Thanks, that was a bit thick of me. I had read a few Bell Potter notes so had BP on the brain and could not fathom why they were being mentioned as a takeover party. On the points you've raised, I looked through the 2024 Capital Raising presentation and did think that the highlighted piece was a bit odd:
I'm not sure companies should so directly try and make the 'we're in play for M&A!', that's best left for when something actually happens. If you make out like you've got a target on your back and then nothing happens, it can work against you (people start wondering why). The other thing I picked up was the comments about the market cap at the AGM, at the start and end of the chair's address, especially this bit:
Market cap on AGM day was $1.94B, it's now more than halved... you have to be very cautious talking about market cap because the market gives and the market takes away - it's terribly fickle as they've now learned. If you're going to boast about the size of a pre-revenue company on the way up but you stay silent when it comes crashing back down again, it's not a great look.
That said I think you do have to cut them a lot of slack because as they admit in the blue highlight, they are a small team and like anybody on the right side of a rapidly rising share price, it's easy for hubris to kick in - we're all guilty of it. What really matters now is how transparent they can be about timelines. They say they are funded through till early 2026 so with the cash balance no imminent need for a raise; hopefully over the next six months the share price can stabilise - but I don't think they want to wait too long to pull the trigger. The best case scenario is an offer comes in to prop up the price and allows them to raise into strength.
(20min delay)