Ocean Wilsons (holdings)... Share Discussion Threads

[livingstone20] 12/11/2020 11:44

I don’t think their Investor Relations do them any favours and contribute to the massive discount to NAV. If they simply reported the Wilson, investment portfolio and total NAV each quarter then the discount would narrow. At the moment it is so complex that you have to build your own Excel. Whenever I raise this to their IR team I get no reply.

Now that I am fully in I think I will up my efforts on this with IR, management team and advisers.

I can’t understand why they make almost no effort to narrow the discount and avoid providing the key Nav data point. A regular investment trust provides Nav daily whereas they now tuck it away once a year.

Some collective efforts on that point may help anyone invested!

[jane deer] 12/11/2020 10:18

If Wilson and Sons pays out a regular 54 cent dividend in the spring for FY20 (and its recent reinstatement of the full dividend 54 cents for FY2019 must be a sign of confidence), then presumably OCN will pay out another 70 cent dividend in June. If that were to happen, current shareholders will receive back $1.10 (40c in Dec plus 70c in June) or 12% of the current share price in the next 7 months.

[dozey3] 12/11/2020 09:49

What’s more it is a hedge against Sterling which should perhaps be a feature of any diversified portfolio pre Brexit.

[livingstone20] 12/11/2020 08:42

By my reading of quarterly this now yields 8 per cent, with NAV in excess of 13 pounds at 31/10 before vaccine surge. Either it goes up or you get paid a great yield to wait until it goes up.

[essentialinvestor] 11/11/2020 15:39

Bought 1,000 shares.

[livingstone20] 10/11/2020 22:38

Hi Puku, Quarterly results imminent. Looks like would be Thursday. Share price of their main Brazilian asset Wilson Sons has risen by 50 per cent + from 27 to 44 since last valuation stated in May. Currency has depreciated which offsets some of this but I still calculate approx 15 pound Nav. Interim August report didn’t include a Nav though. Fingers crossed that this week’s does!

[jbfnfn] 10/11/2020 16:41

The Brazilian Real is still close to all time lows against the dollar. Hence any assets priced in Reals (OCN and the large OCN holding in HAN) are going to be low.

There has been a bit of an uptick in the Real since the US election, maybe the market is anticipating a US stimulus where the dollar might weaken, or maybe the Brazilian central bank is wasting it's foreign exchange in the FX market.

[essentialinvestor] 10/11/2020 16:10

Why has HAN been so week recently?.

[puku] 10/11/2020 16:01

Hi Livingstone - what Results ? Interims for June were out in August

[livingstone20] 09/11/2020 20:04

By my calculation the Net Asset Value has today gone over 15 pounds, thus the share price of only £6.40 is at a whopping 60%+ discount.

With results due Wednesday and hopefully a confirmation of the 15 pound NAV, there must be a chance of a long overdue move up??!

Plus still the potential of a port/s sale, Chinese interest and potential special dividend perhaps?

Thoughts? It seems quite quiet on here!

[piedro] 28/10/2020 11:05

Good news ...

[aracaju] 09/8/2020 17:36

I have heard that the French shipping company CMA CGM and state-owned China Merchants are having talks with the Salomon family.

[galeforce1] 13/3/2020 14:54

I agree that the Salomons have a cosy arrangement here, taking a large annual fee to manage the cash pile rather badly.
But they also have alot of capital tied up here, and perhaps they will want to realise OCN's full value at some point in the not too distant future. This is what tends to happen in family controlled investment trusts that trade at a big discount. Like El Oro recently. Here we have a double discount situation, with OCN at a discount and Hansa at a bigger discount.
LOTM - spelling 'their' as 'there' is not good!

[varies] 13/3/2020 09:45

It would have been helpful to provide a current valuation of the portfolio.
Having myself failed to sell much of my portfolio before the crash I don't feel I can endorse LotM's indictment of the fund managers here. Let us hope that they have followed what has proved the right course.
China looks set to recover from this virus long before we do and ironically may emerge even stronger relative to the rest of the world.

[last of the mohicans] 13/3/2020 03:19

Well the share price is nearly back to where it was in 2006 or 2008 which is a rather sobering thought.

Even more so given the directors complacency about the company's total under-performance since 2011 onwards and them living on past performance from the 2003-11 period.

So given the directors positions plus those of there children and grandchildren in Hansa Asset Management, which Ocean Wilson ordinary shareholders have been paying millions of dollars to in fees for many years now. It will be interesting to see to if any of it has been worthwhile?

Any top fund manager would have been reducing there "Long" or normal equity positions drastically last week. Leaving the "Short's" in place (obviously it would be difficult for them to do anything with the Private Equity portfolio)

So have they done that or have they just sat still asleep at the wheel while ten's of million's of dollars were wiped off the portfolio valuation?

