Doubts over the future of D1 Oils
Small caps
Robert Lindsay

D1 Oils, the grower of Jatropha plants for biofuel, which is scrapping
its expensive British refinery, fell 2p to close at 35½p as worries
over its future gathered weight.

Deep in its results last week, which were overshadowed by the terms of
a deeply discounted rights issue, it said that it was writing off some
of its Jatropha plantations because of poor management and the failure
of seeds to germinate. Goldman Sachs calculates that the company is
removing about 50,000 hectares from its books.

D1, founded by Karl Watkin, who left it recently, is also cutting its
yield per hectare prediction by about 20 per cent. Goldman still has a
"buy" rating, but D1's credibility, already low, can only be damaged
even further.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article3776661.ece