Member Info for TerryM1

Ilika to receive £2.8mln for taking up Faraday Battery Challenge

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ilika-receive-2-8mln-taking-114502046.html

Unfortunately for SQZ SHs Kistos has already stated they are only looking at opportunities outside of holland and the UK which is not what I would like to hear as an SQZ SH but as a Kistos SH I agree 100% with this decision one of the many companies using their brain and basic arithmetic.

Unfortunately a takeover is now no more than fantasy for the reason already given, as I stated before Mercuria have SQZ by the B**ls.

IMO KIstos will do well under AA and Mercuria will do very well with SQZ but the SH of SQZ will not be doing so well as reflected in current SP , I hope I am wrong and there is great hidden value in the deal that some have stated but none have seen.

Will sell on a high or when I want to use the capital losses, there should be plenty of opportunity to uses these losses with the reduction in CBT allowances coming in the near future.

"Investments in oil and gas are needed for another 30 years, warns BP Business"

But BP, Shell, Harbour etc and even Kist will not be making these Investments in the UK. Well done Conservatives and Labour for making us reliant on foreign imported energy and poorer.

However if we import it rather than produce it ourselves we can consider ourselves to be better people and more green, even if we freeze to death.

GeneralLevy

"Doesn’t stop offers being made which boost the share price"

Before the Mercuria reverse takeover there was a very good chance SQZ will be the subject of a takeover offer, that is why the BOD come up with this to prevent an offer but now there is no chance. The main reason for an offer is the SQZ cash pile but that is now off to Mercuria and SQZ get a pile of debt in exchange with tax losses that will soon become useless as promised by labour. Also no company it is right mind is investing in UK O&G with a unfriendly conservative government and soon to be a Labour government who have declared war on O&G companies.

Even if there was some value in SQZ no will buy into it with Mercuria controlling interest unless in league with Mercuria, make no mistake Mercuria now control SQZ not the BOD or anyone else now or in the future.

Mr Market knows this and it is why the share price is close the total cash before Mercuria runs off with it which no one can stop now. Get ready for more Mercuria deals for SQZ to buy companies which have the cash hollowed out of them replaced by lots of debt.

Zebbo

"Surely if the SP stays at this level someone else will take a punt. Such a low mcap considering cash in the bank + virtually zero EV."

Sadly that option will soon be gone, the reasons are

1. Once Mercuria's takes up it shares in SQZ they will block any takeovers apart from themselves which will only be at a very low price, I can see Mercuria working to bring down the SP so in 18 months it can takeover SQZ at bargain basement prices.

2. The cash which was the greatest prize will soon be heading over to Mercuria.

3. Lack of time before the deal goes through'

4. No company in their right mind is going to buy assets in UK O&G, Kistos would have returned if they thought it was worth it but they are now only interested in new O&G outside of the UK and Holland.

It is all over now, Mercuria have got SQZ by the B**ls and they will now tighten their grip until SQZ gives them everything, or perhaps I am wrong and Mercuria are a late visit from Father Christmas.

Coal power stations fired up and customers paid to cut energy use in UK cold snap

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/22/coal-fired-power-stations-restarted-again-as-uk-cold-snap-bites

Steven49

"North Sea oil and gas profits are being taxed at 75pc until 2028. This is up from the regular rate of 40pc, and is being used to help fund massive government subsidies for households and businesses by clawing back what companies make from higher wholesale prices."

O&G prices are back to where they were before the Ukraine war so this is no excuse for the punitive taxes, these taxes are there because

1. The Government mishandled the economy and is desperate for a short term tax boost to see it through to the next election when it will lose.

2. Labour used this a political football to put pressure on the Government who now always do what Labour want.

3. The Government wanted a monster to blame for the problems it created so it created on in O&G then wants to slay the monster to help it's political prospects.

4. Also need money for the cost of all those collapsed energy companies cause by the price caps, another one of Labours great ideas which the Conservatives could not resist.

This tax will never be ended unless we have a complete change in policies once almost all O&G extraction has stopped in the UK but this will never happen under the current Conservative or Labour party. The public and industry will pay dear for energy and the economy will take a hit at a time it when it can least afford it. Both main parties do not give a damn about the people of this country especially the native population (or at least for the last 1000 years or more). We are running the WEF policies, "have nothing and be happy" so our great leaders can take their place on the global stage especially once out of office with all those lovely positions with great expense packages so they can fly over us and look down at us to show how important they are as we are stuck in 15 minute zones, cold, with only a once in a few years air flight allowed and then only if we are good which will be tracked with the Government's digital currency. Sounds mad but this is already happening.