If they have then its time for a shareholder revolt to take place

LOTM

[piedro] 14/1/2020 08:19

Translated
Brasco to operate remote base for Premier Oil in Ceará Basin
01/13/2020 - 21:29

Brasco, Wilson Sons Group's offshore support base company, has signed a contract with Premier Oil to provide logistic support for the drilling operation in block CE-M-717, located in the Ceará Basin. It is the first exploration campaign of the British oil company in Brazil and the first well of the 11th ANP Bidding Round, held in 2013, to be drilled at the Equatorial Margin.

The logistics base will be in the region of Pecém (CE), scheduled to start in the first half of 2020. Brasco will be responsible for managing the port operation and logistics of on-site supplies, cargo receiving and storage, water supply and other consumables. as well as waste management and tank cleaning services. With experience in remote operations in the North, Northeast and Southeast regions, the company has already set up temporary bases at the ports of Belém, São Luiz, Fortaleza, Salvador and Vitória.

“In fact, Brasco is the only Brazilian offshore logistics company that has been operating remote bases for the last 20 years. We attend exploratory campaigns by Petrobras, BP, Equinor and Total, ensuring the safety and quality standards that allowed us to reach the World Class Safety level by DuPont criteria ”, says Gilberto Cardarelli, CEO of the company.

[piedro] 14/1/2020 08:08

Brasco vai operar base remota para Premier Oil na Bacia do Ceará

[aracaju] 22/12/2019 12:50

Here is a report from JOC.com, a year old but it explains what is going on between shippers and container ports.

Five Brazil port terminals eyeing sales, more investment

Rob Ward, Special Correspondent | Sep 30, 2018 3:32PM EDT

Brazil Exports: Five Brazil terminals eyeing sales, additional investment


Five key port terminals in Brazil are up for sale or in search of new investors, and their sales could further concentrate terminal ownership in the country — something that, if certain circumstances lined up, could lead to higher rates for shippers. The terminals’ estimated combined value is 3.1 billion reais ($764.8 million) to 3.3 billion reais.
Wilson, Sons group is rumored to be trying to sell two container terminals — Tecon Rio Grande (TRG) in the country’s far south and Tecon Salvador in the northeast — with an estimated 1 billion reais to 1.2 billion reais price tag for the pair.
TRG is Brazil’s fourth-biggest container shipping port and it handled 760,900 TEU in 2017, up 5.8 percent from 718,500 TEU in 2016. It boasts a roughly 1.2 million TEU in annual capacity. Tecon Salvador is Brazil’s seventh-largest port and is the sole option in Salvador. It handled 301,129 TEU in 2017, down slightly from 302,354 TEU in 2016. Tecon’s annual capacity is about 500,000 TEU.
The other three terminals for sale or in need of investment are general cargo/container Terminal Santa Catarina (TESC) in São Francisco do Sul; Libra Rio, a small container terminal owned by Libra Terminais; and Pontal do Paraná, a new 2 million-TEU-capacity project on the outskirts of Paranaguá, which is looking for investors to commit 1.5 billion reais in a greenfield site. Shareholders are keen to sell TESC, valued at 300 million reais; TESC lost its container business when Itapoa, 70 percent owned by Hamburg Sud/Maersk Line, opened in May 2012. Meanwhile, Libra Rio is valued at 250 million reais to 300 million reais.
The status of Brazil's independent port operators
“It’s becoming more and more difficult for the independent Brazilian port operators to make a profit because of the continuing concentration of the shipping lines,” said Robert Grantham, director of Navegantes-based consultancy Solve Shipping. “Therefore, Wilson, Sons and Libra have sensed an opportunity to cash in their assets while they still have some value to prospective buyers, be they units connected to shipping lines and international terminal operating companies.”
Several consultants and banks have been brought in to evaluate the two Wilson, Sons terminals, including São Paulo-based BTG Pactual investment bank, and several JOC.com sources said that a number of international port terminal operators are showing a keen interest in the potential sale/tie up. DP World has already had discussions with Wilson, Sons directors, one source told JOC.com.
Among the other international operators showing an interest are Hutchison Port Holdings and PSA International, neither of which operates a terminal in Brazil, the economic powerhouse of South America, with more than $2 trillion GDP. DP World (at Santos) and ICTSI (with Tecon Suape in the northeast) already operate in Brazil. Meanwhile, APM Terminals has a presence in Itajai, Santos (a half share of Brasil Terminal Portuaria along with Mediterranean Shipping Co.), as well as a presence in Pecem, and is also rapidly expanding its Terminal 4 facility in Buenos Aires. (It is a favorite to win a new 35-year to 50-year tender in the Argentine capital.)
According to several JOC.com sources, APM Terminals has a keen interest in Tecon Salvador but not in TRG, where it could face market concentration concerns from the TCU, Brazil’s anti-trust body, given its presence in Itajai and Itapoa, in the state of Santa Catarina. (Santa Catarina can also serve the Porto Alegre conurbation of 4.5 million people in the state of Rio Grande.)
CMA CGM is also interested in the two Wilson, Sons assets via its two operating arms: Terminal Link (which has a 49 percent stake in China Merchants) and CMA Terminals. Last year, CMA CGM fulfilled a 20-year Brazil presence goal by buying Mercosul Line, the Brazilian coastal and cabotage carrier, from Maersk Line, and now it wants to further develop its operation via owning container terminals in Brazil.
CMA CGM already has a close relationship with Libra Terminais, the beleaguered terminal operator which is in the midst of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy process and trying to sell off assets, reorganize assets, or attract new partners so that it can survive. In early 2017, CMA CGM switched its east coast South America and SAMWAF services from Santos Brasil to Libra’s Terminal 35 and has since then been drawing up plans to get involved in the operations side with Libra there, and also in Rio de Janeiro.
“It looks very much as though Wilson, Sons is giving up the ghost in trying to compete on its own with the big boys, and the terminals which are connected to the carriers,” said one experienced consultant, who has worked closely with Wilson, Sons group over the past two decades. “It is becoming harder and harder to win liner services, if your terminal is not part of a shipping company — [such as APM Terminals, Terminal Link, and Terminal Investment Limited] — or a multinational stevedoring company like DP World, PSA, or Hutchison, which all benefit from economies of scale and cheaper financing.”
Impact on shippers
However, this constant erosion of players in Brazil and the gradual diminution and disappearance of national companies — such as Triunfo (at Portonave), Odebrecht TransPort (at Embraport in Santos), Libra Terminais, Ecoporto Santos, Rodrimar, and local shareholders at TCP in Paranaguá (before the China Merchants 2018 takeover) — from marine terminal operation may eventually lead to higher costs for shippers as the multilayered ownership of terminals decreases.

