Member Info for Tony1957

Despite F1nesse not typing what he intended, "24 x" not "7 x", and Pockerchips not being sufficiently numerate to see at a glance the trivial error, the RI was obviously a clear signpost, as so many are, that this is a Board & Executive who do not understand their primary duty.

Using F1nesse's 1120, the break even share price at the offer price of £6.45 is £313.95 ÷ 31 = 1013. The drop was always going to be bigger than that up to a value of 1120 x 24 ÷31 = 867 even allowing for the fact that there had been a 29% increase in share issue and so debt was significantly reduced. Therefore, unless one could sell in the first couple of hours significant loss was guaranteed and the only option for us shareholders was to take the measly offering, currently standing at (8.34 - 6.45) x7 = £13.23 "profit", to offset against the loss in share value the RI guaranteed.

The Executive and Board would have taken much, very expensive advice. Undoubtedly they expected the settled share price to be close to 1013 and the very worse case scenario of 867 would have been described as totally unlikely. That it is currently at 834 represents at 18% loss of invested capital.

The Executive and Board will be shocked with the current state of affairs. They took the wrong decision because they did not understand the metrics of the business, they are paid to understand, correctly. They covered this lack of understanding by outsourcing advice. The advice was obviously wrong. It was wrong because the input metrics put into their forecast model were wrong. The Executive and Board obviously did not appreciate this very simple fact.

Undoubtedly they decided to neglect their primary duty - responsibility to shareholder investment - because they saw ahead some pet scheme or project that would make themselves, as individuals and as a collective, appear "more effective" in their own eyes. Funding that pet project was just part of their path to personal success. They then rang for the snake oil salesman to call in and advise them which brand of snake oil to take, to make everything "good".

An Executive and Board that neglect their primary duty are not fit for purpose but I don't see them getting dealt with as their lack of talent deserves, any time soon.

For myself, before the RI I was sat on a modest gain. I was too slow to react on the morning and by midday there was nothing I could do but take up the 7 x £6.45 offer and watch. Currently I am now underwater.

Am I going to leave my money in a company so badly run that it could not spot that a 29% extra share issue for a company holding its current debts was going to produce anything other than a huge loss in capitation, such was their desire to do their pet projects so soon?

No.

I would be a fool to entrust my money with people who did not understand their primary function. I will watch carefully for a little bounce and then take my loss and leave.

Well another few months on and a new 52 week low and soon after Mitch actually bought some shares. So sad to see him join us underwater with this investment. The poor guy just can't seem to catch a break anywhere.

(Why oh why didn't I bail out in the summer of 22 or even Jan 23?)

Really quite good given the economic surroundings but it does require that one reads it. A PE of under 14 and cover of over 4% compares well with other retail shares e.g. Tesco at nearly 30 and less than 4, which I also gladly hold. This share is undervalued & suffers from "analysts" thinking it just sells petfood. The vet business under the same roof, open the same hours, is most important.

I posted a year ago that I made two mistakes, post Tailwind I have now made three on this stock. I took a bigger position on this post Kitsos thinking - give it 6 to 9 months and the Board will deliver. Its been downhill most of the way.

My third mistake was not jumping off post the Tailwind deal being confirmed, in one of those modest ups, in the summer, at around 255 when my losses were not too bad.

My only positive is thinking what lessons I am learning to make sure I don't get caught again.

Do I try some rapid trading 205-210 to 225 - 230 to try and negate some of my longer term losses. Might give it a try, it certainly bumps along.

If I made two dumb mistakes not selling during the high of last summer, I made another not selling as soon as the two events happened in December -i) the share price dropped ii) the nature of the deal became apparent. Days where the share price bobbed around 270p now seem relatively halcyon and 320p at the beginning of December - unreal.

Mitch must be cursing that flock of black swans and irrationality of the markets.

Some one wants this to drop - selling a single share well below- this has happened a short time earlier as well
09.03.23 13:42:53 932.50 GBX 1 9.33 AT P ALGO-XLON
09.03.23 13:42:33 938.00 GBX 85 797.30 AT P-XLON
09.03.23 13:42:33 937.50 GBX 175 1,640.63 AT P-XLON
09.03.23 13:42:33 937.00 GBX 95 890.15 AT P ALGO-XLON
09.03.23 13:42:33 937.00 GBX 105 983.85 AT P ALGO-XLON

Banbury boy - I did indeed read your post counting as you did. I wrote my post. It is 2023 and many of the self-righteous have manoeuvred their talent-sets to policing social media. I edited my post. I also continue to hold in hope.

Well, several weeks on and no sign of the market taking the same view of this deal as Mitch and the teen-age analysts at the institutional investors who listened to Mitch and then advised their bosses to vote in favor. Even the 320p values of November look like an unlikely exit possibility at this stage for those of us wanting out. Mind the copium of posters here who backed it acts to offset my self annoyance at not walking away when I knew I should have.

Humpy - you did a very good job of arguing against the position you wanted to take. I particularly like " peeps will continue to spoil their pets if they can." which could be quite a steep slope people would be willing to climb. But let me add another point about the "pester power". Part of the deal of pets, particularly for children, is educating them into the birth-maturing-adult-death cycle of life and particularly the role of the cable responsible individual to nurture & care for an organism - perhaps yourself when you are old - as that organism is exposed to risk or later death.
The "certificate of achievement" of that attribute is not a wider TV but easily quantified by the sacrifices one would be willing to make for the dependent. Pester power is, partially, expressing that attribute parents have sought to inculcate in their children. It is all a complex dynamic with lots of other factors but Fido ain't ever being put out on the street so the kids can have another chocky bar.
This is a good stock and the well ordered, in-store, vet., grooming and care services make it so much more. It was driven down by incorrectly treating it as just another retail stock, I know because my Tesco and Sainsbury's stocks also took a good beating last year as well!

