The issues are the following regarding the missed deadline for Grieve commissioning and going production ready. Elk IS HIGHLY LEVERAGED WITH VERY EXPENSIVE DEBT. And yes, in 9 to 10 months they should be able to significantly drop the currently onerous financing rates to which they are currently subject, if they deliver. However, given that ELK is so highly leveraged, it does not have the luxury of missing deadlines which have knock on effects in terms of future cash flows to service the debt. While Grieve represents only 12% of production, it has a disproportionately larger impact on free cash generation due to the overallocation early on and the margins from this well. Missing production deadlines has a negative impact on debt servicing security which has a negative impact on share price.
As big an issue as the impact on near term cash flow projections is that Elk only just refreshed these deadlines publicly less than two weeks ago. Yet there is no public acknowledgement that they have missed them nor a proposal on any new timelines. It is not an immaterial miss and a reliable update is something current and prospective shareholders deserve in compliance with standard transparency requirements for public companies. Elk should not be able to skate on it.
ELK Price at posting:
9.5¢ Sentiment: Sell Disclosure: Not Held
