Mercantile Ports & Logis... Share Discussion Threads

[waterloo01] 23/4/2019 16:19

Google earth updated. Latest is 9th March. Absolutely no surprises at all. Actually nothing has changed and nothing is going on. Shocking.

Anyone know how to cut and paste image?

[mount teide] 12/4/2019 11:42

JNPT - Container Terminal 4 was built in 2 years 5 months and is located just 5 miles away from Karanja. It comprises:

1,000m of fixed quay capable of handling the largest generation of deep sea container ships, 225 acres of paved heavy duty container storage operated by railed gantry cranes and a one kilometre rail/container handling facility.



Karanja Port is now its 6th year of 'construction' and the land reclamation is still not even half complete despite the management and NOMAD telling shareholders the $37m raised in November 2016 was to ensure the 200 acres of land to be reclaimed was completed in one go to avoid being in breach of the IPO Admission Document.

The rest as they say history and sadly for shareholders has unfolded exactly as we predicted in November 2016 - although even we thought the convicted criminal running the company would never be able to pull yet another $30m plus scam on II's.


AIOHO/DYOR

[diku] 02/4/2019 22:48

The first boat to dock will be by a fisherman...

[mount teide] 28/3/2019 07:47

First barge video - what should concern investors is the distinct possibility it was nothing more than a stunt - 'stage managed' - the video shows a public road going vehicle and trailer on the jetty getting loaded with cargo discharged from a barge, following which it is driven straight out of the terminal - there is no footage/evidence to suggest ANY of the cargo was landed into storage at the port.

Industry fact - 99.999% of all break bulk and container cargo handled at ports from ships/barges is first landed into storage at the port, prior to collection by the cargo shippers/owners.


The behaviour of the executive Board since the 2010 IPO together with the catastrophic 99% collapse in the share-price for what is a straight forward real estate construction project - adds considerable weight to the concern raised by some with long port and shipping industry senior management experience who have researched the company, not to discount that it could be a deliberate and well planned financial fraud designed to rip off Institutional and retail investors.

As an industry colleague suggested, the way for the Board to deal with this is obvious(it was pointed out years ago to the largest II's) - they should, with immediate effect, appoint an independent Marine Civil Engineering consultancy to carry out a build cost analysis of the project construction/dredging work carried out to date and make the full report available to the market.

AIOHO/DYOR

[escapetohome] 27/3/2019 14:57

Ps. I might add, there are plenty in developped countries , that will readily accept the money you wish to throw at them.

[escapetohome] 27/3/2019 14:56

This is indicative of central banks just printing money. Money has no value and can be created with a touch of a button.

People really do just want to throw money away.

Its happening.

[mount teide] 27/3/2019 14:40

Health and Wealth Warning!

Mercantile Ports and Logistics (MPL)

MPL Institutional shareholders and retail investors suffering from heart illness or high blood pressure should not read any further since the rest of this post will likely prove that the 'management' of MPL has found a way(other than by issuing a RNS 'progress' update) of defying all known laws of physics, by demonstrating that its possible to instantaneously raise shareholders blood temperature to boiling point and make them shout out loud and stamp their feet!


What does a new deep sea container terminal with a build cost of £200m (what MPL has raised in cash and debt to date) look like?

Look across the Arabian Sea from Karanja and you will see Cosco's recently opened new deep sea container port in Abu Dhabi. It comprises 175 acres of open container storage strengthened for 5 high stacking built on reclaimed land, 800 metres of fixed quay with a water depth alongside of 20 metres capable of handling the largest deep sea container vessels currently afloat - ships so large they can only be handled at a handful of European container ports.

A further 600m of quay taking the total up to 1,400 metres, capable of handling 3 of the largest 400 metre ships together is due for completion next year, and will take the total cost to just £300 million. This will provide the terminal with the ability to handles 3.5 million containers per year - circa 60 million tonnes of cargo.




For one of the most sobering and eyewatering experiences of the risks of an AIM investment for those that fail to carry out research worthy of the name (even if you're not a shareholder), compare Cosco's new port with the latest Google earth image of Karanja Port with its circa £150 million and counting management claimed carrying value!


Its pleasing that at least the Indian banks who provided a £50 million loan facility to MPL are looking after their shareholders interests by stopping any further drawdown of the loan at £30m - what we have long considered to be at the top end of the construction cost to date - and have a lien over the asset.

[mount teide] 23/3/2019 20:18

hbruss - thanks - that was hilarious ! Sounds like he has some extremely foolish clients who are up to their necks in MPL toilet paper and are desperately looking for a way out.

Russ Mould of AJ Bell starts by saying this is not an investment for widows and orphans - certainly agree with him on that!
99% down since IPO after raising cash and loans of nearly 4 times the winning tender offer to build the entire port tells its own story!

He then goes on to say this company needs to be CAREFULLY RESEARCHED BEFORE considering an investment. Impeccable advice considering the company is being run by shysters with criminal records .

