Mercantile Ports & Logis... Share Discussion Threads

[roydyor] 29/9/2017 14:20

Don't stop now, 10p by Christmas.

[mount teide] 29/9/2017 10:24

I probably like many would be only too pleased to see the bull case put forward by those still invested here or considering an investment.

Yet to see anything, especially since last October from ANYONE including the disingenuous self serving management.

How about a Three year P&L Projection from the new NON EXEC with Port Operations experience?

The last two UK NON EXECS appointed for their Port Operations experience were invited to do so on behalf of shareholders, following the dramatic increase in projected completion cost and huge downsizing of the terminal operation, post the venal £37m cash raise, and they went all shy and decided they would rather 'retire' and disappear off into the sunset to spend the £800k of shareholders funds they had banked between them as a result of presiding over a 98% fall in the share-price during the last 7 years.

If they had performed remotely similarly for a UK Port Company, their reputations would have been in tatters and they would have been replaced faster than Nikhil Gandhi running for a £1,000 a day white gloved butler serviced executive suite at the Taj Mahal on company expenses!

AIOHO/DYOR

[pj 1] 29/9/2017 09:52

op-If you don't like anyone's comments here then use the filter button. Over the years both bull and bear case have been well represented on this thread, with informative debate.

Why don't you offer a researched Bull case?

[old punter] 29/9/2017 09:43

WELL MT TEDIOUS OR don Quixote,the rise gives you a chance to sell short at whatyou think is a very inflated price,
empty vessels make most noise,give it a rest,no one is right forever ,and since it looks as if this is your whole lifes work find another windmill to blunt your lance on !

[dave4545] 29/9/2017 09:43

Full 9p to buy online could be heading for new range of 9-10p soon

[mount teide] 29/9/2017 09:37

Regardless of whether you have any understanding of this industry, it is simply amazing that people are still buying shares in a company run by a management of proven liars, and that some consider themselves as having been LUCKY to have done so!

Just goes to show how Madoff managed to get away with it for so long !

There are few things in life that are certain apart from death and taxes but, this company/hugely scaled back small terminal being a commercial and investment disaster is as certain as night following day for anyone who carries out DD worthy of the name.


AIOHO/DYOR

[dave4545] 29/9/2017 08:31

These directors have took a lot of size out from the mm's, you are lucky if you can buy more than 25k online. Chart looks promising.

[pj 1] 28/9/2017 18:47

lol. More drain on the NHS.

[mount teide] 28/9/2017 18:39

Simply window dressing to keep the Karanja gravy train on the rails for another 18 months or so.

The question shareholders should be asking is why did it take a 98% fall in the share-price and, a £37m cash raise at a 96% discount to the IPO price to keep the lights on, BEFORE ANY of the Executive management were willing to put their hands into their own pockets and buy a few shares?

We strongly suggest its linked to the decision secretly taken by this venal, self serving management in June 2016 to cease all land reclamation, jetty piling and channel dredging until they knew whether they had been successful in raising the additional £37m they were hoping to get their hands on.

Via a Placing and Open Offer for which they committed Fraud by False Representation on an industrial scale by publishing a Shareholders Circular that claimed work was progressing apace and without interruption, with the first berths expected to be complete by the end of the year and another 65 acres of land reclaimed by the end of Jan 2017 - since there was no work going on whatsoever, a fraud so outrageous, it would bring a smile to the face of Bernie Madoff.

The deceitful, underhand decision they secretly took in June 2016 to stop all construction work was to ensure that, if the £37m cash raise was unsuccessful they still had the option of massively scaling back the land rec/jetty and dredging to keep the lights on and gravy train running for another 18 months.

The cash raise has effectively given this venal management another £37m to 'spend' because, they decided to implement the massively scaled back terminal specification anyway!

As mentioned previously, if shareholders want to bring this investment debacle to a head, i would strongly urge you to crowd-fund the appointment of a Marine Civil Engineering Consultant to carrying out a cost analysis of the construction work completed to date and, prepare yourselves to be astounded by the outcome!

