Whether or nota successful Moroccan project, (with OCP?) will alone make the company cash positive will obviously depend on the volumes consumed and the supply agreements, should they ever materialise.
However, getting the first paying client on the books will be transformational in so many ways but can they make it happen??
For me, the BoD's incompetence in project management is only surpassed by their mismanagement of the company finances. Does anyone actually have an idea of who/what this c.£250k/month is spent on? It seems like a huge monthly cost for a pre-revenue company and has been going on for far too long.
Loyal shareholders and to a lesser extent IIs have ploughed fortunes into thus company, for no return despite the BoD's "shareholder value" rhetoric. For a company with £60m+ in tax losses to be worth such a small market cap/SP reflects the market's confidence in the BoD's performance and ability. Simply not good enough but sadly they continue to be rewarded for failure so are unlikely to change behaviours. They should have cut outgoings drastically at least 2 years ago, when 4p+ SP was commonplace.
Things need to change very soon or their gravy train will hit the buffers and our investments will go down the pan in no uncertain terms.
"It’s an impressive take home salary. But it’s not that impressive when compared to other petro-chemical wage packets at middle/upper management / global specialist levels"
Agreed, but we are a million miles from BP/Shell etc. Paying huge salaries is not a problem for multi-billion £ profit making conglomerates. It is a huge problem for a diddy exploration stage company like QED!
If nurturing his babies, (MSAR/BioMSAR) was his primary focus, he would have taken a salary deferral until his babies had matured as a commercial success and then reap the rewards for his specialism. Obviously that has never happened so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on his merits/worth and time will tell who is correct.
PS, I hope it's you for all our sakes!
"I will, reluctantly, admit there seems to be an increasing price trend. I do wonder what the drivers are."
Because the SP had tanked so low, a mere 0.1p rise was a double figure %age rise. This tends to show up on London Stock Exchange top ten risers list, bringing new money to the share. As has been stated, the volume is low so it doesn't take a lot of buying, (or selling for that matter) to move the SP significantly. If the vast majority of SH have the bottle to hold, rather that bail, then the SP will only go one way as demand increases and available shares dry up. Could be an interesting few months...
If IIs had wanted back in they would have bought in at the last placement. The volume is way too low to be IIs.
Just like the SP drifted down on the lack of meaningful news, it is now drifting back up on the hope of good news leading up to the AGM. Nice to see but we still need progress on projects for any meaningful rise to 4-5p
Yes, another very short-term estimated timeline missed. The obviously haven't a clue and are completely at the whim of the client, which is to be expected given how desperate the BoD are to get a commercial agreement.
FWIW I have never been convinced of the commitment of this (yet to be revealed) client in Morocco. I am also sceptical as to why the client would want to keep the trial confidential given the associated pro-green credentials of BioMSAR.
I guess we'll just have to wait a bit longer to see. The cynic in me would read this as a tactical delay with the hope of having a good news story to lighten the mood at the AGM
While I seem to sense some minor upward pressure on the SP, is there anyone else, like me, partly dreading the next Morocco RNS?
They say no news is good news but the closer to November we get, the more I think it may be bad news. Purely my own speculation as I think the BoD will be keen to trumpet any good news asap??
Kolonik, maybe those names you mention became uncomfortable with the bovine excrement being fed to shareholders over the many years. Uncomfortable taking money for old rope? We'll at least it won't go on much longer....
A week tomorrow we will see the end of yet another month and for me, if we don't hear of the successful conclusion of the Morocco trial, what shreds of credibility our BoD retain will have gone completely.
No more excuses. The SP cannot tolerate further failure to deliver on schedule
That was my understanding too. The trial would run for around a week on each fuel, making 2 weeks in total.
A bigger concern for me is the time it is taking to sort out the fuel for the MSC trial. I can't remember having such protracted negotiations for the Maersk trial years ago and the world has seen a major shift toward greener fuel solutions since then. I'd expect fuel producers to be falling over each other trying to get the contract for the trials as that would probably give them an advantage should it proceed to commercial supply?? But what do I know?
Good to hear from you again Boyporche,
Yes, for me thaty is the biggest problem with this company. The top brass have been paid far too much cash and should have been partly remunerated in shares or share options, which can't be exercised until a certain price has been achieved.
I get the impression Jason et al couldn't give a flying fig about the SP. If he had been sitting on 50m shares, he might think/act differently. Unfortunately as we all know, they appear more interested in their big juicy monthly pay cheques rather than the future of the company but as a few have said, at least we won't have much longer to suffer in false hope. It's make or break time...
For once I'm hoping we don't get any news, at least until the Morocco trial is complete as a mid-trial RNS would probably be a result of further operational issues.
Let's hope by the end of the month we are told the trial was a success and discussions will now commence on a commercial supply agreement.
Additionally, confirmation of agreed tri-partite partner and possibly Utah update before end year, otherwise we will continue this gradual slide into oblivion.
Looks like the next 3 weeks will be crucial. If we do not successfully complete the Morocco trial, I will have serious concerns for our future. I realise the MSC trials are much bigger concerns but if we can't get it right in Morocco, I think we've no chance of ever being a success in the much more complicated marine sector.
Everything's crossed for some good news shortly and with it a sea change in the fortunes of QED.
For a number of years now they have been unable to raise the $18m or so to buy the remaining 90% of the TSH11 leases. Only a Valkor loan to buy the original 10% has been forthcoming and I think Steve Byle is regretting that loan now?
Why anyone believes, (despite the financial case for tar sands extraction) that a mickey mouse co like Tomco will be able to raise north of $120m to buld an extraction plant is beyond me.
Tomco's likeliest route to success will be if Ecoteq can build a CORT plant and prove the tech at an industrial scale but that is likely to be some time away and I doubt there will be much appetite for further cash raises/dilution here to keep the lights on long enough? Maybe a knock down buyout in future by a bigger concern with eyes on the TSH11 land???