Market Abuse - Ramping and De-ramping

[This post has been edited and a new link demonstrating Market Abuse from the Wall Street Journal added to it Thursday 12th July 2007]

Have you been on a shareholders bulletin board (BB) or forum recently where something looks fishy?

Well over on the iii BB for Stanelco, a shareholder has taken things into his own hands and reported the company to the LSE for what he/she perceives to have been the company's deliberate attempts to ramp their position in the market by sending out overly positive statements whilst in reality everything wasn't as rosy in their garden after all as was evidenced by the failure of their Greenseal Trials with Asda.

Prior to their admission of the trial failure, all company statements had said the trials were going well. So what might the company have been guilty of (allegedly)? Well maybe they were guilty of suppressing the negative price sensitive news that should maybe have been issued at a much earlier stage.

A company has an obligation to their shareholders to issue ALL price sensitive news within a timely manner, whether that be in the Positive or the Negative as this is what shareholders use to make financial decisions on their stakes within the company ie their shareholding levels.

It is understandable to a degree that no company wants to have to issue bad news as they want the shareprice to go up not down obviously. Keeping the price heading up makes it easier for them to get institutions on board and to secure funding when required. Negative news hinders this.

So what is Ramping?

Well ramping can take many forms, from a company not issuing the negative news, a shareholder who has lost a lot of money in the past and has maybe bought in at a new low and now wants to make back his losses, a company owner overstating the future potential of the company, to even someone circulating rumours of a take over bid on it's way.

A ramper might use a BB to constantly espouse the future potential revenue of the company even if unfounded, put ridiculous valuations on a company for possible take over bids and post so often as to drown out other peoples opinions. They might also pick on other posters and mis-represent what they are saying if they take a even a slightly different view to them or an obvious opposing position. This can even go so far as to go offline and become a personal attack if they have access to your email address.

What is De-ramping - and who does it benefit?

This, also, can take different forms. Perhaps a shareholder has gone short on a share, they obviously then need a decline in the shareprice to make a profit, so they will go onto BB's and say anything they can to persuade others that the company is going to fail or a particular product is going to fail. Directors who want to perform a management buyout, might similarly suppress the positives about how the company or products are progressing to a degree where they are not fully informing the market of 'positive' price sensitive news, for their own ends.

A de-ramper can and will also use all of the same tactics as the ramper when it comes to BB's and making sure their message is the only one heard.


So what is the difference between the ordinary shareholder and the ramper or de-ramper?

Well the ordinary shareholder, while they probably enthuse about any company they have bought shares in, they will also take on board the possible negatives and be happy to have both sides of any argument openly aired so that they can make an informed decision. They might not like to hear the negatives or have their excitement quelled a bit, however, they will listen and accept that no company or product market is buoyant ALL the time and they will want to hear clear arguments from both sides of the fence and from that, they will then decide to continue to hold a share or sell up and move on. At least they will have had all the information available to them to do this.

Now lets face it, we all get a bit excited when we hear a rumour and the old adage goes, Buy on Rumour Sell on Fact, the market operates a lot on rumours, but I suppose the important thing to think about when you hear a rumour is. Where did the rumour start, has the person posting the rumour backed it up with any research and/or links to that research. If it has just appeared completely out of the blue and has absolutely no basis in fact, then bide your time and wait for confirmation or you could just be supporting a shorters dream situation, or helping someone who's lost a lot of money to sell into a rise created by the rumour. They will then be off, while you are left sitting with the shares and the price drifting down again.


Related Articles
thisismoney.co.uk published an article entitled Avoid the Pump And Dump last year, warning people about email and BB campaigns to ramp or de-ramp shares.

And what happens if someone is found out.......
'City Slicker' Hipwell Jailed
Livedoor founder arrested
'Lie for me' asked Morgan
High-risk journey to the unknown
Wall street Journal

Enjoy BB's they can be a lot of fun and you can meet a lot of very nice, knowledgeable, witty, trustworthy people on there. But be wary, you can also become a gullible victim of someone elses game very easily, but be careful of getting dragged into something that could see you entrapped in an illegal situation.

