full-time investing; total portfolio up over 130% in 2009; but 2010 sucks!
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Wade, nothing personal, really, but there are a million opinions in the naked city ... the truth is we don't really know how politics and other events will impact the markets during 2013, but we should expect there will be significant ups and downs throughout the year.
We don't know how commodity prices will play out (oil, gas, coal, gold, silver, copper, etc), how the Washingtonian politics and other man-made events will continue to impact the economy (along with fear of yada yada)...
Anyhow, my point is that rather than try to predict how 2013 will go, it makes more sense to me to just watch it and be opportunistic (make investment decisions on shorter term basis) as different market stimuli and trends come into play.
Regards, and MC to all,
'peeker
SWC worth more, says Clinton Group.
Clinton Group Wants Stillwater Mining (SWC) CEO McAllister to Retire, Says Stock Worth $21-$23
12:32 PM ET, 12/20/2012 - Street Insider
Hedge fund Clinton Group discloses a letter to Stillwater Mining Co. (NYSE: SWC) demanding changes to the strategy, operations and management.
Clinton said it is time for CEO/Chairman Mr. McAllister to retire.
Clinton Group's view that the Company is undervalued and said that taking the steps outlined in the letter can help stockholders realize fair value for the stock. The Clinton Group's valuation analysis concludes that fair value is approximately $21-23 per share.
COPY OF THE LETTER:
RE: Maximizing Shareholder Value
Lady and Gentlemen:
I write on behalf of Clinton Group, Inc., which is the investment advisor to various partnerships and investment vehicles (collectively "Clinton Group") that own a significant stake in the Stillwater Mining Company ("Stillwater" or the "Company").
Clinton Group is an enthusiastic owner of Stillwater stock and believes the Company has assets and a market position that entitles it to generate significant free cash flow going forward. The Company is the best positioned Platinum Group Metals ("PGM") producer, with significant in-situ value and a low cost of production, coupled with the most stable political and labor dynamics of any of the major producers. With strong growth likely in key end markets, especially in the auto market as the penetration of cars deepens in emerging markets, we are bullish on palladium and the future of Stillwater.
But despite these solid fundamentals, the stock has performed poorly in the last couple of years and is significantly undervalued today. The stock is down 45% in the two years ended November 30, 2012, and trades at a substantial discount to the peers on the most relevant metrics. Even at these low stock prices, half of the covering analysts have a neutral or sell recommendation and 14% of the float is sold short.
We believe we know why.
Despite a great foundation for strong cash flow and growth in its core operation, the Company has engaged in two value-destructive acquisitions in pursuit of a questionable strategy, spent imprudently on "marketing" and other administrative matters, and executed an unnecessarily costly and dilutive financing transaction. These unforced errors have eroded shareholder confidence in the judgment of management and the Board and left the Company with a muddled strategy and motley collection of assets.
First, the Board and management team decided to diversify away from the Company's historical roots, expanding into copper, gold, Canada and Argentina and away from PGMs and the United States. Mr. McAllister acknowledged in our recent meeting that this change in strategy was intended to provide "an underpinning for the palladium play," and suggested that palladium's price volatility necessitated a more stable asset and operational base. We could not disagree more. Shareholders in Stillwater have historically sought its exposure to PGMs mined in the United States, the most stable of geopolitical environments. We cannot understand how the Board or management team could have thought this radical shift in strategy
" transforming the only US-based, pure-play PGM company into a "diversified" mining company would benefit its shareholders. As we explained to Mr. McAllister, any shareholder seeking diversity could create that diversity in his own portfolio, in a degree and of a character that best suited that particular shareholder.
Worse, of course, was the execution of this ill-founded strategy. It is clear now that the Company bought Marathon in Canada without sufficient diligence and could not have properly understood its value. The problems with the Peregrine acquisition were manifestly worse: the Board and management team authorized the use of precious shareholder money to purchase a speculative copper mine that requires billions the Company does not have to fully develop, in an unstable country, at a premium of 290% to its value in the public markets and at more than 100 times Peregrine's cost basis in its assets.
These acquisitions are, as one analyst put it to us, "real head-scratchers," to say nothing of the fact that the acquisitions " supposedly, according to Mr. McAllister, the best ones available to the Company after it had reviewed more than 60 possible deals " do not match the supposed strategic rationale of providing a stable "underpinning" for the Company's PGM assets. How the Board could have thought that a Canadian development project or a speculative Argentinian copper project would provide such an "underpinning" is beyond comprehension.
