RAM Share Discussion Threads

[steddieddie] 17/6/2013 12:07

From March, but another article forecasting "Ultra-D inside" production sets to be available by "the fall"



No pipe dream. If this concept is widely adopted as seems likely from the article the other day, industry standard even, it certainly has massive first-mover potential for Stream. Let's hope RAM can grab a decent slice of the action.

[sub-contractor] 15/6/2013 05:22

As Gen says steddieddie, a very good find. There has been a total absence of web articles since the glowing reports of the kit from the CES. Sounds as if we could now be a lot closer to finding out more about it.

[steddieddie] 14/6/2013 21:58

Still talking of the less advanced pre-production models displayed in January at CES, this report from an attendee is worth a read, not least for how impressed he was with the kit but how he clearly thought getting it into general availability was a bit of a pipe dream. Apparently not any longer, according to the other article!



Stream TV Glasses-Free 3D 4K Hands-On: OMG This Works! But...

Mario Aguilar

Stream TV Glasses-Free 3D 4K Hands-On: OMG This Works! But...CES 2013: The year Ultra HD turned into the pipe dream of the future to the present reality you can't afford. Now that UHD TVs are about to hit the market, manufacturers are, of course, showing off 4K concepts like this glasses-free 3D 4K panel from Stream TV Networks, which you will be able to drool and dream about but never ever ever ever buy.

The panel is actually monumentally impressive, displaying some of the most eye-popping glasses-free 3D we've ever seen. The effect worked dead-on, but what was really surprising was that the 4K panel worked at multiple viewing angles. It's also impressive that the 3D content was scaled to 4K without any apparent loss in quality.

Now, if only this would ever exist. Companies have been showing off glasses-free 3D forever and we've never seen a real world product. Oh well, it wouldn't be CES without some quality vapor.

[genises] 14/6/2013 21:50

good find steddieddie
Hopefully in the results we will see all this come together with the rest of the subsidiaries.

[steddieddie] 14/6/2013 21:36

For what it's worth, I remain as hopeful as ever that a deal with Stream can be successfully concluded. After all, Stream are significant shareholders in RAM and I reckon the silence since early year, while very frustrating, has mostly been about developing the kit to a production standard before they could move the marketing on from exhibitions to actual sales marketing.

It's hard to see how the big boy investors would commit any funding to RAM on this front at least until the Stream product reached the production-ready stage and was then able to be demonstrated to interested parties, presumably along with the precise investment proposition.

From what I've previously seen and heard of the pre-production kit, I have few doubts that the even further advanced production-ready kit will cause a big stir/excitement and gain major adoption for the technology in the years ahead.

The key for me has been to look out for new indications of product progress and also, among both manufacturers and broadcasters alike, of a shift in sentiment away from the current glasses-required 3D.

So, I confess to being quite excited to see the the article below. I think it could well be a pointer to the pieces now starting to fall into place for us to see a Stream tie-up being concluded in the relatively near-term.



For me, the article appears to herald the end of further investment in and marketing of stereoscopic 3D but, equally, appearing to see auto-sterescopic stepping in to fill the space. In this regard, it includes specific reference to Stream TV's plans while indirectly highlighting that others are still some way behind the curve. Some very nice quotes from the Sky man too. Recommend a full read but here are some extracts:

"...ESPN's withdrawal comes at a time when glasses free consumer displays are about to hit the market. The Hollywood Reporter has learned that glasses-free technology developer Stream TV Networks is to bring to market glasses-free screens running its Ultra HD technology in partnership with Chinese manufacturer Hisense, costing $7500 and timed for Christmas 2013.

Further, Stream TV Networks is reportedly preparing to fund a series of 3D sports events to promote the new service, taken up the reigns laid down by Sony.....

......Said Chris Johns, chief engineer, broadcast strategy at BSkyB: "Ultra-HD screens will give a much higher resolution for passive glasses 3D viewing, effectively doubling the number of vertical lines to full 1000 lines per eye. Ultra HD may actually be a helping hand for stereoscopic 3D.

"The utopia is glasses-free 3D," he added. "Ultra HD can lend itself to that because it's increasing the number of fields of view that 4K screens can display."

