a thought about Brokers...

This post is based totally on my understanding that EMP doesn't often use Brokers for its business dealings - if that's a wrong understanding then much of what follows is obviously irrelevant.

My opinion about Brokers is less than complimentary. IMO they are a bunch of manipulators and parasites who take generous fees for their often dubious services BUT, like it or not they play an important role in determing share prices. What's this got to do with EMP?

Companies have a choice about whether they get into bed with a Broker or simply decide to go it alone. Deals can be done with other companies without any intervention by Brokers, right? But there's a disadvantage in going it alone, this has to do with Brokers having established networks. They use their networks to do a great many things, including manipulation of share prices if it suits them, but also to bring greater awareness to the general market about companies they think are interesting from their perspective. It's like if you aren't part of the Brokers' club then your market profile tends to suffer because individual investors are left alone to find 'go it alone' companies. These potential investors aren't usually good at that, either they don't have the time or inclination to do it, or most likely they prefer to have things handed to them on a plate. This is what Brokers offer their clients.

One company (no longer around) who not only rejected any Broker relationship but actually antagonised them was Cudeco, a copper miner. i'm not going into the details but I thought Cudeco actually had a chance at becoming a boutique Cu producer if it had behaved more prudently than it did. Part of that IMO was snubbing Brokers

So EMP needs to lift its market profile to get greater market awareness of its potential (I hate that word 'potential' but plenty appear to like it). If EMP had some prominent Broker as its front end to the market you'd probably see less share price disparity between EMP and its peers.
Yes, there's a cost penalty for getting into bed with Brokers but that's just part of the cost of doing business.

just my thoughts - trash them if you disagree....