Charles Jillings, CEO of Utilico, energized by strong economic momentum across Latin America. Watch the video here.
Mb, amd mb not.
Ask yourself as a disinterested investor what your attitude would be to a co that was suspended for filing late accounts, is having the rely on its customers for advance payments (assuredly at a discount), has never yet reached cash b/even, has dubious company governance, is based in and does business in countries with poor governance and high corruption.
All this at a time of rising interest rates & tighter money, making raising capital more difficult.
The co finds itself in a classic growth trap at an unfortunate tine. Mb it can trade its way out and soar. But mb it can't.
All i can say is sorry for holders, luckily I'm sitting on the sidelines, but it is an experience I too have been through.
OK, BV, my mistake.
MF Well, oc, my comment alluded to the obvious. But I'm not conciously seeking to deramp, not sure I'd have much influence if I did. Anyway, Shishir has, it seems, steadied the ship somewhat SP wise this am with +ve production news, and restating how cash will be managed.
i don't have a buy in price ; I may never buy, and/or may miss the boat. But knowing the co as of old, I continue to watch, and if/when I'm confident on cash, i may come aboard,. Suffice to say I'm not at that point yet.
BV
There appear to be no blatant derampers here ; recent events would be a gold mine if any were. I have posted consistently, if infrequently, here , that my concern over the cash position deters investment until such is clarified. Those concerns have proved well founded, but remain unclarified., so for now, for me, the shares remain unattractive.
Stil, interesting that you think me a deramper, while Mf apparently thinks I'm stating the obvious.
Tx to Eastwood for a constructive, if perhaps inconclusive, response. As ever, we will all wait and see.
"that reason was laid at the feet of the auditors"..indeed it was ; "the Company's auditors requested additional time ". We are told this as due to holidays ; a poor excuse if true, or mb a convenient fig leaf>
Given all the comments in the AR re casg flow, I sus[ect the auditors balked cat rge going concern assurance until those assurances were given, This is only speculation on my part, tho.
i expect the suspension to be lifted soon ; mb it takes a day or few to get approval for relisting, does any one know? Mb the co isdelaying in hope of receiving the overdue VAT, which it could then combine as a goodnews item in the RNS. But the longer they remain suspended, the more many will suspect something else is afoot.
Even if all turns out well on relisting there will be reputational & SP damage., both from the fact of suspension, which looks like poor corp mgt/governance, and from the cashflow issues highlighted within. The extent of the fall will depend on the size of the rush for the exit, but if less than 20% I'd be mildly urprised.
Bv/Cigam
tx for helpful comments.
i would say tho that "Trade receivables are a cash equivalent" is true in pure BS terms but not exactly so when you are cash strapped! Which is why they are going cap in hand to ask for discounted early payment. And bear in mind the discount will not only b on that Bs figure, but mb on all sales? Could b a significant cost.
More broadly, i confess to not poring over every detail ( I just couldn't justify the time on a co I'm not currently invested in) so inyeresting points re inter co transactions, repayable? advances, etc. and oc it may be that they just scrape thru as increasing volumes start to feedthru to cash, even at discounted rates.
But there's a lot of uncertainty there, and it's uncertainty that the co seems determined to avoid discussing. When entities are not being open, imho the default assumption is that they don't want to frighten the horses, so to speak.
Some lamentable comments on the finals here ; if you can't read a BS or P&L, you really shouldn't be buying shares ; collective vehicles are more suitable.
The salient points are a loss of c.£1.1m after adding back depn, which is non cash.
Ye cash of just £289k, in part bcos of increase in wkg cap due to increased rceivables....but this is often the cash trap for rapidly growing, but cash strapped companies.
" In discussions with possible sources for post-sale credit financing and in negotiations with certain customers for prepayments. " is yet another admission that the co is still way off cash +e ; begging your customers for discounted cash is not a good look, and costs more of that desperately needed cash.
Within the going concern note " The Company is also engaged to explore possible routes for financing its receivables or by way of convertible debt to ease its liquidity position it continues to manage its business within the available resources.".
