Member Info for Shurething

The sales, I suspect, are simply to allow Enn to buy themselves bargaining power. It avoids them being forced into a corner by the potential bidder stalling on time in the hope they can starve the company out. The potential bidder hopes to grab during the most desperate times, but the winter months pass by and the days lengthen, so business picks up. It'sa chess game and the small sales are simply pawns, to avoid the pawnbrokers!

Thanks to you both.

This might be why they have dropped the price to 0.35/ 0.5.

I have now had time to read your mails from yesterday. This is how LSE works well - observant people sharing constructively. Thank you for that.

Thanks. I jumped in quickly as they moved so fast.

I noticed. Why?

Nottingham Gateway Project. Distance from Breedon - c. 10 miles (nearest limestone quarry by far!) There is an acute shortage of housing in the Nottingham area. The Government would like to see approximately 28,000 new homes built in Nottingham and a further 16,500 built in the neighbouring Borough of Rushcliffe, by 2026. More than 13,000 of these new Rushcliffe homes are planned to be developed close to West Bridgford and Clifton. To find out more about the proposals for Nottingham Gateway, visit the project website at www.nottinghamgateway.com. A public exhibition is to be held relating to the proposed Nottingham Gateway development. This event will be held at Clifton Leisure Centre, Southchurch Drive, Clifton on Saturday 17 January 2009 (10.30am- 6.00pm).

Why did MM's drop and drop the price to 0.27/0.35 p? Because THEY are not experts! Are they party to all information? No! Are they experts at valuing assets? More than we are perhaps but not as much as you might think! If they were able to ascertain true value that easily and quickly there would never be any risk to share dealing: the present price would reflect the present value of net assets. Nobody knows the value of a company as big as Ennstone until it is sold. This isn't a high street retailer where properties can be valued accurately. It's land assets could be under- or over-valued by 50% or more. A bidder, in the case of a takeover, has potential leverage in terms of hidden liabilities such as possible redundancy payments, enforced retirement and pension plans, paying off directors, etc. This is a calculated gamble, .. SIMPLE! Wouldn't the blackjack table be fun with us crowd standing there discussing our hands.

Ennstone have c. 40 quarries. They have got rid of one, plus a redundant site, in the UK. That leaves 39? remaining. I know it's a bit out of date, and asset values have fallen a bit, but there was a quarry valuation last year - see below. I am not suggesting they would go for 15 p, but surely more than 1 to 2p! http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2008/08/11/60755/ennstone-lifts-value-of-uk-quarries-to-123m.html Ennstone lifts value of UK quarries to £123m 00:00 11 Aug 2008 By John Leitch Ennstone has issued some good news this morning: an independent valuer says that its UK assets are worth £123m, some £73m higher than their existing book value. That lifts the net asset value of Ennstone’s shares by 16p, putting their theoretical worth at 53p, says one city analyst. But Ennstone’s trading update, issued this morning, has something of a sting in its tail as the group has told the Stock Exchange that is has “identified some concerns regarding its banking covenants”. As a result is has taken steps to eliminate those concerns. That process will call for the injection of £11m of new funds, which in turn will probably mean asset disposals.

This talk about administration is interesting. We are so used to companies going into administration because they only have one bean, and that is used to pay the administrators. There has been much talk of Marwyn, but if they went into administration it is probable that Lafarge would be in there. Lafarge have a heavy roadstone presence in the Midlands, owning granite quarries in the Charnwood area, but the Charnwood PP's are quite constrained and the best (and only major) alternative British sources are in Scotland. Some owned by Ennstone. When Enn bought these they had a long-term plan. I think it is easy for some of the punters on this site, in hindsight, to describe Enn as being badly-run! They were just thinking ahead - no harm in that NORMALLY. We do live in unique times!

Up. The graph can be displayed as a straight line, with short-term deflections. Put a pen across the screen and it is a pretty consistent rise. Reason? Ask the MM's!

Ignore the zig-zag. It's 'straight-lining'.

that Paddy doesn't spot them. He will pretend he bought some just after Christmas!

And there we are again. I have had the same thing happen to me on various shares. It seems as though the MM's like to justify their 'downgrades' with a bit of manicuring.

Market Makers upping the price dramatically over the last few days knowing full-well that more (albeit repeated) bad news is round the corner. It happens time and time again. Look at how few sales there were this afternoon and how the price has dropped. Typical, and the continued downgrade over the afternoon suggests that someone in Ennstone must have 'leaked' the story beforehand.

All that Enn are doing is following a 'normal' sort of path for none-ramped shares. They increase by amount X in a number of days, then fall by half of that increase. Look at TPJ, Spitfire (perhaps), Albidon. The MM's are in control, not us. But the MM's cannot predict either!

This debate will run and run, until ..... ? Enn have only sold a minute part of their company. They are clearly doing everything in their power to avoid liquidation. They have the capacity to do this, it depends on finding buyers of bits(which is difficult). It is touch and go, but the potential upside is enormous and the downside (if punters don't mind losing a small amount each) is small. After all, you might only lose it on something else! None of us are that wise at the mo., so many shares have been moving on hope, not fact, and I don't know of a single 'safe' bet on the entire market! So stay in or pull out, but stop whingeing please as it doesn't help the serious speculator.

I tend to focus on the geological/ exploration/ strategic perspectives as that is my profession. Because of that I can spot the holes, but that doesn't mean there is a problem, as many companies don't publish tall their technical data. It's a competitive world, and these small factors hold the key. I agree that in many other respects the company is well-placed. The location of their main deposit. The fact that it is Ni which is in demand in the far east, and laterite deposits are cheap to mine. I am just holding a neutral, as I wish for more info.

Researching facts: I have already done this, and there is a shortage of information. Laterites are fickle things, and so too is nickel. What percentage of the Ni, for example, is in silicate phases, and therefore very expensive (or impossible) to retrieve? I am just cautious and would be interested if you know more, if you know something!

Think they are having a breather, the gap between their recent news and their next (trading) is a bit too big to take a cumulative positive effect. I sold all but 5000, but am keeping watchful.