Added Humphreys: "New technology delivering high quality glasses free 3D on 4K screens will be with us this year and I believe that's the future.

"4K and 3D will be symbiotic technologies, high quality stereoscopic productions will have their place, and hybrid 3D live productions will become the norm ... No 2D, no 3D, simply one production delivering exactly the same images. A way to go I admit but the future I am sure," he concluded. "I remain positive about 3D and extremely interested in the development and potential of 4K.""

[steddieddie] 12/6/2013 23:33

ih...no probs, I didn't ever take anything personal by any of your posts. Neither was I looking to you for an answer on ROK, merely posing a question on a situation that all may or may not wish to chew on. Fact remains, that this is not like any of the others because it is outwith of "related parties" so I think it's reasonable to question what particular value ROK's due diligence has determined in Alpha to justify their comments on the deal? Not looking for answers, just posing the questions and keeping an open mind while a couple of legal issues remain outstanding.

[ih_318421] 12/6/2013 16:25

se I am not trying to have a go at you or your posts, which are highly informative and insightful. To answer your question, which is a good one, it would take quite a bit of in depth digging to prove, but I suspect that all is not as rosy as it appears at ROK. I do not have the time or inclination to do the digging, but what I will say is I dug into another of the Alpha deals with Coleridge and that was not all it appeared to be either, but that was a Chris Foster deal not a TB deal. Alpha's TOG deal may well unravel on them very badly when the mining tribunal sits in early Jul, but as they only gave away more of their worthless paper and there is no market in the shares it probably will not have any real impact.

I will keep my eye on RAM, as I have made quite a bit of money on some other investments where the old management has been booted out. It would be good to see someone new with a good track record of turning companies round coming in. I have also lost money when the new management turned out to be no better than the old management.

TCA clearly see some potential and as time goes on they will become major shareholders, if they are not just about flogging on the shares in a sort of pipe deal. It would be good to see them put a hot shot onto the board.

[t-raider] 12/6/2013 13:37

No denying its hard watching the SP's performance.

No point making assumptions until the update is out... agree if I we see the 'we anticipate being cash flow positive as of.... blah, blah, blah...' then the jam tomorrow line continues to be played.

Better to see 'We have been cash flow positive for the first 4 months of 2013.....'

Let's hope so anyhow.

"T"

[t-raider] 12/6/2013 12:08

Much has been rumoured in recent weeks, but nothing made public.

Still expecting 2012 results to be a write off, but the latest trading update and any done deals could prove enlightening for the future.

Keeping as optimistic as possible....

"T"

[northwards] 12/6/2013 11:41

Company keeping things v close to their chests ... encouraging I reckon.

[t-raider] 12/6/2013 09:48

Hope to see you onboard soon then 'ih' ( funny your avatar remains drunkensailor on the mobile version of ADVFN ).

13 days and counting.....

Not a single trade this week so far... maybe a few are waiting on the sidelines for the evidence of any turnaround ( fair play ), but as GEN says, will move fast if it does !

"T"

[steddieddie] 12/6/2013 08:14

In relation to RAM, keep 'em peeled. In relation to Alpha, you only serve to emphasise the whole point I was drawing attention to - unlike certain other deals, this was not an inter-TB-company thing. For what I think may be a first since TB's arrival, this is a totally "unrelated-party" deal. Nevertheless, according to your thinking, the apparently savvy leaders of Rok Stars having no doubt done proper due diligence, have just given away a lump of their strongly growing company for a load of worthless paper. In effect, I was questioning why?

[ih_318421] 12/6/2013 06:38

se the point is that nobody can rely on anything TB has said about anything as he was quite happy to mislead the market in official communications and his unofficial communications through Proactive and oil barrel etc has proven to be totally unreliable, this is the major reason why the market has lost confidence in him and why RAM is well to be shot of him, however the damage done may be irreparable, I hope not for your sake, but I will resist the temptation of getting in until I see some real signs that the remaining team are turning things round. If they are then this could be a good recovery play. So I am just watching and waiting for now.

