CSS - Clean Seas Seafood

[Basilica]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I see our Chairman is extolling the success of the recent wild catch on the CSS website, can't understand why as this is of no benefit to CSS shareholders who hold no interest in the wild catch business!

The CSS website also brags about the success of the Stehr Group ... No benifit to CSS shareholders either

"
In 2004/2005 The Stehr Group produced in excess of:

* 650 tonnes of farmed Southern Bluefin Tuna.
* 600 tonnes of aquaculture-bred Kingfish.
* 200 tonnes of aquaculture-bred Mulloway.
"

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Hi tge oracle, I agree investers need to be informed and it is even more important when the listed company does transactions with Pty Ltd companies that are also owed be the same players. It must be very difficult to calculate a fair price when you are buyer and seller. I checked the owner of the Sea cage leases and both CSS and CSAG own leases for sea cages, but as CSAG is a Pty Ltd company we have no way of checking what assets are included and their value. The 3.7 million loss by CSAG in one year is a concern. How did that happen? Stock loss, feed prices, slow growth? CSS should declare the full financials for the last few years of CSAG to satisfy the investors. Seems to be more than colder water temperature would cause. Have they proposed a buy out of the wild tuna catch or are you just guessing? The license for the tuna quota is worth heaps, and is the key asset for starting again.

Hello Basilica . Yes they are planning to sell the wild catch business to shareholders but only the infrastructure and assets not the licence , refer to last annual report. There has also been media spectulation about their intenetion to sell the wild catch business. For this to be accetable for me 3 thgings have to happem-

1. A share of the licence must be included.
2. It must be at a fair price.
3. The ATF ( The Stehrs ) must maintain their overwhlming shareholding in the new business.

The reason for point 3 is simple. ATF must share the same risk exposure as its other CSS shareholders. I will accept a diliution in their holding if ,and when, CSS achieves success with SBT breeding as the business will have passed the high risk.

 

[Basilica]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Hello Basilica . Yes they are planning to sell the wild catch business to shareholders but only the infrastructure and assets not the licence , refer to last annual report. There has also been media spectulation about their intenetion to sell the wild catch business. For this to be accetable for me 3 thgings have to happem-

1. A share of the licence must be included.
2. It must be at a fair price.
3. The ATF ( The Stehrs ) must maintain their overwhlming shareholding in the new business.

The reason for point 3 is simple. ATF must share the same risk exposure as its other CSS shareholders. I will accept a diliution in their holding if ,and when, CSS achieves success with SBT breeding as the business will have passed the high risk.

I still cant find any reference to purchasing the wild catch business in the 07/08 annual report??? The report is just 37 pages downloaded, can you please give me a page number or tell me which section to look in?

I agree points 1 and 2 are a must and I understand your reasons for point 3 above but think it would be impossible to enforce. I also think it is causing the conflict in the first place, If the Sterns only owned 20% the shareholders vote would have meaning. I just do not like related party transactions, why not buy the quota / business from a different player? And even if they own most of the shares they could still profit with the total loss of their shares if a high enough price is paid for their ATF/related party businesses.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I still cant find any reference to purchasing the wild catch business in the 07/08 annual report??? The report is just 37 pages downloaded, can you please give me a page number or tell me which section to look in?

I agree points 1 and 2 are a must and I understand your reasons for point 3 above but think it would be impossible to enforce. I also think it is causing the conflict in the first place, If the Sterns only owned 20% the shareholders vote would have meaning. I just do not like related party transactions, why not buy the quota / business from a different player? And even if they own most of the shares they could still profit with the total loss of their shares if a high enough price is paid for their ATF/related party businesses.

Sorry it is in the business update dated 30.09.08 towards the end. There was also a news article a few weeks ago concerning this potential purchase.

 

[Basilica]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Sorry it is in the business update dated 30.09.08 towards the end. There was also a news article a few weeks ago concerning this potential purchase.

Thanks tge oracle, Should they have include that info in the annual report a few weeks later, considering they said "Likely acquisition of ATF SBT catch and grow business early CY2009". ??

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Thanks tge oracle, Should they have include that info in the annual report a few weeks later, considering they said "Likely acquisition of ATF SBT catch and grow business early CY2009". ??

I guess since there is no definate plan to sell the wild catch business at this stage it didn't warrant inclusion in the annual report. It will be interesting to see how they structure this sale if it does go ahead. Shareholders will be expecting a fair deal from this purchase and should be rewarded for their loyalty over the past 3 years particularly if they are going to be asked to stump up more funds!