Wilson, Sons executives are keeping a low profile, but the company has issued a statement, "Strategic alternatives are being evaluated by the company's board of directors, which may include divestment of such assets and/or attraction of strategic partners."
Wilson, Sons port division has invested a substantial amount in its two container facilities over the past five years and lauded this investment in its internal magazine (NE/WS) earlier this year.
During its 180th anniversary, celebrated in 2017, Wilson, Sons CEO Cezar Baiao emphasized that Tecon Salvador received three rubber-tire gantry (RTG) cranes last year and had spent 397 million reais since it had been inaugurated in 2000. He added that TRG had invested even more, about 130 million reais last year, for three ship-to-shore gantry cranes and eight RTGs, giving Brazil’s southernmost container terminals the possibility of acting as a hub for Mercosur trade cargo (including from Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).
Still, some might argue that the emphasis on terminal operations by a company that operates 100 ships — mostly offshore support vessels and tugs — suggests Wilson is already looking to put its container terminals in the shop window, for a sale or new capital injection.

“With these acquisitions, Tecon Rio Grande can be considered one of the best container terminals in Brazil in terms of equipment, with a total of 22 RTGs and nine STSs [ship-to-shore cranes] capable of serving ships with 24 rows of containers,” said Baiao.
TRG covers 735,000 square meters (879,053 square yards) and hosts 2,000 reefer plugs, one of the highest concentrations in Brazil.
Wilson, Sons also inaugurated a new inland terminal at the port of Suape, in northeast Brazil, which many believed was a first step toward bidding for a new container terminal in Suape, but that goal will become history, if it sells its two box terminals. Or, if the company becomes a partner with a major terminal operator company or ocean carrier, it may lead to a successful bid for Tecon 2 Suape, with the addition of new capital. The Philippines operator International Container Terminal Services Inc. currently operates Tecon 1 Suape.
Contact Rob Ward at [e-mail].

[aracaju] 22/12/2019 12:33

I have not seen anything special relating to Wilson Sons. The IBOVESPA is strong mostly I think following the strength in the US, and the hope that if the China trade deal falters it will improve the prospects for Brazilian agriculture. Cyclically the economy has probably seen the bottom and there is a positive mood. Unfortunately no details were given on the results of discussions to sell the container terminals, but I think in the recent tie-ups between shippers and ports Wilsons has lost out. The volume of shares traded is lower that would be expected if many knew of an impending deal, and the rise may be due to a combination of optimism and a lack of liquidity. A good site to keep up to date is JOC.com.

[pockstones] 22/12/2019 11:50

Aracaju, there have been two meaningful director purchases and some comment Brazil turning up do you see any sign of this since your August post

[galeforce1] 21/8/2019 14:47

Aracaju & varies - many thanks for your replies. Very helpful.

[varies] 19/8/2019 18:40

galeforce
Somewhere in the annual report we are told how the directors decide on the dividend.

If Wilson Sons reduces its dividend, then presumably OCN will too.

[aracaju] 19/8/2019 17:11

There are no indications of anything particularly wrong with Ocean Wilsons in Brazil. It's just a cyclical downturn. The Chinese bought one maritime operator TCP Participações a few years ago, but for the declared aim of their "Belt and Road" initiative Wilson Sons is a better prospect.

[aracaju] 19/8/2019 17:11

There are no indications of anything particularly wrong with Ocean Wilsons in Brazil. It's just a cyclical downturn. The Chinese bought one maritime operator TCP Participações a few years ago, but for the declared aim of their "Belt and Road" initiative Wilson Sons is a better prospect.