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To put in 650k for a 27 million pound contract with the ability to upsize the contract and also win additional new business is pretty good economics. You might want to refresh your first lessons on marginal economic theory.
You have been an LTH and was part of a near defunct company like I was. If you can show me a 9mm quid revenue that this company has ever made, I am happy to eat my hat. Yes, it is insufficient currently and much more needs to be done. I don't see the BoD sitting around and doing nothing.
It doesn't matter whether you think I am clever or big or small Spud, it's your view, rightly or wrongly. Time will tell.
There are pretty much 4 outcomes to an LoI:
1. It turns into a contract
2. It terminates before expiry
3. It is mutually extended
4. It expires or lapses
It is interesting to see Dipsy batting so heavily for Triumph. Does anyone here know what their track record is of actually delivering anything? Amongst all the LoIs announced on their website, surely they should be going gangbusters when they have actually delivered something tangible.
So far, let me check.....zero.
What an unnecessary storm in a tea cup. The share price has fallen and we shareholders are getting upset about an LoI lapsing? Especially when the Company's RNS very clearly said it is a non-binding LoI and a number of steps need to be taken to take it to contract.
I especially use the word "lapse" because on 30 June, either a binding contract is executed or the LoI just dies a natural death.
I am not privy to the Company's decision-making processes but I can only imagine that with a massive pipeline of opportunities of over a billion pounds, the BoD will have to start prioritising and using its resources in the most productive manner. So if this particular deal appears shaky, why would the company pursue it aggressively?
Triumph might feel aggrieved but thus far, barring a whole bunch of LoIs announced on their own website, what exactly have they built and commercialised? To my mind, if they were so successful in converting all their LoIs into contracts, they would be the first to announce it on their website and they would be rock stars of the global renewables industry.
Neither of the two events has occurred. Time to move on and focus on Saipem and the Azura.
Genuinely no sarcasm. I would value any recommendation on how to make money now out of gas storage because unlike you, I am a shareholder and I am also affected adversely by the dilution and placing price.
I look forward to reading your full and thoughtfully written post tomorrow.
In the meantime, enjoy reading up on gas storage economics for dummies. I am sure it is sitting right in the front of your bookcase that consists of one book: 50 shades of making oneself look foolish.
Sadly you still haven't understood the strategy that JW and team have put together. Probably better for all of us. It keeps the entertainment on the BB going.
By the way, I never asked for your experience in shipyards. I am least interested. I was asking for your esteemed opinion on the economics of gas and hydrogen storage that you have tremendous expertise in. So please enlighten us on how the BoD can generate immediate revenues with a development project.
No sarcasm, a really genuine question.
On the contrary, I was listening intently and the CFO picked up the question. He could not have been clearer. The 1m pay was a combination of salary, bonuses, accrued salaries of the past and remuneration all agreed as part of a three year deal from 2018 to 31 Dec 2021. If you cared to read the annual report, it states exactly the same in black and white.
While shareholders might have different views on this, and each shareholder is fully entitled to have one, the CFO was very clear and there was no waffle around it.
Read the annual report, it might be useful.
Sadly Blair, you come across as someone who has never ever run a business. Your naivety and sheer foolishness is masked pathetically by dripping sarcasm.
But I apologise that your demand for civility is nowhere matched by your own words and actions.
Perhaps if you are so knowledgeable about gas storage you can help all of us understand how the economics for both natural gas and hydrogen works. That would certainly give this inept BoD some clues to commercialising the project and not be concerned about immediate revenue generation that seems to be the least of your concerns.
Sadly Blair, you come across as someone who has never ever run a business. Your naivety and sheer foolishness is masked pathetically by dripping sarcasm.
But I apologise that your demand for civility is nowhere matched by your own words and actions.
Perhaps if you are so knowledgeable about gas storage you can help all of us understand how the economics for both natural gas and hydrogen works. That would certainly give this inept BoD some clues to commercialising the project and not be concerned about immediate revenue generation that seems to be the least of your concerns.
Avy, this is a company that has its own set of risks, capital and contracts, both of which are inter-linked. There is no doubt abot that. If there is no appetite for risk-taking, there are loads of other options as well.
