I think the reality is that there is a lot of future money at stake for any businesses getting contracts for maritime surveillance and a proportion of marketing expenses of potential SRT competitors will be finding its way into today’s versions of brown envelopes.
That, not funding, would be a good reason for a much larger business with some “extra” skills to buy SRT out. |
LV - is any part of this sub judice? If so, it may be difficult for ST or SRT to say anything much. |
I think it looks worse than it is but sentiment is everything in this market-the ruling looks very clear and may take some time to resolve.
The company will have to say something-most likely tomorrow am.Saying nothing would be crazy given all the other stuff going on with government related guaranteed and the much anticipated 2024 accounts will have to reflect |
The light at the end of the tunnel always seems to move further away not nearer. Now, after about 4-5 years my investment is still loss-making and that seems to be growing (now over 40%). It's never ending. I'm fed up. Not selling up atm, but a huge disappointment. Rant over |
I think we know about SRT's limitations more than anyone. Unable to avoid a banana skin? |
.." Quite how the US Navy was in a position to recommend SRT to Kenya and Tanzania will be one of those mysteries, but gives a level of comfort.."
.."Naval Support Activity Bahrain (or NSA Bahrain) is a United States Navy base, situated in the Kingdom of Bahrain and is home to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and United States Fifth Fleet..."
It's a racing certainty, IMO, that the Yanks know more about SRT's capabilities (and limitations) than anyone else, likely including our own Senior Service !
GLA and ATB |
obviously connected to the slump in share price today, so they should say something
- it will take time if nothing else and who pays his legal fees? us? |
CM-you have truly lost the plot.This news is pretty serious and surely they have to say something.You keep ploughing your own furrow though mate |
Whether they issue a statement has nothing to do with political wheels turning in the Philippines. It has a lot of relevance to the LSE and shareholders.
It does seem to me that the Ombudsman has wilfully misconstrued many facets of this, particularly trying to conflate an extra 1,500 transponders with the extra 722 million pesos for the re-tendered enlarged project - which is separately admitted to have been properly spent. It seems that the Ombudsman has either gone hook, line and sinker for complainant's story or has been bribed. There is no other record of James Mier Victoriano nor what his interest in VMS/fishing is, only that he filed the complaint, which was obviously flawed from the outset. |
Good time for the bold to buy… ;) |
Those interested in this news story should read Lav's post 14203, which explains the politics going on here. The large fishing boats fish illegally in coastal waters and they do not want the SRT monitoring system. These large boats have political power and have dragged Simon into their antics. I suspect that Simon would like to issue a statement clarifying things but will be advised that he should say nothing and let the political wheels turn. I suspect that CLS is also trying to stir the mud. |
Company needs to put out a statement being as this 'news item' is in the public domain.
Whatever the motivations behind it, it isn't going away and it sounds bad enough. |
A statement from SRT would be welcome in view of the >10% share price drop. |
Unhelpful in the extreme-let’s hope it’s a misunderstanding for all our sakes |
 I think Gongona and Escoto have an easy defence of trying to keep the concessional finance and get a system that was appropriate. They were not party to the loan agreement but merely had the details that it had to be a French company (not how French), there had to be a Frenchman in charge of the project etc. Yes the French embassy had an opinion that French had to be broadly interpreted as having manufacturing or whatever, but in the tender there was no such proviso. Tied aid has been estimated to cost the recipient 30% more than competitive bidding.
As for SRT/ST, it is perfectly normal to set up specific subsidiaries to meet various bidding criteria and to provide the required expertise and or capital from the parent company.
If the Ombudsman was worried about value for money not merely the low cost loan which could only be used to buy a sub-standard system, then he would find that the BFAR has saved the Philippines money not lost them any. A closer look at why the MOF agreed in haste to the French loan and the intended winner of the project (majority owned by the French state) would clarify that issue. |
Woh. That could be costly in a number of ways. Not just the BFAR Contract, but having to employ local lawyers etc to counter this and also any knock on to other countries who may have anti corruption legislation (on the basis that companies or individual could be thought guilty until proven innocent ).It looks like they are going after ST, and not SRT which could be an interesting distinction. Wonder why. Do they have any private correspondence or recordings that indicate ST was 'off the record' ? |
I know this has been rumbling on for quite some time, but the "graft" case in the Philippines seems to have reached an inflexion point, with the head of BFAR now having been replaced and SRT being implicated. I see from the linked story, Simon is now a defendant in a proper legal case not just an inquiry.
