Vast Resources plc Letter To Shareholders
February 20 2017 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMVAST
Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
20 February 2017
Vast Resources plc
("Vast" or the "Company")
Letter to Shareholders
Vast Resources plc, the AIM listed mining company with operations in
Romania and Zimbabwe, is pleased to announce that a letter to
shareholders has been posted on the Company's website at
www.vastresourcesplc.com.
The purpose of the letter to shareholders is to introduce a new
programme of shareholder communication and to highlight the benefit of
recent developments to new and existing investors.
OVERVIEW
-- The recent strategic investment by the SSCG Africa Holdings Ltd group
("SSA"), providing gross proceeds of US$8 million to Vast as announced on
30 January 2017, has fundamentally changed the Company
-- The Board foresee that Vast is now fully-funded through to positive cash
flow* at the Manaila Polymetallic Mine ("Manaila") and the Baita Plai
Polymetallic Mine ("Baita Plai"), once the relevant licence is granted
-- The Board see that there is no current need to issue new equity during
2017
-- 2017 to be punctuated with regular operational developments charting
progress across the Company's portfolio of interests
-- To reflect the evolving investment proposition of Vast, and to ensure all
shareholders are communicated with in a professional manner, the Board
are launching a new Vast communications programme
-- The communications programme is intended to deliver regular and reliable
news flow, in addition to providing shareholders with established
channels through which to ask questions, raise concerns and provide
feedback
* when all conditions precedent have been fulfilled and all the cash is
received from SSA
A text only version of the letter to shareholders is copied below for
shareholders' reference:
Dear Vast Shareholder,
Although only in our second month of the year, 2017 has already been an
active and exciting year for Vast. The strategic investment by the SSCG
Africa Holdings Ltd group has fundamentally reshaped the near-term
outlook for the Company, and for this reason I wanted to provide
shareholders with a better sense of where I believe Vast is headed over
the course of the year.
A New Phase of Growth.
In my statement on 30 January, I advised you that the SSA transaction
"heralds a new phase of growth for Vast" - I strongly believe this to be
true and in this letter I want to provide context and colour around this
statement.
In addition to removing the concerns of shareholders regarding emergency
equity raisings, the capital derived from the SSA transaction provides
shareholders with comfort that Vast is now positioned to achieve
positive cash flow at Manaila and Baita Plai (once the necessary licence
is granted) without further equity raises. Any future fund raising
activities will need to be demonstrably beneficial to shareholders and
the growth of the Company, therefore shielding investors to unnecessary
or value destructive dilution. I know that further dilution has been a
primary concern for many long-term holders, so I want to be clear when I
say that the Board's primary focus is on building a business which
offers shareholders material value increases in the long-term through
sustainable and organic growth.
As longer term shareholders will be aware, Vast has not always had this
level of security over finance, and the Company agreed to two equity
draw down facilities in 2016. Not only did these facilities create
significant dilution in the year, but it is my belief that the market
perceives that an overhang, derived from these two facilities, persists
which is curbing the progression of the share price. After detailed
shareholder analysis by our registrar, I can confirm that these two
entities hold no residual holdings in Vast stock and I am therefore
confident that neither party represents a threat to the progress of the
share price henceforth. One of these parties does have 50,000,000
warrants exercisable at 0.4p which expire in October 2019, which only
represent just over 1% of the currently issued share capital of the
Company.
Professional & Reliable Communication.
The appointment of our new nominated adviser last month, together with
our reinvigorated investment case post-SSA transaction, has prompted us
and our advisory group to introduce a new investor communication
programme, which is aimed at giving shareholders frequent and reliable
news flow combined with regular access to the Board and management.