Despite all the concerns raised, what I observe is all are pretty much onboard with the strategy in place, except for Blair, who still believes sarcasm is a highly valued art form but, sadly, it tends to sit in the crass humour zone.
Not for me to comment on an individual's perceived cash and bank balance. However, the reality is that you and I would probably not be having a conversation on this BB today if it weren't for JW and his team's strategy. So naivety or otherwise, that is the cold reality.
Putting it another way, our market cap at 30p is circa 30mm. At 70p, our market cap will be 70mm. For the footprint that we have, both in terms of the physical and strategic capacities, that is still really cheap. It doesn't take Einstein to work out how valuable this company is and how easy it is likely to be for a deep pocketed competitor to make a play.
As a very astute plumber, I think you will concur.
I have been following the recent announcements over the last few weeks. My assessment is as follows:
The share price got a nice boost after the Saipem contract news but fell immediately after the interims announcement. Clearly everyone liked the former but not the latter. Quite what shareholders were expecting from the interims for the share price to fall is a bit of a mystery to me. Ultimately, this is a high growth company, there will be cash burn in the initial phases followed by a long period of stability with larger contracts kicking in. It should not be too difficult to figure that out.
Looking at the placing record, I am actually quite impressed: 2019 @8mm, 2020 @9mm, 2020 @8mm and now 2021 @10.30mm. Clearly, Infa enjoys strong institutional support even now given that this is their largest raise in the last 15 months.
The company has also gone through the ravages of Covid like everyone else. Imagine buying Belfast in Dec 2019 and three months later going into a national lockdown - you couldn't have written this. Despite that, Appledore is in the bag and so is Bifab. The largest contract in the company's history at 26.50mm is also in the bag. Strong institutional support across three placings has been demonstrated. The company probably has the largest fabrication capability in the country and is yet so heavily under valued.
Quite frankly, what JW and team have achieved till date is rather impressive. Keeping aside the dilution angle for the moment, to take a company that was likely to shut the lights out into one that owns some of the largest dry docks in the world and one of UK's largest fabrication capabilities, all in the span of 15 months, in the middle of a global pandemic, is nothing short of impressive. I suggest that we all take a deep breath here to understand what is it that we, as shareholders, now own. From a one project company to a multi asset company, each of our risks has been reduced substantially.
Dilution is an inevitable reality. You simply cannot expect the company to perform with no cash and yet bid and aspire to win large fabrication, defence and cruise contracts. I believe that Infa are already working on a shoe-string budget and making the best use of their highly limited resources. This company will burn through some cash over the next few months but I sense the tide changing. One large contract leads to the next and then the next. But these contracts do not fall into JW's lap. There is a lot of work, negotiation and effort that goes from enquiry through to execution, and this process can take months for larger contracts. If any shareholder believes that these contracts happen overnight, delusion is setting in. This constant need for news is a product of a fundamental lack of understanding of how long large commercial contracts take to come to fruition.
This stock is not for the faint-hearted, yet, if you stick with it, there is likely to be significant wealth accretion. I still absolutely bel
Blair,
I come from a place of promise, optimism and belief. I fully support the management team. You are the polar opposite.
And that is fine.
Neither of us will convince each other otherwise.
Go well.
I am very surprised by the reaction to the annual report and the exec team remuneration. A few comments:
1. The total salary is a culmination of previous years' arrears that have now been paid out with the receipt of the EU grant. There was c£100k thereabouts which is for 2018, 2019 and 2020. So that's about 30k for each year. That's hardly unreasonable.
2. The bonus is for a period of 2 and a half years including the whole of 2021. What's wrong with that? The team have pulled the company out of annihilation into a revenue generating entity.
3. It's a pity that memory is so short-lived. Till Nov 2019, revenues were ZERO for God knows how long. Now we are averaging 1.50MM every month with a phenomenal opportunity to break into tens of millions with just a couple of contracts coming through. If anyone thinks these contracts drop like quail and manna from heaven, then that's a very sad reflection of one's perception of reality. This has been hard earned involving thousands of manhours (and woman hours) of effort, grit and perseverance, all with the knowledge that if things don't go right, the exec team will be on the hook. There is risk on both sides. Let's recognise that.
