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Strategies & Market Trends : Dino's Bar & Grill -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Goose94 who wrote (33002)	8/16/2017 7:41:42 AM
From: Goose94	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 203421

Pengrowth Energy (PGF-T) a sizable investment of the billionaire Seymour Schulich (who owns 109 million of its 552 million shares), lost three cents to 73 cents on 2.52 million shares. It has arranged an agreement in principle with some of its creditors. The company has been in negotiations with its creditors since last year, and more generally has been striving to deal with its debt since about mid-2015, when it announced its desire to sell $600-million worth of non-core assets within just six months. At the time it owed about $2-billion. It did not actually accomplish its six-month sales goal, but over the years it has managed to sell enough assets to halve its debt to about $1-billion as of June 30, 2017. That figure is courtesy of the second quarter financials that were also released yesterday after the close. They were worse than analysts had predicted, but only slightly so, and in any case Pengrowth was far more interested in talking up its debt-reduction efforts. These efforts, according to president and chief executive officer Derek Evans, will help the company "unlock [its] long-term growth potential." Mr. Evans was even more upbeat during a conference call yesterday evening. After naming Pengrowth's second quarter priorities as asset sales, debt reduction and creditor negotiations, he declared himself "delighted to report ... excellent progress on all fronts." He was particularly pleased with Pengrowth's new informal agreement with a group of creditors. The group represents noteholders holding a majority of the company's roughly $1-billion notes due from 2018 to 2024. These noteholders are willing to relax or waive various covenants until Sept. 30, 2019. Such amendments will be contingent on a similar agreement being reached with the banks behind Pengrowth's $1-billion credit facility, which is mostly undrawn. No agreements, informal or otherwise, have been reached with the banks yet, but Pengrowth has sent them a proposal that would also see the facility lowered to just $400-million. Mr. Evans said during the call that Pengrowth expects to have formal agreements with the noteholders and the banks by the end of this quarter. He added that Pengrowth is continuing to consider asset sales, as well as options to replace its existing debt with less restrictive high-yield debt, to provide "additional financial flexibility" beyond Sept. 30, 2019. Investors remained leery. Agreements in principle and pledges to sell assets are all very well, but there is a long path from promise to delivery, one that Pengrowth has not always navigated successfully. For example, it fell far short of the 2015 asset sale goal described above, while more recently, some of its asset sales have closed behind schedule or have simply collapsed. Canaccord Genuity analyst Dennis Fong may have had this in mind when he wrote last night that he would prefer not to upgrade his outlook on Pengrowth until its creditor agreements are finalized. He left his rating at "hold" and his price target at $1.15. Meanwhile, Scotia Capital analyst Patrick Bryden left his rating at "sector underperform" and his price target at $1. Freebie from Stockwatch