Detailed discussion of Soco's assets should take place on other threads, but this thread is to discuss the latest valuations both by ourselves and analysts, sentiment (ie will the shares go nowhere because there's not much upcoming news) and likely moves in the share price in the next six months. How should the shares be valued? How reasonable is it that any drilling without a firm commitment further than several months away is ignored by the market?
I haven't seen many recent analysts' reports on Soco, but I have one from Cazenove with a core NAV of 1370p and no doubt considerable explo NAV on top of that. I imagine that's approximately concensus, but maybe with crude rising again these concensus NAV figures will start to rise. Has anyone any other recent broker estimates?
My view, as stated elsewhere, remains that in the absence of much to get the market excited the shares will wander aimlessly for the rest of 2009. I've previously guessed that if crude were $65 at Christmas 09, then Soco's SP would be somewhere near £13 then, and I'm still very happy with that guess. What does anyone else think?
Of course unexpected bids and other events may overtake this, but these sort of events may happen to any company, and perhaps Soco (where management seem unlikely to accept bids since they believe there is considerable value not recognised by the market) is one of the less likely companies to be affected by the unexpected. The key new news for Soco might be (a) a bid (IMO unlikely), (b) some sort of presentation by management of the drilling data they claim to have that demonstrates a significant strike has been made at E, currently ignored by the mkt, or (c) possibly hitting oil off the Congo.
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SOCO International plc is an international oil and gas exploration and production company. The Company has oil and gas interests in Vietnam, which includes Block 9-2 and Block 16-1; Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), which includes Marine XI Block and Marine XIV Block, the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), consists of Nganzi block and Block V and Angola, which include Cabinda Onshore North Block. The Company's operations are located in South East Asia and Africa. It holds its interests in the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), through its 85%-owned subsidiary, SOCO Exploration and Production Congo SA (SOCO EPC). It holds its interests in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa) through its 85%-owned subsidiary SOCO Exploration and Production DRC Sprl. The Company’s net entitlement volumes were approximately 15,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day. more »
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If the company is going to be sold, well if that is the intention in the next 6-12 months I don't favour a dividend as it is not tax efficient.
I would rather they buy back as many shares as possible.
If the management try and do a MBO I think I would go absolutely MAD and all hell will break loose.
The more shares they buy back and the longer the price remains at these levels the easier it becomes for them to do a MBO but they had better not, the way to add value is to find Oil not steal it from fellow shareholders.
Fair enough ee,
I was really just drawing attention to the £80M we are suggesting using on buy backs and what that represented in terms of a divi. That leaves us to ponder, what would be better for the shareprice buying back 10% of the stock (if this is even possible at these prices ), or a 7% divi. ( as a one off).
clearly a one off divi won't have the advantages that a sustainable divi might. would a 2% divi do anything at all for the share price ? hard to say, at least we'd be getting something back for our hard earned cash. Of course one factor that makes a big difference is the eventual timescales for some kind of monetisation of SV. If we believe its soon (say the next 6-12 months), then buying stock back now in bulk to give us a 5% boost in exit value seems like a good deal. If the reality stretches out beyond then, you have to wonder if the money might not be better invested in exploration, assuming suitable opportunities can be found.
Anyway, the next month will give us some more information in the IMS and at the AGM. The elephant in the room is the market, are we heading to a crisis that will make takeovers more difficult ? or will the second half of the year see a calming of the EZ issues ?
cheers K
In reply to kenobi, post #460
We need to keep in mind what the objective is, is it 1, to maximise the return for shareholders who stay in, or 2 to bolster the share price and allow people to exit at a slightly higher price without damaging the share price ?
To be more explicit about share buybacks in the circumstance of the first reason above for a company looking to sell - the objective will be specifically to maintain or raise the base sp on which a bid may be constructed. Reducing liquidity by a tender of substantial number (10% as suggested?) would (probably) reduce liquidity and therefore should force the sp upwards to the benefit of remaining shareholders.
