Misty Creamybib
16 Sep 2015
Re: Sad to see it go Lke the rest of us your Crystal Ball is broken...You can only make decisions based on the information available at the time - It is best to focus on the investrment you opted for instead and decide whether it remains within your selection criteria.I sold PLUS600 before a takeover offer - Win some lose some.
Rab Munro
16 Sep 2015
Re: Sad to see it go I'm doubly sad, because not only have I missed out on this nice rise by selling out recently, but I was looking forward to the opportunity to buy it again in the future. This is not the first time in the last five years that there has been a bid approach on a share I have just sold. Will I ever learn?
HamptonCaught
16 Sep 2015
I'll be disappointed at 36p simply because I'm convinced that Alkane would have performed over the next couple of years. I'd love to see a counter offer, but can understand where the current board are coming from.
Loldemort
16 Sep 2015
Sad to see it go On March 11, 2015, looking for a safe-ish home for a bit of cash left over after making more important and sensible investments, I bought 7892 shares at 21.375p for a total of £1,699.86 including commission. Needless to say, those well-researched, 'sensible' investments are now underwater while ALK has been in profit since more or less day one!Oh well, I'll collect my thousand-and-odd pounds profit -- though I wish I had put all the other money in here as well -- and like most people, I think Balfour Beatty have swooped at exactly the right time and got themselves a cracking little bargain.It's been a nice board to read, too -- so unlike some of them.
Misty Creamybib
16 Sep 2015
Henderson Have Henderson approved the offer? I would be tempted in their position to reject it.Other than to re-invest monies elsewhere why would anyone sell the shares in the market at a price below this. Surely it's a good bet for an arbitrage hedge fund.
hewhodares1
16 Sep 2015
Re: RNS ~ Takeover Offer You can't blame the Alkane board for wanting to take the money and I assume a healthy remuneration package but at 36p its undervalued, I just wish they had the balls to hold out for a better price 40 - 45p .... all is not lost, there may be a counter bid....
Misty Creamybib
16 Sep 2015
Wow! Bought into this on 10th September 2015!
theprior
16 Sep 2015
Re: RNS ~ Takeover Offer Is it safe to assume the agreement with Egdon still stands (whereby EDR has rights to the deeper prospects of Alk's licences) ??TP
theprior
16 Sep 2015
Re: RNS ~ Takeover Offer It's a fix !Company specially formed by BB for the purpose of getting into the market on the cheap.Shame really. This has been a cracking little company for years, with steady growth prospects.Shame !TP
pseudopolylageraemia
16 Sep 2015
Re: RNS ~ Takeover Offer Low ball offer unfortunately. Not happy.
rollthediceagain
16 Sep 2015
RNS ~ Takeover Offer @36p a share44% premium to 25p mid price so that's better than a kick up the butt but nevertheless I'm disappointed as I believed ALK had far greater potential than offer prices in, especially with expansion and diminishing national energy generating capacity.
IB Investor
10 Sep 2015
Re: Positive new interview good posting - Thank
gretel
10 Sep 2015
Positive new interview Great finish yesterday.The CEO is very positive:[link] methane mines to keep the lights onWednesday 09 September 2015 ​​​Alkane Energy, which mines methane gas from redundant Yorkshire coal mines, reported strong annual results, boosted by an “extremely good” performance at the former Maltby Colliery. Maltby, near Rotherham, ​moved into full production last summer and is now Alkane’s biggest mine​ with a capacity of 10MW​.​Alkane’s CEO​ ​Neil O’Brien​​ said:​ “We are delighted with Maltby which is running extremely well.“The facility has been running flat out and we are testing new running regimes, generating more in weekdays and the winter and less in the summer and at weekends so we can capture top prices.”Mr O’Brien said the strong results reflect the investment the group has made in the business.With energy shortages expected over the next two winters, the group is well placed to step in to the breach and supply National Grid with much needed capacity.“Both National Grid and Ofgem have warned the system is getting tight. There will be five per cent spare capacity in the coming winter, which is down from the usual 10 to 15 per cent and in 2016 the system will be under even more stress,” said Mr O’Brien.Capacity will be further hit by the closure of ​Eggborough power station in Yorkshire and ​the Longannet coal plant in Scotland, which are both due to close next March, raising the spectre of blackouts next winter. “We are seeing rising demand from National Grid and we’re being asked to step in almost every day,” said Mr O’Brien.Elsewhere in Yorkshire, operations at the former Wheldale Colliery in Castleford also performed well and Mr O’Brien said Wheldale is “up there with the best”.The 10MW site is both a coal mine methane producer and a power response site, the name given to former mines that have no methane left but the mine workings are used to buy in gas to produce power to feed the grid.National Grid calls on Alkane’s power response sites when there is a supply wobble, known in the trade as a “kettle blip” (when everyone puts on the kettle during the TV ad breaks). It only takes 15 minutes for a power response site to generate power while a big power station takes four hours to run up, which makes it uneconomical if power is only needed for a few hours.Alkane is expecting increased demand when the Rugby World Cup starts later this month.“If England progress there will be kettle blips as people open the fridge to get another tinny out,” said Mr O’Brien.“The last two winters have been very mild, but sooner or later there will be a cold winter. We are standing by.”Alkane has 60 engines and capacity to supply over 125MW in order to “keep the lights on” over the winter. At the moment it supplies National Grid between 4pm and 7pm every evening and it is on standby to generate power between 7pm and 8pm.Alkane announced a a 23 per cent jump in revenue to £8.7m in the six months to June 30 and adjusted pre-tax profits rose 166 per cent to £1.4m.“We are delighted with our progress,” said Mr O’Brien. “We started the year with a lull from National Grid, but we have seen rising levels of demand since March.”Analyst David Brockton at Liberum said: “First half profit is in line with our expectation, continuing the encouraging start to the year. Strong profit growth reflects a 25 per cent increase in power output, with greater mix of revenue from the higher profit generation division.”​Alkane has 10 facilities in Yorkshire and it will shortly open a new 3MW site at the former Markham Main Colliery on the edge of Doncaster, where methane gas production is expected to be “very strong”.Its other sites include the former Princ
Rab Munro
09 Sep 2015
Re: Ouch! Thanks for the advice. It's always difficult to know how to respond as a long-term investor when you think you can see the beginnings of a new bear market. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm finding policies that served me well during my first 15 years of investment no longer seem to be working, and personally I'm finding it quite hard to adapt to the current markets.My pain will be short-lived if this is the start of a longer-term bear market, remembering that a falling tide lowers all boats. For what it's worth, I have kept my emerging market investments and my commodity ETFs, and I'm short DOW and FTSE100. Doesn't sound like a bad policy once I write it down.Good luck all, and hopefully I will be back in here once the dust settles.
IB Investor
09 Sep 2015
Re: Ouch! Misty makes a good point - the footsie 250 is a much better investment bet than the 100. The 100 only just passed its 1999 high this year whilst the 250 passed its high in 2004 if memory serves me.My only reason to invest in the 100 is either when I think a share has gone too low(miners?) but mainly when I want an income share - this usually means a pretty static dividend and a capital loss I'm afraid. In fact there are income unit trusts who beat any return from a footsie company.The smaller companies and AIM can produce even better returns, but also big losses. Whilst I have taken a beating on Alkane this time around ( made good bucks on previous purchaes over the past 12? years or so - but timing is crucial) Power companies are in a strange place - we seem to have a shortage of supply, yet prices are falling. I would also not sell this time of year as we only need a bad winter and prices will go up strongly.