If it looks fishy and smells fishy, then take care, we all know what bad fish does to us. :o)

Oh and by the way, I hold Stanelco shares at a loss, but I'm not afraid to hide the negatives because of that loss....LOL....the truth is the truth.

Global Coal Management

In the last few days this share has been drifting backwards too. I wonder if the old adage - Sell in May and go away - has anything to do with a few of the shares I have or watch drifting down. These things go in cycles anyway. Nothing goes up in a straight line and also people get fed up waiting for events to unravel themselves like the will they won't they get the go ahead to extract coal in Bangladesh.

GVM which GCM have a stake in are to start a feasibility study on their latest acquisition.

http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=31405

JOHANNESBURG (Business Day) -- Coal and base metals company GVM Metals [JSE:NVM; AIM:GVM], which is quoted on London’s AIM and listed in Australia and Johannesburg, planned to start a feasibility study on its latest acquisition, the Mooiplaats coal project, during the current quarter, it said on Monday.

The company is finalising the purchase of Kelso Mining, whose main asset is the right to take 70% of the Mooiplaats coal project. Mooiplaats is within 2 km of the Camden power station and also close to the Richards Bay coal export line.

Camden is one of the mothballed power stations that Eskom has recommissioned to help meet the country’s rising electricity demand over the next few years. It should supply about 1000 megawatts to help meet demand this winter.

In an investor presentation last month, GVM said it planned to bring into production the 1.2 million tonne a year Holfontein project and the 4.5-million tonne a year Mooiplaats project within the next two years.

Eskom was consuming more coal than it had originally planned and needed substantial new coal sources, GVM said.

In the March quarter, GVM made pretax profits of A$1.8 million (US$1.48 million), mainly from its nickel magnesium alloy business, NiMag. Current exchange rates and high nickel prices suggested NiMag’s outlook for the rest of the financial year was positive, it said.

GVM held A$10.1 million (US$8.33 million) in cash at the end of March after issuing 12.2 million shares to Global Coal Management to raise funds for its South African coal interests.

The company plans to place another 8.3 million shares to finance the purchase of 50% of the Baobab joint venture and 37.35 million new shares to raise funds to acquire the Mooiplaats project, both of which require shareholder approval.

At Holfontein, drilling was continuing to increase the definition of the coal resources and a feasibility study should be completed by the end of the September quarter, management said.

At Baobab, drilling will begin once shareholders have approved the acquisition, while at the Limpopo coal project, GVM has begun talking to infrastructure providers to determine how much coal it can export from a mine on the property.

Commentary
GVM shares have gathered speed since the company took a dual listing on the JSE late last year, partly as the company has issued shares to local vendors of businesses but also as its profile has risen in South Africa. GVM has been actively expanding in the local coal sector where it sees an opportunity to meet Eskom’s growing need for thermal coal.

Initially listed at 240 cents, GVM is currently trading at 620 cents, and has been as high as 790 cents in early March. Its JSE price on Monday afternoon was about 8% higher than the 41 pence prevailing on AIM, based on the exchange rate, which meant it was offering an arbitrage opportunity for lively but small-scale traders. Volumes, which were less than 20,000 a day for the first two months, with sometimes no trade at all for several days, have picked up to a more respectable 30,000 to 100,000 a day, with very few days when it shows no deals.

One of GVM’s stated intentions when it took a listing on the JSE was to use its shares to make local acquisitions and by doing so it has gradually increased volumes. It initially listed its full 76.7-million shares on the JSE, including 20 million shares it was committed to issue for its acquisition of the Limpopo coal project, but it warned that liquidity would be constrained at first because the shares were held on the UK and Australian registers and would take time to migrate to SA.

At the end of March, though, the list of GVM’s top 20 shareholders includes a few that are clearly South African. The second-biggest shareholder, with 13% of the company, is South African Coal Limited. There is a wide range of nominee companies listed as shareholders and a couple of these are quite likely to represent local shareholders.

Roundup for Tadpole, Stanelco, Global Coal etc....

Tadpole Technology - Endeavors Technologies - Geospatial Division
Nothing new to report on this one. I'm awaiting an update on how their visit to MMS2007 went. They posted on their website that Endeavors were attending the event so an update would be prudent. Obviously I don't expect specifics, but it would be nice to know if they got some leads that they are now following up or if they just had a few nice days out. Come on guys, spill the beans!!!