I am beginning to think that a behind the scenes the deal done between BOD and Mercuria was that Mercuria would support the BOB but must take a 28% stack in order the BOD could not be removed by other shareholders and prevent a takeover except by Mercuria and in this case the BOD get a sweetheart deal. It is the only thing that makes sense.

banker2

"Company is going bankrupt lol"

"Opportunity for new investors"

Which is it?

If yes it is a great opportunity to buy into a company who's controlling shareholder has already shafted the shareholders, drained another company (tailwind) of cash and left it with a debt pile which you now own and will be in a position to block any takeover bid apart from it's own. This will come in time once share price has gone down more, out of restricted period and at an amount which makes todays price look fantastic. If you are keen go on fill your boots, perhaps you will make a fortune and we are all wrong.

Should have added the link

https://labourlist.org/2022/11/closing-loopholes-in-windfall-tax-would-raise-17bn-labour-research-reveals/

Labour is trying to get these changes in now but since they have so heavily committed to doing this it is certain if they don't get the conservatives to do this now they will when elected. The conservatives now always do what labour want like the WFT, energy price cap, increase in out of work benefits with inflation etc just takes a little longer than if they were in power.

Infor

"his deal is over reliant on the questionable tax relief"

Not sure this questionable anymore it will be worthless, from Labour List

"Closing “loopholes” in windfall tax would raise £17bn, Labour research reveals"

Also from Sky News

"Labour pledge to 'extend' windfall tax to protect families from soaring energy bills"

NormaSits

"Indeed. However, I don’t recall a bunch of support for the offer when it was on the table so little point in looking back at it with wistful eyes. There is a chance (great or small, absolutely none of us know) that 3 years from now we end up in a good place."

First this was never put to the shareholders as the BOD did not want to risk losing there lovely remuneration packages, they went off and a came up with a deal to scupper any takeovers except by Mercuria who will get SQZ at a knock down price and no doubt some sort of good deal for the BOD. Also because nobody in their right mind could have imagined the SQZ BOD would do anything so against the PI and also there was trust in the BOD to return some excess cash to shareholders which they have reneged on.

The share price is almost at the cash element of the offer and there are very few people now who would not prefer to take this cash and have a share in Kistos run but a much better team than SQZ who sat on the cash for years and now want to throw it away with the control of the company.

Our only hope to recover losses is if there is a no vote and this BOD are removed, they are either self-serving or incompetent. The low share price is a direct result of their actions and the shares will never recover while they are in place.

clinch

"Saw earlier that Miller Homes are fitting a heat pump to every new home from 2025 instead of gas boilers. More will follow. Every company will at some near term stage switch from oil and gas to other methods so long term O&G shares will be sunk"

What do you think will be supplying the electricity for the heat pumps, additional heating for houses with heat pumps, electric cars, industry etc on a days like today with very little solar and wind on one of the coldest days of the year just a few %. You can see how desperate the generators are today by the amount they are paying for people to use less energy. Also this is just a fad in the west, the rest of the world will continue wil oil, gas and coal for the foreseeable future to ensure cheap energy so they can take up all the production lost in the west due to high energy prices.

NormaStits

"Who will run the business the day after the BoD walks?"

The office cat would do a better job.

However the BOD will not walk, they will have to be prised out otherwise they will hang on see how much they can get and the share price will be in the gutter. While they are in place they can only be l trusted to come up wil terrible deals or do nothing for as long as possible while lying, i.e. returning cash, details on this deal etc.

The only reason the Kistos deal was rejected was so the BOD can keep their positions and those lovely remuneration packages. This deal is solely for the BOD to try to keep their positions for as long as possible while doing very little work, if they do nothing they would be taken over, if they returned money to shareholders it would leave them with a smaller company so difficult to justify their remuneration and it has proved far too hard for the BOD to find a deal which is good for shareholders and themselves, prorbably beyond their abilities. They must go if this deal fails otherwise there will be a queue of PE etc wanting to sell them swamp land in Mississippi and tulip bulbs.

Infor

"*ucking idiot:
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/davos-2023-starmer-says-no-140558591.html"

Totally agree but the conservatives have done the same thing but in a different way.

Maverick7

"until labour get in and nationalise the whole operation, we are 75% nationalised already"

Only the profits are nationalised, we take the loses.

Also need to add in other taxes like employers NI, VAT, business rates etc.

