after the agm

I was at the AGM. The River Room at Crown for the Nexus Meeting probably had no more than 150 in attendance. I have attended many AGM's of various companies but I have to say that both Don Voelte and Lucio Della Martina came across as most impressive and competent individuals who really appeared to have a commitment to resurrect the fortunes of NXS. They frequently emphasised shareholder value which is a good thing particularly in the context of their stated commitment to improved governance, communication and execution excellence.

Most of the stuff discussed in terms of operation had already been presented in previous documentation. I thought that it was interesting to hear from Lucio that NXS may consider a partial sell down of Crux or potentially a full takeout of the Crux interest but he did emphasise that would only ever happen if they got full value for the asset? One of the questions asked by a shareholder pressed the point as to what the 'full value' was of the Crux asset might be but both chairman and MD were very careful not to say to much, suggesting that this would not be wise given they were currently involved in commercial negotiations. Both DV and LDM openly discussed the impairment issues relating to Longtom and Crux and suggested that all legal legacy issues had been accounted for and were ongoing.Any benefit from the long lead items should they be sold would be a plus but any return would not be accounted for in the future funding equation.
A representative from the Shareholder Association was present and asked a few questions and another shareholder asked as to whether shareholders could expect some sort of capital distribution given that $122m of their money had been raised to fund Crux. DV answered by saying that they were not in a postion to say that would happen but at the appropriate time, the Board may consider such an arrangement.

All in all, it is pretty fair to say that NXS is in the process of recovering and a work in progress. They are building an operational platform that will be capable of taking them forward in the years to come. They mentioned that the growth phase from 2014 and beyond would be based on ES, Auriga and Gemfish? If LDM and DV are successfull in the months ahead of implementing their plans and strategies and I see little reason why they wouldn't be,then NXS will be rerated significantly. I sat next to a guy from Citicorp Securities who after a bit of prompting suggested that they had a short term share price of 17c and medium term value of 30c+.

All I can say is that I was buying this stock when it was $1.50 + some years ago and took a huge haircut (and tax loss), I nevertheless came away today with a sense that the duo of Don Voelte and Lucio Della Martina stand a very decent chance of overseeing the return of NXS to a successful whilst significantly less leveraged gas exploration company.