The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
It has been reported in the media, with regard to PRAX's purchase of the Lindsey oil refinery from Total in March 2021 that
"Prax paid some $167 million for the refinery in March 2021, and after a rebound of oil price following the relaxing of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the company logged a $500 million gain in a matter of months."
It would appear that they believe they can pull the same "trick" again this time using HURR's - sorry I mean HURR's shareholders - money!
Note their windfall is credited to the rebound of oil prices post Covid 19 pandemic - Is this potential event reflected in the current offer?
Cough up PRAX - "every little helps" to quote a proper FTSE 100 company, and 20p plus out-right might tempt some investors.
I would contest the credibility of the statement regarding HURR having the right to contact beneficial owners of shares held in nominee accounts.
Nominees may be asked to circulate information from HURR to the underlying beneficial owners - but that is as far as it goes!
Public examination of a Company' s share register is however permitted and the names of "nominees" would appear therein.
Has this previously posted contribution caused concern with HURR BoD and PRAX.
I do wonder if PRAX have the financial clout to carry this through.
It is speculation on my part, but I have this nagging feeling that the organisation may be built on sandy financial foundations, with one opportunist deal financing the next - the finance being provided by the "underlying" assets of previous deals. This is not organic growth within the company, but one where the strategy is to continue expansion by acquisition in order to maintain an “illusion” of sustainable growth.
The media have reported that PRAX is a $10 Billion crude oil empire, grown by a married couple from a flat in Surrey. The Guardian reported, last year, that the company’s profits have soared almost tenfold between 2010 and 2020! It has to be acknowledged, that on the face of it, it is an extraordinary achievement.
The media report also stated that “It is alleged that with large profits have come at a borrowing cost, however The Times says Prax’s borrowing facility has expanded to £739 million as a buffer against high oil and gas prices in an uncertain market.”
The report continued “Information on how this flat-based business grew into the colossus it is today is somewhat sp a r se, prompting questions over whether a closer scrutiny is required…”
I speculate, but why would PRAX not increase the offer, given the opposition to it, if they were of substance?
They want to use only £16.5million of their own funds (it was reported they had a £739million buffer in October 2022) to implement the Scheme, the balance of £104million coming from HURR own shareholders assets!
Possibly they don't have further funds (they purchased the Humberside based Lindsey Oil refinery as recently as March 2021 from the French oil company Total).
Any future payments are speculative, and I wonder, if CA would have agreed to this had their major shareholder not required liquidation of the fund. Perhaps CA can justify to their other shareholders that the first guaranteed payment will cover the cost, expense and hassle of their HURR investment, and consider any future speculative payments as a bonus. How CA will collect / pay these to their shareholders, once the fund is liquidated, will be of interest.
I also find it strange that a continental organisation makes an investment on receiving speculative future payments from a UK based private company, when the more knowledgeable UK investors do not.
Is the long game, for more knowledgeable investors, to await collapse of the deal then for someone to make a move?
Keep the pressure up I doubt that the Scheme (robbery) will now succeed.
I am reminded of that old Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times.”
sp**** should read s p a r s e
I do wonder if PRAX have the financial clout to carry this through.
It is speculation on my part, but I have this nagging feeling that the organisation may be built on sandy financial foundations, with one opportunist deal financing the next - the finance being provided by the "underlying" assets of previous deals. This is not organic growth within the company, but one where the strategy is to continue expansion by acquisition in order to maintain an “illusion” of sustainable growth.
The media have reported that PRAX is a $10 Billion crude oil empire, grown by a married couple from a flat in Surrey. The Guardian reported, last year, that the company’s profits have soared almost tenfold between 2010 and 2020! It has to be acknowledged, that on the face of it, it is an extraordinary achievement.
The media report also stated that “It is alleged that with large profits have come at a borrowing cost, however The Times says Prax’s borrowing facility has expanded to £739 million as a buffer against high oil and gas prices in an uncertain market.”
The report continued “Information on how this flat-based business grew into the colossus it is today is somewhat sp****, prompting questions over whether a closer scrutiny is required…”
I speculate, but why would PRAX not increase the offer, given the opposition to it, if they were of substance?
They want to use only £16.5million of their own funds (it was reported they had a £739million buffer in October 2022) to implement the Scheme, the balance of £104million coming from HURR own shareholders assets!
Possibly they don't have further funds (they purchased the Humberside based Lindsey Oil refinery as recently as March 2021 from the French oil company Total).
Any future payments are speculative, and I wonder, if CA would have agreed to this had their major shareholder not required liquidation of the fund. Perhaps CA can justify to their other shareholders that the first guaranteed payment will cover the cost, expense and hassle of their HURR investment, and consider any future speculative payments as a bonus. How CA will collect / pay these to their shareholders, once the fund is liquidated, will be of interest.
I also find it strange that a continental organisation makes an investment on receiving speculative future payments from a UK based private company, when the more knowledgeable UK investors do not.
Is the long game, for more knowledgeable investors, to await collapse of the deal then for someone to make a move?
I am reminded of that old Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times.”
