Member Info for The_Linns

I like your thought process there MrMarkyB.
At the very least, your post is a great reminder of the potential upside being worked and the Echo admission document is worth a regular read. Maybe CGC have limits on how much they can dilute their shareholder base by, and need an urgent EGM to get approval to issue a substantial number of new shares, only to then decide to offer a stonking CGC share offer to Echo shareholders so they get 100% of the Tapi Aike license area, but also absorb the technical expertise within Echo. Maybe I'm getting a tad excited and carried away with all those potentially massive TCF prospects just waiting to have holes pricked in them. And there's the historic blow out. Can't wait for CGC/Echo to re-enter that one.

This video is definitely a welcome piece and look forward to Mohammed starting the journey of "rebuilding shareholder trust" (we just need a new chairperson now).

But "rebuilding shareholder trust" is a process and not something that gets miraculously repaired in days, weeks or even months. So what does that statement tell us about the future of Sound and the direction the company are heading in?

The fact that Mohammed is now CEO having passed through the various regulatory clearances, certainly gives the impression that Sound will be here for a while (dare I say years?) to come (wonder if the envisaged JV structure has been canned?) Why go to the bother otherwise - he could have just remained 'acting' CEO until our demise (as some on this board think is what's going to happen)?

But with the Exploration Director exiting the company, what can we suppose is in store? A successful partial sale of the Eastern Morocco Portfolio, with $30m debt fully repaid in the next 12 months, the route to production paid for, and a royalty on the horizon for shareholders. The potential upside to share in potentially now 34tcf of gas?

And for Sidi, if we don't have an Exploration Director anymore, then can we suppose a majority farm down of this license area will very shortly be announced (maybe next week, but surely soon) meaning Sound relinquish operator status and we end up being a minority license holder in both license areas?

In terms of the welcome share price performance in the last 48hrs, maybe this is attributable to some new found confidence in the market that we now have a permanent CEO in place.

Thoughts welcome.

I can't see any recent tweets re 4p on Twitter - only a couple of old tweets. But in any event, 4p take-over - the current deal on the table is worth multiples of that - then there's our remaining interest in the Eastern acerage and Sidi. Yes, yes, we have the $30m debt, but that can get financed (if it doesn't get paid back with the "cash upfront").

Certainly applaud your efforts Trellis as I'm sure many on this chat board do. Hopefully the BOD start to recognise the sizeable shareholding that's being represented by SAG. At this rate, it won't be long before 10% threshold is reached.

As employer, it would be typical for Sound to have the tax withholding/reporting obligations and to put in place the procedures (i.e sell to cover) to remit the tax to HMRC. In the UK, this practice applies to both employees and ex employees. The crystallisation event for tax purposes is when the shares are awarded/vest.

I'm still of the opinion that the sale of BM's shares for tax/NI purposes, is nothing more than the company discharging its employment and payroll responsibilities in the manner and time frame required by HMRC. Even though the RNS is phrased slightly differently.

It's very typical for a 'sell to cover' order to be instructed by the company in these cases, with BM holding his residual net of tax shares, which he can only then sell when any associated award/vest conditions have been satisfied and he is no longer in possession of price sensitive information etc.

The company could have avoided some of the dilution by choosing instead to 'net settle' his share award, which would have reduced the number of 'new issue' shares that were created (by circa half assuming BM is top rate tax payer) and while a favourable approach for shareholders, this may have given rise to accounting implications if it were considered a deviation from past accounting practice adopted by Sound (as I understand it/from direct policy experience, you must adopt a standard and follow consistency of approach with these type of share sales for tax purposes), and in any event Sound would have heeded to write from treasury a cheque for the tax due on BM's award to HMRC (so would go against the company's strategy of wanting to preserve cash balances).

The key next step will be whether BM tries to sell shares before the outcome of the eastern portfolio sale (or any other price sensitive news for that matter) is announced. Surely if he did, the authorities would be interested.

The 'sell to cover' for BM's shares for yax/NI purposes may take a few days to complete, given the volume needing to be sold c3million and the current lack of liquidity in the market. So they'll be dribling these into the market over a few days I expect.

I would expect Brian to have access to 'inside information' therefore he would be prevented from disposing of his residual shares (after settlement for tax/NI), while he's in posession of such price sensitive information. This would apply even if he were to remain in posession of price sensitive information even after he leaves the company. i.e he'll still post exit be subject to Market Abuse/Share Dealing regs.