Health Warning - should you suffer from a heart condition or high blood pressure, it might not be wise to read the consultant's report if you're a shareholder, as we strongly believe the contents will defy all laws of physics by demonstrating the ability to instantaneously raise blood temperature to boiling point!


AIOHO/DYOR

[pj 1] 28/9/2017 17:06

I agree, currently these look like token purchases designed to prolong the illusion for as long as possible.

They have made me raise an eyebrow though.

[azalea] 28/9/2017 16:50

MT
With it taking only two years for the SFO to charge former bosses of Afren with fraud, there is hope for you yet.

[mount teide] 28/9/2017 16:30

MRF - The only thing i would add to that is: if they're lucky!

OP - as previously stated £25m - £30m max - the totally ludicrous £116m carrying value of Karnaja Port has more red flags than a Chinese Military Parade - for all the reasons stated since last October 2016, and in the 6 letters to the Nomad, AIM Regulation and SFO!

New management? How the Executive Chairman and CEO are still in their posts after taking the share-price from 250p to 8p, and then having to raise £37m in an emergency placing to keep the lights on, at a 96% discount to the Imo price, for what is a straightforward marine real estate development simply beggars belief.

'do you also think lord FLIGHT KNOWS NOTHING?'

With regard to the ports and shipping industry - our noble Lord Flight has already demonstrated his 'expertise' by claiming that Jay was doing such a good job overseeing the build out at Karanja while the Exec Chairman and CEO were busy running their other outside business interests and starting up new ones, he recommended Jay for promotion to the board!

In any other Port Operating company, the entire management board would have been dismissed many years ago for gross negligence and reckless dereliction of duty!


AIOHO/DYOR

[old punter] 28/9/2017 16:26

IF AS YOU LOT SAY THEY ARE ALL CROOKS,IS IT NOT POSSIBLE THAT AS THE BOARD ARE BUYING REASONABLE NUMBERS OF SHARES THEY KNOW SOMETHING YOU DONT KNOW,ARE THEY INSIDERS AWARE OF WHAT MAY BE HAPPENING.
ARE YOU SHORT OF THE SHARES OR JUST A BITTER HOLDER ?

[fft] 28/9/2017 16:21

Even Pavan has joined in ! He has finally spent some of his own money on shares. First time ever ! Ok, its only 20K and his travel allowance is many multiples of that, let alone his salary, and his work for other companies based in India.

Wonder who they are trying to impress ? All these little director buys. If they spent 100k GBP it might do a little bit of impressing, but this seems almost trying to persuade someone that things are really ok and the plug shouldn't be pulled.

[old punter] 28/9/2017 15:12

do you also think lord FLIGHT KNOWS NOTHING ?

[old punter] 28/9/2017 15:10

ok super bear mt tedious,do you not value work done till now at nothing ?

[mount teide] 27/9/2017 00:42

MRF - 'forensicly examine the accounts' - indeed, suggested that to one of the largest II's who has the clout to throw his weight around - he simply did not want to rock the boat.

There was little interest whatsoever to do anything to hold the management to account - even though they knew the management had been caught out lying well before the £37m cash raise.

Sadly, it probably says more about them, as its behaviour that smacks of putting the protection of their professional reputation above all else including the investors cash they have been entrusted to look after.


We suggested to the SFO that this should be a relatively straightforward case to investigate and the place to start would be find out where most of the circa £44m that was 'spent' before any on-site land reclamation work began.

In particular where the circa £17m of bank debt that was quietly drawn down and 'spent' in H2/2014 with no reference in the Interims at the time other than an interest payment liability falling within 12 months buried away deep within the Accounts. The reality is that only a small fraction of that circa £44m should have been spent up to Nov 2014. So, checking who were the recipients of all the major payments made prior to November 2014, would likely prove an Aladdin's Cave in terms of the riches it unearthed.

