Steppe Cement Share Discussion Threads

[azalea] 09/9/2018 09:58

With the 29.1% stake held by its largest share holder built largely at prices between 31- 41p, and an increasing NAV, I believe he might be amenable to a bid at circa 50p.

[wilo101] 09/9/2018 05:10

The plan is to continue to eradicate all debt, enhance and improve efficiency of the plant by regular incremental upgrades which add value such as this years new bagging plant as bagged cement sells at a premium, produce more through the winter to stockpile for summer, export to Russia if possible and pay out large dividends, every year as a real cash cow, M&A is possible but only if it adds value, such as a plant in Shymkent or in Uzbekistan but financing is tough to come by and expensive in our Region

[king suarez] 08/9/2018 18:27

Hi all,

Have had a read through a lot of the posts on here and looked at the companies accounts. Company appears in strong financial health at the moment with low debt and having posted EBITDA just under $12m for 2017. Few observations:

1) It looks like there is not much scope for further production increase as the plants operate at around 90% currently - is that fair to say or are there longer term plans to scale production even higher?

2) I understand dividends were reinstated for the current financial year (1p) and look to be in a strong position to increase in future years based on assumed cash flow projections - is there a company specific policy re dividends e.g % of FCF.

3) Looks like the company should be debt free very soon - if not huge dividends, what might the growing cash piles be used for - any talk/rumour of potential aquisitions or other projects?

I suppose what I'm getting at is what do you see the long term game for this company? If not bought out by a competitor, does it just become a solid income stock for you holders?

Thanks

[jailbird] 07/9/2018 13:55

3 x 50k today

[jailbird] 08/8/2018 08:48

Yeah Wilo.. very happy Divi will keep my invested here and expect capital appreciation to go with it will be welcome too

[wilo101] 08/8/2018 07:18

Assume all followers received their dividends and are feeling happy and pleased with the company, much more dividend next year for sure. Maybe even an interim if we are lucky.

[wilo101] 25/7/2018 18:24

Dividend monies will arrive on Friday, 27th, and now STCM is very firmly in dividend payment territory going forward and 2018 is a bumper and in many ways record year.

It is only a question of time before the market wakes-up.

[azalea] 25/7/2018 17:57

By 2021 the cost of the 300 cement rail wagons should be making a net profit. If STCM wins contracts for cement in the huge road expansion programme, the wagons should be a major asset in delivering cement wherever a line exists.

[celeritas] 25/7/2018 13:51

By the end of 2021, the plan is for Kazakhstan to have a network of some 10,000km of tolled roads, with 5,500km being built before 2020. At present Kazakhstan has just one 210km toll road connecting Astana with Buranbay.

[azalea] 17/7/2018 14:20

With Trump reportedly imposing sanctions on any country that buys oil from Iran, the the development of the silk road belt from Tehran to China has become increasingly important almost overnight.The rail route between the two countries through Central Asian countries will be of great strategic importance to China as it imports oil and petrolum products over a secure land locked route. Its quite possible China could fund the development of Iran's gas fields and a pipeline between the two countries,

[wilo101] 14/7/2018 05:47

hxxps://www.apolloinvestment.com/whatsnew.htm, is where Claire Barnes who runs the Apollo Asia fund writes her daily blog, Mark Mobius and Marc Faber say she is one of the best fund managers in Asia, and the track-record of her Appollo Asia fund is superb