The two acquisitions did, as the Third Quarter 10-Q noted, provide "some additional geographic and product diversity." We are hard pressed to imagine that Stillwater shareholders were desirous of exposure to undeveloped Andean land, Argentinian monetary and natural resource policy or, for that matter, to copper prices. And, any such shareholder could have simply bought Peregrine stock in the public market, and done so for one-third the price that Stillwater paid.
These acquisitions have succeeded in distracting management, siphoning cash away from the core PGM business, sowing seeds of doubt in shareholders' minds about the judgment of the Board and destroying shareholder capital. Stillwater's stock has been cut in half and hundreds of millions have been lost.
Certainly, if the Board was hoping that these acquisitions would cause the Company's stock price to de-couple from the price of PGMs, the acquisitions have been an abject failure. The Company's stock price still trades in line with the prices of its basket of metals " just with a lower coefficient. In the seventeen months prior to the acquisition of Peregrine, the Company's stock typically traded at approximately 2.0% of the basket price. In the seventeen months since the acquisition, the Company's stock has traded at closer to 1.3% of the basket price. In both periods, the correlation between the basket price and the stock price has been above 90%.* In short, the Peregrine acquisition did not serve to decouple the stock from PGM price volatility, it just destroyed shareholder value.
As you can imagine, we are not comforted to read in the Company's most recent quarterly report that management continues to look "around the world" for "opportunities to establish a broader operating base." In light of your track record on acquisitions, we urge you to put our checkbook down. Indeed, the best way to create value for shareholders would be to reverse the acquisition of Peregrine entirely by selling it, at almost any price, to a speculator more suited for this sort of development project. Such a move would bring PGM investors " who would no longer need to fear the distraction, dilution and diversity the Argentinian project entails " back into the stock.
Second, the expense base of the Company has grown substantially and is draining cash flow away from shareholders. In the first decade of this century, the Company operated with SG&A expenses that on average were less than half the 2011 and 2012 annual expense base and the Company managed to produce, on average, 10% more ounces of metal.
Moreover, although the Company supplies just 4% of the world's palladium, it has taken on the burden of marketing the metal by itself through the inappositely named Palladium Alliance International. We do not believe the Company's $12 million annual spend " mostly, it appears, on adorning Pamela Anderson, Kelly Osborne and Angela Kinsey with palladium jewelry " is a good investment. For those dollars to produce a good return, the price of palladium must be at least $35 more per ounce than it would be without these "marketing" efforts.
We see no evidence of that. If the marketing efforts could affect prices this much, the suppliers of the other 96% of the world's palladium would seemingly be willing to shoulder their share of the expenses. So far, it appears, no one has joined the so-called "Alliance". Moreover, since the Company stepped up its Alliance-based marketing program in early 2011, the price of palladium has fallen approximately $80 per ounce. In the two years prior to this heightened spend, when the Alliance had just one-sixth of its current budget, the price of palladium increased $600 per ounce.
Taken together with the spending in Argentina and other increased administrative costs, this marketing spend is indicative of a bloated expense base that is not tied to shareholder returns. We fear this management team is more interested in building a global empire and hiring Hollywood celebrities to wear palladium jewelry to movie premiers than in producing strong and recurring cash flow for shareholders by knuckling down and mining the core resource.
Third, in October, the Company issued a dilutive and expensive piece of convertible debt in exchange for proceeds of nearly $400 million. We believe that the Company could as easily have issued high-yield, non-convertible bonds, with a significantly lower all-in cost of capital. Instead, the Company issued bonds that have several unusual features, including conversion price adjustments for a wide spectrum of future events that turn the senior notes into a significant participant in the equity upside of the Company. As your Chief Financial Officer said to us, the notes "can get very expensive if [the stock] price goes up." We generally think it is a bad idea for a company to bet against its own stock price.
Moreover, the bonds were priced inefficiently, causing the issue to be over-subscribed with enthusiastic purchasers by "mid-afternoon on the first day of marketing," according to the Company's Chief Financial Officer. The rich deal was a boon for the convertible bond investors who participated " those bonds traded at 115 on the two-month anniversary of their issuance
" and a concomitant value destroyer for those of us who own Stillwater stock.** This transaction alone cost equity owners approximately $40 million. Worse yet, we have the sense from speaking with both Messrs. McAllister and Wing that they did not and do not fully appreciate the unusual nature of the ratchets, the dilutive impact of the notes in a sale of the company or the true cost-of-capital on a financing deal they just completed. How can we have confidence they will make the right decisions in the future?
