Andrewe has covered off the key points but I’ll go over my impressions as well of the AGM.
Firstly I went with no particular hope or expectation of positive news, in fact with the thought in mind that I would be gauging the board with a view as to whether I would sell out or not. As most of you know, I have had concerns as to whether the management is free to make decisions for all shareholders rather than just certain large shareholders. Those fears have been allayed somewhat and I’ll touch on that a bit further on.
The meeting itself was quite exciting – only a few shareholders in attendance but between us we managed to set a new record for length of AGM by a long way!! (Always nice to know the directors are earning their fees lol ).
I asked those questions provided to me via Hotcopper so here are responses to them first:
Nobull’s questions: • Dr Frank Reid has not been able to meet with Mr Mehrabian as yet. Whilst he was in an acting role only he was not prepared to do anything of substance. He has now been ratified, in the last week or so, and there is an expectation that it will be possible to meet with him now. Other discussions have been taking place in the meantime (in the timehonoured time wasting practice of bureaucracies around the world in my jaundiced opinion). • The company has actively explained to the officials in Tehran about how mines are financed in other countries. It is not clear whether they really understand or not. (My comment: perhaps the trend to improved oil field contracts suggests a growing understanding of the need for incentives?) • Note: Dr Reid made a point in his presentation that there is currently a trend for Ahmadinejad’s administration to appoint people on the basis of devotion rather than expertise. This is clearly a political process to try and shore up support with next year’s election looking bad for them. If such appointees are incompetent or incapable of developing expertise then it will have long term economic implications. Tarzan’s question: • When IMIDRO is finally privatized, which may take a while as there is some resistance within the organisation, all obligations of the current JV will transfer with the privatisation. Effectively then it will be a change of face but not conditions or circumstance. From discussions outside the formal part of the meeting it appears there is quite a bit of jockeying going on amongst the monied classes in Iran to gain equity in a privatised IMIDRO.
The balance of questions asked I’ll tackle in topic headings over another couple of posts:
UCL Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
