Cardboard Posted May 23, 2018 Share Posted May 23, 2018 Worth creating a thread IMO. Last year, 11.4 million shares were voted or 48%. Of these, 2.12 million were withheld on Don Caron (Chairman and CEO) while the rest of directors (3) had only around 200,000 shares withheld. I did not vote my shares last year and I hold a decent stake. I also know other shareholders who are unhappy, did not vote last year and are planning to vote against the slate of directors this year. Let me put it this way: If the same number vote against Don Caron this year plus the new ones from this year, we are looking at tripling the number of shares withheld or potentially enough to force him to resign from being a director per their corporate by-law: more than 50% of shares voted withheld. I suspect that those who voted against him last year are long term shareholders quite unhappy with long term results and who do not support him being Chairman and CEO with just over 1 million shares or 4.5%. This is reinforced by the fact that a significant number of shares or similar to 2017 have been withheld for a number of years now. It is time for us to send a strong message: This is not a private company. One individual with only 4.5% of shares held cannot dictate for the remaining 95.5%. Results have been poor and undervaluation has lasted for way too long. Time to look at strategic alternatives. The Management Circular was finally published on Sedar on Friday and you should receive your proxy in the mail shortly. PLEASE VOTE! Every vote counts! DO NOT underestimate your vote even if you believe it is a small stake as it could be the difference maker. Cardboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBW Posted May 24, 2018 Share Posted May 24, 2018 Interesting idea. Seems like the company can generate earnings and on that basis looks cheap. However, they keep getting squeezed on working capital if that continues, without any cash on hand, this can get ugly. ABL has been increased, but I would have thought they would have cut costs more to give themselves more room. Can they sell any assets? What would they get for US operations? What would the PP&E be worth in a liquidation? Management does not have high termination costs either, which is interesting to note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrider Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Well, I only ever bought 15k shares ... just saw the electronic proxy from IB and withheld votes for all management! Now, I think Cardboard should sharpen is pen and send a strongly worded letter to the board after the vote :) along the lines of 'fire that muppet'. Worth creating a thread IMO. Last year, 11.4 million shares were voted or 48%. Of these, 2.12 million were withheld on Don Caron (Chairman and CEO) while the rest of directors (3) had only around 200,000 shares withheld. I did not vote my shares last year and I hold a decent stake. I also know other shareholders who are unhappy, did not vote last year and are planning to vote against the slate of directors this year. Let me put it this way: If the same number vote against Don Caron this year plus the new ones from this year, we are looking at tripling the number of shares withheld or potentially enough to force him to resign from being a director per their corporate by-law: more than 50% of shares voted withheld. I suspect that those who voted against him last year are long term shareholders quite unhappy with long term results and who do not support him being Chairman and CEO with just over 1 million shares or 4.5%. This is reinforced by the fact that a significant number of shares or similar to 2017 have been withheld for a number of years now. It is time for us to send a strong message: This is not a private company. One individual with only 4.5% of shares held cannot dictate for the remaining 95.5%. Results have been poor and undervaluation has lasted for way too long. Time to look at strategic alternatives. The Management Circular was finally published on Sedar on Friday and you should receive your proxy in the mail shortly. PLEASE VOTE! Every vote counts! DO NOT underestimate your vote even if you believe it is a small stake as it could be the difference maker. Cardboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisowis Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Bit late with the news, but: 44.5% withheld on Don Caron, ~1.5 million more shares FOR than WITHHELD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardboard Posted July 11, 2018 Author Share Posted July 11, 2018 I don't really know how they managed to have so many shares voted FOR them? Much more than their own shareholdings. They must have a lot of friends supporting them. And anyone who has friends like this needs no enemy! Cardboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakesider Posted July 11, 2018 Share Posted July 11, 2018 Used to work in registry, you would be surprised the amount of people that just vote in favour of all resolutions on proxy forms. You would call them up and they wouldn't even know that they voted for something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc75 Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Any reasons for the big spike today? