Thalassa Share Discussion Threads

[jmf69] 15/12/2016 17:41

Maybe find out tomorrow morning

[philjeans] 15/12/2016 16:58

Very odd - bad news coming perchance?

[jmf69] 15/12/2016 16:38

Or tomorrow morning?

[cockerhoop] 15/12/2016 16:33

After hours RNS?

[rcturner2] 15/12/2016 13:43

I agree with a lot of that. The market cap is £10m and that is not much given the assets involved.

[philjeans] 15/12/2016 12:57

From Investors Champion today;

THAL is a holding company with two operating subsidiaries in the Energy Services sector and 2 passive investments, one of which is significant relative to its balance sheet. We have followed this company through its highs and lows over the past few years and a full history of our research is available from the link here.
Thalassaâ̈́4;™s operating subsidiaries are WGP Group (WGPG) and Autonomous Robotics (‘;ARâ€482;).
WGPG is a marine geophysical services company which offers bespoke project management and geophysical services throughout the global upstream oil and gas industry. WGPG’s principal focus over the past few years has been the provision of permanent reservoir monitoring (‘;PRM’) services, in respect of which it has carved a strong niche. PRM has proved more resilient than other oil services areas in the current oil price sell-off and WGPG benefits from 2 sizeable long term PRM contracts with oil majors Statoil and ConocoPhillips.

AR is an early stage ‘Autonomous Underwater Vehiclesâ̈́4;™ research and development company which is developing a Flying Nodes system for deep water Ocean Bottom Nodes seismic surveys. The Flying Nodes system concept been shown through survey modelling to offer a significant cost saving for Ocean Bottom Seismic (OBS) deep water surveys compared with alternative node OBS solutions. Applications for this could also extend to Defence and Security.
AR will require significant new funding over the coming years and seems a possible ‘spin-offâ̈́4;™ candidate.
Passive Investments
The Group had, until recently, net cash broadly equivalent to its market cap but has since used some of this in acquiring a 23% equity stake in The Local Shopping REIT plc (“;LSRâ€), a property investment trust in which Thalassa is endeavouring to improve and accelerate returns to shareholders.
LSR is currently in wind down and the Net Asset Value (NAV) of this business at 31st March 2016 was £35.3m or 43p per share compared with the current share price of 28p per share.
Thalassa could be termed both a recovery and deep value play, with a twist,with considerable opportunities across multiple fronts.
Thalassa net assets at 30 June 2016 (after significant impairment of seismic equipment) amounted to US$26.4m resulting in net assets per share of US$1.17 (£0.93) versus a current share price of only 47p. Cash as at 30 June 2016 was US$13.2m (£10.5m) some of which has been invested in shares of The Local Shopping REIT (LSR), representing 23.14% of share capital of this business.
The current market capitalisation of approximately £10.3m therefore implies zero value for WGP and ARL. The former has 2 very valuable long terms contracts and is well placed to being a long-term survivor in the oil and gas space, where PRM will be increasingly required. ARL has significant potential but requires further funding to commercialisation, which is being sought from oil majors. There are evident possibilities to split these out and secure greater value.
A November 2016 trading update confirmed that WGPG results for the year ended 31 December 2016 would exceed previous estimates indicated by the Company which were for revenue and pre-tax profit of US$10.5m and US$1.1m, respectively.
The oil and gas sector has been in the doldrums for several years but the Group was quick to cut costs and conserve cash, a discipline that many others didn’t follow.
The Chairman, who enjoys the odd battle, has communicated opportunities to extract more value from the wind down (or other) of LSR.
Unlike many if its seismic competitors which are burdened due to excessive debt and over capacity, WGP is more asset light by comparison and importantly debt free. Accordingly, the Group is well placed to ride out the current storm.
The latest news of a contract from ConocoPhillips Skandinavia AS to acquire seismic data sets on the Eldfisk field in the North Sea in 2017 overs encouragement for 2017. The duration of the 2017 shoot is estimated at approximately 2 months and is expected to commence during Q2.