4. I am amused by this constant need for information. It's like we need to be constantly fed information to have interest. Do we really think that multi million pound contracts and licences come to fruition in days? Even if the team are pushing hard, we are dealing with multinationals and governments who take their own sweet time and, frankly, don't give a damn about shareholder sentiment.
5. Do we need JW to be on social media or put his head down and push on with the business? There was a two and a half hour marathon session in November. The last time I checked, that was two and a half months ago. Since then, we have had a fund raise, the annual report and 2 meetings. I honestly think we should cut some slack and let him get on with his job. History has shown that when JW goes a bit silent, something on the back burner is coming to fruition.
Patience from us and perseverance from the team. I think that is a good combination.
I do not think metrics such as a percentage of market cap or that of the annual loss are correct in this context. We are a growth company. The biggest risk taken is by the executive team, reputationally and career-wise. I fully agree that we as shareholders have money at risk but the executive team have both money and their careers at risk. When you look at the bonuses, it is effectively a bonus for two and a half years with a lock-in caveat. To my mind, the BoD have played their cards very well.
We are paying for experience, vision, drive and a passion to succeed. This is a rare combination. Yes, time will tell if this was the right move, but all indications point to it being the correct decision. The world is in a bizarre place at the moment, but I strongly believe that we are in very good hands. My support for JW and his team is stronger, more than ever.
I have now gone through the annual report with a fine-toothed comb. That was my morning research along with breakfast. It is a very good report with a clearly defined strategy. The fact that JW and team laid out this strategy early on and have pursued it successfully thus far gives me a lot of confidence. The company is fully aligned with the future, i.e., ship building, renewables, cruise etc. and I can only see more growth and a bigger PnL in due course.
Of course, we would all like to see a much bigger PnL and a profitable one. But I do believe that the past two years have been spent laying down the foundations for a solid business. Had it not been for Covid-19, I do believe that we would have seen bigger numbers. I am aware of so many clients across different industries who are waiting and watching. This holding pattern is common across the board and Infa is in the same situation. The holding pattern will break, and when it does, this company will flourish.
Directors' remuneration is always a sore point. We need to change our mindset. Good people command a price in the market because they know how to add value. To take the company from zero, build a £1.50 million revenue line in the middle of Covid-19, and then to run with that kind of monthly average is highly commendable. I disagree with comments from fellow shareholders about the "Appalling remuneration". The Board has effectively locked in the management team for two and a half years and the expectation is for them to deliver the turnaround strategy this year. And I believe that they will.
The reality is that no one is here for charity. We want a healthy return on our investment and the management team can deliver it for us. They need to be compensated and recognised for the hard work that they are putting in and the sheer skill in navigating through these difficult times. They have stuck with the strategy, built a portfolio of contracts and getting on with the job of delivering to shareholders.
Great quality is not easy to find. AIM is littered with lifestyle companies. Infa is not a lifestyle company. This is a serious business with a serious BoD who are driven and keen to succeed. And that mindset matters.
I have no problems with the remuneration structure and I believe that is was a very smart move by the BoD to lock in the executive directors. Well played.
The reinforced base is a massive concrete reinforcement that provides load out capacity, fabrication capability and storage of extremely heavy equipment.
If you were dealing with an 800 tonne - 1,000 tonne wind farm structure, the storage area would collapse under its weight without concrete reinforcement.
Why do you say that Tango?
The ML is only a small part of the project that has frankly been blow way out of proportion. There is the EPC element, grid tie-in, reversal, tariffs across the Interconnector (both forward flow and reverse), entry into and exit from the gas network and a plethora of other commercial agreements to be negotiated and executed.
If JW and team are focussed on acquiring the ML, I am sure the new project manager is not sitting on his hocks. Given his background he would have been around the block a few times so knows exactly what next steps need to be undertaken.
I don't think any of these activities are worthy of an RNS - but work still goes on.
Quite right Stokey!
I fully agree with the comments.
My simple mind works as follows: On the assumption that H&W were to get a sub-contract of as low as 10% of the value, that's £120 million. That's for the fabrication work. Top that with the physical capability to assemble the ships which only Belfast has plus sea trials and final delivery.
I dare not presume anything or put any numbers against these incremental items but the potential is staggering. Right time, right place, right team and right strategy. Indeed, all to play for.