Net Asset Value(s)

RNS Number : 4132B

Baker Steel Resources Trust Ltd

10 January 2018

 

BAKER STEEL RESOURCES TRUST LIMITED

(Incorporated in Guernsey with registered number 51576 under the provisions of The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 as amended)

10 January 2018

29 December 2017 Unaudited NAV Statement

Net Asset Value

Baker Steel Resources Trust Limited (the "Company") announces its unaudited net asset value per share at 29 December 2017:

Net asset value per Ordinary Share:    56.8 pence

Since 30 November 2017 the NAV per share has increased by 14.3%, primarily due to a rise in the carrying value of Polar Acquisition Limited and other changes following the usual review of unlisted positions at the year end.

The Company had a total of 116,139,980 Ordinary Shares in issue with a further 700,000 shares held in treasury as at 29 December 2017.

Portfolio Update

The Company's top 10 investments are as follows as a percentage of NAV:

Polar Acquisition Ltd	37.4%
Bilboes Gold Limited	12.6%
Ivanhoe Mines Limited	11.2%
Cemos Group plc	9.1%
Metals Exploration plc	6.8%
SME Inc	4.5%
Queensland Coal Investment Holdings Ltd	4.4%
Black Pearl Limited Partnership	3.9%
Ironstone Resources Limited	3.8%
Nussir ASA	3.1%
Other Investments	1.8%
Net Cash, Equivalents and Accruals	1.3%

Investment Update

Full Year Adjustments to Carrying Values

The Company has carried out its normal review of its unlisted holdings, which it performs at the half-year and full year-end.  This review takes into account general market movements in mining equities, as well as specific factors, and an assessment of whether these should impact the carrying values of the Company's unlisted holdings. In line with this policy and the significant progress of the Prognoz silver project over the past year, the Board considered a 41% increase in the carrying value of Polar Acquisition Limited to be appropriate.  The Company expects to be in a position to give a fuller update on PAL in the next few weeks.

In order to quantify how the share price of a particular unlisted stock might have moved during the period had it been listed, the Investment Manager maintains an index of comparable listed companies in terms of commodity, location and development for each unlisted investment. As a result of the movement in its index over the past year, the carrying value of Bilboes Gold Limited has been increased by 20%, also recognising the positive pre-feasibility study on its Isabella-McCays-Bubi gold project in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe completed in November 2017.

CEMOS Group PLC ("CEMOS")

During December 2017, CEMOS successfully completed a €6.3 million raising of Convertible Unsecured Loan Stock ("CULS") to fund the construction of a cement plant at its Tarfaya project in Morocco. The cement plant will be manufactured, constructed and initially operated by Loesche GmbH based in Düsseldorf, Germany, which will also be providing vendor financing for the plant.

The cement plant will have a capacity of up to 270,000 tonnes per annum and is planned to be in production mid 2018. Total capital costs are budgeted at under €12 million and the operation is expected to have annual revenues of over €25 million and a payback of less than two years.

The Company participated in the CULS issue, investing €3 million, however the pricing of the CULS has led to the Company reducing the carrying value of CEMOS equity by 16%.

Queensland Coal Investment Holdings Limited ("QCIH")

On 5 October 2017, the Company announced that it had conditionally committed to investing up to A$10 million in Gateway Mining Limited ("Gateway"), an Australian Stock Exchange listed shell company which was in the process of acquiring certain hard coking coal assets in the Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia.

During December 2017, the Company agreed with QCIH, the direct holder of the above assets, to invest directly in QCIH and for QCIH not to go ahead with the reverse takeover of Gateway and to stay private for the time being. As part of the agreement the Company invested A$5 million in convertible loan notes in December 2017 and has committed to invest a further A$5 million in convertible loan notes in February 2018.

QCIH owns the Wilton and Fairhill coking coal projects in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, Australia, which is well known for its high quality coking mines. The forecast low capital costs to bring the projects into production together with excellent local infrastructure means QCIH are targeting first cashflow within 2018. The recent strength of the international coking coal price should enable a rapid payback of the capital for the project.

Further details of the Company and its investments are available on the Company's website www.bakersteelresourcestrust.com 

Enquiries:

Baker Steel Resources Trust Limited     [phone]

Francis Johnstone
Trevor Steel

Numis Securities Limited                                   [phone]

David Benda (corporate)

James Glass (sales)

The Net Asset Value ("NAV") figure stated is based on unaudited estimated valuations of the underlying investments and not necessarily based on observable inputs. Such estimates are not subject to any independent verification or other due diligence and may not comply with generally accepted accounting practices or other generally accepted valuation principles. In addition, some estimated valuations are based on the latest available information which may relate to some time before the date set out above.

Accordingly, no reliance should be placed on such estimated valuations and they should only be taken as an indicative guide. Other risk factors which may be relevant to the NAV figure are set out in the Company's Prospectus dated 26 January 2015.

 

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