We thus are not surprised that the market has afforded Stillwater " a company with terrific mines in Montana and a unique position in the PGM market " with a low valuation. The strategic missteps, bloated cost structure and inane financing program have left investors without the confidence in management and the Board needed to support a fair stock valuation.
We believe change is needed.
First, it is time for Mr. McAllister to retire and to be replaced by a proven executive with a commitment to operating the Montana mines efficiently and to ridding the Company of its prospecting and speculative investments in Canada and Argentina. Mr. McAllister has had his chance; he has served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman for more than a decade. And while the Company has rewarded him handsomely " with more than $34 million in pay " stockholders are worse off: the stock is down 65% during his tenure. Just last year, Mr. McAllister received $5.6 million in compensation while the stock fell 51%.*** The Company needs new leadership and alignment of executive pay with performance.
Second, the Company should cease all but absolutely necessary spending in Argentina and look to sell the Altar asset as soon as practicable. With the political and currency environment, it may be hard to sell the Argentina assets today, but there should be no further cash flow leakage to a speculative project in such an unstable part of the world. This asset should essentially be reclassified as "held for sale".
Third, the Company should quickly determine whether its Canadian asset is worthy of further development or whether the due diligence mistakes made by the Company are so severe as to render the project uneconomic. We hope the Company will be lucky and these PGM assets can be profitable for shareholders going forward, but we certainly think no additional betting should be done without first accurately assessing the resource.
Fourth, the Company should accelerate in any way possible its capital spending program and development of Graham Creek, to bring production from that resource online as quickly as possible. In all other practical ways, the Company should focus on getting more PGM out of the ground in Montana as quickly as possible. We believe there is a work force ready to be deployed and tangible opportunities in 2013 and beyond to increase production of PGMs. Shareholders are not well served by resource that remains buried.
Fifth, all spending on the Palladium Alliance should be suspended unless the Alliance can attract other palladium suppliers as supporters. We are, as noted, skeptical of the value of this spending; in all events, the Company should not be carrying the industry by itself.
Sixth, a complete review of all overhead and administrative spending should be conducted with a goal of bringing spending levels back to those in the earlier part of this century. There is no excuse for mining markedly fewer ounces with higher administrative and selling expenses.
Seventh, with due respect to the Board, we believe none of the problems we have cited or changes we are promoting are obscure. And, we regard it as your task, as our fiduciaries, to block strategy drift, value-destructive acquisitions, cost-base creep and bad financing decisions. You are responsible for ensuring we have strong executive leadership and alignment of pay with performance. You are tasked with ensuring capital is allocated to marketing programs and development projects with clear and attractive returns on investment. And you are responsible for moving the Company in a direction desired by the owners. You have failed at each of these core responsibilities. We believe the Board should be re-made to provide shareholders with a Board that will succeed at these tasks and inspire confidence in the future. With shareholder input, you should augment the Board with new directors and the long-serving incumbents should resign.
On a fundamental basis, the Company is worth substantially more than the stock price currently reflects. We believe that the Board can best close the gap by adopting the changes listed above. We note, for example, that a return to the historical ratio of basket price to stock price would yield a stock price over $18. The major PGM companies trade with a median enterprise value to EBITDA multiple that is 50% higher than that of the Company, despite having greater political, labor and power risk and higher effective tax rates.**** Just getting to the median multiple (which requires in our minds convincing shareholders that their capital will not be diverted nor their equity diluted) would yield a price of more than $18, even before marketing and administrative costs are brought in line (which could create as much as $2 per share of additional value) and the spending in Argentina is curtailed (another $1+ per share). And, of course, there is some, additive value in the Peregrine assets upon liquidation and in the Marathon assets if they prove economic, perhaps as much as $3 to $4 per share. Even with the dilution from the convertible bond, we thus believe the stock would be valued at $21-23, if only the Board and management team would focus on the core Montana assets and operated the business efficiently.