As for when the co becomes profitable, the best it can say is "Remains engaged to ramp up production and optimise capacity utilisation to achieve consistent operating cash generation at corporate level." Note ; no timeline, and only cash+ve (which is oc vital) but no assurance on full profitability after Depn etc, which is vital in the med term (say 3 years, max).
I have no doubt this co will one way or another achieve all its goals. Whether that makes it an investable proposition at this time is another matter. All the above, read with the whole of the report, shows imo a co scraping around for cash from customers, delaying debtors, and crimping ramp up to conserve cash. Convo holders have been extended to end 2024 (good) but more convo mb raised for wkg cap (not so good).
It appears to me TGR finds itself in the classic growth co cash trap, and needs financing of some sort fairly soon, beyond the limited measures mentioned. It will b very interesting to see at what level the shares return from suspension, if that happens anytime soon. Is it possible they might remain suspended till funds are raised? I don't know all the rules around that.
All imho, so dyor and draw your own conclusions.
Well, we'll all have to wait and see, as ever.
TBC I am not seeking to malign the CFO personally, just make the broad professional point that missed deadlines, particularly those that concern investors, are poor form. I have known CFOs ousted even when such things were on technicalities largely outside their control, and while times, (and geographies) my be different here, in larger companies insti s/holders would be intolerant of such.
My guess is that this is likely just a technicality, and there are no substantive issues beyond the mooted auditor absence. i make that call based on the assumption that were anything seriously amiss the RNS would have had to say so, and there would be resignations. But that's a best guess, not a certainty as it would be if we were talking Shell or Rio Ttinto.
Really??
C'mon.
1. Auditors who can't manage staff holidays should be sacked, if true ; and it is the CFO's job to manage audits to ensure they have info they need in a timely fashion, and to schedule the audit to ensure compliance with deadlines. poor failure of governance which would see CFO sacked in most companies. In bigger companies, they would have to go even if blameless, to send a message that the co was serious about standards.
2.poster says he has been "assured by Shishir" that this will be rectified imminently, or some such wording. Really??
Any such assurances should be communicated to all s/holders by RNS, not private comms. Another glaring governance failure.
3. Let's hope "assurances" are true, and that there are no substantive issues, but given the co structure, evolutionary position, geographical location, etc, s/holders have every right to be nervous....yet another reason why 1 and 2 above are so important.
For clarity, i do not currently hold so personally feel I have dodged a bullet here. ; in large part bcos i have been nervous over governance for some time. For the sake of holders, i hope this is a storm in a teacup, but it is not one to be forgotten.
Welll, someone's dumped hard today to cause a drop on no news.
i do hope this doesn't presage a bad news RNS tomorrow....there's certainly no reason to expect one, but you never know. In the absence of such i guess sp will slowly claw back in time.
And yet more today. Fill yer boots, they are.
Suggest to me that this is looking a v attractive share at this price. Debt free, good cashflow, 12.4% divi. Mine lives of 10 and 15 years mean there is no rush for another deal unless its attractive, Director buying in Apr/May suggests confidence.
Only downsides are jurisdictional and commodity price risks, a given in the sector but not to be ignored. Whilst we mushrooms never know what may be going on in the background, negative chatter and talk of placings seems misplaced to me.
It is a shame you think we can all agree that "they're all the same" bcos that's exactly the message the rulebreakers and their friends in the press are pushing to try to keep them in power.
It is emphatically not the case, nor was it the case, in any paRTY, UNTIL THE CURRENT BUBCH OF CROOKS GAINED POWER IN 2019.
sURE, THERE WERE RULEBREAkers, and corruption, in any party. But when found it was, as a rule, sunject to Parliamntary, regulatory, and media scrutiny, and actions taken.
Only since 2019 have all these sanctions been emasculated, tho there are signs that the adults may be close to restoring elements of order. Never, never, fall for the "all the same" message. That way lies Orban, Erdogan, Trump and Putin.