Price has drifted back a little, but not below the 4p mark, which means I think we have now found our new base price for this one and gives us a point to build on if new news comes out soon.

Beau62 has reported on the iii BB that the AGM might be a little earlier than last year
"Apparently, it was indicated that the interims and the Annual Report are being sent out at the same time and should be released in the next 3/4 weeks. It would seem that the AGM may be a little earlier this year also, possibly end June."

Stanelco Group
This one is on my list of recovery stocks and when I first spoke about it the price was a buy at 1.11p. Cheap as chips if you think it has a future. Well obviously some think it has because it has risen 21.8% from that original buy price.

[I have a virtual portfolio of the shares I'm writing about which I put the buy price in on the day I blog it first so my percentages are from there (no buy or sell costs are included)]

So, what has happened to get this price moving.........a directorship change. It just goes to show that the people at the top can be as cruicial to the shareprice as the activities of the company.

RNS Number:7902U Stanelco PLC 13 April 2007 (extract below)
The Board of Stanelco today announces that Martin Wagner is stepping down from his position as Chief Executive with immediate effect for personal reasons. Paul Mines has been appointed as the new Chief Executive, and joins the Company on 16 April 2007. This change follows consultation with a significant group of the Company's shareholders.

Paul has extensive experience within the packaging sector. Until 2006, he was CEO of Betts Group Holdings Ltd. ("Betts") for eight years, having led a management buyout of the company from Courtaulds plc. Paul developed Betts as a specialist packaging business with a global footprint and sales of over #100m. An Engineer with an MBA from London Business School, Paul spent his earlier career at Courtaulds and ICI plc in a variety of commercial and operational roles. He has recently been a consultant partner with Wyvern Partners LLP, assisting their clients with fund-raising and strategic development with a focus on the packaging and renewable energy sectors.
------------------------------------------------------

There has also been director dealing by a non-exec.......
The Company has been notified that John Standen, Non-Executive Director of the Company, and his wife Mrs. Kathleen Standen, today purchased 1,000,000 ordinary shares each of 0.1 pence in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 1.19 pence per Ordinary Share.

Following these purchases Mr. Standen's beneficial interest in the Company is 2,000,000 Ordinary Shares, representing a total of 0.07 per cent. of the issued share capital of the Company. The Ordinary Shares will be registered in the name of OMX Securities Nominees Limited, a/c KK.

It can usually be taken as a positive sign when directors are buying shares in a company they are with, however it's never a guarantee.

It appears that the subsidiaries of this company are doing rather better than the main company at the moment and particular attention should be paid to Biotec and Sphere's activities and contracts as this appears to be where the growth is happening or going to happen in the near future.

Biotec distributes a new generation of thermoplastic granules with the brand name offering various functional properties. These granules can be processed on extrusion lines for blown film, sheet films, shaped articles, profiles and injection molding to manufacture completely biodegradable products. BIOPLAST materials allow converters to manufacture products with completely new properties and to enter new markets.

SPHere Group along with 340 potato farmers have bought a 63,000 tons per annum starch factory, and the starch will be used to make Biotec's Bioplast biodegradable plastic, which SPHere will then convert into plastic bags and other products. SPHere in 2005 processed 130,000 tons of plastic, and the starch from this factory is almost enough to convert their entire production to bioplastic.

------I'll look into this in more depth seperately---------

Global Coal Management
This one has pulled back a little from the 20% increase it had seen since it first appeared on here as a recovery stock, but that's to be expected. You have to make a decision about how much you want from a share and if 20% is your mark up, then you've already sold it anyway. It is currently sitting at 16.4% up on my virtual portfolio. This is a share I have bought and am holding. Bought at £1.33.

Latest press release for this one is.....
Strategic Alliance for Exploration for Uranium in Africa extract from article below
Global Coal Management plc (“GCM”), (AIM: GCM) announces it has signed a legally binding Heads of Agreement to form an alliance with Aura Energy Ltd (ASX: AEE) to identify and acquire uranium projects in Africa. The alliance brings together the exploration skills of Aura and the project development and mining experience of GCM.

