spannermonkey
27 Sep 2018
VLS competition good intel Jammy. Didnt know they’ve had this for so long. 9 years is a long time, but if there’s not been a market for it then its tough. Cheap oil and gas during that period probably doesn help with market penetration. The new shift to renewables (that is not driven by oil price) is probably the cataylst. I’m sure the change is due to a significant technical benefit over the ETF offering and the fact that BP is a JM and Fulcrum investor. This is a good example of being a developer who is not wedded to their own tech like VLS. Maybe this is sinking in. Big drops today.
thurgarton1
26 Sep 2018
Shareholders owning more than 3% of the Company at 7 September 2018 were as follows: Ervington Investments Limited (21.12%) Lansdowne Partners (19.45%) CQS Directional Opportunities Master Fund Ltd (15.37%) Janus Henderson Group (10.04%) Invesco Asset Management (6.05%) Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (4.56%) Jarvis Investment Management (3.66%) total holding 80.25% - seems that the big players haven't been scared off. What do they know that we don't, I wonder.'t
thurgarton1
26 Sep 2018
Institutional Investors: I see that VLS have updated their AIM Rule 26 page to disclose those IIs with holdings over 3%:
JAMMY
26 Sep 2018
VLS competition Again, an interesting and relevant find. First of all, it is a surprise that Fulcrum dropped Emerging Fuels Technology that late in the game. Fulcrum has stated for the longest time that EFT was the supplier of the FT technology for the Reno plant. This should have major impact of the plant design and cost. Secondly, BP/JM-Davy seem to be proud that this is their “…first licensing deal for their innovative, award-winning FT technology.†One has to realize that this technology was demonstrated in a demo plant of 300 bpd (similar to the ENVIA plant) between 2003 and 2009. Afterwards that plant was demolished. In other words, it took 9 years to get a first order…The only way this is possible because of the deep packets of the partners.
spannermonkey
25 Sep 2018
VLS competition Well it looks like i jinxed it yesterday stating that we have the market to ourselves. Johnson Matthy and BP have announced their entry into the small scale GTL market. Unpleasant reading for for VLS no doubt. Where is our knight in shining armour?!? (with a check book) WebWire BP and Johnson Matthey license innovative waste-to-fuels technology to biofuels... BP and Johnson Matthey (JM) have signed an agreement with Fulcrum BioEnergy to license their Fischer Tropsch (FT) technology to support Fulcrum�s drive to convert municipal solid waste into biojet fuel. BP and JM have developed a simple-to-operate...
spannermonkey
24 Sep 2018
VLS competition If only I knew the answer Jammy. They are all essentially doing the same thing, the only difference being that RR, Enerkem and Fulcrum are seasoned developers and not seasoned technology providers turned into novice developers. We have no choice but to use our own tech - the other guys can move with the times and chose the best kit to develop projects with. People often site that we have big investors on board, such as Abramovich. The fact is that they all came on board when we were technology providers; we are no longer developing technology and the company is now in uncharted territory with its developer ambitions. The only saving grace is that nobody else is doing small scale GTL in the UK, so at least we have the market to ourselves. I think only EFT have some small scale GTL kit in the US.
JAMMY
24 Sep 2018
VLS competition I fully agree, Spannermonkey. Compared to the competition - Fulcrum, Red Rock Biofuels and Enerkem - tVelocys is way behind in this area. Why is that?
spannermonkey
24 Sep 2018
VLS competition very true Jammy, however the main difference here is that VLS’s stakeholders are not investors. Nobody appears to be comfortable in buying-in at the VLS corporate level. BA and Shell are merely supporters and are putting pocket change into one project. We really need an on-boarding of someone with industry presence to get Mississippi off the ground - the UK project can wait.
JAMMY
21 Sep 2018
VLS competition Good find, SM. Fulcrum and Enerkem both have been very pro-active lining up off-take agreements and strategic investors. Velocys has BA and Shell in this space, but Shell has their own MSW conversion technology: ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/29_laxmi_narasimhan-ih2_advocacy_lead.pdf
thurgarton1
20 Sep 2018
Interesting to note that they haven't got to the ENVIA stage yet - estimated for 2020 so VLS still has a head start once they sort out the leak issue once and for all and get on with the rest of their projects. Meanwhile the SP hovers in the doldrums locked in a news vacuum!
spannermonkey
20 Sep 2018
VLS competition This popped onto my feed this morning: [link] These Fulcrum guys are really bolstering their stakeholder base. They now have Marubeni, BP, United Airways, Cathay Pacific Airlines to name but a few. Shame we cant say the same about our own feeble efforts to attract quality investment partners. There must be a reason why…
spannermonkey
14 Sep 2018
Interesting Q&A with David Pummell excellent observations. But all your points would harm investor confidence now wouldn’t they…
JAMMY
14 Sep 2018
Interesting Q&A with David Pummell A few comments: #4: “What was evident, is that the design and engineering execution by Ventech created many operational issues that led to significantly more capital to be invested and considerably longer timeline to get the plant fully operational.†It is an easy out to use a bankrupt company as a scapegoat, particularly since Velocys selected Ventech as their EPC partner. Remember also that Ventech invested $1.3M in Velocys when they acquired 933,687 shares at 135p per share in 2012 and that in 2013 Ventech ordered 2 reactors to the tune of $8M. #5: Pummell forgot to mention the $15.2M loan to ENVIA and the $5M investment. #7: Why are the insurance claims not resolved? The root cause was identified 2 months ago.
spannermonkey
13 Sep 2018
Interesting Q&A with David Pummell Interesting indeed, but its a typical ‘upbeat’ message to reassure investors and nothing in there is new news. Unfortunately, the reality maybe somewhat different - ie, rapidly running out of cash reserves.
JAMMY
12 Sep 2018
Ownership Finally, we know who picked up half of the 60,000,000 of the last raise: CQS - Directional Opportunities Master Fund Limited.
