For everyone's information, the other three questions asked by other attendees were in relation to:
1) if the resolution for placement gets passed, how long is it valid for. Response: 12 months
2) can the company look to create some sort of suggestion email for shareholders to send their suggestions to management and board. Response: company will consider this.
3) who should shareholders contact in the first instance with queries. Response: Ray Blight.
I have spoken to a fellow shareholder today about the agm. Like many of the comments made, there really weren't anything new. Just some shifting of goal posts and new aspirational goals and etc. Nothing new really jumps out to someone who is just reading the three documents.
However, I am glad that I attended the agm to ask questions and observe the body language and etc. I have been most impressed with Ray and Rebecca. The former, perhaps of his previous public sector background, came across as the kind of individual who would err on the side of caution in under promising and overdelivering. The latter comes across as really passionate about alc and waiting to work to deliver the recognition that she believes the company deserves.
Except for the possible M&A news possibly in the short term and $ news out of the blue, I don't think we can expect anything much until the new year given we are approaching the festive seasons where everything slows down to a halt. This may put the share price under further pressure as disappointed shareholders sell out.
Both Ray and Rebecca seem pretty confident about the M&A. The vibe I got was that it is close. Trying to join dots, perhaps it is an uk acquisition as they placed emphasis on uk a few times. In the past, we were led to believe North America is their focus for international expansion. Given Geoff is part of the M&A assessment committee, we can pretty much exclude the possibility of M&A action with one of his related companies as was suggested by some posters in the past.
Other things that I failed to mentioned in my previous post and which I had reiterated to the board include:
1) Company needs better communicate with shareholders and keep them fully informed. Delays and etc should be factually explained as silence can lead to unfounded speculation which can be particularly detriment for a small cap company like alc with low liquidity. Rebecca, in particular, is conscious of this and is very supportive of some of the off my bed ideas that I put to her such as newsletters and etc. Malcolm also mentioned that he has started blogging to raise awareness around alc.
We have witnessed some misinformed posts in the past on Hotcopper as some posters make wild assertions without seeking clarification from the company. Given that any information shared by the company shouldn't be market sensitive, I see no reasons why we all as shareholders can't work together to keep each other fully informed. I have tried my best to be open and transparent with my information and I hope everyone else can be too. We are all in the same boat!
2) Company needs to leverage off momentum generated elsewhere to raise awareness and interest among the investment community. I specifically noted that the first five-yearly productivity review of Australia by the Productivity Commission placed heavy emphasis on digital transformation in the health sector. It is an area (another area being social services) that governments can get the biggest bang for their dollar. Other recommendations include making health funding contingent on hospitals adopting electronic patient systems. This is the exact proposition that alc is offering: higher productivity and better patient outcomes.
3) Whilst I am disappointed in the share price, I think that the management has done a pretty good job. For sure, there have been some hiccups but, overall, solid foundations have been laid. Given the positive discussions, I did not raise the Brian Leedman subject. To me, he is just like a fly by director. I just want to put the whole episode behind and move forward. However, part of me really wanted to ask Ray: "what were you guys thinking of???"
Given the election of two new directors, I want to give them a clean slate to work with. There is not much they can do about what happened in the past anyway. I am sure a few of us here have got in touch with the company previously regarding Brian's disgraceful sell-down. I just hope lessons have been learnt.
4) Given that alc is still a really small cap and has yet to demonstrate its ability in earning consistent and sustainable cash flow, greater visibility around the company's plans, pipelines and etc is really all shareholders like us have got to work with.
Accordingly, company needs to put more effort is enhancing the level of visibility in its asx releases. No spins or over promising of blue sky and etc, just factual information to the best of the company's knowledge. Rebecca was really happy when I mentioned that the latest presentation felt a bit different from previous presentations which were more technical. In my view, she has is already starting to make her presence felt. I wait with anticipation on what other contributions she could make.
I reiterate that, in my humble opinion, alc is an excellent risk-reward play for FY18. If one is willing to endure some possibly short term pain, there is a small window between now and Q3 FY17 where true believers can accumulate shares at ridiculously low prices. Again, this is my plan and everyone should do their own research.
ALC Price at posting:
4.9¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
