Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Squeaky bum time Lyndon. It’s a depressing picture seeing the SP under constant pressure and for all the assurances we’ve had that share price doesn’t matter until the end, it’s still getting to many people, worried that they may never see a reversal of fortunes. As I said earlier today, I have no indication that anything other than a deal is being prepared and until I have evidence to the contrary, I’m staying put even if my patience is being tested to breaking point. Others may view things differently and that’s their prerogative, but unless people push the sell button now or the final price ends up less than their average then we all stand half a chance of regaining our investment or making some profit. No doubt each one of us has some hard choices to make.
You wouldn’t instantly know it from reading this BB, but I’m taking a leap of faith here to assume that every SOU investor wants the most successful outcome as is possible from the marketing process. For those wanting to oust JP, you’ll get your wish soon enough. He’ll most likely leave at the end of this exercise, either because we’ve reached a successful conclusion or indeed because we haven’t. Either way it would probably signal the natural end of the SOU road for him. In the meantime I have no other info available to the contrary so I’m assuming that the BOD are getting on with it in the knowledge that every day that passes without news is a day closer to news.
Seating, I think that’s right. If any of the previous wells had come in we would have been long gone by now. So, given the result at TE10...and the indications would have been there long before May’s announcement...the risk of taking on TE11 would have became too great for fear of another negative result. Hence, I believe, the decision was taken to market what’s we’ve already got in the bag. This is a jigsaw, with many pieces needed to be put in place before we are sale ready. Most of the pieces will by now be in place and, dare I say it, the final pieces will I trust fall into place during the rest of August/Sept. No point in asking people to be patient, along with mine, that boat has sailed a long time ago. However, there’s a sale to be sorted out so let’s allow the BOD this final piece of leeway and hope that they finish the job once and for all.
Good find Oilpimp. Mischievously noted the following paragraph “The executive declined to answer questions over the company’s spending plans or its future dividend policy, issues typically discussed by the executives of listed companies as part of normal investor relations.” NDAs preventing discussions on possible deals maybe? Who knows, maybe one even involving little old SOU? Well.... pie in the sky probably... but maybe, just maybe.
Worth checking out AIM rule 7 - “Special conditions for certain applicants”. To paraphrase: “ a new company wishing to apply for admission to AIM needs to raise £3m in capital if it has no financial history.” Now... and it’s only speculation... but is SOU perhaps lining up a company which it might have set up as a limited company in the recent past for admission to AIM? Could this be linked to a sale? A convenient way to receive contingency payments perhaps?
Thanks Medi, much appreciated. So that would give Amerisur less P2 reserves and licence potential than SOU but a much more proactive exploration and appraisal programme..in an area that’s proven to flow hydrocarbons. Amerisur’s market value is currently £230m. If (and it’s still an if ) in addition to the TE5 Horst, a bidder for SOU was confident that they could flow commercial quantities of gas in Morocco then just think what they could be getting for their money...and what we could be worth. There are still valid reasons to hope for a decent result, so maybe for now we should also assume that the mushroom style of comms is still part of the plan.
Has someone on the BB got any off-the-cuff figures on Amerisur’s potential? Certainly their latest RNS has got the thumbs up from many on this board and it’s interesting to note the difference in communication style, given that both companies are up for sale. However it might (or might not) be revealing to compare the potential of two companies, with broadly similar numbers of shares, whose share prices currently sit at circa 19p and 8p respectively. Is the difference just down to sentiment or something more tangibile?
In the dark and distant past I seem to recall SOU saying that SIDI could be used as a sweetner for any deal for Tendrara, not least because a prospective buyer might be more Interested in acquiring both assets. That being the case it would make some sense not to pursue the farm out (however slow or unlikely) during the marketing process.
We can only speculate what BM meant by his post but of course we don’t know when the deadline for offers is or if any offers have or will be received. Not all NDAs are the same so it’s possible that providing info about the number of interested parties at an aggregate level is not breaking any confidentiality... but it might have, and if so, you might expect that BM would have to explain himself to the Company, its Nomad and potential bidders. Alternatively it could have been an orchestrated and approved comment which was judged to provide an update whilst remaining within the rules as the Co. sees it.
Jones, averaging down is certainly sound advice. However we should also be conscious that many investors may not have any spare funds to do so and hence why they find themselves trapped, in which case what would otherwise go down as good advice might be seen as a bit insensitive to others on the BB. None the less, let’s hope for a good finish and the pain will be greatly diminished for most. Fingers crossed for everyone.
An eloquent analysis Wound.... and a point well made with regards to the market and sentiment. It’s a beggar of a situation in which we find ourselves and when cabin fever inevitably sets in the result is that sometimes otherwise rational people start to react in many different ways. I imagine that a half decent result will reset the status quo.
There seems to be something intriguing afoot. Let’s not forget that several weeks of nothing have just passed with SOU not even wanting to confirm the most mundane bits of info about the marketing process. I can’t imagine therefore that Brian would have offered up that kernel of information without being given the green light to do so by the company, their Nomad and Rothschild. That being the case then there must be a growing confidence that a bid, or bids, will land, if they haven’t done so already. It s just seems too risky to raise people’s expectations at this stage without any substance behind the comments. Maybe I’ve been in the SOU desert for so long that I’m beginning to see mirages.....but this doesn’t seem to stack up any other way.
How sad that some on here feel the need to highlight their own investing prowess whilst constantly reminding others how crap they are by comparison. Smugness is not a very desirable human trait. Yes, many people are currently underwater on paper and would show some significant losses if they sold out now.... so they hold tight hoping that the £1 billion or so we have in the ground, plus other prospects, will result in a decent uplift to the share price at LE. Little choice for many right now but they don’t deserve to have their faces rubbed in it on a daily basis. More mature discussion would be appreciated please.