vic the juggler

Cloudnine has got me thinking.

I have been watching the "progress" of MSC for many years and have held shares for many years (currently I have 1 mil) and I've lost money too - maybe about ten or fifteen grand over the years.

Before MSC there was Australian Kaolin (AKL) who spent over $120million setting up the plant and had the rug pulled from them by the bank around 2003 not long before first sales were due (supposedly). AKL management were inexperienced, optimistic and made many mistakes, and were hit by a bank that had no patience. A friend of mine lost over $200grand on AKL (....after listening to his stockbroker's recommendation to double up when the share price tanked)

MSC picked up the operation for around $30 mill and proceeded to get it gong again. They've hit many obstacles as well but have ploughed on. They have raised money for all of the operational outgoings by issuing shares at ever lower prices and other interesting methods. Except for the debentures almost all of their large debt is long term leases and buy-backs and not beholden to the goodwill of any banks. That has been a good decision. The latest economic crisis couldn't have come at a worse time and it is testing Vic's accounting and management skills immensely. He has kept MSC going over many years of disappointment and failures of transport and bagging systems, and buyers who are wary of changing suppliers. And despite this they have been able to come up with new uses for kaolin to kick things along.

I am an admirer of Vic who would, if MSC folded, easily get a job with cirque du soliel as a juggler extraordinnaire!

However, I think this capital raising and restructure is the last roll of the dice, but it is apparently underwritten to $5 mill (of which Vic himself is underwriting $2 mill) so hopefully it will work and get the company over the last hump and into solid and regular income territory. In a few months we will know and if it looks as though the income is flowing I'll be buying more.

I've read up about green cement and most of the other systems/formulas use slag ash as the 'green' substitute. This ash needs to be collected from various sites and processed and appears to be a slightly different and inferior product to the kaolin and also has supply uncertainties. The kaolin based green cement has a price advantage over OPC as well as other benefits, an important one being it is much lighter and easier and cheaper to transport and use.

But Cloudnine, I do wonder what you are doing on this forum. If you see your calling as warning off other investors so they don't lose their money then that is very generous of you. But I suspect you have lost a lot of money on AKL/MSC and you are seeking some comfort by dreaming of one day being able to say in large letters to everyone on this forum "I TOLD YOU SO - aren't I clever!". And if MSC fails you will enjoy some added comfort in knowing that you are not alone in having lost money. Is that what you are dreaming of as you sit on cloudnine? More losers so you don't feel so bad about what happened to you?

MSC has struggled for so many years it deserves some goodwill as far as I'm concerned. There have been mistakes, but they have not been negligent or incompetent by any means. Cloudnine - you don't have any MSC shares, so if you must hang around at least give those that do have shares some objective comments, or even some support. Give us a break, and at least have the heart to wish good luck to those that still hope for success. But I suspect you are secretly wishing for MSC to fail.

It certainly hasn't been smooth walking for MSC or the shareholders, but you are acting like a little dog yapping and sniping at the heals of decent investors who are keen to find success. Your actions are not helping anyone. They are just annoying. Why don't you discuss the problems and issues and options rather than just snipe away.

Also, I think it is entirely wrong to lump CCY into the same basket as MSC. CCY (which is 50% owned by MSC) has very solid investments in China and its current market cap is around 10% of the value of its holdings - based on valuations using recent buying activity in Sinotel.