Ann: Executive Change, page-57

Hi All

Blast from the past. Seemingly not many old faces left on board the flotsam that was fleetingly the good ship FAR, so I will be unknown to many.

I’m also breaking a golden rule of not posting on stocks I don’t own, but having held FAR for seven years and dropping a heap of money on it, I feel compelled to comment.

Cath Norman is a nice woman and obviously a skilled geologist and I wish her no ill will. Seriously, I don’t. She will be shattered and that’s unpleasant for her and all connected with her sacking. However …

The fact is she hung on when she should have accepted the shared responsibility for one of the biggest cockups in Australian corporate history. Even Limb had the good grace to quit, for goodness sake. How on earth did his managing director - and therefore chief adviser - not reach the same conclusion? Instead, she has been dragged to the edge of the cliff and pushed.

Sadly, it seems she will still be a passive observer as her conqueror Woodside creams SNE oil at $US100-plus. Yes, you as shareholders will get a sniff of that, but you (and me) should have been looking forward to years and years of healthy dividends were it not for the Limb/Norman incompetence.

I bailed at a financial loss of 90% and a stress reduction of about the same. Like another poster, I bought WPL and will at least recoup something from the glorious discovery at SNE. I truly hope your new Board and management can salvage some value for you. Goodness knows anyone who has been associated with this cluster duck deserves it.

OOO