[cockerhoop] 15/12/2016 11:14

I imagine the board meeting won't be too early........a couple of drives for the pheasant shooters before retiring to the Grade 2 listed boardroom for the Port and the meeting :-)

[columbarius] 15/12/2016 10:09

CatsWhiskas
15 Dec '16 - 07:37 - 3537 of 3549 1 0

What a strange rns revising trading outlook market won't like that generates uncertainty we don't know if it's good or bad the 2 month New contract won't make any material difference and there have been no significant contract wins for a while with investment dried up I fear this could be negative .

[pj 1] 15/12/2016 09:58

columbarius15 Dec '16 - 09:51 - 3547 of 3548 0 0
If you had bought shares in Duncan Soukup ten years ago you'd be happy.

I wouldn't have bought shares in Duncan Soukup, that was my point. I had nice banked profits from THAL some while ago to be fair. I don't understand what is happening here though

[cockerhoop] 15/12/2016 09:53

Columbarius,There isn't anyone on here that has suggested the announcement will be negative is there?

[columbarius] 15/12/2016 09:51

If you had bought shares in Duncan Soukup ten years ago you'd be happy.

[pj 1] 15/12/2016 09:40

'Duncan' is starting (to try) to look bigger than the Company. The investment should be in the Company not an individual.

[columbarius] 15/12/2016 09:31

Well said Mr Turner. I like Duncan. He's a bit theatrical and is probably giving himself a drum roll while sticking two fingers up at his critics. The ones on here who said this forthcoming announcement will be negative are clueless.

[rcturner2] 15/12/2016 09:16

I like THAL because we are starting to see recovery in the oil sector and in the oil services and THAL is very lowly rated and generally unloved, which I think is depressing the price here. The market cap is very low considering the assets they have and the fact that the actual business underneath all the distractions seems to be performing well.

[pj 1] 15/12/2016 09:13

It almost feels as if the Company is playing emotional games with it's shareholders. These things usually end in divorce..........

Bizarre at least. It does not instill any confidence IMO, although I'd say the chances are it's a good update coming. However, another small red flag for me.

[mikeroot5] 15/12/2016 09:12

Good overview by Trader Tim this morning. 2017 is going to be an interesting year. Interesting times ahead.

[rcturner2] 15/12/2016 08:29

Yes, the market is taking this as positive news, although I agree it is a slightly odd way of doing things, I cannot see the reason or the purpose behind the statement.

[masurenguy] 15/12/2016 08:25

Market Makers seem to take a positive view on this as todays rise is on a minimal trading volume so far.

[interceptor2] 15/12/2016 08:10

It is a strange statement with no obvious reason to being made.

They did say in the update three weeks ago that they would issue another trading update because they might have been too conservative with costs, so on a positive note the next update could be an upbeat one.

But they aren't acting like a normal company, particularly with the investment in Papua New Guinea and their LSR holding, and now we have today's rather odd RNS release.

I did sell my holdings last week due to these concerns, but good luck to holders here and hope the update is positive for you.

[orinocor] 15/12/2016 07:49

Whiskas
The word "strange" popped into my head as well. Why are they announcing they will make a trading announcement later in the day? Why pre-announce the announcement?

[catswhiskas] 15/12/2016 07:37

What a strange rns revising trading outlook market won't like that generates uncertainty we don't know if it's good or bad the 2 month New contract won't make any material difference and there have been no significant contract wins for a while with investment dried up I fear this could be negative .

[jmf69] 15/12/2016 07:20

New contract albeit 2 months... is a good sign. Trading update to be revised for the better I hope.

[tiltonboy] 12/12/2016 17:38

gfrae,

That would be a huge hit to both his ego and the THAL balance sheet, and not something I expect to see happen.

[gfrae] 12/12/2016 17:33

Skyship. He could try and persuade the board of LSR to buy in his shares at say 26p or 27p ? I would think that this solution might appeal to him,the board and remaining holders.