a sell29 Mar 2017 17:44
Batangas write-down – significant write-down in the accounts of the value of the project and plenty of warnings about a potential inability to fund it going forward. This has been superceded to a certain extent by this week’s announcement which states that it is not planning any major expenditure in the Philippines this year due to the uncertainty in the mining sector.
Copper concentrate trading stalled – no real mention of it; one line states that ore trading has been stopped while the mining sector is so unsettled. It does state that it has written off the loan of $205,000 due from its copper concentrate supplier though which doesn’t sound very encouraging. Looks like they generated $50,000 revenue in the year from it though, with a cost of sales of a similar amount – wow!
Wreck of a balance sheet – all the cash has gone. As at 31 December 2016, the cash balance was $25,000 and the net current liability position was $233,000 with a further $590,000 of non-current liabilities.
This week the company announced that it is planning to get involved with two South Korean mines with ASX listed Southern Gold. Great - all it needs is $1 million and A$500,000 to get its 50% share.
So, in summary, it has no real business in the Philippines at the moment, has no cash, its debts are piling up and it now has to find a new load of cash for these new assets. To play safe, it probably needs to raise close to £2 million to get those assets, pay its bills over the next 12 months and sort out its balance sheet.
Its current share price is around 2p valuing the business at £3.8 million. Hmmm, I accept that there is some inherent value in Batangas but I’m not putting much value on it right now. One should remember that its old partner sold it 75% of it in December 2016 for 1.25 million shares in Bluebird and a 1% royalty, a pretty negligible sum. With the copper concentrate trading on hold, what are people actually putting a value on?
Personally, I wouldn’t buy at 1p, particularly as a massive placing is necessary. If you do like the story, just contact the new broker, SP Angel, and get in the placing instead which I assume will be at a significant discount to the current price.