Sign Up NowThis Month's Tiny Gems - October 2014

Cadiz, Inc. (CDZI)
FX Energy, Inc. (FXEN)
Staffing 360 Solutions, Inc. (STAF)
Transgenomic, Inc. (TBIO)

 

 

 

Cadiz, Inc. (CDZI)

 

It is with great hope that Southern California could see above-average rainfall in the winter months ahead, but it won’t be enough to overcome the drought that meteorologists are saying will likely continue or intensify in many parts of the state. Mike Halpert, acting director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, adds, “The drought has been so severe and so long-lasting that it’s going to take more than one year to get you back to normal.”

 

Cadiz, Inc. (CDZI) works on behalf of its shareholders by operating as a land and water resource development company in the United States. The company focus is on the water resource, land and agricultural development activities in San Bernardino County. It owns 34,000 acres of land, including subsurface areas that involve unsaturated soils and additional water rights in the Cadiz and Fenner valleys. In addition, CDZI also owns 11,000 acres in the eastern Mojave Desert in eastern San Bernardino County. Additionally, the company is involved in the cultivation of lemons and grapes/raisins, and spring and fall plantings of vegetables on the Cadiz Valley properties.

 

As with nearly all activity involving our environment, there have been voices of opposition to the company’s current Cadiz Valley Water Conservation, Recovery and Storage Project. Amid challenges of this nature, Cadiz has established a track record affirming its mission objectives at the highest levels for being a company that acts in an environmentally benign and acceptable fashion since 1983.

 

Wes May, Executive Director, Engineering Contractors Association, has commented, “The Cadiz Project is a strong example of private investment for public good, and will bring a reliable local Southern California water supply to approximately 400,000 people in the region. Designed to minimize the building footprint and with no long-term impacts to the desert environment, this project represents sustainable design and a tangible and long lasting improvement to the local water supply.” Commenting further was Inland Empire Economist, Dr. John Husing. “The construction phase of the Cadiz Valley Water Project would create a cumulative total of nearly 6,000 direct, indirect and induced jobs over the four years of effort, to tap into San Bernardino County’s extensive labor supply, where the high desert unemployment was 16.4% in March 2011. It would also support local manufacturers of materials used in construction of wells, pipelines, and power generation, with a net local four year economic impact of $878 million.”

 

CDZI has been a part of the eastern Mojave Desert community for over 25 years and is proud of a track record that points to its commitment to protecting the desert environment. As part of this commitment, the company pledges to manage the aquifer systems beneath its properties in a sustainable manner, to conserve water, to explore solar power opportunities and to continue to use sustainable agricultural practices. CDZI’s innovative Cadiz Valley Water Project is dedicated to providing a new local solution to meet Southern California’s water needs, while also protecting the long-term safety of the desert. The company has pledged to be guided by a Green Compact, which commits to the permanent preservation of lands, dedication of a portion of the land for solar power development, stringent plans for sustainable groundwater management and habitat conservation, and the dedication of water to restoring endangered aquatic ecosystems in California and the Colorado River basin. The company’s vision is one of a green company that works as a partner with the environment while aspiring to be a model to other private sector companies in the renewable resources business.

 

 

 

FX Energy, Inc. (FXEN)

 

FX Energy, Inc. (FXEN) builds value for its shareholders in the oil and gas exploration and production market with production in the U.S. and Poland. The company’s primary exploration and production activity targets Poland’s Permian Basin where the gas-bearing Rotliegend sandstone is a direct analog to the Southern Gas Basin offshore England. Operator and owner of 51% of the well, PGNiG, is running a full production test to determine flow rates and reserves.

 

The company recently reported that drilling, coring and logging of the Karmin-1 well have been completed. Results of these operations show 30 meters of gas-saturated Rotliegend sandstone with porosity approaching 30%. The well flowed at a rate up to 6.7 mmcfg/d on a 22/64″ choke with no water. It will now be completed for production and is expected to start producing at the start of 2016. The Baraniec-1 well, which began drilling in September of this year, has run casing to a depth of 3,894 meters at the base of the Zechstein. The well is a planned test of a Rotliegend sandstone structure. Pending the test’s measure of success, Baraniec-1 will be connected to the production facility at Lisewo and could be in production by the end of next year. Both wells are located in the Fences license.

 

The company’s oil and gas revenues for 2013 were $33.3 million, a modest 3% decrease compared to revenues for the following fiscal year. FXEN expects its 2014 production will net a rise from its 2013 production rates with the start of production at its Lisewo-2 and Komorze-3K wells. Further, this production will be included to a full year of production from its Lisewo-1 and Winna Gora wells, which is believed will be greater than the natural declines in production from producing wells.