GCM has adopted a strategy of diversification from its coal project in Bangladesh and has specifically identified Africa as a mineral region with potential for further discovery and development as evidenced by its investment in GVM Metals Ltd (ASX: GVM).

Aura is a uranium exploration company based in Perth, Western Australia which was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in May 2006. Aura has a portfolio of exploration titles which are being actively explored for calcrete and sandstone-hosted uranium deposits. Aura’s Managing Director, Dr Bob Beeson leads a team which has broad experience in uranium and base metal exploration in both Australia and overseas - including Africa and the Middle East.
-------------------------------------------

Whether we like it or not one of the greenest most efficient methods of electricity production is believe it or not - nuclear power, so Uranium is going to be in greater demand as more nuclear power stations come online in the coming years.

[As it happens, there is another Austrailian company which is developing a more cost efficient way of processing uranium - but thats another story for another blog.]

Like I have said before - if you are an ethical investor GCM is not the one for you.

Tanfield Group
Still doing well and currently up 18.6% since I first blogged them (what makes you think I should have invested in all these shares...........lol)

I've not had an update from guest blogger 'John' so a quick look at their website says that there is no news to report on it other than they are still awaiting the results of trials and that 12 April 2007 - Announcement Holding in CompanyIncreased holding of Deutsche Bank AG.

The Company was informed today that Deutsche Bank AG has an interest in 18,394,223 ordinary shares in the Company which represents approximately 6.30% of the issued share capital of the Company.

XploiTe Plc - formerly Fujin Technology
In all honesty I haven't really been keeping much of a watch on this one and when I looked today it is also up in price from my first blog on it...........so much for lack of liquidity eh Peter :o).
It's up 11.4% and director buying seems to figure here too.

RNS Number:6450U XploiTe PLC 11 April 2007
11 April 2007
Xploite plc
Director Shareholding
Xploite plc (the "Company") has been advised of the following purchases of shares in the Company by Alan Watkins, Non-Executive Chairman :
On 5 April, 2007 142,023 shares at 34 pence per ordinary shareOn 10 April, 2007 160,000 shares at 34 pence per ordinary share
Alan Watkins now holds an interest of 639,570 ordinary shares in the Company, representing some 1.65% of its issued ordinary share capital.

RNS Number:9295U XploiTe PLC 16 April 2007
16 April 2007
Xploite plc
Notifiable Interest in Shares
Xploite plc ("the Company") announces that it has received notification that as at 30 March 2007, Mr Peter James Drinkwater, held control over the exercise of voting rights attached to 1,119,605 ordinary shares of 10 pence each in the Company, representing approximately 2.8% of the issued share capital of the Company.

They also completed the purchase of a second IT storage company at the beginning of April.

Extract from full announcement.
4 April 2007
Xploite plc (formerly Fujin Technology plc)
£10.45 million acquisition of a second IT storage business
Xploite plc (“Xploite” or “the Group”), the operator and aggregator of strategic and high growth
IT services businesses, announces that it has completed the acquisition of Bristol-based Anix
Group Ltd (“Anix”), a value added reseller of storage hardware and software solutions, for a cashconsideration of £4.35 million. The Group will also repay £6.10 million of debt held by Anix. Thisis the second acquisition of an IT storage business by the Group this calendar year.
Anix was established in 1989 and until now has remained a privately owned company. It is a
major UK partner to storage and server solutions vendor, IBM, as well as a range of other
vendors in the sector. For the year ended 31 December 2006, Anix’s turnover was £35.5 million
and EBITDA was £1.6 million. The Company had £9 million of recurring revenue from
maintenance and services provided to customers and assets of £0.5 million.

More to come later on Caterpillar, Croma and Ramco Energy...............for now though......that's all folks!

Global Coal Management update

I have had a query from a visitor as to why Asia Energy now Global Coal Management's price fell so much in the first place.

The company purchased the rights to mine for coal on an open-cut mining basis in the phulbari region of Bangladesh. According to Asia Energy the coal reserve in this mine is 572 million tons worth US$21 billion over 30 years, which could provide the Bangladesh government with revenues of 1% per annum of it's country's GDP.