Given the Company's opportunity to create significant shareholder value with the assets already in hand, we would like to discuss our recommendations with you at your convenience. We will come to Montana, or you are welcome here, at any time. In the absence of movement on these items, you should expect that we will take our case to Stillwater shareholders this Spring and seek a new Board whose allegiances are to the Stillwater shareholders and whose resolve to create value is strong.
Best regards.
//s//
Gregory P. Taxin Managing Director
//s//
Joseph De Perio Senior Portfolio Manager
End notes:
OT: Anyone have recommendations for financial tweeters to follow?
I followed Charlie Gasparino today for the late day tweets on KCG (Knight Capital Group) and made some spare change on the afterhours announcement of their being taken out by Getco.
Financial Times and several CNBC folks also tweet, but not sure if it's worth following for trade-worthy ideas/news. JimCramer talks alot so requires too much filtering to find actionable info.
I already subscribe to Briefing.com but may eventually replace with a few noteworthy analysts and misc financial tweeters who report news quickly when they hear what's up with actively traded stocks. Not sure who tweets trade-worthy info from CNBC or WSJ, for instance.
Anyhow, looking for some good financial $ource$ in tweeter-world.
@stockpeeker
My suggestion would be to inundate the contact given at the PR firm (copying Wade's email address) with questions, requests for clarifications, and miscellaneous diatribe to protest the extremely inadequate detail included in this November update.
AIG rises as Treasury sells remaining stake in co.
2:30 PM ET, 12/11/2012 - Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Shares of American International Group Inc. climbed more than 4 percent on Tuesday as the Treasury Department announced that has sold all of its remaining shares of the insurance company.
THE SPARK: The Treasury said that it received $32.50 per share for its 234.2 million remaining shares, which represented a 16 percent ownership stake in AIG. With this sale, the Treasury said that the government has received $22.7 billion more than the $182 billion bailout it provided to support AIG during the height of the financial crisis.
My comment: AIG has a nice 1yr chart. Screw it; I bought some AIG this afternoon, as it could move higher w/o govt ownership. Perhaps, too, they will even announce a dividend in the near future. I haven't done this but it would be interesting to look at AIG vs. AGM with an eye to the quarterly "adjustments" to operational earnings (otherwise known as derivatives and other sheitz).
PRY.v/PNCGF Pinecrest receives notice that Spartan has received a competing bid from a third party. Spartan's up on the news; Pinecrest says they are still committed to the deal, for whatever that's worth.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/pinecrest-energy-inc-announces-receipt-123000921.html
Declaration date is the day that the board of directors announces the dividend. This must occur 10 days before the dividend is recorded to comply with the federal Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. So December 21 will be the final day companies can declare a special dividend ahead of the potential of the looming tax hikes.
The Ex-dividend date is the date the security trades without the dividend. This falls on the second business day before the distribution is recorded in the company's business records. The stock price is lowered by the stock exchange to reflect the amount of the dividend as the company takes the dividend amount off its books, and the company's value decreases. Obviously a key date for traders as the price will fluctuate. Investors who purchase the stock on or after this date do not receive the dividend. An investor must purchase the stock the day ahead of the Ex-div date as settlements of a stock is a T+3 process. Meaning it takes three days from the transaction date for a company to officially put a stock holder on the books. An existing shareholder must retain the stock until this day passes to receive the dividend.
The date of record is the date on which the company reviews its shareholder records to ensure it distributes payouts to the right investors.
The date of payment marks the date the company distributes the dividend to holders on record. This usually occurs a week after the date of record.
07:41 AAPL (bbotcs, I think you are right; expect a bounce but don't know exactly when it starts)
Apple: ISI belives the sell-off creates opportunity; stock should be viewed holistically (538.79)
ISI notes, following today's sell-off, AAPL stock has pulled back ~25% from late Sep-12 highs and has left an indelible mark on the investment community's psyche witnessed by increased volume, volatility, etc. Multiple factors have weighed on sentiment including: 1) comments from T suggesting Dec-12 smartphone activation growth could be limited, 2) lack of conviction on a special dividend, 3) weak technicals, 4) year-end tax planning, etc. ISI recommends investors stay the course in AAPL. While many are concerned over supply and GM, ISI believes investors should look holistically at the big picture: 1) availability is improving, and 2) AAPL products remain the "gift of choice" this holiday season.
