Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Held a very small stake here for a few years and sitting on a hefty % loss. Check in once in a while and it actually angers me when I hear more people fooled into DB'S latest projections, this has been going on for years and years, the guy has so little interest in shareholders and is so shameless in the way he misleads the market on what the company will achieve its actually quite infuriating.
Obviously it's in my interests that his words are believed, more investors higher SP but when my holding is so small, I actually wouldn't mind if his words weren't believed and more placings weren't possible because the guy genuinely doesn't deserve another penny of shareholder money. Rich kid with very little talent and a whole lot of arrogance getting a lot richer year after year, it's so wrong
Curious as to why people seem to be mentioning the impact of the delay but not that the wording potentially seems to question the economic viability of the project...
However, further development of specific areas relating to engineering, commercial and strategic elements across mining, processing, procurement and logistics are expected to have a considerable impact on both capital and operating cost estimates and Geomet's social licence to operate.
Geomets social license to operate..... anyone have further info as to what this alludes to? Capex and Opex increasing always was inevitable but am curious on this point.
Dont hold but by no means a deramper, just curiously viewing from the background .
Id just love to have known for these past 2 years what an actual day in the VLS office looked like? Get into work on a Monday morning and what on earth do they do all day?
No FEED to work on, very few patents filed especially in the past year so seemingly little in that regard, pitches for new work possibly but if that is the case none were ever won. Ohio factory was constructed but not by VLS, fitout hasnt even started. Only meaningful thing they seem to have done for two years and >20 million quid (!!!) is file the paperwork for the government grant schemes and have Neville attend 3 government meetings.
Velocys had just signed multi-million dollar deals with IAG and Southwest. Can anyone explain how the wheels fell off so badly? The award winning tech seemed more than sound, VLS had decades of headstart in proving these credentials in a red hot industry and all seemed promising.
Cut forward 2 years, the reference projects are basically at the exact same place (with the exception of VLS no longing owning any of the land), not a single further contract was ever won anywhere in the world (despite the endless projects being planned), Shell bailed, BA are clearly close to bailing by investing in competing projects, Southwest have seemingly switched their attention to USA Bioenergy who have next to no experience in the industry. Adding to that the severe cash-burn for a company this size, it's hard to imagine how this 2 years could have gone worse.
What on earth happened? Of course I like many have been burned by this and am trying to learn lessons for future reference but the level to which VLS have dropped the ball and let their advantage slip is quite unlike anything I have ever seen. My major frustration is I backed a market (SAF) at just the right time and well before it became the legislation-backed juggernaut it has become and unfortunately I have been burnt by putting my faith in a company which is seemingly so incompetently run it beggars belief.
Buyout at 0.25p may be hard to take but at this stage, I truly believe VLS, with or without additional funding may be doomed. They have had plenty of time to prove themselves now, they just simply cannot make it work.
Issue I can see, management hold next to no shares. It's surely in the best interests of the management to pursue offers at lower price but with more cash funding promised going forward to keep the lights on.
HW in particular has been repeatedly criticised previously for never making sizeable share purchases, the wages he will make from the company continuing will dwarf what he will lose from a lower sale price
Not commented on here for a long time out of pure anger but I cannot believe how incredibly right all the nay-sayers were about this man for all those years, apologies to you all!
This man has achieved next to nothing (especially in 2023 when it has been LITERALLY nothing), has been paid huge amounts and has literally slept-walked this company into oblivion. Remember the last company presentation I saw himself and the FD were saying its Velocys' model to never ask for more money than they need hence the going concern statement on the statements. Incompetence when the markets were as they were is mindblowing.
Pretty happy, particularly pleased with note 3 (Going Concern)...
The Group requires a minimum of approximately £1.5 million to continue as a going concern, assuming that its subsidiary portfolio companies continue to be fully funded by external financing as expected. This amount can be financed through several options, either on their own or in combination, including accelerating revenues at Group level, partial or full exits from portfolio company stakes, soft and non-dilutive finance, and/or a placement of NetScientific shares.
Potential of only 1.5m being required to June NEXT year, not even this, would be incredible. Admittedly this is "minimum" but is significantly less than I ever envisaged
Really hoping VLS tie up the 12m matched funding for the Carbon Direct investment prior to or soon after the 8th June General Meeting. Prior may be ambitious given the current capital markets and its only a couple of weeks away but feels we are currently in limbo, unlikely to see any progress in terms of new business with the current balance sheet with the exception of advancement of the Altalto FEED.
