Well said PeterFred. I wish I was able to convey my thoughts as eloquently as you've been able to.
This will probably end up being a little long-winded and rambling post, so apologies upfront. Also apologies if I speak out of school about any conversations I had with other shareholders or board members who may read this this forum.
For what it is worth, I'd like to put forward my thoughts about the AGM and some board members from a small shareholders' perspective.
I live and work in Loganholme (Logan Bogan), which is about 10 minutes from Anteo's Head Office and 20 minutes from where the AGM was held.
I asked my boss if I could take a few hours off this morning to attend the AGM as I wanted to see what they are like and he was OK with it.
I only arrived at the meeting 2 minutes before it began. Reading recent posts on HC, I was half expecting an angry mob of shareholders with pitchforks in hand...but as Peter mentioned, there weren't too many attending. I agree with Peter that the mood was quite subdued.
Ewan spoke confidently, though he did seem irritated/disappointed when he started going through the results of the votes. A brief look at some of the comments on here, it seems some thought he came across as a little bit arrogant but I think frustrated might be more appropriate. I was genuinely surprised at how close the voting was. Justified or unjustified, I believe they know there is a lot of dissatisfaction from many shareholders.
David seemed genuinely happy about his and Manuel's recent trip to Europe and I think is looking forward to milestones and hopefully agreements being met in the near future...aren't we all. I get the sense that they'd like to say more but aren't able to at this stage. There seem to be a lot of opportunities going forward in the Life Science part of the business as well, though it's the battery side that excites me.
I intended to get back to work as soon as the meeting concluded. I stepped out of the room to answer some missed calls after the meeting, so not sure how the mood was in the room after the formal part of the meeting had finished. I was on the phone for about 10-15 minutes and during that time, everyone had started filing outside for finger food and coffee. I'm shy by nature and was only dressed in my work gear (shorts, workshirt and steel capped shoes) so I felt a bit out of place...but f** it, I'm still a shareholder. I grabbed a quick coffee and a sandwich and headed for an empty table to scoff it down and then head back to work.
While I was having the coffee, David Radford came over and introduced himself and we began chatting. I had no questions prepared that I could ask him, so it was mainly just chit-chat. I can't recall everything that we spoke about but I had his attention for at least 5-10 minutes and he was very obliging. I
mentioned to him that the board seemed disappointed but not surprised by how some of the voting went. I suggested that it is what it is, and he agreed. I said to him that I think a lot of us shareholders became frustrated that we didn't know who EV1-2-3, etc were and so we were left to just speculate. I asked him if it was worrying when the ASX asked ADO to reveal who EV1 was. He said he was very concerned about how this may affect the relationship going forward with Mercedes. He mentioned that during the brief suspension and after the MB legal team was forced to conduct quick meetings about the situation, they eventually understood that ADO had done all that they could to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings up until that stage. I never asked him, but I would imagine the other EV companies that we are currently dealing with would be requesting similar confidentiality.
I also mentioned to him that I didn't fully understand how we would achieve the industry target of 1000 battery cycles with 80% energy retention if we were currently at 70% energy retention after nearly 1000 cycles. He explained that they have a series of different tests going on all the time with slightly different chemistry tweaks or methods of production and was quietly confident ADO would be able to achieve these targets. I'm also a shareholder of another ASX-listed company called Novonix whose initial life began through battery testing and R&D solutions, though are more known for synthetic graphite production today. They have fine-tuned their testing methods to reduce the time to test batteries from months or even years to a fraction of the time necessary. They do testing for the likes of Panasonic, Samsung,CATL, LG, etc. I mentioned them to David and asked if we had ever worked collaboratively with them. He said that we hadn't and seemed to think the potential customers that we are dealing with wouldn't be interested in this type of method. I don't understand this type of thinking as time is of the essence in this industry. I also asked if we have used any AI to possibly fast-track processes. He said while we haven't necessarily used AI up until this point, it is something worth considering at some point in the future.
I can't remember anything else I specifically spoke to David about (if I do remember, I'll post more) but in summary, I thought he was very genuine and I was pleased that he made the effort to introduce himself. We shook hands again and he went to chat with other people after that.
After the conversation with David, I went over to another shareholder in the room(I think his name was Steve) and introduced myself to him. He said that he's a very long-time shareholder and that his son is also a shareholder. He said he'd been a shareholder since before the days they became Anteotech. I asked if he contributed to HC and he said he used to but not that much anymore (probably too toxic these days?)He had flown up from Sydney for the meeting. While talking with him, a couple of other shareholders also briefly came over and chatted with him. One of them I remember was Peter and another I think was a bloke named Ian. Ewen Crouch seemed to know and was familiar with them as he also came over and chatted for a while.
Near the end, I also had the opportunity for a quick chat with Geoff Cumming. I mentioned to him that he looked a lot different from the image often posted on HC and that if he read HC, he'd feel like a human dartboard with what is often said about him. He chuckled and said that he used to read some of the HC comments but had to stop when some posters continued to make outright lies about him and or the company. One poster he remembered was Dolce Vita, who I think I already have on ignore. Even though he was smiling when we discussed the comments from some people on HC, I could sense that some comments might have cut and he may have taken them personally. I said there are getting too many keyboard warriors on the site just slinging shit without regard for the accusations that they make. I think some posters need to understand that whilst they think they might be just venting their anger and frustrations with the company with what they post, their words can have lingering and negative effects on those people that they are aimed at, whether they deserve it or not.
As best I could tell, most of the board members stayed quite a while and mingled with everybody. They would have been available to discuss any issues that shareholders may have had. I remember in the days before the meeting, some posters said that DR wouldn't even be there, as if it were fact! I thought how did they know? I guess I can add a few more people to my ignore list and save time reading their dribble.
I'll admit that I'm guilty of sometimes getting frustrated and emotional that things haven't progressed as quickly as I had expected or hoped. After all, if our products are so great, customers should be knocking down our doors and wanting to sign contracts left, right, and centre. Unfortunately, I don't think the real world works like that. I have accepted that big opportunities and their rewards, take a lot longer to evolve than I had ever imagined. Instead, I now appreciate the enormity of what we are trying to achieve and the caliber of the potential clients we are dealing with. Hopefully with continued hard work and the team that they have built and continue to build, our patience and continued support will be handsomely rewarded.
I told you it would be a long-winded review! Well done if you made it this far.
As this was my first contribution to the forum, I've tried to make it worthwhile. Especially to the readers who might be like I was, lurking on the sidelines and not sure if they should voice their opinions or contribute in some way for fear of being labeled a cheerleader or downramper for their views. I'm glad I went to the meeting and had the opportunity to meet a few other shareholders and board members and would recommend others do the same if they get the chance. If I think of anything else that I may have forgotten that I think is worth mentioning, I'll post more.
In summary, I left with greater confidence in my investment than when I arrived. If I can afford to buy more shares in the current CR before it closes, I will. If it eventually all turns to crap, I'll try not to be one of those people to blame the rest of the world and instead look at this investment as an expensive learning experience. I've had a few already.
One wish going forward, is that everyone acts with more civility towards each other and make it a better experience for all.
The Bogan
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