In response to my emails to the company I received a phone call...

In response to my emails to the company I received a phone call from Mr Palermo. It was clear from our discussion that the sort of issues raised in the forum are also much the same as those being considered by the company.

Mr Palermo said that the company does not have a solvency problem and that is not the reason for the delay in relisting. The delay seems to be connected with the fact that the company has not been trading for some months now and needs to satisfy ASX listing requirements, including that it has an ongoing business, which it has.

So far as Reduit is concerned, it itself is not an expensive operation to run at this stage and Mr Peros sticks to the budget he set, but the Board is obviously considering how best to raise funds if they should be needed to fund Reduit's future growth.

I indicated that a number of shareholders were quite keen at the end of last year to fund Reduit by a capraising as an alternative to doing the deal with Nutrition Systems, and that funds might be harder to raise now, what with the NS deal not proceeding and the coronavirus. However I also added that, IMO, the shareholders might be more supportive of a capraising if it was done in a way by which Steve Schapera and his group put in a fair bit of the funds and took a larger stake in the company.

That is, I suggested that shareholders would receive some comfort from having directors whose interests were more closely aligned with their own. Mr Palermo noted the comment.

It also appears that Bodyguard will be part of the Reduit operation.

I asked him whether any future announcement might be a little more expansive as to the direction in which the company will go. That comment was noted too.

At this stage:

1. There will soon be an update about work plans with P&G. (It will appear on the company website because the ASX regards it as being not material, which has happened before.)

2. An ASX announcement is likely to be made next week which will bring shareholders up to date about some of the issues which have been discussed on the forum.

3. Finally, no spotter's fee is payable to Mr Palermo.