Member Info for Oldfortyniner

The relisting will come first with conversion of CLNs only later once there has been approval for the new shares to be issued. In between those two events it's going to be down to good old supply and demand to set the price, though I would expect the conversion price to have a bearing on it. It will probably depend, after this long period of suspension, on the level of appetite for offloading or for acquisition.

Your MC is in the same ball park as the original implied MC, in the RNS at first listing on 14 Dec 2020, of £33.64M, following the initial PO of 13.3M shares at 45p; happy days! Then production plans for Sahamamy and Vatomina were for 81,000 tons pa in 2024.

The latest RNS update says the Madagascar installed capacity is 36,000 Tpa, but not all of that is in production, with Mozambique developments having a permitted maximum of 158,000 Tpa. Lots of potential.

I wouldn't have thought a takeover likely to happen with the shares suspended, even if it is the 'right thing', which at this stage I doubt. It has in any case been taken over recently, by a new management intent on not running the thing into the ground, but recovering control, publishing the overdue accounts and getting the listing restored, which must now be imminent.

Part of this recovery is of necessity having extra funds available to make the business work. Raising the capital to do that may well require CLNs and warrants which will inevitably dilute the value of existing holdings, but will keep the company in business. They have also mentioned reviewing the contract arrangements of the old management so hopefully there will be benefit to be derived in that direction too. It seems all to play for.

Despite averaging down, my cost level is still above yours so realising my losses by getting out at such a low level seemed a pointless pursuit. I would guess there hasn't been a lot for you to keep an eye on since you sold out. Let's hope positive things begin to happen in the very near future.

The RNS of 5th Feb says the investment of Rollins, Erden and Dennis is £0.25M in total plus £50K from Optiva itself.

None of that gives me any misgivings, as against the level of funding the CLNs overall will produce.

I enquired yesterday of Optiva. The offer was still available as yesterday, officially closing Friday but Optiva indicated it had been heavily subscribed and could close at any moment. I got the subscription form which indicates it is only available to 'Qualified Investors' or 'Relevant Persons'. The definitions of what that means is buried in a welter of EU legislation which is still part of our legislative structure now we have left. What I gleaned from the web is this means you have to be a professional investor, a high net worth individual, or an investor experienced in dealing in unlisted securities.

Nothing was said about this when I initially spoke to them so I've queried it, saying if I'm wrong tell me, but have heard nothing, so I guess I'm right. That's a real shame, as the opportunity to average down, buying a £5,000 block of shares at 3.75p a go was very attractive. I guess now it will be see what opportunities there are when the stock comes back on list.

Thanks Crocqman, I understand all of what you say. There are two glaring inconsistencies in HLs approach to this, which are the problem and what got me worried yesterday.

The first is that for all the period of suspension they have been showing the value as 6.25, which is what it was when it went into suspension. Suddenly out of the blue, with no change in the situation, they change it. That set the alarm bells ringing for me.

The other weird approach they take is that this stock is still in my account, and its purchase cost still shows in my account, but is not included in the overall account balances. It will be the same for yours too. I maintain a spreadsheet which I use to cross check with, which it now doesn't because of this extraordinary device they choose to employ. If the stock is in the account, even with a current value of zero, it should count as such in the totals. Potty.

Well ,that's reassuring, thank you.

I'll be ringing HL tomorrow to see if I can find what has prompted their changed tactic. They do have a rather odd technique in such circumstances where they show the cost of purchase in the account listing but no current value, where up until now they have given both, but now neither figure (including the cost they still show) features in the sum totals at the bottom!

What sort of accountant dreamt that one up?

Today HL have posted this footnote on my account: "We are unable to provide a recent price for this stock online and, as a result, it is not included in the totals above. For an up-to-date price, please contact us.", as if the company no longer has a listing. I came here expecting to find news, but there is nothing new. Anyone else have a similar situation either with HL or, more significantly, with anyone else?

