Bateman Engineering Share Discussion Threads

[sahara] 23/3/2006 10:29

I have switched some profits out of the resource sector to get exposure here.

Although I am still +ive on the miners I feel that the costs are starting to pile up, along with some very large amounts of money that has been built up in the sector, (from funds and the like)could mean we are in for a volatile spell while some rotation occurs...and where better to reap the rewards of the commodity bull than here??

Another nice contract win too.

S.

[edjgee] 23/3/2006 09:11

Recently got interested in this, see they've won a chinese job now. Just hope they're resourced for that. FSL got it right on a few already.

[hearhear] 13/3/2006 15:28

Well that's remarkably fortunate timing to be able to announce another contract at lunchtime!

They need to get a grip on their PR though so this stuff gets picked up on the wires because probably no one has noticed. Or is this a confirmation announcement?

Been reading through their stuff today in spare moments. Must say it looks mightily impressive. As does the fact that when it dipped for the placing, hardly anyone seemed remotely bothered - the selling was negligible. I hadn't heard of it until last week, but it looks like it will get quite well known given its contract record and current growth.

Anyway that's all from me here. Good luck.

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 10:48

hearhear,

thanks for info

[hearhear] 13/3/2006 10:43

Sure. FYI they are anticipating a 40%+ rise, largely based on contracts already in place but not yet filtering through onto the books due to either date or conservative accounting policies (ie PE is misleadingly overstated at present), with this further underpinned by likely new orders as well due to obvious underlying minerals trends towards production expansion. Looks interesting.

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 09:31

hearhear,

I never described FSL as grubby.

- it was just meant as a lighthearted comment about tipsheets in general and made before dave told me who was tipping this.

not being a subscriber to FSL, I can't comment further

[hearhear] 13/3/2006 09:14

Don't think you can reasonably describe FSL as 'grubby'. It has a big following and is quite influential generally because it has a consistently good record. It has provided a fairly thorough review. If the share price hadn't jumped so quickly in anticipation there would have been a lot more buying. Buying this morning was small by FSL standards so there's more out there watching now.

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 09:09

should see a further tick up this morning

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 08:38

dave,

thnx !

[davemake] 13/3/2006 08:35

11th March -Fleet Street Newsletter - good review of this company

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 08:28

.....it's usually some grubby tip sheet and nobody let's on - anyway not complaining

[gardenboy] 13/3/2006 08:25

very heavy buying - where has this been tipped or is it just the IC effect ?

[penpont] 11/3/2006 19:22

Bateman's results were reviewed in this week's IC, and the company was rated 'good value'

Conclusion is:

'Few companies have Batemans technical expertise in its field, and prospects look well underpinned by the significant number of mining projects due to be set up in the next few years. On a forecast of 12x for 06/7 the shares are good value'

The article says that housebroker Numis forecasts eps of 17.7 for this and 28p for next year. That is obviously excellent growth and if it can be maintained (even at half that rate) the shares still have a good way to go IMO. I'd say a rating of more like 15x would be in order and even that looks low. So a price approaching 450p doesn't look unattainable on say a 12 mth view.

[gardenboy] 10/3/2006 08:56

Placing of Bateman Engineering NV ordinary shares by Global Minerals BV



Bateman Engineering NV has been notified by its main shareholder Global Minerals
BV (Global Minerals) that it has placed four million (4,000,000) ordinary shares
in Bateman with institutional shareholders at 320p per share. This transaction
is a reflection of strong institutional demand by investors.



The placing was carried out through Numis Securities Ltd.



The Global Minerals shareholding in Bateman has now been reduced from 80% of the
issued equity to 69%.



As a result of this transaction the free float in Bateman rises from 20% to 31%
of the issued undiluted share capital.

[gardenboy] 02/3/2006 21:50

Lump-sum turnkey lifts Bateman sky high
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A concentration on lump-sum turnkey business lifted the profits of newly-listed Bateman Engineering sky high.

The profit-before-tax position of the technology-driven engineering project house, giving its maiden results as a member of the London Stock Exchange's AIM, rose astronomically by 104% to $6,6-million in the six months to December.