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBW Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Perhaps this practice had something to do with the unexpected votes https://www.reuters.com/article/agrium-jana-proxy/update-1-jana-questions-agrium-broker-payments-in-proxy-fight-idUSL2N0CO0QH20130401 https://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/liquor-stores-to-pay-brokers-to-solicit-votes-in-proxy-battle Turns out in Canada you can pay brokers to vote the way you want. No idea if this applicable in this case, but thought I would point out that it can happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisowis Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Another garbage quarter from these guys. Managed to lose $0.16/share in Q2, against a share price of $0.30 as of today's closing. http://www.brichem.com/uploads/files/Documents/financial_Info/2018/Q2/Q2FS.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardboard Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 The garbage quarter (Q2) was expected since Q1 or when they announced the closure of two underperforming oil-based mud warehouses in the Permian: costs too high over there and not the scale to deliver/compete. While I am clearly unhappy with this foray into Texas while it should have been known at the onset that it would never have been as profitable as their other warehouses, I must give them credit for reacting quickly and getting out fast without too much damage. The stock currently trades at $0.30 while book value is $1.05 and net-net working capital is $0.49. So right there, I see some margin of safety and large upside. Moreover, Q3 looks solid per their outlook with all areas doing well and margins at or above historical averages. Then you have Q4 and Q1 which are their big quarters coming right after. So I think it is an opportunity right now. There is a vacuum of buyers with the dog days of summer and it is a tiny micro-cap. If they only do business as well as they did last year in Q3, why shouldn`t this trade at least at $0.60 upon Q3 earnings release? Look at DC.A for example. This thing could not catch a bid and was at $1.10. A few days later it is at $1.50 just on the possibility that one holding could be sold. These small caps can move very fast. Cardboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorteCapital Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Are they really restructuring the company? SG&A went from 4.9m in 2016 to 3.75m YTD. Salaries went from around 7.2-7.5 (2016&2017) to 10m probably in 2018. + more debt - interest burden. How good a change in the management would be for shareholders.. According to their profile in Linkedin, they have just opened 5 new positions this week so salaries will get even higher ::) ::). Kidding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lakesider Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 All the staff had taken a voluntary pay cut a few years back, that management reversed this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorteCapital Posted August 28, 2018 Share Posted August 28, 2018 Makes sense. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardboard Posted August 28, 2018 Author Share Posted August 28, 2018 And salary cuts are back on by the way. Cardboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rukawa Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 The thing that always bothered me about his company is the fact that they have zero cash and are completely reliant on debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandU Posted August 29, 2018 Share Posted August 29, 2018 Doesn´t this company look to cheap at 0,30CAD? P/NCAV = 0.63, P/TB = 0.3. From Q2 "Looking to the third quarter and beyond, sales are currently robust across all North American divisions and we expect our consolidated margins to be at or above historical normalized levels. Northern American oil and gas drilling activity levels should remain consistent for the remainder of 2018, however, PSAC has forecasted 3,586 wells to be drilled in Western Canada for the second half of 2018 with 1,839 wells to be drilled in the third quarter, representing a 5% forecasted decrease over Q3 2017. Bri-Chem will continue to be proactive in seeking higher margin opportunities throughout all its North America business segments. We will aim to stay focused on our strategy, maintain our market share and not sacrifice either to achieve our margin goals in the near term." The "at or above historical normalized levels" would imply a EBIT-margin of 5-6 % historically; http://quote.morningstar.ca/Quicktakes/stock/keyratios.aspx?t=BRY®ion=CAN&culture=en-CA&ops=clear. With TTM revenue of 120 mCAD (despite significant lower oilprice in Q3 and Q4-17) that would give a EBIT of 6 mCAD (using a 5 % margin) - interest of 2,8 m = 3,2 mCAD EBT with NOLs. Gives a P/E < 2,2 on a ~7,3m market cap IF managements predictions are true and the oil price avrage higher than TTM. Debt situation not to fun but a big cushion on the balance sheet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc75 Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Just noticed this was up 35% today. Haven't seen any news. Volume was higher than avg but total trade value still very low, so maybe just a random blip as someone takes up a stake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisowis Posted February 27, 2019 Share Posted February 27, 2019 Just noticed this was up 35% today. Haven't seen any news. Volume was higher than avg but total trade value still very low, so maybe just a random blip as someone takes up a stake. Up another 30% today... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunrider Posted June 11, 2019 Share Posted June 11, 2019 Hi Cardboard ... wondered whether you're still in this muddy situation? I kept a small tracking position and just saw that it's plumbing new lows, so wondered if you've updated your views re underlying business performance? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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