Olea Australis (OLE) is a company that has featured a few times in the shell play stocks that I have been posting about over the last few months. The company finally has vended in resource projects and gone down what has been a popular path in the last year - West African Gold.
The company made an announcement late on Thursday before trading commenced again on Friday morning. In what has been some time in the making the company is acquiring two other companies both of which are in the process of acquiring ground in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. The problem is recently there has been unrest and political problems in Cote d'Ivoire with the country almost going into civil war.
The response to the announcement by the market was poor. Infact the shares barely traded as they were pushed down from $0.003 to $0.002. I am mixed on this one - positively, it is a case of out with the old and in with the new with the OLE staff to step down and Tim Fry to join as the Chairman. This is a good scalp as he has excellent experience from working with Lihir Gold. On the other hand the political conditions in the country and time that the company will be suspended to comply with Chapter 1 and 2 listing rules with the ASX will put some investors off (no trading for up to three months).
If anything, the shares are at rock bottom. I tend to think that it is a matter of touching base with this one at a later date, that is, September when the acquisitions have been bedded down.
Showing posts with label Olea Australis (OLE). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olea Australis (OLE). Show all posts
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Shell Play Brief: Olea Australis
One of the ASX shell plays that I posted about recently was Olea Australis (OLE). I'm revisiting this one because the time frame for any action has now shortened or become clearer after the announcement made on 01/03/2011.
I have seen on occasions when the ASX will issue a query or 'please explain' to companies that have held cash and little in the way of a business activity or any assets for an extended period of time. An example that comes to mind was Wavenet International (WAL) which held cash for ages and received this query. This was an excellent example of a shell play that has seen the stock rise from $0.08 to $0.60 after vending in coal assets.
If you get a moment I would recommend reading the response made by OLE to the ASX. The company has stated 'the directors have held preliminary discussions with at least ten parties interested in Olea as a basis for a transaction for a listing on the ASX' In lamens terms this means backdoor listing another company.
OLE proceeds to advise that none of these discussions are advanced enough to warrant further disclosure. The company does however state that 'the directors anticipate that OLE would be in a position to demonstrate to the ASX within four months that it is compliant with listing rules 12.1 and 12.3' In other words OLE will be making some form of announcement in regards to this back door listing within 4 months - we now have a clear timeframe!
I have seen on occasions when the ASX will issue a query or 'please explain' to companies that have held cash and little in the way of a business activity or any assets for an extended period of time. An example that comes to mind was Wavenet International (WAL) which held cash for ages and received this query. This was an excellent example of a shell play that has seen the stock rise from $0.08 to $0.60 after vending in coal assets.
If you get a moment I would recommend reading the response made by OLE to the ASX. The company has stated 'the directors have held preliminary discussions with at least ten parties interested in Olea as a basis for a transaction for a listing on the ASX' In lamens terms this means backdoor listing another company.
OLE proceeds to advise that none of these discussions are advanced enough to warrant further disclosure. The company does however state that 'the directors anticipate that OLE would be in a position to demonstrate to the ASX within four months that it is compliant with listing rules 12.1 and 12.3' In other words OLE will be making some form of announcement in regards to this back door listing within 4 months - we now have a clear timeframe!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Early Stage ASX Shell Plays (part 1)
Following up on my Introduction to ASX listed shell plays post it is time to explore a few of these plays that are in the very early stages with almost no interest and volumes traded. These are the plays that will take some time but offer higher returns for those that are patient!
OLEA AUSTRALIS (OLE)
I originally posted about this company in September and not much share price action has happened since, which goes to show that they are all not winners and early stage plays can be a long haul. The company has a market cap of about $2 million with about $1.3 million in cash on hand. Tony Pitt was appointed to the board in June last year and was looking at vending in commercial real estate assets and as a result almost pulled off a merger with Becton Property Group (BEC). The deal subsequently fell apart and Tony Pitt left the company but retained his shareholding. Since this the company has reinstated its plans to seek a new business for the company. I think this was a good turn of events as real estate is not entirely interesting in comparison to resources projects. It is interesting to note that Ian Murie serves on the board and is also tied up with Acuvax Limited (ACU), a company I recently posted about that has a high chance of backdoor listing a resources project. OLE last trades at $0.003.
FRESHTEL HOLDINGS (FRE)
Freshtel is a company that had business in VOIP technology. The company has been restructuring for the better part of a year now and this has included selling off their UK VOIP assets which were running at a loss. The company has some debt and in November stated that it had sufficient royalty income to maintain the shell. It is currently capped at $2million but only has just under $180,000 in the bank. It is a bit worrying that they failed to lodge their quarterly on time and were suspended as a result (only to lodge soon thereafter). We havent been given any hints as to what may be vended into the shell however we do know that they 'continue to investigate and search for an appropriate business to back into the listed shell and thus give shareholders an improved future with Freshtel' Things arent moving too quickly at Freshtel and the stock last traded at $0.003.