TGA (yes, that means an oil producer in Egypt) at $10.30 is looking like it's gotten cheap vs. multiple analysts' targets. Supposedly the average consensus analyst price target is $14.62.
For the record, I bought some yesterday at $10.50, and I assume it could easily reach the $14 target as mentioned above if they are able to increase BOPD significantly with their new recently purchased acreage.
'peeker
ADAD: ACADIA Pharmaceuticals: Primavanserin has potential to become a blockbuster - Ladenburg Thalmann (5.65 +3.35)
Tue Nov 27 2012 12:59:37 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time) ET
Ladenburg Thalmann notes that ACAD reported positive top line results from the primavanserin Phase 3 study (Study 020) in Parkinson's Disease Psychosis (PDP). They believe the top-line data is, "as good as it gets for a central nervous system drug." They estimate primavanserin could become a $300 million drug in PDP and $200 million in off-label use with the possibility of becoming a greater than $800 million drug in the US if other indications are approved (primarily Alzheimer's Disease Psychosis). They maintain a Buy rating and set their price target at $8 but note that financing needs of the company could somewhat temper initial stock reaction to the results.
TARM down to $.28/share. Sucking wind!
Wade, your AGM doing very well lately, resulting from recent quarterly earnings. Do you have a "fair value" price target for AGM?
Congratulations on AGM; I know they don't all work out this well.
Regards,
'peeker
ps> I don't own AGM currently myself
MMT.v/MAUXF.pk ... OJ note on InvVillage says Mart can restart production in about a week. He refers to "Today's NOTE" but doesn't say whose NOTE he is quoting.
???? Anybody know when AGIP pipeline will be repaired and Mart can restart Umusadege production?
Thanks!
'peeker
OT: Meanwhile, manly men, watch out. A gay men may marry your girlfriend.
http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6846855/gay-men-will-marry-your-girlfriends
SLG.v/SGURF.pk just cancelled their stock offering. GOOD!!!
CALGARY , Nov. 15, 2012 /CNW/ - Sterling Resources Ltd. (SLG.V) ("Sterling" or the "Company") announces that its Board of Directors (the "Board") has today determined not to proceed with its previously announced marketed offering (the "Offering") of common shares in the capital of the Company (the "Common Shares"). The Company was targeting to raise up to C$45 million in aggregate gross proceeds pursuant to the Offering. While a number of existing and potential shareholders have expressed strong support, the Company has been unable to raise sufficient funds on terms which the Board considers to be acceptable.
Sterling will therefore pursue alternative means of ensuring that the Company is appropriately funded.
Sterling is a Canadian-listed international oil and gas company headquartered in Calgary , Alberta with assets in the United Kingdom , Romania , France and the Netherlands . The shares are listed and posted for trading on the TSX-V under the symbol "SLG".
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
HNR securities offering (had some; dumped it on this news):
Harvest Natural files for $300 mln mixed securities shelf offering and 686,761 shares of common stock by selling stockholders upon exercise of warrants (8.44 +0.06)
12:19pm SNFCA: Book Value / Share Was $7.38 as of Sept. 30
SNFCA results in news release.
Security National Financial Corporation Reports Financial Results for the Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2012
12:16 PM ET, 11/15/2012 - Business Wire
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 2012-- Security National Financial Corporation (SNFC) (NASDAQ symbol "SNFCA") announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2012.
SNFC announced revenues of $63,748,000 for the three months ended September 30, 2012. This represents a 54% increase from 2011. Pre-tax earnings from operations for the three-month period increased 634% from $835,000 in 2011 to $6,132,000. After-tax earnings increased 482% from $770,000 in 2011 to $3,990,000 in 2012.
SNFC announced revenues of $167,599,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2012. This represents a 50% increase from 2011. Pre-tax earnings from operations for the nine-month period increased from a loss of ($347,000) in 2011 to a gain of $13,497,000 in 2012. After-tax earnings increased from $457,000 in 2011 to $9,245,000 in 2012.
Scott Quist, Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said, “Our life segment continues its excellent profitability results. These results represented the third-best third quarter ever for our life segment; this result has been accomplished despite record low interest rates. Nevertheless, low interest rates continue to plague increased profitability. Our death care segment operating profit is actually 233% above prior year to date numbers, but the results continue to be masked by the depreciation charges the segment incurs by virtue of the REO they have undertaken and manage for its sister companies. We also continue to see cremation rates rise in all markets we serve. We have accomplished considerable change in our mortgage segment converting to a retail dominated distribution model. Without question, the low interest rates have materially benefited our mortgage segment, but significantly the percentage of our business that is purchased originated, rather than simply refinance, is approximately two times national averages. Thus, we believe that our mortgage model will be more sustainable versus its peers as interest rate normalize.”
