As we await news from the company, the rinse and repeat approach must surely be running out of steam. I appreciate that some people will be trying to make money out of selling first thing in the morning and buying back a couple of hours later but we must surely be running out of sellers who get spooked into selling into these drops. The low volume of sells this morning despite an 8% drop would suggest that this tactic is running out of steam so, hopefully, the rerating can continue.
Thanks, Haggis. I still think that there is a quiet accumulation by larger investors taking place behind the scenes, albeit with them not getting to the 3% threshold. We have had weeks of strange trading patterns, with numerous treeshakes, yet the SP has always bounced back.
By my calculations, we have had about 150 million shares traded between LSE and Tradegate since we reached this level on 29th December and it strikes me that if the current volumes continue then the SP will need to be raised in order to continue to shake out shares as there really can't be many for sale any more.
Thanks, Cheekyboy. It goes to show that, despite some people claiming that there is not a lot of institutional support for AFC. there is more than we realise. We have to bear in mind that the Fidelity page presumably only lists shareholders that have publicly declared their holdings and there could be many more with less than 3% who have not declared. With 3% worth £16.5million, there is a lot of scope for sizeable investments that are not known to us.
I can't recall whether this has been raised before but there is an interesting list of major shareholders updated to 31st December 2020 at https://www.fidelity.co.uk/factsheet-data/factsheet/GB00B18S7B29-afc-energy/profile
What is interesting is that the only one mentioned on the AFC website is AXA SA with 28,100,000 shares which is 4.16% and above the 3% threshold.
However, the 5 on the Fideilty site (3 linked to AXA, plus Janus Henderson and Law Bedenture) have a total of over 74million shares which is a pretty sizeable chunk of the shares (i.e. about 11%).
I wonder if this explains where some of the placing shares went. Anyway, it all seems positive to me.
Out of interest, this was triggered by seeing Law Bebenture declaring their portfolio holdings today, with AFC shares worth £8,580,000 on 31st December, which tallies with the 11million shares on the Fidelity website.
https://www.lawdebenture.com/investment-trust/nav-and-portfolio-information
It appears that a few of the more prickly posters on here who wear the badge of "longer term holder" with pride (some of whom have walked away from this bulletin board on multiple occasions due to the toxicity on here) fail to understand the difference between constructive critique and full-on attacks on their beloved company. Don't worry, if/when IT provides an update in the coming days I won't be even vaguely tempted to say that I told you so as it almost laughably obvious that he is going to want to do this. On the other hand, if he doesn't then I will stand by my suggestion that this would be far from a competent start. My money is on the former. Is that clear enough for you?
Good to see yet another article about the ABB plans just published, with some extra positive information.
https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/new-hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered-fast-chargers/
Oggs, grow up!
I agree it will come but it will look particularly incompetent for the new role of head of communications and investor relations if his arrival coincides with a period of silence and a falling share price!
It would just take a couple of hours to put together an RNS promising an investor day at the AGM (virtually if required), talking about how the company recognises that shareholder value is vital and promising regular updates e.g. a quarterly newsletter. I would expect something this week and, if not, I will really wonder why there isn't something. Failure to do this is clearly playing into the hands of the pondlife that are targeting the share at the moment and tackling this should be one of his major tasks.
Whilst I was content to see his tweet/LinkedIn post yesterday, and accept that he needs a couple of days to get his feet under the desk, I really would have thought that he would be itching to get something more substantive out, especially as AFC flagged his arrival weeks ago which he would have known put a certain level of expectation into the market. This seems even more important given the crazy volatility in the share price at the moment.
Part of his job is presumably to provide investor confidence and seeing the share price drop sharply with his arrival risks making his first few days/weeks a lot harder than they need be. There must be many nuggets that could be shared to do this, given how much hype and excitement that there is both in the sector and, seemingly, at the company at the moment.
All the antics that we have seen the last couple of days only work if people fall for it and sell. How there can still be people daft enough to fall for it is beyond me, especially as the volumes we have seen should have shaken out all the weak holders at these prices.
Afterall, traders can't make money from themselves. They need people to buy high and sell low!
Blue now. Definitely "mugged" if they sold earlier
If it wasn't obvious from the way that the SP has been attacked the last 24 hours, the emergence of lots of pondlife on here makes it pretty clear what is going on. I sincerely hope that the company releases some good news that burns this latest collection of pondlife so badly that they never touch AFC again.
In the meantime, I hope that no genuine shareholders got mugged into selling.
Iain even replies swiftly to comments, including from shareholders, which is a breath of fresh air after years of failed communication. Right products at the right time with the right communication strategy finally in place! Onwards and upwards...
And LinkedIn. A very promising start!
"Today is my first day at AFC Energy plc and it is fair to say the word 'excited' doesn't do my feelings justice.
'Right products at the right time' do not emerge very often but AFC's zero=emission, high efficiency fuel cell technology can play a key role in the world's future energy mix, ultimately supporting global decarbonisation ahead of #netzero2050.
As a business, our key focus is ultimately on commercialisation. The fit out of our new Assembly & Commissioning Facility at Dunsfold by the end of March is central to this ambition. Units for Extreme E, Acciona and Julich will be assembled and distributed from here in the short-term, whilst providing the space, infrastructure and capability to assemble higher power systems in the future.
I particularly like that we're doing this in a unit where British Aerospace originally manufactured the Harrier, thereby continuing the legacy of high-value #manufacturing in that part of Surrey.
You'll see plenty from us in 2021. Have a great year everyone. #decarbonisation #netzerofuture"
It looks to me like that was a coordinated treeshake timed to happen when Tradegate was closed, with the Brexit vote adding additional uncertainly. Tradegate has been very supportive recently and it would been a lot harder to do this when it was open.
No doubt there will be further treeshakes along the way but with the head of communications due to start on 4th January and all the markets open as normal then, it will be a lot harder to do this after then and this was too good a chance for the patient to help the impatient to part with their shares.
FWIW, I have (like some others on here) been saying for many months that there is no reason why AFC's MCap could not compete with ITM/CWR. As the other companies see their MCaps strengthen and as AFC continues to release good news, this means that my target price for AFC continues to increase. Just because the market took an awfully long time to recognise this disparity, this does not mean that the rerating needs to take too long to happen and IMHO this is still only just starting.
It was intriguing to read earlier that various people had managed to topslice and/or sell out first thing with a view to buying back in lower. I look forward to reading what price they buy back in again as this tactic clearly only works if you buy back in!
Personally, as I feel that this could double again or more even without news, I am going for the approach of holding onto my shares firmly and watching the transfer of shares from the impatient to the patient continue.
Lots of shares being released at €1.05 level but the buying is very strong so this should, once again, create the conditions for the next step up. It is looking like tomorrow is going to be absolute mayhem once LSE opens, possibly with the largest volumes yet, at least in the first couple of hours.
Encouraging to see the new head of communications doing some pre-start PR on Boxing Day. It feels like his approach will be much more proactive if you will excuse the pun!
https://twitter.com/KingofSurbo/status/1342776033750216705
Good to see @AFCEnergy CEO Adam Bond interviewed on the Beeb this morning on the fuel cell that will power @ExtremeELive
in 2021.....cannot wait to get started on 4th Jan!
With the share price rising on positive sentiment, they might as well keep their powder dry and release an update in the New Year once the head of communications is in place. Lots to look forward to.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you all!