This 30 year 'veteran' of the City then regales us with examples of his careful 'research':

"The port development is now finished!" Lol!

"It's through construction" lol!

Clueless, totally clueless!

Not even the Nomad representative masquerading as MPL's defence counsel would have the nerve to suggest anything remotely like that!

FINISHED????- AIM's greatest ever work of fiction: the MPL Shareholders Circular to raise £37m in November 2017 said the land reclamation and port development would be complete by Q2/2017 if only you give us another £37 million. Clueless Institutional Investors did just that against better advice and what did they get for their £37m and another £30 odd million more since?

Some two and a half years later just 15 acres have been added to the 75 acres previously reclaimed to make total of 90 acres of the 200 acres port development. So the reclamation is not even half finished. Of the 90 acres reclaimed - barely 30 acres has been part developed and of this just 8-10 acres paved for open storage. The other 60 acres currently resembles a paddy field with 3ft high dense green foliage everywhere - a magnet for deadly cobra's, viper's and kraits(hope the port has good insurance!)

The weather affected lightweight jetty has seen just 50metres more completed and still has a further 50 metres yet to go. Since the equipment to carry out this work is no longer on site we presume that it is not going to happen any time soon.

All i can say to Russ Mould is what i said to the largest two shareholders in November 2016 - carry out some research worthy of the name! Sadly, for their investors the rest is history.

ps:
Russ, ask MPL when they are going to start the land reclamation for the 100 acre logistics park that the executive chairman told the market to expect first revenue from by the end of 2014. As an example of misleading the market goes, that is in a class of its own with daylight second!

AIOHO/DYOR

[homebrewruss] 22/3/2019 14:14

Blimey MPL mentioned on the vox markets podcast from 42 minutes:


hopefully no-one else gets taken in by the story.

[mount teide] 21/3/2019 09:38

Saucepan - I've held off but it might well be wroth a try - thanks.

[mount teide] 20/3/2019 17:43

Mercantile Ports & Logistics

First draft of our next letter to the Company(they never reply), the Nomad's Chief Counsel(they never reply) and Aim Regulation(they only acknowledge receipt) - any comments welcomed.


Dear Sir,

Further to our seven previous letters on a range of subjects strongly suggesting Fraud by False Representation may have been repeatedly carried out by the Company via its statements to the market, we feel its worth revisiting what was said by the Company and NOMAD representative way back in November 2016 when MPL published what we predicted at the time would prove to be one of AIM's greatest ever works of fiction to raise £37m from clueless II's who were already 96% down from IPO - the passage of time in fact proved that we UNDERESTIMATED the 'quality' of the document for it is surely AIM's greatest fictional work of the last decade with daylight second!

The company boldly stated the reason they needed further funds was because of greater than anticipated settlement of the material used for the port land reclamation work, resulting in more material being needed that budgeted for to complete the 200 acre port development project.

The three dimensional shape of the land reclamation from the foreshore high water mark out to where the fixed heavy duty all-weather quay ( ah those were the days - there's nothing like a little nostalgia! - Since replaced by a cheap, lightweight jetty design), was going to be built in 5-6 metres of water at spring high tide - is basically a triangular prism(wedge). The material required to complete the last third out to the quay approximately equals that used to reclaim the first two thirds.

To date, around 90 acres has been reclaimed - all in the first two thirds of the 'wedge' and around 10 acres of additional material is currently being used for surcharging purposes(never mind that it has currently got 3 foot of foliage growing out of it, as has the other 60 acres yet to undergo any form of civil engineering work to enable it to be used for open storage.

So, the amount of material used to date compared to the original figure budgeted in the 200 acre development plan will be:

* Reduced 50% since only material for 100 acres has been used
* Reduced a further 50% since only the shallow first two thirds of the wedge has been reclaimed.

Therefore, to date they will have deployed at best 25% of the material originally budgeted for in the 200 acre development - and now advise the market they have stopped any further 'expensive' land reclamation work, though not before raising yet another £30 odd million. The only people for who the land reclamation work has proved hugely expensive to date is the shareholders - as the management is claiming the work completed to date has a £130 million to £150 million carrying value for a port development project that was won with a £57 million marine civil engineering tender to build the entire 200 acres port development!

Now, we get on to the NOMAD's representative, more commonly known in MPL investors circles, as MPL's defence counsel - he stated that 'as soon as the MPL Board realised they did not have sufficient funds to develop the whole 200 acres of land reclamation in one go, i had to advise them they would need to notify the market and raise additional funds, otherwise they would be in breach of the IPO Admission Document"

Some two and half years later the market is told by the Board all reclamation work has now ceased, on the grounds they have enough land to be getting on with. In that time they have reclaimed just a further 15 acres of the final 110 acres that the market was told to expect completion of by the end of Q2/2017, via AIM's Greatest Work of Fiction more commonly known as the MPL November 2016 Shareholders Circular to raise £37 million from II's, since increased to £70 million via a further placing at a 99% discount to the IPO price.

