Member Info for millerston

Hi MrG123,
Dont forget the two albatross contracts hanging round our neck. Still in arbitration and final resolution expected in early 2022.
We could be awarded £50m or we could be liable for £50m.

I would love to hear the spiel that Shard spout to the "high net worth" investors as they tap them up for new funds for this dormant company.

Hi Mitch984,
No, anyone shelling out $2 b will do their own costings. Bankers will insist on it.

One of our assets must be a warehouse full of core samples and a map with all the resource data. What attempts have been made to monetise this ? Without this data a new investor would have to spend several hundred million dollars proving up the reserve again.

This is like investing in childrens lucky bags but we dont get to open the bag after we`ve handed over your money. What are the board doing ? Cant tell you, it`s top secret. What is the end game ? Cant answer that either. What is the point of these costing and recosting exercises which are probably out of date already ? Any potential partner will commission their own costings, they will not take the word of these chancers. They`re so lazy they cannot even freshen up the company website some new photographs or material to interest investors. It`s a dormant company, probably vastly over valued. Wouldn`t put it past them to let the share price sink to about 3p and take us off market for about 7p.

Do you really think Glencore shareholders will question a half share of $1.3 m expenditure ?

Shard seem to be struggling finding High Net Worth investors willing to invest more than a few thousand . I`ve an order for 400000 @ 7.5p. Drop the price and the company picks up £30k cash. Is that too simplistic ? I`ve also an order to sell 400000 @ 12p. Always like to leave some profit for the next guy.

Welcome 3% increase in total dividend but had to dip into reserves to achieve it. That was to be expected as income received was reduced due to the pandemic. I`m reasonably happy with the NAV and share price performance, I prefer an OK`ish ride rather than a roller coaster. SMT down 6.37 % today !
What does concern me is ATST continue adopt whatever is flavour of the month investment fad. Today it is ESG, Environmental, Social and Governance. Previously it was Private Equity, Sustainability, Conviction and Social Responsibility investing. Check out the credentials of Sarah Bates our new non executive director , they don`t come any more woke. Is her priority investment returns or political campaigning, the seeking of approval from her peers.
Is everybody convinced with the subcontracting of investing to seven teams of Stock Pickers ? I suppose we are now stuck with them as the Dundee investment analysts will have been made redundant. Last time I looked several of the Stock Pickers had picked the same stocks and there were a number of investments that were laughably small like £0.2m in Rosneft Oil.
I`ll have to spread the risk around a few more investment trusts.
Cheers !

Hi oogle,
Tell me about it ! I have a big position in GSK. It has lost 30% of its value from its 52 week high to todays low in the midst of a global pandemic. The CEO announced a company reorganisation and a future "rebasing of the dividend", but couldn`t quantify it. For a saving of a couple of hundred million in dividends she has destroyed tens of billions in market capitalisation.
Attending an ATST AGM a couple of years ago I overheard a conversation and they were discussing the fact that ATST no longer held GSK, having previously held it for fifty odd years. The point I`m trying to make is that there are no safe investments out there and private investors need the services of investment professionals who are objective, dispassionate and flexible in the stewardship of your funds. If an investor really fancies GSK, hold it as part of an investment trust where it is no more than a couple of percent of total funds. Do this and you can sleep tight.

The buy backs are one side of a discount control operation, when it suits them they sell shares back into the market for cash. They can choose to invest in the portfolio or buy back more shares. It isn`t perfect but it does reduce volatility.
Holding a concentrated or "conviction" portfolio is fine when you get it right but when you get it wrong expect a roller coaster ride. I prefer to sleep at night. My experience is investments can fall 20,30 and 40 % quite quickly and then take years to recover. I`m running out of years.

Yes, easily the best performer in my portfolio, without the nightmare inducing volatility. I`m now through with investing in stand alone stocks and chasing yield, far too risky. I `m now selling off stocks when they reach price targets and buying generalist investment trusts.
My second best performer in the past year has been Baillie Gifford`s Strategic Bond Fund . Pays out monthly without the roller coaster volatility.

Investors maybe getting cold feet about our involvement with "Smart Motorways". Getting lots of column inches in the Press lately. Hope we are well insured.

elcapitan,
The bonds are not freely available to Joe Public. Bonds are marketed to insiders only as you well know. I suppose if they were freely available no one would buy the equity.
Interestingly the new bonds are described as senior and unsecured, a bit of a contradiction.

So the 10% bonds maturing in 2022 have been called at 105% of par, to be replaced by 9.5% bonds which will no doubt also be called at a premium ,at a time of the boards choosing. Nice work if you can get it. Where`s the advantage to the shareholders. Companies being ransacked from the inside, Soprano style.

Hi L,
If the cash is valued at, well ,cash; the assets, experience, systems etc are valued at only £14m. If you were starting from scratch you couldn`t replicate Costain for £14m. I often wonder do City types value what we have.

Hi L ,
Thanks for the reply, I should have got the calculator out ! Is withdrawing from the P & H contract a sign of strength or weakness as is their intension not to pursue one off capital projects ? I also wonder what our Middle Eastern co investors expect from their recent investment.

Hi All,
As I get older my powers of comprehension are waning. Regarding the trading update can anyone tell me what the net cash position is ? Is it £140.9m ? Or £140.9 minus £62m of drawn debt ? Or £117.8m minus £62m of drawn debt ? Is the £62m of drawn debt the combined debt of Costain`s stand alone business and Costain`s share of the joint ventures ?
I`m also not clear on the order book. Is it £4.2 billion ? Or is it £5.2 billion (£4.2b plus £1b on frameworks, whatever frameworks are) ? Finally, only £0.9b is secured ?
Regarding the sale of the marina, why state the sale price in euros and the loss in £`s ?
Thanks.