The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
There are many reasons but the advancement in drilling technology in recent times is a huge one. The hurricane season doesn’t help either although this is not a show stopper by any means, just means there’s lower hanging fruit elsewhere.
Tonsan, I understand that train of thought and it’s not that those things aren’t possible but they can’t hide behind that for 10 years. Other similar companies operating in this sector seem to do a better job of communicating.
The truth is for a long time they weren’t doing a lot but no one outside the company can ever verify that so people will just have to agree to disagree. Yes they should be busy but they also have over 50 employees now so the workload is spread.
Some of this is what weighs on the share price, people don’t fully trust them or understand what they are doing. We are still nine the wiser as to what this CERP *******s is all about. I’m not thick enough to not understand whatvpicture they’re trying to paint, I get that, but scratch below the surface and there’s nothing there.
The only plausible reason for buying CERP is the hope they can turn it around a little bit, just enough to mitigate the annual jingling of the charity box and secure their jobs.
What’s that I hear, ‘sell up and move on Jim!’. No us the answer. I’ve never doubted their technical competence in being able to sort this drill out, neither the geology they are going to drill. So I’ll be sticking around for the results thank you, which if they hit oil will still be very significant for me even after the billions of dilution.
What makes this journey slightly more bitter is they played the farm-in tune for a very long time and hid behind NDA’s but the thing that got this moving was the Bizzell CLN and given the relationship between the BPC Executive and messers Bizzell & Carnegie, this avenue could have been pursued earlier, possibly in more buoyant economic times and that may have forced a major.
Truth is they haven’t done a great job of all this, they’ve done a bang average job to date. Some don’t like to admit this as it’s taken up years of their life, there’s a bit of Stockholm Syndrome going on.
Only they really know how straight a bat they’ve played in this respect, we will never know.
Look at the wealth of experience, knowledge and connections at a high level in this company, they always knew they could pull this off when they really had to. The drill has never been and never is in doubt, it’s only ever been about when.
Garry, you get used to the radio silence from them and the selfish oneway relationship. They have a very much a ‘need to know’ type relationship with the people who keep the gravy flowing and it’ll never change.
The Secret Service leak more information to the public than BPC.
SF, that's right. The Facility see's a 90% cash inflow from the full face value (equivalent to 3.33% pa coupon rate) and then the shares can be converted based on the following conversion criteria:
Conversion Price: The lower of (i) a 25% premium to the price of the Company's ordinary shares on the date of draw-down, or (ii) the lowest closing bid price of the Company's shares on the five days prior to the date of conversion.
The Facility terms are far better than the CLN but the CLN offers greater certainty. Some people are craving for the CLN to be discounted and kicked into touch but it's actually extremely important to have it in play, options and therefore competition is a very good thing - it's essential in achieving good value.
There isn't a Monopolies Commission for no reason!
I think quite a few of us knew this RNS was likely so no big surprise. Can’t help feel it needed to be done earlier though and it feels like further contempt shown to shareholders.
Publishing what they did in that date as well feels like a bit of revenge being dished out. They know they don’t need us anymore now.
Back to the RNS... If you’re in negotiations with someone you don’t weaken your hand and remove an option from the table, it would be foolish to not keep everything in play so not a bad tactic to delay decision further. Even if this is just to keep the Family Facility in check and not become more punitive.
Surely the Facility will be the one used for a small top up if required during drill and not the CLN given the SP should be higher and therefore be on better terms than CLN.
DT, i'm not trying to ramp or spin anything, etc. Only presenting the facts in how the 'fully funded' statement could be qualified.
Last Thursday we were in receipt of a rather surprising RNS that stated BPC were 'fully funded' and that was then the trigger for a number of options and warrants that were approved by shareholders at the 2019 AGM. So what does 'fully funded' mean?
The granting of the options and qualification of the statement 'fully funded' stems from the ability of the Company to have raised $25m, unconditionally. The following is how BPC have achieved this:
Shareholder Open Offer. $4.3m. Confirmed in RNS 5/11/19
Placing. $7.1m. Confirmed in RNS 5/11/19
Bahamas Mutual Fund. $0.9m. Confirmed in RNS 14/2/20
Bahamas Family Office Facility Draw Down. $3.2m. Confirmed in RNS 20/2/20
Bahamas Family Office Facility Draw Down. $2.2m. Confirmed in RNS 17/3/20
Placing. $12m. Confirmed in RNS 1/10/20.
The total funds raised through the above processes equates to $29.7m, exceeding the $25m criteria threshold agreed to in the 2019 AGM Resolutions.
It would appear the Company are in a very healthy position for funding P#1 in December.
Patoir, Look through the RNS's from OO to today and the influx of money raised and unless ive double accounted then we have seen >$25m. Im not the CEO of the company so i can't say we will not use the CLN, the Company need to come out and state this and clarify especially as the RNS'd date around it have passed. But we have brought in >$25m.
My suspicion is we won't use the CLN and we'll dip into the Bahamas Family Facility for the contingency if required. This would be much more favourable given it's terms.
