Agriterra Ld Share Discussion Threads

[swooped] 13/11/2013 11:24

but then you have to ask yourself why sell then, with 40,000 head they will be raking in the cash

[booya200p] 13/11/2013 09:33

Thank you vyke, count and jimmy. I am invested here and will stay invested jimmy. Not giving away my shares until we have 40k head. Best

[the count of monte_cristo] 12/11/2013 21:03

jimmy - I guess you are more of a burger man than a sausage man:)

[jimmy12345] 12/11/2013 13:03

Of course we are loss making just now, this company is investing for the future. Takes money and timw to build a buisness like this. Thats why we are making a loss. Any talk of buy backs or dillution or giving money to shareholders is silly.We are a fast progressing agri company with a cash pile to spend into profitability. The assets here are huge, cost a fortune to build the beef buisness, but all the major parts are bought now and they are so well placed to progress their. A field to fork beef buisness dont come cheap, hell even the ranch had to have everything from fresh water lake built to houses and roads and feed lots, then the next step needed a slaughterhouse not just any old slaughterhoyse but a state of the art one with massive upscale throughput for the future, hell even the president came and visited it. Its all about breeding the cows now, and you cant speed that up of course, its increasing nixely and will get more and more, what do folk want us to do buy 1000s of cows in? At £millions of pounds, na we gotta breed them and increase the herd that way.We got huge silos they cost a fortune to build and we got plqntations and huge land clearances. The management here seem to be doing a sterling job and going ahead in a big way as fast as possible. If you aint happy with that get out

[the count of monte_cristo] 12/11/2013 12:36

Agree with bsharman. Cash needs to be used to develop all the current businesses to maximise their growth. Plus potentially to expand the business into other countries.

However worth asking the question booya200, if you were to ask it again in 2 years time they answer could well be different.

[bsharman3] 12/11/2013 11:20

Hi. I agree Vyke82. I would like to see some director buys however.

[vyke82] 11/11/2013 22:25

Abooy i think its not a good idea for a loss making company to buy back shares. They need to invest in exlension and once profit comes in share price will go up itself. Buyback is good when there is nothing else to do with the cash.

[booya200p] 11/11/2013 22:08

Hi everyone on the board and thanks for all the presentation notes and your thoughts. I have been a holder here for over 4 years now and this is my first post on a discussion board so forgive me for my lack of style in delivery. I wanted to ask if anyone had ever discussed with the company the chances that any of the cash would be used to buy back some of the billion odd shares in issue. I understand we're still in the growth stages, but I strongly believe using USD8-10m would go a VERY long way in telling the market the shares are cheap versus the NAV and that the company is willingness to put our money where their mouths are. Everyone is happier with a higher share price! Running a more cost efficient ship until some profits come through (not too far away we all hop) and then looking to the market for funding, either through issuing debt or another private placement when AGTA has established a more robust track record will make our new capital more worthwhile. Apologies for the run-on sentences. Grateful for any responses, thoughts or criticisms. All the best to AGTA holders Abooy

[swooped] 11/11/2013 18:12

I've never knocked anyone on their looks, the way they dress or even sound, I'll judge then on results only, Warren Buffet generally looks like a pauper!

[oiht] 11/11/2013 14:45

That was my immediate reaction SITIAIN but then I got to think he looks like a man who just wants to get on with the task. Ultimately, he'll be judged on the job he does and, if he does it well, the funds will come knocking.

[sitiain] 11/11/2013 11:14

The guy sitting in front of funds looking like a scarecrow doesnt help either

[sitiain] 11/11/2013 11:13

They just need to tidy this whole show up Count .
There has been some very good criticism labeled at this company which is long over due.
Agri in Africa is tough........... in fact its been tougher than i imagined when i moved a lot of money into this company.
Their PR is not good enough nor some of the directors commitment to this story.
Their recent campaign has yielded nothing , they , i hope will learn from it and tidy up the acccounts and expenses.