NalaK paints the sorry picture well I'm afraid. I bought in here in June and have watched the price corrode ever since. Today was the limit and I've put the 70% left of my investment in something hopefully much more beneficial. At least the 30% will offset some of the tax liability I will have for this year. If you're sticking with it I wish you luck.

With another management related RNS today, this is beginning to look like a serious improvement at board level.

Fingers crossed!

It's a shame the Requisition Group didn't win the day the first time round. We would be so much further along the line than we now are. But it's promising to see two names from the Requisition Group now on the board. Maybe things will begin to change for the better; they couldn't get much worse. Hopefully too the latest extension of the suspension will be the last, and sometime before 31st March we'll see some meaningful accounts.

CGT is payable on the total amount of the gain calculated as the difference between the sale or disposal value (less costs) minus the original cost of purchase or acquisition, including any charges/fees. It appears your original 'cost' is 10,000 x £0.14 = £1,400. That doesn't change if the shares are restructured in the way you have suggested, as the original cost is unaffected. So your CGT liability will be the total disposal value (less costs) minus £1,400 (plus fees). CGT will only be payable if your gains on this, and any other gains you might have, exceed the CGT allowance for the tax year of disposal. There's plenty of information about all this on gov.uk. Search for capital gains tax in your browser.

DK, I agree this has been a terrible journey. I think the missed opportunity for a resolution was of course the attempt by the Requisition Group to take the reins, and get Shishir out of the way, but that's raking over old coals.

I think the odds for success with the Middle Eastern Sovereign Fund will depend on whether they can keep him under control to get on with the job and restore value to the SP and the company. As soon as we can get to something like my averaged down price I shall be out. That could be a tall order.

The rates you quote are for dealings in shares. Beware, however, the paragraph below where you got that in the Ts&Cs says that amounts received in a foreign currency (say from corporate actions) are automatically converted at a rate rate based on the prevailing interbank exchange rate, plus 1%.

I think what would be pivotal in terms of the company's communication strategy is when we get beyond displaying posters at conferences; posters are a pretty low key form of projection. Punters will walk past on their way to coffee/lunch whatever and if they happen to look they might see and read or simply walk on.

What will make a difference is when there is something really positive or concrete to say that can be the subject of a platform presentation to the assembled throng. Then they'll all see and hear it.

I've sold today rather than wait for mid October. Based on todays exchange rate for the dollar value of the offer LESS the broker's exchange commission of 1%, I've made £176 more by selling now. The trend for the exchange rate isn't to our advantage so my only risk factor is if the share price were to rise, but I'm out and I'm comfortable with the decision so that's that.

As the default (from the RNS) is payment in USD, the brokers will convert that to GBP for you. You may not have the option to choose, it would be worth checking. The conversion will be done at their standard commission rate (at least if it's HL), so there's an extra cost which you should be able to calculate. So the apparent difference between the sell price of DARK on the market now, and what the offer is worth converted from USD to GBP is less than it looks to the extent of the commission fees. Where you get to the point where you feel it's worth selling up before the end of the month is as ever a personal decision, but you should account for the cost of conversion.

"You can’t underestimate the impact the Requisition Group has had on the business. "

And why did the requisition group come into being in the first place? Because the Company management was not doing its job and the current situation makes it look as though not a lot has changed. There were cheers and hurrahs when the requisition vote fell but those who were delighted then to keep Shishir at the helm don't sound so happy now.

It could be a stupid question, but it's one only you can answer for yourself.

Todays dollar rate is 0.785 so the dollar equivalent is £6.08 against todays closing bid of £593.8, a difference of nearly 15p per share. Is that a small margin? Would you consider an intraday rise or fall of 15p small? There's another question only you can answer for yourself.

Thanks HarChris,

No doubt the gang of four were trying to firmly make a point, so they laid it on good and thick, as you might expect. At least I don't have 6.8M shares to fret over, but enough within my budgets that their loss would make me wince. I hope the present trend continues, and that I can get out with less of a loss, or even, who knows, there will be a view of a rosier future that temps me to stay. The future will tell.