George Frangeskides, Exec-Chair at Alba Mineral Resources, discusses grades at the Clogau Gold Mine. Watch the full video here.
What was the motivation behind SMS creating S4?......REWENGE!..( Prnice Ludwig Blackadder style)
https://www.energypeople.com/news/story/with-totalenergies-deal-all-done--firm-expands-presence-in--one-of-the-largest-gas-hubs-in
With TotalEnergies deal all done, firm expands presence in ‘one of the largest gas hubs in the UK’
Posted 14/07/2022 14:30
London-listed Kistos has entered the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) thanks to the acquisition of TotalEnergies’ stakes in several gas fields located West of Shetland.
Back in January 2021, Kistos revealed its intention to buy interests in multiple gas fields from TotalEnergies for an initial cash consideration of $125 million.
In an update this week, Kistos announced the completion of the acquisition of a 20 per cent interest in the Greater Laggan Area (GLA) producing gas fields and associated infrastructure alongside various interests in certain other exploration licences, including a 25 per cent interest in the Benriach prospect, from TotalEnergies.
https://www.investegate.co.uk/crux-asset-mgmt-ltd/rns/form-8.3---kistos-plc/202207121036381741S
Form 8.3 - Maitland Institutional Services Limited Re: Kistos Plc (Opening Position Disclosure) #KIST
orm 8.3 - Maitland Institutional Services Limited Re: Kistos Plc (Opening Position Disclosure)
12th July 2022, 14:43
3,125,000 3.77% Opening position disclosure as at 12 July 2022
.......cont....
The Chesterfield-based company had sales of £52 million last year.
Advertisement
Roberts is a prime exponent of the “growth today, profits tomorrow” mantra touted by e-commerce evangelists. The problem is that growth is slowing and profits are getting harder to come by.
The predominance of branded suppliers makes selling electrical goods profitably a tough task — and for AO it is even tougher. Delivering and installing bulky appliances such as washing machines and ovens requires AO to assign two members of staff for most deliveries. Its exposure to the cost of fuel is also making life painful. Meanwhile, as high street chains routinely secure 50 per cent cuts in rent on their shops, AO and its peers are being hit by huge increases in digital marketing costs, partly driven by Apple’s decision to allow iOS users to stop apps tracking their web browsing.
Even critics of Roberts would acknowledge, though, that he has transformed his industry’s approach to customer service. AO’s mantra of treating customers “as if they were your gran” has helped the retailer earn a rating of 4.6 out of 5 on the review site Trustpilot, based on more than 350,000 reviews.
Roberts once boldly predicted that European expansion could see AO raking in £15 billion of sales within a few years and put its profits on a par with Tesco’s. Costly misadventures in Germany and the Netherlands have put paid to those ambitions. Despite more than quadrupling sales since its float to £1.66 billion, AO has delivered investors cumulative pre-tax losses of £36 million.
So, what is there for investors to be excited about? Alongside its capital raise, AO announced plans to strip out £25 million of annual costs. About 600 staff, 15 per cent of its workforce, have been axed in the past year. It has reduced its warehouse space by 1 million sq feet.
Roberts expects AO’s focus on white goods, rather than more discretionary products such as gaming consoles and audio equipment, will help insulate it from the squeeze on spending. In the medium term, AO is targeting sales growth of at least 10 per cent and underlying profit margins of at least 5 per cent in its domestic market.
“The people who know the business best have all invested,” Roberts said, eager to put a positive spin on our coverage in the Sunday Times last week: “I was having a laugh with an investor, that you have created an incredible opportunity for them!”
Time will tell if he is right. For now, AO’s ebullient chief remains undimmed.
cont....
Credit insurance is critical in retail supply chains, protecting suppliers from the risk of a retailer failing to pay for goods. Without such cover, suppliers often demand payment on delivery, which can drain a retailer’s cash reserves.
Advertisement
Two insurers dominate the electricals market — Allianz Trade, formerly known as Euler Hermes, and Atradius, owned by Spain’s Grupo Catalana Occidente. Their attitude towards supply cover can determine whether or not a company makes it through tough times. Credit insurers sounded the death knell for Comet when they pulled cover for its suppliers in 2012, leaving the chain unable to buy stock for Christmas trading.
The insurers’ power is enormous. The boss of one under-pressure electrical goods retailer recalled the nerve-racking experience of having his business’s fate in their hands. “I was sat outside a room in Atradius’s head office in Cardiff where three of them were inside deciding whether to pull cover. Thankfully, there were two votes to one in favour of keeping it. If it had gone against me, it would have been game over,” he said.
