Sarantel Share Discussion Threads

[lowersharpnose] 25/4/2013 10:15

Good posts on TMF about SLG valuation:

[lonrho] 25/4/2013 09:36

Yes I bought into antrim on the strength of their presentation re the economics of Fyne, three weeks later they cancelled the project.Then to cap it all they gave away three quarters of their irish licence when europa oil and gas got $30 million dollars of carried drilling costs for basically the same deal.Most junior north sea oilies seem to be valued about a third of what historically they would be valued at. So on that basis it can be argued that Sterling's current price is about right but if they execute properly from now on I am hoping to see 2 dollars again at some point.

[cashandcard] 25/4/2013 09:34

Wbodger,


Interesting, maybe time for SLG to farmdown some of their stake in Cladhan now the FDP has been approved - better yet, just sell it? The cash would help them should Breagh be delayed yet again. Better for SLG to have cash in hand than debt obligations to the neck.

Cash

[wbodger] 25/4/2013 09:21

Re. your question on AEY, lonrho, I did hold AEY a coupls of years ago but dumped when they sold CWV holding to concentrate on North Sea; something didn't seem right and I never got back in, although I had a look in the 30s. Commiserations.

I also know some people suffered on Trapoil last week. Bad time for North Sea oilies. Most of mine are down.

I see TAQA have approval for Cladhan FDP.

[plunge] 22/4/2013 19:52

By his own admission Wither has stated the company lacks adequate sales resources.

So, from a purely financial perspective, the company could afford to employ at least four extra sales personnel if it were to sacrifice Wither and use his package to better effect.

Very elementary in my view. But then not to be expected from a hapless board.

[broncowarrior] 21/4/2013 23:08

Problem is either has the army connections which is the only thing keeping the company sort of ticking. If they get rid of him they have to find a sales person who can sell to the consumer market.

[plunge] 20/4/2013 21:43

After last year's board clear-out at SLN, which saw the exit of its then chief executive and finance director, it ended up with a slimmed down executive team consisting of Ali Mortazavi and Jerry Randall.

It is interesting to see that both individuals there are only paid a modest sum of £10,000 a year but are incentivised with stock options linked to the success of the company.

As quoted in Proactive Investors: "This is the way small companies should be run," says Mortazavi, who also has a 5 per cent stake in the (SLN) group. "You just can't expect to earn a FTSE 100 salary at an AIM company."

Seeing Mortazavi currently holds +12% of SLG's stock I wonder what he thinks of Wither's package. Just maybe we are on the brink of another (and long overdue) board shake up.

[lonrho] 19/4/2013 00:24

I would think it dangerous to short at these levels as Vitol may come back with a new bid and if the dissident shareholders do replace some directors then the new appointees will be more amenable to agreeing a bid and in any event must surely be more competent than the ones they replace. Talking of incompetence have you been following Antrim energy lately.

[wbodger] 19/4/2013 00:00

Hi, lonrho. It worried me that the bond deal could be so quickly conjured in response to the Vitol Press Release. The April 17 date is referred to in the April 8 Strategic Review update, so I suppose the Vitol Press Release (15/4) was a squeeze when that deadline was ticking down. Or maybe a completely different chronology. ;-)

Anyway 45% opposition is going to be a high hurdle for Az & Blew to overcome before a meeting of shareholders. All the more reason to work things out with Vitol, who won't be going anywhere.

If they can't work things out with Vitol, I suppose they will peel off some of the 45%. It might be a little easier if they are indeed a going concern again. After all, the assets are impressive enough, and without imminent money worries they might get to drill Beverley (carried) in Q3, and see gas produced from Breagh.

Market reaction has been sour, understandable with Azancot's recent history. Too easy to short it, I suppose. But that is starting to look dangerous.

