Compact Power Share Discussion Threads

[stable] 07/12/2004 14:48

The folowing was in our local paper yesterday, may be even more interesting when council decides, but bear in mind, council has no money and is loony left
managed currently


COOKED TRASH ON THE MENU
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11:00 - 06 December 2004
A £20 million state-of-the-art plant to "cook" Bristol's waste and ease the city's growing rubbish crisis has been given the go-ahead. Planning officials have given permission to Compact Power to build the plant on a council-owned derelict site off St Andrew's Way in Avonmouth.

Work is set to start early in the new year in the hope that it can be up and running by August, 2006.

The last remaining piece of the jigsaw is for councillors to agree at a cabinet meeting tomorrow a two-year pilot project for the plant to take 27,000 tonnes of Bristol waste each year.

Richard Hogg, business development manager for Compact Power, said: "It was fantastic news to win planning permission.

"If we get the go-ahead at the cabinet meeting then Bristol will be the first local authority in the country to sign up to this method of disposing of waste.

"There would be a great deal of interest by local authorities all over the country to see how well it works because they all need to take action to avoid landfill taxes."

Compact Power has developed a prototype plant which currently disposes of hospital waste and creates renewable energy without producing toxic or poisonous fumes.

The waste is squashed into giant tubes which are passed through a big oven and cooked.

The waste is turned into gases and an ash containing carbon. Steam is passed through the ash to turn the carbon into gas.

A small amount of residual ash remains which can be recycled or taken to landfill. The gases are heated to 1,250 degrees centigrade to kill off pollutants before being passed through water which creates steam that can be used to drive turbines.

A small amount of exhaust gas is produced, but that easily meets tough European emission regulations.

The plant can cope with any combustible material from household rubbish to rubber tyres and tins of paint.

Under a research and development deal, the city council would provide the land for the new plant while Compact Power would invest the £20 million to built and run it.

The council would have to pay a "gate fee" for each tonne of rubbish which is disposed but this would be much cheaper than the soaring costs of taking rubbish by rail to landfill sites outside the Bristol area.

It is estimated that the pilot project would save the council nearly £4 million in landfill taxes during the two-year period.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, chairman of the council's Waste Minimisation Committee, said: "This agreement would be a big step forward in dealing with the council's waste and council officials should be applauded for getting on with the urgent issue so quickly."

The council must take action over dealing with rubbish as the Government is increasing each year the amount of money that must be paid in taxes to bury waste in the ground.

[katylied] 07/12/2004 12:27

Interims out...

...As at 26 November 2004 the company's cash balances stood at #64,000
which should provide working capital to mid December. Cooper Holdings Limited
has indicated that a short term loan of up to £100,000 might be provided pending
the completion of the loan facility, details of the proposed terms of which are
set out in a circular to shareholders dated 7 December 2004...

...The Company is currently negotiating the terms of a secured loan facility of
£500,000 with Cooper Holdings Limited or a party connected to Cooper Holdings
Limited. The security required in respect of this loan will be subject to
shareholders' approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held on 23
December 2004...

Cooper Holdings are apparantly the largest shareholder.
I wonder how punitive the loan terms will be?...

[spiv 1] 30/11/2004 20:11

Isn't tomorrow December 1st and the company only has working capital till end of November? An announcement from the company might be in order don't you think?

[glenlivet] 30/11/2004 09:04

Anyone know how the Shanks announcement about their Dumfries & Galloway Council deal might affect CPO ?

CPO were hoping to be part of that project treating the Shanks' residual waste stream. Confirmation of their role in the project could be their lifeline and allow them to go ahead with construction of their plant at Dumfries (they've already got planning consent).

[spiv 1] 13/11/2004 11:09

The clock is ticking and the end of November is approaching. Anyone feeling brave???

[jdhurry] 18/10/2004 12:03

...instead of this month!!!

[katylied] 14/10/2004 13:28

They say (AGM statement) that they are only
funded to the end of next month!!!

[katylied] 24/9/2004 17:44

If anyone is interested, 'Shares' magazine gave CPO
a mention this week. General tone was upbeat with
a new project underway apparantly (I forget the
detail). However, lurking at the bottom of
the article was the essential problem
that the company has to be very short
of money and no real possibility
of profit for a couple of years.

Really can't see how a fund-raising
can be avoided, 'Shares' agrees...

Open offer at ~10p anyone?

[jdhurry] 08/9/2004 08:16

14.5p now.

[sofa surfer] 06/9/2004 13:08

interested, trouble is it's bloody risky!

[jdhurry] 06/9/2004 10:08

Frankly I can't understand the lack of interest in this stock.

[jdhurry] 06/9/2004 10:04

Well it's 66% up now from the 8.25p low I highlighted in late June. Wish I'd gone for it.

[magic198] 14/8/2004 15:26

Am not buying back until finance/order position much clearer

[k38] 13/8/2004 01:58

The sale is part of wider negotiations on a larger funding to finance the
construction of a new plant.
Should this larger funding proceed, the parties have agreed that the
Avonmouth plant would be repurchased. This would result in a partial reversal of
the impairment provision. Compact Power has negotiated the right to repurchase
the plant for 1 mln stg if the larger funding does not proceed
..............................................................................
Under the new deal, Compact Power will continue to operate and maintain the
plant and will be entitled to all contribution generated in excess of 250,000
stg per annum. Compact Power will guarantee the purchaser payments of 200,000
stg per annum.
..............................................................................