Bateman CEO Dr Sivi Gounden told Mining Weekly Online today during a break in a road show in Scotland that strong risk management coupled to the implementation of a lump-sum turnkey business model had dramatically improved margins.

Such a model was not applied willy-nilly, but selectively to clients with whom the company had a more risk-averse engineering procurement construction management (EPCM) track record.

"We would never implement a lump-sum turnkey project in areas where we are unfamiliar with the technology and where we had not been active on an EPCM basis historically," he said.

There was also a careful selection of subcontractors, who shared risk.

Revenue had gone up 48% compared to the half-year of 2004 and gross profits many fold mainly as the result of changing the contractual model.

The higher margins had released the company from being a slave to revenue and a core team had been put together that was now in a position to take on projects with a larger collective revenue than had been the case.

The project management component of what was formerly a classic engineering design house had been augmented to enhance risk management.

Gounden said that Bateman's multi-disciplinary project management capability had been built upon successfully.

The company had gone on an aggressive globalisation drive and had taken the bold step of moving East to get away from some of the human-resources and supply constraints of the West.

As a consequence, the company was at an advanced stage of opening at office in India, where there was a large pool of highly-trained engineers into which the company could plug.

China and India were also being pursued for the alternative supply of components and systems.

Concurrently, the company was also developing longer-term resource pools in South Africa and Australia.

The company had bases in South Africa, Australia, Russia and Botswana and there were plans afoot for the establishment of Bateman Angola. There were also cooperative offices in Europe and a technology-focused presence in Vancouver.

Most prospects were on the African continent in Botswana, Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, primarily in gold, copper and cobalt.

Significant opportunities were also breaking in the former Soviet Union, while Australia was being viewed as a resurgent market.

"We are happy to be appointed to build a coal-washing plant for BHP Billiton in Australia and are re-entering that market under the noses of our Australian competitors," Gounden enthused.

With the current world energy crises, new emphasis was being placed on coal opportunities and, while Bateman's coal capability had remained dormant in pursuance of other lucrative opportunities, it had strategically decided to re-enter the fray and was also looking into uranium opportunities.

To that end, Bateman had become smx Uranium One's technical partner to develop its uranium prospects in South Africa. The successful flotation of Bateman on AIM market in October 2005 and the successful raising of $22-million in new cash were 'milestones' in the development of the company. The period under review had been characterised by increased business activity and substantially improved profitability compared to the first half of the previous year. The gross profit margin was 11,4% of revenue versus the 8% of last year

Creamers Mining Weekly

[gardenboy] 27/2/2006 08:22

decent buying after the Market Miscellany tip

[gardenboy] 26/2/2006 09:55

It's worth looking at IFL (39p) - Bateman have the contract to design and build the new ferrochrome plant - Numis has a price target of 213p

[lundhousegreen] 26/2/2006 08:32

Good tip in the Sunday Telegraph today....

Bateman

Bateman Engineering (316.5p) specialises in providing services to the mining and oil extraction industries, which are experiencing boom times as a result of high prices for natural resources. Bateman listed on Aim in October last year at 200p, and the shares have risen strongly since then.

The company reports its interim results on Wednesday, with analysts expecting encouraging figures and a bullish statement on prospects for 2006.

Bateman's clients include most of the major mining houses such as De Beers, Anglo American, BHP and Rio Tinto. The company has also announced two big new deals, one of which relates to Lumwana in Zambia, which will become Africa's largest copper mine. That contract alone is expected to have a value equivalent to half of last year's turnover.

Numis, the house broker, has a price target of 383p for Bateman and other analysts may upgrade their forecasts after this week's results. Buy.

[beaudelaire] 17/1/2006 07:36

Better to have a quiet BB than to attract all sort of dross around here.
I wish the spread in the share price was tighter though.

[affc21] 16/1/2006 18:59

beaudelaire,it may be a quiet BB thread,but at least we can see that the share price has not been ramped up.

[affc21] 16/1/2006 18:56

All Africa.com

Bateman Lands Big Zambian Project

Business Day (Johannesburg)

January 16, 2006
Posted to the web January 16, 2006

Carli Lourens
Johannesburg

BATEMAN Engineering, which listed on London's Alternative Investment Market in October, and a partner company have won a contract worth R1,2bn to develop a copper processing plant in Zambia.

