Member Info for holyroller

I have refrained from posting much on this site recently for fear of getting banned by the shareholders propaganda group who seemed for a while to be policing this site rather more ruthlessly than the CCP police in Hong-Kong. I raised a special chuckle when I say them announce that “We have been in dialogue with LSE to ensure that their own use guidelines are met by all users.” It would probably be more accurate to say “we have been in dialogue with LSE to ensure that any posters who say anything negative about us are banned – at least until the vote is over”.

It was absolutely craven and pathetic from LSE and all I can say is: thank God for Twitter, who seem rather less inclined to cave into the demands of self-important little dictators.

The shareholders propaganda group seem to have disappeared from this website thankfully and (more importantly) the wider market seems to have woken up to how grubby and unsavoury the members of their secretive little cabal actually are. I am very happy that both the Georgian State Agency of Oil and Gas and the Institutional Shareholder Services organisation have both taken Block's side and in the case of the latter have recommended voting against.

I think that it is particularly revealing that Block Energy announced that the concerned shareholder group had tried to push Alistair Ferguson onto the board and been rejected and had also tried to push Gneiss Energy onto the company as paid advisors and also been rejected. I am not going to say any more for fear of being banned. But do we think that these appointments would have been rejected if Chuck Valeschini was chair of the company?

it certainly appears to me to be clear that those who would benefit most from the success of the minority shareholders proposals would be the members of the minority shareholder group themselves. But I shall say no more on this matter.

I think that all of us private investors should give ourselves a big pat on the back for recognising the danger of what was being proposed well before the wider market did and successfully banding together to reject them en mass. Hopefully we have been equally astute at spotting the opportunity that Block possesses in Georgia before the wider market and can see a significant increase on todays share price by the time the drill comes in.

The corporate fight isn’t over until next Wednesday though – so please if anybody has not yet voted then please vote against and let me know via: https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller if you want to join the Private Investors Shareholder Group

Message from AJW via email:

Back on Friday.

Hi Awax - I was contacted by email yesterday evening by a shareholder who wishes to remain anonymous but who appears to have a significant degree of industry knowledge. He asked me to contribute the following to your discussion:

He wrote:

"could you help awax and scoobybrex with respect to logging while drilling. One asks what benefit does this actually give for the company, the other answers "Logging whilst drilling is real time data collection during the drill, The alternative is wireline logging when the drill is finished with a section or the well a different tool is inserted into the well for data collection" which sounds like a copy and paste from a website. However, only wireline works with gravity, in other words the weight of the tool carries it down the well, and then it's pulled back up. Once a hole gets past a certain inclination usually reckoned to be around 65-70 deg, the component of gravity acting to lower the sonde cannot overcome the friction of the hole walls. So LWD is the only realistic method* of getting data in a highly inclined or horizontal hole section. *=there are tractors designed to pull the sonde down, but these are pretty rare. "

That is the sum of the email sent to me. It is not my technical knowledge but I hope that the information is correct and informs your discussion.

Because Rocklawn, the single biggest issue facing the company at the moment is the attempted boardroom coup being carried out as we speak by a number of activist investors who are determined to stop us discussing what they are doing on these boards. It absolutely beggars belief that you do not think that it is important to discuss the fact that these people demanded a general meeting to remove the company chairman only a week after he was voted in at the AGM.

I will stop discussing their actions when they stop issuing 303s.

According to the proxy form all votes have to be received by the registrar no later than 48 hours before the meeting - so 11am on Monday 9th August.

To ensure that your vote is counted I would recommend that you vote as early as possible as if you hold shares in a nominee account then you will have to vote earlier - your broker will have to get them to the registrar by 48 hours earlier.

If you are unsure of the timings then contact your broker directly and ask them what time they need to register your vote by.

Hi Everyone – GP Jersey et al appear to have managed to get the previous thread on us organising a Private Investors Shareholder Group deleted so I think that it is only fair that I should put it up again so those who have not already seen it will know what we are trying to achieve here.

hanks very much to everyone who has got in touch with me to tell me how many shares that they represent and what way they are voting. I apologise for not being able to reply to everybody over the weekend but I will reply to everyone that I have currently missed out on this evening so please don’t think that anyone has been forgotten or ignored. It is just me not having enough time.

