Member Info for Padd1

Adam has always spoken about (optimistically) turning Ben in to a $1bn company.
If that was ever achieved sp would be $2.66 (£2.21).
I appreciate we are a very very very long way off that being delivered but if we are selling 70kt a month consistently and hitting original planned profit margins sp should be well north of 57p.
10p annual dividend would be returning 17% at 57p. sp wouldn't stick at 57p for long. Obviously market price of coal, update on volume in ground and good old sentiment would need to be in bc favour to really drive sp.
I don't believe much will happen to sp until we are constantly hitting and selling the above volumes.
Positive broker notes would be nice but no substitute for sold coal and cash in bank / returned to shareholders.

Every bulletin board has a TC. He keeps throwing punches trying to discredit the business but it us reassuring that he can’t land a punch.
I’m confident in the management of Ben and believe we are still heading in the right direction, it’s just taken a little longer than I expected.
I’m sure there will be further bumps along the road but agree we should be in better position come Easter.

Oh dear…after topping up last week at 24p I thought I was being flippant when I said the price would now fall!
I guess the next possible boost to the share price could be a positive house broker note - but not sure there’s much value in that.
I’m now 50% down. Very depressing. Starting to worry I’ve misread this business. But every time I look at the business fundamentals I still see a bright future but just need to hold my nerve but easier said than done.

I topped up with 28k more shares earlier today...price guaranteed to now head south!

Emirates clearly happy to invest in VOD at these prices - good to see someone has confidence. We are clearly in for a bumpy ride next few months but there are still plenty of positives around VOD. These include: expenditure on new tech should start declining in coming years - leaving more cash to pay off debt, negotiations with 3 might deliver significant cost savings to UK business and from memory don't VOD own 80% of Vantage Towers - could be used to pay off huge slug of debt. I don't think it's all doom and gloom.

I think we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I accept there is no alternative to met coal in steel production. Which is good because I’m holding a significant volume in BC. I think currently the working life of BC was given as circa 20 years - when at full production. And unfortunately thermal coal will continue to be heavily relied on all the time people can make healthy profits. It’s back in vogue largely because Putin has weaponised gas. There are plenty of alternatives to thermal coal but obviously the switch over will take time and too many people put short term profit ahead of the environment and the long term damage and cost we are doing to the planet.
Back to BC, it’s a shame the sp is drifting down again. It looks like big institutional investors are either not buying the story from Adam or investment decisions are being influenced by your lunatics. Cash in the bank, positive broker notes, more trains, second HWM running at full production is all that is needed.
I’m also of the opinion that the sp would be a lot higher off we weren’t Uk listed. Working in Hong Kong I have come across a lot of people who are nite very reluctant to invest in Uk equities. Govt lost a lot of trust. Brexit obviously not helped (obviously we’ll agree to disagree on that as well - so please don’t attack me).
I think we’ve just got to sit and wait.

I'm happy with the "lunatics" dragging us to net zero. I would suggest the lunatics are the climate change deniers.
I don't invest in thermal coal and agree it doesn't - or shouldn't have a future - but will invest in met coal - currently no commercially practical alternative and not likely to be for a long time.
BC have enough met coal for this to be a +10 year project.

Bluesonic - what’s your rationale for that prediction?

Probably because most got in at the float price of 10p - I’m guessing.

I would say there has been lots of evidence of progress in the past year. The current sp is frustrating. Wash plant, rail spur, new permit are just some of the progress made. We know other things are also happening like prep for second HWM. But I accept we need to get further off-take agreements signed, contract with rail company confirming more trains, delivery of second HWM - but most importantly getting production volume up to 80 tpm - and sold on a regular basis with cash in the bank. One thing BEN can't control is cost of met coal but I still believe shareholders with patience will be rewarded.

I appreciate we are waiting on lots of news and recent fall in coal price obviously not great. But I feel the best bit of news we could get is confirmation of a contract with rail company guaranteeing minimum 4 trains a month. Getting that would be good for my health. Anyone know how much coal we now have stockpiled?

I don't have that problem.

I think that's a strong update. SP should continue its recent rally, but knowing ITV anything possible.
Very little to find fault with, maybe had expected ITVX to launch before 8th December, but pleased with update and progress.

I’m nervous. I have quite a big holding in Ben and I’m now well under water. When I look at the fundamentals of the business I’m still confident but that confidence isn’t being rewarded in the sp. I agree with previous comments - this sp isn’t going to move until the business is getting significant money in their account. It doesn’t matter what the Sunday roast boys spout- this sp will only start moving north when we are regularly selling, shipping and seeing the profit of in the bank!

I agree Covid restrictions are loosening in Hong Kong but definitely no change in mainland China. I live in HK and widely reported around 250m currently living under lockdown conditions in China.

I think if BEN delivers the communicated strategy we will get there quicker than 5 years. I still don’t think we will see much of a bounce in current sp until 80k+ is being sold, trains to transport and seeing cash in the bank.
Definitely going in the right direction.

plonkerjones - I'm sorry I've ruffled your feathers. I did actually work in the city for a period of time. Fortunately I escaped at a young age and have been lucky picking and choosing consultancy work combined with property development and trading shares for a number of years (combined with being a taxi driver for my kids). We will never agree over Russia / Iraq / EU etc.. Maybe I have missed out on a few extra quid but I will sleep easy.
I would like to get the topic back onto BT. These are definitely interesting for telecoms industry. Lots happening / potentially happening. Three / Vodafone. Strikes. Plenty of money being chucked at our fibre competitors. I still maintain BT short / medium term prospects will be driven by market sentiment to uk govt incompetence, how the strike is resolved (although I don't believe this is major) and the next moves of DT and our French investor. I think it's a wait and see period.

perryjones - your answer “ignore Ukraine, work with Russia and Iran” - great argument! You are clearly happy to put commercial gain ahead of doing the right thing. You are morally corrupt.

I agree the Sunday roast is amateurish. But I do think RNS's should only be published on concrete news - not on what's going to happen. I'm still confident in Ben's business model and progress - but patience is being tested.

Perryjones - I appreciate Brexiteers don't want to talk about Brexit - funny that! I agree with Ippolit. Fundamentally all shares, including BT, have been impacted by UKs economic performance since 2016. Stagnant equity prices, collapsed £, international mistrust in UK politicians - all leading to reluctance to invest in the uk economy. Brexit was sold on a lie - great trade deals, reduction in immigration - none of it happened. Was never going to happen. I know many Brexiteers argue we've taken back sovereignty - but they're deluded - little UK has to abide by US / Europe / China trade policies to succeed - our influence is negligible and diminishing daily. BT share price will recover when industrial relations are resolved, continued aggressive fibre roll-out etc.The biggest driver of share growth would be restoring international confidence in UK plc and establishing a stable economic environment - I don't think we can rely on a takeover for a change in fortunes. Even Reece-Mogg said it would be 50+ years for us to see any Brexit benefit - great!