The area to be mined is 59sq hectares and encompases many villages and agricultural areas and obviously the local people are against the decimation of their land , but their biggest issue seems to be that it is a forgein company that will be doing it. They would rather wait until Bangladesh have their own expertise and specialist equipment to carry this out for themselves.

Protesters gave the then Asia Energy a deadline to leave the area and a protest by approx. 30,000 people on August 26th 2006 resulted in 5 or 6 people being shot and teargas being used on the protesters by security forces. The stock price went into freefall and the company asked for their stock to be suspended in August 2006. They returned to the AIM in October 2006 with their share price at 95p.

It appears that since then the company have changed their name and are in discussion with the government about the continuation of the project after they were banned from operating in August 2006.

There are no guarantees that they will be given back full rights to develop this mine, but they are still working to achieve this. This is why it is down on my list as a recovery stock, but no recovery stock has guarantees built into it.

If you are a low risk investor or ethical investor, this punt is not for you.

However since I first blogged it and bought some at £1.31 the price today is at a bid price of £1.60 and I'm showing a 20% increase including costs for the shares I bought. For a lot of people a 20% gain is their target and they sell and move on. However, having bought this as a recovery stock and not put a lot of money into that because of the risk, I'm going to let this ride for a bit and see what happens with the elections.

For further information on what happened, please read the folowing link. I won't copy the story onto here because of the length of it.

http://www.meghbarta.org/nws/nw_main_p01b.php?issueId=6§ionId=20&articleId=471

Recovery Stocks........cont...

Well I'm still looking for recovery stocks to dip my toe into and my current list is

1. Tadpole Technology - still doing well and price holding considering a lack of news.
2. Global Coal Management - up since I first posted on it a couple of weeks ago, although it dipped back a little today. Not a problem, nothing rises in straight lines.
3. Ramco Energy - nothing on it as yet, but the fact that they are in discussions regarding getting into Iraq is positive, so this one might start moving once the legislation is all sorted out regarding foreign oil companies being allowed to operate blocks out there.
4. Caterpillar Inc - I've not done anything with this one yet, but it's still my intention to get it into my ISA at some point even if just for the dividend payments.

A new one I want to add to this list today is The Stanelco Group. I held shares in this company a couple of years back and they didn't perform well, but unlike my Tad holding which I forgot to let go of, I sold them at a loss but yet again kept them on my watch list. Asda were running trials on one of their products when I held them before but nothing much seemed to come of that at the time.

Today the price hit 1.08 : 1.11. Not the lowest it's been in the last 3 months but just o.01 off of it. The prelim results are due out 21st March 2007 and according to an RNS on the 5th March they have had an offer for a part of the business with other suitors looking at it. The market expects the losses to be in the region of 5.7million, but this is probably already priced into current shareprice since it has been made public.

I might buy a few with a view to adding to them if the price goes up or down. Never go too heavily into a recovery stock.....it might not recover after all. I've added some info from various sites below to give you a start for your own research.

Extract of news from 5th March

"India's Arrow Coated Products, a mid-sized packaging firm, has made a bid to buy UK-based Stanelco PLC's unit Adept Polymers, a maker of biodegradable plastics, the Economic Times reported citing sources close to the deal."

"Stanelco is selling Adept to focus on radio frequency welding technology and that it has received bids from packaging companies in France, the US and the UK."

http://finance.google.com/finance?q=LON%3ASEO

Stanelco Plc is an investment holding company. Its wholly owned trading subsidiary, Stanelco RF Technologies Limited is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of high frequency thermal processing equipment and processes, applications for which include the GreenSeal process of sealing plastic and biodegradable containers, using radio frequency (RF). Its other subsidiary undertakings include, InGel Technologies Limited, which is a research and development company; Adept Polymers Limited a company that specializes in the formulation and manufacture of biodegradable plastic based on polyvinyl alcohol and starch, and Aquasol Limited, which specializes in designing packaging solutions and has specific expertise in water-soluble packaging. In September 2005, the Company acquired Biotec Holding GmbH Group and disposed 50% to SPhere. Biotec is one of the exponents of starch technology and specialize in formulations for packaging, pharmaceutical and edible applications.

http://www.stanelco.co.uk/index.htm

The info from below relates to an exclusive deal started in March 2005, whcih was then extended by a year. It doesn't say whether that was extended March to March in which case that would be about to expire or if it continued from August, the time of the RNS.