I would also like to say a big thank-you to all of those of you that have shared their research with me via email and downloadable links. It has really helped to put together a better understanding of the activities of the various members of the Scottish contingent pressure group and how they have tried to carry out similar actions at other companies.

Since LSE effectively prohibit any criticism of GP Jersey et al here I will refrain from posting any more on this and will the information to my twitter over the next day or so. If anybody wishes to send me any more research then that would be welcome too and I will be happy to provide links to it via my twitter.

The more I see from what we have jointly researched into GP Jersy et al, then the more I am convinced that they only have their own interests at heart and if we let them get executive control of Block Energy then it will be terrible for all private investors. If you have not already voted against them then please can I urge you to do so as soon as possible.

Will anybody who has not already got in touch with me with their shareholdings and voting intentions who would like to join the private investors please do so. The contact details can be found here: https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller

Once we have got GP Jersy and their cohorts out of the way then we can use our collective shareholding to force the company to start putting private investors front and centre in their considerations – but we can only do this if we work together.

Thank you to all of those who have been in touch with me by email to potentially help put together a private investors shareholders group to challenge the likes of John Fitzpatrick, Alistair Ferguson, Frazer Lang and GP Jersey. I will be back in touch with you individually by email over the weekend.

We still need a few more people to start putting together a really substantial voice against those who wish to steamroller through their own plans for the company. Please could anyone who is interested in helping us have a stronger voice against corporate predators drop me an email with the size of your holding. My contact details can be found here https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller

Please help if you can we we are definitely stronger together.

Just googled Angus Energy vs Gneiss Energy and it came up with this: https://www.law360.com/articles/1400350/uk-litigation-roundup-here-s-what-you-missed-in-london I can't see the whole detail but if anyone can please can you post it up here.

It doesn't reflect very well on Gneiss Energy as an advisor if their customers are suing them does it? Are these really the sort of people we want involved in our company?

As you probably all know, I am not in favour of what is going on at Block at the moment. I believe that the shareholders action group that wants to put it’s own chairman in place is wholly self-serving and will in no way serve the interests of private investors. I think that if they are successful in their attempt to control the board of Block Energy then the corporate advisory firms that some of these individuals are associated with will benefit far more substantially than any shareholders as has already happened in other companies that they are associated with.

I believe that often on AIM PI’s are treated like mere tools and are used for their votes by larger groups when events like this occur only to be discarded when they have achieved their aims. Here, at Block I think that we finally have a chance to do something about it.

As many of you know I have been trying to collate votes against the proposals and a number of you have already dropped me the details of your shareholdings. I would like to inform you that our collective holdings (that have been emailed to me so far) are fairly close to matching that of GP Jersey which would, of course, enable us to request a 303 motion of our own. Personally I don’t think that we should follow that route until the drill is finished – as I think that it is diabolically self-serving of GP Jersey to be damaging our share price with their corporate action currently and we should not do the same. However, I think that if we were to show the board that we did represent a significant voting “Block” then we would be able to approach them with questions/demands of our own and would be able to get these addressed – as the threat of a 303 of our own would be the stick behind the carrot.

Obviously nothing would be done without the full agreement of those in the group but it would allow us to be taken more seriously by the bigger players in this contest as I genuinely believe that at this point in time it is one of those rare occasions where it is us as private investors that wield the balance of power.

Please could any of you who think that this would be a good idea and would like to back put your shareholding into a genuine private investors block drop me an email with your holdings. Contact details can be found here: https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller

AJW - could you get in touch with me when you have time. I have an idea I want to run by you. Email can be found here: https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller - Thanks.

The proposals in their second requisition are very interesting. As has been said here it smacks of spite that they know that they are going to be defeated in their attempt at seizing control of the company via an executive takeover.

It also shows how little they care about anything but getting control of the company as an audit of that scale conducted by one of the big four accountancy firms will probably cost about £500,000. This is shareholders money and they have no right to demand that it is spent how they want. But it gives a good idea of how free and easy they would be with our money if they managed to get their fangs into Block. I imagine the advisory fees being a lot more than £1.5 million over three years here.

Again, we should reject every proposal that GP Jersey make - not because there are not some legitimate concerns in there but because it is clearly still part of their tactic of taking over the company on the cheap.

As investverysmart has pointed out, I am trying to organise an off-board resistance to GP Jersey – not least because I don’t think that it does any good for us to let them know how many shares that they have against them.