Despite by frank posts I am quietly optimistic for the future of CSS it is a very good business. They need to shake out a few disclosure and over enthusiastic mangement comment issues but being new to the public listiing arena I hope this will change.....i.e. they have learnt from past mistakes.
They need to learn that business success will speak for itself and the market will price it accordingly. I would prefer to see a humble ,quiet achiever, approach from CSS management.

Another recent positive for CSS is the change in the workforce availibilty for CSS. They were concerned , last year, that workers were heading for the mining sector...that is reversing dramatically. CSS will have no problem attracting workers in the future.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Being the start of a new year I thought I would comment on the outlook for 2009.

This year will be the watershed year for CSS. They must achieve an acceptable level of breeding success this year and successfully grow out to juvenile SBT. I am confident they will achieve this goal and that is partly why I re-invested.

The YTK business should continue to grow throughout the year with the assistance of a lower AUD and improved marketing. YTK is progressively gaining credibility as a prime table fish and it's health benbefit's ( omega 3 content ) add to it's desireability.

I will wait to see the details of any potential purchase of the catch anf grow business before commenting further.

I won't comment specifically on the share price as I have aired my views in an earlier post. I have long held the view that once the sellers complete their transactions there will be little opportunity for investors to accumulate appreciable quantities of CSS at the current price. The sellers will evaporate as they idi back in 2006 / 2007 . Macquaire have identified themselves as a seller and I suspect this has been due to investors redeeming their funds from the Mac small cap fund ( CSS is included ) not as a result of investment choice by Mc bank analysts. They would have been selling down many other small cap stocks in the fund.
They have provided other investors with a wonderful opportunity to accumulate large volumes of CSS at a fair price......thank you for your generosity Macquaire Bank!

If eveything goes as planned CSS will be one of the great investments for 2009 and beyond. Let's all hope they can achieve success.

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Hi Oracle,

I sorry for the delayed reply I am not always checking this site.

I have a view that the wild catch business will be sold to CSS at the time CSS has announced a sucessful closure of the SBT life cycle and a capital raising to fund the growout of the SBT. The arguement would be that the wildcatch business would provide CSS with positive cashflow and profit during the 2 year growout period. Hagen Stehr has said he doesn't want to be diluted in CSS much below his current holding so swapping the wild catch business for more CSS stock would be one way to achieve this. The other way would be if he sold his quota to another of the Cappucino Club for cash and then re-invested that money into CSS. Either way I am confident that the Stehr family will have a very big interest in CSS and will not be using it as a vehicle into which to just dump assets.

Basilica, the reason the CSAG wasn't included in the company during the float was because investors wanted the Stehr group to guarantee the YTK cost/Kg for the first 3 years. If the stehr group did better that $7/kg they made a profit but if the costs were > $7 the the stehrs made a loss. The CSAG business was vendered into CSS at cost so the Stehrs made no money on the transaction and the cash they received for the business was pumped back into CSS shares. There are very few related party transaction in CSS now.

As to the performance of the company, management have hit virtually all their stretch targets so far and have only had one minor hiccup last year. The share price probably reflects the state of global financial markets and investors being wary of any company that may require capital in the future.

Here is hoping for a great 2009 for CSS.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Gooday Truevalue, good to have you back in the discussion group.

I understand the rationale for purchasing the catch and groew business , I just hope loyal share holders are well considered in any propsal and it is fairly priced.

I note today's announcment re-SBT courtship, hopefully this will lead to a commercial scale breeding event!
I am pleased that CSS are keeping investors well informed on this development, it would not be fair for only those close to the project to have knoweldge of htis event. Some investors may be skeptical about this release but I am more optimistic that they will indeed keep us all well informed in timely fashion on what is actullay happening. I trust they will continue with this transparent and up to date reporting.

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I have heard that there has been no damage to any CSS assets in the Port Lincoln fires. The Stehr family have had some damage to Anna's Vinyard (Hagen's wife) and some private net sheds and fabrication facilities.

Company should make an announcement to this effect soon.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Thought this article might be of interest.

Good to see the BFT market is still very strong despite these uncertain ecomonic times.



http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24900967-5018061,00.html

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

You beat me to it! I just saw the article this morning. Now all we need is some tuna.