 

FX Energy’s strategy is well defined. It believes Poland embodies a unique international exploration opportunity. Within the past half century, Western companies have invested billions of dollars into exploration efforts in the British, German, Dutch and Norwegian sectors in the North Sea area. Industry data suggests these efforts have resulted in the discovery of trillions of cubic feet of gas and more than a billion barrels of oil. Up until the late 1990’s, Poland been closed to exploration by foreign oil and gas companies. As of today, exploration activities conducted in the Polish onshore Permian Basin area are only a fraction of those conducted in the western part of the basin. As a result the company feels the Polish Permian Basin is underpenetrated and, therefore, has high potential for discovery of significant volumes of oil and gas relative to the North Sea or other mature oil and gas provinces in the United States and around the world. One example is that the estimated gross proved recoverable reserves per well associated with the 11 conventional gas discoveries in its core Fences concession in Poland are 12.7 Bcf.

 

As of the end of 2013, FX Energy estimated oil and gas reserves were 42.0 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 0.5 million barrels of oil. This amounts to a total of 44.8 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent. The company retains oil and gas exploration rights in a range of project areas comprising approximately 2.7 million gross acres in Poland, as well as produces oil from approximately 10,730 gross acres in Montana and 400 gross acres in Nevada.

 

 

 

Staffing 360 Solutions, Inc. (STAF)

 

Staffing 360 Solutions, Inc. (STAF), focusing on global buy-build strategy through the acquisition of domestic and international staffing organizations will be conducting a conference call on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 11:00 am EST. On the call the company will be discussing its financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended August 31, 2014.

 

Call speakers will be Brendan Flood, Executive Chairman, Matt Briand, Chief Executive Officer and Jeff Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer. Following their comments, investors and other participants will be able to engage in Q&A.

 

Brendan Flood, Executive Chairman commented, “Our acquisition strategy has enabled us to grow significantly compared to our year-over-year numbers. We look forward to discussing more details about our financial results, our expanding footprint in the staffing industry and our future growth initiatives for the remainder of calendar 2014.”

 

Those interested in participating in the call are asked to dial toll-free 877-407-0778 within the United States, or 800-756-3429 within the UK. All other international parties should dial 201-689-8565. The company asks that participants dial in 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call so as to ensure a prompt, uninterrupted start. There will be a playback of the teleconference available up to November 4, 2014. To listen to the playback, dial 877-660-6853 within the United States or 201-612-7415 internationally and use replay ID number: 13593807.

 

The conference call will be simultaneously webcast and available at: www.investorcalendar.com/event/173333

 

Staffing 360 Solutions works in the staffing sector where it acquires US and international staffing organizations to execute its global strategy. Contributing to its consolidation model, STAF is active in acquiring companies in the finance and accounting, administrative, engineering, IT and cybersecurity industries. The company believes the staffing industry offers opportunities to create a successful public company with a longer term objective of accretive acquisitions that will drive annual revenues to $300 million.

 

 

 

Transgenomic, Inc. (TBIO)

 

There is currently great excitement among clinicians and scientists in the field of personalized treatment of cancer. Today’s advances in the biology of cancer and development of new tools for genome analysis have provided for a fresh perspective in what is commonly known today as personalized medicine. This type of medicine is centered on the tumor. The concept is not new and previous attempts to customize treatment have been carried out by the patient himself. Despite its limitations, decades ago body surface area based dosing was already a first step in this promising treatment type. Today, application of new pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacogenetics-driven concepts still provide some of the most promising tools for improving treatment management and clinical outcomes in patients with cancer.

 

Transgenomic, Inc. (TBIO) is a global biotechnology company pushing the envelope on personalized medicine in cardiology, oncology, and inherited diseases through its proprietary molecular technologies and research services. The company is the global leader in cardiac genetic testing with several products, including its flagship C-GAAP test. The test is designed to detect gene mutations which indicate cardiac disorders, or which can lead to adverse problems down the road.

 

Transgenomic has three divisions. They are Transgenomic Clinical Laboratories, which specializes in molecular diagnostics for cardiology, oncology, neurology, and mitochondrial disorders; Transgenomic Pharmacogenomic Services, a contract research laboratory that specializes in supporting all phases of pre-clinical and clinical trials for oncology drugs in development; and Transgenomic Diagnostic Tools, a producer of equipment, reagents, and other consumables that aid clinical and research applications in molecular testing and cytogenetics. Transgenomic sees great opportunity for further growth in all three businesses by using their synergistic capabilities, technologies, and expertise.

 

businesses by using their synergistic capabilities, technologies, and expertise. TBIO’s management team is built for success. Sandra J. Gunselman Ph. D. and Vice President of Clinical Operations achieved a B.S. in Biology from the David Lipscomb University and a Ph.D. in Cellular & Molecular Biology from Colorado State University. Dr. Gunselman has two decades of molecular biology lab experience. Dr. Gunselman specializes in DNA damage and repair.