INDIA EQUITIES FUND (INE)
This company is as pure as a shell play can be. The company has no debt, no business and is sitting on cash. The company used to invest in companies listed on the exchange in India however suffered from the share price always being under the value of the securities in it's portfolio. The company decided to liquidate it's portfolio and return capital to the shareholders. It held on to some cash until it's register was raided, a meeting convened and the new shareholder nominating it's own directors and then taking control of the company. I've covered this company before so you can read up further here.
This particular company is one of my preferred picks because with the cash it has on hand there is very limited downside. The net tangible asset backing is $0.0614 per share whilst it's shares traded at $0.044 so there is some good value here. The new directors also have good experience with shell companies. The last update (which I recommend you read) provided by the company was on 30/11/2010.
OLEA AUSTRALIS (OLE)
I originally posted about this company in September and not much share price action has happened since, which goes to show that they are all not winners and early stage plays can be a long haul. The company has a market cap of about $2 million with about $1.3 million in cash on hand. Tony Pitt was appointed to the board in June last year and was looking at vending in commercial real estate assets and as a result almost pulled off a merger with Becton Property Group (BEC). The deal subsequently fell apart and Tony Pitt left the company but retained his shareholding. Since this the company has reinstated its plans to seek a new business for the company. I think this was a good turn of events as real estate is not entirely interesting in comparison to resources projects. It is interesting to note that Ian Murie serves on the board and is also tied up with Acuvax Limited (ACU), a company I recently posted about that has a high chance of backdoor listing a resources project. OLE last trades at $0.003.
FRESHTEL HOLDINGS (FRE)
Freshtel is a company that had business in VOIP technology. The company has been restructuring for the better part of a year now and this has included selling off their UK VOIP assets which were running at a loss. The company has some debt and in November stated that it had sufficient royalty income to maintain the shell. It is currently capped at $2million but only has just under $180,000 in the bank. It is a bit worrying that they failed to lodge their quarterly on time and were suspended as a result (only to lodge soon thereafter). We havent been given any hints as to what may be vended into the shell however we do know that they 'continue to investigate and search for an appropriate business to back into the listed shell and thus give shareholders an improved future with Freshtel' Things arent moving too quickly at Freshtel and the stock last traded at $0.003.
INDIA EQUITIES FUND (INE)
This company is as pure as a shell play can be. The company has no debt, no business and is sitting on cash. The company used to invest in companies listed on the exchange in India however suffered from the share price always being under the value of the securities in it's portfolio. The company decided to liquidate it's portfolio and return capital to the shareholders. It held on to some cash until it's register was raided, a meeting convened and the new shareholder nominating it's own directors and then taking control of the company. I've covered this company before so you can read up further here.
This particular company is one of my preferred picks because with the cash it has on hand there is very limited downside. The net tangible asset backing is $0.0614 per share whilst it's shares traded at $0.044 so there is some good value here. The new directors also have good experience with shell companies. The last update (which I recommend you read) provided by the company was on 30/11/2010.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
High Risk, High Potential return in real estate shell
For those that are interested in a possible high risk investment in real estate from the ground up may like to take a look at Olea Australis (OLE). The company used to sell olive oils however has disposed of all assets relating to this and are evaluating new opportunities for the company with a highly likely bias towards commercial real estate.
The company has just over $1.5 million in cash on hand and a market capitilisation of approximately $2 million so we're looking at an extremely high risk, potential high return sit-and-be-patient-type investment. Things are slow going at the moment which is evidenced by the fact the company has been looking for alternatives for over a year now (although they were close with one business proposal which eventually fell over). In recent times the company has announced the appointment of Tony Pitt, an experienced person involved in numerous other initiatives for mergers, company wind ups etc to maximise share holder returns.
You need to also take into mind that when an asset is found there is going to have to be a capital raising too.
As always, trading/investing in shell companies is high risk and I would only ever invest money in such companies that you can afford to lose. Shares in Olea Australis last traded at $0.003 yesterday.
The company has just over $1.5 million in cash on hand and a market capitilisation of approximately $2 million so we're looking at an extremely high risk, potential high return sit-and-be-patient-type investment. Things are slow going at the moment which is evidenced by the fact the company has been looking for alternatives for over a year now (although they were close with one business proposal which eventually fell over). In recent times the company has announced the appointment of Tony Pitt, an experienced person involved in numerous other initiatives for mergers, company wind ups etc to maximise share holder returns.
You need to also take into mind that when an asset is found there is going to have to be a capital raising too.
As always, trading/investing in shell companies is high risk and I would only ever invest money in such companies that you can afford to lose. Shares in Olea Australis last traded at $0.003 yesterday.
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