“On top of having invested a large amount of money in this company I bought shares on market after the placement announcement to try and support the 30c price because I could see that there was a risk that the SPP would be a failure if the share price declined below 30c. During this time Ratty resigns, which undermined the entire capital raising process, yet he announces that "I will continue to remain a strong supporter of the Company through my material holding in the Company and have further demonstrated this with my recent commitment to participate in the $6 million Placement, further increasing my investment". This announcement compelled me to keep buying shares on the market (in my case they were DMA CFDs (direct to market contracts for difference that do actually trade on the market and therefore affect supply and demand - in the hope that I would support the AHZ price and therefore support the SPP effort, which as I stated before it closed would fail if market support did not continue).
Ratty selling a few million shares within days of this comment is certainly not being a "strong supporter" or "increasing my investment", is it? If it's not true, then can it be called a lie? If it's a lie then we're looking at an illegal act of market manipulation to prop a market that he was undeniably selling into. If it's not a lie then where's the explanation as to what is going on? I have sought comment from the company on this matter and received nothing, which is a serious concern.
This is all on top of #1 shareholder Minderoo heading for the exit and WP's reputation going down the drain with his absolutely adamant promise to never need another capital raise again.
These are very serious matters and have resulted in share price destruction. For the amateurs that don't get what I'm talking about - look at the share price and wake up to the fact that the market is demonstrating very major concerns here.
I don't know how much more management can f**k up here before you'll accept that you're being let down by the people that your money is supporting. Thankfully wiser shareholders have voted accordingly and awarded the apathetic board their disgraceful first strike.
@iceman.11 - IMO: my solution is that management NEED to explain why Ratty sold despite formally releasing an ASX announcement that was absolutely contrary to this action. They also need to explain how the placement funds would be allocated (quantitatively) and explain to shareholders if there are any covenants on their loan that might be breached (something a few of us are worried about). Finally, if they don't meet the current quarter targets they may as well resign immediately because they can be sure of that second strike at the next AGM. WP was never meant to be a permanent CEO. If they will fail in current targets he'll be proven to be ineffective as a leader of this company and they should be looking for the permanent leader that they needed to have all along.”
Hi Anthony. Well your campaign of “maintain your rage and enthusiasm” is certainly generating a response in HC, but as you are a holder I’m not sure how you think it will help your investment, even if you were half right. However, this latest post is full of generalisations, opinion, and factual error.
Did WP say he would “never need a capital raise again”? No. He said he would not seek to raise dilutive capital to meet operational expenses. He said he makes all decisions (whether to create a new role and hire, what products to sell, so on and so on) based on business cases and ROI, not “winging it” or gut feel. He said (on several occasions) things can and do go wrong, and anyone who’s been in business, especially in a turnaround situation such as what we have needed here, knows that that is particularly true. You’re never going to get everything right first time in that setting, it takes time for it all to bed down, and it’s not uncommon for it to take longer than you planned. This was as much a cultural transformation as a financial, infrastructure, and process one (which is why I, for one, am quite happy to see on his Twitter feed the occasional post pointing to the very high engagement levels and commitment of staff, the people who are making this all happen for us). It’s easy to understate the size of the task this new management team have taken on.
Does the company “NEED to explain why Ratty sold despite formally releasing an ASX announcement that was absolutely contrary to this action”? No. If there is illegal activity, that is a matter for the regulator and I would not expect such proceedings to be commented on until there was a conclusion of investigations. If there is no illegal activity, then there’s nothing for them to say. Is it how I would operate, no, but if funds managers can legally do these things then it is what it is.
Does the company “need to explain how the placement funds would be allocated (quantitatively)? Good practice, and I think they have in effect. From May 10 announcement: “Funds raised from both the Placement and SPP will enable the Company to expand and progress its strategic projects, including the acceleration of our 3D portfolio from development to commercialisation....Today’s placement of additional funding by high value investors will enable us to fast-track the expansion of our product range and drive future growth in revenue and market share.” To me that says the allocation is 100% revenue generating activities. And what is the return on that investment? See the original post in this thread. No issue then, it’s growing the pie and generating a more than doubling of the already impressive revenue growth rate.
Do they need to resign if they “don’t meet current quarter targets...because they can be sure of that second strike at the next AGM”? A totally speculative statement. You can’t possibly know that. In any case, the next AGM is almost a year away, and there will be up to 3 more quarters of growth to come through before then, not to mention a lot of news. You might make your decision to hold or fold on the next quarters results, I suspect most won’t, they’ll instead be more than comfortable with the trend:
Remember, this management team didn’t come in till 2016. That graph of annual results is crystal clear evidence of a turnaround and a superb trend : growing revenue, growing gross profit, steady expenses. It would be irrational to remove a team performing so brilliantly, and a guaranteed way to send your investment down the toilet.
The most telling part of your post to me is the explanation of how you have attempted to single-handedly support the market around the SPP, in some white knight move to try and ensure it succeeds. And using CFDs no less. Wow. Just jaw-dropping. Why on earth would you do that if you think this management stinks, if the CR is a travesty, if you see no legitimacy to the business case of much higher/accelerated growth as put forward by the company - all of which you are maintaining in your posts? If the CR isn’t growing the pie, there’s no possibility of the SP holding, and the only rational thing to do would be sell and walk away, or wait for the SP to fall to new fair value levels, then re-enter. Certainly not double down with a high-risk position. But you’ve apparently done just that and attempted to support the market, with a leveraged instrument. You must have had huge confidence in the market response to the CR business case to do that. The market has for the moment moved against us all unfortunately, but with what I assume would be a very sizeable CFD position in attempting to provide that market support, you must be considerably in the red. It would explain a lot. That trading position however negates the truthiness of your posts on these matters, in my view. It’s possible instead you sold CFDs in order to profit from a SP downturn, and used the CR as a catalyst to do drive SP weakness. Daily volumes aren’t that huge, and with a leveraged instrument giving you more bang for your buck it’s even more manageable...it’s a narrative I hadn’t actually considered till this moment, but it fits (whether it’s you or anybody else). The daily downramping would further support the trade. Someone asked a few days ago why people would sell into good news...Occam’s razor would say because they profit from it. Such a trading strategy as this would do just that, and be very profitable. If you’ve made money, good luck to you. That said, if you really did buy CFDs instead, are sitting with large losses, and managed to stay clear of margin calls and not crystallise those losses, the volatility in this stock is such that I think you’ll do well in a few months time, perhaps even sooner. Lot of news flow to come.
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