In addition to our regulatory announcement responsibilities, Vast will
continue to report quarterly operational activity by way of a quarterly
production report. In the past, Vast has reported on various financial
aspects relating to each operation, and the complexity of this has made
subscribing to a strict reporting calendar difficult. In order to
resolve this, Vast will publish production figures only and these will
be issued to the market within four weeks of the end of the period. The
Board and its advisers believe that this will be a more useful tool in
keeping investors abreast of developments - rather than waiting up to
ten weeks for all the relevant information to be approved by the
appropriate parties. The Company will of course continue to issue all
financial results, including production and financial operating data for
each mine, in its half-yearly report and annual audited accounts. The
financial details will however be disclosed in the next quarterly report,
due to be announced on Tuesday 21 February, as adequate time has elapsed
for these to be accurately calculated.
The Board would also like to introduce a rationalised structure for ad
hoc communication between the directors, management and shareholders.
This investor relations policy will include the following:
-- Quarterly shareholder conference calls: details of which will be found in
the Quarterly Production Reports announced to the market - during the
call, shareholders will have the opportunity to ask questions via an
online chat function. Shareholders can also submit questions to the
Board via email in advance of the call to St Brides Partners at
shareholderenquiries@stbridespartners.co.uk. The first shareholder call
will be held in conjunction with the release of the next quarterly
production report scheduled on Tuesday 21 February.
-- Q & A documents: shareholders will be invited to email questions to the
Board which will be accumulated into Q & A documents and regularly posted
on the Vast website and announced to the market - please send any
questions through to St Brides Partners who will be compiling this on
behalf of the Company (shareholderenquiries@stbridespartners.co.uk).
-- Private Investor Events: new and existing shareholders will be invited to
exclusive Vast Investor Evenings where members of the Board will provide
a presentation and be available to answer questions. The first of these
evenings will be announced to the market shortly.
A Final Word.
After 18 months of challenging times for Vast shareholders, we intend to
rebuild credibility, trust and excitement in the Vast investment
proposition for the benefit of all stakeholders. I am confident that
over the course of 2017, when combined with the continued operational
turnaround in Romania, this will be achieved.
Whilst the Board and its advisers continue to monitor the share price
constantly, it is the Board's responsibility to build the business,
which ultimately should be reflected in the share price moving forward.
The Company's advisers will be active in communicating the progress on
the ground within the investment community. All parties concerned, be
they directors, managers or advisers, are fully committed and aligned
with the success of Vast and we are focussed on establishing a
significant, profitable and sustainable mining company with a robust
communications strategy moving forward.
Brian Moritz
Chairman
**S**
For further information, visit www.vastresourcesplc.com or please
contact:
Vast Resources plc
Roy Pitchford (Chief Executive Officer) +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
Beaumont Cornish - Financial & Nominated Adviser www.beaumontcornish.com
Roland Cornish +44 (0) 20 7628 3396
James Biddle
Brandon Hill Capital Ltd - Joint Broker www.brandonhillcapital.com
Jonathan Evans +44 (0) 20 3463 5016
Peterhouse Corporate Finance Ltd - Joint Broker www.pcorpfin.com
Duncan Vasey +44 (0) 20 7469 0936
St Brides Partners Ltd www.stbridespartners.co.uk
Susie Geliher +44 (0) 20 7236 1177
Charlotte Page
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the
Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market
Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 ("MAR").
**S**
Notes
Vast Resources plc is an AIM listed mining and resource development
company focussed on the rapid advancement of high quality brownfield
projects and recommencing production at previously producing mines in
Romania.
Vast Resources currently operates the Manaila Polymetallic Mine in
Romania, which was commissioned in 2015. The Company's portfolio also
includes the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania, where work is
currently underway towards obtaining the relevant permissions to start
developing and ultimately commissioning the mine.
The Company also has interests in a number of projects in Southern
Africa including a 25 per cent. interest in the producing
Pickstone-Peerless Gold Mine in Zimbabwe.
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf
of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely
responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information
contained therein.
Source: Vast Resources plc via Globenewswire
http://www.acrplc.com/
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 20, 2017 03:00 ET (08:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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