Kever - are you giving financial advice?
Vote Now
Go to ii.co.uk
To view information and vote on decisions relating to your shareholdings please follow the steps below:
1. Visit our website and select Login
2. Open the ‘portfolio’ menu
3. Select ‘voting mailbox’ from the list.
VOTE VOTE VOTE
Broom - that's proper democracy, everyone voting .
:-)
The 2021 Annual Report was published on the 13th of May 2022.
Clearly the 2022 report must be ready, if not already printed - and there can be no excuse for a delay.
Surely shareholders should have the benefit of access to this critical report before making any informed decision about the future of their investment in HURR?
I disagree - await events!
In essence what is happening is the small investor is being bullied into selling their investment below the value that they attribute to it.
To add insult to injury the bullies intend to use the small investors money to finance the deal, holding out the possibility in the future that they may pay more, if the small investors company (HURR) survives, and makes a profit according to the bullies calculations! The caveat being the bullies will only pay up a small proportion of this profit, and in any event only for a limited time.
Compare that with what the small investor could get back from their investment had the company being run properly, with a BoD that acted in the best interests of the owners of the company – the shareholders – as they are supposed to act.
There are better brokers available and I am sure if Jarvis wished to retain their business they would change their policy.
They are correct about a Letter of Representation - but to charge for it! I thought this practise had been stamped out!
VMT OM45
It is now getting critical that Investors, if they have not already done so, cast their votes for the Court Meeting and the Extraordinary General Meeting taking place on Thursday 4th May.
At the Court meeting individual Investors on the HURR company register at 6pm on Monday 1st of May can cast their one vote. Beneficial owners of HURR shares, that is Investors holding HURR shares in a Broker’s “Nominee” accounts, are disenfranchised from voting at this meeting.
However, and of particular importance to these disenfranchised Investors is the vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting, which follows the Court meeting. At this meeting PRAX and the HURR Board of Directors require 75% of the votes cast at that meeting to be in favour of the Scheme. That is not 75% of HURR shares on the company register; it is 75% of the shares voted at the meeting.
This is where the disenfranchised beneficial owners of HURR shares can influence events, as they can vote all their HURR shares held in Brokers “nominee accounts. Your vote will count and influence the result.
Each individual Broker will have a different method of recording votes cast by the beneficial owners of HURR shares. These usually are by either “secure” message, a telephone call, or a corporate actions “voting” function on the Broker’s website.
For example, Interactive’s clients use a corporate action’s voting function – very easy and efficient. It would be helpful if posters could post the method used by their brokers so that others may benefit and vote.
In order to process these votes Brokers usually close the voting days before the meeting so it is critically essential to CAST VOTES TODAY!
OLDMAN45 your 1329 contribution
Could you please let me know the process required by H&L to change a HURR share into Certificated (paper) share.
Of interest would be the actual procedure, timescale for the Certificated share to appear on the HURR Register and any costs involved.
I wish to compare it with my experience with Interactive. I conducted my transfer over the telephone rather than by secure message. They were very quick and efficient!
You can reply to me through
cr.2023.001420@gmail.com
VMT
CAT5 your 1258 post
Just a quick comment to clarify my inadvertent use of the term ”dematerialisation” in my earlier posts.
What I meant was the transformation of shares held by a broker in an on-line share account back into paper Share Certificates.
Holding shares in an on-line account, results in the broker holding all the clients shares for one company (HURR) in one “nominee” account. This “nominee” account is registered with the company’s (HURR) Registrar as the legal owner of the shares. At the Court meeting that “nominee” account will have one vote.
Changing your shares held in an on-line account back into Certificated (paper) form requires the broker to remove the shares from the “nominee” account and re-register them with the company’s (HURR) Registrar as being held in your name. Your name will appear on the company’s share register as a member of the company and you will be allowed to have one vote, like the “nominee” company, at the Court meeting.
I hope this clarifies matters
If shares ARE held in an ISA or SIPP then it might be useful to consider a slightly more expensive method of making your vote count at the Court meeting.
As stated previously it is necessary to appear on the HURR company register of shareholders to have a vote in one of the Court meeting votes. The vote where a shareholder only gets one vote, despite the number of shares they have.
Request that one of your shares is transferred from either your SIPP or ISA account into your Trading / Dealing account.
This will invariably involve a transaction fee for the SELL in the ISA/SIPP account and the BUY into the Trading / Deal account.
This transaction should be immediate and once it has been completed ask the broker to dematerialise that share into Certificated form.
Once this process has been completed and your name appears on the company register you should be able to vote as stated previously.
Yes xxP
It is true and that is why I did it.
If you bought today you would probably have to wait for settlement (Thursday) before you could dematerialise. So you could be on the register Tuesday of next week. But these timescales would be tight and each broker might have different settlement / dematerialisation time -scales.
You could also reverse BED and ISA transferring 1 share out of your ISA / SIPP account into a Trading account and then immediately dematerialise. Could complete that in one day as there should be no settlement period - it's instant I believe!. However you must consider the Bed and ISA fee - two trades effectively.
Speak with your broker