Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Very disappointed to see this mornings RNS, but to me, not totally unexpected. My concerns were raised with the announcement of DR stepping down from the CEO role, in June of this year and handing over "stock market relations", (or somesuch) to TY, with immediate effect at the end of last year.
DR has made considerable progress for the company as CEO, with the emphasis being on overturning KA's approach to the financial model, and taking a non-dilutionary, strategic partnership and licence fee approach, going forward.
I'm reading that there was a difference in opinion regarding the financial model since the merger/takeover of W2T.
If the equity raise is purely to accelerate the building of the Protos plant, so it can be the shop window, and PHE reverts to DR's financial model for future projects, all well and good, but we'll need to wait and see.
Telephoneman posted this morning that on a shared revenue basis (assumed 50%) the future revenues per plant would be multiples of the licence fee, but from this mornings RNS:
"The Directors consider that these steps are beneficial for the Company's future and are likely to bring forward the date on which licence fee income, which is expected to constitute the principal portion of the Company's future revenue, will start to be received."
So, even though we may be carrying 50% of the capital cost, the £500K per annum licence fee is still the " principal portion" of future revenue - not much in terms of shared revenue then for PHE, or is the licence fee going to be significantly increased if PHE continues to make a 50% contribution to capital cost.
It's all gone a bit murky here since TY and the White family have got involved and will remain an ex- long term shareholder until the mists have cleared. I'm happy with a 20x return on my initial investment and will stay on the sidelines until clarity returns to the financial model.
I note some discussion about the Protos plant being up and running commercially by end March, ................seriously ?? within 10 weeks ???
The sub-station has been ongoing for 6 months at least and still not finished.
That appears to be a mis-understanding around the words in the RNS, regarding getting financial closure by end of first quarter.
Quite happy to keep an eye on site and report back on progress, the exercise does me good.
PHE has an excellent piece of technology which has potential on many fronts and will deliver significant benefits over the coming years.
A somewhat disappointing response in sp to a piece of excellent news for SAV. The probable sale of the residual placement shares, within the rise may have supressed a stronger response in sp.
Everyones patience should be rewarded in due course.
A clear frosty day here in Ince village, so I took a walk down to the Protos site and all is quiet ( as to be expected on Plot 10B).
Took a couple of videos and think I've managed to upload them to youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qV8hFKh8wo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98hPUE3q8AI
Excellent news today regarding the progress made to date, not only on Protos, but with consultation on the next two sites to be initiated shortly.
Good to see the aerial views of Plot10b which help put the ground level footpath views into context.
With the ground works well underway and utility and service works being started, this will need paying for. So would expect the confirmation of financial close on the funding of the Protos build, not to be too far away in the near future.
The majority of ground levelling must now be complete as the two excavators have left site and could only see the bulldozer levelling off this afternoon.
Occy
Just cross reference that article schematic with the Plot availability plan from the Protos web site (link below), and you should get your bearings.
https://www.protos.co.uk/site-availability/
Our plot is 10B
The "access road" on the protos plan, that looks like a river heads back to Ince village and Elton. Forward from the roundabout it terminates at CF Fertiliser plant (the grey smoking plot on the plan)
For an overview cross reference the Protos plan on "Google maps" or OS website.
Just had a wander down to the site and site levelling has commenced with what looks like two Hitachi ZX 350 excavators and a Caterpillar Bulldozer hard at work, ( on hire from Clive Hurt), with a good proportion of the site already levelled.
Good to see work progressing on site before the end of the year.
Following Futurepro's post this morning, and seeing as its been a couple of weeks since I've been down to Plot10b, I've just had a tootle down to the site.
Ground clearance has begun with the more substantial trees being felled and stacked to one side.
Looks like we're on our way.
Somewhat surprised, to say the least, regarding todays RNS re: DR.
Acknowledging that he didn't always seem to relish the PR role, he did, IMO, appear to be growing into the CEO position, with the deals and agreements made with Peel, and with the change in financial strategy, that he brought, that protected shareholders from the issue of share dilution for the capital requirements of plant construction.
