BEL

[jiesen]

finally! some good news for BEL

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040823/235665_1.html

Not as relevant anymore, with the contract issues still looming, but at least there is one less thing to worry about here...



Bennett Environmental Inc.: Federal Court Quashes The Decision For Panel Review
Monday August 23, 3:34 pm ET


OAKVILLE, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 2004--The Federal Court has quashed the decision by former Environment Minister, the Hon. David Anderson, to form a panel to review Bennett Environmental Inc.'s (AMEX:BEL - News; TSX:BEV - News) thermal oxidizer plant in Belledune, New Brunswick.
In his decision, dated August 19, Judge Sean Harrington stated: "This court grants judicial review, quashes the said decision, declares it null and void and prohibits the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency from proceeding with a review of the matter, the whole with costs against the respondents."

In the 16-page ruling Judge Harrington ruled that the panel review process is intended for projects in their planning stage. The Bennett facility in Belledune was already 90 per cent complete when he called for the panel review. The review was to consider trans-boundary environmental impact under provisions of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Judge Harrington also pointed out that the minister's own officers at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) agreed in its own study there would be no foreseeable transboundary impact from the plant. He also agreed that Health Canada's position that they could not have "absolute confidence" there would be no transboundary impact was unreasonable.

Company president and CEO, Al Bulckaert, responding to news of the judge's decision said: "We are pleased with the finding and have argued all along that the former Minister of the Environment, the Hon. David Anderson, should not have called for a panel review after CEAA found no issues with the facility after an exhaustive seven-month study." Mr. Bulckaert added the "we are now looking forward to moving ahead with the operating of the Belledune plant."

About Bennett Environmental Inc.

[bon46]

BEL

I received a class action suite from Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP-against BEL.
for stocks purchased from June 2, 2003 to July 22, 2004-Allegations are made concerning "Management" issuing false and misleading statements, and omitting to disclose material facts: ... which adversly affected the truth about the company, its business and operations.
Did any of the "group" members receive this material and are you joining the class action suite?
Butch

[jiesen]

class action suit

yes, and no.

[bon46]

class action suite

Yes

[Pip]

BEL has experienced a classic "dead cat bounce" as described by Peter Lynch. I watched for the bounce and pounced on it. I took my $5.65 and bought a moon pie and an RC cola. I sat on a park bench, took in a beautiful day, and thought to myself that from now on I'm going to use stops.

Steve

[Karel]

Hi Pip,

yes, BEL looks a lot less lively than a dead cat. But stops, I don't know. What kind of a stop, and how does it pan out for the closed and open trades on Mr.Market's personal website http://hometown.aol.com/ebarsamian ?

It is easy to define a stop that would turn Mr.Market's stream of winners into a losing proposition. In fact, I haven't seen a stop strategy for Mr.Market stocks that looks only halfway promising. Watching how revenue and earnings develop might be more useful.

But try something out, and please share your results with us!

Regards,

Karel

[mrmarket]

BEL has experienced a classic "dead cat bounce" as described by Peter Lynch. I watched for the bounce and pounced on it. I took my $5.65 and bought a moon pie and an RC cola. I sat on a park bench, took in a beautiful day, and thought to myself that from now on I'm going to use stops.

Steve

There is no magic bullet. If there is, someone would have written a book on it already. A lot of stocks that have made some very good money for me were once in the doldrums and I would have taken a loss on them if I had used a mechanical stop strategy. So there are always two sides to the story.

[jiesen]

Woah! Something's up with BEL today!

[jiesen]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BEL&t=5d

Gee, I hope nobody here bailed at $3 when it looked like BEL was finished. It's up 30% in the past 2 days! (Not that it's much consolation when you're down more than 80%, but still...)

[Karel]

In the category stupid statistics: 14 more such trading days and BEL goes for its 15% ...

But I am not holding my breath.

[jiesen]

Recent BEL writeup on Moneysense.ca (1/6/2005)

http://www.moneysense.ca/investing/stocks_markets/columnist.jsp?content=20020910_173212_3408

Bennett Environmental has upside potential
"Market Trends" by Larry MacDonald

If you are a contrarian investor, you might want to take a look at Bennett Environmental Inc. The Oakville, Ont.-based environmental company cleans contaminated soil in thermal treatment facilities. In the nine months to Sept 30, the company recorded a loss of $0.56 per share on revenues of $21.2 million, compared to earnings of $0.71 per share on revenues of $48.3 million in the same period a year ago.

In 2004 the stream of bad news was one of the worst on the Toronto Stock Exchange, highlighted by an 80% collapse in share price. But in the past four months, Bennett has registered one of the better readings for insider buying, with three executives acquiring over $360,000 worth of shares (none selling).

Let's first review the dismal news from last year. A shortage of treatable soil led to shutdowns of about eight weeks at its single operating plant in Saint-Ambroise, Que. There was also uncertainty over whether or not the nearly completed plant in Belledune, N.B. would receive operating permits given opposition from environmental groups and a proposal by the federal government to set up a review panel.

Other items included the departure of the chief financial officer and cancellation of a $10-million credit line at a chartered bank. And then there were concerns raised by the Quebec Government over elevated levels of dioxins and furans in the vicinity of the Saint-Ambroise plant.

But the biggest setback came in July when a major reduction was announced in the estimated 300,000 tons of soil to be delivered from the Federal Creosote site in New Jersey. The cut wiped out most of Bennett's order backlog and precipitated several U.S. class action lawsuits (Bennett is also listed on the American Stock Exchange) and an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) investigation into the possibility of inadequate disclosure.