RNS Number:5121H Stanelco PLC 10 August 2006
10th August 2006
Stanelco plc Re agreement with ASDA
Stanelco plc ("Stanelco") is pleased to announce an update regarding its GreenSeal technology following its initial 12 month exclusivity period with ASDA. Stanelco will continue to work with ASDA as they support our GreenSeal technology as a way to achieve part of ASDA'S greater business objective of meeting their obligations around sustainability.
The original terms of the agreement between ASDA and Stanelco, as announced on 24 March 2005, for Stanelco's GREENSEAL technology have been extended for another 12 months, other than the exclusivity arrangement with ASDA which has been waived. This will allow Stanelco to offer the GREENSEAL technology to non-exclusive ASDA suppliers, as well as ASDA.
Martin Wagner, CEO of Stanelco said:
"This is an important development with ASDA and shows the strength of our relationship. Whilst all the major components of our agreement remain ASDA have agreed to relax the exclusivity of usage for non ASDA suppliers. This means that suppliers to ASDA who also pack for other retailers can now be approached.
A significant hurdle for us has been identifying packing lines that were exclusively for ASDA usage. By removing this obstacle we can now effectively offer our GreenSeal technology to any user. This negotiation with ASDA has been over a protracted period of time and we are grateful for their unwavering support."

There is nothing jumping out of a google search regarding greenseal since 2005. Time for an update on that I guess.

FrogPack (A Stanelco product) http://www.frogpack.com/

A rugged, high-impact resistant packaging application has been developed for suppliers wanting to minimise breakage and waste during shipping and transporting.Stanelco, the UK-based company behind the innovation, believes that the concept will take off because it taps into a key concern of both suppliers and retailers – the protection of goods throughout the supply chain. In addition the packaging uses biodegradable material and uses less energy in the actual production process.
The company is in the process of trying to break into the lucrative US market.
Designed to withstand substantial punishment, Stanelco's FrogPack features a unique energy-absorbing design, combined with Cradlewrap, a biodegradable air-cushioning wrapping material that can be used within the containers.
This, says Stanelco, provides remarkably secure protection for goods that require shipping. The company claims that tests undertaken to challenge FrogPack's sturdiness have confirmed that highly fragile items such as glass champagne bottles dropped from a helicopter from as high as 200 feet in the air suffered no damage or signs of their fall.
"FrogPack can take a hard punch,” said David Edwards, the inventor of FrogPack. “Retailers will be impressed when they see how much punishment FrogPack absorbs.
“The packaging is a superior alternative for protecting goods during shipping. "FrogPack's capability to protect, combined with its potential for reducing costs in packaging and shipping, is unlike anything currently in use in North America."
FrogPack utilises a unique technology called shock-absorbing arcuate panel technology (SAAP) for its added strength and protective qualifies. The technology, designed by Aquasol, a subsidiary of Stanelco, is already in use in the United Kingdom by a packager of lighting supplies and a packager of electronic components.
In addition to its ability to withstand high-impact punishment, FrogPack possesses environmentally attractive features that will be attractive to North American retailers. FrogPack can be either recycled or composted.
FrogPack's high-impact design means that the packaging, which can be manufactured on a customized basis, can be produced in smaller sizes, requiring less material and less energy in the actual production process.
"Eventually, we believe that FrogPack will replace padded envelopes and boxes that utilise polystyrene inserts and plastic air bubbles," said Edwards.

A client for frogpack http://www.merlindirect.com/product-list.cfm?catId=18&depId=16

Global Coal Management

http://www.gcmplc.com/about/company_details.php

I posted just over a week ago that this was in the 'recovery position' waiting to get the life kicked back into it and by good fortune for a change I bought shares and not just watched them like I often do. I now have a 28% profit on them. They are up 11.29% today (as at 14.53).

It appears that GVM which Global Coal Management own 18.38% already, has placed 12.2 mln shares to raise 6.1 mln aud with Global Coal Management PLC, previously Asia Energy PLC.

GVM Metals Ltd had a first-half pretax profit of 1.8 mln aud from a loss of 8,610 aud on a total revenue of 26.5 mln aud compared with 15.2 mln aud year ago.