[lonrho] 18/4/2013 22:50

wbodger

Now that the financing is in place Sterling can finalise its independent valuers report. This will be far higher than a valuation where the company's future as a going concern was in doubt. Vitol can huff and puff all they want about value dilution but they could only table a 85 cents offer because the company could go bust. I would think the independent valuation will come out in excess of $1.50 a share, but in this market they would not get anything like that but if Vitol are really serious they will have to offer at least a dollar a share. Incidentally Vitol refused even to discuss a higher offer. At the AGM in June it is highly likely that Azancot and Blewden get voted out.

[wbodger] 18/4/2013 19:17

Also the previous day's announcement is here:


And Vitol's Press Release a day before that:


I haven't studied it all carefully but it seems to me that Vitol threatened to lower their 'inadequate' 85 cents-a-share bid on account of the dilutive effects of the finance package, and attempted to oust Azancot. They want the finance package voted on at an EGM where they would have moved to remove MA (hence the playground stuff by MA, see my previous post). The Board say no vote so the market sees the possibility of no 85 cents deal, and trashes the share price

So then there is a response by the Special Committee organised by the BoD followed one day later by the finance deal. Hmmmm.

Yesterday's announcement of the deal is Azancot's big bazooka. He still has to farm down Cladhan and get some gas flowing from Breagh. How good is a bond paying 9% in this market, underpinned by a solid gas producer? Informed opinions invited...

If this is Azancot's way of getting a better bid from his major shareholder it is weird. Why not simply engage with Vitol? All he has done is weaken his own hand. He will have to deal with them eventually. |They have 15%, and 45% of the shareholders wanted a meeting.) Bizarre.

[plunge] 13/4/2013 22:44

In a Proactive Investors article dated 1 August 2012 Tim Freeborn (of broker Xcap) commented that Sarantel would make its breakthrough in consumer electronics in 2013 when it launches its next generation antenna. Since then his 'silence' has puzzled me.

However, it now transpires that Tim joined Silence Therapeutics (SLN) that same month and went full time in October; his role - finance director and company secretary.

Now for the interesting part: Guess who is SLN's director of corporate strategy. None other than Ali Mortazavi.

Whilst I am not suggesting anything improper may have taken place, this certainly introduces an interesting dynamic to SLG's current state of play.

[broncowarrior] 11/4/2013 21:09

Either takes about 10% of the company's turnover as his salary at current levels, that is ludicrous. A share incentivised package would be better for shareholders, who don't get a say other than by selling a a big fat loss.

[plunge] 11/4/2013 14:36

Surely it is now time for the major shareholders to run this lot out of town and appoint some credible management.

[cliffpeat] 11/4/2013 13:23

Buggy: Thanks for your views and the sad story.

I have come to the conclusion that the directors are the wrong "generation" to be taking this slow burn start-up forward.

And that is not an age issue. It is to do with attitude, knowledge, energy, commitment and competence IMO.

In the States there has been an adoption of the principles expounded in Eric Ries book "The Lean Start-up" and subsequent work around business modelling (Osterwalder et al.) and how to learn and adapt from "controlled failure". Rapid iteration to "discover" customers and to modify products are just two of the key features.

The military background of DW has probably helped to get the US business but may have hindered in identifying and winning the commercial product opportunities.

I seem to remember that Mortavazi made significant profits when he sold shares following a new issue some time ago - however, I don't have the data to hand to identify the "net cost" of his stake in the company (- and of course, for the avoidance of doubt, am not suggesting anything improper at all).

So far it is a sorry tale - how the new money will be spent is the key question in my mind. To learn of recruitment of known specialists (and not big name consultant firms!!) might be a good start.

I too have written off my relatively small stake in the business but if the technology is as good as they claim I do hope that they make progress in the future.

[wulwirth] 11/4/2013 13:13

WOW buggy really that much ouch mate..

[buggy] 11/4/2013 12:28

Can't really be bothered posting about this company anymore, as I have prepared myself emotionally to losing a significant wedge.

For what it is worth here are my views regarding current events:

I would have prefered if they had gone ahead and sold the company. It seems to me to be self preservation by the board in spinning this out then reversing the original plan.
Over the years this current board has not managed to make a single commercial advancement with this company which has a leading edge technology. Have this crop of management acquired new skills over the last few months that makes them think they now have the capability to commercialise this technology? Personally I do not think so..... a poor management will always run down a good company irrespective of how good the produtcs.

