Right I havent beleived in investing directly in an oil company untill today and in the last few months have been investing in OIL SERVICE companys Hamworthy and Corac, you know the picks and shovels tale.

Anyway after doing a lot of research I really feel that SOCO INTERNATIONAL SIA as been left behind in the mass bull market on oil companies.

Forget, Burren, Regal, Dana and the rest in my opinion this is the one to be on.

So.....why buy Soco now?

Four inter-related reasons:

1) Newsflow is now very much in sight on several fronts. None of it has yet emerged though, so analysts have yet to revisit their old views and recommendations. There was, and indeed remains, a chance to get in before serious interest picks up again.

2) There is, IMO, a decent chance of some very large price rises within the next 6 months, accompanied by increased downside protection. Once newsflow starts, the shares will come back onto institutional radar screens - you can wait for it to emerge, or you can speculate now at what I think will prove to be a lower price -perhaps much lower!

3) The market thinks there is nothing happening and has gone to sleep on the prospects. You can see this in the broadly sideways drift and very low volumes on most days [until this week]. They are wrong. Yemen and perhaps Mongolia should provide some near-term good news.

4) The time to buy is when no-one else seems very interested.

And heres the last results from the company......................

Soco International PLC
02 September 2004

SOCO International plc

Interim Results for the six months ended 30 June 2004

SOCO is an international oil and gas exploration and production company,
headquartered in London. The Company has interests in Vietnam, Mongolia, Yemen,
Libya, Tunisia and Thailand, with production operations in Yemen, Tunisia and
Mongolia. SOCO today announces interim results for the half year ended 30 June
2004.

HIGHLIGHTS

Operating profit of 4.1 million (2003: 4.2 million)

Net profit of 2.0 million (2003: 2.5 million)

Earnings per share of 2.9p (2003: 3.6p)

Cash balance of 26.7 million at half year end

Finalised the sale of an interest in ODEX creating a consortium of SOCO
(34%), Oilinvest (46%) and Gazprombank (20%) in the special purpose
entity to progress initiatives in Libya and other countries

Continued reinterpretation of existing 3D seismic and acquisition of 650
sq km of new 3D seismic in Vietnam prior to commencement of drilling in
Q1 2005

3D seismic programme completed in Mongolia with two wells drilled, both
apparent discoveries, and a third well spudded

First ever deviated Basement well drilling in East Shabwa in Yemen



Ed Story, President and Chief Executive of SOCO, said:

'Following an extended period of quiet preparation, the release of interim
results coincides with the commencement of a very active drilling programme for
SOCO, one that I believe has company transforming potential'

2 September 2004

ENQUIRIES:
SOCO International plc Tel: 020 7457 2020 (today)ENDS.

This could really be a craking stock and is worth getting in at these lowly price figures.

Please DYOR

cheers GF.

"Incestuous"! Nice way to describe ownership Al! A few early buyers around this morning.

As there is about 70 mil issued shares, the majority being tightly held which i suspect they are, and a possible place in the FT350. Can anyone see an additional placement being made?

MS

Now that's a good question.

I will get an answer.

MS - believe they're financially secure. Depends on how drilling goes I guess. My personal thought is the big holders will pass a few on. They've held them since it was a penny share.

MS the concensus of thoughts is that the chances of new stock is practically zero.

As always dyor, nag, fwiw, etc, bbc and bar.

Sounds good to me. Thanks for that boys.

MS

Mickey,

Would agree with everything what has been said. I see no reason to issue new shares to raise cash. The balance sheet is strong with cash at 26.7m from the last results and no debt. Also, we can add to that 13.5m from the sale last year of Soco's Tunisian assets. From the RNS re the Tunisian sale:

"The proceeds from this transaction
will further strengthen the Company's debt free balance sheet, providing
additional leverage to allow it to participate in further opportunities that may arise"

Sounds pretty financially solid to me.

Re liquidity upon entering the 250 if that happens. I agree with Al, if the big boys wanted to play then I'm sure that they would approach some of the bigger holders to get some. At what price though is anyone's guess. I think FWY did something similar earlier this year when institutions wanted in, they got some stock from some of the directors.

Gav

gav

It happens more often than not from what I've seen. Never say never, though.

Never say never to anything Al! Some large trades showed up after the close, 170k at 533 and a few others also. Stock being moved around between the larger players maybe.

Have a good weekend all.

Gav

Any views people.

MS

Gave up on CFD at 511 yesterday. Had to flog ISA to make way for ERT a couple of days back so falt at present

Here is a view which judging by the volumes could well be right.

http://www.britishbulls.com/StockPage.asp?CompanyTicker=SIA&MarketTicker=RESOURCES&Typ=S

I can see a further reduction in the sp.

MS

Drop in sp could be down to not entering the 250 based on the numbers this week so some traders closing positions. Also, general market sentiment could be pulling us down a bit.

Thanks for the link SWW. Reading around some other sites, seems to be a bit of debate re the accuracy of that site. I think it's registered to a guy in Turkey.

http://www.advfn.com/cmn/fbb/thread.php3?id=7334865&from=4516

Mickey could be right about another drop in sp over the short term. L2 not looking great right now.

Forgot to add, the volume on the latest drop doesn't seem to have been heavy. A flurry of small sells moving us down over a few days.

Thanks gav.........

This from Cannyinvestor200203 on advfn

Gazprombank to Dispose of a Block Stake in Hungarian AEB Kommersant - Moscow,Russia

... Among the assets, which could be put up for sale, is the 5 percent stake in SOCO International Plc., a London-located oil and gas production company. ...

I have just received the following google alert which probably accounts for the weakness in the share price.
http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?id=-5215
Interesting times indeed!

Cannyinvestor

Thanks for that SWW., hadn't seen that. Interesting indeed and could be another reason for the recent slide. The question to be asked is if they do put their 5% stake up for sale, would their be a willing buyer for it.

Here is a guess that is a good as any, Pontoil!

Seems to be the first name that springs to mind! If they did up their stake it would take them up to 25.76% of the company. But there could also be new interest from others. Who knows!

In the mean time -13p ish today. Still very low volume, still being controlled by sellers imo,

Results due this month I think, there could be one heck of a rebound...........