Agreed Keith and we should move fast because MM is eroding value in the company at a frightening pace. See below section from the last half yearly report. Our cost base is still far to high - almost two million pounds (!) just in the last half year reported. These costs were meant to have been reduced drastically as a result of the previous policy pivot when we moved from "active investment" (eg our joint venture with Cobre) to "passive investment" (ie just trading in listed equities). We are also continuing to lose millions through our ill judged equity trades but in the meantime MM is raking in director fees from our three main investments at Southern Gold, Armada and Cobre. Each of which have performed dismally over the past few years. Southern Gold did not make any discoveries in the past half year but is now shifting focus to rare earths, lithium and wait for it, acquired a battery commercialisation company "to diversify" its business... I wonder who's interest MM is looking after.
FROM THE LAST HALF YEARLY REPORT:
Administration costs for the period were £1,902,000 (H1 2022: £1,436,000). The increased costs predominately related to an acceleration of vesting conditions of employee share options cancelled and increased legal fees with regards to compliance and regulation, including the new investment policy, delisting from the AIM market and exploring the moving to the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market and ultimately moving the primary and sole listing to the Australian Stock Exchange. There were also once off charges to terminate Nomad, Brokers and Public relations services pertaining the AIM market. There were also increased costs pertaining to travel which were primarily around road shows and investor interactions in Australia. With the move having been completed and most of the regulatory and compliance work behind us together with the Board’s continuous drive for efficiencies there is every expectation that real nominal costs will return to a downward trend. There was an overall loss in the period resulting from the disposals and fair valuing of investments during the year of £2,478,000 (H1 2022: loss of £9,982,000) reflecting market conditions in the year and more specifically the movement in in our active investments in Cobre, Armada and Southern Gold, which combined contributed to a loss of circa £2,891,000 over the period). The Board’s conviction in the active investment strategy remains comfortable but notes that they are unlikely to pursue additional active investments in the near term. The investments are medium to longer term in nature offering exposure to earlier stage exploration projects where the Company has a significant interest and therefore some ability to influence strategic outcomes. The Company received dividend income of £1,000 (H1 2022: £146,000) and net finance cost of £565,000 (H1 2022: net finance income of £2,413,000. Loss for the period on ordinary activities before tax was £4,645,000 (H1 2022: loss £9,392,000).
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