stupid in a business that deals in so much fresh produce.

Add to that all the extra staff that would be required and are already required to run these expanded operations in a time when we are likely to see significant increases in the cost of labour and the whole operation looks unviable.

The efficient players will be traditional store based companies like Aldi and Lidl, who can undercut their rivals offering delivery and appeal to anyone on a low budget and, Ocado Retail who offer an inefficient cost effective service from stand alone CFC's and that's just in the UK.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/27/walmart-to-ramp-up-automated-fulfillment-at-its-stores-as-online-grocery-grows.html

Neil
That's just the point - they can't - they simply get pushed around by western companies and have to tow the line or risk loosing contracts.

The news item talks about garment makers uniting to get better terms, maybe if this works, and its a very big if, the situation could improve.

Nice windmill!

Yes, an excellent interview - its not often that we hear the term - "100% profitability revenue" - this form of revenue will come to Ceres from Licencing agreements starting around 2024.

The main thing from a retail investors point of view is that the business is so capital light - so to achieve targets there is little CAPEX with finance mainly coming from business partners.

Personally, I am now up around 740% and have top sliced numerous times - now that I have balanced my portfolio, I will be retaining all my holding to take full advantage of future profits.

Fair pricing and term of sale are essential in all trading environments - not just for producers but for retailers as well.

The problem in the global rag trade is that this simply isn't happening, we are seeing far to much exploitation of producers resulting in cheap prices that certainly don't help M&S because competitors like Primark are constantly undercutting M&S's prices.

It seems that M&S are certainly not being fair to producers by taking credit for up to 120 days - not at all ethical in my view.
This is from the Reuters report -
"A letter from Marks & Spencer to its suppliers on April 7, 2020 stated orders shipped after March 24 would be paid
up to 120 days from invoice receipt date, up from 75 days previously and nearly three times the pre-pandemic industry
average of 43 days. These terms remain in place, a Marks & Spencer spokesperson said, declining to comment further."

https://www.lse.co.uk/news/MKS/insight-global-garment-makers-unite-to-demand-better-terms-from-retailers--k3w4wzdzcu1tasw.html