[the count of monte_cristo] 11/11/2013 08:21

SITIAIN - was it his shirt that put you off?

[cyfran101] 09/11/2013 21:18

Confirmation given that Conakry has got knocked on the head. Full on focus on the areas they are already in.

[baa] 08/11/2013 13:25

an apparently clear profit statement and you'd think he is saying profitability in y/e 5/15 at the very latest.

To agree with this assumption , you need greater transparency of the operating costs of £10m+ . Did the y/e 13 numbers contain exceptionals ? if so what is an annualised expense run rate?

What is the forecast gp margin . Currently 12% - are they expecting 15% , 20% or more ? The retail mix must move this , but with only 7/8 units open by 5/14 , that won't transform the maize low margin number.

Even if you double turnover in two years and improve the margin to 20% , that won't reach profitability unless the operating costs come down 25%+ ?? Seems v odd set against his statement.

Imo the Company needs to be much more transparent about this . If they are so positive in their numbers , they should explain why -that would be great and the shares would get re-rated . Keeping all this opaque just makes it impossible to do anything other than guess , make your own assumptions ( which are bound to be wrong) or believe what the Company says without question.

It doesn't help the cause when he says that the Company has $18.5m in cash , because that was the 5/13 number & v unlikley it's still the same given the level of operating losses & capex,etc . So that's one misleading statement...I hope he has a better grasp of the forecasts...

I am grateful the Company has responded to the Count's request for more "noise" , but they need to deliver on the quality of that not the quantity of it.

[steffyloveshares] 08/11/2013 11:42

video intervew
Agriterra hopes to start generating profits in"'very near future"

Euan Kay, executive director of agricultural company Agriterra (LON:AGTA) tells Proactiveinvestors the company "cannot keep up" with the demand for maize and beef in Mozambique, and that he hopes the company will start generating profits in the "'very near future".

[oiht] 08/11/2013 11:10

Thanks A_T.

[aim_trader] 08/11/2013 10:39

Agriterra's presentation from last night:

[freddie01] 08/11/2013 10:16

The really exciting thing is it appears the slow rate of shop openings is the fact they are struggling to satisfy demand.

[the count of monte_cristo] 08/11/2013 10:12

I think they are aiming for 20 in Mozambique. I wonder if once they have reached that target and gained the market share they are after in Moz whether they could expand into bordering countries such as Tanzania and open a few shops there. I guess all will be revealed over the next few years, first thing they need to do is get to the 10,000 head of cattle by 2015.

[oiht] 08/11/2013 09:49

Yep, it's all gonna take time. Five shops won't make a fortune but five hundred might, alongside the export businesses.

Re 1037. In case of any doubt, that piece is about the other Agriterra 'agriterra org'.

[the count of monte_cristo] 07/11/2013 20:12

Great links guys, all sounds positive. The business continues to grow strongly, once they get to the critical mass stages for the beef and cocoa businesses the company will be making profits hand over fist, IMHO, will take a while to get their though.

[freddie01] 07/11/2013 19:09

Agrifirm and Agriterra confirm joint partnership


Agrifirm and Agriterra join forces in order to further strengthen their position in the market and transfer knowledge to Asia and Africa.

Agrifirm and Agriterra confirm joint partnership
Agrifirm and Agriterra officially confirm their close partnership. Agriterra uses knowledge from Dutch agricultural organisations and the agricultural business sector to work on achieving economic progress in developing countries. Agrifirm is a specialist in enabling plants and animals achieve optimal performance. Agrifirm is going to transfer this knowledge to agricultural organisations and cooperatives in Africa and Asia via Agriterra.