I will try not to be too disparaging " No sign of folks skimping on their pets yet" is absolutely wrong thinking and yet time and again I see it in connection with this share. This is a retail business but to characterise it with that comment is to fail to understand the nature of the business and the psyche of the customers this outlet appeals to. Let me re-phrase it - "customers would rather starve themselves than skimp on their pets". That is why this is going to be so resilient in the difficult times of the near future; there never will be a "yet".

Loving that purchase of a single share at above the current rate earlier today. "I've put 10k in your account to use to support the price of SQZ - do what you can. Yes I know I should have read the stuff from Mitch about the deal before I told the boss that we should support , but WE need it to not sink otherwise he might go and look at the chat boards and then it will hit the fan. And if I go, i'm taking you with me. Work with a couple of your mates, there are others in the same position. Come back to me if you need a bit more."

About £8,000 of shares traded today to shift the price by just under 5%. Some people are really enjoying themselves with this share.

This..........."I am beginning to think that a behind the scenes the deal done between BOD and Mercuria was that Mercuria would support the BOD but must take a 28% stake 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."
We are not seeing what is unavailable to see. I am just frustrated with myself that I actually was taken in by the BOD plea about Kistos in the summer. I had ample time to sell out and I should have understood that Mitch and Co.s egos would cost me quite a penny. Cash always attracts misfortune.

OK, thought it had gone too quiet here so someone is shaking the tree by selling £27 and £33 of shares. Well at least it is not just a single share!

I hold at the Halifax and voted no. Over the weekend I had a conversation with an individual who has experience of managing back office functions of a bank. A view more common than any RI would like is that advising corporate actions and dealing with votes is just considered a wholly negative cost centre and is given just enough resource to ensure complaints are not an even bigger loss. With any under resourced function there is a significant gap between intent and execution. I understand the purposely extended chain of custody means I hand over my money but do not own any shares. I also understand somebody might say soothing words to me to tell me my vote has been registered but whether it actually get to the agent or company secretary to get counted is a totally different proposition. And this BoD, like so many others, know they just have to take a few institutional investors with them and they can get away with whatever remuneration package or deal they want. And those institutional investors, those guys and gals at the ends of the phone, they sooooo much want a bit of early news to make their figures look better than their peers. This is the reality and until the legislators wake up to the fact that unless they force custody chains to pass on ownership and force registration to be the in the name of the person who actually stumps up the capital that is at risk (and thereby wipe out the business model for extended and pointless custody chains) poor managements will remain largely unaccountable.
Twice this last year I had a chance to exit SQZ and each time I looked and I debated it. I made the wrong calls, and that was my fault. No share buy-back no real plan on what to do with the cash prior to Kistos and none after, the writing was on the wall. Gas and oil prices are down and the 425p offer is history. A 40% loss in value since the summer and the market appears to take the same view I have of this deal. I will hold on to see how the vote pans out but am not hopeful. I am also not hopeful of the near and mid term future for the price. I am in the fortunate position of still being in green but given the colossal price of the product they have been selling, it is a relatively poor return and that is due to this BoD. I will watch for the soonest exit point. We await the vote.

"Serica Energy plc Statement re. possible offer

"The Board of Serica Energy plc ("Serica" or "the Company") confirms that it received a revised non-binding proposal from Kistos plc ("Kistos") on 22 July 2022 .....
"The Kistos Revised Possible Offer purports to give an offer value of 425 pence per Serica share .....

"Following careful consideration, the Board of Serica, together with its financial advisers, has unanimously rejected the Kistos Revised Possible Offer for the following reasons:

"1. The Kistos Revised Possible Offer significantly undervalues Serica

"· The Serica Board strongly believes that the Revised Kistos Possible Offer:

" o Does not reflect the underlying value of Serica's existing core producing oil and gas assets.

" o Takes no account of....."

I would not mind at all as long as Serica Management put the same figures for the valuation of Serica into the current deal as they did into the rejection of the previous one.

Instead I can't help but think think there was one far bigger motive for why this deal is so much better than that offered which valued Serica at 425p

"The Kistos Revised Possible Offer proposes that Mr Tony Craven Walker of Serica act as Chairman of the combined entity and Mr Andrew Austin of Kistos be the CEO."

"Tony - please sell your shares to me. Are you listening to the same call?"

Mitch told me that Serica was worth more than 425p per share but give me 425p per share and they are all yours. Hell give me 400p a share today and I will throw in a bottle of bubbly with them for you to celebrate your good fortune at making such a great deal.

**** = " sha re exch ange" Hopefully that gets past the censor.

Mitch "They are not being given cash this is a **************" Excuse me they are getting cash, plus shares and dumping their debt against Serica cash.

Why can't these people be honest, why do they have such little respect for shareholders?
How do I get out?

Currently totally contradicting his earlier statements about production figures going forward "accelerating performance quantities". And totally avoided the point that the presentation cherry picked, understating Serica performance and overstating Tailwind to make it seem more balanced.

Anyone would think he was selling snake oil.