Member Info for thurgarton

Not sure that I would agree. They are eerily like VLS in that they have recently changed their CEO and "CE is actively seeking strategic partners to build full-scale commercial AIR TO FUELS™ facilities, and customers interested in supply agreements for our ultra-low carbon fuel." For this technology you need plenty of space and lots of fresh water, and Canada has both in abundance but the same cannot be said for much of Europe, Africa and Asia. However everywhere produces loads of rubbish! What it does show is that some very good minds think that the project is worth pursuing.

From their web site it would appear that they are at the same stage of development as VLS, or perhaps a little behind:

CE is in the midst of several stages to develop, demonstrate and deploy Direct Air Capture (DAC) and AIR TO FUELS™ technologies. From the company’s facility in Squamish, B.C., both technologies have been proven and are now being scaled up into commercial markets.

Their timescale suggests that they believe that they are 2 years away from achieving commercial viability. It is a huge market and very much a matter of who gets to a commercial product first IMHO. A bit like VHS and BEETAMAX in the early days of video recorders (showing my age).

It seems one of the new Non-execs has a day job!!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Lloyds Energy Ltd. It is a very exciting time for Lloyds Energy and I hope you find our plans as inspiring as we do. It is Lloyds Energy's mission to be a key provider in the supply of LNG to meet evolving customer needs and the world’s growing demand for energy. As a new venture our concept rationalises specific fundamentals; as the LNG industry has expanded and costs have increased we have designed a modular approach where small and simpler will be cheaper. Lloyds Energy aims to become the benchmark firm for the delivery of Near Shore Barge Mounted LNG production solutions, and aims to replicate this model in various locations across the world. We have a project team of experts in the field of Near Shore LNG production as well as onshore LNG production.These experts have joined us from some of the world’s major oil and gas companies and are delivering the necessary processes and procedures as the foundation for us to operate successfully in the LNG field. We are also partnering with some of the worlds leading LNG engineering and construction experts both for topsides and hull. I hope you will enjoy following the Lloyds Energy success story as we will enjoy making it into a reality. Thank you for taking the time to visit the Lloyds Energy website and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any feedback or questions.
Philip Holland Chief Executive Officer

From their web site it would seem that they are bit like VLS in that they can't/won't name their partners and a "a bit short" when it comes to finance.

I note that both the newly announced non-exec directors have had considerable experience working at Shell! I wonder if this is significant given the partnership with Shell and BA in the UK waste to aviation fuel project. Nice to see VLS make a positive announcement. Obviously they don't feel that the company is under undue pressure due to funding issues. What do they know that we ignorant PIs don't, I wonder.

The Aim 26 Factsheet has been updated and the 3% holdings do not include Norma despite the RIN of 20 Nov.

Shareholders owning more than 3% of the Company at 28 November 2018 were as follows:

Ervington Investments Limited (22.22%)
Lansdowne Partners (21.16%)
CQS Directional Opportunities Master Fund Ltd (14.62%)
Janus Henderson Group (9.56%)
Invesco Asset Management (5.75%)
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (4.33%)
Jarvis Investment Management (3.48%)

In fact they are the same as the 18 September listing below but with reduced %ages because of the 5 Dec RIN CLNs :

Ervington Investments Limited (21.12%)
Lansdowne Partners (19.45%)
CQS Directional Opportunities Master Fund Ltd (15.37%)
Janus Henderson Group (10.04%)
Invesco Asset Management (6.05%)
Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (4.56%)
Jarvis Investment Management (3.66%)

So all the speculation that RA had increased his holding would seem to be incorrect and indicate that Ervington Investments is operated via the off-shore Norma International Ltd which is based in the Virgin Islands. Or else the VLS web site is wrong.

I also note that both Schubert and Pummel remain as Executive Directors (so no big payoof then!!)

Were it not for the other partners, Shell and British Airways, I would tend to agree, but with those two heavyweights on board the only question is does the technology work, and ENVIA seems to prove that it does. In any case HMG has a track record that suggests that it is easily conned by BS (eg Carillion, Capita etc) so if the project is plausible i suspect that they would back it. After all they have already fronted up £2.5m for the feasibility study.

To get the full story acording to Velocys see RNS of 10 Sep 2018. Velocys has said nothing since that statement, but then their PR has never really been much good.

The ENVIA plant was shut down because of a fault in the cooling system that was not attributable to Velocys technology. Currently a settlement between ENVIA and their insurance company has still to be finalised. Velocys do not own the plant, although they did subsidise ENVIA with a substantial loan - around £14m ISTR. The final decision on the plant lies with the ENVIA Board. Although the venture was a financial mess, Velocys did, however, demonstrate that their technology was viable in commercial terms, which was the aim of their involvement. AFAIK Velocys expects to receive some monies from the as yet undisclosed insurance settlement but no longer has any commercial interest in the ENVIA plant, They are concentrating on the Mississippi plant in the USA, where they are actively seeking financial backers, and their UK waste to jet fuel project with Shell and British Airways in partnership. A decision by HMG on this project is expected by the end of the year (although there are a few distractions going on at present!)

