Member Info for Hardboy

There seems to be confusion over these 2 companies. ITM make electrolysers that make green hydrogen (or other coloured if the electricity is not green) Primarily Ceres make Fuel Cells which use green hydrogen (or other colours - doesn't matter to the fuel cell how the hydrogen is made.)

The 2 companies are in different areas of the Hydrogen sector.

Hi Ecologist - that was the point of my earlier post about my discussion with the FD - your experiences echo mine; I was concerned that SRT would be getting into that to win contracts, but he was adamant that all there has been a culture shift and most emerging nations try to be squeaky clean. (Not sure about Nigeria!)

"If the EU flexes its muscles, this mess may get sorted out, AFAICS."

Shame we're not still a member.

I had a chat to the FD at one of the AGMs some time ago. I had done a lot of business in the Middle east, and was interested in what doing business was like in smaller, growing countries these days. He reassured me that most countries were desperate to show they were ethical places to do business that there was no back handers or late payments these days.

That article (which is all I have seen on this subject is a Malay article. yet it's written as though their Government Officials have been charged with wrong doing. What's a Phil contract got to do with Malaysia?

Whether Simon will respond today depends on many things - where he is, what his plans are and what legal advice he's receiving. Right now for the company issuing the right statement is more important than issuing it NOW.

Sorry all, I thought I was reading a UK publication. Just noticed it's Malay, which clears some of my confusion.

Goodapple, very well found. I've read it and am confused on a number of levels. Any clarification would be much appreciated,

What exactly are Graft charges?

"P2.1b" - Does P stand for pounds? Why not use £ which everyone understands. If not what does it stand for?

How come the BFAR folk who have been identified sound like Italians? That also applies to the BFAR man who has been cleared and the lawyer who raised the case.

I don't see how a British Company winning a contract rather than a French one is disadvantageous to the Government (assuming it is the British Government.)

It sounds like whoever is making the ruling assumes companies providing transceivers and maritime monitoring services are ten a penny and that The Philippines could have chosen a whole host of suppliers.

I see there being a lot of activity in the coming days, clarifying all this.

"does anyone here have a rough idea of what revenue the company gets from tobacco sales in the UK?"

Very Little. North Africa & Europe account for 22.8% of total sales. And I imagine UK is far lower than places like Egypt.

But what they do sell will be very profitable. There's so much tax on UK tobacco products, that the product cost is tiny.

What RNS are you referring to?

They increased their ov3erdraught limit last summer & taken out a new loan in the last 2 months. If you are expecting some other kind of increase in their funds in the short term, you are basically saying the BoD don't know what they are doing.

Toltorisk,

White Hydrogen is naturally occurring Hydrogen. So it all depends where the source is. Hydrogen is difficult to store and to transport. So if it has to be transported from source to place of use, there are considerable costs, and practical difficulties. As for Ceres, their fuel cells can use Hydrogen however it is made. So it's not a threat.

I would expect them to give a trading update around period end, i.e. any time soon.

The RNS did not say how much they were getting or how much of their US B2C business they were selling (unless I missed it) so not of too much use, which I guess explains market's lack of response. But it has to be good news - they are getting out of the market, so if they can get something for any of it, it's better than just shutting things down.

It all depends on the hundreds of court cases in the US. If you know none of them will find against Mead-Johnson then I understand your confidence.

If you want to know where a business is going to have to listen to the people who know that business, their markets and their strategy. Crunching numbers is fine if the business does not change, their products and services do not change, market conditions do not change, and the economy does not change.

I like the fact that interest accounts for nearly 1.5% of their income. And has increased by 162%.

No. The worrying thing will be if the appeal takes longer to sort than all the other cases piling up.

With this big drop in share price they'll be able to buy a lot more shares in their buy back programme!

They only have to update markets on trading if there is a material difference from their last update. Therefore, you can assume the optimism illustrated at their interims should show through. But I hope we get a pre close update next week.

UpShut

"Can see why BOD never held onto very many" - I assume you mean shares. Steve Cooklin, the CEO owns 15.64% of the issued shares. What is your definition of not very many?

Markets can be very irrational. No company news, no change in the fundamental outlook - yesterday they were one of the biggest risers, today one of the biggest fallers.