Sadly, any investor foolish enough to act on the Company's market statements by trying to catch the MPL falling knife has found to their horror that the management has welded it to a three tonne anvil!

An old friend, also a Master Mariner and now a leading Shipping & Maritime Law Barrister with Norton Rose in the City, believes shareholders have a potentially excellent case for bringing a legal action to recover their losses.

What do you think?

AIOHO/DYOR

[pj 1] 18/3/2019 09:20

👍🤣

[mount teide] 18/3/2019 09:16

pj1 - why erect a perimeter security fence around the other 60 acres some 2 years after it was reclaimed,(when 110 more acres are still yet to be reclaimed), particularly since it cannot be used even for open storage until 6-9 months of ground improvement and paving work has been carried out.

Suggests they are struggling to find even low value, ultra low revenue cargo to fill an area one 7th the size of the 200 acre development that the original cargo port throughput, revenue and profit(lol! - this scam will NEVER produce any of that) projections given to the market, were based on at a fraction of the capital build cost.

Don't forget the new CEO who has been responsible for overseeing the construction of this massive scam, told shareholders in late 2017 to expect 1,000,000 tonnes of cargo throughput during 2018! We said it would probably be zero or very close to it - actual result: ZERO tonnes.

As they had apparently run out of money again despite doing virtually no additional construction work since raising the previous £37m, and would need to wait until they had retuned from their annual shareholder funded 6 month monsoon season holiday(now in its ninth year) in 2018, before they could tap clueless London II's for another £30 odd million, which will not be used for land reclamation to build the 100 acre logistics park, from which the Executive Chairman previously told the market to expect first revenues from by the end of 2014, but to continue feathering the Excective Board's nests.

There again, the situation is entirely predictable, when you have a new CEO and executive Board with no senior management experience of running small port terminals, never mind building and running 200 acre ports, and a white collar criminal masquerading as the executive Chairman with a rap sheet with includes criminal convictions for carrying out a massive insider trading scam , and a previous CEO(who shareholders are still paying for since he has not left the company), who recently 'stepped down' after being arrested and charged by US Law Enforcement for carrying out a $200m securities fraud in the USA.

Is it any wonder that an investment in a company run by the Mumbai Mafia has resulted in a 99% wipeout of investors retirement funds post IPO for what is a straightforward real estate project?

I understand there is no truth in the rumour sweeping the Mumbai business district that the Mumbai Taj Mahal white gloved butlers were paid with shareholders funds to provide freelance services for the grandees at the Inauguration of the Port and non-existent Logistics facility!

Ps Credit must go to the Indian banks who have a lien over the assets, and stopped all further drawdown of the £50m loan at £30m - a figure we consider to be at the top end of the range for the actual cost of the asset development to date - rather than the management's completely outrageous claim of £130m - £150m!

AIOHO/DYOR

[pj 1] 17/3/2019 21:16

If I refer to photos 2 bottom left, 4 left and 6 right, why does the perimeter security fencing not
enclose the whole (to date reclaimed)site?

[diku] 16/3/2019 23:47

Looking at the photo in post 1411 the sea/river level and the ground level looks the same...if ever there was a tsunami wave in the region would it be under water?...photo looks nicely staged Bollywood style...

What is that building on the right?...

[escapetohome] 13/3/2019 21:34

Hilarious MT, it just conjures all up these hangers on , a long chain of white gloved hands outstreched all obtaining easy money, completely abhorrent ethically to us , but absolutely viable especially when the investors are from an ex ruling power and all the colonial history many moons ago. Its completly justifiable to them, legitimate even.

[pj 1] 13/3/2019 20:20

The photos also failed to show the local fishing boats moored to the left hand side when looking out to sea, as clearly evidenced on the last google earth scan.

Why is nothing being dredged?

[mount teide] 13/3/2019 19:44

etoh - the Taj Mahal and its white glove butlers were said to be high-fiving each other on hearing the news that another £30 odd million of UK retirement funds were going to be sunk into the ground at Karanja.

Most is likely to be 'spent' in exactly the same way as the previous £110 million raised via the AIM Casino!

[escapetohome] 13/3/2019 17:58

What is the strategy here , are they going to run this into the ground, only for vested interested associates to pick up the pieces?

Win win winn, hundreds of millions.

Win on fund raisings and win on the chelap assets they picck up out of bankruptcy is myguess?

[escapetohome] 13/3/2019 15:15

Jeepers £50 m mkt cap, thats very very high.

[phowdo] 13/3/2019 09:26

Definitely looks finished...

[waterloo01] 13/3/2019 09:06

Pictures up on website....... still looks a shell but make much of the 1st ship to unload (barge actually). Won't even cover the cost of making the video. Well with market cap of £50m and heavens knows how much debt....