SNFC has three business segments. The following table shows the revenues and earnings before taxes for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2012 as compared to 2011 for each of the three business segments:
For the three months ended September 30, 2012:
Revenues Earnings (Losses) before Taxes
2012 2011 % 2012 2011 %
Life Insurance $ 16,346,000 $ 16,681,000 (2.0 %) $ 938,000 $ 773,000 21.3 %
Cemeteries/Mortuaries 2,704,000 2,446,000 10.5 % (92,000 ) (318,000 ) 71.1 %
Mortgages 44,698,000 22,198,000 101.4 % 5,286,000 380,000 1,291.1 %
Total $ 63,748,000 $ 41,325,000 54.3 % $ 6,132,000 $ 835,000 634.4 %
For the nine months ended September 30, 2012:
Revenues Earnings (Losses) before Taxes
2012 2011 % 2012 2011 %
Life Insurance $ 51,455,000 $ 50,428,000 2.0 % $ 3,830,000 $ 2,191,000 74.8 %
Cemeteries/Mortuaries 8,394,000 9,203,000 (8.8 %) 57,000 496,000 (88.5 %)
Mortgages 107,750,000 52,333,000 105.9 % 9,610,000 (3,034,000 ) 416.7 %
Total $ 167,599,000 $ 111,964,000 49.7 % $ 13,497,000 $ (347,000 ) 3,989.6 %
Net earnings per common share were $.42 for the three months ended September 30, 2012, compared to $.08 per share for the prior year as adjusted for the effect of annual stock dividends. Net earnings per common share was $.97 for the nine months ended September 30, 2012, compared to $.05 per share for the prior year as adjusted for the effect of annual stock dividends. Book value per common share was $7.38 as of September 30, 2012, compared to $6.48 as of December 31, 2011. The Company has two classes of common stock outstanding, Class A and Class C. The Class C shares share in distribution of earnings and capital on a 10-for-1 basis with the Class A shares; therefore, for earnings per share and book value per share calculations, the Class C shares are converted to Class A shares on a 10-for-1 basis. There were 9,592,385 Class A equivalent shares outstanding as of September 30, 2012.
If there are any questions, please contact Mr. Scott M. Quist or Mr. Stephen M. Sill at:
Security National Financial Corporation
P.O. Box 57250
Salt Lake City, Utah 84157
Phone (801) 264-1060
Fax (801) 265-9882
Source: Security National Financial Corporation
Security National Financial Corporation
Scott M. Quist or Stephen M. Sill
801-264-1060
fax: 801-265-9882
SNFCA should do the pr tomorrow as you suggested, so I bought some today at 5.50, hoping for a bounce on mgt optimiam instead of a negative outlook.
Market has been F'ed up lately, that is, Fiscalcliffed.
12:37 FXEN misses on revs and earnings
FX Energy misses by $0.17, misses on revs (4.61 +0.08)
Reports Q3 (Sep) loss of $0.16 per share, $0.17 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.01; revenues fell 5.0% year/year to $9.6 mln vs the $9.97 mln consensus. Total net third quarter 2012 production was 1.2 Bcfe, compared to 1.1 Bcfe during the third quarter of 2011. Daily production for the third quarter of 2012 was approximately 13.2 Mmcfe/d, compared to 12.0 Mmcfe/d during the same quarter of 2011, an increase of 10%. Third quarter 2012 production would have averaged nearly 14.0 Mmcfe/d but for the unexpected shut down of the Company's Zaniemysl well for nearly a month for unscheduled maintenance. The Company expects its Winna Gora well to begin production during the fourth quarter, which could enable average daily production for the full quarter to reach approximately 14 Mmcfe/d.
HNR earnings this AM:
Harvest Natural Resources Announces 2012 Third Quarter Results
Press Release: Harvest Natural Resources – 3 hours ago
Symbol Price
HNR 8.46
HOUSTON, Nov. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest Natural Resources, Inc. (HNR) today announced 2012 third quarter net income and provided an operational update.
