I'm enjoying a bottle of Red, scrolling and Poof..This one hits me! 42 cents.YES
posted on
Sep 05, 2010 11:21PM
We may not make much money, but we sure have a lot of fun!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Aug. 18, 2010) - ABERDEEN INTERNATIONAL INC. ("Aberdeen" or the "Company") (TSX:AAB) today announces that the value of its investment portfolio for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ended July 31, 2010, was approximately $60.0 million including a cash balance of $3.9 million. This relates to a total value of $0.69 per share and does not include the value of our gold royalties. This report of the portfolio value is not equivalent to the "Net Asset Value" or "NAV" that has been previously reported by Aberdeen as it does not include assets and liabilities of the corporation that are not treated as investments. Instead it refers only to cash, equity investments (private and public), option-type investments (e.g. warrants) and corporate debt/loans receivable. The cash total includes cash to be received from transactions awaiting settlement at the end of the quarter.
The value of the investment portfolio decreased quarter over quarter by approximately $9.7 million or 13.9%. Second quarter financial results are expected to be released by September 15, 2010, and will include up-to-date shareholders' equity value (previously referred to as "net asset value") which includes value for our royalties as well as other assets and liabilities.
(CAD millions) July 31, 2010 April 30, 2010 July 31, 2009 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash and cash equivalents 3.9 1.0 1.3 Investments ----------- Publicly traded 27.9 38.2 29.6 Private 16.2 11.3 7.8 Non-trading warrants Intrinsic value 1.2 6.8 2.5 Option value 2.8 3.5 4.9 Portfolio Investments 48.1 59.9 44.9 Equity accounted investment 1.1 1.9 Corporate Debt/Loans receivable 8.0 7.7 2.6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 60.0 69.7 50.7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shares Outstanding (millions) 87.5 87.5 87.5 $/Share 0.69 0.80 0.58 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Stein, Aberdeen's President and COO, commented, "During our second quarter we saw a significant slide in the overall equity markets and in particular the small and micro-cap stocks that make up much of our portfolio. In particular Dacha Capital was hard hit both by the overall market as well as exceptional selling introduced after its March 2010 Special Warrants became freely trading. Despite this setback, Dacha Capital has been successful in acquiring rare earth metal material and moving it outside of China where demand is growing rapidly. The market value of its holdings has been steadily rising over recent months as witnessed by its growing NAV per share."
"We are undaunted by the month-to-month fluctuations of the portfolio as we manage Aberdeen for the long-term. While many of our public holdings were weak in Q2, we made excellent progress with respect to several new core holdings such as Forbes & Manhattan Coal ("Forbes Coal"), which was financed privately in July, and Newport Mining, which is in effect a spin-out of certain assets of privately-held Amazon Potash. Our portfolio is positioned well to react positively as the resource market rebounds and particularly to improvements in sentiment with respect to the gold price, given our strong gold focus."
Highlights Of The Past Quarter
Aberdeen is excited about the expected listing of Forbes Coal, one of our private holdings that completed a $35.6 million financing in July at $2.80 per share. Prior to the financing Aberdeen held 1,100,000 seed shares, which were purchased at an average cost base of approximately $1.18 per share. In addition, Aberdeen also holds 1,100,000 performance shares which vest based on certain production and profitability milestones-these performance shares give Aberdeen tremendous additional upside provided Forbes Coal meets its operational goals. Aberdeen currently holds 1,705,196 common shares and 1,100,000 performance shares in Forbes Coal.
Amazon Potash, another of Aberdeen's private holdings which holds agricultural mineral assets in Brazil (and already spun out private company Brazil Potash previously), also reported an exciting development. Amazon Potash executed a transaction to vend its phosphate exploration and development assets to Newport Mining (NMN-ASX), an Australian listed Company. Aberdeen holds both debt and equity in Amazon Potash. Aberdeen agreed to settle part of its debt for shares and performance shares in Newport. In addition, Aberdeen received shares and performance shares for its equity holdings in Amazon Potash. Vesting of the two series of performance shares depends on the size of JORC compliant resources discovered on the phosphate properties sold to Newport, and Aberdeen expects that the drilling and subsequent resource estimates by Newport could add significant value to the portfolio both from the upside in Newport's common stock held by Aberdeen as well as the potential to vest the performance shares. Aberdeen holds 1,521,583 commons shares, 4,145,556 series A performance shares, and 3,318,763 series B performance shares of Newport Mining.
Both of these transactions demonstrate that Aberdeen's core business of investing in and nurturing early-stage resource investments with exceptional upside has been successful despite the recent ups and downs of the market. We continue to work with our investee companies to add value for Aberdeen shareholders as well as selectively reviewing and analysing new investment opportunities.
At the end of quarter, Aberdeen had purchased 75,000 shares as part of its Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB") at an average cost of $0.34 per share. Since the end of the quarter Aberdeen has purchased an additional 177,500 shares for a total of 252,500 shares and all repurchased shares have been cancelled. Aberdeen expects to continue to purchase shares over the remainder of the fiscal year, depending on market conditions and other investment opportunities that may be available.
Outlook
Our outlook for the remainder of the year is cautiously positive. We are entering a seasonally strong period for the gold price with a macro-economic background that remains supportive to higher gold prices. Our portfolio continues to be weighted heavily towards gold through large investments in Crocodile Gold, Avion Gold, Sulliden Gold and Belo Sun Mining, all of which are up significantly since the market lows witnessed in May-June 2010, as well as our gold royalties on two producing operations in South Africa (Buffelsfontein and Mine Waste Solutions).
We are also pleased to report the launch of Aberdeen's updated, rebranded, and modernized website at www.aberdeeninternational.ca. This is an important and long-overdue step as Aberdeen strives to improve communication with its shareholders and the investment community at large. In conjunction with its new website, Aberdeen is also making updates available on Twitter (username: AberdeenAAB), including company news, updates on the company's holdings and other relevant information relating to the company and the resource industry.