Following an initial consulting assignment by Agrifirm employees at a dairy co-operative and compound feed company in Kenya, Agriterra and Agrifirm decided to intensify and formalise their partnership. Agriterra's projects typically involve livestock farming assignments and these projects are addressed by Agrifirm Feed, an Agrifirm subsidiary. The first project in 2013 was completed successfully. The goal is to complete four projects in 2014.
Agrifirm makes its knowledge in various areas, such as roughage, technology, nutrition, marketing/sales, HRM and management available to agricultural organisations and cooperatives in developing countries, via Agriterra.

In 2014, Agrifirm will have at least four employees carry out a consulting assignment for Agriterra and provide aftercare for its customers. If the experience continues to be positive, the number of assignments should grow in subsequent years.


hxxp://www.allaboutfeed.net/Process-Management/Management/2013/11/Agrifirm-and-Agriterra-confirm-joint-partnership-1404066W/

[freddie01] 07/11/2013 19:03

Agriterra sees boost from cocoa supply squeeze


Agriterra flagged the boost to its prospects from an "underlying change in the fundamentals" of the cocoa market even as it revealed its business in the bean had suffered an unpexected drop in revenues.

The African beef-to-corn processing group unveiled earnings of $20.9m for the year to the end of May, its first annual profit in nine attempts, and compared with a $6.22m loss the previous year.

However, the profit reflected a one-time $28m boost from the sale to Marathon Oil of Ethiopian oil assets dating from Agriterra's previous incarnation, as prospecting company White Nile.

Operating losses rose by 14.1% to $7.27m.

Transforming cocoa market

While declining to detail the losses, Agriterra acknowledged that its cocoa division "performed below our expectations", suffering a 3.4% loss to $3.13m in revenues, and with volumes weak in Sierra Leone, where it is based.

"The early rainy season crop has been poor, with only 200 tonnes purchased to date," the group said.

Nonetheless, Agriterra stood by its cocoa trading business, which will enable the group "to establish ourselves as a secure, sustainable and traceable source of cocoa supply in Sierra Leone", where it is developing plantation operations.

"Importantly, our investment case is aligned with the current global markets where... reduced cocoa bean production combined with strong processing grind figures, due to increased global demand for chocolate products, have resulted in an underlying change in the fundamentals and higher cocoa bean prices."

Price recovery

Cocoa futures two weeks ago hit a two-year high of $2,780 a tonne in New York, lifted by data showing resilient demand at a time when many analysts see production remaining constrained, opening up the potential for a succession of seasons of market shortfalls.

Cocoa, for which returns have been poor, and which sees a lag between high prices and a production response thanks to the time needed for trees to mature, competes with palm oil and rubber for land.

"Future pricing dynamics are extremely positive," Andrew Groves said.

'Margins to improve'

Market dynamics also appeared bright for the group's Mozambique-based beef business, given that "increasingly globalised tastes have seen a rise in meat demand".

Expanding the beef division's operations from feed to butcheries helped it more than double revenues to $2.2m.

"We see the main growth being achieved through the scaling of our beef operations in Mozambique and our cocoa division in Sierra Leone," Phil Edmonds, the group's chairman, and a former England cricket international, said.

Nonetheless, the Mozambique-based grain business was behind most of a 53% rise to $21.2m in group revenues, increasing its own sales by 63% to $15.8m, although it suffered a drop in margins.

However, "with strong demand and improved pricing, margins are anticipated to improve compared with 2013", the group said, trumpeting a "positive outlook" for the division.

'Undervalued and underappreciated'

In the City, broker Peat said that the results supported its viewed that Agriterra shares were "both considerably undervalued and underappreciated by the market".

Peat analyst John Beaumont said: "The update suggests that [Agriterra's] current trading in a number of areas is a little behind what we were expecting for the current year – either because of poor harvests, in the case of grain and cocoa, or because of timing issues in the case of beef.

"But, in our view, none of these issues are either structural or long-term in nature."

The results were well received by investors, who lifted Agriterra shares 8.6% to 2.40p at the close in London.


hxxp://www.agrimoney.com/news/agriterra-sees-boost-from-cocoa-supply-squeeze--6446.html