As mentioned earlier, this may well be politically driven by the fisheries community, and I'm certain, CLS but it is not good publicity or a desired reflection on our company. Especially with follow on contracts supposedly being discussed and other contracts in the region still to get over the line.
I still hold as I believe these issues will be overcome and the contracts will materialise (at least enough of them) but this is a developing risk for SRT. |
EU experts to inspect Lake Tanganyika fishing activities
RUKWA: A TEAM of experts from the European Union (EU) are expected to inspect fishing activities on Lake Tanganyika mid this year.
The aim is to ensure that fishermen and fishery stakeholders meet the required standards set by EU.
With the inspection, EU wants to satisfy itself that fishing activities on Lake Tanganyika have met the required fishing standards set by the EU.
The EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) aims to ensure that fisheries and aquaculture are ecologically, economically and socially sustainable.
It is also concerned with maintaining employment and sector’s economic viability. Lake Tanganyika second largest fresh water body in Africa, contains 17 per cent of the world’s available surface freshwater.
“Our country is among of the countries exporting fish products to competitive European markets. So, the EU has a method of carrying out regular inspection on countries which are exporting fishery or marine products to European markets,” further explained.
Moreover, the EU fish inspection on Lake Tanganyika has coincided with the government decision to suspend fishing activities in Lake Tanganyika for three consecutive months to boost the population of fish.
The suspension will last three months from May 15, this year. |
Lav highlights the amount of manpower devoted to the Philippines. I assume that this relates to impending coastguard contracts. (1 billion USD over 10 years?). I also assume that the recent move of the year end was to allow for Philgeps qualification. |
Mr T mentioned Tanzania in his recent interview with City AM. I suspect that this potential contract will soon be very relevant to SRT. The Country has access to numerous water related assets. There are inland lakes with a lot of boats and also off shore islands. We will not know the size of the contract until the tenders are announced.
Where will the funding come from and will it be in stages?
Clearly SRT are in discussions. Let us also not forget that Kenya was mentioned, where the US navy is building resources to counteract China's activities, |
Tanzania: Zanzibar to Introduce Surveillance Radar, MV Tracking Systems in Indian Ocean
19 APRIL 2024
Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
DAR ES SALAAM: Zanzibar is planning to introduce surveillance Radar and marine vessel tracking system to promote safer fishing and transportation activities in the Indian Ocean.
This was unveiled by Zanzibar's Minister for Infrastructure, Communication and Transport, Dr Khalid Salum Mohamed. He made this revelation in Dar es Salaam on Thursday while officiating opening of the of a two day Regional Seminar on Africa Ferry Safety which was convened at Julius Nyerere International Convectional Center.
"Currently there are around 380 illegal harbors used for boarding and disembarking of passengers and cargo. This contravenes safety measures. The government is in the process of dealing with this by introducing surveillance radar and marine vessels tracking system," the minister observed |
Incidentally, SRT seem to now have at least four expats based in the Philippines, as opposed to one in Indonesia and none elsewhere (leaving out JF in Toulouse and Francois in Vancouver who happen to live there). Dean Jones, whom some of you have met, still seems to be with them although he doesn't appear directly on SRT's LinkedIn. There are also a systems engineer and a success manager as well as the Middle East programme manager who has relocated. These three have moved to Manila relatively recently, the success manager very recently, so have nothing to do with the installation of the IMEMS project. I don't remember anything in the tender document about a continuing level of in-country support or indeed anything at all after the provision of four years satellite coverage.
So what is this relatively high head-count doing over there? The sales people, which in the Philiipines is Tucker, fly in and out. So my best and only guess is the PCG. It is unlike SRT to commit to in-country overhead in the hope of winning a contract so my tentative conclusion is that they are already working closely with the PCG (and vice versa) on the future implementation of projects soon to be tendered. Tomorrow is the last day for submitting new projects to the budget people for potential inclusion in the 2025 budget. |
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