As AO’s shares came under pressure on Monday, the company rushed out a statement that the reduction in credit insurance, which took place in May, had no impact on its cashflow and that it was trading as expected. The attempted assurances failed to ease market jitters and by the time AO unveiled its capital raise on Wednesday its shares had fallen by 31 per cent in just two days. Under stock exchange rules, the investors that AO had lined up for the placing were prevented from buying shares on Monday and Tuesday — potentially removing sources of support.
Roberts was irritated by market commentary that the capital raise betrayed a state of emergency. “The placement had been organised for some time and now it’s being presented as a rescue package— it had nothing to do with the reduction of credit insurance [being publicised]. We couldn’t have done it that quick,” Roberts said. Atradius, he added, was reducing cover from elevated levels only to reflect a fall in sales from their pandemic peak.
Sources close to the company said the capital raise was linked to the eleventh-hour collapse of the sale of its German business, which is now being wound down. Roberts, whose stake was diluted to 20 per cent last week, had hoped the business would fetch about £40 million to boost the cash position.
AO will not be the last business to be targeted by credit insurers as an economic downturn looms. Online retailers that had been having problems getting their hands on the goods needed to meet buoyant demand now have too much cash tied up in unsold stock, according to Zelf Hussain, a partner in PwC’s restructuring practice.
Forecasting demand is hard at a time when the cost of living crisis is plunging households into poverty. In a possible sign of things to come, XBite, an online retailer, filed notice last week of its intent to appoint administrators. The Chesterfield
After three days watching AO’s shares get trashed last week, John Roberts could have been forgiven for wallowing a little. But when the online retailer’s ever-chirpy chief executive and founder dialled into his monthly managers’ meeting on Thursday, he launched a rallying cry in what he calls his “candid Boltonese” style.
“I was like, ‘This is galvanising! Come on! Let’s go and prove them wrong and prove the investors who backed us right,’ ” Roberts, 48, said.
While he is eminently comfortable playing the scrappy underdog taking on the establishment, AO’s Energizer Bunny has had a difficult week.
Last week The Sunday Times revealed that Atradius, a credit insurer, had cut its cover for suppliers to AO. The news catalysed a market sell-off as investors feared that the Bolton-based retailer’s cash reserves would be drained should nervy suppliers start to demand to be paid upfront. Roberts insisted that such fears were ill-founded.
However, AO’s evangelical founder is steering a ship sailing into choppy waters. Big-ticket items are bearing the brunt of a slowdown in consumer spending, just as costs for businesses are spiralling. A jump in energy bills in October, and the increased cost of imports after a fall in sterling, will only add to the pain.
AO shored up its balance sheet on Wednesday by tapping investors for £40 million in return for discounted shares. The shares finished a bruising week 37 per cent lower at 43p, valuing AO at £206 million — a far cry from its £1.2 billion float. Can Roberts steer the one-time stock market darling away from danger?
He left grammar school halfway through his A-levels and got a job in the warehouse of a kitchen supplier, before working his way up into the sales department. In a pub on Christmas Eve in 1999, aged 26, he was moaning about his work to a friend who bet him £1 he would not start his own business. Appliances Online was born the next year.
Roberts won early backing from Bill Holroyd, a serial investor and associate of his father, who was bowled over by the young entrepreneur’s sales skills.
“When you meet him, he comes off as brash because he is so confident,” Holroyd said. “John can argue the back legs off a donkey, but if his argument is wrong he can be persuaded. He does listen.”
In 2014, Roberts swaggered on to the public markets with City fund managers lapping up AO shares. The man who boasted of his ability to function on “little sleep and lots of booze” was suddenly halfway to becoming a billionaire. As critics lined up when the float did not deliver on its lofty promises, Roberts said he “didn’t give a ****” whether fusty old fund managers bought AO’s shares.
Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager, recalled: “John thought we were ignoramuses and we thought he was a jumped-up idiot.”
Odey Asset Management owns about 18 per cent of AO, and bought almost 24 million shares as part of last week’s placing. “I actually have a lot of respect for John,” Odey said. “He is a great motivat
re... the rest is my opinion - to which I'm entitled I believe?...rxdav 8.38.
....have to smile broadly at such a predictably trite comment...;0...
....it seems that a certain element of the popualce feel that 'entitlement' is their divine right nowadays.....as for being entitled to an opinion.....well everyone has one don't they?..;)....
Hunting PLC, down 18% at 224.00p, 12-month range 142.80-356.50p. The energy services firm says it expects to return to bottom-line profitability in the full year, but notes that supply chain volatility has heavily impacted operations in the Asia Pacific. Interim earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization are expected in the range of USD16 million to USD18 million. The previous year, the company reported an Ebitda loss of USD3.6 million. Hunting says that its second half performance continued to indicate a strengthening in revenue-run rate. Third and fourth quarter Ebitda run-rate is expected to increase by 20% against the second quarter, it explains. Jefferies analyst Mark Wilson says this implies USD40 million Ebitda for 2022, lower compared to consensus of USD61 million.