[celeritas] 13/7/2018 15:18

Investment philosophy

We value businesses as would a long-term private buyer, and generally ignore the short term views and price influence of other market participants, except in so far as these create opportunities. In Benjamin Graham's classic analogy, the investor is in business with a manic depressive partner, Mr Market, who obligingly sets a two-way price every day. Most of the time, the investor will listen to Mr Market, politely decline to take action, and get on with real life. Sometimes however, Mr Market's price is wildly in excess of any intrinsic value, and the investor may take these opportunities to sell, perhaps even to retire. At other times Mr Market's price is ludicrously low; we have at times in the past been able to buy good businesses with honest management for less than their net cash balances. At such times, the sober investor will buy, without worrying unduly about whether Mr Market's price may be even lower tomorrow.
We like value – buying a dollar of assets for 50 cents, for example – but never at the expense of quality. In developed markets, legal protection may (perhaps) be good enough to base decisions on numbers alone. In Asia, management integrity is paramount. We also prefer "operating assets", which generate cash or will do so in future, rather than "dead assets" reliant on the price someone else may pay.
We like growth as much as value - but "growth at a reasonable price". One of the easiest mistakes is to overpay for a good company, or a good story.
Given the impossibility of infinite growth on a finite planet, and a suspicion that growth may in future be harder to find, "sustainable income at a reasonable price" is attractive too.
Sustainability is never absolute. We value resilience.
We seek good businesses: internal returns are important. Deep value buys may rise from very cheap to somewhat cheap and remain illiquid. The managers of our holdings do most of the work for us when they continue to generate good returns internally, and this reduces reinvestment risk.
Free cashflow is good; sensible capital allocation is key.
We like dividends - especially in those parts of Asia where there are no tax disadvantages, but anyway it is generally a good idea that excess cash be returned to the shareholders. (If companies with a good value-adding record want cash for expansion, investors can be relied upon to stump up enthusiastically for a rights issue.) We dislike buyback-and-issuance schemes designed to enrich insiders, but buybacks shrinking the capital base at discounts to intrinsic value are sometimes constructive.
We try to know our companies inside out¹. We visit the companies, try to read their annual reports and announcements from cover to cover², talk to their competitors, and so on. The longer we've known them, the better.
We don't worry about missed opportunities. Most companies are too complicated: we look for businesses we like and think we can understand, and focus on relatively few.
We buy securities on a 3-5 year time horizon. (Maybe even more - ideally we would like to buy good companies at good prices and hold for ever, but in an ever more volatile world, 3-5 years may be as far ahead as one can realistically hope to see, and certainly we need to keep reassessing.) However, if a security appreciates rapidly to the point where it no longer represents reasonable value in absolute terms or relative to prospective purchases, or if new information comes to light which causes us to reevaluate, we may sell with alacrity. Restraining fund size helps us to maintain selling discipline³.
The emphasis has changed slightly over the years, due to changing market conditions and sometimes-painful experience. Our style will, we hope, continue to evolve: in a changing world, we see no point in narrowing options unnecessarily.


The link is easier to read

[wilo101] 13/7/2018 11:34

SEB Investment Management we would assume

[azalea] 13/7/2018 10:40

Given the positive H1 results(the weaker period of the two halves), it could be a distressed seller. Apollo got a great bargain @ 25.78p.

[jailbird] 13/7/2018 08:06

Apollo has acquired 8,649,054 ordinary shares in Steppe Cement at average price of GBP 0.2578So who was the seller ?

[wilo101] 11/7/2018 10:47

Is very, very under-stating of the current position post 30th June, and how good things are going, volumes, revenues and price-wise and market terms. Anyhow, the second half, in essence from late March to October is always key.

[mattjos] 11/7/2018 10:30

Terrific update

[celeritas] 11/7/2018 07:16

Very nice update.

[mattjos] 05/7/2018 19:12

Chart shaping up very nicely. We'll get noticed by more soon enough but, let's hope not to soon :-)

[azalea] 05/7/2018 17:55

STCM still under the radar, of mainstream investors;however, its day will come. A good H1 report this month, should attract the notice of the IC and financial press pundits.

[wilo101] 05/7/2018 17:09

Now trading above 32p but sadly only still small volumes

[wilo101] 03/7/2018 13:54

I also expect the RNS on the 1st half and a current market outlook and update to be extremely positive indeed, as prices and volumes seem very good this year, indeed, with Uzbekistan desperate for cement from the 2 southern plants, creating an overall shortage and increasing prices and demand.

[jailbird] 03/7/2018 13:23

I am also expecting further improvements on numbers Looking for 50p next level

[azalea] 03/7/2018 13:07

An update on H1 in a couple of weeks, should be notably positive.

[mattjos] 02/7/2018 12:40

still seems too cheap to me so, still adding