The Interim Finance Director loaned to SPl from sister company SKIL for a few month pre and post Admission but who incredibly went on to stay in an interim capacity for another 7 years, would have been in office at the time.

Admission Document;
'Jigar Shah (Interim Finance Director, 33). Jigar is a qualified chartered accountant and an Indian resident. Jigar is the President of Finance of SKIL and has overall responsibility for a number of core matters, including fundraising for the SKIL Group, planning equity issues, regulatory matters and shareholder relations. Jigar has been directly involved with a number of SKIL’s major infrastructure projects, including Pipavav Port, Pipavav Railway and Pipavav Shipyard. He has been with the SKIL Group since 1998. Prior to that, Jigar was employed by a firm of chartered accountants in India.

In the months following Admission, as the Company moves towards its operational phase, it is intended that the Company will appoint a suitably qualified successor to Mr Shah.'


AIOHO/DYOR

[my retirement fund] 26/9/2017 22:19

MT wouldn't it be something to be able to forensicly examine the accounts ? Wouldn't it be fantastic to be able to see just where an earth and how they have managed to drain away all of the millions ?

[mount teide] 26/9/2017 20:51

It has taken two years but two former bosses of Afren (AFR) will tomorrow be charged with fraud.

Well done the Serious Fraud Office!





The boss of the SFO said in September 2016:

By statute I can only open a criminal investigation if I have reasonable grounds to suspect an offence of serious or complex fraud or bribery. In all cases, our intelligence section (comprising lawyers, investigators and analysts, in which we have made significant investment) will take the necessary time to dig into the facts and produce an evaluation. This pre-investigation phase is vital, and we don’t supply running commentaries.

We do not announce new investigations unless a company, for instance, has to inform the market or there is some other good reason, such as encouraging witnesses to come forward. Those we have announced include Airbus, Soma Oil, UnaOil and Quindell.

[mount teide] 26/9/2017 16:33

'You can always hire a Pilot lol'

Best and funniest comment on here for months!

[mount teide] 26/9/2017 16:31

Scam Ports and Logistics Plc.

On reflection why did this venal management in our opinion blatantly commit fraud by false representation with the Shareholders Circular to raise £37m? - by claiming that construction work was progressing apace and the first berths would be complete by the end of 2016 and another 65 acres of land reclaimed by the end of Jan 2017; when in fact they probably spent most of it sitting around with their feet up for much of the 6 months since no Land Reclamation or Berth Piling was going on whatsoever throughout H2/2016.

With the benefit of hindsight that's now easy to answer. If they had continued with the land reclamation and berth piling they would, as stated in the Shareholders Circular, run out of money by the end of Q1/2017. So if they failed to raise the £37m (hence the use of desperate, utterly preposterous construction progress targets in the Shareholders Circular), the game would be up and the seven year shareholder funded luxury lifestyle for the executive management and the huge Nomad fees would come to an abrupt end.

By stopping all Land reclamation work and berth piling shortly after mid June 2016, it meant the best part of £19m of cash and £21m headroom in the bank loan was still available to 'spend' thereby allowing the 7 year gravy train to extend well beyond Q1/2017, by dramatically reducing the jetty length, total land reclamation and channel dredging as a result of a lack of funds but, retaining sufficient to keep plundering, err sorry the gravy train rolling for another 18 months or so.


AIOHO/DYOR

Edit - the fall back position was so financially attractive to this venal management, they decided to implement it anyway despite raising the £37m from clueless II's who carried out no due diligence worthy of the name.

[pj 1] 26/9/2017 16:17

You can always hire a Pilot lol

[dave4545] 26/9/2017 16:15

Yes I agree.

Guess what though. When I sell I might have a parting shot and say why or say things have changed but I do not post it 500 times a year. Time to move on. If it gets suspended you can all return and pat yourselves on the back.

This is not the easiest stocks to research and it's not down the road to pay a visit.