It made a net profit in the period to end-December of 912,368 aud compared with a loss of 141,447 aud previously.

Global Coal Management

WELL....... Due to having a very busy week doing other things, I never did get back to updating the blog on GCM.L. Did any of you have a look at it yourselves though?

I did buy 500 shares because I did think of it as a recovery stock, but even I didn't think a recovery might be within a week....or at least the start of one. For some reason it suddenly jumped 49.25 pence or 38.3% running into Fridays close or maybe it was after the close ready for Mondays opening. I don't know cause I wasn't watching it.

I'm going to have a dig around now.....and I will definitely update this time.

In the meantime heres some company info from GOOGLE FINANCE page
http://finance.google.com/finance?q=SEA:GCM

BACK............

It appears the sudden rise could have to do with the elections mentioned in the main page of the company website as below.

http://www.asia-energy.com/
Global Coal Management Plc (formerly Asia Energy PLC) is a London-based AIM quoted company whose primary activity is the development of the coal basin at Phulbari in Northwest Bangladesh into a world-class open pit coal mine. Ticker symbol: GCM
Its objective is to start mining activity once it has Government of Bangladesh approval for its Scheme of Development, following the Government election in early 2007. The project will adhere to the highest national and international environmental and social standards. At full production, the mine will produce 15 million tonnes a year of mostly export quality metallurgical and thermal coal.


Phulbari Project -http://www.asia-energy.com/project.php
Coal was first discovered at Phulbari in Northwest Bangladesh during surveying and drilling between 1994 -1997 by the Australian mining company BHP, which entered into licensing and investment agreements with the Government of Bangladesh. These agreements were assigned to Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Pty Ltd in 1998.


The Resource
The estimated in-situ coal resource in accordance with the JORC Code:
Category Tonnes (millions)
Measured 288
Indicated 244
Inferred 40
Total 572

............
Strategic Investment in Bangladesh’s Leading PSTN Operator providing Fixed, Wireless Loop, Data and Internet Service
22.01.07
Global Coal Management plc (“GCM”), formerly Asia Energy Plc, (AIM: GCM) announces it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) to make a further strategic investment in Bangladesh by subscribing for 26.5% of the equity in Peoples Telecom and Information Services Ltd (”PeoplesTel”). The US$5 million investment is subject to the approval of the Bangladesh Board of Investment (“BOI”).

GCM has identified PeoplesTel as an exciting investment opportunity which also brings significant benefits to the development of the Phulbari Coal Project (“the Project”) by ensuring that modern and extensive telecommunication networks and infrastructure are in place across all areas (mine site, transport corridor, port operations etc.) of the Project.

Steve Bywater, Global Coal Management's CEO commented:
"I am delighted with this investment in PeoplesTel. It demonstrates our strong desire to play a positive role in the development of Bangladesh's economic infrastructure and is entirely consistent with our long term commitment to Bangladesh. It will also ensure that we have a world class telecoms infrastructure for the Phulbari Coal Project. We remain focused on implementing the Phulbari Coal Project.”

PeoplesTel, an established Bangladesh fixed line telephone operator since 1989, is currently undertaking a rapid expansion plan. In excess of US$15 million has been invested to date by PeoplesTel’s existing shareholders, including the founder of the company Tim Nurun Nabi. Mr Nabi has also founded a number of successful enterprises in Bangladesh, including Hayes (Bangladesh) Limited and Hayes-Haier Appliances Company Limited, which is a joint venture with Haier of China, the largest manufacturer of white goods in China.

PeoplesTel’s expansion plan for the next 5 years is to provide world class voice and data services across Bangladesh, targeting 1 million new subscribers and focusing on the developing rural regions. PeoplesTel has BOI approval to invest up to US$379 million of domestic and foreign investment to provide fixed line or wireless telephone connections in Bangladesh. This gives PeoplesTel the ability to grow rapidly by reinvesting cash flow without needing further Government approvals.

The US$5 million investment will be used by PeoplesTel to acquire the capital equipment (primarily handsets and electronic switching devices) to add a further 55,000 fixed line and wireless loop subscribers to the network. This will significantly increase the company’s turn-over and cash flow positions and allow PeoplesTel to continue to expand its network, services and subscribers. The network currently being completed is able to handle approximately 1 million subscribers without the need for additional major infrastructure to be installed.