SQZ please BOD and the Treasury wake up to what is happening so many NS O&G produces downsizing in UK, either they are all wrong or you are wrong.
From Telegraph
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-eases-10-5pc-december-070127932.html
First Part

Oil giant Harbour Energy blames windfall tax as it cuts hundreds of jobs

Britain’s largest North Sea producer has blamed the new windfall tax as it prepares to cut hundreds of jobs and shift attention to outside of the UK.
Harbour Energy says it is reviewing its UK organisation “to align with lower future activity levels” after the tax rate on North Sea drillers was increased from 40pc to 75pc following months of soaring gas and oil prices.
The FTSE 250 company told staff of the planned job cuts on Wednesday. It has not revealed how many jobs will be lost. Industry sources believe it is in the hundreds. It employs around 1,500 in the UK.
The move is likely to ring alarm bells in Whitehall, which has been trying to boost North Sea oil and gas production even as it raids producers’ profits to try and help households facing record energy bills.
Harbour’s profits climbed from $120m [£97m] in the first half of 2021 to $1.5bn in the first half of 2022, thanks to higher energy prices and higher production.
Drillers across the industry have been reporting record profits after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered market disruption and worsened shortages, pushing up prices.
Harbour made revenue of $4.1bn during the nine months to September 2022. It has said it expects to pay an extra $400m in 2022 UK taxes because of the higher rate, taking its total UK tax bill for the year to $900m.
It is the first company to blame job cuts on the windfall tax, although others have warned it could curb investment.
TotalEnergies, the French oil and gas giant, has said it will cut North Sea investment by £100m or 25pc this year owing to the tax.
The tax rate was raised to 75pc in two stages, in May and November, and includes investment allowances. But Harbour Energy had invested heavily in a new Tolmount gas field in the southern North Sea which started producing just as the windfall tax came into effect.
Linda Cook, chief executive of Harbour Energy, has been a staunch opponent of the extra tax. She warned the Government to “carefully consider” the consequences as it prepared the November increase.
Mike Tholen, sustainability director at Offshore Energies UK, the trade group, said the government needed to “rebuild confidence” among industry.
He said: “These tax increases, and the threat of more to come, have made the UK a much riskier place to invest and so makes it far more likely that investors will look overseas instead.”
Harbour Energy became the UK’s largest producer after buying up oil and gas wells from Shell and Conoco-Phillips in 2017 and 2019.

Second Part

It joined the London stock exchange after taking over Premier Oil in 2021. It is currently focused on the UK, which accounted for 97pc of its production during the first nine months of 2022. It also has assets in Mexico and Indonesia.
It comes as oil prices are expected to rise in the second half of this year amid rising demand as China’s economy reopens.
The International Energy Agency said the prospect of this recovery is one of two “wild cards” that will dominate the market in 2023, the other being the impact of sanctions on Russian supplies.
A spokesman for Harbour Energy said: “Following changes to the EPL [energy profits levy], we have had to reassess our future activity levels in the UK.
“We will continue to support investment on the many attractive opportunities within our existing portfolio, but we are scaling back investment in other areas such as new exploration licensing.
“As such, we have initiated a review of our UK organisation to align with lower future activity levels.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “The Energy Profits Levy strikes a balance between funding cost of living support while encouraging investment in order to bolster the UK’s energy security.
“We have been clear that we want to encourage reinvestment of the sector’s profits to support the economy, jobs, and our energy security, which is why the more investment a firm makes into the UK, the less tax they will pay.”

The problem we have in the UK are the 2 main political parties are addicted to spending, the conservative are now new labour on steroids. This has been financed by treasury gilts bought by the Bank of England with printed money, over half the UK debt is owned by the BOE, add in off book liabilities like PFIs, public sector pension schemes etc and we are talking about 3 times the official UK debt. The UK government has now come to the end of the road for borrowing, you sell gilts in the markets you will have to offer a higher rate so pay more interest which is unaffordable or pass it to BOE who prints the money and stokes inflation.

So what next, a sane person would cut spending, you cannot tax your way out of a crisis as history has proved every time. However our PM who is just using his position as a stepping stone the better things (GS directorship, WEF post etc) will not cut anything, just puts up taxes to cover the shortfall until the election when he will move on. So first comes direct taxes, freeze in allowances, WFT, Corp tax, dividend tax plus capital gains tax etc. After a short time the tax take will go down (as it always does) as companies and people leave the UK or downsize, retire early, work less, invest less especially in small businesses. Now we need new taxes, can’t and won’t cut spending, so next is wealth taxes, perhaps starts with ISAs, then large houses and general wealth. More people give up working hard leave UK etc. Either ends in financial collapse or a realisation that there has to be huge spending cuts which leads to civil unrest.

Upomega

I do not want to take this too far off topic but after the last budget I like a number of the NS O&G companies have given up on the UK. I have been hit so many times with extra taxes it is now too much to take and have agreed with my partner that will be leaving the UK for a sunny tax haven in a year or two (once everything is sorted). Investigating with developers to see any potential for my small farm, if not just sell anyway. Will hold off shutting my companies down and taking my private and state pension (both deferred) until outside of the greedy UK government taxes. I know a number of people considering this and the local estate agent say they are getting a lot of enquiries from people with large properties. I could stay and suffer or spend the rest of my life living to a much higher standard in the sun, enough is enough.