1m loan....
and
Compact Power will guarantee the purchaser payments of 200,000 stg per annum.

[katylied] 05/8/2004 16:37

Was worth ~£5m, now worth ~£1m, was sold, not sold, sold again to be bought back later. Can't be bothered to do the sums, but surely £1m isn't enough and CPO must now be insolvent? RNS ia all smoke and mirrors. Has the auditor ever signed off their last end of year accounts? Anyone got a clue? I surely haven't...

[gran] 05/8/2004 13:10

They are selling Avonmouth, but not selling it, and buying it back later, even though it hasn't been sold. What does this all add up to in language that I can understand? Is it good, bad, cheap, costly, disastrous, keeping the company afloat?
Please anyone help?

[jdhurry] 23/7/2004 14:49

Deadline is passed so news can't be far away. Seen this go from 8.25p low a month ago to 11.00p today. Most days little or no volume but Monday was one of highest volume days in CPO's history (edit: but no movement in SP!).

[katylied] 21/7/2004 10:59

21st July you say? Well that is a coincidence...
Good/Bad news, I wonder if they will bother
to tell anyone?...

[jdhurry] 09/7/2004 20:32

Still haven't bought but I may do so next week as Avonmouth deadline is 21 July.

[jdhurry] 28/6/2004 15:14

Up 11.11% but no trades.

[glenlivet] 10/6/2004 19:59

Shanks sold off their landfill assets in order to raise money to pursue interests in the Benelux countries (where they already have some thermal treatment assets) and to fund their Local Authority waste contract business development activities in the UK. Their only technology interest is in something called EcoDeco, an Italian process that dries waste and reduces its biological content so that residues can go to landfill without breaching Landfill Directive restricitons on bio-waste going to landfill (the LF Directive is in place to reduce methane – a greenhouse gas - emissions that arise from waste decomposition in landfill).

I believe that they have no interest in acquiring thermal technologies – too much commercial (economic viability) and technical (will it perform reliably) risk. Their EcoDeco process does have a waste stream that cannot go to landfill – it has a relatively high calorific value and they term it a refuse-derived fuel (RDF). Shanks' are relying on major fuel users (cement manufacturers and power generators) taking the fuel off them for a price or low gate fee.

So Shanks unlikely to buy up their own thermal technology – there are plenty of RDF markets around as far as they are concerned.

Regarding Dumfries, as I understand it, CPO have a site lease option that they renew annually – they will exercise it when they reach financial close. They won't reach financial close until they have a commercially viable project – ie one that guarantees that the debt providers (banks) will get repaid. Shanks would not pay the gate fee that CPO require to make a commercially viable project if they can dispose of the RDF arising out of the Shanks/Dumfries & Galloway Council contract elsewhere much more cheaply.

So I would guess that CPO can't find the other high gate fee wastes in the sort of quantities they would require in order to be able to offer Shanks a competitive gate fee for the RDF. Hence CPO's Dumfries project has no commercial rationale – if it did it would have reached financial close long ago

Value of Dumfries ? It's a consented energy from waste site, although the consent will lapse after 5 years from granting (2005). It's about 75 miles away from the Central Belt where all the high value wastes are – eg clinical waste, say 5000 t at £200/t – but this gate fee will diminish if it were to be transported south to Dumfries – also the clinical was going to other facilities (Dundee).

Dumfries – would need a miracle to make it go.

[katylied] 09/6/2004 16:12

Here is a question for CPO watchers. Remember the 'Dumfries' project that seemed to promise so much, but to date has delivered sweet FA? That deal involved the 'Shanks Group' (though I've never really understood who was actually pulling the strings, or why the whole project ground to a halt).

Recently 'Shanks' sold off their 'land-fill' operations and raised a considerable amount of cash (~£200m). That left them with a couple of businesses, one of which is 'waste' processing. I understand that business appears to be their best bet for future growth (according to what I have read elsewhere), so I'm wondering....

What are the chances they might buy-out CPO's interest in this Dumfries project? What is CPO's interest in that project worth? Afterall, the endless delays are no bloody good to CPO, they might just as well be shot of it. Also I read somewhere that CPO themselves were hinting at future sales (after Avonmouth) of other assets. Surely their 'Dumfries' interest, must presumably be top of the list.

Terra Firma is surprise winner in landfill battle
By Tessa Thorniley (Filed: 26/05/2004)

Shanks Group, the waste management company, last night announced the surprise sale of its landfill assets to Terra Firma for £228m. Terra Firma, the vehicle for financier Guy Hands, trumped Pennon in a bidding battle that most expected the water group to win. Mr Hands said in a statement: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to expand our presence in the sector." Terra Firma last year paid £531m to buy Waste Recycling Group from Kelda, owner of Yorkshire Water. The latest acquisition will bring "operational and strategic focus to the business", Mr Hands said. Pennon, the owner of South West Water, has been in talks with Shanks since last year over the sale of the 21 landfill sites and gas assets. A source close to Pennon, which is thought to have offered just over £200m for the assets, said yesterday the company "was surprised" not to win the deal....

So 'Shanks' appear loaded with cash.
Might they even bid for CPO?
Any thoughts?...

[jdhurry] 08/6/2004 06:37

Still watching this.

[jdhurry] 14/5/2004 15:09

No volume though. MM's trying to create some interest I guess.

[jdhurry] 13/5/2004 09:32

Down 11%. Something up?