I’ve had an interesting discussion with our stalwart reader Wildrides on my recent 88 Energy piece (88E). Cut a long story short Wildrides has made a number of comments on pieces I’ve written pointing out the obvious flaws in the businesses I’ve covered. Wildrides and I swap the odd email, so I do know his real name. He is an experienced investor and someone whose opinion I respect, but our recent exchange has left me wondering; does AIM make thieves of us all?
Today is Sefton Resources’ (SER) last day as a publicly traded company. In a shock email to one aggrieved shareholder, recently installed CEO Clem Chambers has admitted that the EGM requisitioners did not have a replacement nominated advisor to take over from Allenby Capital. This is despite all the public claims and propaganda to the contrary. Shame on all involved. Their reckless actions have destroyed Sefton and it’s the company’s innocent shareholders who have been made to pay.
News has just crossed the wires to remind us how abysmally “New Old” Range Resources’ (RRL) board of directors handled the transition after last November’s Abraham coup. The Western Australian Supreme Court has dismissed Range’s appeal to reverse the judgement made against it in paying the balance of the money it owes to Lind Asset Management. Range remains on the hook for at least $2.2million. Those Rangeologists that still exist might shrug their shoulders and say what after this summer’s Chinese refinancing of the company, but anyone considering buying this stock needs a timely reminder what they are getting themselves into.
Will private investors on AIM ever learn? This morning 88 Energy (88E) raised A$3million at 0.47p, a mere 24% discount to where the stock opened on Monday. The company also announced a first come first serve Share Purchase Plan (SPP) to raise up to €4,999,999 from existing eligible shareholders. Under the terms of this, retail holders of 88 Energy are allowed to purchase parcels of up to A$15,000 worth of stock on the same terms as the placement participants. No doubt people will fall over themselves to take up this deal, but if the company has such great prospects why the steep discount?
So there we have it. Adam Reynolds and Nick Lee have received an overwhelming mandate to transform New World Oil & Gas (NEW). Both men got elected to the board with over 99% of votes cast. This represents a great victory for shareholders and goes to show that positive, organised shareholder activism on AIM can work.
On Monday Premier Oil (PMO) announced the sale of its Norwegian assets for $120million cash. The company will use the money to help pay down some of its sizeable debts. According to its half yearly report, Premier had net debts of just over $2billion versus cash and undrawn debt facilities of $1.5billion. The business is clearly struggling, as reflected by its share price performance over the last eighteen months. On the verge of tumbling out of the FTSE250, Premier trades at 74p (last seen) and has a market cap of £376million. If things don’t improve for Premier in the near’ish term, this could have a nasty effect on Rockhopper (RKH) and, more specifically, commercialisation of the Sea Lion discovery in the North Falklands Basin.
After my Gulf Keystone (GKP) piece last week (HERE) drew the predictable furious response from Winnifrith (HERE), I’ve been looking into the company’s numbers in a bit more detail. There’s no denying that Gulf is teetering on the edge. However, it is not dead yet. Although it has little to no room for error, so long as the Kurds keep up their regular payments, it is possible that Gulf will be able to pay down its debt and refinance its balance sheet by April 2017. A broker note found its way into my inbox today, broadly supporting this view. It contained some interesting observations on Gulf’s debt position worth sharing.
Tomorrow I am off to Jersey for New World Oil & Gas’ (NEW) Annual General Meeting. If all goes to plan, Adam Reynolds and Nick Lee will be elected to the board, while Peter Sztyk will be deservedly kicked off. Although this should prove to be the watershed moment in New World’s transformation, it will not necessarily trigger an immediate rally in the share price. The hard work begins, once the result is known. However, if Reynolds and Lee remain true to form then 2016 could be incredibly exciting year for this company.
The laughter keeps on rolling at Carry On Up The Sefton (SER). It seems that the company’s new management team has managed to spend £950 on the AGM it cancelled because it needed to “reconstruct necessary access and information” (whatever the hell that means). It appears that confidence in Sefton’s new board is at an all time low, which is a most impressive achievement when you think about it. Not trusting that the AGM was truly cancelled, one plucky shareholder turned up to the Novotel at London Bridge this lunchtime and has sent us some photos. Apparently Novotel’s catering manager repeatedly attempted to contact Sefton to confirm the booking, but no one replied. Quelle surprise!
Red warning flags have been billowing over 88 Energy (88E) ever since it changed its name from Tangiers Petroleum (TPET). Tangiers was an unmitigated disaster for shareholders, but it seems that a simple name and ticker symbol change is all that is needed to induce an acute case of market amnesia. Having bet the farm and lost in Morocco, it is incredible that managing director David Wall survived. A little over a year later and he is now running one of the most heavily promoted oil exploration campaigns on AIM. People never learn, but this morning’s announcement from Tangiers, sorry I mean 88 Energy, fired a warning shot across the bow of anyone planning to hold this stock as a buy and hold.