I'm not proposing management do this as they will know best, just thinking of the effect if they did.
redhill
the objective will be specifically to maintain or raise the base sp on which a bid may be constructed. Reducing liquidity by a tender of substantial number (10% as suggested?) would (probably) reduce liquidity and therefore should force the sp upwards to the benefit of remaining shareholders.
Redhill,
I really don't know, I can see an approach where paying a big divi and saying, vietnamese assets are for sale, we're under no pressure to sell as the shareholders are getting a good return on their investments, we want a good price might work. or buying up lots of shares might work. I'm really thinking out loud. It is one of those much argued about issues among shareholders what is better divis or buybacks. My answer is always it depends on the price. But a sustainable divi would push up prices too, although it should reduce the eventual buy out price logically whereas buybacks should increase the eventual buy out price.
One important factor is when the management believe a deal can be done.
K
In reply to extrader, post #462
Thanks for clarifying, extrader. And phew - I'm not going mad ;-) Though like Isaac I will be absolutely fuming if they do try a Lees type MBO.
In reply to extrader, post #462
Well you shouldn't have said you did then! Look what happened - not only did I fly off the handle but I seem to have landed up in the same nuthouse as others, who would be equally annoyed by such a thought ;-)
To be clear - I think there is every reason for the company to tender for its stock. And I would be entirely happy for that to be done if it doesn't compromise the listing or change the ultimate endgame. One can (rather pointlessly) debate what size of tender might be appropriate - but I think 25-50mn shares (say 10 - 15%) would be a reasonable objective and financeable without recourse to a loan (I'd guess they have c $300mn cash).
Note also that any EGM requirement could be addressed at the same time as the upcoming AGM.
I like the idea of an auction also - and there are various interesting ways in which that could be constructed, depending on precisely what objectives are intended.
As I said in #453 last night: "opportunism is merited by market circumstances".
Lets see what happens.
ee
Interesting (for a Friday afternoon) paper explaining the Asia-Pacific shift to dated Brent pricing:
http://www.platts.com/IM.Platts.Content/InsightAnalysis/IndustrySolutionPapers/olmi003_datedbrent.pdf
Speaking of which:
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4E8GB8JU20120511
Not sure about the 'much lower', in view of the current market uncertainty.
Spurticus
Interesting.
L&G have been selling down Soco....Now below 3%
Other (please
specify):
------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ -------
3. Full name of person(s) subject Legal & General Group Plc (L&G)
to the
notification obligation:
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------
4. Full name of shareholder(s) N/A
(if different from 3.):
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------
10 May 2012
5. Date of the transaction and date
on
which the threshold is crossed
or
reached:
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------
6. Date on which issuer notified: 11 May 2012
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------
7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed L&G (Below 3%)
http://uk.advfn.com/news/UKREG/2012/article/52382876
Also interesting to note that Soco bought back their max, avg vol of 680k the last 20 trading days
SOCO announces that on 11 May 2012 it purchased 170,000 of its ordinary shares at an average price of 266.0641 pence per ordinary share. The highest price and the lowest price paid for these shares were 271.2 pence and 263.6 pence respectively. All the purchased shares will be held as Treasury shares.
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205111745152234D
http://uk.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=14382883&from=8383
Clearly not, interesting to see L&G selling.
They are not very smart at all, they were previously selling Soco in Jan 2009 near the lows....
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=200901221810061276M
They then just held on, until recently when they began selling again...
http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201205111825262252D
And in that period the chart has done the following :
Soco Share Price (5 years)
Seriously, who employs these idiots? They seem to have a track record of selling at the lows.....And yes I doubt Soco is going to go significantly lower from here.
Management should look to buy out the seller in bulk IMO.
In reply to Isaac, post #472
Management should look to buy out the seller in bulk IMO.
Is that allowed? Buying shares to treasury in the market or by tender is allowed, but are they allowed to make a deal with one shareholder?
redhill
Of course they can. The holder would just get in touch with the company broker and a deal could be done at market price probably or maybe slightly below.
In reply to Isaac, post #472
Actually they have a very much longer track record than that. I well recall them conducting a firesale when the shares were trading at about 110p.......and they sold out at about 80p - only to see the shares promptly pick up to 105p as the Chairman and others picked the stock up. The timescale from start to finish was (IIRC) about a day and a half.......!
