IMO the Chairman's address has failed to address the big questions of NTU's capital structure and Chinese domination of the NTU share register.
Chair Adam Handley states; "The (recent) capital raising... introduced a number of new institutional and sophisticated investors to our register". Where is the evidence of new "institutional" investors joining the register? Looking at the last annual report, the top 20 holders list dated 29th September 2024 (post $43m placement) is almost exclusively Chinese companies or individuals with the largest being Vastness Investment with 9.5%, up from 8.45%, a couple of shareholders hiding in investment bank nominee accounts, and one recognisable Australian entity, Iluka with a 1.84% holding, who apparently they didn't support the raise and were duly diluted from their previous 2.11% holding.
If there are new institutional holders, particularly non Chinese, it would good to let the market know who they be.
Another question on my mind was why such a large capital raise? $43m placement + $5m SPP = a shedload of new capital and SOI! According to the pre raise prezzo, $23.5m is allocated to "Working capital (over the next 12 months), site and corporate costs". In the 2024 full year accounts, out of a total annual expenses of $33.88m, $22.84 was allocated to "Exploration and Evaluation expenditure" i.e. drilling, MRE and DFS work, with the balance of $12.04m allocated to "Corporate expenses", covering all other expenses. Why do they need to almost double their allocation to corporate expenses over the previous period? I suspect there is some sandbagging & stuffing of hollow logs going on here related to the $15m Iluka con note which is due to mature on 31/12/2024...having an extra $43m+ in the bank might give NTU some optionality if Iluka call in the note or play rough in extension discussions.
Finally, whatever happened to the divestment order? While Yuxiao Fund divested around 800m shares (sideways to related entities?) in a blaze of publicity, no notice was received from Black Stone Resources, whose 166m shares would have had them in the top 10 shareholders, or Indian Ocean Shipping's 165m shares, or Ms Ximei Liu's 100m shares, or Mr Xi Wang's 101.8m shares, none of whose names ever appeared in the top 20 shareholders list, so possibly still hiding in nominee accounts?
I realise that NTU is not responsible for enforcing the divestment order, FIRB & Treasury are responsible (being AusGov agencies might explain their tardiness...), but surely given the publicity surrounding the divestment orders somebody could let the market know the outcomes, and if the orders were not complied with, the consequences of that inaction.
Until some of these questions are answered I'd find it difficult to invest in NTU again, but GLTAH & DYOR!
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