I have done some research on Alpha Prospects, they are not worth their Market cap, which is Plus market listed and has no liquidity. In my view RAM's holdings in Alpha are worthless, if there was a market for the shares, which there isn't, RAM would be better off selling them. Conversely Alpha's RAM holding are one of their better assets (a statement about how poor their other "assets" are). Alpha are out of cash - which is why they do everything they can get away with using their worthless paper. Alpha may well sell down their RAM in order to raise the cash they need to keep going. TB has about 20% stake in Alpha.

[steddieddie] 11/6/2013 21:38

ih...really not sure what point you're trying to make about what I posted. If you check it again, you'll see I included links to the later clarifying statements by both Alpha and TXO.

T...I reckon SF T1ps Sm Co Growth Fund may have sold out a considerable time ago rather than them having fallen below the threshold due to recent increases in capital. I also think JMcK's holding actually fell under the threshold with last Summer's issue, not the most recent ones.

[ih_318421] 11/6/2013 18:05

Steddieddie. Interesting you should post from the Alpha Prospects results:

"Although the licence EL 14/2009 is under appeal by Mineral Resources Tasmania,
the State Ministry, we are confident, having taken legal advice, that the
appeal will be dismissed and that we have secured a very valuable interest."

This was completely inaccurate and was designed to back up the misleading statements TB was making on behalf of TXO. I complained to the regulator about it and they produced this retraction:

"The Interim Results included the following statement:

"Although the licence EL 14/2009 is under appeal by Mineral Resources Tasmania,
the State Ministry, we are confident, having taken legal advice, that the
appeal will be dismissed and that we have secured a very valuable interest."

Whilst that statement remains correct in so far as it reflects the Directors'
confidence in the eventual outcome of the litigation, the statement was unclear
as to the positions of the parties involved in the legal action relating to
Licence EL 14/2009 (the "Licence").

For the avoidance of doubt, the receivers of Great South Land Minerals Limited
("GSLM"), the company originally awarded the Licence, are appealing against the
decision of Mineral Resources Tasmania to refuse to extend the Licence; the
Directors are confident, having taken legal advice, that GSLM's appeal will be
successful."

TXO later were forced to retract their misleading statements.

Getting rid of TB may be the best move RAM have made, I just hope for your sakes it has not come too late.

[t-raider] 11/6/2013 15:27

I imagine there's half a dozen or so holders here that take up a couple million of that as well.

I hold too many, but have a decent average if we do see a resurrection.

Otherwise I'm doomed.... DOOMED..... I say....

"T"

[genises] 11/6/2013 14:04

16 million
Good constant news should send the share price past 10p

[northwards] 11/6/2013 10:32

70% plus tied up with long term share holders

[t-raider] 11/6/2013 08:55

14 days and counting !

Are RAM actually slowly getting their butts in gear ?

AIM Rule 26 page on the corporate website updated yesterday with list of holders :

The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury and therefore the total number of shares with voting rights is 75,695,390


SUBSTANTIAL SHAREHOLDINGS

The following are holders of 3 per cent or more of the Company's issued share capital:

Registered holder Ordinary Shares of 1p Percentage of issued share capital

Ruffer LLP 11,088,750 14.65%
MWW Capital Limited 7,967,653 10.53%
Hill Street Investments PLC 7,102,751 9.38%
TVI Investments Limited 5,672,500 7.49%
Alpha Prospects PLC 5,198,387 6.87%
ELW Capital Limited 4,149,913 6.40%
Trafalgar Capital SARL 4,198,611 5.55%
TCA Global Credit Master Fd LP 3,125,000 4.13%
Boldhurst Properties Limited 2,477,451 3.27%
Stream TV Networks Inc 2,358,152 3.12%

Also excludes Free Ray LLC, SF T1ps Smaller Companies Growth Fund and Old Church Street Holdings ( John Mckeon ) who fall under the 3% threshold post recent issues of equity.

Cheers
"T"

[t-raider] 10/6/2013 11:20

A maximum of 15 business days to go ( including today ), before the fog must lift from RAM and we finally see what the future is to hold.

"T"

[steddieddie] 09/6/2013 00:10

sub...nice observation. Another deal similar to the Alpha/RAM one last year. Based on the ROK Stars website, the people behind it and the signs of active growth, it's not hard to see what's in it for Alpha but it does beg the question why Alpha paper is seen to be so attractive, especially by ROK Stars apparently savvy leaders.



