Emailing management is almost always a complete waste of time. They can’t disclose anything price sensitive, and it’s their job to paint the rosiest possible picture. When things are negative, this is best done by being vague, which is exactly how JZ responded when I emailed him earlier today (which I only did because of the pissing and moaning here).
As suspected, my request for the specific average grade was dodged, and he would only confirm that it was “around” the same levels that they have previously announced. So no definitive answer, and we can draw our own conclusions why. Mine is that it was probably down a few pips and they didn’t want to advertise it, simple as that. No great concerns, but still an obvious point.
I asked him why the omission, and his response was that they previously highlighted the grade for “marketing purposes”. I take this to mean lulling in dopey retail investors who were convinced that AGY’s product was the best in the land. The timing seems too convenient to have just randomly chosen a time to stop disclosing it. Is marketing no longer required? Plus we’ve seen this convenient timing before, where he only chose to stop monthly updates once the filtration circuit went down, so there’s form there.
He mentioned that they had intentionally removed grade from the announcements because other producers don’t mention it either. He also emphasised that grade isn’t really important, customers are more focused on minimal impurities.
Overall, from his responses and hesitancy to provide the specific number, I’m even more confident in my belief that the percentage grade is probably a bit lower, but obviously still battery grade. In the grand scheme of things do it really matter? No, and I’ve said this all along. Is it worth 10-15 people repeatedly attacking someone for having an opinion? That’s a no too.
Unfortunately we’re unlikely to ever no the number, after JZ confirmed that from this point forward, they’ll only be disclosing that it’s battery grade. Unless of course he backflips (like with the plant updates) and happens to mention the percentage grade if it improves again. I’ll keep a keen eye out for that.
AGY Price at posting:
10.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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