Investors Chronicle today - Buy13 Mar 2019 14:05
Tip Update: Buy at 19.7p
Tip style
SPECULATIVE
Risk rating
HIGH
Timescale
LONG TERM
Our previous tip
We said BUY at 23p on 25 Jan 2018
Tip performance to date
-14%
By Alex Newman
Last we heard from Sirius Minerals (SXX), discussions over its second-stage financing had moved on from bank and government loans on equal terms to include a third, possibly more expensive, debt capital markets tranche.
SXX:LSE
Sirius Minerals PLC
1mth
Today change
2.79% Price (GBP)
19.90
That picture was upended on Tuesday, when the prospective potash miner said it had received “a conditional proposal from a major global financial institution” that would entirely replace the $3bn (£2.3bn) multi-tranche structure, and remove a critical uncertainty in the construction of its Woodsmith project.
Sirius said the proposal “offers a more flexible and attractive solution” to its funding needs, and subsequently paused discussions with the original funding group in a bid to get firm commitments by the end of April.
IC View
Sirius's shares leapt 9 per cent on this development, although the as-yet-unnamed bank still needs to complete its due diligence and internal approvals. Should this fall through, it’s not clear whether a “pause” in talks with other lenders can be easily resurrected, particularly with the Woodsmith project coffers set to run dry in a matter of months. Still, this news appears positive for our long-term buy call (23p, 25 January 2018), even if events are set to come down to the wire. Buy at 19.7p.
Last IC View: Buy, 20.4p, 23 Jan 2019