minesite.com: Commodity Watch Plc

Background

The main aim of Commodity Watch Plc is to provide information, news and views on all sectors of the world’s resources and a means whereby investors can be introduced to the smaller companies involved. These companies rarely attract much attention from the Press, but Commodity Watch has a team of journalists all around the world who specialise in the sectors and the companies. The sectors are Mining & Minerals, Soft Commodities & Agricultural Products, Alternative Energy and Oil & Gas and the websites operated by Commodity Watch are minesite.com, agriprods.com, poweralternatives.com and it has a 24 per cent stake in oilbarrel.com.

The original business plan was developed at minesite.com and this website now has universal recognition all around the world with thousands of investors, brokers, fund managers and the industry itself. As one broker in London said, “Minesite has more influence at the junior end of the London mining market than the Financial Times”. High praise indeed, and that may be why the FT mining correspondent used to have Minesite as the home page on her computer.

Commodity Watch Plc listed on London's PLUS Market by way of an Introduction on 16th April 2007.

Editorial

The websites on Commodity Watch are not tip-sheets. Share prices are rarely mentioned as the main thrust is to explain how a company is developing its assets, its achievements to date, and what the future potential might be. The aim is to explain the thought process of company directors and this often means that a new perception is put on a company to that pertaining in the market.

The news and views published on Minesite and the other websites are therefore not simply expanded press releases as can be found on a number of other websites. The standard of Commodity Watch journalists is extremely high and they pride themselves on making impartial comment. This is appreciated by readers and it is rare indeed for any company management to find criticisms unfair.

Forums

Commodity Watch runs Forums for subscribing companies in London, Paris, Zurich, and Geneva. The European Forums are run by local specialists as it has been found that local fund managers and investors respond better to someone speaking their own language.

The basic programme for a Forum in London is that six varied companies present for 20 minutes each and have five minutes for questions. There is plenty of time at coffee and during the buffet lunch for networking and further questions.

The presentations are recorded and videoed and remain available on the relevant website afterwards for those who were unable to attend. Our usual audience in London is in excess of 100 brokers, analysts, investors, fund managers, advisers and representatives of other peer companies.

Subscribing Companies

Companies pay an annual subscription to have pages of information (or profiles) accompanied by price charts and press releases on each website. It is up to the companies what they choose to put on their own pages, although they are provided with a template to help them decide. These pages can be edited by the subscribing companies on-line at any time so the information should be up-to-date and relevant.

Their press releases are also featured on the home page. With a growing readership of thousands of registered readers and over 4,000 visitors every day, this ensures an audience far in excess of anything that can be achieved by a news distribution service. Brokers notes and press releases are included in company profiles so that maximum information can be gained from a single site visit.

Subscribing companies come from countries all over the world and there is huge potential for this source of income to keep growing. We now have a growing list of subscribers from companies who service the mining market; banks, brokers; PR agencies; security companies; accountants and lawyers. These companies pay a reduced fee for their profile page.

Commodity Watch Radio and Video

As our websites have developed, and the boom in resource based investment has increased in popularity, so we have found that investors want to take their news and research in different ways. Our video and radio mean that companies can reach investors on their PCs and their iPods.

All of our investor forums in London have their presentations videoed with synchronised slides. This enables those who attend to revisit the presentation afterwards, but most importantly it helps presenters to reach a worldwide audience many times larger. Typically each company video page is visited over 400 times; one has had over 2,000 visits. The unique combination offered by Commodity Watch forums ensures companies reach investors and that our readers keep coming back to the site.

In late 2006 we also launched Commodity Watch Radio, a hugely popular internet radio show. Each show has an investment theme, with a well known investment personality as the principal guest. Companies can also pay to be on the show, telling their story in context. This is a high growth area with audiences averaging 2,000 per show. Commodity Watch Radio has won immediate plaudits for its quality, attracting guests of the calibre of Jim Rogers, David Morgan, Jim Dines, James Turk, and Marc Faber.

Future Growth

Minesite.com is the most mature of our websites and around 300 junior to mid cap mining companies subscribe to it. This means that we are still only scratching the surface as the number of mining companies in the world has grown exponentially as metal and mineral prices have risen over the past five years. Renewed exploration for uranium alone has spawned another 150 companies in the past two years.

Exploration/development companies need risk capital, and risk capital comes from equity investment. This funding has to be sought by mining companies all around the world, hence the ever growing demand from them to gain exposure via Minesite.com.

At the same time there are massive changes taking place in agricultural production (soft commodities) and renewable energy. The cross-over between the two is exemplified in the announcement at the end of March that US farmers plan the biggest shift into corn ever seen in order to participate in the rush to meet rising demand for ethanol. Inevitably this will affect some other crops such as soybean and cotton which are traditionally grown on the corn-belt and put pressure on farmers in Argentina and Brazil to grow more soybeans.

And this move comes at a time when demand for food is rising round the world as a result of increased affluence in the east. This means that the European Union will be shaken out of its complacent attitude to agriculture as profits grow and use has to be made of every scrap of farming land.

So we have the growing world population and political demand for reductions in carbon emissions battling away for a bigger share of the world’s soft commodities. Prices will rise and more businesses will seek risk capital in order to participate. Risk, of course, there will be. Just as in mining where there is constant geological, political and mining risk, so in soft commodities the two main risks are from weather and disease.

Higher risk means that higher rewards have to be offered in compensation. Higher rewards attract investors and they need to be introduced to the companies involved in the new era of what, during the IT boom, was contemptuously referred to as ‘old world economy’. A major change is underway and it will be no boom and bust as the problems of climate change and food demand are here to stay.

Agriprods.com and poweralternatives.com are in their infancy, as minesite.com was in 2000 when it raised seed investment money. The future potential is huge, however, and the companies will get the benefit of the mass of visitors to minesite.com now wishing to widen their portfolios. New specialist funds are already springing up and the relationship between them and investors is the same as between companies and investors. The websites developed and run by Commodity Watch seek to fill that vital niche.

Links and Contact

Visit our website www.commoditywatchplc.com

Details of the listing on PLUS Markets can be found here

Read our recent article: PLUS Provides Strong Competition To AIM In London For Trading Smaller Company Shares

To find out more about our listing please contact our corporate advisers:

Loeb Aron and Company Ltd.
Georgian House,
63 Coleman Street,
London EC2R 5BB

Tel: 020 7638 1128
Fax: 020 7638 0756

peter[at]loebaron.co.uk