Adrian Hargrave, CEO of SEEEN, explains how the new funds will accelerate customer growth Watch the video here.
The fact that we had a intra day RNS suggest to me the decision to issue the placing had only just been taken. Therefore I don't think it was forward selling with the shares already allocated, I think it was shorting. The fact that CC suddenly, with so much good news around. sold, but only part of their holding, which was immediately followed by another seller to make it look as those they were one and the same makes me think it was a concerted action by the two of them.
Tbh, if my theory is correct I don't think he had options. The share was shorted, there is nothing he can do to stop that, he needed cash and a gun was effectively placed against his head with the risk of going below nominal and missing the window of opportunity or taking the cash and not risking screwing up whatever is the aim is in Asia. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and with the benefit of that he would probably have been better prepared for the interview or may not even have held it at all. As I said earlier, I know I wouldn't have foreseen such an outcome.
How would you have stopped the shorting then if you were in his shoes?
Absolutely win4call. Couldn't agree more. Need to ditch them once we get Tema over the line and can show some decent revenue and profit growth.
No way will we find out the detailed terms of the deal Martyn. That would be madness. We know we have ports in our sights in KSA, plus SE Asia. It would be stupid to let both our prospective customers and our competitors know what we have negotiated in Ghana.
A. You are making an assumption that that is the reason for the hold up, which may or may not be the case.
B. It doesn’t necessarily impact whether the contract is in the bag or not, it might just impact terms.
C. We also know that the secondary screening is additional work not included in the original scope. That may equally be the reason for the delay.
Thanks Feeks. I should have added, that scenario is also why I think we were screwed over on the terms with the warrants. But I agree it is absolute steal at theses prices. I just wish I had more funds available to buy more tbh. I did drop a note to PF on Friday. His comment to me was that if we close the Tema deal this week it will have been a bad decision to take the cash, if it takes 2 to 3 weeks it will have been the correct decision. I took it from that, first, Tema could still drop any day now, but timing isn’t under his control and he doesn’t own a crystal ball, second, there is a genuine need to get cracking on the Asia tech deal. He stressed the decision was made for the good of the business, and as he has more skin in the game than any of us, I believe him.
The placing was unfortunate, but in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it is too much to worry about. For those with spare cash, a golden opportunity that rarely presents itself to private investors.
Investinvalue - just catching up on posts and saw your Friday 9.07 post re the placing.
FWIW the more I think about it, the more I think we were stitched up by CC and SVS working together.
DHC suggested there had been naked shorting, but I am not so sure now, I think they were covered shorts. When PF did the last interview he clearly indicated that we would be needing funds. Once the holding RNS for Tema came out, I think that SVS smelt blood and approached CC to borrow stock to enable them to short us. CC agreed but only after they had taken profit at the higher price on a large portion of their stock first. Hence the TR1. Once CC had sold a block of shares, I think they loaned the balance to SVS who then proceeded to continually drop 250k blocks of shares into the market. As it started to approach nominal they then approached WSG with an offer of cash.
With an approaching requirement for cash for the Asia tech contract, WSG then had to take the tough decision do they risk the shares dropping further and lose the window of opportunity to obtain the placing, knowing the the timing of Tema is not in their control, or play it safe and take the cash.
WSG took the decision to play it safe and take the cash. I think there must be a higher prize at stake in Asia, maybe in similar fashion to KSA following the ME tech contract, for us to go down this route.
If anything, it was PF’s sheer excitement in being able to give us some good news that led him to inadvertently indicate a placing was coming up. Maybe the brokers saw his boast that the placing would be at a higher price as a challenge? I don’t know. You could argue that PF’s answer to the cash question was clumsy or naive, but I think excitement got the better of him and he dropped his guard momentarily. If I had been in his shoes, would I have foreseen the consequences and answered differently as a result, no I wouldn’t have. Was the cash question foreseeable and therefore should have been answered better, probably, but like I say , I think the excitement of a number of good news items led him to drop his guard.
And they ignore the fact that transporting goods on larger container ships now the port is able to accommodate the largest carriers will reduce transport costs, offsetting any increased port handling costs.
Yep disappointing but c’est la vie. As I see it: -
Cash required for WC funding of Tech contract has been diverted to closing the Tema contract. Raise only covers 25% of tcv so the client has probably made an upfront payment but not 100%.
PF knew the raise was needed, he alluded to it in the Proactive interview. He just though it would be at a higher value.
He didn’t foresee CC pulling the rug from under him. He didn’t raise at the higher price as he didn’t foresee that level of retracement, but hoped that he might get the upside of a signed contract
CC pulls the rug and then maybe to meet contract timescale / deadline he has had to raise at a lower level. That is the only logic to raising now unless the closure of Tema is a definite delay, which I don’t think it is. Maybe even concerned that CC could have pulled the rug further beforehand forced his hand.
DHC - Your naked shorting theory was closest to the mark. When you look back it was fecking obvious with no TR1 from CC. Someone had to be selling and as it wasn’t any of the large holders on here we should have sussed forward selling given the history of fund raising here.
What they mean is that they are ****ed off that they will no longer be able to offer back handers to get goods through the port without proper inspection and payment of customs duties.
Suspect it is CC killing it, not PIs Tosh. Once they are out (which must surely be imminent) it’ll start to reverse back up the page.
The best post on here for a long time AIMing :-)
AIMing I think that would at best only put Martyn in third place of holders on this BB. Lots of sticky shares here at WSG.
Hi Mos - just stick @aol.com at the end of my username if you want to get in contact.
Gay, It would also signal that the client is very happy with us if they are chucking extra work at us already. That is a big positive imo
Gay, an increase in scope of works would also help to explain why the contract didn’t get agreed in the expected 30 days. Maybe commercial issues around those expanded services are what MH went out there to discuss?
Oh dear, the muppets are out today. Please satisfy my curiosity, why do you think that PF & Co would want to help Cannacord exit?
Thanks Smithers, that is the link needed. That strongly suggests that it probably was a Saudi base, and with the JV following it, not before, I see that as a very significant and positive sign for WSG.
Mike, I don’t think it is luck. I recall at last year’s AGM someone asked how many MOUs we had, PF instantly responded, “more than you’ll know!” Clearly now he wasn’t exaggerating. I think it is the review beginning to show fruition.
Someone posted on here quite a while back, can’t recall who, that they had a contact at G4S who had commented that WSG were making in roads into a lot of markets.
All suggests to me that these deals take a lot of time and we are now hopefully going to be well rewarded for our patience and the team’s hard work.