On Radio5live right now they're reporting from the Christie in Manchester. Just been told but the words targeted treatments just said...https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_five_live.....from c 11.15»
https://twitter.com/gregconnell1962/status/1540371298353807361?s=21
IEA chief warns Europe to prepare for total shutdown of Russian gas exports
Leverage our market expertise..https://www.ft.com/content/f7990162-395f-488e-9d23-13f3cce83e24.....urope must prepare immediately for the complete severance of Russian gas exports
Europe must prepare immediately for the complete severance of Russian gas exports
Ft (https://www.ft.com/content/f7990162-395f-488e-9d23-13f3cce83e24.....urope)
.....appalling in all categories....the final curtain looms.
Kistos_-_Berenberg_10.06.2022(1).pdf
10 June 2022 Reuters KIST.L ? Kistos’s asset portfolio provides significant organic upside since its
acquisition from Tulip Oil in May 2021, and in the Greater Laggan
Area, announced in January 2022.
? High European and UK gas prices are supportive of the company
increasing production from its operating assets and bringing online
additional assets.
? Low-carbon intensity production makes the company an attractive
participant in the energy transition.
? Management’s track record of delivering shareholder returns
reflects the strength of the team and supports the investment case.
? Valuation methodology: Our primary valuation methodology is a
risked NAV using full life-of-field economics and a 10% discount rate.
Bloomberg KIST LN
Current price Price target
GBp 410 GBp 730
Kistos
Kistos has provided the following operational and trading update ahead of the Company’s Annual General Meeting which is being held today at 11.00 a.m. as a virtual meeting. The information contained herein has not been audited and may be subject to further review and amendment.
Highlights
· Pro forma net production for the five months to end of May 2022 was 12.0 kboe/d, unhedged as of 1 April 2022
· Cash balances on 31 May 2022 were €128.6 million
· Acquired €27.7 million (nominal) of Kistos NL2 bonds in February 2022
· Net cash on 31 May 2022 of €6.3 million
· Acquisition of 20% interest in the Greater Laggan Area (GLA) West of Shetland from TotalEnergies progressing towards completion. The transaction has an effective economic date of 1 January 2022
· Development studies are ongoing for the Q11-B gas discovery and the Orion oil discovery
· The Q10-Gamma exploration prospect and infill drilling opportunities at the producing Q10-A gas field are also being evaluated
· In line with its strategy, the Group continues to evaluate several potential growth opportunities that meet its investment criteria
Andrew Austin, Kistos’ Chairman, commented:
“Kistos has started the year strongly, delivering a solid operational performance and benefiting from high gas prices.
“With almost €130 million of cash at our disposal, we have the financial strength, capital discipline and track record to grow the business and deliver shareholder value.
We remain guided by our founding principle to play a role in the energy transition and are evaluating several attractive opportunities in the North Sea. We continue to benefit from high gas prices in the Netherlands, and we are assessing opportunities in the UK that would enable us to take full advantage of the investment allowances implicit in the recently introduced UK Energy Profits Levy.”
This is another very positive announcement from Kistos, production was in line with guidance and that has led to net cash of €6.3m at the end of May. Strongly cash flow positive on unhedged, strong gas prices have meant that €27.7m of bonds have been paid off.
The Looney tax was clearly unwanted but with more than 50% of production in premium Dutch gas and of course expenditure at Glendronach and Benriach will benefit from the 80% allowance. As usual I expect Kistos to have an eye for a deal to mitigate that levy and give another boost to the value of the the company and the shares are extraordinarily cheap on that basis.
"It comes hard on the heels of another cutting edge life sciences business, Avacta, relocating its therapeutics division from Cambridge to the Scale Space lab hub in White City. When W12 is pulling business from arguably the world’s pre-eminent life sciences cluster outside America it must be on to something."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJCSYNhewI 7 Jun 2022
ANGLE PLC – a small British company changing the world in cancer
Andrew Newland founded ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL) in 1994. Twenty-eight years on and his company has won FDA clearance for ANGLE's liquid biopsy Parsortix initiative which in the U.S. alone has a $100 billion per annum addressable market.
"We're solving an enormously challenging and important medical question," says Newland who says the ultimate growth of Parsortix is unbounded.
.....18 participants had treatments every three weeks for six months....at a cost about $11,000 per dose.
https://twitter.com/Tomlinson_lab/status/1533745768279973889