Bateman, which is a large mining engineering company previously listed in SA, has notched up a market capitalisation of £99m since its listing in London.

The $200m copper project was worth "at least $100m" to Bateman, the company said last week. This would provide a substantial boost to the company's revenue, which came to $215m last year.

Bateman's partner in the project is Australian engineering group Ausenco, which is listed in Toronto and Australia.

The two groups have been working together on large projects in the past.

Equinox Minerals confirmed last week that it had awarded the contract jointly to the two companies, although details had yet to be finalised.

Bateman said the Zambian contract was strategically important.

Chief financial officer Jonathan Ben-Cnaan said that it would raise Bateman's profile in what was an important target market for the group.

Bateman, led by SA's former public enterprises director-general Sivi Gounden, said work would start immediately with detailed engineering of the project.

The processing plant at Equinox's Lumwana copper project would treat about 20-million tons a year of ore to produce copper concentrate equivalent to 188000 tons of copper a year.

Equinox said the award of the contract represented another step towards its objective of becoming a significant mid-tier copper producer. Bateman delisted from the JSE after it was sold to a private consortium including Benny Steinmetz about four years ago.

The consortium, Global Minerals Group, registered Bateman in the Netherlands.

The company listed to expand through acquisitions and to increase bond facilities, among other reasons.



The company's revenue climbed 33% to $215m in the year to June. Profit after tax leapt 619% to $6,4m.

Most of Bateman's activity remains in southern Africa.

[beaudelaire] 16/1/2006 17:03

A good surge but a bit quiet -

[affc21] 15/1/2006 19:16

Creemer Media's Mining Weekly:

Bateman awarded stake in $200m Zambian copper project
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Project house Bateman has announced that it has been awarded a mining engineering contract in joint venture with Ausenco, an Australian based engineering group by Equinox Minerals.

The final contract is subject to certain conditions leading up to agreement of an Engineering Procurement and Construction price not later than May 31.

The contract, estimated to be worth in excess of $200 million in about equal proportions to the two joint venture partners, and expected to run over 16 months, is for the implementation phase of the Lumwana Copper Project in Zambia.

Equinox is an international mineral exploration and development company with a focus on base and precious metals and is listed on both the Toronto and Sydney stock exchanges.

The joint venture participants comprise the same team that was awarded the 2005 Australian Engineering Excellence Award by the Australian Government for the successful completion of the design, construction and commissioning of the Sepon Copper Project in Laos for Oxiana.

Work will start immediately with detail engineering of the project.

The envisaged processing plant will treat 20-million tons per annum of ore to initially produce copper concentrate equivalent to 188 000 t copper per annum. Meanwhile, Bateman will announce interim results for the six months ended December 31, 2005 on March 1, when it is expected to confirm satisfactory trading during the period.

Commenting on the contract award, Bateman CFO Jonathan Ben-Cnaan, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded this major project on the Zambian copper belt. The contract will raise Bateman's profile in an important and key target market for the Group."

Pieter du Plessis, Bateman MD of Minerals and Metals commented: "Lumwana is a significant turn key contract for Bateman. We will be deploying core areas of expertise including procurement, construction and project management underpinned by our technology-driven focus."

Commenting on the contract award, Craig Williams, president and CEO of Equinox said: "Bateman and Ausenco have the critical technical expertise and African experience necessary to implement the Lumwana Project.

"The EPC contract will represent one of the last remaining key milestones required to complete project financing and Equinox looks forward to working with the Ausenco - Bateman team through project development."

[beaudelaire] 15/1/2006 12:16

I find BATE interesting as it is very well exposed to mining, oil & gas
industries at the same time and has many years experience in the field.
I will wait till the share price retraces a bit to get in -
It rose too quickly as the chart clearly shows.
SP could get a slight correction to around 280p's area.
In the meantime I'l keep it in my radar till the results.
Another new comer in the area is PFC -
Rose recently after an excellent update.
Could go further though but not without any retracement.
This is good medium/long term company to have in a portfolio.
DYOR -