woeful, page-8

Maybe a good price for a new round of riders, but gee it is hard to front up and buy another ticket when you've just limped back, pale-faced, out of the dunnie after a few previous laps on the same roller coaster.

I have to wonder if the "one-stop shop" is just a good theory that is proving impractical.

It's good to have vessels for your divers and ROVs and mapping and engineering capacity but the integration is not just a risk one-off, it must be quite an art to manage all the people, their different egos, expectations industry experience and different immediate industry conditions and so on.

The acquisition of the little rope rigging company seemed odd to me at the time - you could have hired them when you needed them - and in retrospect maybe symptomatic of pursuing diversity for it own sake, without regard to realistic and practical necessity?

Will continue to watch with interest after spending so much time (and money) invested in them, but couldn't bring myself to put my hand in my pocket again any time soon even when the price seems ridiculously low.

Oddly, I still feel favourably disposed towards the NMS story and their original model, despite losing a motza on it, but no longer able to summon up the feeling of confidence I used to feel when I was buying them for $1.17.

Best of luck.