When i get chance i need to finish my digging but.... The deferred remuneration which was issued last Thursday was something that was baked into the 2019 AGM resolutions , it's all there in detail and even the exact number of shares which were issued last Thursday is that same as that in the 2019 AGM meeting notification. The condition for releasing them was based on a number of factors and permutations with the key one being for them to have raised $25m.
If you add up the OO, subsequent Placing, Bahamas Facility, Recent placing you do indeed come to a sum that is greater than the $25m and therefore the criteria for 'fully funded' has been met. I was wanting to post the exact amount of funding received by the company for others to check and verify, i'll do that when i get time.
So, we are 'fully funded' by the criteria set and it would appear this doesn't include the Bizzell CLN and won't need to. It would be nice of the Company to clarify this.
Found it!
I have been trying hard but i can't for the life of me find an old RNS that set the date and outlined the Resolutions for the 2019 AGM. I seem to recall this was a very lengthy and detailed RNS and in it, towards the very end, was a statement regarding when the BoD should receive their share remuneration for when the well was fully funded, i'm sure it said something about all funds being secured on an unconditional basis. I have been trying to find it and refresh my memory on what was stated but it's like it has been erased from history.
SF, although I would love this to be true I don’t think you are quite right in what you are saying. We may be ‘fully funded’ but we cannot assume this does not include a CLN or Facility usage element.
If this were unambiguously and transparently funded then the market would react accordingly but it is not, there is still an unknown element of the total quantum. This unknown element has a number of ‘certain’ paths but it’s exact make-up has yet to be spelled out.
I fear they were hoping for a boost from the now fully funded statement and were looking to do a placing at a better value than the CLN. If this is or was the plan then I think they’ve been found out.
The company must issue something in the CLN either way very soon I would say, my opinion is they skating very close to what is allowed or should be telling the markets.
Or they need to announce the farm-out element. This hiatus can not be allowed to persist much longer.
Well today was a bit of a strange one. Most expected clarity on the Bizzell CLN and it never came but we did wake to an RNS that was a little bizarre, almost a little bit of a two fingers up to those who didn’t let them have their way earlier in the year. Maybe I’m wrong and the T&T assets were always key 2019/2020 KPI’s? [beard stroking emoji required]
What was doubly bizarre was the timing of today’s RNS. As I put this morning I think all these shares were already baked in somehow so I’m not sure why they needed to surprise us with this information now, the timing feels so unnecessary when clarity on CLN was today’s order of the day. I can only think they technically had all day today to fettle the CLN path and we will receive notification in the morning. This seems acceptable.
That assumes we are going with the CLN. If you believe BPC’s 3 weeks away from drilling rhetoric then it is almost certain that if this is true then the company didn’t seem to be going with the CLN then and maybe we aren’t now, the question is what’s substituting it? Surely we had a farm-in lined up if we try were 3 weeks away from drilling, it’s almost impossible to see how we could have been going drilling if not.
I do think Macquarie have been far too quiet and it feels that if this process was fruitful it does answer what was seemingly impossible.
However, the sad truth is that assuming there is no farm-in the signs are there for another placing to negate the CLN. Why have the investor presentation next week, why come out and say the well is funded but not state you’ve taken the CLN money? The cynic says they were hoping for a boost from the ‘funded’ RNS but the truth is the vast majority of retail investors don’t trust them anymore, hence the little pullback this morning. The number of shares in issue is making this more a traders share than an investors share and people have become weary. BPC and the City know they can flip another 300m if they need to and that’s a little bit sad, for the loyal investor anyway.
What makes this journey a little harder is that Bizzell CLN (illusion?) was probably available long before it was enacted, that possibility is not lost on me.
As always, all will be forgiven and forgotten if they finally come up with the goods and we ‘watch this space’ waiting for our socks to be knocked off, however, if this journey is finished off with a bog standard placing then the CLN was all part of the smoke and mirrors illusion and the majors saw through it all the time.
I’m expecting an RNS in the morning, what that will contain is anyone’s guess with BPC. Minimum surely is Bizzell info, I’m hoping farm-out surprise, but history would indicate it’ll be some inconclusive ambiguous cryptic delay - or nothing at all!
JtK
5.3p
Not sure what it will say but one feels possible.
Or the bathroom.
IK. Yes, something is coming.
Patoir, yes my expectation was for a small subscription and prolong any bigger decision to the 15th Nov. I'd say its still too early in the day to assume they don't need it, i think they will have until 7am tomorrow morning to put an RNS out regarding any direction taken with it, but they are duty bound to put out some RNS on it at some point. All information pertaining to it has previously been RNS'd and it is assumed to be a key component of the companies funding strategy, it cannot pass with some type of acknowledgement.
Todays (first?) RNS does feel a bit like getting some dirty laundry washed first before something else.
Not quite what we expected to be reading this morning and although these shares were already baked in, why do this bit of housekeeping now? Something else feels afoot.
We do need to hear something on the Bizzell CLN one way or other, it could wait until later or tomorrow but it can’t just pass without some acknowledgement. And someone correct me if I’m wrong but the Bizzell CLN can’t just sit there and we’ll draw it if and when needed, the terms didn’t appear to allow that, there was a structure to its drawdown and commitments needed to be made.
Bryn, ~3900m now unfortunately