Harvest reported third quarter net income of approximately $5.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $7.7 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, for the same period last year. The third quarter 2012 results included exploration charges of $1.5 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, and $1.1 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for transaction costs incurred related to the pending sale of our 32 percent interest in Petrodelta. Additionally, during the third quarter, Harvest incurred $1.0 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, in debt conversion expense and $0.6 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, in discontinued operations related to income taxes. Excluding the exploration charges, transaction costs, debt conversion expense, and discontinued operations charges, third quarter 2012 earnings would have been $10.0 million, or $0.26 per diluted share.
Petrodelta reported net income during the third quarter of $45.7 million, as reported under International Financial Report Standards (IFRS), compared to $57.0 million for the same period in 2011. Petrodelta's decrease in net income for the quarter was primarily due to higher operational costs of $14.2 million resulting from a 30 percent increase in salaries and related benefits retroactive to October 2011. Harvest's 32 percent share of Petrodelta's net income for the third quarter as reported under U.S. GAAP was $16.2 million, compared to $14.8 million, for the same period one year ago.
What do Mitt Romney & Jeff Davis have in common?
They both won most of the Confederacy.
Good Luck to all Americans!
Back to the basics, this is my understanding about the business of SHOM.
The real near-term catalyst for SHOM will probably be when/if they win their bids in NC for additional Medicare contracts. SHOM's ApneaRX can grow substantially by ramping up their device rental business thru Medicare contracts in North Carolina, as it is currently only doing business in South Carolina. NC Medicare contracts/awards are supposed to be announced by NC sometime before yearend.
Though the Encore business is more widespread geographically and sounds like the bigger part of the business, ApneaRX actually brings in approximately 85% of revenues, I believe. Encore brings in the other 15% as a franchise business model basis, providing reasonably-priced infrastructure and billing services to medical staffing agencies in large metro areas.
Encore provides a stable longer-term stream of revenue for SHOM than ApneaRX, but ApneaRX has the greatest chance to grow annual revenues substantially for SHOM.
Good Luck to all long-term SHOM shareholders. Screw the pump&dump jackoffs.
OT: Which proves my point ...
some things in Texas can be quite small ...
OT: Should have known that KIK and OTC were the Koch brothers.
OT: Skittish Markets ... or mkts are skittish about what would happen if Romney wins ... but basically we never know for sure what makes markets skittish.
The election results will probably have little effect on US fiscal policy, and the the Elephant vs. Donkey standoff will continue.
Not sure why all this pumping is going on;
SHOM is no Jack Kennedy of healthcare.
Nope, it's just you!
Definition of NERVOUS NELLIE
: a timid or worrisome person
Warm Regards,
'peeker
TGA ... I think they won on 4 big blocks they bid on in Egypt. Comment on IVillage mentioned they could potentially double production with these new blocks.
IMHO ... I have no opinion.
POE.v/POEFF.pk making some strong moves the last couple of days. Anyone know what catalyst could be moving the needle on this one?
TIA,
'peeker
needs to grow revenues and profit in the coming year in order to be valued like a real growth company.
Most revenues seem to come from the ApneaRX sleep disorder business. I'm not sure Encore business gives enough revenue by itself to cover the company expenses. In other words, the NC business must allow them to grow sleep disorder business (with good margins) to be worth the effort.
Regards,
Steve
MMT.v presentation ongoing in Miami.
Wade just announced completion of negotiations with Shell; awaiting final signatures from Shell w/in about 3 weeks (so I assume 6-8 wks).
Good explanation about marginal fields and history of pipeline constraints.
.....
.....
etc.etc.etc.
PEC.v article is erroneous...
It was written by a real estate developer and blogger. He seems to have based his article on a Reuters article stating:
We hope to produce 8,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in five years," Mohave's Portugal director Arlindo Alves told Reuters.
Read more at
http://www.stockhouse.com/bullboards/messagedetail.aspx?p=0&m=31666868&l=0&r=0&s=pec&t=LIST#FYd3E7g0bL7QSfH6.99
BNCC had two major one-time adjustment that contributed to MOST the blowout quarterly results, and they do still owe lots of TARP. Wouldn't you think this is a good place to take some tics off the table?
Congratulations on the nice returns you've had on this one though.
