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.

Super looking chart and up 13p already today.



cheers GF.

Damn, damn, damn!

I've missed another one!

I make it a rule not to invest in a company just after a sudden rise.
I don't like more than 3% rise beforehand.
Now I need to wait for a bit of consolidation or a dip.

I haven't had time to research it yet but so far it looks very good!

Thanks for the info GF!


Here are some figures from previous years.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 1998 '' 1999 '' 2000 '' 2001 '' 2002
Sales/turnover ( Mil.) ''''''''''''''' 15.52 ' 23.8 '' 45.85 ' 37.32 ' 26.04
EPS (Including Ex'ords) (FRS 3) (p) ''' -1.4 '' 12.5 '' 25.6 '' 25.9 '' 8

We could well see the EPS recover substantially to its former levels & above in the current oil market.

BUT 1st I need to check that there are no problems.

Up 22p now and flying. Apple Ive got a good link post for you I will go and find it and post it here, it comes from a chap who specialises in oil companies.

cheers GF.

Heres the post from a chap called emptyend, its a superb piece of research and one I have checked out. Wish I had seen it first before ploughing through numerous RNS announcements and taking notes.



http://boards.fool.co.uk/Message.asp?mid=8814040

cheers GF.

Many thanks for that GF.

It will take me a while to get through it & check it.

SIA could be just what I'm looking for in energy but I won't get my hopes up too much at this stage.

No problems your welcome. I think you will like what you find, but like all oil and mining companies its highly speculative.

cheers Gf.

Bloody Nora GF this looks like a potential belter. Looks like a few people have twigged something over the last couple of days already. emptyend's piece is excellent and I'm in tomorrow methinks.

Hope so Yorkie!

I need another good one!

My best stock pick this year was Cairn Energy.

Apart from APF (You picked that one GF) & trading in & out of OXB at the right times, the rest of my picks have not been worth the bother.

All this boring research is hard work but occasionally it pays off.
I seem to be better at finding the problems & avoiding losses than finding the good shares before it is too late.

apple, nobody picks winners all the time. The trick is to dump the losers before they bite you too hard! And get on the winners as soon as. As for research and financials I don't go overboard - there are super sleuths like GF doing it for you! (no offense GF). And what more could you want to know that emptyend hasn't said? A quick peek at the chart of course. Read the piece by emptyend, there's an interesting sort of comparison with Cairn.

Hi yorkie, good advise there, you should never take a fellow poster on trust.

Check out the crack as it is given.

Thing is can you trust them??????????????


You can with me as all I want to is make sure4 you get price risers more or less everyday



cheers GF

WOW looks like this one has got investors attention.

Read the RNS bulletins, and then tell me its nota winner.

cheers GF.

PLEASE LOOK AT THE EXCELENT RESEARCH GIVEN EARLIER IN THIS THREAD.

GF.

Investors Chronicle

10 September 2004

SOCO INT'L. (SIA)

Perhaps the only number of any consequence in Soco's interim results was 26.7 - the amount of cash, in millions, available to fund its upcoming drilling programme in Vietnam. Soco was 'carried' through the first round of exploration wells by the Thai state oil company in return for some of its equity in the fields. It is now paying its own way.

So it is taking its time. Having hired several key personnel with extensive experience of the Cuu Long basin, Soco is now reinterpreting the results of seismic surveys in the light of subsequent exploration well findings. Up to six new wells will be drilled, starting in the first quarter of next year.

Elsewhere in the portfolio, there were some unexpectedly good drilling results from fields in Yemen, although Soco's stake here is modest. There was also a successful well in Mongolia.

The group's Oilinvest venture in Libya was restructured, with Russia's Gazprom bank becoming a 20 per cent shareholder and cutting Soco's stake to 34 per cent. Gazprom is the world's largest gas producer. The financials are largely meaningless, but were affected by unplanned downtime at some fields, changes in accounting methodology and the weaker dollar.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ord price: 293p Market value: 212m
Touch: 290-296p 12 month High: 357p Low: 266p
Dividend yield: nil PE ratio: 39
Net asset value: 177p* Net cash: 26.7m
*Includes of intangibles of 84.6m, or 117p a share



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Half-year Turnover Pre-tax Earnings per Div per
to 30 Jun (m) profit (m) share (p) share (p)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2003 11.7 4.51 3.6 nil
2004 8.4 4.11 2.9 nil
% change -28 -9 -19 -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last IC view: 19 Mar 2004, page 67


Soco is all about Vietnam, so the shares are unlikely to do much until the drilling programme there gets under way. Worth keeping an eye on (watch for director buying), but fairly priced for now.

Shares Mag Sept 30th

SIA

The oil and gas explorer has historically had
little to report in terms of drilling but results
from the field finally appeared in the first half.
The company has producing sites as well as
exploratory projects spanning six countries
including Tunisia and Thailand. Management
said its poised to start a significant multi-well
drilling programme in Vietnam in early 2005.
The exploratory programme is based on newlyacquired
data covering an additional 650 sq km
of land, bordering allotments that have already
produced significant discoveries. (EP)

This could be the next Cairn Energy!

:-)

Energy funds

Framlington UK Select Opportunities is 18 per cent invested in resources companies, including Cairn and Shell.

Artemis UK Growth has 15 per cent weighting.

I wonder if they are looking at SIA.

http://www.socointernational.co.uk/press.php

http://www.socointernational.co.uk/fin_chair-ceo.php

Got in just after it sailed through 340 on more solid buying.

Excelent research Apple. This ones up 10p, good stuff.

cheers GF.

Well I've put a proportion of my Cairn profits into it & I'm already up a bit.

Very nice!