a word for the fearful, page-13

This is what has been happening over the last few days OA. I think we have lost a few friends - but they may be able to jump back on board before the SP rises again.

In a n earlier post, before the AGM, I mentioned that if a farminee/JV wasn't finalised before the AGM then a drop in price would be inevitable. This was without the knowledge of a CR. Don't forget this was 59m shares at 45c - a 20% premium of VWAP at the time - easy money. This also gave a target for the bears to push down to.

It was on the cards that a large number of those shares would be cashed in, triggering stops and shaking the tree on the way. In my mind the SP has held up fairly well after all, somebody is buying the shares. During the last few months the SP has bounced quite a few times - hence the clever Sound of Music chart posted by OA. This was caused by tradres making quite a lot of money - just like the instos are at the moment.

What does this mean to me:

1 My long term investment is safe (for a specky stock), for the moment, because the point of the CR was to ensure enough funds to go it alone with Artemis if necessary. This means that sometime next year MEO will be drilling Artemis - whether by going it alone or with a partner. At least they have learned their lesson from Heron and Zeus and won't drill in the cyclone season:)

2 The fact that both the farmer and the farmee are playing games is evident but MEO do have the upper hand now as they have a potential independent (we're not playing your games any more) play with Artemis. Don't forget aour small cap company is standing toe to toe with the big boys, rather like David and Goliath. Maybe this isn't shown in the SP at the moment but I don't believe it is just the instos driving the SP but traders know this stock well and are also putting fear into holders by stacking the sell side. They know the SP will rise again soon and would like to buy in as low as possible.

3 I expect the management to show the confidence in the company, as they have encouraged us to, by exercising their options. Like Hotrock says, not to do this, would send the wrong message out there.

4 I don't see what has changed as far as the fundamentals of this stock over the last week, apart from certainty about MEO's role in Artemis. For the last two months plenty has been written about the potential value of Artemis and, to a lesser extent, the Tassie shoal projects. It seems as though all those who posted those figures have now forgotten what they wrote.

5 If, as people have said, the management have been a little less than transparent I think a few people who in the HC community and in the media at large have hidden agendas too. It's fair enough knocking the people who look at a company in a positive light but I think a lot of damage, too, is done by those posting the constant tirades of unsubstantiated negative sentiment. This has happened in the past, followed by more positive posts as the SP is rising plays with the emotions - especially those new to trading. So, to the newbies, please look out for the sharks.

6 We can see the same thing being played out in the market with the manipulation of the SP. Whoever is doing it - who knows, but I've been on the MEO roller-coaster for a long time now and I have decided to hold, accumulating a few more shares on the way. Those who have made money out of MEO, and there are quite a few, then good luck to them. I have said it often enough before, maybe foolishly, that I won't be releasing any of my holding unless something drastically goes wrong with the comapny.

Please remember these are my feelings only. Like I said, my trading style with regard to MEO might be naieve but I have always had confidence in the company and I don't see why this should change at the moment.

I am eagerly awaiting the release of the the grand plan next month - even if it is just MEO drilling a 70% share in ~12Tcf gas field with a ~32% success rate:)