Pleased to see the share price performance here... Cant help but think how far we have come
Not long ago in the Karl Simich era Degrussa was nearing the end of it life with nothing to back fill the drop in EBITDA.
Motheo was in the growth pipeline, although still subject to construction risk/delays and not coming on for another 3 years
Black Butte was entangled in legal dramas which were not looking like were going to resolve for next 10 years (It was pretty much a write off)
We were on the edge!!!!
Its when Simich flew off to Spain and pulled off a blinder with the acquisition of MATSA (An operation that was twice the size of our market cap - thanks to Australian super et al)
Market didn't like the acquisition for 2 reasons a) It was on top of copper cycle with prices around US$4.3 b) The debt burden was significant
Yet - this acquisition achieved its most important goal - that is to replace the drop off in Degrussa EBITDA and buying us time and balance sheet capacity to construct and ramp up Motheo
Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the power prices in Europe skyrocketed - Spain was hit hard. This is where MATSA was looking like a very bad decision. Several investors sold at this time and we had to even do a rights issue to manage the finances.
Copper had a dismal 2023 with prices going as low as 3.5 and staying low for most part of the year.
Simich decided to move on from Sandfire - Sandfire without Karl Simich? Something that was nearly un-imaginable.
Looking forward to 2024
We found a fantastic CEO in Brendan who has demonstrated every single quality of a top leader.
Motheo is in production and achieving name place faster than anyone expected
Motheo expansion is looking promising
MATSA is proving to be a fantastic acquisition with further exploration success. It even has a solar farm of its own making it less dependent on grid by 25%
No one anticipated that Black Butte will achieve the legal outcome it did last month, so fast
Khoemacau next door to Motheo sold for a fantastic sum - helping investors understand the true value of Motheo
Whats ahead!
Copper prices have been stable around 3.80
Long term outlook for copper has never been better
M&A appetite is huge - Could we become a target?
As the construction spending winds down and Motheo starts to pump out cash, we will pay down the debt and turn into a profitable operation in no too distant future. That I suppose will be a point where we reach all time highs!
(20min delay)