Ann: Change of Director's Interest Notice, page-38

What many here fail to realise (or choose not to realise) is what the role of a CEO in an ASX listed company is.

It’s essentially a sales role. The job is to sell the company to potential and current investors. My observation and opinion is that AF lacks the capability to do this effectively.

When he communicates with the market he does it poorly. In multiple attempts he is yet to clearly articulate the company’s strategy and underlying strategic goals. Then when he is asked simple questions caused by his lack of clear communication he becomes frustrated. My suggestion is that the only person he should be frustrated with is himself. When he says “the market doesn’t understand”, he fails to grasp that this is not the fault of the market. It is HIS job to help the market understand the path this company is on. HIS role is to generate investor confidence through clear and crisp communication.

His performance in this regard, by any objective measure, had been singularly deplorable. We, the ignorant investors, are left with no other alternative than to conclude that this company, at best, does not have a coherent strategic plan, or, at worst, is simply a poorly led mess.

I am no longer an investor here, I took my losses a while back. However if I still had skin in the game I would simply ask for the following:

- what is the vision of this company?
- what are the key strategic planks that support this vision?
- what are the goals the company is working towards that will support this?
- what are the actions being taken to support these goals?

Investors are entitled to understand how their funds are being applied to achieve sustainable and profitable outcomes. Something that has never been articulated with any degree of simplicity.

I’m still yet to hear or read any communication that is not buried in buzzwords and management speak. Let’s forget “verticals”, “nodes”, “spokes”, “scalability”, “value chain”, “leading indicators”, etc. How refreshing it would be to for AF to focus on numbers, goals, strategy, plans and hard data. That’s what successful CEO’s do.

I could not blame anyone for showing a lack of confidence in senior management at the ballot. To date, precisely nothing has been delivered apart from a massive erosion of shareholder value.