Spent some time researching Carbon Direct today as knew nothing about them, they are legit and will definitely not be investing with a view to bleeding VLS dry. They invest in very specific industries, SAF being one of only a small handful, and they also advise companies on technologies they can use to reduce carbon footprint so will certainly have carried out due diligence and know the market.
Cont..
Completely understand the viewpoint of those ready to bail. Also agree with you expat to a degree about the balance sheet, not sure how specific the catalyst's VLS have developed are to their own reactors but tough to sell a product when the company producing the replacement catalyst every 3/6 months isn't guaranteed to be around.
I believe VLS have done a poor job of transferring from a research/development to commercial. The company was born from a highly academic background and no doubt have some very smart minds working in engineering roles but they just haven't been strong at developing the ruthless corporate function required to commercialise. It's also very hard to apply the significant time required to pitch for projects in various far flung corners of the world (e.g. as we are seeing with LanzaJet in India etc) when they have a skeleton crew of mostly engineers.
Almost half way through 2023 and no way to sugar coat it, it's been a stinker. We haven't really got anywhere in what should have been a transformative year.
12m to find prior to September/December for Carbon Direct investment to become a reality, I really think VLS will achieve this. Also the talk of this investment being "death spiral" funding I believe is way overdone. Almost 2 years zero coupon, convertible on US listing which seems totally reasonable given where the companies operations are based, 12.5% interest pa after that date if the conditions haven't been met which equates to
Only the HEFA big players such as Neste are producing, none of VLS's direct competitors in the phase 2 SAF's are
Jesus Jim you are insufferable, even expat has the class to not jump on during a down day. Totally classless.
Everything I said stands, expat made so many matter of fact statements that were proved wrong. In no way do I consider you two some oracles. Sorry
Certainly not an ideal situation VLS find themselves in, no cash during a ramp up phase in a very tight liquidity/high interest market but I don't believe all is lost....yet.
The % the placing price was below the mid price was in expected range and completely consistent with other small cap placings I've seen recently. Not even convinced mid term the placing will be bad for share price, we were priced with the market clearly focussing on our lack of cash, if VLS manage to get some sure we will have more shares but also the impending risk of liquidity ending the company is delayed for 12 months at least.
Of course it would have been ideal for VLS to have been able to access more favourable funding, but the market is incredibly tough right now. Saw Elon Musk talk about the extreme difficulty with borowing/liquidity a couple of days ago and thinks this will be the situation for the next 12 months before seeing things start to improve.
Hope noone here has invested more than they can afford to lose, this is about as high risk as it gets now. Personally I have no reason to doubt the product just as BA/UK Govt etc believe in it. Just hope we can get the funding and crack on with the Altalto FEED and other projects. Mgmt need to step up
And don't get me started on Expat. Right more times than he is wrong? Stated CATEGORICALLY their wouldnt be an offtake, stated CATEGORICALLY Velocys' have ended R&D only to be presented with an increase in research employee numbers from the annual report and evidence of new patents being filed, stated CATEGORICALLY there would not be sufficient government support in the UK and Bayou was the only feasible option.
Those are just interactions with myself, sure there are many many more over the years. The guy endlessly states things as if fact, when shown that it's not ignores the evidence and restates at a later date.
Seem to remember I addressed his last post at the time and without any slanging match but it was a prime example of how using his logic VLS cannot avoid criticism.
VLS have had and lost several binding offtakes without a penny?? Do clarify? If you are talking about Southwest, last we heard in January 2023 terms were extended to reflect the adjusted timeframe. Bear in mind, the legislation was passed later than envisioned when the offtakes were signed (IRA wasn't the original SAF legislation put before Congress, first one failed to pass) so makes sense the timeframe would be pushed back.
Absolutely agree that what tint of glasses you read between the lines will impact interpretation - wouldnt say mine are rose-tinted but definitely consider myself more optimistic/hopeful than Expat and yourself it seems.
Do I believe VLS are keeping up with the big boys and are on course to be a market leader, based on the last 12/24 months I'd say no. Are VLS priced as if they are expected to be the market leader, absolutely not. I see value but I'm far from convinced VLS will succeed, just see it as a risk worth taking.