Ann: Operations Update, page-40

Well not the most encouraging OA we have ever received but talk about a lot of panic selling!

India has been through massive disruption during the past few months and we have seen transaction revenue drop 2% during this period .... that indicates to me that once the cash shortage is over we will see significantly higher transaction revenues that previously. And this shortage is almost over as we know from the news articles so roll on the next OA!

ES solutions have been put in - great news (especially givin the environment) & bill payments revenues are up significantly - also good news as it balanced the loss of ATM revenue during the recent disruptions.

Re SREI, no surprises that this will be delayed but, as Jocko said, the rural population are still crying out for more ATMs and the budget focus on rural assistance will together ensure that this is nothing more than a delay IMO - the CSCs are going to be required and SREI are doing what anyone would do - just waiting to ensure that the government is not going to drop another bomb shell - based on last night's budget we can safely say this won't be the case IMO. Thus, couple of months for the management at SREI to do their assessments and then carry on as they were! This will be underway again before June IMO.

Then the big one - the 100% purchase. The announcement wording was indeed very unclear but anyone who has ever spoken to Gary knows he really, really wants 100% control back (and if you have been in contact with him recently you will know this has not changed) ... he has sacrificed too much of his life in India to settle for anything less. Thus, I suspect he is ensuring we are not paying too much and, if required, adjusting the price down. IMO he will also be keen to ensure that normality has returned before entering in to any loan agreements .... you don't want to pay a risk premium. So yes I do expect this to take place ... I just think he will exercise the option to delay to be 100% safe. Hopefully we will hear by 15 February (I think that it is the date from memory).

As for today's trade ... there is a lot of fear and it has been fueled over the past couple of weeks on these forums - consequently, any news was always going to cause an over-reaction - either up or down depending on the news. Today it was down ..... next time will probably be the complete opposite as we get "normal" results (all my opinion only of course).

My sentiment is unchanged .... only the time frame for everything to occur has changed for me today.

MartyW