The market for kingfish must also be very strong and with the weak $A CSS should be making a solid margin, albeit with higher feed costs.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Having digested the half year report the oulook for CSS does look to be very encouraging .

The YTK business is growing rapidly , as I had predicted late last year, with increasing sales volumes, revenue and most impotantly profit margins. I am optimistic that these will grow exponentially over the course of this year. I note that YTK is gaining considerable interest in the US, this doesn't surprise me as YTK is very similar in texture and taste to Chilean Sea Bass ( also known as Patagonian Toothfish in Australia ) with a firm white flaky flesh which is highly regarded by American consumers. I am very confident of increasing demand in the US market. Western Kingfish Ltd were going to market their YTK in the US as they appreciated the opportunities in that market for YTK. Sadly, their business failed to succeed but it has left the door open for CSS.

Despite the financial gloom there is a growing demand for high quality seafoods around the globe. TGR is also performing well with their Salmon.

I note that SBT larvae grow system is ready for fertilised eggs and I remain hopeful of a commercial scale of fingerlings in the not too distant future.

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I just hope those eggs come soon Oracle. It was the 4th of March last year that they had a spawning event, so it needs to happen soon if its going to happen this year.

I feel confident also that if they at least have a spawning now they will get fingerlings given what they have learned from their friends in Japan and Panama.

Very exciting times for the company but nerve wracking for us.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I just hope those eggs come soon Oracle. It was the 4th of March last year that they had a spawning event, so it needs to happen soon if its going to happen this year.

I feel confident also that if they at least have a spawning now they will get fingerlings given what they have learned from their friends in Japan and Panama.

Very exciting times for the company but nerve wracking for us.

Yes, we are all eagerly awaiting breeding success which , I believe, will be achieved soon.

SBT spend many months in the Java Sea over summer so I guess it takes quite some time, even in the wild!
From my understanding , the longer it takes the better the clutch weight and quality of the eggs produced. This should lead to a greater probability of successful growout to SBT fingerlings in the long run.

 

[Iron Man]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Unexpected good news about
a publicly-traded company... will
usually... cause the price of that
company's stock to jump up like
crazy!

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I agree. Very puzzling response to some good news. I felt the announcement was slightly vague. If they have eggs, how many? Last time they had thousands. This year they need millions. Unfortuately they have made one of their usual uninformative announcements.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

I agree. Very puzzling response to some good news. I felt the announcement was slightly vague. If they have eggs, how many? Last time they had thousands. This year they need millions. Unfortuately they have made one of their usual uninformative announcements.

Yes , the announcement does lack many details, however, I am prepared to give them the benifit of doubt as they advised that the SBT have commenced spawning and until such time as they have recovered and quantified the number of eggs it may take some time to determine the level of success.
Furthermore, I suspect that there will be more spawning events over the next month or so , not just the one reported today.
Having the Kinki University team on location significantly raises the likelyhood of success with growout.
At this stage, I believe investors have every reason to be quietly optimistic.

 

[truevalue]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Given they have angered investors in the past with some fist pumping and sensationalist announcements, they may have learned the lesson not to promise anything too early.

I know they have suffered investor ire in recent months with "you promised such and such and failed to deliver". Hagen is very quite these days, leaving Marcus to front the market. When Hagen talks about the business it is very hard not to get over enthusiastic. The man has an enviable passion for the company and a single minded work ethic to make sure the job gets done.

 

[tge oracle]

Re: CSS - Clean Seas Tuna

Given they have angered investors in the past with some fist pumping and sensationalist announcements, they may have learned the lesson not to promise anything too early.

I know they have suffered investor ire in recent months with "you promised such and such and failed to deliver". Hagen is very quite these days, leaving Marcus to front the market. When Hagen talks about the business it is very hard not to get over enthusiastic. The man has an enviable passion for the company and a single minded work ethic to make sure the job gets done.

Yes, this was something I eluded too in an earlier post. I think most long term investors share Hagen's enthusiasm for CSS and it's potential but it really is up to the business to do the talking.
I do prefer the "quite achiever" approach so long as any news material to the company is released to the market promptly, not like last year when a few learned investors got a heads up and we were all left in the dark as the share price spiralled to ,what I consider to be, an over sold position.
I can't help thinking if they had been more open and transparent then the share price would not have been treated so harshly by investors. Most of us understand this is ground breaking technology that will face challenges.
I am confident they will deliver in the end.