Currently, PeoplesTel has 120 operational exchanges throughout all 4 regions (North West, North East, South West and South East) of the country and an additional 23 CDMA 2000 1X 450 MHZ WLL BTS have been integrated into the network in December 2006. PeoplesTel currently employs over 280 people.

PeoplesTel is strategically positioned to secure a license for Dhaka City (expected to be issued in 2007). It owns the largest range of wireless spectrum of any operator in Bangladesh, including the valuable 3G compliant 450MHz spectrum, and has recently secured a VoIP License.
PeoplesTel, having recently completed a 17km fibre optic ring around Dhaka City, has full interconnect agreements in place with the major cellular operators and fixed line operators, including the government owned BTTB. These companies collectively access approximately 15 million subscribers. PeoplesTel has leased an additional 208km fibre optic backbone to connect to the densely populated (approximately 7 million people), and high GDP generating, region of Chittagong.

For Further Information:
Steve Bywater Chief Executive Ph: +44 (0)207 290 1630
Graham Taggart Finance Director Ph: +44 (0)207 290 1630
Cathy Malins or Annabel Leather Parkgreen Communications Ph: +44 (0)207 851 7480

Notes to editors:
Global Coal Management plc:
Global Coal Management (formerly Asia Energy plc) is a London based company quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”). The Company’s primary activity is the development of the Phulbari Coal Project in Northwest Bangladesh into a world class open pit mine, adhering to the highest national and international environmental and social standards. The mine will have a life of more than 30 years and at full capacity will produce 15 million tonnes a year of mostly export quality metallurgical and thermal coal. Its objective is to start mining activity once it has Government of Bangladesh approval for the Scheme of Development, following the Government election in 2007.

For further information: www.asia-energy.com

Peoples Telecommunication & Information Services Ltd:
PeoplesTel has a licence to operate fixed, wireless local loop along with voice data, image and all forms of telecommunication services in Bangladesh. PeoplesTel has been in operation since 1989 as rural operator and converted to a national operator since 2005.

PeoplesTel has a huge network covering Bangladesh. PeoplesTel has over 6000 KM of Microwave links covering all the major cities of Bangladesh. PeoplesTel has already installed four gateway switches, 120 local switches, 3 BSC, 34 BTS with the latest CDMA 2001X 450 MHZ dual carrier state of the art wireless local loop services. PeoplesTel has the necessary human resources to implement its expansion plan and provide a consistently high standard of service.
For further information www.ptelco.net


Further investment in GVM Metals Limited - 31.01.07
Global Coal Management plc announces that on 30 January 2007 it acquired a further 4,000,000 shares in GVM Metals Limited at a cost of approximately £890,000 and that it now holds an interest of 16,200,000 shares, 17.32% of the issued share capital of GVM Metals Limited.


Notification of significant holding - 15.02.07
The Company was notified on 13th February 2007 that Liberty Square Asset Management acquired an interest in the shares of the Company resulting in a total holding of 2,530,000 Ordinary Shares of 10p each in the Company. This represents 5.19% of the issued share capital of the Company.

OK well I think that gives an idea of where they're at just now. Just have to see if they do revocer back to the heady heights of £9.00 plus.

Global Coal Management (GCM.L)- was Asia Energy - Is it a Recovery Stock?

I mentioned in an earlier post that I do like to look for what I think will be a recovery stock.

Asia Energy has been on my watchlist since 2004 when it was tipped to me by a friend. I didn't have spare cash to have a go at it then, but it peaked at about £9.00 + and I was kicking myself for not finding the cash to buy some, then last year it hit the 'pits' (pun intended).

I had paid it no attention at all for a long time and didn't notice the fall, but lately I noticed Global Coal Management on my watchlist (which quite frankly is far too long to properly watch anymore) and i thought.....'now what is that company and who gave me that tip'. Truth is I hadn't known or noticed that Asia Energy had changed its name.

So anyway, I went and had a look at Global Coal Management today and I'm thinking this might be something I'll buy not just watch. I'm away to pull together some info on it and will come back later to update this post.