It'll be documented in the bowels of TMF somewhere.
It could be deja vu all over again (as they say ;-0)
ee
...ps...I notice that after today's repurchase Pontoil will have 23.994% if they haven't traded the shares since the AR. I have a feeling there could be a few holding notifications shortly.
Vietnam Energy Profile: Important Oil Supplier To Regional And Domestic Markets – Analysis
Potential companies that may be interested in buying Soco Vietnam Assets :
http://www.eurasiareview.com/09052012-vietnam-energy-profile-important-oil-supplier-to-regional-and-domestic-markets-analysis/
That hardly reads as if PV will want to restrict TGT ramp up.......
http://www.eurasiareview.com/09052012-vietnam-energy-profile-important-oil-supplier-to-regional-and-domestic-markets-analysis/
Ample evidence as to why it is is in the Governments interest to ramp up TGT. What does TGT produce a lot of ? Anyone know?
It is a very sweet, low sulphur crude that refines into high value products hence the premium of $6 to Brent.
What is there a shortage of in Vietnam that they have to import? Refined products.
So why does it make any logical sense for PV to restrict TGT production when
a) Plenty of demand for products that they are importing
b) Refining capacity is expected to increase in the next few years i.e. more demand for crude
Someone needs to give Mr Market a good shake on the head....
That hardly reads as if PV will want to restrict TGT ramp up.......
And yet remind me what the production level is nearly 6 months after the 55k target ?
and now many zones out of how many are in production ?
I agree with the sentiment though though, everything I read suggests that the vietnamese should be keen to maximise production, but here we are.
I look forward to the opportunity to hear soco's side of this at the agm,
>K
In reply to emptyend, post #475
L&G are perhaps not at fault for 'their' actions - let's not forget that after BlackRock / BGI they are one of the largest UK index tracking institutions, and if their clients are selling out of of UK plc in crappy markets then the L&G sales of Soco may be as a consequence of said crappy markets - assuming that the bulk of their Soco shares are held in passive mandates rather than active (redemptions from active mandates can also trigger sells with the need to raise cash, so even there the picture wouldn't necessarily result from an L&G 'house' view).
Disclosure: I have no interest in L&G except as a provider of protection products (for which they're excellent), and certainly not as an investment product provider (for which they're not that great)
In reply to snaj, post #478
Yes, I believe this is in fact the case this time around. On previous occasions they have had more in actively managed funds but, as you point out, both Blackrock and L&G are both huge in the tracker market - and I believe that their computers have been selling down indices not only because of market-wide pressures but also because of near-term regulatory changes affecting liquidity rules for index funds.
These factors also militate against stock-pickers and add to the general risk on/risk off trading patterns of hedge funds etc. These are huge problems that the wider market (and businesses and governments) needs to grapple with - and are not specific to SOCO International (LON:SIA). The volatility is just something that one has to put up with (and be grateful that at least this company is financially and operationally positioned to take some advantage from it, via repurchases etc)
ee
C'mon Soco let's see the company cheque book out big time today. Stuff the 25% limit get buying this is a great opportunity. Give L&G a call and take some stock from them.
Before you all say I know it doesn't work like this but fancied a bit of a ramp :-)
L&G have amongst the largest index-tracking businesses around, which forms a sizable fraction of their entire business. It's in the nature of index-tracking that when a SP is low, that company's mkt cap forms a low fraction of the index tracked, so the tracking institutions will be sellers. That's not a reflection on L&G or anything to do with Soco, it's a reflection on what index-tracking is - they have to buy at peaks and sell at lows, for better or worse.
As for "not very smart at all" that puts me in mind of someone around here, rather than L&G.
It is worth pointing out that L&G will have to sell Soco in-line with it's weighting in an index tracker if that tracker is suffering redemptions (again we don't know if that is true). It can just as easily be that the index falls as the component parts (including Soco) fall in value and they do no selling or buying at all.
It is wrong to assume if the index falls this triggers index trackers to sell the constituents of that index which is I think what some people here are saying.
My comments above were really just in jest of course.
Log