No pressure, but if anyone does want to get in touch the email is on twitter: https://twitter.com/Only1Holyroller

I have also been doing some digging into GP Jersey over this weekend and nothing I have found shows that they are in this for anything other than their own enrichment. I have another evening or so worth of cross checking to do and then I will put my research up here. I will also post it on Twitter as there seems to be a real clamp down on posting anything negative about the Scottish contingent and their allies on this board.

Hepseal –

1) I have no idea how Valeschini got onto the board in the first place. I guess that at the time of his appointment then relationships between the current board and the Scottish contingent were not so bad and they didn’t mind the connection. It was a dumb move though, as somebody said on here before – never invite the vampires into your house!

The connection between Valeschini and the Scottish contingent is pretty transparent. Not only are they pushing Valeschini for Chairman but he has a long history with Alistair Ferguson going back to when both were at TNK-BP over 10 years ago. Just check their CVs https://www.jkx.co.uk/investor-centre/our-board-of-directors#charles-valceschini and https://www.linkedin.com/in/alastair-ferguson-839b4b140/

2) In my opinion the explanation for the other board members to leave the company now is to do with the battle that they know is coming up. I guess that they just don’t want to get their reputations caught in the crossfire. From what I can see in the annual report they get paid about £25k each a year for being a NED. They probably consider that it is just not worth being involved in a corporate ****storm for that little money. If you ask me it is certainly no coincidence that they have both quite just a few days before the EGM has to be announced (which is Monday I believe). That way, whatever happens now they can both say that it was nothing to do with them when they go for another appointment elsewhere. Logical move really.

The Block board is looking like the gunfight at the end of a western now with all of the NEDs having scuttled off into hiding and just leaving Haywood, McAvock and Dimmock to shoot it out with the Valeschini, GP Jersey, Jon Fitzpatrick and Alistair Ferguson.

With the departures of Chris Brown and David Sandroshvili all pretence that the EGM is about Philip Dimmock’s performance as chairman is clearly abandoned. The announcements make it public to the to the wider world what most of us here have known for some time - the EGM called by GP Jersey has never just been about Philip Dimmock and his performance but is rather about who runs the company going forwards.

All the non-affiliated NEDs have now left the building and like I said above, the showdown is coming.

We all have to choose whether we want the company to be run by GP Jersey, Gneiss Energy, Fitzpatrick and Ferguson or by the existing board and vote accordingly. Whoever wins this vote will control the chairmanship and now has a clean slate to appoint whoever they want to the board afterwards. The winners will simply appoint their own people to the board and then they will control the direction of the company.

It Haywood and the existing executives win then you can bet that Valeschini will be kicked straight out the door. If the Scottish contingent win then Haywood will get the boot equally quickly – and Gneiss Energy will almost certainly be appointed to help fill the void…

You know what I think – the Scottish contingent have shown exactly how they want to run a company with their stewardship of Solo/Scirocco. I am invested there are have first hand experience of how costly that has been to private investors. I believe that they and their outrageous fees must be kept out of Block at all costs or all potential shareholder value will simply disappear. I will vote against the GP Jersey motion and urge you all to do the same.

Hi Hepseal - Yes I wrote in March that I was a significant investor in Scirocco (and i still am). I also mentioned that:

"I am off back to my own investments now, but given what some of you have posted about the potential here I may have a bit of a deeper dive into researching Block and you never know I may return one day as a fellow shareholder."

I did become a shareholder in Block and I mentioned this in my post on July 6th about the future under a Valeschini regime (which has unfortunately been deleted) when I clarified that:

“We will just have to keep an eye on how much the administrative expense go up – and it is worth noting that with Solo that they have done every year since they took over by a minimum of 30% each year.I don’t know about the rest of you but this is not a future that I want for my investment in Block and consequently as (an admittedly small) shareholder will be voting against Valeschini.”

This is one of the many unfortunate things about deleting posts, it muddies waters that should otherwise have been clear.

To avoid confusion and for total clarity, my small holding in Block is slightly under 1.1 million shares.

Hepseal – may I what size your holding in Block is and how you intend to vote in the proposal put forwards by GP Jersey?

Hepseal - Apologies, PET was a typo. It should have read PREFERRED.