I note that the Velocys logo still appears on the Red Rock Biofuels website. EFT does not. I would have thought that if VLS is no longer part of the project, this would not be the case. Nevertheless the deafening silence on the PR front from VLS is doing nothing to halt the fall in the SP. In this case No News is certainly not Good News.

Interesting presentation by Paul Schubert, who was quite open about the issues with ENVIA, not least of which being the EPC going bankrupt which forced VLS to become much more involved in the project as a whole rather than just the FT reactorsas well as providing additional funding. From his presentation it would seem that VLS achieved all their initial goals from the project and proved that their technology was appropriate for both the Misssissippi and UK projects without modification. The clear implication was that both of these were still "on", although he was careful to point out the need to ensure reliable EPC partners (which was not the case at ENVIA!). Nothing on the future of the ENVIA plant or the insurance settlement, but overall an upbeat presentation. We still need something from the BoD at Velocys as to where exactly the company stands. Schubert was very positive on the quality of the VLS technology; what we need is a similar statement on the financial position of the company and the timescale of the two projects mentioned. Until we get this I fear that the SP will remain around its present moribund level.

I'm not sure that, from VLS standpoint. ENVIA was required to do anything beyond prove that the VLS reactors would function in a commercial setting and produce a product that complied with the RINS requirements, which it did. Commercial viability was an added bonus ( which would have happened without that blasted leak!) in that it would have repayed part of the VLS loan to ENVIA. Hopefully the insurance settlement will go some way towards offsetting the losses that have actually occurred.

If you check the EFT web site, it would seem that to date their system has not been developed beyond the laboratory stage. It is therefore some way behind VLS development which has demonstrated commercial viability via the ENVIA plant. Moreover VLS has already been paid a retainer by RRB, an order has been placed and RRB have started work on the site. I agree that an announcement by RRB as to what EFT are actually providing would clarify matters but do not agree with the pessimists who are reading doom and gloom for VLS into the EFT announcement.

Not for the first time, the Velocys Board have maintained a deafen silence as the share price has plummeted. Do they employ a PR firm or not. The only surprising thing is that the Institutional Investors are apparently all still on board which represent 80.25% of the share holding. Moreover, a new investor has appeared on the 3%+ list, Jarvis Investment Management, who I assume contributed to the August placing @ 10p. None of this makes sense when the company appears to have no discernible income and a large cash burn. Pummel has looked on as the SP has plummeted and offered nothing in the way of reassurance to PIs. The IIs must have some reason for continuing to hold - I just wish that the company would share it with us.

VLS have just ammended their 3% + shareholders as of 7 Sep. as listed:

Shareholders owning more than 3% of the Company at 7 September 2018 were as follows:

Ervington Investments Limited (21.12%)

Lansdowne Partners (19.45%)

CQS Directional Opportunities Master Fund Ltd (15.37%)

Janus Henderson Group (10.04%)

Invesco Asset Management (6.05%)

Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (4.56%)

Jarvis Investment Management (3.66%)

All this adds up to 80.25% of shares in issue. Despite all the doom & gloom being bandied around the BBs, it would seem that major investors think otherwise. I will continue to hold and await developments.

Oh really!! Raising the spectre of Lipski in a effort to spook PIs. Surprised that you haven't raised the issue of the current CEO's past track record too. It just seems that all the big investors in VLS are holding on to their investments (or indeed adding to the them in one case) and I would venture to suggest that they are somewhat better informed than you are so please give it a rest until you have some real information to impart.

I can't see Shell, BA, or indeed RA letting VLS go to the wall as all, in their different ways, have a vested interest in their technology which is heavily copyrighted. Like you, I am sitting on my hands until we get some further clarification, hopefully with the results at the end of the month, if not before. BoD selling or not is a red herring IMHO, as long as the 70% institutional investors stay on board, which appears to be the case.

Very quiet today after yesterday's over-reaction (IMHO) to the RNS. Two auto sells and 4 buys and nothing since early morning. Are we waiting for something or has everyone in the PI sector decided, like me, to sit on their hands until the interims? Currently wide open to a take-over at a knock down price but no sign of this or any update on who bought the August placing. VLS seem bent on providing us investors with the bare minimum of information. It would be nice to see the BoD adding to their holdings.

Why would they? No sign that the 75%+ Institutional investors are getting out. Besides, the BoD seems incapable of telling anybody anything at present!!! Size of market doesn't justify your comment IMHO

Once again today more than 1/3 of trades are Autotrades. My cynicism suggests that MMs are trying to get small investors out by deliberately depressing the SP to a level that would be an obvious stop loss position. The Company has to say something soon, yet the silence is almost deafening.

Were you ever in?