As much as I appreciate and respect obligations of confidentiality, those kinds of claims by management become farcical when certain information about what they are working on enters the public domain and they still refuse to talk about it. It becomes all the more of a farce when the source of the public information is not some rumour or second-hand account reported in a social media forum, but through the official website of a national or international government agency. I am of course referring to the publicly available trade mark applications of P&G in relation to class 3 and 21 goods (skin care products and devices:
- SK-II MAGNETIC POWER BOOSTER (filed in Singapore April 2016)
- MAGNETIC BOOSTER (filed in 6 Asian countries in October 2016)
- MAGNETIC MICROPULSE TECHNOLOGY (filed in Singapore last month)
What is the probability that these commercial brands are associated with OBJ devices? I'd say 99% probability, with the 1% being reserved for the possibility that P&G have found some other magnetic technology that they're using for their skincare.
I asked about what these trademarks relate to at the AGM in the question and answer session. Flat out refusal by management to provide any information.
This simply isn't good enough. That kind of circumstantial evidence points overwhelmingly to a forecastsble commercial roll out that will significantly benefit OBJ's bottom line. Confidentiality obligations fall by the wayside (and become farcical if they are maintained) when information like this comes into the public domain. This becomes all the more important when you are a publicly listed company and have statutory obligations of disclosure of material information like this. OBJ management have sat on this information for far too long. I understand that this is most likely because of the unreasonable pressure exerted on them by P&G. However, shareholders interests also need to be factored in. Communication of critical information like this is extremely important when it obviously has to do with what this company is doing of significant value.
Obviously I believe the company is producing significantly valuable assets. I have no plans to sell. But management's ability to communicate is poor, to the point where it is impacting on the current market value of the stock. This is unacceptable and needs to be remedied very quickly.
Lastly, I should add that there are quite a few shareholders who take an "all or nothing"approach - "either you're with the company or you're against it!". That I think is somewhat misconceived as the case of OBJ clearly demonstrates. Obj clearly has great technology, and commercial success on the very near horizon. But it has a poor record of communicating that to the market. The result is the current share price we have.
(20min delay)