For clarification: the line in my 12.08 post should have read:

• 5/07/2021 – GP Jersey issue a request for a general meeting to fire Philip Dimmock and appoint their PREFERRED director Charles Valeschini as chairman. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/request-to-requisition-general-meeting-q08q1xx8r530ykl.html

As to your questions I would love to answer them but unfortunately since I am not allowed to voice an opinion on here any but only to state facts then I must decline for the moment. I will endeavour to provide suitable links that will enable readers here to draw their own conclusions as to what to think about Valeschini after the weekend.

In the meantime, all I can do is reiterate the fact that I truly believe that the GP Jersey proposal is very bad for shareholders in Block Energy and should be firmly rejected.

If one was conducting a normal takeover then it would certainly be the case that shareholders could expect the price of shares to rise as the potential buyer bid to purchase them. However, the clever thing about an executive takeover is that it is possible to take over a company without having to pay a premium on the shares.

The board of a company control what the company does so if you end up in control of the board then you end up in control of the company without having to make an offer for it. Of course, other shareholders could try and vote your directors out but if you had a group of people on your side with a fairly substantial holding (say about 15%) then, in practice, you could make getting rid of them practically impossible in real life.

To give a completely random example - control of Solo Oil passed from one group of directors to another group of directors back in mid 2018 and early 2019. There was no offer made to buy out the company via an offer to purchase company shares at a premium and in fact the share price declined from 3.6p in May 2018 to 1.6p in April 2019. Nonetheless, during this time every single director was replaced with a new one and a completely different board ended up in control of the company…

Block Energy – RNS releases
• 11/06/2018 - Gneiss Energy appointed placing agent and adviser to Block Energy https://gneiss.energy/news/page/11/

• 08/04/2019 – Alistair Ferguson issues TR1 announcing he owns 5.89% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/tr-1-notification-of-major-holdings-t4094pf2l0utyli.html

• 1/11/2019 – Jon Fitzpatrick buys a 3.8% stake https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/holdings-in-company-pdtfpa1tfo51myq.html

• 19/08/2020 – GP Jersey buys a 3% stake https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/tr-1-notification-of-major-holdings-replacement-dhtbiat102mqx59.html

• 31/12/2020 – Fitzpatrick increases his stake to 4.27% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/holdings-in-company-a7zfqli6oos55xh.html

• 09/4/2021 – GP Jersey increase stake to 5.02% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/tr-1-notification-of-major-holdings-kj1mnbqmkbyp2hv.html

• 30/06/2021 – A failed attempt is made to oust Phiip Dimmock at the AGM https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/result-of-agm-fjpvabf1mo6gbar.html

• 5/07/2021 – GP Jersey issue a request for a general meeting to fire Philip Dimmock and appoint their pet director Charles Valeschini as chairman. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/BLOE/request-to-requisition-general-meeting-q08q1xx8r530ykl.html

Angus Energy – RNS Releases

• 23/09/2020 – Angus engages Gneiss Energy to help raise £12 million debt. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/proposed-placing-and-proposed-debt-facility-7eumfqpy2wtl7dt.html

• 22/12/2020 – GP Jersey buy a 5.11% stake https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-tsfynx5iqmbsvjz.html

• 29/12/2020 – GP Jersey increase stake to 6.08% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-w9r9si5ro9iosdk.html

• 05/01/2020 - GP Jersey increase stake to 7.06% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-2rlch7ilj7lnhzt.html

• 6/1/2020 - GP Jersey increase stake to 8.04% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-a6c1rzkexr1ogus.html

• 25/01/2021 - GP Jersey increase stake to 9.00% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-ge3vgau5e0fi7f5.html

• 26/01/2021 - GP Jersey increase stake to 10.01% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-0839mz5lmgnpgvh.html

• 08/04/2021 - GP Jersey increase stake to 10.14% https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ANGS/holdings-in-company-b3fgbd9052w1huq.html

Rose Petroleum (now Zephyr) RNS Releases

• 11/04/2019 – Gneiss Energy appointed strategic advisor to Rose Petroleum https://gneiss.energy/news/page/9/

• 23/04/2019 – Tom Reynolds (Scirocco director) appointed as non-exec. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ROSE/directorate-change-7r4kypeuwat0v32.html

• 10/07/2019 – Jon Fitzpatrick buys a 5% stake. https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ROSE/holdings-in-company-0637jlqsdj8oe0g.html

• 14/11/2019 – GP Jersey buy a 6.47% stake https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/ROSE/holdings-in-company-rwnmdgqmh5vbgma.html