Hi all
I don't have a position (long or short) but am following for interest's sake. FWIW I think the 'evil shortaz' narrative is unhelpful, because it deflects attention away from the real issue - which to my mind is the fact that the company has evidently known about this matter since at least December 21, but only disclosed it in early May 22. It's a material fact that has impacted shareholders (trapping their capital for what I think will be quite a long time - refer to EQX as another example, as I mentioned here:
https://hotcopper.com.au/posts/61334498/single). That post was written 11 May when some were suggesting this was a storm in a teacup and it would be resolved within days. I think reality is dawning, that this is extremely messy and could take a long time. Unfortunately that ties up capital for extended periods, and if/when it trades again, some people simply want to rescue their capital (as
@BOT has previously alluded to).
To me it's a company disclosure matter, not a shorting one - people who are short the stock are simply positioned because a) they think it's overvalued or b) they did their own research and anticipated these matters before they were publicly announced (without anticipating it would be suspended... whoops!). I think if this doesn't pan out well, then shareholders will eventually go from blaming evil shorters to joining shareholder class actions. Hopefully that's not the outcome, but it looks a real possibility.
Company management have some hard questions to answer about what exactly they knew, when, and why they chose not to disclose it to the shareholders who pay their salaries.Go ahead and attach Boatman, Twitter critics, shorters, me, etc if it makes you feel better - but the real hard questions should be put to AVZ management. Wishing holders good luck.
Cheers