"..."Commenting, Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman of ROK Stars said "We are delighted to have reached this share swap agreement with Alpha Prospects as we believe this will result in significant investment into the development of our expanding portfolio of game-changing consumer products.""

Certainly makes you wonder how having Alpha on board leads to that sort of conclusion but, whatever attributes Alpha is seen to have up its sleeve, RAM has about 25m of Alpha, half as much again as ROK Stars settled for.

In the Alpha interims at the end of April it was announced that 33.33m shares were issued, apparently then seen to have a value of £1m, in order to take up the option to acquire 20% of TOG, which again amounts to a share swap.

On the face of it, these deals would appear to put a valuation on RAM's holding in Alpha
of between £600k and £750k. Given the TB related party aspects between Alpha, RAM and TOG and the somewhat magical aspects of Alpha's current market cap, I'd have been inclined not to give such valuations too much credibility but this "external" ROK Stars valuation of Alpha stock certainly raises an eyebrow.

Could it possibly be related to a perceived material outcome iro the TOG situation in the near future?

Anyway, this is what the Alpha interim statement said about it - and also about funding discussions with "overseas parties".



"New Investment

In September 2012, the Company announced that, subject to certain conditions
being satisfied by 15 May 2013, Alpha would subscribe for a 20% interest, in
Tasmania Oil and Gas Limited (`TOG'), which the Directors believe is an
exciting oil and gas opportunity in Tasmania.

TOG is a joint venture company, established to fund exploration and development
of oil and gas in Tasmania, Australia, through the initial acquisition of
Empire Energy Corporation Inc's subsidiary, GSLM, which holds an onshore
licence EL14/2009. TOG's other main shareholders are, subject to completion,
TXO Plc (25%), Hill Street Investments Plc (10%) and Empire Energy (45%).

I am pleased to announce that Alpha has acquired a 20% interest in TOG for a
consideration of approximately GBP1 million. The consideration has been satisfied
by the issue to TOG of 33,333,333 ordinary shares in Alpha at a price of 3p per
share.

As part of the joint venture agreement Empire Energy, whose subsidiary holds
the EL 14/2009 licence, will receive shares in TOG in exchange for the
debenture over the licence EL 14/2009 held by its subsidiary Great South Land
Minerals ("GSLM") (currently in administration). It is planned that GSLM
becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of TOG.

Although the licence EL 14/2009 is under appeal by Mineral Resources Tasmania,
the State Ministry, we are confident, having taken legal advice, that the
appeal will be dismissed and that we have secured a very valuable interest.

The Competent Persons Report (`CPR') dated January 2013, which was commissioned
by TOG and undertaken by Senergy (GB) Limited, showed that the licence area
controlled by TOG has an Estimated Total Mean Recoverable Prospective (ETMRP)
Resource of the Bellevue and Thunderbolt structures totalling 2.7 Trillion
Cubic Feet (TCF) of gas or in terms of oil, 508 Million Barrels (0.5 Billion
Barrels) of Oil Equivalent.

TOG subsequently engaged Senergy (GB) to work on an Economic Evaluation of the
Bellevue and Thunderbolt ETMRP Resources, based upon the CPR results, to
calculate the Net Present Value and Monetary Value figures.

Outlook

We are continually looking to expand the portfolio and to this end we are
looking at various funding opportunities. The Board is in discussion with a
number of overseas parties that we hope will invest in Alpha.

Overall the period under review has been positive, a large amount of work has
been carried out by the investee companies and we are optimistic that this will
translate into an uplift in their value in the coming months."

Albeit that certain parts of this statement were later clarified here:



Separately, TXO, a joint shareholder in TOG said this on 7 May re TOG's interest in an ongoing US Court Case:



"...TOG is beneficially entitled to 50% of any successful counterclaim on this case. The counterclaim is for $3 billion..."

and this on 15 May by way of an update on the Tasmanian Licence:



DYOR

[cgod] 07/6/2013 11:44

You can buy 100k at 3.52p.

[sub-contractor] 07/6/2013 04:55

I see Alpha have made another investment.


