Ann: Half Year Financial Report and Full Year Gui, page-3

re: Ann: Half Year Financial Report and Full ... This is an excellent result. The company has been shunned by investors during a painful restructure and doubts over its ability to survive. But now the shares are currently trading on a P/E of just over 1 and current earnings look sustainable.

Only downside is the huge debt they have - the company is valued at about $10m but has debt of $95m. Under normal circumstances they should have been wound up by the banks 12-18 months ago but there were minimal tangible assets available, but a very useful cash flow. So they let them continue. The cash flow is managing to pay the interest of abt $9m pa, repay the debt at $10m pa and still grow the VEI bank balance (+$2m over the last 6 months)

Not for the faint hearted, but potentially at a give away price. In 2-3 years they should have the debt back down to a reasonable level, the share price should better reflect the earnings, and they may even be allowed by the banks to restart paying dividends.