I thought that whilst I wait for the three wise men to compose themselves, find replacement pigeons etc, I would have a quick look at Meridian’s overall shareholding position.
This is of necessity a rather long winded exposition - please forgive.
Their cover letters always say Notice of
Initial Substantial Holder (my emphasis). Whilst the first letter (dated 13/4/17) was indeed regarding a Notice of Initial Substantial Holder, the subsequent ones are all Notices of Changes in Substantial Shareholding. Its a big Company - they should be more professional.
The notice dated 7/5/18 is correctly listed on the ASX website but it is not included in FAR’s list of announcements (as per FAR’s website). An oversight by FAR no doubt.
The most recent notice (dated 23/1/20) appears to be arithmetically incorrect:
Shares held prior to 23/1/20 notice = 849,888,587 (opening figure as per notice dd 23/1/20 and also the closing figure on the previous notice)
Shares acquired as per notice dd 23/1/20 = 1,100,066,913 (3 + 2 + 6 + 1 + 17 + 111 + 960 = 1,100m)
So total shares held now = 849,888,587 + 1,100,066,913 = 1,949,955,500 (and NOT 1,916,921,674 as per notice dated 23/1/20)
Unexplained difference = 33,033,826 shares (1,949,955,500 - 1,916,921,674) 33m shares - a mere bagatelle…..
And they state that they are up to 19.21% but I make it 19.54%. No big deal but as they get closer to 20% they really need to get it right………..
Be that as it may, let us now see what Meridian have paid in total for their shares over the years and how averaging down significantly with the two recent cap raises @ 5.5c and 4.25c has helped them lower their average cost per share.
They now have 1,949,955,500 shares (not 1,916,921,674 as per their notice)
They paid $117.248m for said shares
Average price paid per share is thus 6.01c ($117.248m div by 1,949,955,500 shares)
Losses to date (working on a current price of 4.25c) come to $34.373m
So what is the point of all this?
Is there one?
All numbers over a million are approximately equal?
Our single biggest shareholder sees value in FAR even though they are carrying a hefty loss on their investment and even after averaging down significantly. Farjoy’s position is even worse. Their average is around 8.5c a share.
Hopefully these guys know what they are doing and whats good for them is good for us. Unless of course, Meridian plan to rape, plunder and pillage the small shareholders. Time will tell I guess.
Le workings:
FAR Meridian shareholdings.pdf
(20min delay)