Alpha Prospects Plc Investment in ROK Stars PLC
Print
Alert


TIDMAPHP

ALPHA PROSPECTS PLC
("Alpha" or the "Company")

Investment in ROK Stars PLC - Issue of Equity

Alpha Prospects is pleased to announce that it has acquired a 0.27% per cent
interest in ROK Stars PLC ("ROK"), a consumer products development company
listed on the Stuttgart Stock Exchange.

Alpha has acquired 292,583 new ROK ordinary shares for a consideration of
GBP450,000 which has been satisfied by the issue of 18,000,000 new Alpha Ordinary
Shares at a price of 2.5 pence per share. The new shares issued to ROK
represent 7.5 per cent of Alpha's enlarged issued share capital.

The Directors believe that ROK represents an attractive investment opportunity
due to its expanding portfolio of innovative products.

In accordance with the FSA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the Board of
Alpha Prospects Plc confirms that the Company now has 259,115,579 shares of
0.5p in issue carrying voting rights.

This figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations
by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in,
or change to their interest in, the Company under the FSA's Disclosure and
Transparency Rules.


The Directors are responsible for the contents of this announcement.

--ENDS--

[steddieddie] 06/6/2013 01:20

T...yes, taking shares for debt is one thing and can be seen in different ways but, as you keenly observe, any suggestion of at least one of these parties having added significantly more shares on top of that is harder to fathom except with positive connotations.

As you also observe, the two parties are virtually invisible in this increasingly open world. The new shareholder that interests me most though is the TCA Global Master Credit Fund. Reassuringly, TCA Global look to be anything but opportunistic sharks and this relatively new fund already has an impressive record of chunky investments in smaller companies around the globe.



and now looks set to subscribe for up to £5m worth of shares in little RAM over the next 3 years via a committed equity facility, the first part of which will repay the amount of outstanding loan with the same company but, right now, that would still leave up to around £4.4m for "general corporate purposes of the Company".

Now I didn't know much about committed equity facilities but I've had a been having a gander lately and it looks to be very much what "plain English" says it is i.e. that £5m is committed to be invested in RAM over 3 years and, notably, the RNS made it plain that "...The timing and amount of advances under the committed equity facility are at the Company's discretion..." and would be priced at "...95% of the prevailing market price during a 5-day pricing period immediately following an advance notice..." In the simplest of terms, it seems to me that RAM raises advance notice, TCA buys RAM shares up to £5m. Surely quite remarkable in the current circumstances so what does new management have up its sleeve I wonder?

Some light reading elsewhere of similar deals - hard to see that it's not as plain and as valuable for funding growth as it would appear to be. If so, someone believes in RAM big time:



"...equity financing commitment was provided through the TCA Global Credit Master Fund LP, TCA's master feeder fund that seeks to finance small, growing, private and listed companies.

This loan will spur the company in its growth, as well as allow them to take advantage of additional opportunities in their sector...."



"..."We couldn't be more excited about growing our relationship with TCA. The additional draw down on the Debt facility will allow us to make investments in our IT infrastructure, expand our sales force, and make facilities improvements at our newest acquisition, Bryce. The Equity Facility will allow us the flexibility to have funds available to take advantage of future business opportunities should they arise. We now have the financial bandwidth to focus on improving operations and growing sales on all fronts," said Mackie A. Barch, CEO of Sunpeaks Ventures..."










"Committed Equity Facility Agreement

RS also announced today that it has entered into a binding agreement to secure access to funds on an as-needed basis for up to $15 million through a Committed Equity Facility provided by Haverstock. The issue and sale of common shares of RS under the facility is subject to regulatory approval.

The 36-month facility,...."



"...has entered into a committed equity facility agreement (the "Agreement") with an institutional investor (the "Investor") for an equity investment of up to $5 million (the "Equity Facility") over the course of a three (3) year period....Mr. John Carlesso, Executive Chairman, commented that "the Equity Facility provides dedicated capital that can be accessed on an as-needed basis. This method allows the Company to minimize dilution of its share capital while ensuring the stability to maintain its corporate development objectives over an extended period of time."...Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, at any time during the three (3) year period, the Company can, in its discretion, require the Investor to purchase Shares ..."

DYOR