Brokerage analysts don't like to be blindsided and their research reports have, not surprisingly, turned decidedly negative. Anoop Prihar of GMP Securities Ltd. wrote in October that Bennett's inventories of treatable soil are "dangerously low" and "the outlook looks bleak." Paradigm Capital Inc. analyst Doug Cooper voiced concerns in November about collecting the high level of account receivables and wondered if there is "… reason to believe any material will ever be processed …" at the Belledune plant.

The initial reaction to this negative news stream is to take your portfolio and run for the hills. But as mentioned, insiders have recently substantially increased their holdings, a development that shines a ray of light into the darkness.

Financially, Bennett has some staying power. As of the last quarterly report (ended Sept. 30) there was little debt and $5.6 million cash on the balance sheet. Working capital (net of cash) was $20.6 million. In December, the coffers were augmented by a bought-deal financing arranged with Canaccord Capital Corp. in which 2.5 million shares were purchased at $4.00 each for gross proceeds of $10 million.

Canaccord's analyst, Sara Elford, was one of the first to issue a sell recommendation on Bennett, back in 2003 before the meltdown. This prescient call suggests Canaccord has the best due diligence on Bennett, so to have them step forward with financing at this time is a major vote of confidence.

Some analysts worry about the collection of $22 million in accounts receivable, but the majority relate to work completed for the federal government. As the government usually pays its bills, it seems reasonable to assume this "amount will be substantially paid over the next three quarters and will result in a significant inflow of working capital," in the words of a company document.

It's no fun being blindsided, but perhaps brokerage analysts have allowed emotion to overshadow the fact that the soil remediation business is inherently "lumpy." Demand usually takes the form of non-occurring contracts that come in bunches with gaps sometimes in between. If a company has the financial resources to ride out the lulls as Bennett appears to have now, then buying on the dip could be a rewarding experience

Over the past decade, soil remediation has generated annual sales of about $6 billion (U.S.), due in large part to the enormous hazardous waste cleanup effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Going forward, analysts project a $200 billion (U.S.) total market. As owner of one of the only eight soil treatment facilities in North America, Bennett seems to be in line for a chunk of this business.

The soaring Canadian dollar might crimp sales from the United States. But soil remediation is a high margin business (with barriers to entry due in part to high capital costs) and Bennett can still profitably win U.S. sales by accepting somewhat lower margins on its contracts. Moreover, new sources of demand are set to emerge in Canada.

The Province of Ontario is poised in 2005 to upgrade its landfill laws to the same standards as exist in the U.S. and the rest of Canada, which would increase demand for soil treatment. And the federal government announced in mid-2004 a plan to spend $10 billion on an environmental clean up over the next ten years, including $500 million on the Sydney Tar Ponds.

Bennett has also become more proactive in generating business by hiring two seasoned salespersons. The company continues to bid for new contracts; in the third quarter alone, bids were submitted to treat 50,000 tons of contaminated soil.

Current share prices are trading at a historically low valuation, just slightly above book value. This makes Bennett a possible takeover candidate, especially considering a merger with another entity could smooth out the vagaries stemming from high capital costs and "lumpy" demand. Bennett might more suitably exist as the division of a larger entity than a standalone organization.

True, the environmental impacts of the Saint-Ambroise and Belledune plants remain contentious, which creates an element of uncertainty. But the company believes the accusations are unfair and is mounting a vigorous defense that holds out hope for an outcome less dire than what some analysts expect.

As for the Saint-Ambroise plant, the company notes that allegations of unacceptable emissions of pollutants are in conflict with analyses carried out over the last few years by independent experts. The company has submitted a study to the Quebec Ministry of Environment showing that its plant's dioxins and furans emissions (which remain within regulatory limits) do not match those from the Ministry's report.

Regarding the nearly finished Belledune plant, the panel review proposed by the Ministry of Environment was dismissed by the courts. An appeal is underway, but the odds of reversing the decision don't seem impressive considering the Ministry's own officials (in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency) have found no issues with the plant.

As for the class action suits and OSC investigation, these are matters that usually take more than a year or two to resolve. Any required financial settlements should not be specified until the year 2006 or 2007. By then, Bennett could be over its current difficulties and able to meet the obligations without too much strain.

Bennett shares may be interesting to speculative buyers. Admittedly, there is material risk to owning them and conservative investors might prefer to stay away. Yet, there is a potential for the price to triple or quadruple, especially considering Bennett's high operating leverage magnifies profitability when new orders do come in.

Jan. 6, 2005

[jiesen]

go BEL!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BEL&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

they must be getting those contracts signed, eh?
oddly enough, BEL has been one of my best performers YTD. Good thing I didn't sell it at 3 when eveyone was saying it needed to be sold...

[mrmarket]

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=BEL&t=3m&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

they must be getting those contracts signed, eh?
oddly enough, BEL has been one of my best performers YTD. Good thing I didn't sell it at 3 when eveyone was saying it needed to be sold...

yep...up over 25% this year so far. Assets are still the same. Demand to clean up the dirt will not change. It's not a matter of "if" on the upcoming revenue stream, but "when". Selling early would be no different from premature ejaculation.

[Websman]

yep...up over 25% this year so far. Assets are still the same. Demand to clean up the dirt will not change. It's not a matter of "if" on the upcoming revenue stream, but "when". Selling early would be no different from premature ejaculation.

Let's see em bash you on the IBD boards now...

[jiesen]

and another 8% gain today... what's going on here?go BEL!