News: CIM CIMIC Group Appoints Juan Santamaria As CEO & Managing Director, page-7

Interesting action on the upgrade by an analyst. Seems a bit spreadsheet myopic to me!

CIM's balance sheet looks stuffed - they have $700m SH equity. That questionable Gorgon contract asset for 1.15b could pull CIM into negative equity. Their net current assets are negative 2.5 billion! Their available cash at bank is a bit over $800m, as much is tied up in deposits and restrictions, if you read the notes. They have a lot of demands on their cashflow and available cash reserves, and a lot of disputes including the new CPB contaminated soil issue in VIC - might delay payments there. They may not have the cash to fund new contracts, with so much work in hand and so many tenders coming.

I'm not sure why the CEO and MD resigned, but I suspect somebody wanted to have Spaniards totally running the show - maybe to maintain/guarantee secrecy over something that is in the works (I'm not sure if Spaniards are better than Aussies at keeping secrets, but they are generally better dancers - lol). The ex CEO may not have wanted to take certain risks that were being asked of him? (After the factoring issues were covered up I have little regard for any of the board or management - can you tell?)

How much will the director's insurance cost be going up by this year???

They may be raising capital sooner than anybody expects at the rate the equity ratio is shrinking. Maybe somebody will be willing to lend a large sum?

All IMO and guesswork from me!