IAE.v/IACAF (up 3.5% in UK):
Ithaca Energy Update on Athena Field Operations
September 14, 2012
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM and CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Sept. 14, 2012) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Ithaca Energy Inc. (TSX:IAE)(AIM:IAE) announces an Athena field operational and production update.
The planned hydraulic intervention to eliminate the production tubing blockage in the P1 well, using a Remotely Operated
Vehicle Support Vessel, has been performed. This intervention, involving the pumping of fluids into the P1 well flowline
(at the wellhead), has resulted in a minor incremental increase in the previously observed flow rates achieved from the
well, with gross production from the well now being approximately 700 to 800 barrels of oil per day ("bopd") (160 - 180
bopd net to Ithaca).
The production data that has so far been obtained from the field indicates that the anticipated sweep of oil within the
reservoir is likely to result in the reserves attributed to P1 being fully produced by the well in its current
production condition, supported by recovery from the other wells on the field. The P1 well is the original appraisal
well that was drilled on the field in 2006 (completed as a development well in 2011) and represents the least
significant producer in terms of forecast ultimate oil recovery from the field.
Based on the results of the P1 hydraulic interventions and an assessment of reservoir performance, the Athena co-
venturers have decided that the value of producing the P1 well in its current condition outweighs the benefit of
performing a workover on the well using a drilling rig. The well will therefore now be produced in its current
condition. Future attempts to further clear the blockage by applying hydraulic pressure, using the facilities on the
FPSO, may be undertaken when operations allow.
The field continues to produce dry oil and the field facilities are performing well.
Ithaca third quarter production figures will be announced as usual in early October and a further update on Athena
performance will be included at that time.
The co-venturers in the Athena field are: Ithaca, operator (22.5%), Dyas UK Limited (47.5%), EWE Energie AG (20%) and
Zeus Petroleum Limited (10%).
HNR: Hard to estimate the risk on getting approval from the Venezuelan gov't ...
The news release said nothing more than (paraphrasing) ...
We're workin' on it . .. ... .... and we'll be closely watching to see if Chavez gets voted out by some miracle in Venezuela's October elections.
Went back and read this piece from July on the deal.
http://www.andrew-racz.com/Harvest_Natural_Resources.html
Nice writeup, but I thought the valuation for HNR was a bit too generous IMHO.
'peeker
Thanks, Sam Dan. That is an interesting TRGD filing for re-registration. Trivial and legal comments aside, I assume we can translate it to mean that if TRGD ever does get re-registered and is allowed to trade, they can resume distributing TARM shares to us TRGD bagholders.
I'll keep my fingers crossed, assuming it would probably take at least 6 months to get re-registered and begin trading. According to the terms of TRGD's original plans to distribute TARM shares (within 24 months of the original distribution, though my memory is no longer good enough to recall the date), they'll probably have to distribute TARM shares all at once to TRGD shareholders to get it done within 24 months (if that time marker hasn't already passed).
Thanks again,
Steve
ps> I assume that if TRGD ever does become tradeable again, its price per share will not exceed the underlying value of the TARM shares to be distributed.
MMT.v/MAUXF.pk had disappointing earnings!
Mart mgt needs to be more diligent and complete in updating shareholders with monthly status, which in future should definitely include monthly calculated losses.
The 18% pipeline losses (per pipeline operator ENI/AGIP) was the biggest negative surprise to me.
Since Mart was able to get an estimate on pipeline losses during July (within a month) to help assuage shareholder anxiety somewhat, they should be willing to announce estimated pipeline losses each month in their monthly operational updates.
By the way, Chen's letter mentioned his continuing support for Mart, though he was disappointed like all shareholders with quarterly results and the lack of predictability for future quarterly results.
Best Regards to all,
'peeker
MMT.v/MAUXF.pk had disappointing earnings!
Mart mgt needs to be more diligent and complete in updating shareholders with monthly status, which in future should definitely include monthly calculated losses.
The 18% pipeline losses (per pipeline operator ENI/AGIP) was the biggest negative surprise to me.
Since Mart was able to get an estimate on pipeline losses during July (within a month) to help assuage shareholder anxiety somewhat, they should be willing to announce estimated pipeline losses each month in their monthly operational updates.
By the way, Chen's letter mentioned his continuing support for Mart, though he was disappointed like all shareholders with quarterly results and the lack of predictability for future quarterly results.
Best Regards to all,
'peeker