Providing them with more money will only pay their salary until we are back to where we were a few months ago.

I will not be taking part in the placing even though I have over £80K already invested in this.
I will also not be selling out but will not throw good money after bad.


They have had a decade at trying to commercialise this technology and have failed miserably. Time and time again they had come back to the market with a claim that the funds is just needed to tide the company over the short term till they reach profitability. [ You can only cry wolf so many times and fool an intelligent person]

Maybe people should re-listen to DW audio interview before the last fund raising. According to him they did not expect to come back to the market for more money , but '...due to issues with one of their clients, which has nothing to do with Sarantel, orders has been delayed, this orders has not gone away as the client has now fixed the issue and placed the order. the fund raising is to tide the company through this period as a consequence of the delayed order. They expect to be at breakeven by "last financial year" ...'

In summary, technology is great but management inept and I definitely will not be giving this management more money to squander in paying salaries without anything to show for it. They should have continued with their initial plan of selling the company to some one who has some capability on commercialising the technology ... but then it may mean that they lose their salaries and may actually not get another job based on their demonstrated capability at running Sarantel.

[ With the salary package that our management is getting .. one wonders why there is very little director share holding: if they have that much confidence in the technology and their capability for commercialising it, you would think they will be buying shares by the bucket loads. Instead we have a management that wants PI to back them but they are not prepared to back themselves. I believe I may own more shares that the entire management put together.]

Enough of my ramblings.. not worth the emotional energy and wasting more time on this stock to add to my financial loss.

[plunge] 11/4/2013 11:57

The board of Sarantel announces that John Richard Uttley, Non Executive Director, has stepped down from the Board with effect from 10 April 2013.

Hopefully this heralds the long overdue shake up.

[wulwirth] 11/4/2013 11:55

11 April 2013 Sarantel Group plc Board Changes

The board of Sarantel announces that John Richard Uttley, Non Executive Director, has stepped down from the Board with effect from 10 April 2013.

John has been a valued member of Sarantel's Board since June 2005 and helped to guide the company through a very challenging period in its history.

Must be some saving then, no one works for nowt...

[wulwirth] 08/4/2013 22:55

investors last to know. Nice rise though.

[broncowarrior] 08/4/2013 22:30

Some big trades today, something afoot?

[wbodger] 04/4/2013 15:13

Breagh production is now forecast at levels way ahead of previous estimates probably accounts for the tempered reaction to the update. 3 cents down on the day, when it really looked ugly at first.

I can't really say I'm surprised by Breagh, nor terribly optimistic there will be gas in September.

I hate being invested in companies with a beleaguered CEO or Chairman. I wonder what prompted the By-Law change, and haven't they anything better to do?

[lonrho] 04/4/2013 11:14

Well on the plus side Breagh production is now forecast at levels way ahead of previous estimates and if correct should give sterling £100 million a year of cash flow, at least initially before tax and depletion kick in. The rise in share price from 68 cent low to a 79 cent close shows somebody thinks they know something positive. I doubt that sterling have currently enough money to see Breagh through to production as the date is likely to slip again. The exxon $29 million dollars due in may will largely go to reduce the bank facility by £15 million.They have been screwed by the banks ,by RWE and by their own incompetence.It is unlikely that the major shareholders will let this go bust but with the independent valuation due any day a revised offer by Vitol of a dollar or more may be enough to secure shareholder support.

[wbodger] 04/4/2013 01:21

Blaming the Canucks is a bit simple. Looks to me as if RWE have industrial problems - read the news release about it carefully. Too much time off, 28 days lost to bad weather - in Teesside? (The Canucks know about bad weather.) Sounds more like British Leyland running the work force. Inferior workmanship, jobs having to be redone. A winter of discontent.

What about the rest of the news release. By-law changes to block challenges to the Board at shareholder meetings doesn't read well. Azancot is obviously under enormous pressure.