Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited Net Asset Value Update (7875Y)

TIDMMAFL

RNS Number : 7875Y

Mineral & Financial Invest. Limited

08 March 2017

MINERAL & FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS LIMITED

("Mineral & Financial", "MAFL", or the "Company")

NET ASSET VALUE UPDATE

HIGHLIGHTS

   --      NAV of 6.25p (unaudited) 
   --      TH Crestgate drilling progressing 
   --      Results expected shortly 
   --      Gains in equity portfolio 
   --      ETFs weaken on lower precious metals prices 

MAFL, the AIM quoted resources Investment Company, today announces an NAV and operations update on its activities for the period ended 31(st) December 2016.

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

This Net Asset Value (NAV) statement covers the quarter ending December 31, 2016. This period was affected by the volatile performance resulting from the election of Donald Trump and the impact of a summer fund raise by the Company which increased the number of shares in issue by 10,000,000 ordinary shares.

We believe the global economic backdrop continues to improve modestly, but steadily. The outlook for 2017, as forecasted by the IMF, indicates that the global economic activity in 2017 should increase by +3.4%, an improvement from the 2016 performance of +3.1% growth. The future performance of the resource sector will increasingly be determined by the economic activity outside the United States. However, for the foreseeable future most commodities markets will continue to price commodities in US dollars. If the USD rises, all things being equal, it should cause a decline of the USD price of commodities. During the period there was a rise in value of the USD resulting from the hoped-for economic reforms from a Trump administration. This USD appreciation partially masked the continuing fundamental improvements for metals generally.

The valuation approach to our investment portfolio continues to be very prudent. In our opinion 2016 has been a very successful year for M&FI. Our stated NAV is up 63.8%, year over year, to $1,494,360. During the period we raised capital by issuing 10,000,000 ordinary shares and that has slowed the progress of per share NAV to 6.25 pence, as at December 31, 2016.

Our focus on cost control remains constant. During the first 9 months of the year, our Administration costs were GBP196,210, of which transaction-specific legal costs were GBP43,792. Excluding the extraordinary legal costs our administrative costs would be down 11.2% Yr./Yr. The valuation of the non-public investments in our portfolio is at cost, or at a level that we feel highly confident we could realize a prompt monetization of the investment. Nevertheless, we believe that until we realize on investments, we prefer to adopt a cautious and understated approach.

Our first Strategic Investment is in TH Crestgate Gmbh, a private Swiss investment company which we have financed by purchasing 49% of its equity and have subsequently provided it additional capital through Loan Notes. TH Crestgate has sold two of its projects to Ferrum Crescent (FCR), an Australian and LSE-AIM listed company. The proceeds from this sale were partly in cash, from which TH Crestgate fully recouped its outlays, with the remainder comprising 109.5 million shares of FCR. We understand these net proceeds significantly exceed the net cost of TH Crestgate's investment in these Spanish assets.

The cash from the sale of the Spanish assets has been used to finance the development of a Portuguese project called Lagoa Salgada. To summarize TH Crestgate's activities over the 12 months, it:

   1.     Re-negotiated title terms with the Portuguese government; 
   2.     Recapitalized Lagoa Salgada's holding company - Redcorp Empreedimentos Lda.; 
   3.     Repaid Redcorp's creditors; 

4. Completed a petrographic study on the Lagoa Salgada project highlighting the presence of abnormally high levels of indium in the evaluated ore zones (Note: Indium is a mineral used in touch screens and flat televisions technologies as well as solar panels. Indium currently sells for US$570,000 per/tonne);

   5.     Completed a geo-physical work program; 

6. Re-assayed holes in the "Central Sector", which lies 1km SE of the LS-1 zone which hosts the 4.5 M/t preliminary resource) and intersected 93 meters of 2.85% copper equivalent ore, and;

   7.     TH Crestgate is currently completing a 1800m drill program on the Central Sector. 

The results of the drilling program should be available within the next couple of weeks. As the assay results become available we will issue a press release with the details. TH Crestgate's objective remains to seek a partner who would spearhead the project, allow for the recognition of the some of the value that has been created, and ensure that TH Crestgate and M&FI's shareholders benefit from the future value accretion of the Lagoa Salgada project.

During the period we have made some personnel changes, adding Sean Keenan, a geologist by training, and investment banker and private equity financier by experience to your Board of Directors. Additionally, Alastair Ford's title has been changed to Chief Operating Officer better to reflect his activities and responsibilities within the Company.

Mineral pricing will continue to benefit from the lack of exploration capital deployed over the past 5 years. We believe that 2017 will be a year of significant progress for the company as we begin to harvest the rewards of some of the investment decisions it has made over the past 18 months and deploy the new capital which we have raised.

Jacques Vaillancourt, CFA

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER'S STATEMENT

Market conditions showed continued improvement during the final quarter of the year, and as 2017 has got underway confidence in the mining sector continues to rise, albeit with a healthy dose of caution thrown in.

It was interesting that the mood at the Indaba mining conference this year was broadly positive, but that news-flow coming out of the event remained at fairly modest levels, unlike the frenzy of announcements we have witnessed in boom years.

The company's own Net Asset Value declined marginally across the period to 6.25p, which was disappointing, and was largely a reflection of a slight weakening in previous metals prices and a consequent modest downgrading in the valuation of our gold, silver and platinum ETFs.

Since the end of 2016, gold, silver, and platinum prices have all improved in the face of the interesting mixture of uncertainty and optimism that surrounds Donald Trump's agenda.

We expect Mr Trump's bullish approach to almost everything to continue to rub off on the mining markets, at least for the next couple of quarters, and would anticipate continued strength in the zinc price too - zinc being the strategic metal at the heart of our 49% stake in TH Crestgate.

Meanwhile, our small equity portfolio continues to make gains. During the quarter in question the valuation of our holding in Glencore rose by more than 20%, while the increase in the value of our holding in Anglo Pacific ran to just over 13%.

We continue to value our sizeable stake in Cap Energy at a significant discount to the price at which the company last raised money, and will keep that valuation under review.

Alastair Ford

For more information:

   Katy Mitchell, WH Ireland                                [phone] 
   Alastair Ford, Director                                        [phone] 

Notes: The net asset value calculation is subject to audit and is made on the basis that the Company had 24,034,562 shares in issue at the end of the period in question. All listed investments, including investments on ISDX, are valued at the closing bid price as at 31(st) December 2016. The Company has an investment in one unquoted gold company that is currently valued at the price at which the gold company in question last raised money, although this is subject to review. The Company also has an investment in one unquoted zinc and base metals company, the valuation of which is subject to quarterly review and is currently recognized at cost.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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March 08, 2017 02:01 ET (07:01 GMT)