LIONGOLD: "Will buy it only if gold price rises"

Tom K is a financial blogger and investor who embraces continuous learning. He believes in living below one's financial means, expanding one's financial means and crafting an effective system to capture opportunities in the Singapore stock market. This article was first published on Tom K's blog, and is reproduced with permission.

» Revenue Drivers 

I was quite surprised that for FY2014, the sale of office equipment accounted for 55% of LionGold's revenue share while the sale of gold accounted for the remaining 45%.

The company was into the office equipment segmen before it diversified into the gold business. The former went from contributing 70% of the FY2013 revenue to 55%.

AsI always thought that LionGold is a pure gold play, the realization that it has a business in "office equipment" is quite comforting to me, and I think that the company should retain or even grow this defensive segment.

» Current Strategies 

Following the penny stocks saga and in view of the macro gold environment, LionGold takes the path of "rationalization, streamlining and stabilizing" operations. The main work of LionGold consists of two phases: the first is to explore and mine gold and the second is the production and sale of the gold. 

Understanding that production and sale are what generate revenue, one can easily appreciate LionGold's current strategies of focusing on production and growing organically through exploration and mining work (with an aim to locate more gold, of course).

And like most companies, LionGold also strives to grow its business through acquisitions. Its investments are (a) 10% share in Unity Mining (Australia) (b) 15% share in A1 Consolidated Gold (Austrailia) (c) 10% stake in a Bolivian company (in the stage of preparation of mine development) and (d) 16% in Citigold corporation, Australia (in production and development stage). 

However, I am more focused on LionGold's core assets as these are 100% controlled by the company.

The assets are Castlemaine Goldmine, Australia (100% owned), Brimstone Resources, Australia (100% owned) and Signature Metals, Ghana (54% owned).

Castlemaine Goldmine is the production facility with a throughput of almost 40,000 ounces of gold in FY2014 and, from the description in the annual report, this asset is a steady revenue generator for LionGold.

I am also glad to learn that Castlemaine is engaging in production and exploratory work with the possibility of more gold to be found in the vicinity. As for the other two assets, Brimstone Resources is in the exploration stage and Signature Metals is in the advanced exploratory stage. 

» Future Strategies 

I noted the company's plan to explore other metals or business if the gold business becomes unprofitable. I am not surprised that the management of LionGold has this thinking as the company first started out as "The Thinking Environment Company", its business model was really quite different from now: that of gold recycling.  

» My concluding notes 

In view of the current low price of gold, as an investor, my aim is really practical, i.e. I will consider this stock only when the price of gold becomes better.

A more important factor which would weigh in my decision to buy LionGold stock is the outcome of the "penny stocks saga" investigation which I believe many investors are waiting for too (as I really want to know what caused the price of these three stocks to dive).

Last but not least, I would keep tabs on whether LionGold would "strike gold" at Brimstone Resources and Signature Metals as well as, to a smaller extent, how its other investment in other gold-related companies fare.