Member Info for Leo_IX

My concern in a nutshell is this:

Why did MTL Lux defend the continued public listing of MTL when RHL won't permit money to be raised on the market? And what's to stop them changing their position? Not sure exactly what listing costs amount to but I'm sure it's an annual six figure sum. We've all seen the dreaded RNS drop on other AIM shares, there seems to be a steady trickle, you know the one...

"The board has decided it would be in the company's best interests to delist from AIM for the reasons set out below..."

It nearly happened in 2019 and tensions clearly remain. There must be holders still here who remember the restoration of trading after suspension but the RNSs from the time don't shed much light on what really happened or give much reassurance that it won't happen again. Sooner or later MTL will want money to fund proposed M & A activity and that could spark another confrontation between the two big shareholders.

Lee - how do you sleep at night with 5m of these shares? What do you know that I don't?

If anyone can quote chapter and verse why the company can't be delisted/taken private I'd love to read it.

Meanwhile, I'm out again.

Good luck to those with more faith than me.

Hi CV7

Used to trade this regularly pre-suspension a few years back. Recently bought a few at 1.9p because MTL may be turning a corner at last. Bowden has done incredibly well on an operational level to turn this into a cash machine but so far it's only the major debt/shareholders with anything to show for it. Will the rest of us ever be allowed to benefit? Let's get the mezzanine debt sorted as a first step but as long as just two holders own 70% of the shares and 100% of the debt it remains a precarious place for private investors imo.

Seven years of ramping and still nothing to show for it. Must be some kind of record.

Nidgeyr - if the new investors hold 44% between them and 75% is required to delist, then the whole thing was stitched up with them at the time of the fundraising. They are already on board.

Now I'm out with a small but welcome profit I'd just like to ask London153 a question.

You've just seen the 82% majority shareholder destroy the investment of the other 18%. Once the company delists it will no longer be domiciled in the UK and enjoy whatever small protection that affords the investors. You will have shares in a company where the biggest holder, in total control, has already demonstrated contempt for his fellow investors.

Do you really expect to receive a dividend? Or even to see your money back?

So how many shares does he need to post on a public share forum?

Serves me right for trying to do this from memory having lost my notes... it's ICSID's Energy Charter cases I'm referring to. Apologies for the confusion but I still think this is a better way to judge annulment success rates.

I'm referring strictly to Italy's track record.

Nick - very misleading to say that only 1% of annulment claims are successful. The vast majority of cases have only been started in the last couple of years and are awaiting a final judgement - only a handful have been completed.

That £22.5k trade was a buy, right? Shouldn't someone be ramping this share? Anyone?

Yep, 11p three months ago and £4.7m raised. But 14 times the number of shares now changes the maths and not in a good way.

pwhite73 over on advfn seems to be talking the most sense about this but just looking at that website gives me a headache. Those who sold shares they couldn't supply on settlement day should imo be forced to refund the buyers prior to being prosecuted for fraud. Forcing them to cover their shorts on the open market would cause chaos - more likely the whole thing will be swept under the carpet until the shares are issued next month.

Partly like I said, because a positive trial period with a slight delay would be broadly good news imo, partly because it's in the RNS announcing the fundraise - there's no mention of the launch slipping into Q1 but the domestic trials are slated to begin later than announced in the RNS of June 8th. I'm assuming that if I noticed it so did everyone who took part in the fundraise.

I'm hoping there's another delay already baked in to the share price. The last one from Q3 to Q4 didn't do any harm. An RNS along the lines of ... 'The domestic trials have gone well and market launch will now be in Q1 2023 accompanied my a major marketing campaign' would be well received imo.

You'd have to think that sales of commercial machines to hotels etc have been encouraging or they wouldn't have greenlit the development of two models for the domestic market. Revenue-wise though XSG seems more focused on European partnerships and legislation which is a way off yet.

Should maybe add that I took a punt on Friday and bought a few. Been watching since June's positive announcements and last week's uptick in volume and share price finally decided it. With market cap and cash almost the same, and news of IFB's product launch expected this quarter, maybe it's time for someone to reap the benefits of all that investment. At least with a year's cash we can be sure the next RNS won't be another fundraise.

It's actually much worse than that. Looking back through the RNS announcements I thought this, from March '22 must have been a mistake:

"Mr Nichols has agreed to cancel the options granted to him over a total of 18,901 ordinary shares of 15p each ("Ordinary Shares") in 2015, 2017 and 2018 which have an exercise price of £210 or £225 per share."

But no, back in November 2020 there was a 1 for 100 capital reduction because the shares had lost almost 100% of their value. Since then, they have almost repeated the same feat, which is something I've never seen before. No wonder the old chief exec wanted to leave. That and the £120m+ of accumulated losses. He must have gone into hiding.

Probably just roger65 topping up again

The executive summary only enhances my view that Italy will try for an annulment as a matter of routine, however unlikely it is to succeed. The market appears to agree, having added only about 30% of the award to the share price. I'm perfectly comfortable with how things are going and looking forward to the development of Sealion, but an early capitulation by the Italians would be a bonus in this case imo.