Noodles,
Based on the present understanding of the proposed sale by Sound Energy of 51% (24.2% out of a total of 47.5%) of its share in the Eastern Morocco Portfolio, Sound Energy would be left with a 23.3% share of the Eastern Morocco Portfolio. An interest that would be held synthetically through a new joint venture.
In the event the Purchaser exercises their option to acquire a further 9% of Sound Energy’s remaining interest, Sound Energy’s interest would be reduced to 14.3%.
In the event the joint venture were to subsequently ‘prove up’ more TCF in discoveries, then if commercially developed (and funded through to commercial production), then the increase in revenues through the joint venture ought to generate a corresponding uplift (or possibly downward adjustment) representing a 23.3% or 14.3% share, to the level of royalty potentially distributed in due course (to PIs as well as other shareholders on the register) – although this will clearly depend on a number of things; JV decision making on how to utilise profits after allowing for operating costs/expenses, taxes, GSA terms, gas prices/infrastructure costs etc etc etc (the list goes on).
There’s a lot of unknowns with this one currently, but hope that helps.

As the services of our exploration director are no longer needed (and the BOD generally has the hallmarks of winding things down), one could suppose that's because either 1. we'll see a farm out of Sidi announced at the same time the deal on eastern morocco is (hopefully) concluded and operatorship of Sidi will be the responsibility of AN other (who has their own Exploration Dir/team), or 2. The Sidi license is being relinquished. My personal view for what it's worth, is the former. Not long to wait now before everything gets suitably clarified.

Here's the article - https://www.bnamericas.com/es/noticias/panorama-de-hidrocarburos-en-argentina

Another article about Interoil which when translated states that "According to a corporate presentation addressed to the CNV regulator, Interoil will have a 30% stake in the Chorillos, Palermo Aike, Campo Bremen, Moy Aike and Ocean blocks, all of which are part of the Austral basin." So going forward, 30% to be held by Interoil as operator, 70% Echo.

Not sure if this has been posted at all, but interesting to see that Interoil on Friday announced that it has acquired an 8.34% interest in the Santa Cruz Sur Assets, that Echo hold a 70% interest in. Last sentence in Friday's RNS states that Interoil are to become operator "Selva Maria Oil will be appointed operator until Interoil has been granted the operator licence from the Argentinian government."
https://www.interoil.no/?year=2020&page_id=13&PressReleaseID=2229418
Looking forward to the newsflow :-)

I thought that maybe we'll not get an RNS announcing the spud, if it's already happened "during the week ending 29 December 2019", i.e why would an RNS be needed for news that's already been RNS'd. That's 'if' its already spudded on schedule. Just a thought. Either way, happy to see another RNS soon (and maybe an update on CLM x-1 testing at the same time). Really hoping 2020 is a great year for Echo.

Ok, well that didn't work either - but here's the title of the Reuters article - "Negative yields see record euro borrowing from emerging markets." if you wanted to google it. Dated 24th July 2019.

Sorry, link didn't attach so trying again - https://yea.to/6pjsJ

A few months old, but interesting article on the size and health of the euro denominated bond market and the shift away from USD denominated debt for emerging markets - https://uk.reuters.com/article/emerging-bonds-issuance/negative-yields-see-record-euro-borrowing-from-emerging-markets-idUKL8N24O47J
February 2019 - Coro raised a minimum issue of €22.5 MM Eurobonds to fund the acquisition of the 15% interest in the Duyung PSC.

Maybe we're seeing signs of that new investor interest. All the sells going through, but the share price still up 10%. A large order being filled?

Jacklevi, completely agree. The Company should have used their capital much better and not go on some wildcatting expedition too far away from the main discovery. As for Ogif, it may be that in order to restore confidence that production by 2021 is achievable, a clearout of the BOD is needed - new blood and fresh ambition. I wonder if behind the scnenes, Ogif are showing the same level of confidence with current management as they did earlier in the year.

Jones, you do what everyne else does (inc Governments) you borrow again to repay your existing debt reaching maturity. It may be that we need to incur a higher coupon rate next time round, but once the revenues start to flow in, you repay it and progressively get onto what the Company deems an acceptable rate of interest to pay, then when you no longer need debt financing, you pay the whole thing back. The Company may need to get more innovative in how to raise the funds, and it may need a combination of solutions, but Sound have raised significant amunts of capital before when they didn't know if they even had any gas discovery that was even commercially viable. The next time Sound needs to raise capital before May 2021, they'll be in a far stronger position to do so with a clear route to market for the gas established. They'll have an asset with bookable reserves on the balance sheet. And when it comes to SM, if that's too much of a stretch to finance, then maybe they'll need to cut that one loose to protect the Horst.