Metal Tiger plc (LON:MTR), the London Stock Exchange AIM listed investor in natural resource opportunities, has this morning announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2019.
Highlights:
- Sale of the Group’s 30% interest in Botswana joint venture with MOD Resources Limited to MOD, for shares and royalty interests generating a profit of £3.3million, pursuant to Sandfire Resources Limited’s takeover of MOD.
- Received 6,296,990 shares in Sandfire, representing a 3.5% stake in Sandfire, in exchange for the Company’s shares in MOD.
- Within the Project Investments division, in Botswana, the Company’s joint venture, Kalahari Metals Limited, intersected wide zones of copper mineralisation from diamond drilling at its Okavango Copper Project.
- Strong performance from Equity Investments division, reporting a profit of £5.0million (before administration and interest costs), including dividends from Sandfire of £527,000.
- Equity Investments division investments during the year included an initial A$0.5million investment in Cobre Limited, an Australian copper exploration company, with a further A$2.4million investment at the year end into Cobre’s IPO on the ASX.
- Raised £2.8million (net) through two placings at a price of 1.45p per share.
- Draw down of £4.2million of new financing under an equity derivative collar financing arrangement with a global investment bank.
- Net current assets at the year end of £21.7million including a cash position of £5.0million.
- Profit for the year before taxation of £4.5million (2018: loss £4.0million).
Post Period:
- Initial drilling programme at Cobre’s Perrinvale Project commenced, confirming high grade VHMS mineralisation. Subsequent studies have identified further drill targets that will be the subject of Cobre’s ongoing 6,000m drilling campaign.
- Completed investment of A$2.2million into ASX listed South Korean gold explorer, Southern Gold Limited, resulting in a 17.1% stake in the company.
- KML commenced drilling at Kitlanya East but exploration activities were suspended due to government restrictions related to COVID-19.
- Sandfire, of which the Company currently owns 3.6%, completed an A4 Dome exploration drilling campaign, demonstrating encouraging results in a location near to KML’s licences. Sandfire is now working towards a maiden resource for the A4 Dome, which is likely to have a material impact on the valuation of the 2% net smelter royalty held by Metal Tiger.
- Invested a total of £570,000 into Trident Resources plc, a diversified mining royalty and streaming company.
Posting of Annual Report, Notice of AGM and proposed Share Consolidation
The Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2019 will be available shortly to view and download from Metal Tiger’s website (www.metaltigerplc.com/investors/financial-reports-accounts), along with the notice of Annual General Meeting (“the Notice”). Copies of the abovementioned documents will be posted next week to shareholders.
The AGM will be held at 10:00am on 30 June 2020 at Higher Shalford Farm, Shalford Lane, Charlton Musgrove, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 8HF. Following the restrictions placed on public gatherings under the Coronavirus Act 2020 by the Government of the United Kingdom, shareholders are strongly urged not to attend the meeting in person but to vote by proxy, submitting such votes not later than 10:00am on 26 June 2020. The Company has implemented electronic voting and full instructions, including how to request a paper proxy form, are set out in the Notice.
As set out in the Notice, the Board is proposing a 1 for 10 consolidation in the ordinary shares of the Company. The number of shares the Company currently has in issue is considerably higher than that of the majority of companies on AIM with a similar market capitalisation and the Board believes that this, which results in a share price quoted in single pence, affects investor perception and share price volatility. Accordingly, the primary objective of the proposed share consolidation is to reduce the number of ordinary shares to a level which is more in line with other comparable AIM-traded companies and thereby creating a higher share price per ordinary share.
The Board believes that this will improve the marketability of the Company’s ordinary shares by way of a higher share price and hopes that, by narrowing the spread of its bid offer price, it will reduce the volatility in the Company’s share price.
Expected Timetable of Principal Events
Announcement of the Share Consolidation | 29 May 2020 |
Publication of Notice and form of proxy | 29 May 2020 |
Latest time and date for receipt of forms of proxy for use at the AGM | 10:00am on 26 June 2020 |
AGM | 10:00am on 30 June 2020 |
Share Consolidation record date | 5:00pm on 30 June 2020 |
Admission of New Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM and crediting of CREST accounts with New Ordinary Shares | 8:00am on 1 July 2020 |
Definitive share certificates (where applicable) expected to be despatched | By no later than 15 July 2020 |
Notes:
1. References to time are to London time unless otherwise stated. Each of the dates in the above timetable is subject to change at the absolute discretion of the Company and its nominated adviser, Strand Hanson Limited, without further notice.
2. If any of the details contained in this timetable should change, the revised times and/or dates will be notified by means of an announcement via a regulatory information service.
3. Certain of the events in this timetable are conditional upon, inter alia, the approval of the Resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting.
Key Statistics
Number of Existing Ordinary Shares | 1,522,076,607 |
Share Consolidation Ratio | 10:1 |
Number of New Ordinary Shares in issue following the Share Consolidation | 152,207,661 |
ISIN of the Existing Ordinary Shares | GB0030493232 |
ISIN of the New Ordinary Shares | GB00BMQC0691 |
SEDOL of the Existing Ordinary Shares | 3049323 |
SEDOL of the New Ordinary Shares | BMQC069 |
Michael McNeilly CEO of Metal Tiger stated:
“The sale of our interests in our MOD joint venture and the subsequent sale of MOD to Sandfire represented a critical turning point for the Company. It has facilitated further exciting new investments, increased our liquidity and increased our asset value. Further, the sale has given the Company immediate cash flow in the term of Sandfire dividends, but also a look through to potential long term cash flow in the form of a 2% net smelter royalty over the old MOD/Metal Tiger JV ground covering circa 8,000 km2.
“This deal, together with the new share issues during 2019 have meant that we have been able to acquire investments in Cobre and Southern Gold and to continue funding our interests in KML, thereby increasing our portfolio diversity whilst retaining our high-impact interest in exciting jurisdictions such as the Kalahari Copper Belt.”