He has worked through the Protos planning application, so we now have a planning template to work with for future applications and has overseen the mess of the over valued W2T buyout to give PHE a clear partnership structure for the future. The messy hard work has been completed and is now out of the way.
I would have expected that DR would be looking forward to the day when the Protos plant was commissioned and he could stand proud as the CEO in front of world changing technology at work on a commercial scale, so the timing of his release of the position of CEO, strikes me as odd.
Since the W2T buyout, the share structure bias to the White family and associates, has been a background concern for me, and coupled with todays news, I have significantly reduced my exposure here, until there is positive news that PHE are still on the same trajectory as before, with regard to upcoming planning applications, capital funding strategy and confirmation of start of construction at Protos.
Just wondering if Peel have been keeping their powder dry regarding their funding strategy for the upcoming DMG sites, until they have tested out the access to the £240m recently announced government funding for Hydrogen plant construction.
Could be a very interesting run up to xmas with possible news on a few fronts.
Not sure whether this link has been posted before, as it is from March last year, but could Italy be the next possible partnership with ENI?
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/energy/general/eni-corepla-to-produce-hydrogen-from-plastic-waste/23782
C'Mon guys, lets not give the air time to the naysayers with unsubstantiated negative views, by giving them free advertising with self named multiple posts.
Just playing into their hands, in my view - just the same with the one with the jaundiced viewpoint.
Make it known about their reputation, buts let not headline it.
The headline bid/ask spread (9%) does appear a little wide at the moment, but the actual bid ask is presently 2,84/2.94 (3.5%).
A large spread, from my experience, usually suggests the MMs have quite a bit of stock on hand and are not openly encouraging sells. As stock runs a little thin then the bid increases with a resultant increase on the ask.
Useful to do dummy trades to gauge the actual spread.
Excellent news this morning regarding our first international venture, with many more to come IMO. A somewhat muted response in the sp though, which is to be expected with the recent sizeable block sells, that we need to churn through.
Once thats sorted and the 10% traders have had their short term slice, then lets see where the sp moves to.
Disappointing to see the recent drop in sp to around the 2.5p mark, but on the whole not totally unexpected.
IMO, probably due to slippery hands parting with their placing shares to take a quick profit, whilst sticking hold of their long term investment pot for the bigger picture - makes sense really.
Few, if any significant sells since yesterday p.m. so should start to see a bounce in the sp, IMO in preparation for near term news flow.
Reading the BB over the past 24 hours does remind me of the quotes attributed to Mark Twain:
" Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level, and beat you with experience."
"Never argue with fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
Residents in the Protos area received a brochure outlining a proposed plastic recycling facility at Protos by Enviroo.
Looking at the schematic the facility will be next door to PHE on Plot 13. It will process 25K tonnes of plastic waste per year, using Erema and Sorema technologies.
The CEO of Enviroo is Ahmed Detta who is listed as CEO of Advanced sustainable Developments. ASD were named in the RNS of 9th May 2019, as the potential provider of feedstock to the DMG and PHE would provide electricity to ASD in return.
From memory, I think the ASD website promotes one if not both of these technologies.
The brochure has a question and comments section that can be returned to Enviroo, so it looks as though this is a pre-planning application consultation with the locals.
Another piece being inserted in the jig-saw that is beginning to form a very significant picture in the Protos Plastic Park.
https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/PHE/developer-w2t-sign-power-agreement-0u24jcgwbvdu9b4.html
https://plasticsinpackaging.com/enviroo-to-build-20m-recycling-plant/
Hi Wolves
I usually have a peek at the site about once per week and will post when anything interesting occurs.
To recap - since Planning permission was granted, about 30m of drainage ditch liners have been staked in. A vehicular gate has been installed on the rear access road (the old Marsh Lane), and a fenced hard standing area has been constructed adjacent to Plot 10b (presumable for parking/ material storage).
All this was done up to the Covid lockdown time, with no further work completed.
Work on the sub-station, about 200m from Plot10b, has been progressing nicely over the past few months, but no services or trenches have yet been installed for the connection to our plot.
Will update as things develop.